Chapter 272: Chapter 272

The main room was filled with noise and excitement.

At night, the laughter could be heard from afar.

Staying in the house on the east side, the Second Princess and the Great Princess, who had already gone to bed, were woken up and came out with sleepy eyes.

"Why is it so lively here?" The Great Princess yawned and rubbed her eyes.

"Big sister, what a beautiful painting." The Second Princess pulled the Great Princess over to have a look.

The Great Princess’s drowsiness immediately vanished, "Where?"

"Look, feather paintings." The Second Princess squatted in front of the hanging screen, clicking her tongue in admiration, "Amazing, amazing, I’ve seen such works in the capital, where it was said that it took a month to make one, and here are actually two, really rare to behold."

The Great Princess asked in surprise, "Father, where did these paintings come from?"

Prince Luling smiled while stroking his beard, "Lixing brought them, it’s a wedding gift from his father to your big brother."

Only then did the Great Princess notice that Li Lixing was here again.

The little fellow sat on the chair, swinging his two short legs arrogantly.

Recalling the trouble this little rascal had caused at home, the Great Princess’s expression immediately darkened.

She glared at Li Lixing, "Li Lixing, even though your family has given gifts, if you cause trouble again, I will still kick you out."

Li Lixing waved his hands repeatedly, "I’m very well-behaved now, I won’t cause trouble."

"You better keep your word." The Great Princess said sternly, "Tomorrow is my big brother’s wedding day, if you dare to cause trouble, I will hit you! I’m fierce!"

Saying this, the Great Princess swung her two little fists fiercely in front of Li Lixing.

Li Lixing shrank his neck, waving his hands, "I won’t dare."

Li Yuzhu laughed and said, "Big sister, he’s very well-behaved now, he won’t cause trouble."

The Great Princess nodded, "That’s good."

Princess Consort Luling walked into the room, smiling, "The night snack is ready, everyone go have some, after the snack, let’s hang the screen together."

Prince Luling laughed as he walked out, "Yes, let’s go have the night snack, and then follow my instructions for hanging it."

He waved and called out to Mu Yuanxiu, "Yuanxiu, come have the night snack together."

Mu Yuanxiu smiled slightly, "Okay, thank you, Uncle Li."

Li Xing’an squinted his eyes, "Mu Yuanxiu, why aren’t you going home yet?"

On the carriage, Mu Yuanxiu had been whispering with his sister all the way, and he couldn’t get a word in edgewise, yet he still wouldn’t go home? Want to keep talking to his sister? Too much!

"Uncle Li invited me for the night snack, I’ll go home after eating, Third Brother." Mu Yuanxiu said.

Who’s your Third Brother? Humph!

Li Xing’an pulled Li Yuzhu away first, "Third Sister, let’s have the night snack."

"Hey, I know the way." Li Yuzhu chuckled.

Entering the kitchen, Li Yuzhu found that the previously simple bamboo-plank dining table in the kitchen had disappeared, replaced by a long rectangular wooden table, polished smooth and varnished.

The old, shabby wooden stools were also gone, and beside the table were twelve brand-new bamboo stools.

The bamboo stools were also polished, shiny and bright.

Seeing Li Xing’an and Li Yuzhu surprised by the new tables and chairs, Second Young Master Li said, "Big brother’s bride is coming in, the old stuff at home really didn’t look good, so mother had us move them out and asked the villagers to make new ones."

Princess Consort Luling smiled, "The table was made by Daniu’s husband, he’s really skillful, finished it in a day. These twelve chairs were made by Li Zheng’s father, who asked your father to learn the skill of basket weaving, yet he didn’t hold a weaving knife for a day, and ended up swindling twelve new chairs from others."

After saying this, she glared at Prince Luling with a stern face, "Remember to return the favor."

Prince Luling scratched the back of his head, chuckling, "I know, you’ve been harping on it for three days, enough already? Can we eat the night snack or not?"

In the small iron pot on the small stove, plump white tangyuan were boiling.

The tangyuan were round and plump, the size of lychees.

Li Yuzhu held a ladle, serving them bowl by bowl.

The Great Princess and Second Princess wielded spoons.

"Twelve each, enough to fill you up." Princess Consort Luling said with a smile.

Prince Luling grumbled, patting his belly, "Twelve is a bit too few..."

Princess Consort Luling immediately glared at his fat belly.

Prince Luling quickly inhaled, patting his shrunken belly, "Worrying about the eldest’s wedding recently, lost two pounds..."

Princess Consort Luling sneered, "Lose twenty pounds and I’ll give you two more!"

One hundred seventy-two pounds reduced to one hundred seventy, still dare to mention it?

Everyone happily ate tangyuan, chatting about interesting stories as they ate.

Prince Luling was initially unhappy about the limited tangyuan, but soon, he was drawn into Mu Yuanxiu’s conversation and completely forgot about the tangyuan.

Mu Yuanxiu spoke of the County Magistrate, what he looked like, his nature, how he treated family and outsiders.

How the people evaluated the County Magistrate during trials.

Mu Yuanxiu shared it all with Prince Luling.

Not hearing about governance for a while, Prince Luling listened intently to Mu Yuanxiu’s explanation, thoroughly engaged.

