Chapter 155: Superior Tea

Chapter 155

When Bai Xiaojiu chose to stay with his wife and children in the mountains, Divine Doctor Qiu felt regretful but knew it was the best for Bai Xiaojiu. As long as Bai Xiaojiu remembered to come home often, things would be fine.

Not long after Jiang Yuqing had returned, Li Deshun brought another large batch of rewards.

The two chatted in the flower hall for a while before Li Deshun reluctantly left.

Before leaving, Jiang Yuqing took out several jars and whispered to Li Deshun, "This is some wild monkey wine I happened to obtain. The taste is excellent. Please help me give a jar to His Majesty the Emperor, Her Majesty the Empress, His Highness the Crown Prince, and have one for yourself. Don't let His Majesty find out about the rest!"

Li Deshun nodded like a chicken pecking at rice, "As expected, my good boy still cares about this old official. Our family will remember this favor."

Soon after Li Deshun left, Jing Yan arrived. Seeing the increasingly outstanding young man, Jiang Yuqing felt somewhat complicated.

Jing Yan looked at her for a while before smiling, "It's been half a year since I last saw you, Qingqing seems to have grown a little taller." She was also gradually developing the curves of a young girl.

Jiang Yuqing compared the distance between them and found she still only reached his chest. Somewhat discouraged, she said, "So what if I grew taller, I still only reach your chest! I just don't understand, we eat the same food, why do you grow so fast?"

She carefully measured the boy's height. Converted to modern units, he was at least 185cm tall with long legs.

Jing Yan chuckled, "I can't control how tall I grow. Or does Qingqing have any good ideas? Feel free to share."

Jiang Yuqing refused to continue the topic and said, "I got some monkey wine. I already asked Uncle Li to bring some back for you since I didn't know you were coming."

Jing Yan said, "Either way it's for us. We can drink it when we get back. We haven't seen each other in a long time, will you walk with me in the garden, Qingqing?"

Seeing his expectant gaze, Jiang Yuqing couldn't bear to refuse and nodded in agreement.

Jing Yan habitually took her hand and walked towards the garden. Jiang Yuqing tried to pull her hand back but failed, so she let him be.

He told her about some things that happened in the capital during the half year she was away.

She also told him about some things that happened in Fuzhou and Qingzhou.

Without any particular topic, they talked about whatever came to mind, still the same as before.

She suddenly felt that this didn't seem too bad.

After Jiang Wenyuan returned from the ministry, he saw his precious daughter happily chatting and laughing with the Jing family's wolf cub as they strolled through the garden.

The old father was so sour, like he had eaten a lemon.

What's more, this wolf cub's skin was incredibly thick. He completely ignored Jiang Wenyuan's various hints for him to leave and stubbornly stayed for dinner before finally departing.

Throughout the meal, he kept picking dishes and pouring water for his precious daughter. Jiang Wenyuan was nearly angered to death.

After finally seeing off the boy, his precious daughter also returned to her own courtyard.

Only then did Jiang Wenyuan say, "Look, look! That Jing brat is eagerly trying to snatch our family's flower pot!"

Seeing her husband nearly puffed up with anger like a blowfish, Lu couldn't help but feel somewhat torn between laughter and tears. "You've known for a while now that the Crown Prince is interested in our good girl. What's more, their relationship has progressed beyond the maiden and scholar stage.

Our good girl will turn 13 or 14 soon. If we were back in our hometown in Qingzhou, girls her age are mostly allowed to start seeing suitors."

Things were fine until she said that. Hearing it made Jiang Wenyuan even angrier. "No way, our good girl absolutely cannot get married this early. Even if she has to marry, it must be a few years later, at least 20 or 18 years old!"

Lu snorted with laughter. She discovered men could be as childish as a 3-year-old. "20 or 18 years old? Don't forget the Crown Prince is 6 years older than our good girl. If we try our best, we might be able to keep her until she turns 16. That's already not bad."

Jiang Wenyuan: "....." This is unbearable!

