Elder Lady Lu kept praising Zhou Weizhao endlessly. The Crown Princess sighed slightly in her heart, glanced at her sister-in-law, then thought about her maternal family’s intentions. She said softly to Elder Lady Lu: “Sister-in-law, when you return, please persuade Elder Brother to tell Father to abandon this notion.”
Chonghua was good, and the Lu family was indeed her maternal clan, but given the current situation, if she were to find another girl from the Lu family for her son to be Crown Prince Consort, the Crown Prince would probably be the first to make difficulties and show his displeasure. Zhou Weizhao’s days were already very difficult—she didn’t want her son caught between her maternal family and his father, suffering on both sides. Moreover, her son already had someone he liked. Love me, love my dog—although she hadn’t met Song Chuyi many times, she was satisfied with her son’s choice.
Elder Lady Lu’s expression changed slightly. She pressed her lips together and glanced at the Crown Princess. After a long moment, she forced out a trace of a smile: “Chonghua is a good child. Father and your brother’s intention is also to help His Highness…”
“She is indeed a good child—her words, actions, conduct, and bearing are all measured. Just looking at her makes one fond. The family clearly put effort into raising her.” Crown Princess Lu nodded, then changed direction: “But Weizhao’s marriage is not for me to interfere with. Even Mother Empress cannot really make the decision. That incident our family caused back then—His Majesty knows it well. He will never allow another Lu family woman to become Crown Prince Consort. Moreover, three empresses from one family—our family is not the kind of relatives who rise through nepotism. This would be far too greedy.”
Elder Lady Lu’s face flushed red at the Crown Princess’s merciless words. Somewhat flustered, she pulled at the corners of her mouth, forcing an awkward smile: “Your Ladyship…”
Crown Princess Lu shook her head firmly. Looking at Elder Lady Lu, she waited a moment before telling her in an unquestionable tone: “Weizhao is a child with his own opinions. I respect his views. Chonghua—I find her very likeable, but from now on, do not mention such things again, Sister-in-law.”
Elder Lady Lu had no choice but to return home with this embarrassment. When she mentioned it to her husband, her tone was somewhat agitated: “Her Ladyship… she has no such intention. She had already refused in her letter at the time.”
Young Master Lu was already middle-aged, past forty and no longer confused, looking very steady. He kept a circle of beard around his lips. Looking at him, he was a pleasing, handsome man. After listening to Elder Lady Lu’s words, he furrowed his brow slightly: “She’s confused?”
Family members should naturally support each other—what’s wrong with making the relationship even closer?
“I think the Crown Princess is not confused—the confused one is you.” Elder Lady Lu spoke bluntly. Seeing her husband look at her, she wasn’t intimidated. Organizing her thoughts, she said: “The Crown Princess is right. What benefit really came from that incident back then? You insisted on urging Mother to make that match happen, but what advantage did our family ultimately gain? His Highness the Crown Prince simply doesn’t value the Crown Princess, and she’s suffered so much these years. The Crown Prince has always been indifferent toward His Highness. If His Highness were to marry our Chonghua, wouldn’t his situation become even more difficult? And even Chonghua may not necessarily have smooth days.”
To be fair, back then Father-in-law clearly disagreed with Empress’s intention. The old man was so perceptive—he saw early on that the Crown Prince only wanted to compete with Prince Gong in a moment of pride, insisting on obtaining the person Prince Gong had his eye on. He didn’t really like Lady Lu at all. Father-in-law once said that when he couldn’t get her, he wanted to snatch her; but after getting her, he would resent that someone else had once noticed her. Stubborn people generally think this way, but her husband refused to listen, feeling that Prince Gong would eventually have to go to his fief and his prospects weren’t as good as the Crown Prince’s. Elder Lady Lu looked deeply at her husband, feeling somewhat cold in her heart—in his eyes, whether life was good or not didn’t matter much. He never felt that Lady Lu’s current suffering had any part of his responsibility.
But in fact, even though Mother had ultimately made a fuss and forced Lady Lu to agree, the Lu family and her husband gained no benefits anyway. Father-in-law was right—someone as stubborn and suspicious as the Crown Prince would insist on snatching what he couldn’t get, but once he got it, he would resent why this thing was noticed by others in the first place. All these years, his relationship with the Lu family had remained very distant.
She sighed and looked at her husband, earnestly advising him: “Forget it. Her Ladyship makes sense. The Lu family already has one empress and one crown princess. If there’s another crown prince consort, it would be too conspicuous. Is our family one that rose through being imperial relatives?”
Young Master Lu glanced at her and said nothing. After a long while, he asked: “This is Her Ladyship’s intention?”
Elder Lady Lu honestly nodded: “Not only is it Her Ladyship’s intention, I’m afraid it’s also Her Majesty the Empress’s intention. You should let go of this idea. Have you forgotten what Father told you when we came?”
Old Master Lu had never agreed with the Lu family sending another girl into the palace. Elder Lady Lu actually wasn’t very willing to marry her daughter to Zhou Weizhao as Crown Prince Consort either—Zhou Weizhao’s own situation was difficult and his future uncertain. Just look at this assassination attempt.
Young Master Lu raised his eyebrows noncommittally, dropping a line: “Let’s see,” then set aside this matter. He turned to discuss with Lady Lu which families to visit now that they’d come to the capital, and asked her: “Are all the gift lists prepared?”
In previous years, the Lu family always sent a steward to the capital to deliver seasonal gifts to familiar families. This year he himself had returned, so some old friends’ families should also be visited. Moreover, the Lu family also had clan relatives serving as capital officials in the capital. Since they’d come to the capital, they should naturally visit them.
These had all been carefully listed before entering the capital. Elder Lady Lu nodded: “Everything is properly prepared. Should we first send people to deliver the gift lists to each family?”
With just over ten days until Mid-Autumn Festival, the gifts should have been sent earlier anyway. It was also a way of letting people know they’d come to the capital. Young Master Lu nodded: “You distribute these families’ festival gifts and have people deliver them. Our own household also needs to be organized—guests will gradually start coming to visit.”
The news that Young Master Lu had brought his whole family to the capital, along with the rewards from Her Majesty the Empress and the Crown Princess, quickly spread through the capital’s noble families. The Lu family hadn’t been in the capital for many years. Now suddenly returning and bringing their daughter, everyone couldn’t help but have their own thoughts.
Even Consort Fan couldn’t help but laugh coldly: “This abacus calculation is quite clever—two sisters serving one husband, wishing her son could monopolize all the advantages.”
Although the Lu family wasn’t what it used to be and their title had been stripped, Emperor Jianzhang still had old feelings for them after all. Besides, the title was only temporarily stripped. If it were restored someday, for a family with deep roots and lush leaves like the Lu family, rising again would be an extremely easy matter.