Chapter 232

Chapter 230: Luo Ning Is His Wife

Luo Ning’s mind worked fast, but her movement took only a moment.

“Prince, does it taste good?” she asked.

As she spoke, she took another bite of the jujube blossom pastry, as if she did not mind at all that he had already eaten from it.

After all, he had bitten the spot where she had already bitten, so Luo Ning was only returning the favor.

If she showed any hesitation, she might offend him; or maybe she would not, since the Prince might not care about such a small thing. But to be safe, Luo Ning chose not to take that risk.

“It’s all right. The Cui family’s cook is quite good,” Xiao Huai Feng said, “What do you think?”

Luo Ning answered honestly: “It’s the best jujube blossom pastry I’ve ever eaten.”

“Later I’ll ask my aunt to give you this cook,” he said.

Luo Ning smiled: “Prince, they sent us pastries, and we go and ask for their cook. That is not very kind.”

She added, “I don’t like pastries that much. I only eat a little now and then. The nanny by my side, Nanny Kong, is very good at cooking. I love the food she makes.”

When she said “the best,” she was comparing it to other pastries.

Compared with the dishes Nanny Kong made, this pastry was nothing much.

“Then forget it,” Xiao Huai Feng said.

As they talked, Luo Ning finished that piece of jujube blossom pastry and closed the food box.

“Prince…”

She was about to speak when Xiao Huai Feng reached out. The pad of his finger gently brushed across her lips.

Luo Ning’s body went a little stiff. She did not dare move.

“There is sugar on you,” he said calmly. His motion was natural and casual.

But Luo Ning’s smile looked very stiff.

She picked up the food box: “Thank you, Prince. Prince, I’ve already tasted these pastries. I’ll have someone send them to A’Lan. Since they are from her family, she should like them.”

Xiao Huai Feng sat there without any expression. His dark eyes quietly fell on her face.

He seemed to have something to say, but only gave a slight nod: “Go.”

Luo Ning lifted the food box and left.

Xiao Huai Feng sat alone for a while, then called Nanny Shi in to tie up his hair. After he changed his clothes, he went out.

He mounted his horse and went to Prince Chen’s manor.

Prince Chen’s manor was very close to Prince Yong’s manor. Riding across just two streets, he reached Prince Chen’s back gate.

Prince Chen was in the inner courtyard, talking with his advisors about calligraphy.

As soon as Xiao Huai Feng arrived, the advisors all left.

A young and beautiful woman brought in tea. At a glance, Xiao Huai Feng saw that she was the palace lady from the Empress Dowager’s side, whose name seemed to be Qing Yun.

Last year, the Empress Dowager had given this woman to Prince Chen. Xiao Huai Feng had even reminded Prince Chen to beware that she might be the Empress Dowager’s spy.

Prince Chen’s affairs were closely tied to Xiao Huai Feng’s. If Prince Chen was exposed, the Empress Dowager would also learn Xiao Huai Feng’s secrets.

That would be a great taboo.

Prince Chen had said he knew what he was doing, and Xiao Huai Feng had always trusted his third brother.

Now seeing Qing Yun serving in the inner courtyard and personally bringing tea, the way of an intimate attendant, Xiao Huai Feng knew she had gained Prince Chen’s trust.

After she withdrew, Xiao Huai Feng asked: “Third Brother, did you accept her?”

Her looks were pure, and her manner was gentle, quite similar to Prince Chen’s own air.

Prince Chen smiled: “I do not have the time or heart for that. Qing Yun is very good and knows her place. Now she manages the matters of my inner courtyard.”

His inner courtyard was very simple.

When Prince Chen’s Princess Consort was still alive, the husband and wife were in perfect harmony and he had no concubines. After the Princess Consort died, Prince Chen had even less interest in women and always spent the night alone in the wedding room he had shared with her.

“…In the end, she is still Imperial Mother’s person,” Xiao Huai Feng said.

Prince Chen smiled: “How could we not have Imperial Mother’s people by our sides? Huai Feng, your Princess Consort also counts as one of Imperial Mother’s people. If Imperial Mother wanted her to act as a spy, tell me, would she stand with you or with Imperial Mother?”

Xiao Huai Feng said: “Of course with me.”

Luo Ning’s deed of sale was still in his hands. Only Heaven, Earth, he, and Luo Ning knew of this. Outsiders did not.

She would never betray him.

