Chapter 11

Princess Huarong furrowed her brows slightly.

Since she married into the Zhen Nan Wang Mansion, Zhou Wen only came three times a month, unless she was sick, then he would reluctantly come to visit her.

When the old master was alive, it was the same, and even after his passing, Zhou Wen continued this way.

The people of Ningzhou laughed at her for being neglected by Zhen Nan Wang, not knowing that she actually wished Zhou Wen would be even colder and not come at all.

She averted her gaze and continued to fan herself.

Feng Yuanyuan didn’t want to be impolite and was about to stand up when Princess Huarong glanced at her lightly.

Feng Yuanyuan:…

Can a father be compared to a mother?

Of course not, she was the child the princess picked up.

“Lord.”

The maids respectfully greeted Zhou Wen.

Zhou Wen smiled and seeing that there were only two wicker chairs under the tree, he instructed Weiyun, “Go and get another one.”

Weiyun looked at his master.

Princess Huarong nodded.

She actually wanted to go inside and give her chair to Zhou Wen, but she was afraid that Feng Yuanyuan would suspect that she and Zhou Wen were not getting along well and wouldn’t feel secure living in the mansion.

Some things, Feng Yuanyuan would know sooner or later when she grew up a bit more, for now, she should just be a carefree child.

The chair arrived, and Zhou Wen sat next to Feng Yuanyuan, with Princess Huarong on the other side.

“You went to school today, how was it?” Zhou Wen took a sip of tea and asked Feng Yuanyuan with a smile.

Feng Yuanyuan thought to herself that just by looking at his smile, the prince resembled her own father.

But if it wasn’t for the princess, where would the prince be?

Feng Yuanyuan wouldn’t be swayed by a man’s smiling face and firmly placed Princess Huarong first.

“The teacher treated me well, but I’m still a beginner and lagging behind my second brother,” Feng Yuanyuan replied in a serious manner.

Zhou Wen said, “No rush, you’ll catch up slowly. The teacher will help you adjust. Have you been practicing calligraphy? Let me see your copybook.”

Now that he mentioned it, the maid screen went to Taoran Hall to retrieve Feng Yuanyuan’s copybook.

Zhou Wen paid more attention to it than Princess Huarong. He praised where necessary and pointed out deficiencies.

Feng Yuanyuan was eager to learn and unknowingly became a good student. She also sat closer to Zhou Wen.

Princess Huarong frowned.

What did Zhou Wen mean? He recognized her daughter, why did he have to be so attentive?

Unfortunately, even if Princess Huarong was dissatisfied, she could only endure it for the sake of Feng Yuanyuan.

Feng Yuanyuan’s stomach growled.

She felt embarrassed, and Zhou Wen laughed and looked at Princess Huarong. “Shall we eat now?”

Princess Huarong: “…Okay.”

Feng Yuanyuan washed her hands and then sat down next to Princess Huarong, with Zhou Wen sitting across from her.

This couple, one was cold-hearted but kind, acknowledging her as their only daughter, providing her with food, clothing, and education. The other was gentle, friendly, and approachable, without the airs of a prince.

Although Feng Yuanyuan couldn’t treat them as her biological parents yet, their interactions were much more comfortable.

The maids brought in the food.

Princess Huarong picked up her chopsticks first.

Zhou Wen asked Feng Yuanyuan, “What do you usually like to eat?”

Feng Yuanyuan replied, “I like everything, I’m not picky.”

While meat made her mouth water, she was content with eating coarse grains and porridge every day.

Zhou Wen smiled and said, “That’s just like me.”

Feng Yuanyuan:…

Her lack of pickiness was due to poverty, but this prince, who was supposed to be noble, didn’t have any preferences either?

Princess Huarong made a sound of unknown meaning.

Zhou Wen looked over and said, “Since you’re my first child, I want to hold a banquet in the mansion at the end of the month, inviting relatives and friends to meet you. What do you think, Princess?”

With her involvement, Feng Yuanyuan subconsciously stopped eating.

Princess Huarong glanced at Zhou Wen.

Since just now, she had a feeling that Zhou Wen wanted to compete with her for the child, wanting to be the best parent in Feng Yuanyuan’s heart.

Princess Huarong treated Feng Yuanyuan well because she brought the child back and was responsible for her. Her relationship with Zhou Wen was only superficial. Both parties did their own thing. Zhou Wen had already shown enough gentlemanliness by acknowledging Feng Yuanyuan in the mansion. Was it really necessary to go through all the trouble to let the entire Ningzhou Prefecture’s officials and people know?

