CHAPTER 167: CHAPTER 167: CHOOSING A HUSBAND (2)

Nanny Jiang closed the door and said with a smile, "Of course it will work out. Miss’s illness has completely healed, she is talented and can read and write, and she looks good. Our young master cannot possibly make an inappropriate match for her, can he?"

Miss Chai thought about the broken engagement and felt downhearted.

"But I have no parents. Good families would look down upon me as an orphan, and I wouldn’t fancy families that are too poor," Miss Chai sighed.

Nanny Jiang hurried to comfort her, "Miss is still young, only sixteen, we can take our time in choosing a husband."

Miss Chai sighed again, "I know."

Nanny Jiang said, "When the young master comes back, I’ll talk to him about you and have him take more walks in the county to see if there is anyone suitable."

The county?

She did not want to marry into the county; she felt that the village was nice enough.

But if Nanny Jiang knew her thoughts, she would surely say, "Taohua River Village is but a small place with less than a hundred households, where could there be a suitable good man? You have to find one elsewhere."

...

Li Yuzhu and the Princely Heir returned home.

The Princely Heir returned to his South Courtyard House, and showed the picture book to Guoguo. As expected, little Guoguo clapped her hands and laughed with joy.

"Just enjoy looking at it, don’t cry anymore." The Princely Heir pinched her little ear.

Guoguo looked up at the Princely Heir, grinned, and then lowered her head to continue looking at the picture book.

She was so focused that she looked like an adult.

"Can she understand what you’re saying?" the Xue Family raised her eyebrow.

The Princely Heir squatted in front of Guoguo, seriously studying her face, "I think she understands."

"Hard to believe!" the Xue Family snorted softly.

.

Li Yuzhu walked toward the north room.

In the north room.

The Princess Consort Luling and Prince Luling had not yet slept, and Li Jing was causing a fuss in their room.

The little guy was much noisier than Guoguo.

Sometimes he played with the pushcart toy given by Mu Yuanxiu, rumbling and creaking, even knocking chairs askew.

Sometimes he flipped through the picture book.

He turned the pages randomly, tearing several pages.

Prince Luling was using a small tea stove and an old clay basin to cook paste, intending to mend the picture book that Li Jing had torn.

"Li Jing! Destroying books is a wasteful act!" Prince Luling stirred the paste in the clay basin with a small spoon, stirring and scolding the wastrel grandson with each turn.

The Princess Consort was sitting under the lamp, sewing a summer shirt for Prince Luling.

She couldn’t help but say, "You’ve scolded him for ages, is it necessary? He’s only two years old! Wasteful? I think you’re the real wastrel old man!"

"How am I wasteful? I’ve lived almost fifty years without ruining a single book. My nanny always said I cherished books like my own life," Prince Luling puffed his beard.

The Princess Consort sneered, "Sure, you didn’t ruin books, but you ruined the family’s status! Turning a perfectly good Prince into a villager, you’re really something!"

Mentioning his demotion, Prince Luling would absolutely never admit fault.

He even felt that his actions were very "heroic," having once told his sons that he would definitely go down in history after his death.

Because he was not afraid of imperial power and was determined to correct the Emperor’s misconduct.

"I was correcting the Emperor’s misconduct. I wasn’t fooling around," Prince Luling retorted indignantly.

The Princess Consort sneered, "That was the Emperor, do you think he’d listen to your correction? Besides, he only conferred a few beauties a few concubines, what’s your problem with that? He’s twenty already and hasn’t had a single Prince born! He’s anxious, and he was even jealous of our eldest. When our eldest was his age, Jingjing was already born. Of course, he’d widely collect women to extend his lineage."

Prince Luling continued puffing his beard, exclaiming, "Do I care that he’s gathering women? The more sons he has, the happier I’d be! What I care about is that he was shamelessly engaging in acts with the concubines under the flowering branches of the Imperial Garden in broad daylight..." Conduct meant for the bedroom!

And it was even witnessed by several ministers on the spot!

He felt ashamed for the emperor nephew!

Prince Luling was so angry he couldn’t speak further.

"Father, what are you talking about?" Li Yuzhu walked into the main room, asking with a smile.

She saw that her parents were bickering again in this lifetime.

Their parents were family friends, and they were childhood sweethearts.

After twenty-five years of marriage, instead of growing more affectionate, they grew more disdainful.

But strangely, throughout Prince Luling’s life, he only had the Princess Consort.

He was extremely disdainful of the Princess Consort, yet wouldn’t take another woman.

The Princess Consort once jokingly said to send him a few women, scaring him into a shiver.

Is this the legendary henpecked husband?

