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T/N: Thank you patrons for sponsoring this chapter part.
Title: ChongFei Manual
Chapter: 097.1 out of 171
The first day of August was Wei Zheng's first time returning to her parents' home after her wedding.
Although Wei Kun was displeased about this son-in-law, proper etiquette must be followed. He woke up early to wash his face and rinse his mouth, changed into a black robe with a pattern of lotus stems at the border, arrived at the receiving room, saluted Duke Ying and Old Madam, and sat down in an ironwood chair below them.
At this time, there were already many people in the receiving room. The people from the other branches were also here. They were all smiling as they waited for the newlyweds to come.
Around 8am, servants came into the room to say that Prince Ru Yang's family's carriage was here.
A short while later, Li Song and Wei Zheng came into the room together. Li Song was wearing an indigo blue robe with a treasure pattern and black boots. He saluted Duke Ying and Old Madam. He looked very upright and honest. He showed restraint by curbing his hostility. When he faced Wei Kun, he even docilely called him, "Father."
His actions shocked Wei Kun terribly.
Li Song nodded and sat down on one of the nearby chairs.
Next to him, Wei Zheng was wearing a light green muslin top and a light red gauzy skirt. Her hair was up in an immortal-seeking hairstyle with golden mandarin ducks hairpins. Her lips were smiling and her cheeks were pink. She clearly looked very different compared to when she wasn't married yet.Please read from the original source at fuyuneko dot org. It's very discouraging to see people reading from aggregator sites after I spent hours translating.
She was a woman who no longer had her virginity. Her bottom lip was slightly hanging down. There was charming loveliness in her youth and inexperience. Without any effort, her actions were flirtatious. She saluted her elders. One by one, she offered her grandparents tea. "Paternal grandfather, paternal grandmother, please drink tea."
Duke Ying had residual anger towards her. Even after drinking the tea, his face still didn't look good. However, Old Madam Luo-shi's attitude became slightly warmer. She didn't want to make things too uncomfortable, so she patted Wei Zheng's hand and said, "You can sit down. Don't tire yourself out."
Wei Zheng's face stagnated. She quickly nodded and slowly walked toward the chair next to Li Song's. Her body was stiff after she sat down.
After Duke Ying and Old Madam said a few words, they had Li Song and Wei Zheng stay for lunch. Li Song didn't refused.
During the time before lunch, Li Song, Duke Ying, Wei Kun, and the other men stayed in the receiving room. The madams took Wei Zheng to the nearby reception pavilion to talk.
Du-shi wasn't here and the madams didn't feel comfortable with saying too much. They just briefly mentioned how a husband and wife and a daughter-in-law and mother-in-law should get along. They instructed Wei Zheng with the rules for living with her husband's family. Wei Zheng's head was lowered. She didn't reply and seemed preoccupied with her thoughts. First and Fourth Madam knew that her temperament was always like this, so they didn't say anything. Second Madam was already too busy with dealing with the daughter that had been born outside. She didn't have time to be concerned with anyone else. Only Third Madam was a chatterbox. She held Wei Zheng's hand and asked, "How is House Li treating you?"
Wei Zheng's hand was like icy cold. She resisted the urge to take her hand out of Liu-shi's hand. She pursed her lips into a smile and in a relaxed tone, she said, "Elder Princess and Prince Ru Yang treat me very well. Third Aunt, you don't have to worry."
Slightly surprised and reassured, Liu-shi made a sound of acknowledgement before worriedly asked, “Then... How about you and Li Song?"
Without changing her expression, Wei Zheng pulled her hand away. She was worried that Liu-shi would discover that she was trembling. She picked up the white glazed teacup with a rose pattern, took a sip of tea, and smiled as she said, "He's very meticulous towards my daddy. When he heard that daddy hasn't been feeling well lately, he brought along several pieces of ginseng and reishi mushroom when we left the residence this morning." She paused. She was worried that Liu-shi wouldn't believe her, so she blushed to show the appearance of bashfulness. "He treats me well too. Other than occasionally being a bit crude and rough..."
