Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty
Chapter 544 - 535: Concerns

Chapter 544: Chapter 535: Concerns

By dusk, as Chu Lingxuan and his family were about to go to Anrong Hall, Prince He arrived with the Animal House crew. Since Prince He was living alone in the royal mansion and felt lonely, Qi Qi, Hui Hui, and the Zhui Feng family spent most of their time living there to keep him company. As soon as he finished school today, he returned to the mansion and brought the Animal House crew with him.

As soon as he saw Chu Lingxuan, he stepped forward and saluted, saying with a grin, "Father-in-law, it seems we are bound by fate. Previously, I became your adopted son, and now I am your son-in-law."

Seeing the little Prince He speaking so respectfully, Chu Lingxuan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He had never imagined that Shiyi, the little boy who had been causing him trouble since childhood, would end up becoming his son-in-law.

The young boy in front of him was dressed in a python robe and wore a golden crown. He was handsome, bright-eyed, white-toothed, and rosy-lipped, and incredibly good-looking. He was also the Empress Dowager’s most beloved son and the Emperor’s most beloved younger brother. It was said that the Emperor had bestowed upon him a large mansion, along with countless gold, silver, jewels, and treasures...

Chu Lingxuan said, "Indeed we are intertwined by fate." He then spoke in a grave tone, "Prince He and Yan’er grew up together. You know that she is gentle, kindhearted, and naive without a hint of combat prowess. Chen Afu and I can only trust you with Yan’er."

This being said, Chu Lingxuan was, in fact, still not at ease. Prince He had such a fine situation and so many people were interested in him that Chu Lingxuan feared he may lose his original intention amidst his prosperity and thereby make his daughter suffer. Chen Afu fully trusted him, but Chu Lingxuan dared not to trust him completely.

Despite his young age, Prince He had spent his entire life catering to the whims of others and was able to detect Chu Lingxuan’s underlying concerns. He too responded very seriously, "Rest assure, father-in-law, from a young age, I have always dreaded making my sister cry. I will not allow her to be wronged, nor will I let anyone else wrong her." What he didn’t say was that his mother and sister were the most beautiful women in the world, and also the women he liked the most. Not letting them be wronged had been his wish from a very young age.

Chu Lingxuan was fairly satisfied with his response.

Prince He then greeted Chen Afu and Chu Hanyan as well as his younger siblings, inviting them to dine at the He Royal Mansion during his day off. A new cook had recently arrived at the mansion, and his cooking style was quite special. Everyone chatted and laughed as they headed off to Anrong Hall for dinner.

Chu Lingxuan, who walked at the end of the group, watched as his two younger brothers and little Yu’er chased after their long-lost companions from Animal House, their childlike laughter blending with the barking of dogs to fill the road. Prince He still behaved as he had when he was younger, one hand holding onto Chen Afu’s sleeve, while he called Chu Hanyan to walk on his other side, initially taking her sleeve in his hand, but then gracefully letting it go. The three of them, enveloped in the twilight, smiled and chatted together, much like they had done on their journey from Tang Garden to Fu Garden several years ago.

Seeing this, Chu Lingxuan felt a bit more at ease. Given Prince He’s long-established sibling bond with Yan’er and his mother-son relationship with Afu, as well as his good character, he should not wrong Yan’er, should he?

That night, after Chu Lingxuan and Chen Afu finished their tasks, they lay together talking about their family affairs, including matters regarding Chu Hanyan.

Chen Afu, aware of Chu Lingxuan’s worries, said, "Yan’er is virtuous and kind, and her personality is gentle. I would be uneasy marrying her off to someone who didn’t understand her. But we can’t have her remain unmarried forever, right? If she has to marry someone, Shiyi is the best choice. Shiyi is the boy I raised, he’s a good child, and he has deep feelings for Yan’er. His only drawback is his excellent condition, which has attracted far too many interested parties. As long as he is devoted to Yan’er, now that the Chu family is somewhat trusted by the Emperor, the Emperor, the Empress Dowager, and the Empress will surely not force him to take concubines. What we need to guard against now is some girls using tricks, but luckily everyone close to him is also close to us, and I have already cautioned them. Also, we need to train a few more shrewd servants for Yan’er..."

