Chapter 103: The Manor
On the third day of the third month, the spring day was warm, and it happened to be a holiday, so the Martial Hall also had a two-day break.
Jiang Yu suggested going to the manor with Shen Zhishu for two days.
“The manor is in the mountains, and there is a hot spring,” Jiang Yu said. “Why don’t we also bring Mother Shen, Mother He, and the aunts over, and the whole family can stay together for three to five days.”
As soon as they heard this news, the aunts were naturally happy, but Mistress He was a little worried, “Is it too much trouble for Your Highness to be so grand?”
Jiang Yu shook her head, “The manor is cleaned every day. When Mother and the aunts come over, it’s just a matter of adding a pair of chopsticks.”
Only then did Mistress He feel at ease.
On the day of departure, the Shen Hantan family, along with the attendants of each room, had a total of more than twenty carriages, and the luggage was packed in dozens of boxes.
Shen Zhishu and Jiang Yu were in the same carriage, and Lantiao was sitting beside them. Hongli was still on horseback outside.
Lantiao asked Shen Zhishu curiously, “General, why do the aunts have to have a carriage each?”
“Good question,” Shen Zhishu glanced at her. “You can go and sit in the First Concubine’s carriage, and you’ll know. I’ll arrange it for you.”
“Is that really possible?” Lantiao was actually a little expectant. “Since the General and Your Highness got married, I haven’t had a good chat with the aunts.”
“Why not? And let Hongli accompany you.”
Just as Shen Zhishu was about to lift the curtain to inform Hongli, who was swaying on horseback outside, she saw the little girl turn her head and wave her hands desperately.
“What does that mean?” Lantiao asked.
“If you want to go, you go,” Hongli smiled. “I often go to the Shen Residence, so I don’t miss the First Concubine at this moment.”
“This girl is up to something,” Lantiao thought for a while, ordered the coachman to stop the carriage, jumped out of the carriage, and pulled Hongli down without a word. “It’s one thing to miss her or not, but it won’t hurt you to go and see her with me. Why are you so unwilling? You’re definitely going today!”
Hongli: …
A disaster from heaven.
So, a cup of tea’s time later, Shen Zhishu and Jiang Yu both heard the laughter that was loud enough to shake the heavens coming from a certain carriage behind them.
This was not the point. The point was…
The laughter was not only from the First Concubine, but there were three different voices in it.
Jiang Yu turned her head to the side and said with a blank expression, “Lantiao and Hongli seem to have been assimilated by the aunts.”
Shen Zhishu: “I think so.”
“The aunts are always so infectious.”
“…Your Highness doesn’t have to find a place to praise them.”
Jiang Yu raised half an eyebrow and suddenly became curious, “Speaking of which… why does Minister Shen have so many aunts, but only one daughter, the General?”
“I also want to ask,” Shen Zhishu said, holding her sword and shrugging. “I’ve been wondering since I was a child. You see, in other deep courtyards, there are not a few people who have a dozen or so aunts, but none of the children in them are as lonely as I am.”
“Has the General not asked Mother Shen?”
“I have, how could I not?” Shen Zhishu said with a smile. “But every time, Mother Shen would just glance at me, and then there would be no more. I went to ask Mother He, and Mother He said that Mother Shen was reluctant to let others have children and wanted to have them herself, but she was always busy with official business. Mother He was always rubbing her nose when she spoke, so I don’t think it was the truth.”
As they were talking, another loud wail came from the First Concubine’s carriage behind them, which was enough to overturn the roof of the carriage.
Shen Zhishu clicked her tongue and asked with her head propped up, “Does Your Highness find it noisy?”
“It’s alright, after all, it’s far away,” Jiang Yu said in a faint voice. “Why don’t you cast a sound-catching spell, General, and listen to what they are talking about from afar?”
Shen Zhishu nodded and did as she was told.
So, a moment later, the First Concubine’s voice came over clearly:
“Do you know what Shu’er was like when she was a child?”
Lantiao and Hongli drew out their voices, “We don’t know—”
“She was a pure troublemaker when she was a child,” the First Concubine smiled. “Setting aside climbing trees and catching fish, one time, the two mistresses went out, and Shu’er was playing in the courtyard. There was a big pit in the courtyard, which was originally intended for planting trees, but by chance, the craftsman was not there, and before we knew it, Shu’er had fallen into the pit—it was hard on her, there was a circle of rope around the pit, and she was too playful.”
“The pit was very deep, and Shu’er was a little thing. She couldn’t climb out, and she was so anxious that she was crying in there. We found that Shu’er was missing and looked for her for half a day like crazy, and finally, we heard someone shouting in the pit.”
“The Second Concubine said that there was Shu’er’s voice in the pit. The Third Concubine said she was talking nonsense, Shu’er was not a tree, how could she be in the pit? It must be an insect calling in the pit, and the Second Concubine’s ears were not good and she had misheard.”
“But when we went to the side of the pit and looked, it really was Shu’er. Her trousers were rolled up to her knees, and she was sitting in the pit, wailing. We were both heartbroken and amused, and we hurried to get her out. In the end, we were still afraid that the little thing had been hurt, so we hurriedly called a doctor to check on her.”
