Page 1067

However, her kindness was unlike that of Yao Hanai and others; theirs was either to humiliate or to ingratiate themselves. But her intention was purely to be kind to her so that once married, they could live together without strained sister-in-law relations.

Yet such words she truly could not utter, knowing that if she did speak them aloud, it would certainly make Lin Yuan sad.

Seeing Tian Hui’s hesitance and struggle to find the right words, Lin Yuan felt a touch of amusement. This young girl, though not foolish, was indeed too honest, and a casual remark from her had flummoxed her.

"Alright, sister, don’t fret about it," Lin Yuan burst out laughing, wrapped her arm around hers and pulled her to a chair nearby, saying with a smile, "Sister, you will be my elder sister-in-law in the future, and if nothing unexpected happens, we will be family.

You naturally should be kind to me, right? "

Tian Hui bit her lip and nodded vigorously: "Yes, we are family, and I should indeed be kind to you."

Looking into Lin Yuan’s genuinely smiling eyes, Tian Hui felt a profound fondness from the bottom of her heart.

However, there was something Lin Yuan wasn’t quite clear on, so she started discussing it with Tian Hui: "Isn’t tomorrow the fifteenth of the first month? I remember everyone gathers together on this day, so why has Miss Yao set the date for the sixteenth?"

While flipping through the fabric samples brought by the Embroiderer of Red Smoke Pavilion for Lin Yuan and her sisters to see, Tian Hui explained with a laugh, "Sister, as a newcomer to the Capital city, there’s something you don’t know.

Our emperor hosts a palace banquet every year on the fifteenth day of the first month, and all the capital officials of rank will attend with their families.

Not just Miss Yao, I, and even the princess and Xia Zheng, will have to go to the palace. "

Xia Zheng also has to go to the palace?

Lin Yuan paused in her perusal of the fabric samples, suddenly feeling an unexpected jolt in her heart.

Xiao Linshuang was enthusiastically wrapping the beautiful fabric around herself and, hearing Tian Hui’s words, blurted out instinctively, "Brother-in-law is also going to the palace? Isn’t he confined in the ancestral temple? He definitely cannot go!"

Tian Hui shook her head with amusement, "You little imp, how did you know he was locked up?"

After finishing her words, she turned to Lin Yuan and reassured, "Don’t worry, he spends almost half of the year in the ancestral temple.

Don’t think the general is strict with him; he actually cares deeply for him.

Dong Qing secretly brings him food and drinks; how could the general not know?

He just turns a blind eye, as he can’t really let Ah Zheng suffer in the temple. "

Tian Hui smiled, leaned in close, and winked mysteriously, "At first, I was worried about Ah Zheng, but it’s always strangely amusing how every time he comes out after being confined for several days, he seems to have gained some weight. I even sneakily asked him once, guess what he told me?"

"What?" Lin Yuan, infected by Tian Hui’s mood, couldn’t help but ask curiously.

Tian Hui snorted in laughter, half angry and half amused, "He said that the ancestors of the Xia family showed their spirit and sent him Jade dew nectar from the Heavenly court to drink every day, and that he was eating flat peaches and the dew that queens consume every day, naturally causing him to gain weight! "

At this, Tian Hui couldn’t help but huff, frustrated yet powerless, "This kid, he still treats me like a three-year-old, always fooling me! I really don’t know what’s so great about him; there are so many young ladies in the Capital city who are breaking their heads trying to marry him—cough, cough, sister, don’t think too much about it, Ah Zheng has always ignored those women, you shouldn’t be upset! "

Accidentally, Tian Hui had blurted out some tacit secrets of the capital and hastened to apologize to Lin Yuan with extra care.

Lin Yuan couldn’t suppress a smirk; while inwardly noting this woman’s simplicity, she commented nonchalantly, "It doesn’t matter, I’m already aware of these things."

"You know about them?" Tian Hui was taken aback.

Lin Yuan nodded, "Yes, indeed, it’s precisely because I am aware that I have come to the Capital city. I intend to confront those women face to face, letting them understand that Xia Zheng is my man, and they already have no chance; they had better stand aside!"

What was a very casual jest unexpectedly sparked a look of admiration in Tian Hui’s eyes.

She grasped Lin Yuan’s hands tightly, feeling somewhat excited as she spoke, "Yuanyuan, you are so formidable!

Unlike me, who is soft-hearted and unsure how to face those women with ulterior motives.

In the end, I still need to rely on the princess to stand up for me.

If only I were as assertive as you, Brother Zhen would certainly start seeing me in a new light. "