SFS Chapter 113 Visiting the Prince's Mansion
Chapter 113 Visiting the Prince's Mansion
When Lu Lingxi returned to the bedroom, Nan Wangyu was already waiting for her at the table in the outer room for lunch. As soon as he saw her come in, Nan Wangyu greeted her warmly: "Lingxi, you are back. Are you tired? Come and have lunch quickly. I asked the kitchen to cook your favorite dishes."
Lu Lingxi took a look at the food on the table, and sure enough, they were all his favorites, so he sat down and started eating without hesitation. After a while, as if he suddenly remembered something, he asked Nan Wangyu: "How do you know what I like to eat? We haven't had meals together before, right?"
Nan Wangyu: "It was your father...oh, no...it was my father-in-law who told me."
"Daddy? Daddy has always known your identity?"
Nan Wangyu's eyes were somewhat evasive, and he said guiltily: "Before you rescued me and brought me back to Zhenguo Marquis Mansion, I knew my father-in-law. As long as my father-in-law was in the capital, we would meet every day when he went to court."
"But he has been helping you hide it from me? Is that right?" There was some ferocity in Lu Lingxi's eyes.
Nan Wangyu was afraid that if he continued talking he would make Lu Lingxi even more unhappy, so he stopped talking and just focused on eating.
Lu Lingxi directed his anger at Lu Yi alone, and said angrily: "Daddy is really good at turning his elbow outward. He has been working with you to bully me so early."
After saying this, he lowered his head and took two mouthfuls of food as if to vent his anger, and then said, "No, I'm really angry. After lunch, I will go back to my father in the afternoon to argue with him and see if he still has me in his heart. Ahem!"
Because he was too angry and had some food in his mouth, Lu Lingxi choked and started coughing violently after he finished speaking.
Nan Wangyu put down his bowl and chopsticks, patted Lu Lingxi's back patiently, and advised: "Lingxi, slow down! There is no need to rush to return home today. Tomorrow is the day when we return home after our marriage. There is no need to rush for half a day. You have been in the mansion for two days, and you have not visited the Prince's Mansion properly. I will take you around in the afternoon to familiarize yourself with it. This will be our home from now on. You should get familiar with every blade of grass and every tree and every inch of it."
Under Nan Wangyu's gentle pat, Lu Lingxi soon stopped coughing. Thinking carefully, it was a done deal now, and there was no point in arguing with Dad about it, and there was no need to rush. So he agreed to his proposal, "Okay, let's go around this mansion together in the afternoon."
After Lu Lingxi stopped coughing, the two of them stopped talking, quickly finished their meal, rinsed their mouths, washed their faces, and went out.
When they went out, Nan Wangyu disliked the fact that too many people followed him, which affected his interaction and conversation with Lu Lingxi, so he told the people around him not to follow him, and Lingxi's Chunhong and Liulv didn't have to follow him either. He took Lu Lingxi around and personally explained the layout of the mansion to him.
So, the two of them set out from Changqiu Palace and visited each palace one by one. Every time they arrived at a palace, Nan Wangyu would introduce to Lu Lingxi who lived there and what their positions were. Lu Lingxi did not show it on his face, but he complained in his heart: This playboy has a good memory. He knows exactly who lives with whom and where among so many people. He really treats everyone equally!
Moreover, in her opinion, these were not easy to remember, because these people were not simply assigned according to their status, with high-ranking people living together and low-ranking people living together. Instead, in one palace, high-ranking people lived in the main hall, and low-ranking people lived in the side halls, and they were matched together. As for the specific matching rules and who was assigned to whom, Lu Lingxi did not find the rules and did not remember them.
Almost every palace was full. At present, except for the two concubines, Shang and Su, and the thinnest Zhaoyi Qian in the group yesterday, who lived in separate palaces, the rest lived together. Including the so-called crown prince and crown princess, they lived together, but the crown prince had his own separate study room that no one else was allowed to enter. As the crown princess, I had no other place to go, because there seemed to be no vacant palaces in the mansion.