Besides, she was already his Princess Consort. They had gone through the Three Letters and Six Rites, had bowed before Heaven and Earth, their parents, and the Imperial Ancestral Temple. She was now a woman of the Xiao clan, and in the future, even in death, she would be buried together with him.

In the past, Xiao Huai Feng had thought that since Luo Ning wanted to be registered as a female head of household and be granted the title of Commandery Princess, she would prefer to rely on the Empress Dowager. But when the two of them married and knelt in the Imperial Ancestral Temple to offer worship, his thoughts changed.

What was real, and what was fake?

When the two of them bowed to Heaven and Earth and to the ancestral spirits, that was real. The investiture decree and seal issued by the Imperial Court were also real. She truly was Princess Consort Yong, not false in the least.

Xiao Huai Feng had spent seven years on the Northern Frontier. He had seen countless people and animals dead or wounded after a single night of wind and snow.

Before Heaven and Earth, people were extremely small.

He and Luo Ning had knelt and bowed to Heaven and Earth. With Heaven and Earth as witness, he and she were a husband and wife who would share blessings in life and be buried in the same grave after death.

A deed of sale or spoken promises were worth nothing before Heaven and Earth. Only their marriage had been witnessed by Heaven and Earth.

“…Sister-in-law is smart and careful. Huai Feng, Imperial Mother chose a good Princess Consort for you. I was worried you would hold a grudge in your heart and refuse to get close to her,” Prince Chen said with a smile.

Now it seemed he had worried too much.

“Did you come today to ask about the canal?” Prince Chen asked.

“A personal matter.”

“You actually came to me with a personal matter?” Prince Chen could not help laughing. He picked up his tea and took a sip. “What is it?”

“Third Brother, would you mind making a trip to Shaoyang for me? I want to know if there is a way to grow lychee trees in Shengjing,” Xiao Huai Feng said.

Prince Chen almost choked on his tea.

“This is pure fantasy, Huai Feng,” Prince Chen said as he put down his teacup.

“We can try. What if it works…”

“It absolutely cannot work!” Prince Chen said. “Huai Feng, you are wasting time and daydreaming.”

He lowered his voice: “Imperial Elder Brother’s health is failing. We do not know what day his life will end. To go to Shaoyang and back, even if the horse runs its legs off, would still take two months.

If I leave for two months, who will take over the things you have entrusted to me here? That is what really matters, Huai Feng.”

Xiao Huai Feng fell silent.

“If Sister-in-law wants to eat lychees, I can think of a way. In a few months we should be able to get fresh ones. But you cannot grow lychee trees in the city of Shengjing,” Prince Chen said.

“If I don’t try, I will not be willing to give up.” Xiao Huai Feng stood up. “In this world, how can there be anything that cannot be done?”

Prince Chen was speechless.

There were far too many things in this world that could not be done.

For example, the sun that rose in the morning had to set in the evening, and no one could change that. Or, for example, his Princess Consort could never come back to life.

And, for example, lychee trees simply could not stay alive in the city of Shengjing.

“Huai Feng, do you and Sister-in-law have some knot in your hearts?” Prince Chen asked.

Xiao Huai Feng stayed silent.

“If there is a knot, you must start from the root,” Prince Chen said.

Xiao Huai Feng did not answer him. He only said: “Then I will send someone to Shaoyang to see if we can find suitable fruit farmers and saplings.”

Prince Chen was again speechless.

What a stubborn person.

Ever since he was young, he had been outstanding in everything and always had to come out on top. Prince Chen had thought that after so many years of hardship, he would have learned his limits.

But all of a sudden, he was acting willful again.

Prince Chen also remembered that Sister-in-law had spent three years in Shaoyang to recover from illness, and their cousin Pei Ying had also lived in Shaoyang for a time. Because of this, their aunt had even schemed against Sister-in-law.

Seeing his seventh younger brother like this, it seemed he was actually competing with the old days in Shaoyang.

Was he going to build a little Shaoyang inside the city of Shengjing someday?

Prince Chen still felt that he had his priorities backwards.

What Sister-in-law thought about in her heart was probably not the fruit of Shaoyang. His seventh younger brother was putting his energy in the wrong place.

“…Huai Feng, instead of planting lychee trees, you should think about how to deal with those secondary consorts. Compared to flowers and trees, the secondary consorts are a much bigger obstacle,” Prince Chen said.

“Of course I will take care of them, one step at a time,” Xiao Huai Feng said.