By this ti, it had already been a few days since Jinrong’s grand wedding.
As a prince, Jinrong’s wedding, according to tradition, was to be organized by the Ministry of Rites, with a set of royal ceremonies in place.
Given Qi Younian’s status, it was naturally inappropriate for him to rashly go and disturb the event. He rely sent a customary congratulatory gift, which was not ant to stand out from the rest.
And Ye Xinyan, though her status allowed her to join in the festivities, was a person very aware of her own place. She knew all too well that if she attended the banquet, she would only be seated among the female relatives. At that ti, she might not be there to enjoy the festivities but to add to everyone’s annoyance and find discomfort for herself.
It was His Highness Prince Yu’s day of great joy, where the wedding was elaborately celebrated, obviously aiming for a lively and bustling atmosphere. No matter what, Jinrong was considered one of their own, and it certainly wasn’t appropriate to spoil the mood on such an occasion.
Taking into account Miss Ye’s reputation and popularity, Ye Xinyan decided to spare His Highness Prince Yu and the princess consort any hassle and chose not to add to the strain. The gift was sent all the sa, but she did not attend in person.
However, the giving of gifts, too, ca with its own subtleties. With a touch of malice, Ye Xinyan rummaged through her mother’s stockpile, selecting several precious decorative pieces to send to Prince Yu’s Mansion.
It could be imagined that Han Yufang, upon learning that these items were gifts from Ye Xinyan, would likely not display or appreciate them no matter their quality. Even the thought of them might feel unpleasant.
As for whether Han Yufang would re-gift the items to soone else, Ye Xinyan didn’t fuss over that either. If Han Yufang gave her gifts to important figures or close friends, it would surely irk her to think that others could appreciate sothing from Ye Xinyan.
If they were given to servants or insignificant people, although it might provide so spiteful relief, the repercussions wouldn’t be favorable. People might think the princess consort was foolish or wastefully extravagant with royal possessions, a reputation no princess consort could afford to have.
Giving gifts that could make Han Yufang conflicted and miserable made Ye Xinyan extrely pleased just thinking about it.
Although Jinrong was one of their own, his presumptuous request was still unbearable to her.
"Your Highness, as a small woman in the construction industry, my goal is to make money, not to provide others with convenience when it’s ti to give gifts. As it stands, I can afford to give gold and jade items, but silver is a different matter. Business requires investing funds upfront for operations."
So things are better left unsaid, or rely hinted at. Therefore, Ye Xinyan left the rest unsaid for Jinrong to ponder on his own.
The Qi family’s business was just getting off the ground, much like the Tang family’s gardens, which, although they had advance paynts, still required Guangsha Construction to front part of the cost for materials and workers’ wages.
Where would she find so much spare cash?
Additionally, in order to discreetly set up Guan He’s household without leaving a trace, just the task of gathering the dowry silver for Zi Ning took a considerable toll on her finances. To make matters worse, the shaless Guan He claid all the congratulatory gifts as his own, which indeed compounded her distress imasurably.
Fortunately, Guan He, being soone who did not sche much, had already paid in full for the construction of his own garden, which finally gave her strained finances so relief.
Before Emperor forced Jinrong to engage in state affairs, he too had invested much effort in business. Reflecting for a mont, he understood the ssage behind Ye Xinyan’s words.
He pondered for a mont, "I have so property not far from here, why don’t you go take a look and see what it’s like to build a courtyard there." Jinrong said, recalling the layout of the Guan He garden, "Can you make two more plans for to see if they et my liking?"
"Your prince’s mansion is already a big garden, and the scenery inside is limitless. Even outside the city, Your Highness also has two villas, right? Why build another garden?" Ye Xinyan stared at Jinrong with wide eyes.
Would this guy beco a foolish ruler in the future? He hasn’t done much yet and already started indulging in luxury and pleasure!
Jinrong, as if seeing Ye Xinyan’s astonishnt, said displeasedly, "What is that look in your eyes? Yuyuan Prefecture Prince’s Side Courtyard is my favorite, but I had not had ti to enjoy and experience its beauty before I was summoned back to the capital. Naturally, I can’t move the side courtyard here, all I want is to build a small garden to soothe my mood, is even that not allowed?"
So it’s like that, and it’s a small garden. In that case, it’s understandable.
Ye Xinyan nodded, but then she asked, "Then why didn’t you tell us earlier? If you had spoken up sooner, we could have prepared earlier, couldn’t we?" She didn’t have the talent for gardens and architecture, and although she had seen many beautiful scenes in her past life, those were also quite limited. When it ca to small gardens, she really didn’t have many ready-made ones, and she would need ti to think carefully and see how much she could rember.
Jinrong said sulkily, "Wasn’t I unaware of the different beauty of small gardens before? At that ti, I thought constructing a garden would cost a fortune, so I didn’t want to spend the money."
"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, that’s okay." Ye Xinyan felt much more relieved. At least Jinrong possessed one of the virtues of an emperor. If she helped a foolish ruler to power, even if she didn’t contribute much, she’d feel guilty.
"When will you give the drafts?"
"Ah? You want the drafts now?" She still wanted to go see the railway construction site and take Zheng Pengfei along to familiarize himself with the environnt and the project.
It seed that the trouble was caused by how quickly she had delivered the plans on the previous two occasions. In her forr life, she had never imagined she would be transported to a world of princes and nobles.
Back then, as a bona fide wage earner, she naturally did not covet those vast and richly landscaped gardens of the wealthy. Such gardens, although beautiful, were not sothing modern people could own.
At least, not within her knowledge.
Therefore, she was very fond of small gardens like Yi Garden and Tuisi Garden, and she had made a point of visiting them many tis. She had even created touring routes and rembered the structure of these types of gardens quite clearly.
When Official Tang initially ntioned the size of his estate, Ye Xinyan almost imdiately thought of two such scale gardens. She could practically recite the layouts of those two gardens by heart, which was why she could produce the drafts quickly.
But now Jinrong wanted another small garden. She had already offered the two she was most familiar with, and drawing another one was not going to be so simple. She had to spend ti recalling and patching any gaps before she could replicate another modern garden with a different style.
There was no way she could provide a draft in two days as she had done before.
When Jinrong heard that it would take several days before Ye Xinyan could present drafts, suspicion was apparent in his eyes, "You produced drafts so quickly before, why can’t you do the sa for ? Don’t tell you’re stalling on purpose because you’re afraid I won’t give you silver?"
"What are you thinking?" Ye Xinyan rolled her eyes at him, "Do I, Ye Xinyan, seem like that kind of person? The capital is a place teeming with wealth and nobility. I encouraged my grandfather to co to the capital to open a construction industry, so of course, I had so plans for gardens. The garden for Official Tang was sothing I had thought about a long ti ago, and I only made so adjustnts according to the structure of his estate, so the drafting was quick. Do you think conjuring up a garden is easy? If it were that easy, wouldn’t the whole world be full of beautiful gardens?"
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