Zhou Huaijin was feeling helpless.
“Can’t I just come to you for no reason? What are you being so official for? People might think that I am here on business,” Zhou Huaijin said with a tone of slight complaint.
Sword One put on the cloak for her Miss and then left the room silently.
Gu Chaoyan threw a look at him, knowing that he was not making an honest complaint. So she poured him tea and said, “The wind is blowing, drink and get some chill out of you.”
“You barely visit me in the morning, so I believe that you are up to something.” Gu Chaoyan continued.
That made Zhou Huaijin feel slightly better. He did not have to tell Gu Chaoyan about what happened to the Princess Consort, but as he realized that she mentioned the Princess Consort before, so he decided to be honest with her. “My Fourth Brother is a scumbag. He became sure about Gu Ruxue’s blessed destiny when the birds were flying over the mansion at the Adulthood Ceremony. So he went to the King and asked him to approve that Gu Ruxue should be the only Princess Consort of Lord Ling whilst Ms. Liu should take the Princess Concubine position instead. It was already against tradition to have set up an Equal Princess Consort, but now he is being even more ridiculous. The worst part is that the King approved of it!”
Zhou Huaijin shook his head, finding the whole thing ridiculous.
There had never been anyone who had done such a ridiculous thing throughout the dynasties, unless the Princess Consort did something horrible. However, the Princess Consort was the daughter of General Liu, and she was modest, elegant and never made any mistakes.
Gu Chaoyan was confused too. She thought of the girl at the Adulthood Ceremony. She looked modest and interesting. That must be a huge humiliation to her.
“What about the Princess Consort? What is her plan?” Gu Chaoyan asked. After all, women of this era had to tolerate the humiliation, since they were already married.
As it was mentioned, Zhou Huaijin said with a look of appreciation. “She proposed a divorce and now she is back at the Liu Mansion.”
Then Zhou Huaijin looked at Gu Chaoyan. “If the divorce goes through, you can try hanging out with the Princess Consort. You two are very much alike, and you should hit it off.”
Gu Chaoyan smiled. That sounded like a good idea, but why did Zhou Huaijin think so differently from other people, all the time?”
“There is going to be a banquet held in two days at the Min Family. You don’t like such banquets, I know, but you may invite Madame Min to become the host of your Adulthood Ceremony. I could have done that myself, but I think that if you can meet her and invite her personally, you might seem more honest. The Gu Family can’t be a reliable source, after all, the Adulthood Ceremony has to be slightly grander.” Zhou Huaijin explained.
Madame Min?
Gu Chaoyan did have a memory of her. When they visited the court for the first time, Gu Ruxue had once set her up and asked her to do some performance. And Madame Min was one of the people who had spoken highly of her. Gu Chaoyan felt slightly happy when she thought of the kind eyes of Madame Min.
She did need to ask her personally.
“Okay, I will do that personally. Don’t worry, I prefer quiet, but I can deal with banquets too.” Gu Chaoyan explained.
Zhou Huaijin nodded.
***
At the banquet held by the Min Family.
It was lunch the following day.
Since Gu Chaoyan and Zhou Huaijin had not gotten married, they should not show up together. So Gu Chaoyan arrived with the Gu Family instead.
Mrs. Gu had a terrible expression on her face.
Gu Chaoyan took a look and saw that Gu Zhenkang had brought Gu Xiuying with them too. That annoyed Mrs. Gu a great deal.
“Let’s just go inside. The Min Family are not ordinary people, so be careful about what you say and do,”