Edited by Larkspur

Chapter 38: The Joy of Marriage (Part 2)

Chu Jin Yao had thought that her voice was very soft, but Marquis Chang Xing still heard it. Marquis Chang Xin laughed out as he spoke, “Jin Yao has spoken correctly. I think that it is most probably the Crown Prince’s order.”

Old Furen glanced in amazement at Chu Jin Yao before quickly retrieving her gaze and asked, “Why do this? His Highness is a dignified Crown Prince. Not to mention Jin Yao, one fears that our entire residence of Marquis Chang Xing would not be qualified to enter his eyes, so why would he purposely instruct Tang GongGong to send gifts to our family?” Moreover the gifts were that valuable. Due to Chu Jin Yao’s presence, Old Chu Furen did not continue speaking. If there was no action after so long, she would have thought that the Crown Prince had the intention to marry one of their family’s young ladies.

This was a point that Marquis Chang Xing was thinking about. He spoke as he was guessing, “His Highness seemed to use Manager Qi’s name to gift to Jin Yao’s name? How would he know Jin Yao… Oh yes. That day on the streets, Jin Yao was almost injured by Tang Xin Yi. Now this adds up. The Crown Prince’s people were riding horses on the streets and injured the young lady of the Chu family. How could the Crown Prince not say anything? He is currently in the Eastern Palace, so he could not be directly involved with officials and thus had Qi De Sheng come forward and place everything under Jin Yao’s name, saying that it is a gift to suppress her shock. I think that His Highness’s real intention is to win over our Marquis Chang Xing residence!”

Old Chu Furen was both surprised and joyous when she heard it. It wasn’t that she didn’t feel that logic was not comprehensive, but the overtly beautiful guess quickly suppressed all logic, making her unable to consider other possibilities. Old Chu Furen smiled joyously and said, “Yes. The Crown Prince has spent so much effort to send things to Jin Yao, it is definitely because of his intentions to win our family over. Due to his status as a Prince, it is not good to be close with the officials and could only use a young lady’s namesake as a detour. Even if Tang GongGong were to injure Jin Yao, why would there be a need to gift so generously to a young lady that one has never met before?”

“That is right..” Marquis Chang Xing was also immersed in the beautiful fantasies that he could not extricate himself from them. “So these gifts cannot be returned. Who is the Crown Prince? How can the gifts he bestowed be returned to him? Not only we cannot return them, but we also have to keep them well and prepare another set of gifts for the Eastern Palace. If the Crown Prince really had the intention, then he would use this opportunity to connect with our family.” As Marquis Chang Xing spoke, he started to clap his palms and laugh with excitement, “This is simply our Chu family’s glory for generations!”

Chu Jin Yao just listened as Marquis Chang Xing and Old Furen converse, and the more they spoke, the more it seemed real. Although Maquis Chang Xing’s words were logical, Chu Jin Yao felt that something was wrong with it. In this current period, both males and females would be very guarded against the other, so if the Crown Prince had the intention to win over the Chu family, then he should be giving the Second Young Master an inexpensive but meaningful gift, like inkstab or brushes. What was the logic of giving an unmarried female jewellery and fabric? If Chu Jin Yao was not sure that she really did not know the Crown Prince before, she could almost believe that the Crown Prince had other thoughts.

The clothes and jewelry were all given blindly?

Chu Jin Yao was really gloomy and felt embarrassed. However, she dared not mention it to Old Chu Furen and Marquis Chang Xing.

Marquis Chang Xing thought about it for a while and as he saw Chu Jin Yao standing silently at the side, the more comfortable he felt as he looked at her. It seemed that ever since Chu Jin Yao was brought back, there has been a continuous good fortune that was befalling the Chu family and now they had the grace of the Crown Prince. Even though Marquis Chang Xing was self-reliant and disdained the superstitions about ghost and Gods, who didn’t like good omens?

Marquis Chang Xing looked at Chu Jin Yao. She was wearing a white jacquard jacket with an eight Immortals red patterned folded skirt. Her beautiful lush hair was pulled up, and her face was slightly lowered at the side. As the light from the candlestick shone on her face, it made her face more pronounced, with her delicate skin and picturesque brows. As Marquis Chang Xing looked, a gentle smile appeared on her face. His daughter was indeed born with features of wealth and nobility. Despite such beautiful features, it did not seem seductive and instead looked dignified. Wasn’t this just a natural fit for the Princes and descendants? If the Crown Prince really intended to win over Marquis Chang Xin residence, then the position of the consort of the heir of Prince Huai Ling would definitely be Chu Jin Yao’s. Maybe the two families would even join hands to win the position of the Crown Prince Consort in the future.

Many thoughts had already passed through Marquis Chang Xing’s mind. Thoughts about the residence of Marquis Chang Xing, Second Ranked Prince Huai Ling and even the Crown Prince. Finally, Marquis Chang Xing smiled as he nodded and spoke to Chu Jin Yao warmly and kindly, “Since it is an apology gift from Tang GongGong, then you can accept it with a peace of mind. The returning gifts would be taken care of by this Father.”

