Chapter 53: But This Grandson Act Must Be Played.
In the end, urged on by Gan Qiongying, Lihua truly got off the carriage. Supported by a servant, he went to the dense thicket of low trees.
However, he wasn’t there to relieve himself. Instead, he unfolded the note, read its contents, tore it to pieces, then kicked a small hole in the ground and buried the scraps.
The note bore only a few words: Third Watch, Hongmian Forest west of Haoyue Manor.
With indescribable feelings, Lihua returned to the carriage.
Gan Qiongying had a maid bring him water to wash his hands, and only then did the carriage continue its journey.
The journey was smooth, and by the time they reached Haoyue Manor, it was nearly noon.
Gan Qiongying and Lihua alighted from the carriage. Servants from the manor quickly came forward, taking over the carriage with proper etiquette and ordering someone to lead them from the main gate into the manor grounds.
Standing outside the manor, Gan Qiongying could roughly glimpse its full scope. The manor was built against the mountain, winding around its slopes. Jagged rocks had been carved into scenic features. Multiple levels rose one above another, with soaring pavilions adorned in red and roofs of green tiles.
Moreover, the manor was surrounded by woods on three sides, covering an extremely large area. A spacious stone platform had been constructed on the highest level. At a glance, it possessed a certain imposing grandeur and majestic steepness reminiscent of cultivation sects in novels.
Princess Hui’an truly was the head of the Yindu imperial clan, a figure of great importance among the court’s royal family. Such a magnificent manor, compared to Princess Duanrong’s use of a traveling palace as her residence, made it hard to tell which was more impressive for a moment.
Following the servants into the manor, Gan Qiongying even encountered Wen Xueling at the entrance. Wen Xueling had arrived ahead of her, having taken Zhongli Zhengzhen’s carriage.
Wen Xueling had already changed her clothes, her previous disarray gone. With brows and eyes smiling like flowers, she was mingling with a group of noble young ladies from prominent families. They emerged in a flock, like colorful butterflies, seemingly to welcome a noble lady who had just stepped down from a carriage.
The girls’ delicate laughter, like silver bells, carried far, adding a touch of joy and brightness to the solemn, imposing gates standing halfway up the mountain.
Watching male guests crane their necks to look upon hearing the laughter, Gan Qiongying also curved her lips slightly.
Wasn’t this scene all too familiar? You could run into scenes like this at the entrance of any school.
Girls playfully roughhousing while boys watch—this is youth, the scent of hormones erupting.
These noble young ladies and gentlemen from prominent clans, if you calculated carefully, weren’t they around middle school age?
Gan Qiongying took a deep breath but smelled the distant fragrance of grass and trees in the quiet mountains.
What a pity. Although the Duanrong she had transmigrated into wasn’t old either, Gan Qiongying’s heart was already filled with the stench of money. She could no longer be youthful; she could only barely maintain her lifestyle by becoming outrageously wealthy.
She tightened her grip on the arm of the God of Wealth walking beside her, as if holding onto the entire world.
The manor had several entrances. To avoid collisions, although male and female guests could see each other from a distance, they did not use the same one.
Gan Qiongying, being among those bringing family and of truly noble status, therefore entered through the main gate.
Leaving the restless youths behind, Gan Qiongying was led by the servants into a quiet, elegant courtyard.
The servants they brought quickly set about arranging things. Daily necessities and the birthday gifts they had brought were all put in order by Manyue and Tianjiao together, which Gan Qiongying trusted completely.
After sitting down and drinking a cup of warm tea, Gan Qiongying pulled Lihua over to have some pastries.
She said, “Dinner is sure to be especially lavish, probably on that platform at the mountain top. I saw people setting up tents there. Let’s have a little something now and eat more later.”
Lihua ate a bit, somewhat distracted, and didn’t engage warmly with Gan Qiongying in conversation.
When he had entered the estate earlier, he had deliberately glanced westward and indeed saw a grove of red cotton trees.
At this time of year, the red cotton blossoms had already fallen, but the ground within the grove was still strewn with scattered petals, like a carpet of rosy clouds, breathtakingly beautiful.
Yet the person he was going to meet was someone he had no desire to see.
Lihua always ate with great refinement—not like a bird pecking at food, nor overly delicate, but with proper manners, elegant and unhurried.
He didn’t seem like a merchant but rather a true prince.
At the very least, he appeared more princely than Zhongli Zhengzhen, that prince who seemed to have eyes on the top of his head.
Lihua knew Gan Qiongying was watching him, pondering how to ensure she slept soundly tonight. She liked to hold someone while sleeping—when she held on, she slept deeply; if she let go, she would wake.
He absolutely had to go out tonight.
Lihua thought that if he got up in the middle of the night and she had nothing to hold, waking up and looking for him would be troublesome…
Just as he was considering what could substitute for him, Gan Qiongying spoke first: “Rest well later and take a nap. I noticed a thin mist over the treetops in the grove. Though it’s sunny today, there’s a faint earthy scent in the mountain air—it might rain tonight.”
“When the weather changes, your legs will ache. I’ll have Tianjiao boil the medicinal packs for hot compresses in advance.”