The next day, Jiang Yuqing went to the palace to give thanks and also visited the Emperor and Empress. By the time she arrived, there were already several Madams and Misses sitting in the pepper room, including Second Prince's birth mother, Concubine Liu.

As soon as the Empress saw her, she blamed, "You naughty girl, gone for half a year with no word."

Two other ladies were granted as his concubines.

As for the advanced tea lady, rumor has it she left the palace in tears which swelled her eyes. She became the laughingstock of the entire capital.

This thing was clearly the most hated thing by Empress Qin. She actually bestowed it to a noble lady, which shows that this high-grade tea has really lost the favor of Empress Qin.

Jiang Yuqing finally understood that the imperial concubine selection that day was not for Jing Yan, but for the Second Prince.

No wonder Concubine Liu, who usually lived in seclusion, was also there. So that's how it was.

The Crown Prince was unwilling to get married in order to wait for Jiang Yuqing to grow up.

Emperor Xia Jing had no choice but to hurriedly take care of the marriage of his young son first.

The young son did not need to inherit the grand rule, and he was born with a natural disability. The old father only hoped that he could live a safe, wealthy, and peaceful life until old age in this lifetime, thus the honorary title "Prince Fu" was bestowed.

The wedding was set for September this year, there was still half a year left.

News also came from the East China Sea side that ships from the Wa Kingdom landed in Shun Prefecture and came to Da Xia to ask for people.

Shun Prefecture was less than a thousand miles away from the capital, and the road was easy to travel through the plains all the way. It wouldn’t take more than a few days to reach the capital.

At the same time, the war prisoners escorted from Fuzhou were also about to arrive in the capital soon.

The emperor had already sent down the order that when dealing with the envoys of the Wa Kingdom, Jiang Yuqing must be present no matter what.

The reason was that she was able to bite off a piece of flesh from the Xiongnu people without shedding blood, she could also gain some benefits from the people of the Wa Kingdom.

"...This was quite speechless."

A monster with a blood basin-like big mouth suddenly appeared in her mind. It opened its mouth, first gnawing on the Xiongnu people, then gnawing on the Japanese, with blood dripping all over its mouth. She almost had a mental breakdown.

What were all these terrible images? She suddenly felt that her mind was not clean, so she hurriedly shook her head to get all this garbage out of her brain.

She decided to go to the Three Purities Temple early tomorrow morning to burn incense and calm her mind. Also, ask Master Huayang for some benefits!

Shouldn't she get rewards for her hard work?

The next day, Jiang Yuqing got up very early. Her maid had just tied her hair up in a high ponytail when Yu Zhu called her for breakfast from the outer room.

Seeing Yu Zhu's big belly, Jiang Yuqing complained, "Didn't I ask you to stay at home and nurture the fetus? Why did you come again?"

While reaching out to check her pulse, she said, "The fetus is very healthy. Moderate exercise and more rest!"

"Don't come tomorrow. I don't have much to do here. You have to give the little maids a chance!"

Yu Zhu smiled and said, "Okay, today is the last day I come to work. I will nurture the fetus at home tomorrow and enjoy being served."

Last year, Er Yu and Si Yu both found their ideal husbands and got married.

When they got married, Jiang Yuqing was in Fuzhou and couldn’t make it back to attend the wedding, so she wrote a letter to Lu asking her to handle it.

In addition to giving each person a generous dowry, Jiang Yuqing also returned their indentures to them.

The two of them were now legally married. But because they were grateful to Jiang Yuqing, they still stayed in the mansion and became the matrons in the Qingbo Pavilion.

At the end of last year, Yu Zhu was found to be pregnant. Earlier this year, Yu Qing also got pregnant. Because her morning sickness was severe, she had to recuperate at home.

Seeing that they all had a good place to go, Jiang Yuqing was also happy for them.

After breakfast, Jiang Yuqing bid farewell to her family members, then rode Bai Xiaoshi straight to the Three Purities Temple in the suburbs.