Due to Feng Yuanyuan’s presence, Princess Huarong didn’t say anything cold and only asked, “Prince, you are busy with official matters. Would it be too troublesome to hold a banquet?”

In the past, Zhou’s ancestors had contributed greatly, and along with two other generals, were enfeoffed as princes of different surnames. They had the power to supervise the civil and military officials of their fiefdom.

This was proof that the emperor treated the three generals as brothers, sharing the world together. However, it also laid hidden troubles for the future generations in governing the country.

In short, Zhou Wen, as the Zhen Nan Wang, had great power in his hands, so he was usually busy and seldom had leisure time.

Zhou Wen smiled and said, “I only come up with ideas, the banquet will be handled by the Princess and younger siblings, so it won’t be burdensome.”

Princess Huarong understood clearly that Zhou Wen was serious.

“Then let it be.”

Princess Huarong said indifferently, turning her head to look at Feng Yuanyuan. “From now on, in addition to your classes, you will also spend an hour each day learning etiquette. By the time of the banquet at the end of the month, you must display the demeanor befitting a princess of the Zhen Nan Wang Mansion.”

Feng Yuanyuan felt a weight on her shoulders.

Zhou Wen said, “It may sound difficult, but it’s actually simple. You spend every day with the Princess, so just learn a bit of her grace and charm, and that will be enough to handle any social situation.”

Princess Huarong was just about to pick up her chopsticks to take some food when she heard his words and sent him a glance.

Zhou Wen lowered his gaze but his lips curled upward.

Feng Yuanyuan also smiled and lowered her head.

During the day, the interactions between the princess and the prince were polite and unfamiliar, lacking a sense of intimacy. If it weren’t for that night when Feng Yuanyuan saw them lying on the same bed in her dream, she wouldn’t have believed they were a married couple.

But just now, it felt like a family.

Perhaps, this was just the way the princess and the prince interacted. Among the countless couples in the world, not all of them were the same. Take the neighbors of Grandpa Li, some wives were obedient to their husbands, while others dared to scold and even scared their husbands into not speaking loudly.

After finishing their meal, Feng Yuanyuan bid farewell with her maidservant.

Once she left, Princess Huarong no longer needed to pretend with Zhou Wen. She said coldly, “If you want to hold the banquet, you can arrange it yourself. I’m not interested.”

Zhou Wen replied, “I understand. I will leave this matter entirely to my younger siblings. The Princess only needs to make an appearance on the day of the banquet.”

Princess Huarong said, “Alright.”

Zhou Wen smiled and took his leave.

As twilight fell, Zhou Wen went to the second courtyard.

Zhou Du and Qiao Shi had just finished dinner. The children had retired, and the couple was about to take a walk in the garden, but they bumped into Zhou Wen as they stepped out.

Qiao Shi quickly retracted her hand from her husband’s side, blushing.

Zhou Du looked at his older brother suspiciously.

Zhou Wen acted as if he hadn’t seen anything and asked, “Are you going out?”

Zhou Du replied, “Just going for a stroll. Did you come to find me at this hour?”

Zhou Wen said, “I have something that will involve you.”

Qiao Shi looked surprised.

Zhou Wen mentioned the banquet at the end of the month.

Qiao Shi smiled and said, “That’s easy. We can prepare it according to last year’s New Year banquet. How about that?”

Zhou Wen nodded.

Zhou Du furrowed his brows and said, “Brother, you’re already thirty and still don’t have any biological children. These past few years, Cao and Han have been worried for you. Now you’re openly adopting Yuan Yuan, isn’t that adding fuel to the fire and making them more anxious?”

With the Zhou Family Army of 200,000, Zhou Wen as the commander in chief, and four other generals assisting him, all of them were veteran soldiers who had followed their father to live and die. They had always treated the brothers as their own nephews and children.

With no child under Zhou Wen’s knees, the generals had been urging him more fiercely than when their father was alive. It was as if they were just a step away from tying Zhou Wen to a bed and forcing him to have a child.

Zhou Wen replied, “I recognized Yuan Yuan, and I must give her a proper status.”

Zhou Du said, “She’s just an adopted daughter, she hasn’t changed her surname or been recorded in the family genealogy.”

Zhou Wen said, “My decision is final, no need to say more. Thank you for your help, younger siblings.”

