Bab 25: The First Three Days
Feng Ning felt that her body had been run over by truck.
She knew that her husband is a soldier and had risen to become a general… but isn't his strength too much?
Did he not know how to control his strength?
Some curses floated in Feng Ning's head when she woke up in the morning. She could only look at her husband resentfully but couldn't say anything else. It was her decision back then to take the gamble, so she just had to live with it.
She just hoped that he would not come to her every night.
She was sure that her body wouldn't be able to withstand the torture he brought out.
"Imperial Father and Imperial Mother can wait longer." Lin Zi Xuan looked at his wife beside him. He had woken up earlier and changed clothes first before sitting back down again. "You can take your time to dress up."
Feng Ning only glared at Lin Zi Xuan and motioned for her maidservants to help her up. The bed was usually built facing the wall with the women usually slept in the inside while the men slept at the outside. This was in order to allow the man to leave first without bothering the woman because he had to attend some business.
So when Feng Ning wanted to get out, Lin Zi Xuan moved sideways and sat on the edge of the bed. He watched as Feng Ning moved away to get dressed and laughed lightly.
His wife is shy.
However, he didn't try to tease the young girl and turned his head away. He only looked at Feng Ning again when she was picking her accessory while her maidservants did her hair.
Even though Feng Ning was not the most beautiful female, she was someone who looked attractive. Born in the Imperial Family, it would be rather strange if she was not born to be beautiful.
Once Feng Ning was done, she stood up and looked at Lin Zi Xuan.
He smiled and nodded. "Let's go."
The two of them walked side by side. This was the first time Feng Ning was here, so she carefully followed Lin Zi Xuan's lead. However, she had to say that Lin Zi Xuan's residence was quite good.
He himself rarely stayed here, but the servants always did their job well while waiting for their master's return. Not a single one of them dared to act out of the line as they continued their work.
'A gentleman who's kind?'
Only a fool would believe it.
Just by the way the servants acted had told Feng Ning that the man was someone who was strict in teaching them. The somewhat kind appearance was nothing more than a front that he used when he was in front of some people.
"His Highness Prince Lin Zi Xuan and Her Highness Princess Xing had arrived."
The two of them walked inside and Feng Ning immediately recognized the two of them. One of them was Prince Lin Han Xing who came in the banquet back then while the woman beside him was his second wife.
Concubine Qi was not even present.
It seemed as if Prince Lin Han Xing didn't even want to present her in front of other people.
Though, Feng Ning was not surprised considering that Prince Lin Han Xing had been trying to strengthen his position. He would not want people to keep reminding him of the stain he made when he was still young.
"Lin Zi Xuan greets Imperial Father and Imperial Mother." Lin Zi Xuan cupped his fist while Feng Ning curtsied beside him.
Prince Lin Han Xing laughed when he saw the two of them. At least, one of his descendant was really good to be able to get married to one of the few princesses. It was then he recalled that his second wife was still watching that he coughed and nodded.
They said a few words then the maidservants prepared the tea. Feng Ning proceeded to give the tea to the two of them before they gave her some gifts. It was the custom here and Feng Ning merely followed it.
After it was done, Lin Zi Xuan brought her back to her room. "Imperial Father and Imperial Mother rarely come here. You don't have to head over to their palaces so often either if you don't like them."
Feng Ning shook her head. She took Prince Lin Zi Xuan's left hand and write on top of it.
"How about your mother?"
Prince Lin Zi Xuan looked at the young girl in front of him carefully. After some consideration, he nodded. "I'll take you to see my mother."
Normally, concubine children were not allowed to call their birth mother as 'mother.' It was because only the main wife was the legal wife of the residence. However, Lin Zi Xuan didn't really care about it and still continued to call his own mother as 'mother.'
On the other hand, he called the other person as 'Imperial Mother.'
That was simply to show his stance.
Feng Ning followed Prince Lin Zi Xuan to the secluded courtyard. Looking at the decoration, her eyes deepened, but she didn't change her pace or her expression. Years of practice had allowed her to learn how to control her expression better.
Even if it was not perfect, it was still much better than how she used to be.
"Mother," Prince Lin Zi Xuan called when he reached the residence.
Concubine Qi raised her head when she heard her son's voice. She looked at him and berated the man. "What are you doing here? Today is your second day of marriage. You should spend more time with your wife."
