The wedding of Fourteenth Prince had been held long ago—it was a grand affair.
Among the Emperor’s many princes, Fourteenth Prince was considered favored, and was even more beloved by Noble Consort De. Wanyan Shi came from a high background—her father both held a title and was Vice Minister of Rites.
Her dowry was also extremely generous, even more than her elder sister-in-law by marriage, Ulanara Shi. It must be said that when the number of trunks in her dowry came out, it caused quite a bit of discussion. Although the various princes only needed to be mindful not to exceed the Crown Princess’s dowry and didn’t need to worry too much about other things, disregarding even one’s own brother indeed made it easy for people to gossip.
Ying Yu’s dowry had taken into consideration how many trunks the elder sister-in-law ahead of her had. For the sake of future family harmony and prosperity, they had specifically reduced it by two trunks.
Now Luo Yu was the same as Ying Yu. Ulanara Shi’s dowry was one hundred and eight trunks, so Luo Yu’s dowry was reduced by two trunks to make the number one hundred and six.
To avoid being too conspicuous, many items weren’t displayed openly, but those who should know still knew.
When Fourth Prince received the dowry list of his Ce Fujin, he couldn’t help but twitch at the corner of his brow.
Too generous! The settling-in silver the Imperial Father gave them was actually less than his Ce Fujin’s dowry?!
It truly left him with complex feelings.
However, thinking again, how many princes and princesses did Imperial Father have? No matter how grand the family fortune, one couldn’t squander like this. The Lin family was different—one reason was they had few children, and their ancestors’ family wealth was richly accumulated. Another was that Concubine Yun—her abilities were truly rare.
Fourth Prince recalled the information he had gathered. His Ce Fujin’s birth mother, Yun Shi, was exceptional at cultivating flowers and plants. A considerable portion of the Ce Fujin’s dowry was earned this way. Just by opening one shop while her husband was in office, she had such savings—more than what ordinary wealthy merchants accumulated over several generations.
One had to praise her natural talent in this field.
Moreover, she also had ingenious ideas, and most importantly, these ingenious ideas could become reality.
Sun-drying seawater to make salt was proposed by her. This was a great merit that could allow more common people to afford and eat salt.
If not for the separation between men and women, and that their statuses weren’t suitable, Fourth Prince really wanted to meet her and seek her advice.
However… there probably wasn’t no opportunity.
Right now the task wasn’t completed yet. When the task was completed, that would be the time to reward merit. Presumably Imperial Father wouldn’t be stingy. Thinking of this, Fourth Prince’s satisfaction with this marriage increased a bit more.
Before welcoming the bride, there was a step called displaying the trousseau. As the name suggested, displaying the dowry to let everyone know how generous the new bride’s dowry was, so people wouldn’t dare look down on her.
When the Lin family sent the dowry over and displayed it, both Ulanara Shi and Li Shi were present. Looking at the dowry that filled the entire small courtyard, they were shocked at heart.
The dowry totaled one hundred and six trunks, but compared to ordinary trunks and cases, the Lin family’s were about half larger. Calculating this way, if she converted them to ordinary trunks, it could probably make one hundred fifty to sixty trunks.
What was displayed wasn’t even everything, after all, the bottom-of-the-trunk silver wouldn’t be brought out. But this was already enough to greatly shock them.
Especially Li Shi—looking at this generous dowry, her expression was quite spectacular, not to mention the other concubines.
A woman’s confidence came from her maternal family, her dowry, her children, and the man’s love. This Lin Ce Fujin had more than enough of the first two sources of confidence.
Song Gege was pregnant and about to give birth soon. She didn’t join this excitement, only having a maid describe it. After hearing it, she didn’t move for a long time, then slowly raised her hand to touch her belly.
Those things weren’t important. What was important was the little prince in her belly. As long as he could be born safely, it would make her happier than possessing so much dowry herself.
Yun Shuyao didn’t approve of women marrying out so early, but some situations could be delayed while others couldn’t.
When her daughter accepted it herself, Yun Shuyao couldn’t act rashly.
Fortunately, she had been carefully nurturing her all along. Luo Yu’s body had already developed, and the New Year was coming soon—once the New Year passed, she would be sixteen.
But Yun Shuyao hoped she wouldn’t get pregnant and give birth so quickly. If the mother’s body was too young and hadn’t finished developing, childbirth wouldn’t be easy.
As for using medicine for contraception—forget about it. Not to mention that all medicines have some toxicity, if it were discovered, under the concept of many children bringing many blessings, who knew what people would think. However, there were some methods that could be tried to avoid it, such as safe periods and unsafe periods, as well as corresponding measures after the act.
When listening to these things, Luo Yu’s face burned so hot it could almost fry an egg.
“Mother, stop talking…”
Her mother could draw. To teach her these things, her mother had personally drawn some vivid pictures to instruct her. It was truly mortifying.
She didn’t know where to put her eyes.
Yun Shuyao saw her embarrassment and only smiled.
People of their country from ancient times to now had always been strict about this aspect. Young men and women lacked adequate education and were too embarrassed to bring it up. In reality, men and women were the same in this—both had desires, both had times when they wanted release. Men could enjoy it, so naturally women could enjoy it too. Moreover, harmony between men and women in this aspect was very beneficial for cultivating feelings.
So seeing her daughter’s shyness, Yun Shuyao let her take a breather, then had her continue listening.
Luo Yu: “…”
That entire evening, the heat on her face never subsided.