Watching them, Li Yuzhu stifled a laugh.

"Ah, nothing much to say." Prince Luling let out a breath, almost saying something inappropriate for daughters to hear.

Princess Consort Luling pointed to what Prince Luling was busy with, "He’s boiling paste to fix the books that Jingjing tore, muttering about Jingjing being wasteful while doing it."

Li Jing blinked his eyes, "Aunt, what’s being wasteful mean?"

"It’s... doing bad things that end up ruining the home, leaving no place to live, wandering on the streets." Li Yuzhu pinched his little nose and said with a smile.

Li Jing thought for a moment and pointed to the roof overhead, "Is this our home?"

Li Yuzhu nodded, "This is our current home, the house we’re living in now."

Li Jing said, "Grandpa just said I’m wasteful, but the house is here, the home is here, so I haven’t been wasteful."

Princess Consort Luling, "..."

Prince Luling, "..."

Li Yuzhu, "..." This child’s explanation... brilliant! She said with a smile, "Right, Jingjing hasn’t been wasteful, Grandpa’s just joking, don’t take it seriously."

"Grandma said Grandpa was wasteful, right, Aunt?" Li Jing asked, "I remember, I lived in a big house, a really big house with lots and lots of people there, that house was ruined by Grandpa, wasn’t it?"

Li Yuzhu, "..." Will telling the truth get her hit by Prince Luling? "Seems... like it."

"Then Grandpa’s the wasteful one."

Li Yuzhu’s mouth twitched, this kid really dares to speak!

Don’t you want your butt anymore?

Princess Consort Luling clapped her hands, "Good Jingjing, you’re right!"

Prince Luling was so angry his face turned black, he grabbed a feather duster to hit his grandson, "You little rascal, go to your dad!"

Li Jing pulled up his legs and ran, "Grandpa is wasteful, Jingjing is not—" shouting as he ran.

Prince Luling huffed, "Little rascal!"

Li Yuzhu chuckled, "Father, what are you arguing with Jingjing for? He’s only two years old!"

"Hmph, when I was two, I was way smarter than him!" Prince Luling huffed and went back to fixing the book.

"Your father is just idle." Princess Consort Luling said with a mix of laughter and annoyance, she looked at Li Yuzhu, "Why are you back so late? Did you meet with your elder brother?"

"Yes, Elder Brother came to the village to pick me up." Li Yuzhu smiled and said, "Big Sister’s family invited me to dinner, so I got back a bit late."

Princess Consort Luling was surprised, "Her family invited you for dinner? Why?"

"Big Sister is expecting." Li Yuzhu said with a smile.

Princess Consort Luling was also delighted, "That child has really turned the corner."

.

Days quietly passed by.

Life for the Li Family was peaceful and warm.

The Second Princess’s cake business was getting better each time.

The Second Young Master and Li Xing’an took turns accompanying her, taking turns setting up stalls at the local markets in the two towns.

The Great Princess and the Xue Family were still digging up their medicinal herbs.

Recently, they’ve had good luck, dug up some valuable ones, each getting more than a tael of silver.

The fish baskets were managed alternately by Li Xing’an and the Second Young Master, with twelve fish baskets, yielding harvests every day.

The two of them went to the local market every other day to deliver aquatic products, each time bringing back several hundred coins, sometimes even earning a tael.

They were so happy.

The Princely Heir was managing the farmland they were opening up.

Once the weeds were cleared, the Princely Heir asked the village chief to measure the land, totaling twenty-five acres.

However, the village chief only registered ten acres, leaving fifteen acres unrecorded.

"You’ve just started developing, it’s hard to say how much of this land will become fertile, I’ll temporarily register half for now." The village chief said.

The Princely Heir understood his approach, it was to help his family pay less tax.

However, if everyone in the country evades taxes like this, would there still be money in the national treasury?

Seeing the Princely Heir in thought, the village chief waved his hand with a smile, "Do you think I’m favoring your family? I’m doing it fairly."

The Princely Heir looked at him, listening intently.

The village chief pointed to the wasteland and said, "Look over there, this was originally wasteland, not a bit of fertile soil. It’s uncertain how much of the crops will actually grow. If I stubbornly registered all of it honestly. It would be the county government’s gain, but your family would suffer. If only five out of the twenty-five acres grew crops, but I registered twenty-five acres, you’d have to pay taxes on twenty-five acres at year’s end, Li Family’s eldest son, would your days be manageable then?"

The Princely Heir suddenly realized, "Village chief, I truly admire you."

The village chief waved his hand with a smile, "I’m just a small village chief, doing such small deeds every year, what’s there to admire? Don’t flatter me."