"Mother, Feng Ning is here to see you today." Lin Zi Xuan beckoned for Feng Ning to step forward.
Feng Ning curtsied, but she couldn't speak, so she merely smiled.
"Ah, this must be Princess Xing." Concubine Qi showed a kind smile and patted Feng Ning's hand. "I have been wanting to see you for a long time. Ah Xuan is very lucky to be able to be with you."
Feng Ning took out her writing utensil that she had prepared today and write, "It's my luck to be able to be with Zi Xuan."
Concubine Qi looked happy.
The two of them then continued to talk. Feng Ning thought that Concubine Qi would be quite hard to get along with, but she found out that it was actually the opposite. Moreover, she had noticed that Concubine Qi was not lacking at all in terms of etiquette and knowledge compared to the other noble ladies.
This made her reevaluate the woman in front of her once more.
After some time, Prince Lin Zi Xuan brought Feng Ning back. There was no way he could stay there for a long period of time.
"Zi Xuan, if you want to stay with your mother more, I can go back by myself." Feng Ning wrote in Lin Zi Xuan's palm.
"There's no need for that." Lin Zi Xuan smiled.
Feng Ning watched the man's expression and silently nodded. Since he had said so, she would not press him either.
However, the man was carefully watching the young woman's expression. He had noticed that she seemed to realize something when she was talking with his mother, but she quickly hid it and continued to write as normal.
If he hadn't seen her intelligence when she was 6 years old, he wouldn't think so much.
But he felt that she had noticed something.
'Is it fine for her to know?' Prince Lin Zi Xuan didn't know. He knew that sooner or later, she would know about it since it was already time, but for her to notice about it by herself, he was not exactly ready for that.
Would she ask him something?
But contrary to Lin Zi Xuan's expectation, Feng Ning didn't ask anything and merely asked about her new place to stay. She was asking the name of the buildings, the location, the servants, but none about his mother.
Lin Zi Xuan didn't know what to think.
…
On the third day, the two of them headed to Princess Lin Xie Ya's Residence. It was also the custom for the two of them to go pay a visit to the bride family after three days to pay respect there.
Prime Minister Feng looked at Prince Lin Zi Xuan and cupped his fist. "Your Highness, how about if we have a talk while the ladies spend their time together?"
Prince Lin Zi Xuan nodded.
He didn't mind it either since he didn't have anything to talk with the women in this family. For him, he only came here to make sure that he was acting courteously and to not embarrass himself.
"It seems that you've been well." Princess Lin Xie Ya looked at her daughter and nodded.
Feng Ning could only smile. She was actually very tired because a certain someone kept her awake for a long time. This made her wonder whether he actually had a limit to his stamina or not.
Well, he would probably stop this routine soon.
"Sister, Imperial Cousin will be holding a banquet soon." Feng Zhu Liu looked at her sister. "Would you attend it?"
A banquet?
Feng Ning then recalled the invitation letter she saw yesterday. Well, since it was hosted by her cousin, she better attended for the time being. This would be her first banquet after she got married, then.
"That's great! I heard that Imperial Cousin prepared a lot of new dishes lately. Imperial Brother also didn't want to miss even a single one of her banquet." Princess Feng Zhu Liu shook her head when she recalled her twin's action.
It was actually quite surprising for her that her brother would want to attend their cousin's banquet. But it seemed that he had been wanting to return a lot.
Feng Ning arched her eyebrows.
Princess Lin Mei Ni was someone who was quite ambitious, so Feng Ning didn't think that she would be able to get along with her Imperial Brother that well. After all, Prince Feng Hao Shui was already 12 years old and had started the strict education for him to become the next emperor.
In fact, the Emperor might even point him to become the crown prince soon.
'Would they truly get along well?'
While Feng Ning was a bit confused, she didn't show it on her face. She continued to listen to her mother and sister rambling.
Before she left, she finally saw her brother and felt that he looked a bit strange. He was still young, but his vitality didn't seem to be as strong as it should be. At the same time, he looked rather listless, which was actually a rather strange thing.
'Banquet… Listless…'
Feng Ning thought to herself before looking at her brother.
It seemed that the scheme that Princess Lin Mei Ni made was even bigger than what she thought. Should she interfere?
But recalling the days when even her own brother tried to dig a pit for her… Feng Ning was a bit unwilling to help him.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone