Then, Lin Feilu heard Lin Nianzhi say with a smile, “Didn’t he give you a jade pendant before he left? Do you know what it means for a man to give a woman a jade? I heard Jingruo say some time ago that Xi Xingjiang may return to the capital this year. Perhaps he’s coming back for you?”
Lin Feilu, “?”
She didn’t want to be shocked anymore, so she just answered quietly, “Do you think I would like someone that the eldest Imperial sister looked down on back then?”
Lin Nianzhi, “…Huh, that’s right. Forget it then; he’s not worthy of our Little Fifth Princess whose beauty is capable of sinking fish, making geese drown, closing off the moon’s luminance and embarrassing the flowers.”
Lin Feilu quickly raised another topic, “I heard that the Empress is choosing a Crown Princess for brother Crown Prince.”
In recent years, Lin Nianzhi had often lived outside the palace, so her focus had been on his marriage. She has very little news about the current struggle of the two Imperial princes for the succession of the crown. Hearing this, she nodded, “I also heard that the Right Prime Minister’s granddaughter was chosen. I guess an Imperial Decree for their marriage will be issued soon.”
The Great Lin Empire always had Left and Right Prime Ministers. The Left Prime Minister was the father of Noble Consort Ruan. In those years, the Ruan family’s dominance severely suppressed the Right Prime Minister Si’s faction. It made the Right Prime Minister Si’s faction unable not say anything in the Imperial Court. Throughout the past two years, due to the rivalry between the two factions of the two princes, the Right Prime minister’s faction had taken the opportunity to rise up and gradually tended to fight and hold their own against the Ruan family.
Prime Minister Si’s granddaughter was called Si Miaoran, and she was also a famous woman in the capital. Although Lin Feilu had never met her, she had heard of this woman’s elegance, courteousness, and talents.
Lin Nianzhi chatted about a few rumors that concerned Si Miaoran before she turned around and said, “Seeing that the Crown Prince is about to marry a wife, but the side from Prince Qi(3) is still remaining silent, the Ruan family can really sit comfortably. I don’t know what sort of deity they are trying to select; it’s taking so long.”
(T/N: When the Princes establish their own residence, they will be given a new name. The concept is that since they’re moving, they shouldn’t be only known as the ‘son of the Emperor’ and should have their own identity. Prince Qi is the new form of addressing Prince Lin Ting. Princesses would have it occasionally, but we’re not that far into the story to know yet)
At this point, getting married had nothing to do with personal happiness; it was just a convenient tool used by the families to consolidate their power.
The Ruan family started with that power, so naturally, they could not let Lin Ting marry quickly. However, it was bound to happen within a year or two.
Lin Feilu didn’t want to leave the palace as she was worried about her two brothers, so she quickly turned the topic back to Lin Nianzhi.
Lin Nianzhi, as expected, started to scold Du Jingruo again…
Lin Feilu listened, but she felt that her eldest Imperial sister was becoming more prone to anger after she got married— and this was something tolerated and condoned by Du Jingruo until it became a habit.
Inexplicably, he brought this upon himself.
She stayed until that evening before leaving. Lin Jingyuan was sitting on the carriage outside the residence, looking at the map he had collected today. He was already thinking about how his future residence would be divided into different areas.
As soon as Lin Feilu left the courtyard, she saw Du Jingruo pacing under the afterglow.