The Crown Prince Chases His Wife

Chapter 21          Housewarming (2/2)

The atmosphere was a bit hot and stuffy at this moment, with the maids of the two princesses fanning their fans. Second Prince Feng Xian also took out a jade folding fan from his waist and fanned it slowly.

Shen Ying also opened a bamboo fan, ready to drive away the heat for Qin Yan.

Feng Yuyao’s eyes lit up when she saw it, “Shen Ying, your master has drawn a new fan? Show me quickly.”

Since it was just a small gadget, Qin Yan didn’t say anything to stop it, and Shen Ying handed the folding fan to Feng Yuyao.

Feng Yuyao opened the fan, looked at both sides carefully, and clicked her tongue.

“Yanyan, your painting skills have improved again. How about giving me this fan? I’ll exchange it with you.”

Feng Yuyao shoved her original round fan to Shen Ying.

“I don’t care, I’m taking it.”

Qin Yan glanced faintly at the feminine round fan in Feng Yuyao’s hand that came from the supervisor of the Minor Treasure in the palace.

Feng Zhan just glanced at the folding fan in Feng Yuyao’s hand, and the word “Drunken Mountain” was written boldly and powerfully in the inconspicuous corner of the fan.

Was that written by Qin Yan? Didn’t she say that the people in the mansion were uneducated?

——

Qin Yan was a little tired in the afternoon, and it was not easy to drive away guests directly, so she said tactfully, “There are guest rooms in the mansion, everyone can choose one of their own to rest.”

“Yanyan, I have a courtyard, I don’t need a guest room, oh.” Feng Yuyao said proudly.

“Princess of Zhaoren, then I’ll trouble you.” Second Prince Feng Xian was not polite. If there was no progress in his relationship with Qin Yan, he would not leave.

Feng Yunchao looked at Taizi Feng Zhan. Feng Zhan was about to take his leave when thunder suddenly rolled through the air, and the sky instantly became dark.

It was drizzling, then the big raindrops fell instantly.

It seemed that the host didn’t intend to keep the guests, but it was Heaven’s will.

Everyone immediately entered the bamboo house next to the stone platform to take shelter from the rain.

The bamboo house had only one floor, but it was still bright and spacious. The house was built on stilts with a few steps. There were several rattan chairs in the house. Everyone patted the small amount of rain on their bodies, and then each found a rattan chair to sit down and rest, waiting for the rain to stop.

Ji Nanfeng asked the maids to smoke mugwort leaves and wormwood in every corner of the house to repel mosquitoes.

At this time, the rain was getting heavier. The heavy downpour hit the bamboo house and the rain flowed down the eaves like a waterfall.

Feng Yuyao looked at a square bamboo table with wooden cards on it, and asked suspiciously, “Yanyan, what is this?”

Qin Yan replied in a low voice, “Horse tag*.”

(Horse tag* – one of the ancient Chinese card games)

“How do you play this?” Feng Yuyao seemed to be a little interested, and she was idle anyway.

Qin Yan saw that Feng Yuyao apparently wanted to play. She was also interested, and her sleepiness was gone. She hadn’t played cards for a long time, and her hands were itchy. It was raining hard and they were trapped here, so how about playing a round?

“How about we pay the horse tag with the Yizhou method? It’s very interesting!” Qin Yan urged everyone in the bamboo house.

“You don’t know?” Qin Yan looked around, and everyone was puzzled.

Yes, how could the princes and princesses know these street playthings? Qin Yan smiled.

“Mister Ji, Shen Ying, Shen Ci, let’s play a few rounds to demonstrate to the nobles. You can learn from it.”

The heavy downpour trapped everyone here, and they had no other choice but to let the host Qin Yan make arrangements.

After playing for four rounds, Qin Yan managed to close all three houses by herself. Qin Yan was smiling happily, “Who of you will try it?”

Feng Yuyao was also intrigued, “Me, me.”

Second Prince Feng Xian also sat down, “I’ll do one too.”

Feng Yunchao was not interested in such mundane things, and she looked at Taizi Feng Zhan.

Feng Zhan frowned and was slightly surprised.

This Qin Yan was able to enter into such mundane affairs in an instant from the elegance of just now.

Feng Zhan got up and walked to the card table and sat across from Qin Yan.

“Come, come, come. Mister Ji gives out the chips.” Qin Yan had been a different person since she sat at the card table.

Feng Yuyao sat above Qin Yan, and Second Prince Feng Xian sat below Qin Yan.

Shen Ci went to the soft couch under the south window of the bamboo house, resting his head on a rattan pillow, listening to the sound of rain, and lying down for a nap.

Feng Yunchao sat next to Feng Zhan and watched from the sidelines.

In the rain, the maids with raincoats and bamboo hats brought sour plum soup.

