Chapter 627: Spring Hunt (3)
Chu Lian and He Changdi’s new residence, the newly named Anyuan Estate, was close to Prince Wei’s Estate. It was only about fifteen minutes via horse carriage. For walking, it would also take about fifteen minutes when taking a shortcut.
Thus, Royal Princess Duanjia was excited about Chu Lian’s move, and even Prince and Princess Wei were very happy about this.
On the second day after Chu Lian moved into her new residence, she sent out invitations to her close friends to invite them for a housewarming.
Invitations were sent out to Princess Wei, Royal Princess Duanjia, Lady Yang, Old Duchess Zheng, House Ying’s Madam Rong, and more.
The lively celebration lasted for most of the day.
At this time, Manager Qin returned from the northern border with his men. The shopfront on Zhuque Avenue that He Changdi had given her was in the middle of renovations. It was expected to be ready for business in about half a month.
At the end of April, the emperor suddenly announced his plans for a spring hunt at the outskirts of the city.
The palace worked swiftly. The list of attendees for the spring hunt was confirmed in just three days.
That evening, He Changdi left work earlier and returned home to tell Chu Lian about the spring hunt.
The Anyuan Estate was located close to Prince Wei’s Estate, so Chu Lian didn’t really need He Changdi to inform her about the spring hunt. She had already heard the news from Princess Wei.
Chu Lian knew how to ride a horse, but she didn’t know anything about hunting, let along archery. It would be considered pretty good if her arrow could even land on the target…
However, during dinner, He Changdi told her that her name was on the list of attendees for the spring hunt…
Chu Lian set down her chopsticks and exclaimed in shock. She curiously asked, “Weren’t the officials prohibited from bringing their wives and daughters to the spring hunt in past years?”
There was nothing she could do there even she went. Was she simply going for a sightseeing trip while the others went hunting?
When she thought of that scenario, Chu Lian was speechless to the point that she wanted to roll her eyes.
Although He Changdi also felt it was strange, the invitees for the spring hunt had already been confirmed. Thus, it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to reject the offer in front of the emperor by himself.
He Changdi picked up some blanched lettuce and placed it into her bowl.
For some reason, Chu Lian really liked to eat vegetarian dishes recently. On the contrary, she didn’t really want to eat meat dishes because the greasy taste made her feel sick.
She watched as He Sanlang picked up the vibrant green lettuce for her, and then obediently ate it.
He Changdi continued speaking in his pleasant voice, “This time, all ranked noble ladies of the imperial family are on the list. The emperor bestowed the title of Honoured Lady Jinyi upon you, so it’s not that surprising for your name to be on the list.”
Chu Lian nodded. After much deliberation, that seemed to be the only reasonable explanation.
This seemed to be the case when she looked at the list. Royal Princess Duanjia, Feudal Princess Anmin, and Imperial Princess Leyao were all on the list of attendees for the spring hunt this time.
While they were eating, Chu Lian suddenly thought of a matter, “Why isn’t there any news regarding my fifth sister’s wedding?”
He Changdi didn’t expect her to mention that matter out of the blue.
When the couple had talked about this before, He Changdi had even mentioned that Xiao Bojian and Miss Su were engaged. It was originally a matter that was already decided on. However, there seemed to be some unexpected changes in the situation because there hadn’t been any news regarding their wedding up until now.
He Sanlang shook his head, “I’ll send someone to look into it later.”
Chu Lian could only drop the topic for now.
She was growing even more cautious of Xiao Bojian inside. She had the feeling that it had been too peaceful recently. It felt as if Xiao Bojian was holding back a big move. As time went by, Chu Lian was becoming more and more unsettled.
On the second day of May, the Chengping Emperor set off for the spring hunt with his entourage of officials in tow.
All the attendees had to gather at the plaza in front of the palace’s main entrance to greet the emperor. After that, they would set off together. Separate carriages had been arranged to transport the supplies that each household brought along. The carriages would follow behind the procession and arrive two to four hours later.
The spring hunt was to last for three days and two nights. On the way back, they were even going to take a detour to a temporary imperial residence for a short stay. There was a hot spring in the imperial residence, so everyone who was attending this year’s spring hunt would get a chance to experience the imperial family’s hot spring.
The Chengping Emperor was to stay overnight at the imperial residence with everyone, and then return to the palace on the next day.
Thus, the entire trip was planned to last for four to five days.
Chu Lian and He Changdi woke up early this morning.
Since they were going to participate in the spring hunt, Princess Wei had specially ordered several sets of riding attire for Royal Princess Duanjia and Chu Lian.
Chu Lian and Royal Princess Duanjia had three sets of clothing respectively. Chu Lian had already tried them on when they were sent to the Anyuan Estate.
The first set was red and silver, the second one was light yellow, and the last set was cherry-blossom coloured.
Although Chu Lian didn’t have a tall stature, she had good proportions and a nice figure. The red riding attire that she was wearing today was even more figure-hugging than her usual attire.
Her hairstyle was changed to a more simplified style for convenience as she would be riding a horse. She didn’t wear any hairpins, but a thin silver-chained ruby headdress hung in front of her forehead.
There were two small hair ornaments with pink pearl inlays on both sides of her hair bun. Chu Lian didn’t wear earrings, so two small ear-piercings can be seen on her fair earlobes.
Wenqing and Wenlan were worried that Third Young Madam would be cold. Although it was already May, they found a brocade cloak of the same colour for her to wear.
On her feet, she wore a pair of exquisite deerskin boots. The simple and practical female riding attire complemented her figure well. Chu Lian appeared more refreshing and gallant today, especially when she looked up with an unrestrained smile on her small face. She was like a radiant sunflower that people were reluctant to look away from.
He Sanlang was unexpectedly dazzled by his own wife.