Liu-shi naturally understood the meaning behind her words. She ambiguously smiled and didn't ask any more questions.
Prince Ru Yang was a general. His son practiced martial arts since he was child. How gentle could a military person be? It was understandable if they were slightly crude and rough.
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Around noon, the entire family was sitting at one table in the reception room to eat lunch.
Wei Kun had also called Wei Luo and Chang Hong over here.
Wei Luo and Chang Hong were originally gathering lotus flowers at the lotus pond that was at the back of the residence. Lotus flowers had a strong pigment that could be used to make rouge and lipstick. Chang Hong was rowing the boat at the back while Wei Luo gathered the lotus flowers one by one. After they came out of the lotus pond, their foreheads and the tip of their noses were covered in delicate layer of sweat from the summer heat.
After hearing Jin Lu's words, Wei Luo couldn't help curiously asking, "Why does daddy want us to go over there? Wasn't it fine just to have the elders there?”
Jin Lu held a silk handkerchief out to wipe Wei Luo’s sweat. Before she touched Wei Luo, Wei Chang Hong took the handkerchief. Jin Lu embarrassedly said, "Master said it was just eating to lunch together..."
Wei Chang Hong held the silk handkerchief, wiped the sweat on Wei Luo's face, and said, "Let's go then."
Wei Luo didn't have to time take a bath. She could only put on a pomegranate red outer robe with a stylized mushroom stem pattern before following Chang Hong to the receiving room.
When they arrived at the receiving room, everyone was already sitting down. She saluted Duke Ying and Old Madam.
Fourth Madam Qing-shi gestured her to her side, "Ah Luo and Chang Hong are here. Sit down next Fourth Aunt. Today is your fifth younger sister's first visit home after her wedding. You two should at least see her once..." Then she looked left and right at Wei Luo and exclaimed in surprised, "Where did you two go? Why are you sweating so much?"
Wei Luo lifted her eyes to glance at Li Song and Wei Zheng who were across from them. There wasn't any strong emotion in her eyes when her gaze swept past them. She smilingly curved her eyes when she looked at Qin-shi and replied, "I went to pick lotus flowers with Chang Hong at the back of the residence. Chang Hong was rowing the boat and I was responsible for gathering the flowers. It didn't take long to pick enough flowers to fill half of the prow of the boat. But, the weather was too warm. I was sweating even when I was only slightly moving. I won't go next time. "
Without a better option, Qin-shi could only scold her, "What's the matter with you? It's so hot. Why would you go there? Of course, you're sweating."
Wei Luo's smile was obedient and cute as she said, "Lotus flowers have a very pretty color and can be used to make rouge and lipstick. When Aunty Han makes them, I'll bring extra ones to my aunts. I guarantee that you'll all look ten years younger when using them."
Her words made the mood in the room more cheerful and lively as the various madams smiled.
Seeing that the mood was just right, Qin-shi said to her and Wei Chang Hong, "Chang Hong, you probably met House Li's heir. Ah Luo, have you met him before? This is Prince Ru Yang's heir, he's your brother-in-law."
Wei Luo didn't have a choice. She had to look at Li Song. The smile on her lips slowly faded. She politely greeted him, "Heir."
Li Song didn't smile. His eyes were looking down and she couldn't see his expression or guess his emotion. Even after a long time, he didn't reply.
Qin-shi felt somewhat awkward.
Contrarily, Wei Luo didn't really care. She sat down and continued talking about the advantages of using rouge and lipstick made from lotus flowers. Not much later, the dishes were brought up one and after another. Everyone forgot the recent episode. They waited until Duke Ying picked up the first bite of food before picking up their own chopsticks and started eating.
From beginning to end, Li Song's eyes were looking down. He didn't look across the table even once as if he didn't recognized Wei Luo and never had feelings that he shouldn't have had towards her.