One Taizi, one Prince, one Princess, and one Princess of Zhaoren were playing horse tag in a bamboo house in the rainy woods.

In the first few rounds, Qin Yan took the lead, but after that, Taizi Feng Zhan gradually got to the point, where he and Qin Yan almost came to a draw.

Second Prince Feng Xian kept feeding Qin Yan with cards, and he was not happy to lose. Feng Yuyao felt that she was playing by herself, and the more she played, the more irritated she became.

In the end, the host Qin Yan won the game.

“One chip is one tael of silver. Your Highness Taizi lost two taels to me, Second Prince two hundred and fifty taels, and Yuyao six hundred taels. Please send someone to deliver it to my mansion on another day.” Qin Yan counted the winning chips in her hands with a smiling expression.

“No, Yanyan. Do you want to collect this kind of money?” Feng Yuyao grimaced, she didn’t have fun and yet lose money.

“There is a saying that there is no father and son on the card table. One thing belongs to one thing, can’t be confused. Xiao Yuyao, I will invite you to see the Western Regions dancer another day with the money I won!” Qin Yan was in a good mood.

Feng Zhan, who was sitting opposite Qin Yan, leaned back on the bamboo chair, narrowed his long and narrow eyes, and the corners of his lips were slightly hooked. He looked at the woman opposite who was counting chips brightly and ostentatiously at the card table and had changed from her usual lazy appearance.

Was this really the powerful woman who managed Gu City and ran the Mulan Horse Farm with great abilities?

——

The summer thunderstorm came and went suddenly. The heavy rain stopped at shenshi*.

(shenshi* – 3 pm – 5 pm)

The breeze blew. The wind brought some earthy smell, mixed with the smell of grass, as well as the fragrance of pine branches and wildflowers, which were brewing in the slightly humid air.

At sunset, the birds sought refuge in the forest and flew around the green mountains, but the evening clouds didn’t delay the guests.

Everyone returned happily.

——

That night at the Taizi Mansion in Xishan, Feng Zhan was approving the memorials in the study room. Today, he stopped over too long in the Princess of Zhaoren Mansion, and the memorials had piled up into a mountain.

Feng Zhan gently pinched his eyebrows. Today, he was going to show his face at the housewarming banquet in Princess of Zhaoren Mansion and left, but he never thought that he would go to tea tasting after the lunch banquet, drink tea and then stay to play horse tag. Even if it was raining heavily, it wasn’t that he hadn’t braved the rain to hurriedly handle official business. What was wrong with him…

Thinking of this, Feng Zhan seemed a little irritable.

At this moment, in the silence of the mountain, a barely audible whistle suddenly sounded. Feng Zhan frowned as he liked quietness. There was no musician in the mansion, and without his order, no one dared to play music in the mansion.

“Song Zhi.” Feng Zhan’s tone was quite unhappy.

Song Zhi came in in response.

“Where is the whistling coming from?” Feng Zhan also had some guesses at this time.

“Your Highness, it sounded like coming from the Princess of Zhaoren Mansion…” Song Zhi’s voice gradually faded away. That person, he couldn’t handle her.

Feng Zhan frowned, the Princess of Zhaoren did things without rules and regulations, just like to do things the way she wanted. His future days wouldn’t be peaceful.

Thinking about this, Feng Zhan was a little curious.

Qin Yan had the elegance of making tea with spring water in the woods, and the vulgarities of only recognizing money but not people at the card table. She made it difficult for people to understand her between her vulgarities and elegance.

Was there such a woman in this world?

——-

The shadow of the moon was in the sky, and the mountains were vast.

In the Princess of Zhaoren Mansion, Qin Yan was leaning against the soft couch under the south window of the bamboo house. Qin Yan was resting under the moonlight, with her eyes closed, listening to the night insects chirping and the frogs croaking in the grass. Suddenly, wave after wave of bells ringing coming from the Dajue Temple on the other side of Jade Spring Mountain.

“Wrong tune.” Qin Yan suddenly opened her mouth.

Shen Ying heard the words and said to Jiang Mu who was playing flute on the stone platform outside the bamboo house, “Young Master Jiang, Master said the tune is wrong.”

Jiang Mu frowned and stopped the music. When he was just about to speak, Ji Nanfeng came up, “Mister Ji.”

Ji Nanfeng nodded and stepped into the bamboo house.

“Master, the dew is heavy at night, so don’t be greedy for coolness.”

Facing such a laid-back master, Ji Nanfeng felt more and more like an old maid.

Qin Yan got up lazily, took a cup of lotus leaf porridge handed over by Ji Nanfeng, tasted a few mouthfuls, and put it down.

With the lamp in Shen Ying’s hand, she walked down the mountainside under the moonlight.

What a pleasant day!

The author has something to say:
Curiosity is the beginning of love.