Lantiao blinked her eyes and asked curiously, “What did the doctor say?”
“The doctor said that your sister is fine, she was just scared, and her pulse is a little weak. She needs to be quiet and starve for two meals. So Shu’er didn’t have any big fish or meat that week, and she was very greedy, and she pestered me to make roasted chicken for her.”
“I didn’t make it. I said that she had brought it on herself and that she should learn a lesson. It was a good thing that she fell into a pit this time. What if she fell into a lake next time? She couldn’t even swim. So she went to pester the Second Concubine. Alas, at that time, Shu’er was really close to us. Now that she’s grown up, she doesn’t like to be clingy anymore.”
The last sentence seemed to have a hint of a sob.
Shen Zhishu listened in silence and was a little sad, but after a few breaths, she heard Lantiao say nonchalantly, “Is the roasted chicken delicious?”
Shen Zhishu: …Friend, isn’t your focus a little off.
The First Concubine said hurriedly, “It’s delicious. I’ll make it for you at the manor. My roasted chicken skills are superb, and no one doesn’t praise them!”
Lantiao raised her arms and shouted, “Long live,” and the laughter of the three of them overturned the roof of the carriage again. Shen Zhishu felt that she was about to go deaf, so she hurriedly broke the sound-catching spell and slumped back in her chair lazily.
“You’re not listening anymore?” Jiang Yu asked calmly.
“I’m not listening anymore,” Shen Zhishu muttered. “It’s just those things—”
“The aunts are really good to the General,” Jiang Yu said.
She blinked very lightly, her tone sparse and ordinary, showing no emotion, as if she had just said that with emotion.
Shen Zhishu suddenly thought that Jiang Yu had been surrounded by many people in her previous life, but her first half of her life now was lonely.
She wondered what she felt when she remembered her previous life.
And it was not until they arrived at the manor in the countryside that Shen Zhishu finally knew why Jiang Yu had insisted on bringing her here.
This mountain was very similar to the mountain peak in the Rebirth Sect of her previous life, with clouds and mist, and birds would come as guests in their spare time.
The servants in the manor were already on high alert and busily assigned residences for everyone.
The manor was very large, so much so that when Shen Zhishu and Jiang Yu walked into their own courtyard, they could no longer hear the laughter of the aunts at all.
Lantiao and Hongli said, “Wow,” twice as soon as they stepped into the main room, but Shen Zhishu fell silent.
In the center of the room was a familiar tea hook, by the wall was a familiar wooden bed, on the south side was a flower stand, and on the north was a purple sandalwood desk.
—Jiang Yu had almost moved the courtyard that she had often lived in in the Rebirth Sect of her previous life here.
Shen Zhishu could almost imagine the mood Jiang Yu was in when she had someone arrange this room: she would relive the old things of her old friend day after day, and then secretly prepare a surprise for her.
Jiang Yu waved her hand and let the two attendants go on their own, and stood by the door with her sleeves tucked in.
Her indifferent gaze came over lightly, and Shen Zhishu read the meaning in it at a glance—
Do you like it?
Of course.
Shen Zhishu could no longer remember how many absurd twisted dreams she had had on that bed. In her previous life, every time she shared a bed with Jiang Yu, those surging and endless emotions would suddenly come up, and then be suppressed by her little by little.
She also couldn’t count how many times she had had tea with Jiang Yu by the tea hook. The mountain boy loved to make tea, and every time he sent the newly dried tea to Jiang Yu, she would come to her room for a while, so this tea stove was almost always boiling, with clear springs gurgling and steam rising.
Shen Zhishu closed her eyes and then opened them, and said with a light laugh, “When did Your Highness prepare this?”
“A month ago,” Jiang Yu said frankly. “I drew the blueprints and had the craftsmen make it.”
Shen Zhishu let out a low “Mm.”
Jiang Yu asked again, “Is the General happy?”
“I am happy,” Shen Zhishu came over, lowered her head, and pecked Jiang Yu lightly on the face. “It’s my fault for being careless. I didn’t even notice that Your Highness was doing this secretly.”
The hot air sprayed on Jiang Yu’s ear.
Jiang Yu was quiet for a few breaths and suddenly said, “That bed is very sturdy. Does the General want to try it?”
Shen Zhishu’s eyes and brows suddenly deepened.
So when she got up the next day, Jiang Yu could barely get out of bed.
She frowned and cast a pain-relieving spell on herself, and said in a faint voice, “The General is too fierce. I can’t take it. I’ll rest for a week and not have any meat.”
Shen Zhishu stared at her and immediately replied, “Who was it that was pestering me yesterday, and one or two times was not enough, and insisted on—hmm.”
Before she could finish her sentence, Jiang Yu glanced at her, stood on her tiptoes, raised her head, and came up, blocking Shen Zhishu’s words with her lips.
Shen Zhishu then wrapped her arms around Jiang Yu’s back and deepened this kiss.
