Chapter 112: The Beloved Wife in Sight (Part 1)

  Xue Mingrui returned from outside and entered the courtyard, where she saw a woman holding onto the maid beside Ronghua and asking, "Miss, what did the young mistress say?"

  The maid said: "I advise you to go back, if there's anything, madam will naturally call for you."

  The woman still wanted to say something, but the maid lifted her head and saw Xue Mingrui, immediately stepped forward and saluted: "Master Hou has returned."

  The woman reluctantly retreated to one side.

  Xue Mingrui turned his head to glance at the woman, who cautiously lifted her head and saw Xue Mingrui's cold face. She was immediately frightened and shrank back, not even daring to breathe loudly.

  In the house, Ronghua was holding a chess manual and teaching Jinxiu how to play chess.

  Jinxiu deliberated for a moment just as she was about to make her move, looked up and glanced at Ronghua. Ronghua's expression wasn't good, so Jinxiu thought for a while before placing the chess piece elsewhere. Only then did a smile appear on Ronghua's face. In the place where Jinxiu had intended to make her move, Ronghua placed a black chess piece instead.

  Jinxiu took one look and immediately regretted it, "The lady didn't give in to me at all."

  Hearing Chun Yao's voice outside, Rong Hua and Jin Xiu stood up and walked forward to greet him.

  Xue Mingrui went into the dressing room and changed his clothes, then brought out a delicate box he had been holding in his hand.

  Xue Mingrui sat in a chair and took a sip of tea, his eyes falling on Rong Hua's face. "What were you just doing?"

  Ronghua said: "In Master Hou's study, I got this chess manual and was playing chess with the young lady."

  Xue Mingrui glanced at the chessboard on the table, put down his teacup and stood up to take a closer look.

  Rong Hua immediately followed up and said: "There's nothing good to see, it's just playing with Ya Tou."

  Black and white pieces are lined up, "The chess manual from my study?"

  Ronghua nodded, "Yes... just happened to see it, let's take a look..." At first, she read a few pages, but later lost patience.

  "Want to play chess with me?"

  Rong Hua bit her lip and nodded, "Mm-hmm."

  Xue Mingrui took a glance at Rong Hua, who was biting her lip, her big eyes flickering non-stop.

  "Do you play white?"

  She immediately corrected herself, looking embarrassed, "Black chess."

  Although she had made a bad move, it shouldn't be to the point where she would lose this badly. She looked at him expectantly, his slender eyes twitched slightly, and there was a hint of a smile in them.

  "Want another round?"

  She actually likes playing chess, but has never been good at it. In the past, only Yaohua was willing to play with her for a while, "I'm not good at it, you won't mind, will you?"

  Is it just the move that's bad?

  "I'm actually not very good at these things." She explained with a red face, tucking her hair behind her ear.

  After a few moves, she gradually relaxed and went to see Xue Mingrui's expression when she made a move. When he looked at her, she would ask in a low voice: "Is it wrong?"

  He reached out to take a piece from the chess box, "This time it's a good move, I won't interfere with this move, this corner is yours."

  Rong Hua smiled and asked, "Are you going to intervene or not?"

  His chess piece fell elsewhere.

  She was overjoyed, "Then what should I do next?"

  Xue Mingrui used chess pieces to demonstrate for her.

  She smiled and said, "Why don't we just leave it like this"

  They played a complete game of underground chess, and in the end she counted the pieces with great enthusiasm, only to discover that she had lost by one piece, and couldn't help but feel some disappointment.

  Xue Mingrui picked up a piece from the board, "There is still one move left."

  It was originally a draw.

  Rong Hua smiled happily.

  At night, let the maid come in and serve, Xue Mingrui seemed to hand over the box in his hand to Rong Hua casually.

  What does it mean? The gift given to her?

  "Accept the gift from others."