Li Xing’an was talking about the sights and sounds of the county town: what the shops were selling to eat, what the pedestrians on the streets were wearing, and what jewelry was popular. This topic attracted the attention of the Second Princess and the Great Princess.

Meanwhile, Li Lixing was boasting to Second Young Master Li about how mighty he was in the county town, and Second Young Master Li just laughed heartily upon hearing it.

Princess Consort Luling inquired with Li Yuzhu about the County Magistrate’s Wife’s health.

"Her illness is no longer a problem. As long as she keeps taking her medicine and pays attention to her health, she’ll be as normal as anyone else," Li Yuzhu said.

Princess Consort Luling nodded, "That’s good. At such a young age, it’s unfortunate to catch a serious illness, but it’s lucky she’s recovered. Otherwise..." She glanced at Li Lixing, sighed lightly, then smiled, "Good thing she has indeed recovered."

During the conversation, everyone finished their supper.

Princess Consort Luling called her three daughters to wash the dishes together.

The others followed Prince Luling back to the main hall to hang the screens.

After washing the dishes, Li Yuzhu and her two sisters also hurried to the main room to watch.

This kind of hanging screen is similar to the middle hall screens hung in rural homes in modern times.

Modern households may hang landscape paintings or portraits of great figures. The aesthetic preferences of ancient people weren’t much different, often hanging beautiful landscape paintings.

However, landscape paintings weren’t limited to paper artworks; some were woven artworks, like the expensive Western Region tapestries that some families in the Capital hung, or the jade screens hung in the Little Emperor’s main hall.

Literary and artistic guests preferred bamboo or wood carvings.

She remembered that the middle hall of the main room in the Lu Ling Royal Mansion had a pair of white jade hanging screens.

However, feather hanging screens were quite rare.

Because colorful feathers were hard to find, and creating artwork with them was even rarer.

Several young men, under Prince Luling’s guidance, managed to hang the two screens properly.

Everyone stood at the entrance of the main room, admiring them together.

Li Lixing was the most proud, "Beautiful, beautiful."

Second Young Master Li tested him, "What’s so beautiful about it?"

This question left the uneducated Li Lixing stumped, "The... the colors are beautiful, all bright and colorful."

This made everyone laugh heartily.

At this time, the Princely Heir returned.

Li Yuzhu pushed him forward, "Brother, you’re back? Come and see the gift Li Lixing’s father sent, specially for your wedding. Oh, Li Lixing’s mother also sent gifts, they’re in mother’s room. Those are for you and Sister Eying."

The Princely Heir admired the screens, praising them repeatedly, "What exquisite feather art."

Everyone praised the exquisite artwork, and Li Lixing was even prouder, "How could my father’s taste be poor?"

Princess Consort Luling led the Princely Heir into the room to see the County Magistrate’s Wife’s gift.

Li Yuzhu followed to take a look as well.

The Princely Heir saw the gift and exclaimed with surprise, "The County Magistrate’s Wife is very thoughtful."

Princess Consort Luling frowned slightly, "Isn’t the County Magistrate’s family being too polite? We sheltered their son for a few days, and they gave a thousand taels of silver, and now these expensive gifts?"

The Princely Heir was also surprised by the family’s generosity.

Li Yuzhu said with a smile, "That thousand taels of silver was a reward; any family that saved them would receive the same amount. Besides, didn’t mother remember, I also saved the County Magistrate’s Wife’s life. And since it coincides with brother’s wedding, sending these gifts isn’t too much, is it?"

Princess Consort Luling said with a serious expression, "Aren’t I worried that our identity might be discovered?"

Li Yuzhu replied, "So what if it’s discovered? Our family’s actions are straightforward and upright."

The Princely Heir said, "Indeed, mother, we act honestly and openly, and earn our money cleanly. Who cares what others say?"

Princess Consort Luling looked at them, nodded her head, and said no more. Thɪs chapter is updated by NovelHub(.)net

The children were young and didn’t understand the weight of words.

She secretly worried in her heart.

It was getting late; after watching the screens for a while, everyone dispersed, and Mu Yuanxiu also got up to bid farewell, preparing to return to the mountain.

In the dark, Li Yuzhu used a small lantern to light the way for Mu Yuanxiu.

She accompanied him all the way to the gate of the residence before returning.

Li Xing’an, jealous, glared as he followed her, "Third sister never escorted me, but is always polite to an outsider."

Li Yuzhu shoved the lantern into his hand, coldly saying, "He lent silver to our family, isn’t it appropriate for me to be polite?"

Li Xing’an asked in surprise, "Does our family lack money now? Do we need to borrow from him?"

Li Yuzhu nodded, "Yes, elder brother’s betrothal gift wasn’t enough, so father borrowed some money from him to make up a thousand taels."

Li Xing’an realized that indeed, their family didn’t have a thousand taels now!

The thousand taels given by the County Magistrate’s Wife, he divided three hundred to Mu Yuanxiu.

When they went to the county town, the family only had over seven hundred taels of silver.

He had wondered why the family suddenly had money. So the family borrowed from Mu Yuanxiu.

"Could we not borrow from anyone else but him?" Li Xing’an sighed inwardly. Well, it’s awkward now to send Mu Yuanxiu away sternly.