Chu Lian patted Royal Princess Duanjia’s tiny little hand, “Don’t worry, I’ll teach you how to cook roast duck today. Once you know how to, you can make it more often for your father!”
Royal Princess Duanjia felt a little better from Chu Lian’s assurance.
Chatting as they walked, they quickly reached the parlour of Princess Wei’s courtyard.
Princess Wei was wearing an elegant silver and red court dress. She was sitting on the warm hearth bed with a gentle expression as she watched Royal Princess Duanjia and Chu Lian enter.
The two young ladies bobbed in greeting to Princess Wei together.
Senior Servant Lan quickly stepped forward to help the young ladies up.
She smiled as she said, “The Princess has been waiting for Honoured Lady to return for some time.”
Princess Wei waved Chu Lian over, “Come, come over here quick. Let me take a good look at you.”
When Chu Lian moved closer, her hands were clasped by Princess Wei’s.
The princess looked at Chu Lian with a motherly and loving gaze. She inspected her for a bit before exclaiming, “You’ve lost weight! You’re much thinner than you were last winter. We’ll have to get the imperial physician in to check your pulse later.”
Chu Lian quickly shook her head, “Princess, there’s no need for that. The doctor in our estate has already done an examination and given me a clean bill of health!”
Princess Wei put on a stern face and disagreed, “Li Yue has already spoken with me. You were injured in the north. Although you had some treatment and the doctor said that the wound has already healed, you can’t guarantee that it has healed all the way. Let’s have the imperial physician look at you anyway, so that this princess can rest easy.”
Chu Lian’s heart felt warmed by the princess’s obvious affection for her. She smiled and agreed to it. “Then I’ll have to trouble Princess.”
Royal Princess Duanjia pouted, “Chu Liu, see, with you around, Mother forgets that I even exist.”
Princess Wei glared at her daughter helplessly.
She caught sight of the dress Chu Lian was wearing today and her expression softened even more. “Ah, so the dress fits you perfectly. Duanjia has the exact same measurements!”
Senior Servant Lan was similarly happy and spoke up in teasing, “If it isn’t so! Honoured Lady looks beautiful in this dress. Honoured Lady and Royal Princess look like sisters standing together in these matching outfits.”
Since both her mother and Senior Servant Lan had already said so, Royal Princess Duanjia scooted over to Chu Lian’s side and compared their outfits. Even she was surprised as she exclaimed, “That’s true! Chu Liu, you’re as tall as me now!”
Chu Lian was also mystified by their strong resemblance to each other.
If she took a closer look, not only were their figures about the same, even their facial features seemed to be similar.
Royal Princess Duanjia became even more interested in their appearances now.
She held Princess Wei’s arm and swung it as she tried to plead coquettishly, “Mother, didn’t you have two brocade dresses made for me recently? Why don’t we change into them for you to see?”
Princess Wei’s eyes lit up at the idea and she quickly nodded in approval.
Thus, Royal Princess Duanjia pulled Chu Lian away to her room to change into the new outfits.
When the two ladies finally returned to the parlour, even Senior Servant Lan was stunned still.
The young ladies were now wearing two dresses of the same style, one red and one blue. Their hair was put up in the same hairstyles and they had the exact same items all the way down to their accessories. When they held hands and stood before Princess Wei, they looked like real sisters.
The impact they gave the onlookers was even greater than before.
Chu Lian felt a little awkward. She had the strange feeling that Princess Wei’s gaze was rather heavy with emotion when looking at her, as if she were not merely her daughter’s friend.
Senior Servant Lan’s eyes misted over with unshed tears.
Royal Princess Duanjia tugged Chu Lian into spinning around on the spot to show off their dresses before she beamed at Princess Wei and asked, “Mother, do we look pretty?”
Princess Wei gripped the handkerchief in her hands tightly, restraining the dam of emotions about to break within her. She nodded hurriedly, “Yes, of course!”
Royal Princess Duanjia walked up to Princess Wei, hand in hand with Chu Lian. She turned to Chu Lian with a mischievous air, “See, Chu Liu, I told you that these dresses are pretty!”
She glanced over Chu Lian from head to toe before wrinkling her nose in dissatisfaction, “You’re so beautiful! You’re wasted on that brat He Sanlang.”
When Princess Wei noticed that her daughter’s mouth was running out of control again, she quickly reached out and tugged at her arm, “Duanjia! What are you saying! He Sanlang has been personally named Marquis Anyuan by the Emperor!”
Royal Princess Duanjia rolled her eyes, “So what if he’s a marquis now? He wasn’t able to protect Chu Liu anyway! She got injured out there in the north and she suffered so much.”
Princess Wei did agree on that point. She thought privately that He Changdi hadn’t taken good care of Chu Lian.
The bodyguard siblings, Li Xing and Li Yue, had served Chu Lian throughout the whole journey to the north, so Princess Wei knew all the details of what had happened there.
It was at this time that Chu Lian spoke up, “Husband came to the estate today and he was invited to the study by Royal Prince.”
When she heard Chu Lian’s words, Royal Princess Duanjia looked like she was gloating in someone’s misfortune, “Chu Liu, did you say that my second brother invited He Sanlang to the study?”
Chu Lian nodded, not quite understanding why Royal Princess Duanjia looked so excited.
“Haha! That He Sanlang deserves it! Second Brother loves to play pranks on others!”
Ah?
Lu Tai liked to play pranks?
What a strange pair of siblings! Chu Lian was at a loss for words and she started to worry a little for He Changdi.
Her lunatic husband wouldn’t so silly as to fall for someone else’s prank, would he?