Chu Jin Yao hesitated and said, “But this shop…”

“Accept it all.” Marquis Chang Xing had thought that since the Crown Prince was willing to go great lengths to send gifts using Chu Jin Yao’s name, then how could they destroy His Highness’s disguises? Since it was turning another’s trick to one’s own, then one had to treat these things as an apology gift for one’s daughter.

Chu Jin Yao really wanted to tell Marquis Chang Xing that the things that the Crown Prince sent over were inappropriate, but inthe end, she gave up after opening her mouth.

She felt that for her, a boudoir lady, to speak those words, it would seem that there were some intentions behind it. The Crown Prince was of a noble and benevolent character, straightforward and upright. So how could he have such intentions? Perhaps it was the trend for the high-ranking people of the Palace to gift such things.

In the end, Chu Jin Yao brought the wooden box back intact. She was moody all the way back, and when she returned, she looked towards the western room and her heart felt stranger.

Yun brocade, fabric shop, hair ornaments… Why did she feel that Tang GongGong’s, or perhaps the Crown Prince’s, gifts were all so coincidental?

…

As the day for Chu Jin Xian to leave the boudoir got closer, the sisters of the Chu family started to show their reluctance even though there were always small fights and quarrels. Without aligning with each other, a few of the young ladies stopped bickering with each other and gathered at Chu Jin Xian’s. As Chu Jin Xian embroidered her dowry, they sat at the side to talk and do needlework, accompanying Chu Jin Xian in the last leg of her boudoir life.

Chu Jin Yao currently spent most of her time here with Chu Jin Xian. Chu Jin Xiao felt both reluctance and sad as her Eldest Sister would be married off. When Chu Jin Xian left, the last person that truly cared for her in the Marquis residence would be gone. Moreover, being a Young Lady was very much different from being a married woman. A Young Lady was a delicate guest but a married woman would be serving and learning the rules in the husband’s family. Even if Chu Jin Xian married into the family of an external cousin (meant that they do not have the same surname), and there were still WaiZhuMu and JiuJiu looking after, JiuMu, who was Chu Jin Xian’s Mother-in-law, was afterall an outsider. Chu Jin Yao was very worried for Chu Jin Xian, but she was not one to speak of such things to ruin Chu Jin Xian’s current mood. As such, she could only stay in Chu Jin Xian’s room and accompany her Older Sister as much as possible.

Chu Jin Xian was busy embroidering her dowry these days. A noble family’s dowry would all be prepared long ago, and young ladies would not need to work on clothes as the embroidery ladies would worry about it. Logically, Chu Jin Xian’s wedding dress should be personally embroidered by the new bride, and even if it was not done by her, she just needed to sew a few times in pretense. Besides, even if the wedding clothes could be assisted by the maids, how could the maids be able to sew shoes for Father-in-law, Mother-in-law and husband?

These days, Chu Jin Yao was busy with these. Chu Jin Yao was not good at embroidery but was good with needlework, thus she helped Chu Jin Xian prepare the needlework for her husband’s family. It was not proper for her to work on JieFu’s (Brother-in-law) item, but for the gifts for the younger generations, like pouches and sachets, she could still help out.

As the skies grew darker, Second Young Lady and the rest got up to return together. Before they left, they asked Chu Jin Yao, “Fifth Younger Sister, do you want to leave together?”

“This handkerchief is almost completed, I will hurry up and finish it today. You all should go ahead first!”

Chu Jin Miao took a glance back and indifferently lifted the curtain to leave. Sixth Young Lady tidied her skirt up, smiled and said, “Then we will leave first. Eldest Sister, Fifth Older Sister, see you tomorrow.”

Chu Jin Xian stood up and instructed the maids, “Send the few Young Ladies back safely.”

Chu Jin Yao also stood up slightly to send the guests off. After returning from sending both of them back, Chu Jin Yao tugged Chu Jin Xian’s hand, “Older Sister, I have something for you.”

Chu Jin Xian had long expected that Chu Jin Yao had deliberately stayed behind today so she replied, “Go into the room first.”

When both of them sat down, Chu Jin Yao instructed Ling Long to bring the tray over, then she personally took it over and handed it to Chu Jin XIan. “Older Sister, I have nothing good to give you. These are some of my sincere thoughts.”

The trays were covered with red silk, with concentric knot tassels hanging at both ends, making it look elegant and festive. Chu Jin Xian’s expression warmed up as she said, “Your sincere heart is enough. There is no need to prepare these things and spend so much effort.”

“It is worth all the effort to marry my Older Sister off.” Chu Jin Yao smiled as she pushed the tray towards Chu Jin Xian and said, “Older Sister, take a look at it.”

Chu Jin Xian obliged and lifted the red cloth with a smile. There was a well-carved sandalwood box under the red silk. There were a few clothes that were placed below it. Chu Jin Xian felt the fabric before opening up the box and took a glance, and a shocked expression appeared on her face, “Jin Yao, you…”

Chu Jin Yao quickly held Chu Jin Xian’s hands and made a shh-ing expression. “Older Sister, you just need to keep it in your heart and not speak of it.”