  Ronghua opened it and found that inside was a jade boat carved from a whole piece of green jade, with bi xi and precious stones inlaid on it. Such an expensive gift, I don't know who sent it.

  She remembered going to Mrs. Xue's place and hearing her say that the congratulatory gifts sent over were numerous, with many precious ones being returned by Master Hou. On the boat body, it seemed to be engraved with a few words, Ronghua leaned in under the lamplight to take a look "Same Boat, Shared Fortune", although she knew that most of the congratulatory gifts had special meanings, Ronghua's face still flushed red.

  Two people were lying in bed.

  Ronghua heard Xue Mingrui ask: "Have you ever been to Baidu?"

  "How did you suddenly mention Adu, Yonghua's heart suddenly lit up, 'I haven't been there, I heard the scenery is very good and it's cool in summer.'"

  Xue Mingrui said: "We have an old house on the other side of our home."

  Ronghua smiled and said: "Otherwise, let's make a few more robes for Master Hou. There are still some good materials in the warehouse."

  Her eyes sparkled brightly.

  He didn't need to say anything more, "You handle it"

  Rong Hua smiled with pursed lips.

  ……

  "Second Mistress, Third Master is back." Xue's second mistress suddenly stood up upon hearing this.

  Xue Mingbai said: "Mother, don't worry, I'll go call Third Brother over to apologize to you."

  Madam Xue thought for a moment, and then sat down, "You go and persuade him not to be ungrateful, otherwise in the future even if he begs me, I won't care about him."

  Xue Mingbai hastily said: "Mother, don't be angry, Third Brother knows he's caused trouble and won't dare make a scene again."

  Xue's wife felt relieved upon hearing this and said "Go ahead"

  Xue Mingbai walked out and all the way to Xue Ming'ai's residence, before entering the door, he heard the maid Wenyin in Xue Ming'ai's house comforting, "Third Master, Third Master be careful, don't fall, I'll go get you some tea."

  Xue Ming'ai shouted in the house: "Where is Man'er? Call Man'er to serve, didn't you hear me calling for Man'er?"

  Xue Mingbai lifted the curtain and saw that the room was in a mess, with Xiaoyan busy cleaning up the dirty things on the floor while holding clothes for Xue Mingying to change into.

  Xue Ming'ai, however, was impatient and waved his hand, refusing to take off the dirty robe on his body. Xue Mingbai saw that his younger brother was in this state and couldn't go back to their mother's place, so he coaxed Xue Ming'ai into changing clothes and going to bed before returning to Madam Xue's room again.

  "My third brother is feeling unwell and has gone to bed."

  The maid had already reported back to the second wife that Third Master was drunk and making a scene.

  The second lady coldly said, "A useless thing, still expecting him to be married to Changning Bo, but he became like this for a...".

  Xue Mingbai said: "My son met Chang Ningbo today, and Chang Ningbo asked me to give his regards to grandma."

  The second lady's eyebrows suddenly rose in surprise, "Really?" After thinking for a moment, she sank her face again, "Our family took the initiative to cover up this matter, he must give a good face."

  Xue Mingbai's eyes flickered as he said, "Mother should find a guarantor and go again, it would be better to have Chang Ningbo help build a bridge with the Prince of Zhuang."

  Xue's wife saw her son's expression and asked, "What? Do you think it's settled with the Zhuang family?"

  Xue Mingbai looked around and said in a low voice, "We can't put all our eggs in one basket. Having multiple options is always good, besides, the son thinks highly of Zhuang Qianwang's reputation, everyone says that Zhuang Qianwang's personality is very similar to the Emperor's, maybe...

  "Have you thought about going to the summer resort with the others? Maybe we can get someone to help us out and go along, who knows, there might be a good opportunity. If not, I'll go talk to the old lady."

  Xue Mingbai said: "It's not certain that he will go, Zhuang Qīnwáng has been in poor health these past few days, perhaps he won't be able to follow the emperor...". He then whispered a few words into the second madam's ear.