Lu Lingxi muttered in his heart: I was wondering why I didn't get a separate place to live? It turns out there is no room available. Although my father's Zhenguo Marquis Mansion is much smaller than the Prince's Mansion, my father, brother and I all have our own separate courtyards. The Prince's Mansion looks big and grand from the outside, but there are many people living there. In the end, I didn't even get my own separate courtyard.
The Prince's Mansion has many palaces and large gardens. There are two of them: one garden has a large artificial lake, and there are low rockeries beside the lake. There are many winding paths in the middle of the rockeries. When you are in it, it feels like you are in a maze. If you don't pay attention, you don't know how to get out. There is also a pavilion by the lake, called "Jingxin Pavilion", which is larger than Zhenguohou Mansion. There is a thin layer of ice on the lake now, and there are some withered plants on the edge. After a while, when the weather warms up, new buds should grow.
In the other garden, the main part is a hillside planted with various green plants, flowers and grasses. There is also a pavilion on the top of the hillside. There are two paved stone roads leading from the bottom of the hillside on the north and south sides to the top of the hillside. There are almost no flowers blooming on the hillside now, but there are still some plants that will not wither in winter, adding some greenery.
Nan Wangyu and Lu Lingxi climbed up to the pavilion on the top of the hill, and Lu Lingxi saw the words "Diecui Pavilion" written on it. Standing in the pavilion, you can basically see the entire Prince's Mansion.
After strolling for an entire afternoon, Lu Lingxi felt a little tired and sat down on a stone bench in the Diecui Pavilion.
Nan Wangyu walked over and sat down on the stone bench next to Lu Lingxi, and asked with a smile: "What's wrong? Are you tired?"
Lu Lingxi: "I'm not really tired. I can still walk after a rest. But I want to rest!"
Nan Wangyu thought that it would be good to take a break and chat. They had basically finished their tour. He looked at the scenery of the Prince's Mansion at the bottom of the hill and asked, "Lingxi, what do you think of the layout of the Prince's Mansion? Are you satisfied with our home?"
Lu Lingxi said indifferently: "It's pretty good, with mountains and water." She had no requirements for these and had no way to comment.
Nan Wangyu: "The Changqiu Palace where we live is the best. It is close to both gardens, but also a little far from other palaces. It is relatively quiet and we are seldom disturbed."
"That's right, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince must be the best."
"Lingxi, that's not mine alone, it's ours."
"Yes, I understand. But I feel that this principal wife is not as good as the concubines. Both concubines have their own separate palaces, but I don't even have my own separate palace."
This made Nan Wangyu feel a little embarrassed. There were indeed no vacant palaces at the moment, let alone ones close to his Changqiu Palace.
But Nan Wangyu would not tell Lu Lingxi that if she wanted her own palace, she could get it right away, and she could ask other concubines to vacate it, or she could immediately start expanding the Prince's Mansion and set aside a piece of land for her to build a new palace. He just wanted to stay with her more and improve their relationship, so how could he let her live alone?
Nan Wangyu did not respond, so Lu Lingxi continued, "I can understand that the two concubines have their own palaces, but why can Qian, who is only a Zhaoyi, also have her own palace? Is she too thin and afraid that she will be knocked out if someone touches her by mistake?"
Nan Wangyu: "No, it's because her family is a wealthy merchant, they have a lot of money..."
Lu Lingxi was surprised and asked, "Is her family a wealthy business? I thought she was so thin because she never had a full meal since she was a child. Did she use money to get others to move away?"
Nan Wangyu wanted to say: Qian Zhaoyi had money, she built her own palace, she didn't want others to live with her, so she had her own palace. But after hearing Lu Lingxi's guess, he didn't want her to know that she could build her own palace, so he didn't explain, but just nodded slightly.