When Gan Qiongying cared for someone, she was truly meticulous. This was thanks to her past life in the modern era, where she was the eldest daughter in a working-class family.
When her parents were busy with work, she had to take care of her younger sibling and herself, and occasionally her parents as well.
Thus, she was always adept at handling these detailed aspects of daily life.
Moreover, her attentiveness toward Lihua was completely genuine, as solid as the real gold and silver he gave her every month.
She practically wanted to build an altar and enshrine him.
As for Lihua, hearing her care for him so deeply—even while attending a birthday banquet, she hadn’t forgotten the medicinal packs for his legs—filled him with an indescribable sense of guilt.
She treated him so well, yet he was about to… betray her.
Lihua struggled inwardly, his appetite vanishing.
After finishing her meal, Gan Qiongying wiped her hands and stood up, saying to Lihua, “I need to go see Aunt first. Once you’re done eating, rest for a while.”
Gan Qiongying freshened up again and left the courtyard. After inquiring with a servant, she was led toward the Main Courtyard where Princess Hui’an was staying.
On the way, she passed by a garden and once again saw Wen Xueling, chattering like a sparrow, playing butterfly chase with a group of noble ladies.
Wen Xueling herself remained quite composed and didn’t join the chase, but she laughed with innocent delight. Upon seeing Duan Rong, her expression stiffened momentarily.
Not far from the garden, in a waterside pavilion facing the garden across a pond, stood several young nobles led by Zhongli Zhengzhen, chatting merrily about something.
Gan Qiongying sighed inwardly once more at how wonderful youth was.
Unlike her, who now had to go “offer a humble apology” to Princess Hui’an.
Though that was an exaggeration—she didn’t need to carry thorns—apologizing was unavoidable.
Princess Hui’an, with her natural position as a reliable backer, would be Gan Qiongying’s greatest asset as long as she remained alive, given her status among the imperial clan and royal relatives.
There had been some misunderstandings between Duan Rong and her in the past, but after inheriting Duan Rong’s memories, Gan Qiongying could see at a glance that it was a deliberate trap set to drive a wedge between them.
It was clearly the work of that hypocritical, manipulative Empress Dowager.
Now, she had to win Princess Hui’an back and, taking advantage of the birthday banquet, find a way to establish a lasting connection with her.
Fortunately, she had a plan in mind and just happened to have a few capable people at her disposal.
For now, the first step was to stage a show of remorse and suffering.
She could only hope that Princess Hui’an, with her magnanimity, would not hold a grudge against a junior like her, and that she had not yet grown completely disillusioned with Duan Rong.
Gan Qiongying followed the attendant to the courtyard where Princess Hui’an was staying. The layout of the Main Courtyard was somewhat solemn, lacking excessive ornate carvings. Instead, it featured sturdy solid wood and several towering ancient trees.
It exuded a profound sense of Zen.
Gan Qiongying stood in the courtyard, waiting for the maids to announce her arrival.
After a while, just as Gan Qiongying had anticipated, an unremarkable-looking auntie emerged and performed a perfectly standard bow to Gan Qiongying, saying, “Princess, please return. The Grand Princess is fatigued from traveling this morning and is currently taking an afternoon nap.”
“You will naturally meet her at the evening banquet.”
Gan Qiongying looked at the auntie but neither turned to leave nor insisted on being announced again.
She simply said, “I’m thirsty. I remember Aunt Wumei is most skilled at making sour plum juice. Aunt shares my fondness for sweet and sour flavors, so I’m sure you’ve brewed plenty.”
Gan Qiongying smiled like a mischievous child and asked, “I wonder if I could have a bowl?”
Upon hearing this, Aunt Wumei’s eyebrows twitched sharply. Despite her name meaning “eyebrowless,” she had thick eyebrows and was Princess Hui’an’s most trusted and intimate maid, undoubtedly of considerable age.
After speaking, Gan Qiongying watched Aunt Wumei, maintaining a calm exterior while inwardly feeling extremely anxious.
She had deliberately said this because, from Duan Rong’s limited memories, she knew that shortly after Emperor Huicheng ascended the throne, when Gan Qiongying was enfeoffed as a Princess and still a tender sprout of eleven or twelve, Princess Hui’an had doted on her for a time.
Out of pity for her losing her parents at a young age, Princess Hui’an had taken her into the Grand Princess Manor to live for a while.
Back then, as Duan Rong’s aunt, Princess Hui’an had subtly intended to raise her as her own daughter. However, Duan Rong, accustomed to freedom and unwilling to leave her younger brother, Crown Prince Gan Lin, in the Eastern Palace, let the matter fade away.
At that time, Duan Rong had also asked Aunt Wumei for sour plum juice in this manner and even drank it too cold, upsetting her stomach.
To gain a bit of sympathy and break the ice, Gan Qiongying imitated a teenager by tilting her head and smiling, acting coy and obedient toward a fifty-something Momo. She was almost mortified by her own behavior.
She desperately needed Lihua’s impenetrable human skin mask!
But this act had to be played.
Today, she was the “prodigal” who had long been wayward but now sincerely repented. Even if it meant losing face, she was determined to soften Princess Hui’an’s heart.