Chapter 56 Facing at night (2)
Chen Hui slept very well this night. One, it was because the matter of Chen household has been settled. Secondly was that the trip of the out of the city has also been settled. And thirdly, she felt that she might’ve overthought. Li Youde didn’t have the meaning to let her sleep with him.
She had enough sleep the night before. Naturally, she woke up early the next day. Chen Hui took up the initiative to rush to the main room to show her diligence, but Li Youde got up earlier. He already left when she went. At first, Chen Hui was worried that she would be obstructed when she tells Xiao Wu and Xiao Liu that she was going out of the capital tomorrow. Who knew that Xiao Liu told her that lord has already ordered and he would do everything to prepare? Well, she could set off on a journey happily tomorrow.
It was just a day trip outside the city and they would return on the same day. Chen Hui didn’t plan to get too many people involved, but Xiao Liu did his utmost effort to take care of things. Seeing that he seemed quite happy, she didn’t stop his little interest. Instead, she became an arm-flinging shopkeeper with Xiao Tiao and was very relaxed. Ah, that is not right. She is the only one. Xiao Tiao also needed to prepare some things in her room for emergencies.
- Arm -flinging shopkeeper: letting others do all the work but does nothing himself.
During the day, she let the relatively clever Xiao Liu take the time to go to Qing palace to accept Commandery Princess Shuning’s invitation. What happened next was that Chen Hui continued to draw her designs. Later, Xiao Liu came back and brought back the time and place of the appointment.
Early in the morning of the next day, Chen Hui set off with Xiao Tiao, Xiao Wu and Xiao Liu. Li Youde has said for her to bring more people. However, in the eyes of Commandery Princess Shuning, she was just a small merchant. How could she bring so many people? Therefore, she took three people in the end like how she did in the past.
After meeting with Commandery Princess Shuning at the south gate of the city, Chen Hui realized that there was not only her, but also Zheng Rongrong. Of course, she was not surprised anyway. These two people always appeared in front of her like conjoined twins. She was used to ut.
Princess Shuning let Chen Hui go into her luxurious carriage. The three of them sat and talked together.
“The road of the south of the capital is really hard to walk on,” Commandery Princess Shuning couldn’t help complaining, “It has so many jolts all the way.”
“There is no other way. The road here is like this,” Zheng Rongrong said, “The capital is high in the north. The south had been raining recently. Many places in the south had flooded. Today could already be considered to be not bad. It was sunny yesterday and there is not much water on the road.”
Chen Hui recalled the appearance of the south of the capital when she first came and remembered that the layout of the imperial capital with the Forbidden City at the highest terrain. The one in the lowest terrain was the south of the capital. It rained continuously in the rainy season. Nothing would happen to the Forbidden City and those rich and powerful who lived in the north of the capital, but the poor who lived in the south of the capital would meet up with a disaster. However, in this era where hierarchy was the most important, who would care about the loss of assets of the commoners?
“I hope that it wouldn’t rain continuously in the future,” Chen Hui glanced at the still cloudy weather.
Commandery Princess Shuning said, “Rain is quite good. It is so hot. If it didn’t rain, I wouldn’t want to come out. I would have to peel off a layer of the skin due to the heat.”
Chen Hui smiled and didn’t respond. Zheng Rongrong said, “You really don’t know the suffering of the people at all.” But when she said that, it was more of a tease than blame.
Commandery Princess Shuning stuck out her tongue, “I’m not a court officer. Why do I have to know about the suffering of the people?!”
“Yes, yes, you are right,” Zheng Rongrong smiled indulgingly.
Commandery Princess Shuning raised her chin and said proudly, “Of course!”
The three of them talked and laughed all the way. It was mainly Commandery Princess Shuning and Zheng Rongrong who joked. Chen Hui occasionally said something. When it came to the purpose of going to Tanmen Temple, both Commandery Princess Shuning and Zheng Rongrong had some shyness on their faces.
Commandery Princess Shuning was bolder after all and said first, “My father had asked me what kind of husband I want. He will help me look for one…I also don’t know. It, it is better to leave it in the hands of the heavens.”
Chen Hui knew that the women of this era didn’t get married off too young. That was the case especially for the girls of the higher class. After getting the hairpin ceremony, they would always be kept at home for another two years before being married off. However, for a modern person like Chen Hui, marrying at this age was still too young.
- Girls in ancient China got a hairpin ceremony when they turned fifteen. Their hairstyle would change then, meaning that they were at a marriageable age.
Zheng Rongrong who had always been composed, some shyness also appeared on her face when talking about a future husband. She glanced at Chen Hui and asked, “What kind of husband does Lady Chen want?”
Chen Hui blanked out for a moment. The first person who appeared in her mind was Li Youde, but she didn’t feel that there was something wrong with her first reaction. What kind of husband could she still look for being like this? If she really had time-traveled as a merchant’s daughter, married someone and had children, the husband might support a woman on the outside or take another concubine and she couldn’t question it, otherwise, it would be considered a jealous woman…Thinking about such terrible days, she was about to go crazy.
With such a comparison, her current situation was good enough. If she stayed her whole life in Li residence, doing the things she loves to do happily and eat good, having people to serve her, such a life was better than a miserable life.
“Leave it to fate,” Chen Hui also deliberately said with some shyness and then she threw the question back at Zheng Rongrong, “What about Lady Zheng?”
Zheng Rongrong lowered her head and laughed softly, “Naturally, it is by the parents’ order and on the matchmaker’s word.”
Chen Hui looked once at her, but she didn’t expose her. If Zheng Rongrong was as free and at ease like she said, why bother come to Tanmen Temple to ask for fate in marriage? She probably also has some expectations. After all, to the women of this era, marriage was really for a lifetime.
Afterwards, the three chatted casually and arrived soon at Tanmen Temple.
The road in front of Tanmen Temple was very smooth. So, the carriage didn’t use much effort to come up. However, the weather had not been good enough these past few days. So, they still had to be careful about the wheels slipping. Arriving at the temple safely, the three of them got out of the carriage and found that the front entrance was left in the cold. There were not many people coming in and going out.
Commandery Princess Shuning smiled and said, “Not so many people came today. So great. There was no need to mill about with people.”
“Are there usually many people here?” Chen Hui asked curiously.
Commandery Princess Shuning laughed, “Usually, it is still okay. It was just that there are too many people during festivals. If one was careless, one would be squeezed and fall down the mountain.”
Chen Hui looked back at the road on the mountain. Now, no one could be squeezed to fall down the mountain. However, if one was careless, one might slip all the way downwards.
Thinking about this, she was more careful with her steps and followed everyone into Tanmen Temple.
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