  "Then you must be careful, this kind of thing can't be taken lightly."

  Xue Mingbai smiled and said, "What does this have to do with his son?"

  Mrs. Xue nodded, "What about your second brother? Will he be going with you?"

  Xue Mingbai snorted: "His current position is very awkward, those above him are sometimes good and sometimes bad to him. Even if he gets a promotion, it's still offending people. If it's good, we'll just borrow some prestige; if not, we'll keep our distance. This time, whether or not to follow along, I'm afraid it's not even on his consideration list. Even if they let him go, it would be just for show."

  Madam Xue felt a sense of satisfaction upon hearing these words, and her discontent slightly dissipated.

  ……

  The next day, the Ministry of Rites came to announce the imperial edict and confer the title of "Wu Mu Hou Fu Ren" ( Duchess of Wu Mu) on Tao Ronghua with a first-class noble rank.

  The Xue family knelt down to pay their respects, and Honghua accepted the imperial edict. The red envelope had the words "Imperial Edict of Enfeoffment: Lady Xue Mingrui, the legitimate wife of Duke Wu Mu" written on it.

  After receiving the imperial edict, Ronghua entered the house and changed into a ceremonial robe. Lady Xue took the imperial edict to the ancestral temple for worship, and then everyone sent it to the Ministry of Rites for safekeeping.

  The entire Xue estate was filled with joy and festivity, the Xue family members all came to congratulate Rong Hua, who sat upright in a chair wearing a ceremonial hat, looking dignified and elegant.

  Xue's wife walked up with a smile on her face, "I should be the first to congratulate my second sister-in-law."

  Mrs. Xue laughed and said: "Since it's a congratulatory visit, you have to bring out the gifts. If you can't bring them out, we won't let you off."

  Everyone knew that Old Lady Xue was joking and they all burst out laughing.

  Xue Er's wife said: "I would be willing to bring out good things, but the good things in this house are all kept by Old Lady, where do we have them?"

  Mrs. Xue feigned anger and said, "I know you all have your eyes on the things in my house, but I won't give them to you, let you be jealous." She then ordered her maid to bring out the gifts that were meant for Rong Hua.

  The maid brought out the gift, and everyone was envious of its beauty.

  A pair of ruby and gemstone inlaid armlets, a "Fu" character gemstone pillow made of pomegranate jade, and an exquisite, palm-sized, hollowed-out, purple sandalwood carved box with intricate designs that had not been opened.

  Mrs. Xue stared intently at the purple sandalwood box, her eyes becoming deep and profound.

  After bustling about for most of the day, Ronghua finally took off her magnificent clothes and lay down on the soft couch to rest for a while.

  Spring Yao hastily entered the house, walked to the soft couch, bent down and said in a low voice: "The eldest lady has asked Chen Mama to come over, and she also brought gifts."

  She knew she had been granted an imperial edict, so why did she come to congratulate?

  "Please come in."

  Madam Chen was led into Ronghua's house, and her eyes were immediately drawn to the First Lady's imperial edict robe that had not been put away in time. The colorful coronet and magnificent attire placed together were exceptionally noble and beautiful. Madam Chen unconsciously became even more respectful, and upon seeing Ronghua, she hurriedly stepped forward to pay her respects. "I've come to offer congratulations to the First Lady. The Eldest Mistress specially instructed me to bring the gift."

  Ronghua smiled and said some polite words, inviting Chen's mother to sit down beside her.

  Madam Chen said, "There's still one more thing I want to tell you, madam. After the Dragon Boat Festival, it'll be Master Lao's birthday. Tomorrow, we'll invite a few ladies over to discuss the arrangements."

  What's going on with Yao Hua?

  Yesterday I had planned to go to Yao Hua, but didn't make it...

  But looking at this chapter name...... Waist flowers can't be less either.

  Advance notice: starting from tomorrow, there will be additional updates.