novelraw Chapter 481 - 456 Pei Shenyan’s Accomplishment (2)
Chapter 481 - 456 Pei Shenyan’s Accomplishment (2)
With the approval of Prince Luling and his wife, the Great Princess happily went to find Pei Shenyan.
She stood outside the bedroom door and politely knocked, "Pei Shenyan, I need to talk to you."
Hearing her voice, Pei Shenyan, who had been resting with his eyes closed, suddenly perked up and immediately opened his eyes.
"Fusheng, help me sit up."
However, his valet was not happy for him to meet the Great Princess and pouted, reluctantly helping him sit up.
"Come in, the door’s open," Pei Shenyan said towards the door after sitting properly.
The Great Princess pushed the door open, and the valet just called out "Miss Li" before leaving.
"Have a seat." Pei Shenyan pointed to the stool in front of the bed and smiled at her.
The Great Princess glanced at him and sat down on the stool.
"I just talked to my parents," the Great Princess said.
Pei Shenyan nervously clutched the quilt and stared at her unblinkingly, "What... did they say?"
"They agreed." The Great Princess nodded.
Pei Shenyan’s expression relaxed, "I’ll go pay my respects to them later. Even though our marriage is fake, it’s all for outsiders to see, we still have to follow the proper etiquette. I have no mother, my father doesn’t manage my affairs, and my grandmother is not around to offer advice. I’ll have to ask Uncle Li and Aunt Li about some of the etiquette."
The Great Princess was indifferent, "Alright, you can ask them."
"Good." Pei Shenyan smiled, looking down at the Great Princess’s hand, wanting to hold it but not daring to.
His hand moved slightly towards hers, but he gave up.
"You rest well, I have to go prepare the wedding dress." The Great Princess stood up.
"Okay, you go ahead." Pei Shenyan raised his hand and waved at the Great Princess.
The Great Princess looked at him and left the room.
Listening to her footsteps gradually fade away, the smile on Pei Shenyan’s lips deepened.
The valet Pei Fusheng walked into the room, "Young Master, do you really want to marry Miss Li?"
Sigh, it seems Miss Li doesn’t like their young master.
"Yes, we’ll return this afternoon to prepare the bridal chamber." Pei Shenyan lifted the quilt, "Fusheng, bring me my clothes, I’m going to greet Mr. and Mrs. Li."
Pei Fusheng grumbled, "But it seems like Miss Li doesn’t like you."
"In time, she will naturally come to like me." Pei Shenyan sat up and got out of bed.
The valet looked at him in surprise, "She doesn’t like you, it wouldn’t be much fun after the marriage."
Is his young master out of his mind?
Marrying a girl who doesn’t like him?
Sleeping with a log at night? That’d be worse than sleeping alone.
The valet couldn’t understand.
"There’s plenty of interesting things, you just haven’t discovered them." Pei Shenyan tapped the valet’s forehead, "I told you to bring me my clothes, why are you saying so much?"
"Yes, Young Master." The valet shook his head and took a robe from the clothes rack for Pei Shenyan.
Pei Shenyan dressed quickly.
He continued talking without stopping his hands, "Fusheng, regardless of Miss Li’s attitude towards me, after our marriage, she will be your mistress, and you must call her young mistress. Do not show her any cold face, understand?"
"I got it——" the valet Pei Fusheng drawled.
Pei Shenyan dressed properly and, accompanied by the valet, went to the North Courtyard Main House to meet Prince Luling and his wife.
"Father-in-law, mother-in-law, please accept a bow from your son-in-law." Pei Shenyan lifted his robe and knelt in front of Prince Luling and his wife.
The Princess Consort was at a loss for words, simply saying, "You may rise."
There was none of the joyful feeling of marrying off one’s daughter.
Prince Luling was his usual kind and courteous self, helping Pei Shenyan up, "You’re in poor health and still recovering, no need for bowing, stand and talk."
"Thank you, father-in-law and mother-in-law." Pei Shenyan stood up and bowed to the two elders before sitting down in the lower seat.
"Yu Wen just spoke to us, and we..." Prince Luling glanced at the Princess Consort, "In the past, we wouldn’t have married off our daughter like this, but the situation is different now, we have no choice."
The implication was that the couple didn’t quite agree with Pei Shenyan and the Great Princess’s marriage.
But due to the circumstances, they had no choice but to agree.
First, preserve your life, everything else is secondary.
How could Pei Shenyan not understand what they were implying?
He didn’t beat around the bush and said directly, "I understand, given my situation, I am not a match for Miss Yu Wen, but are there any young men in these villages better than me?"