Although shy, Luo Yu still listened attentively with a proper attitude. Mother and Father’s relationship had always been harmonious—these should all be Mother’s words of experience. She also wanted to manage her own life well.
Regarding not getting pregnant and giving birth too quickly, Luo Yu also knew about this. She had also studied medicine and had her own understanding, just inevitably felt anxious. Moreover, even if she hoped for it that way, she didn’t know if it would be effective. There was also her life in Fourth Prince’s residence—she didn’t know what it would be like. Even without Fourth Prince’s favor, she still had her rank. As for the future… Luo Yu still remembered her original intention for willingly going to Fourth Prince’s residence.
She was a Ce Fujin who could be entered into the Imperial Jade Genealogy, appointed by the Emperor himself. Even if it didn’t work out, it probably wouldn’t be too difficult, right?
Luo Yu mentally went through the Fourth Fujin, as well as Li Gege who was currently at the height of power in the rear courtyard, and Song Shi who was about to give birth. She felt somewhat reassured.
Fourth Prince valued rules.
This was a characteristic Luo Yu liked very much. Without rules, nothing could be accomplished. Rules were constraints, but also protection.
What Old Madam said to Luo Yu was the opposite. She believed getting pregnant and giving birth as soon as possible was best, because currently Fourth Prince’s residence lacked sons.
The only two sons now were both born to that Li Gege. Her arrogance was soaring, and it was believed that if Luo Yu hadn’t entered the residence, that Li Gege being elevated to Ce Fujin wouldn’t be surprising. But now her own granddaughter had been appointed by marriage to Fourth Prince’s residence. In Li Gege’s view, this was stealing her position. According to what Old Madam had people inquire about her character, it would be strange if she didn’t make things difficult for her granddaughter.
There was also Niuhuru Shi who had entered Fourth Prince’s residence two months before her. That one’s father’s official position was indeed somewhat lower, but she was Manchu, and moreover from a prominent Manchu clan, which was also an advantage in Fourth Prince’s residence.
Not to mention Fujin Ulanara Shi. Although she currently had no biological children of her own, she and Fourth Prince had many years of affection, and over all these years she had made no mistakes. She was the legitimate wife—all children born to others had to call her legitimate mother. Even without children, her position was secure.
If Luo Yu gave birth to children as soon as possible, whether male or female, it would allow her to better take root and integrate.
Moreover, the reason the Emperor was paying attention to Fourth Prince’s inner residence was precisely because of the issue of heirs.
Old Madam didn’t force her granddaughter to get pregnant quickly after entering, but she had analyzed everything from start to finish. The meaning in her words was just this.
Luo Yu listened quietly. What Grandmother said wasn’t without reason—it was just that the emphasis was different. Actually, it was all for her own good. She knew this.
Thinking of this, though Luo Yu didn’t like to shed tears, her eyes moistened. Elder sister had married out. Among the girls at home, only Third Younger Sister would accompany Grandmother afterward. By Mother’s side, there was only younger brother.
Elder sister was at the Xilin Gioro family—returning at intervals, as long as it wasn’t too frequent, no one would say anything. But she herself was entering Fourth Prince’s residence. How many opportunities she would have to leave the residence in the future, she didn’t know. She saw that Fourth Fujin and the others didn’t return to their maternal homes many times—she didn’t know if they chose this themselves or if Fourth Prince had requirements.
The day before marrying out, Old Madam also took a booklet and explained things to Luo Yu. Luo Yu looked at these blurry pictures where one couldn’t quite make out the intimate scenes. Luo Yu: “…”
This was really far inferior to what Mother drew. Mother’s made her blush and her heart race when she looked at them. Now looking at these, not only did she not blush, she even wanted to laugh a little.
Old Madam saw her expression and knew she had already seen them before. She smiled and glanced at her. “Mine can be forgotten, but if you look at them together with someone else, remember to blush.”
With whom else would she look at them?
Naturally Fourth Prince. This time Luo Yu’s face reddened.
On the day of welcoming the bride, similar to Da Chun, Fourth Prince also rode a tall horse to welcome the bride.
The protocol for welcoming a Ce Fujin was one level lower than welcoming a Fujin, yet it was still more grand than the previous occasion. More people came too, mainly because there were many more with yellow and red girdles.
Concubine Mei watched, and the bitterness in her heart was beyond description. If not for Old Madam, with her daughter’s fine appearance, entering the imperial family would absolutely be no problem. It was just… the possibility of being a legitimate wife was indeed not high.
In the end, it was her bad luck. If she could have borne a son to give her daughter support, the one appointed by marriage might have been her daughter. Children born in the future would also be dragon sons and dragon grandsons. For a lifetime without doing anything, there would be no need to worry.
Grandmother Jia also came. The entire Jia household’s masters all mobilized. Seeing this scene and thinking of the dowry Luo Yu had sent over in advance, her thoughts of matching Daiyu with Baoyu became even more determined. Or rather, this notion had only vaguely been an idea before, but now had completely taken shape.
Pairing the two jade children together would both write off what had happened between the two families in the past and help Baoyu gain the Lin family’s support, allowing him to better establish his footing in court in the future. Two birds with one stone!
As for the current low probability of success, that was fine too. The two jade children were still young—there was still a long time before they reached the age to discuss marriage.
Could that old hag from the Lin family live that long?
Not necessarily.
Although Grandmother Jia had previously suffered one stroke, afterward she had been very careful with her health. She felt confident she could live to that time.