Lord Yan’s Mansion was what was scribbled on the board at the gate. The words were not written by the King, but by the head of the Ministry of Rites.
Normally, it should be the King who wrote the board for a lord’s mansion, or at least the Empress Dowager or some very respected people from noble families. The calligraphy had to be meaningful, so that it could be called the name for a lord’s mansion.
For example, Lord Huai’s Mansion.
The board was written by General Jiang, who was the Queen’s father and who had made many achievements on the battlefields. So it was totally reasonable when he wrote the words.
And the board by Lord Ling’s Mansion was written by the King, which was a great honor for the lord.
Even the board of Lord Yu’s Mansion was written by the Queen, though the Empress Dowager was not interested and the King had no intention.
However, Lord Yan’s Mansion….
It seemed that only boards that were not good enough for the mansion were written on by the Head of the Ministry of Rites.
Zhou Huaiyan was thinking that if the Head of the Ministry of Rites was not present when the proposal was made, he might not have been able to get qualified enough to receive a board with written characters. Maybe it would have been someone from the Ministry of Rites who scribbled and got it done.
Zhou Huaiyan was very unconvinced.
What was the King doing to bring him back just so that he could be humiliated? Then he sighed.
The humiliation was okay, as long as he was able to be back in the capital. It was always better than at the border. He had not lived the life of a man, let alone as a prince. He had led a life worse than an officer of a county. There was no meaning of living.
Now all that came to the end.
He had his title, and he had his own mansion in the capital. His Princess Consort and his child would have a place to reside.
Good, good.
He should be satisfied with what he got.
That was how Zhou Huaiyan kept persuading himself.
He had a few sparks in his eyes.
Zhou Huaijin and Gu Chaoyan got out of the wagon and saw Zhou Huaiyan staring at his own mansion and his facial expressions kept changing.
“Brother,” Zhou Huaijin called.
Zhou Huaiyan was very startled when he heard a voice. He turned around and saw Zhou Huaijin and Gu Chaoyan.
He had not yet realized who it was.
After a moment, he understood what was going on.
“Oh it is you, Eighth Brother.” Zhou Huaiyan replied calmly.
He and Zhou Huaijin did not have a very close relationship, but they never had a bad one either.
He had been living at the border and had no knowledge of what was going on in the capital, let alone with his brothers.
However, since his Eighth Brother was here… Zhou Huaiyan still replied and said, “Eighth Brother, let’s go in and talk.”
Zhou Huaijin nodded and asked his men to bring some stuff over.
Zhou Huaijin walked and said, “Sister-in-law is still not back in the capital yet, and you are here alone, so I brought Chaoyan to cheer you up.”
Zhou Huaiyan nodded. He looked very baffled, but he said nothing more.
It took them a while before a maid came to serve the tea when they went into the mansion.
That was because Lord Yan’s Mansion did not have enough servants, following the rules.
However, in other mansions…