What she didn’t mention was that if a shameless woman really showed up, they would first have someone deal with her. If they couldn’t handle the woman, then let Jin Yanzi deal with her. Rong Zhao was indeed the eldest daughter of the late emperor, wasn’t she also made to eat humble pie by Jin Yanzi?

Having heard what Chen Afu had to say, Chu Lingxuan was deeply moved. He kissed her on the cheek and said, "It’s all thanks to you that Yan’er is where she is today. You’ve worried more about her than I, her father, has. I’m sorry to put you through that."

Chen Afu laughed, "Yan’er is such a lovely girl, I’ve always treated her as my biological daughter, and she sees me as her birth mother. Our mother-daughter bond is just as strong as my mother-son bond with Shiyi. When she gets married, I will even use my private savings to prepare her dowry..."

The next day, the Emperor hosted a ceremony in the Golden Hall to reward merit, bestowing honors on many key military leaders like Chu Guangkai and Chu Lingxuan. While agreeing to Chu Guangche’s proposal of passing on the title of Marquis Yong’an to his son Chu Lingxuan, the Emperor also bestowed upon Chu Guangche a "Golden Book and Iron Ticket".

In the Golden Hall, among the three men of the Chu family, Chu Guangche had no official position, Chu Guangkai only held an honorary position of First Class Imperial Tutor, and Chu Lingxuan was merely a Second Class military officer. But none of the civil or military officials dared to underestimate these three men, because they all knew that these three men were the most trusted central advisers to the Emperor in his eyes. If anything happened in the court, Chu Guangche’s words would carry the most weight, Chu Guangkai was very likely to be called upon again, and Chu Lingxuan had a great future ahead of him...

That afternoon, imperial decrees were issued to the Chu household, bestowing honorary titles upon the Madam of the Second House and Chen Afu, the Madam of the Marquis Yong’an’s residence. Following Chu Lingxuan’s becoming the youngest Marquis, Chen Afu also became the youngest Madame Marquise.

As Chu Lingxuan became the Marquis Yong’an, he also became the master of this mansion. Chu Guangche became the elder marquis, and the original elder marquis became the elder elder marquis, also known as the "old grandfather".

As soon as the newly appointed elder marquis returned to the mansion, he proposed to move. He would move out of Anrong Hall, and Chu Lingxuan and his wife would move in.

Chu Guangche also had a courtyard in the Outer Court called Jin Court. If he was going to live in the mansion in the future, he would live there. But he would also need a courtyard in the Inner Court, as he harbored a hope that if Mrs. Luo returned, she would also have a place to stay.

At the same time, the members of the second household also started to move. Although the second master was very uncomfortable with all the family property being managed by his son, he had no choice, because the old patriarch and Chu Ling’an had quietly made a record in the yamen. What angered him even more was that among the fifty thousand taels of silver that his household had received, the old patriarch had not given him any pocket money. Moreover, these silvers were divided to Chu Lingqi a total of ten thousand taels, and more than half was spent on buying a large house and some farmland, leaving less than twenty thousand taels. If he wanted to spend a large amount of silver, he would still need the approval of the old patriarch. He was so angry that he could explode, and he could only secretly thrash Chu Ling’an, but there was nothing else he could do.

Madam Li, on the other hand, was very happy that her son was managing the family property. What upset her was that the old master had directly divided up the property among the concubines and given them ten thousand taels of silver, two thousand acres of farmland, a shop, a manor, and numerous utensils and decorations. Had it been up to her, a few thousand taels of silver would have sufficed.

As for the third master and his wife, although they had people tidy up the Xijin Marquis Manor and moved a lot of things into it, they did not rush to move there themselves. The third master felt he spent too little time showing respect to his old father and decided to wait until the latter had completed his move to the love nest reserved for him and his elder brother in the countryside before moving his own household.