He looked at Prince Luling and his wife.
The two were taken aback by the question.
Although Pei Shenyan said he had cut ties with Prime Minister Pei, and indeed he had, the father and son had not contacted each other for over ten years.
But Prime Minister Pei did not represent the entire Pei family; it was Old Mrs. Pei who held power in the family.
And Old Mrs. Pei favored Pei Shenyan.
In that sense, although Pei Shenyan lived in a village in the countryside, he still belonged to a prominent family.
He was indeed better than all the unmarried men in the nearby villages.
Princess Consort Luling said, "We don’t look down on your status. Our younger daughter Yuzhu is engaged to Mu Yuanxiu, who is still an orphan from the mountains. What we mean is..."
She pressed her lips together, not continuing.
Pei Shenyan said, "It’s because of my health, isn’t it? I told Miss Yu Wen that I am not long for this world. If I die, she can remarry immediately. Rather than marrying someone else and wasting most of her life, marrying me would only waste two or three years. Moreover, we are not really getting married; it’s a sham marriage, just a formality. We’ll appear to live together but not share a room."
He spoke so openly that it startled Prince Luling and his wife, who were speaking hesitantly.
"You... you... is that what you think?" Princess Consort Luling looked at him in surprise.
She felt embarrassed; wasn’t this taking advantage of him?
"This isn’t fair to you," Prince Luling shook his head, "we don’t want to exploit you."
Pei Shenyan, however, smiled slightly, "But I am willing to help Miss Yu Wen. In my short life, I feel it’s worthwhile to help someone."
Princess Consort Luling didn’t know what to say. She asked Prince Luling, "My lord, what do you think..."
Prince Luling thought for a moment, then nodded at Pei Shenyan, "Alright, then, we won’t oppose it. Consider it fulfilling your wish."
Pei Shenyan was overjoyed. He stood up and respectfully bowed to the couple, "Thank you, father-in-law and mother-in-law, for granting this."
"You are not well, go back and rest early. As for the wedding arrangements, I’ll ask the village chief to help. There’s no need for you to manage them," Prince Luling said, "The specific date is to be determined. Once the matter with our second daughter is settled, I’ll inform you. It won’t be too late."
"Yes, Shenyan remembers," Pei Shenyan replied, feeling relieved in his heart.
After he left, Princess Consort Luling sighed deeply, "I really didn’t expect Pei Shenyan to think this way." She frowned, looking at Prince Luling, "Is this really okay?"
"Each of them comes not to discuss but to deliver a notice, clearly having made their decisions," he shook his head, "Aside from our second daughter, aren’t all the children in our family headstrong?"
Speaking of the second daughter, Princess Consort Luling really began to worry, "Yu En’s matter, this is indeed a big issue."
She is a simple-minded girl!
The second daughter isn’t unattractive, has a good personality, and never quarreled with others, yet no one likes her.
She couldn’t believe that no one liked the second daughter; it must be that the second daughter didn’t understand the feelings between men and women.
Princess Consort Luling felt it was necessary to talk to her daughter about the feelings between men and women.
"Our second child will take her to the market this afternoon. Let’s discuss the next arrangements when they return. Don’t worry; worrying won’t help," Prince Luling comforted her.
Princess Consort Luling nodded, "Alright, that’s all we can do." She could only comfort herself in this way.
.
A big thing happened at home, but Chai Eying was unaware, firstly because everyone kept it well hidden, and secondly because Li Xingmao said that the weather was cold recently, either windy or rainy and snowy, and since Chai Eying was heavily pregnant, she should go out as little as possible to avoid accidents. With not going out, she did not hear any outside news.
The two parrot-like kids were also managed well by Li Xingmao; they didn’t leave the South Courtyard and stayed inside to chat with Chai Eying to relieve her boredom.
The three meals of the day were all brought to their South Courtyard by Li Xingmao for the four of them to eat together as a family.
The others still ate in the kitchen as usual.
Even Pei Shenyan joined them.
Mu Yuanxiu returned to Niu Tou Mountain after having lunch at the Li Family.
Li Yuzhu followed him, saying she wanted to help design their new house.
The two were together every day now, and Princess Consort Luling didn’t stop them, letting them go.
If it were in the Capital, men and women couldn’t associate before marriage, but now, in the countryside, they had already adopted local customs.
Engaged couples in the village could come and go together without the villagers gossiping.
For example, Mr. Song’s granddaughter Song Jinxiu and Chen the Third, the two got engaged a few days ago. Chen the Third went to Mr. Song’s house every day to help with work, and when villagers saw him, they greeted him and didn’t find it improper.