Chu Lian knew that Royal Princess Duanjia was going to come early today, so she was in the middle of cooking some chicken porridge for the princess!
She ordered Xiyan to make more crystal buns since Royal Princess Duanjia liked them, and then retreated from the kitchen back to her bedroom to change into another outfit.
Right after she finished changing, she heard some noise from Songtao Court’s entrance.
Royal Princess Duanjia immediately told Chu Lian all about what had happened to her just now, giving Chu Lian a huge fright. How lucky that Second Brother had come back to the estate at the right time. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been good if Royal Princess Duanjia had really fallen.
She instructed Wenqing and Wenlan to bring Royal Princess Duanjia to another room to wash up a little and change out of her clothes before the two of them sat down to have breakfast.
Royal Princess Duanjia pouted. “Chu Liu, I missed the chance to watch you cook for me again.”
Chu Lian rolled her eyes speechlessly. “Princess, isn’t it good enough if you get to eat the results of my cooking? Why do you want to watch me cook? Don’t tell me that you’re trying to learn how to cook yourself? If you want to learn how to cook, it’s easy enough. I’ll just write out some of my recipes for you and you can get one of your estate’s cooks to teach you.”
Royal Princess Duanjia quickly shook her head. “I’m not trying to learn how to cook. That’s too troublesome. If I want to eat something good, I’ll just come look for you. Anyway, I can come at any time and you’ll cook for me regardless, right, Chu Liu?”
“Then why do you want to watch me cook?”
“I’m just curious! I want to see how you made all these delicacies step by step.”
Chu Lian didn’t know what to say at all about Royal Princess Duanjia’s strange liking.
Royal Princess Duanjia suddenly reached out with her chopsticks and pointed at the ‘crystal buns’ and ‘crystal dumplings’ in front of her. “Chu Liu, you haven’t made these for He Sanlang to eat before, have you?”
Chu Lian wasn’t sure why Royal Princess Duanjia had suddenly asked such a question, but she shook her head honestly.
Strictly speaking, it seemed like He Changdi had only eaten her wontons and scallion pancakes before? Uh… and that beef jerky she had sent.
Now that she thought about it, he really hadn’t eaten much of her cooking.
“Hahaha…” Royal Princess Duanjia suddenly burst out into laughter, even holding onto her stomach.
Chu Lian tapped the jade bowl in front of her. “Princess, are you going to eat or not? If you’re not going to eat this, I’ll let the maidservants clear it away.”
Royal Princess Duanjia quickly covered the bowl full of chicken porridge protectively and shook her head. “No, don’t clear it! I haven’t even eaten enough! Chu Liu, I just suddenly thought that He Sanlang is rather pitiful, hahaha! He actually hasn’t tasted such delicious buns before!”
Chu Lian glanced at Royal Princess Duanjia helplessly. She was clearly reveling in someone else’s misfortune. Who would laugh like that if they were pitying others’ circumstances?
It wasn’t until Royal Princess Duanjia had filled up her tummy that she let the maidservants clear away the dishes on the table and ordered two cups of honey water.
Royal Princess Duanjia held up the white porcelain teacup with both hands. “Chu Liu, the rankings for the autumn examinations are already out. Take a guess at who the top three are?”
Chu Lian stiffened. She hadn’t expected the rankings to have come out so quickly. When she remembered that Xiao Bojian had been the top scholar for the autumn examinations in the story, her mood turned sour.
She half-heartedly replied, “Scholars from the imperial college?”
Royal Princess Duanjia didn’t notice Chu Lian’s sudden change of mood. She nodded and continued, “That’s right. Other than the second placed scholar, the first and third placed scholars all came from the Imperial College. The top scholar this time is the Imperial College’s Xiao Bojian. Speaking of which, you should know of him. He’s one of your grandfather’s pupils and he’s even been living in the Ying Estate.”
Chu Lian completely missed whatever Royal Princess Duanjia said after she heard that Xiao Bojian had gotten the first place in the examinations. Her heart seemed to quiver as she thought about the events in the later part of the book. As optimistic as she was, Chu Lian couldn’t help but frown.
“Chu Liu, Chu Liu. What’s wrong? Are you listening to me?”
Chu Lian was dragged back to reality by Royal Princess Duanjia. “Ah? What did you say, Your Highness?”
Royal Princess Duanjia cast a measuring gaze towards Chu Lian. “Chu Liu, what’s happened to you? You seem a little absentminded.”
“It’s nothing. My spirit hasn’t been too good these few days, perhaps due to how busy I’ve been.”
Royal Princess Duanjia could tell that Chu Lian wasn’t willing to talk about it, so she simply repeated the question she had just asked. “What kind of gift did you prepare for Countess Jing’an? When I arrived at Songtao Court just now, a few of your maidservants were chatting and saying that your eldest sister-in-law’s going to give the Countess a hundred-year-old ginseng! He Sanlang isn’t around, so you can’t let her beat you!”
“There’s nothing to compare.”
“No way, I just don’t like that eldest sister-in-law of yours. Look at how fragile and gentle she’s acting. You must be getting bullied by her often here! This won’t do! I’ll send someone back to my estate to bring a two-hundred-year-old red ginseng over!”
The corner of Xiyan’s eyes twitched as she listened to this conversation and she sighed in her heart. With Third Young Madam’s temperament, how could she possibly get bullied? If anyone actually dared to bully her, she would return it eye for eye on the spot.
“There’s no need for that! I’ve already prepared my gift.”
After saying so, Chu Lian sent Xiyan into her room to bring out an accessory case to let Royal Princess Duanjia have a look.
“This headdress is for Princess Wei. Your Highness, help me bring it back to her. I’ll also be giving my mother a pearl headdress, just in a different style and with different materials. However, I personally designed both of these and ordered a master craftsman from Jinshi Pavilion to make them both.”
Royal Princess Duanjia opened up the case, revealing an elegant pearl headdress within. Its design was novel and exquisite. Even the accessories from the palace couldn’t compare to this. She said sourly, “Chu Liu, don’t tell me that my mother has a higher position in your heart than I do?”
Chu Lian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She could only bring out another small box. “Here, I prepared this for you. It’s a pink pearl bracelet, also designed by me. I have a matching bracelet.”
It was only after seeing the bracelet that Royal Princess Duanjia’s mood lifted. She immediately put it on her slender wrist and showed it off to Chu Lian.
Actually, there wasn’t any special meaning behind Chu Lian’s gifts. She only felt that she had to give them something in return, especially since Princess Wei would bestow some rewards to her each time she visited Prince Wei’s Estate. Princess Wei was her elder too, so it wasn’t good for her to keep receiving gifts from her without an appropriate return gift. It was already pretty late to be giving her a return gift at this time.
Princess Wei treated her very well. She could even tell that Princess Wei looked at her with the same loving gaze she would look at Royal Princess Duanjia with.
