The Duke mansion.
As the capital got colder, the citizens quickly adjusted their lifestyles to suit the weather. The light sumr clothes were switched for ticker clothes and the cold dishes were removed from the food nu. The fall of the Shi family resulted in a few changes in the power dynamics in the capital as officials began the compete for the position of Pri Minister.
The only family uninvolved in the competition was the Lu family and the Zhu family. They both understood that the position of Pri Minister was only beautiful on the outside but in reality, was deadly. Lu Yaozhu a Lu Yingjie sat in on the political struggles to nurse their wounds.
After a few days in the mansion, Su Liya had fallen into the habit of taking walks in the garden beside her courtyard. She had never understood the obsession of won born in ancient tis taking walks while watching historical dramas and reading historical novels until she was stuck in one.
She had discovered how charming these walks were after being stuck indoors for days. She had gotten tired of lying about in her rooms all day when Baozhai suggested taking a walk. She had yawned for the nth ti while lying by her side on a cushioned recliner at the balcony at the side of the pavilion.
Su Liya held her hand to her mouth and looked down at the overly familiar scenery in front of her. She rolled her body to the side, sighed loudly and rested on her back. She locked eyes with the wooden roof and shoot her eyes. Baozhai who stood by the side, bit her lip gently as she noticed her mistress's obvious boredom.
No one enjoyed being stuck indoors, every day, Most especially her mistress who had gotten used to moving around while at Ningzhuo. She looked over the balcony thoughtfully, head tilted as she silently considers her solutions before properly making a decision.
She ca forward to stand by Su Liya's ears and said in a soft tone, "Mistress if you are not so tired, we can take a turn of the gardens to stretch out muscles and get out of the house".
Su Liya opened her eye quickly and sat up, " You had at taking a turn". She turned to the side, dropped her lag at the side and put her feet in her flat shoes on the ground. "I am set, let us go for stroll ladies" She stood and ran out the door. Baozhai and Rong Rong ran after her.
They caught up with her as she was by the door leading outside the Pavillion. Su Liya looked behind her expectantly, "finally, what took you so long. Let us go". She grabbed their hands and ran forward. The three ladies looked like the Embodint of the statent running into the sunset.
"Bs careful when running, you must not get injured or the general will have my hide. Slow down your highness", Baozhai cautioned as they ran. Su Liya chuckled and slowed down just outside the pavilion. She let go of their hands, breathing heavily.
They walked towards the garden after catching their breath and strolled through the garden. The garden wasn't so big but just a small kilotre of land that separated her Pavillion from the main pavilion. At the centre of the garden was a peach blossom tree next to a small fish pond.
Su Liya picked up the fish feed next to the bond and sprinkled a few pieces of fish in the pond. It wasn't good to overfeed these species of fish so she threw only a few pieces of feed. She watched the little fishes swim around the pond, the contrast between their natural colour and the water was quite the sight.
It truly encompassed the beauty of nature, she looked at the natural art piece longingly while wishing she had a phone to take a picture of such a sight. She moved on minutes and walked down the stone pathway opposite the pond, which led to Lu Yaozhu's pavilion.
They had only stayed roughly two months at the duke's mansion before moving to Ningzhuo. It wasn't long enough for them to get close enough to visit each other in their rooms. Since she had nothing much to do Su Liya decided to visit Lu Yaozhu.
She was curious how his Pavillion looked since there were maids in charge of cleaning. It would be neat and not just the ssy man cave, most of her female classmates complained about during break tis in between classes. There was a saying that you can tell a lot about a person by seeing their space.
Su Liya continued forward with a small smile on her face, the first thing he noticed was that his courtyard had more male servants than maids. Most of the maids were stationed outside, at the courtyard as mbers of the cleaning crew. There was a montary silence as she walked in, ever since their marriage tho was her first visit.
As she walked in, the maids lined up in front of her and paid their respects. She nodded and dismissed them, she t Yu Tao on the steps leading into the Pavillion. Yu Tao briskly walked out of the room, holding a brown paper box of dicine with both arms. He stopped in the middle as he saw her co up and bowed with both had held the dicine up in front of him.
"Your Highness," he said.
"Yu Tao-ge, it has been a while", she glanced at the dicine bag in his hands. "You must be going to brew so dicine for the general, why don't you give that to . I will handle that" she smiled sweetly at him.
Yu Tao grew up with Lu Yaozhu and was best at reading his thoughts. He knew of his master's do fondness for the princess, he didn't see anything wrong with letting her do this. His master had locked himself in for days to avoid her finding out the full extent of his injuries. A decision that he as a childhood friend didn't support because it won't help to bring the couple closer.
"Alright, then I will leave it to you", he handed the dicine bag over to Rong Rong who walked forward to collect it. He bowed one last ti before retreating to the side room.
Su Liya glanced at the dicine bag and smiled then instructed "we need to go to the kitchen, Rong Rong ask a maid to lead us to the kitchen".
"Yes, mistress" she nodded and walked down the stairs. She spoke with one of the outside maids, after saying a few words. The maid followed her up the stairs, after saluting Su Liya she escorted them to the small kitchen behind the Pavillion.
The maid left once they arrived, leaving Su Liya with her maids. Rong Rong started the fire and put the hot water on fire. She proceeded to set up everything for brewing the dicine before stepping aside for Su Liya to move forward. Su Liya unwrapped the paper bag and poured a potion into a plate.
So Minutes later Su Liya walked out of the kitchen with a tray of dicine. She walked in front while Baozhai Followed her behind with a small white bowl of hot dicine and a spoon. Before going into the room, Rong Rong, who had rushed out to get so sweets while the water for the tea boiled, ca back with a small plate is sweet.
Su Liya was surprised when she placed a tray of sweets next to the bowl of dicine. Rong Rong hadn't said much before leaving so she didn't expect this. She looked from the plate of sweet to the bowl of dicine and finally to Rong Rong with a raised brow.
"Don't tell the general cannot handle bitter dicine!" When she didn't get a refute from Rong Rong she rolled her eyes, "seriously, what a baby. He can't take bitter Chinese dicine but was okay with making take them. See if I don't make him suffer for that" she picked up the plate of sweet and handed it back to her. "He doesn't get a single sweet until I am satisfied with his punishnt. That man had taking bowls of dicine continuously for days!"
Baozhai chuckled when she heard that, she had heard her mistress complain nonstop every day she was forced to drink that bowl of replenishing soup back at Ningzhuo. The princess always promised to pay the General in kind every single ti. This must be her way of getting even with him.
She smiled at Rong Rong, who had a stupified expression and signalled her to keep silent and just follow their mistress. Her mistress was too soft-hearted to follow her plan for long, she just wanted to vent for a few minutes. If her mistress wanted to make due on her threat, she would have ordered them to keep the plate away but she didn't and instead ordered Rong Rong to hold on to the plate of sweets until she asked for it.
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