After nodding at Qiao Shi, Zhou Wen turned and left.

Zhou Du was infuriated, staring wide-eyed.

Once Zhou Wen had walked far enough, Qiao Shi tugged at his sleeve, and they abandoned the idea of taking a walk in the garden. The couple returned to their room to speak privately.

“What do you think Brother is really thinking?”

After closing the door, Qiao Shi sat next to Zhou Du and whispered, “If I were to say that Brother is infatuated with the Princess, for the past seven years, Brother has only come three times a month, and I haven’t seen him being particularly affectionate towards the Princess. Sometimes when they meet in the garden, they don’t even speak. But if I say Brother doesn’t care about the Princess, he also hasn’t taken a secondary wife or even a concubine. Now he’s showing so much care and effort for the adopted daughter brought back by the Princess.”

Zhou Du replied with a hint of annoyance, “A few years ago, I couldn’t understand him either, but now, hmph, he loves the Princess. There is no other woman in his eyes or heart.”

Qiao Shi asked, “How can you be so sure?”

Zhou Du said, “I just feel that way. But let’s keep this matter to ourselves. I don’t want others to say that Brother fell into the court’s beauty trap. It sounds pathetic.”

Qiao Shi thought of Princess Huarong’s beauty and wondered how many men could remain unaffected in her presence.

Not to mention men, even she, as a woman, willingly lowered herself in front of Princess Huarong, without any intention of provocation.

The next morning, Qiao Shi was preparing to write the invitation cards when Weiyun arrived.

Weiyun was Princess Huarong’s senior maidservant, and Qiao Shi had become accustomed to showing her respect.

Weiyun brought a tray with one hundred taels of silver.

“The Princess usually doesn’t deal with mundane matters, so it all falls on the Madam. I can only offer this silver as a token of appreciation.”

Qiao Shi quickly declined, but in the end, she couldn’t refuse.

After Weiyun left, Qiao Shi looked at the tray filled with shining silver ingots and couldn’t help but find it amusing.

The Wang Mansion usually paid for banquets from the public fund, and Princess Huarong never participated or interfered. But this time, she sent silver over for Feng Yuanyuan, clearly treating her and the prince as a family.

As the Zhen Nan Wang Mansion sent out the invitation cards one by one, the civil and military officials in Ningzhou City finally learned of Feng Yuanyuan’s existence.

As soon as Zhou Wen arrived at the military camp in the morning, he was surrounded by the four generals.

Cao Mingguang, the most experienced, asked directly, “Is the prince adopting a daughter? What is the child’s background?”

On that day, Princess Huarong brought Feng Yuanyuan back to the city. Throughout the journey, Feng Yuanyuan remained inside the carriage, unnoticed by anyone in the city. The guards of the royal residence were tight-lipped, and there were no leaks.

Zhou Wen: “Orphan, both the princess and I feel a connection with her.”

Cao Mingguang frowned: “Brought back by the princess?”

Zhou Wen nodded. There was no way to hide it, unless Princess Huarong didn’t attend the banquet. But she would definitely show up to support Feng Yuanyuan.

Cao Mingguang, who was over fifty years old, still looked young for a military general in his forties. But at this moment, his brows furrowed, and the wrinkles around his eyes became more pronounced.

Another general, Han Yu, was also unhappy and straightforward: “Such a young age, why adopt a daughter? The princess has been childless for years, and the lord hasn’t taken another wife. It’s all about saving face for the court. If you ask me, the lord should have taken concubines long ago and had ten or eight children.”

Zheng Wei and Chen Wenshan, the two other generals, remained silent but supported their old comrades in this matter.

Cao Mingguang stared at Zhou Wen intently.

Zhou Wen: “It has nothing to do with the princess. I’m not in a hurry. The future of Ningzhou is uncertain, and having an heir would only hinder me. Besides, if I prioritize the princess, it would provide the court with a handle to use against me.”

Cao Mingguang asked, “What handle? If she can’t bear children, does she have any right to argue?”

Zhou Wen replied, “You naturally support me, but the court can easily say that I am useless. If they issue an imperial edict to hold me accountable, wouldn’t it make me a laughingstock in the eyes of the world?”

Cao Mingguang had no words to refute.

Zhou Wen continued, “The innocent child should be treated as my own daughter by you, my uncles.”

The four generals, with a combined age of two hundred, would never argue with a seven-year-old girl.

As the evening sun set, Zhou Wen and the four generals returned to their respective residences.