Chapter Eleven: Return to the Capital (Part One)

  Ling Yuancheng only briefly asked about her in the letter, but the focus was still on Ling Yun. It turned out that Ling Yun had been promoted to be the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel from his previous position as the Salt Distribution Commissioner of the Two Huai regions, and would return to the capital around October 28th to report for duty.

  The last page of the letter mentioned Ling Yuexian, seemingly intentionally or unintentionally, and even mentioned Ling Yuexian's future husband's family. Ling Yuexian was engaged since childhood, and her fiancé's family was actually the maiden family of Mrs. Lu, the matriarch of the Ling family. The person Ling Yuexian was supposed to marry was the fourth young master of the Lu family, Lu Weijie. Because more than two years ago, the old master of the Lu family passed away, the wedding was delayed until now.

  Looking at the letter in her hand, Yu Dai's lips curled up into a smile. Her sixth brother must have mentioned this trivial matter to remind her. He brought it up so subtly, perhaps intentionally hinting to her, yet afraid that she, being a girl with a thin face, would say too much and end up having the opposite effect. Although Ling Yuanqing said things in his letter that she already knew, the fact that he was willing to tell her about this without knowing that she was aware of it meant that he had already regarded her as a younger sister.

  Lying lazily on the pillow, Yuan Dai was lost in thought, weighing the pros and cons of this matter. After a long while, she simply shook her head and smiled wryly. As for the path she should take in the future, she had already set it out for herself long ago, and she had no intention of making changes due to some temporary setbacks.

  It wasn't until a moment later that Wenping came in from outside. The matter of returning to the manor was just a small thing, and Yan Dai didn't bother to ask much about it either. Seeing her come in, she only sighed and said: "The 24th of this month is earlier than I thought by several days!"

  Wen Jing followed her every day, naturally understanding the reason for her sigh. Upon hearing this, he couldn't help but smile and say: "Miss's hibiscus will only bloom in the first ten days of next month. If we return to the manor on the 24th, by the time the hibiscus blooms, there will still be over ten days' time, which is enough for us to settle down!"

  Yan Dai smiled faintly, knowing that Wen Ping thought she was worried about returning to the capital and being busy with daily trivial matters, having no time to care for the hibiscus in the courtyard. But she didn't explain anything, just instructed: "Wen Ping, tomorrow you send someone to invite Yuan Zhen over!"

  For her, there were only a few things in the room that needed to be taken away, and it didn't matter if other things weren't brought along. However, some of the flowers and plants in the courtyard had to be brought along, such as that evening primrose.

  These flowers and grasses are not easy to cultivate, and now that they have to leave, taking them away is even more inconvenient. Given her current identity, it's even less likely that the Ling family members will take care of them carefully along the way. With a cautious mindset, Yuan Dai still decided to find Yan Zhen to handle this matter, as Yan Zhen has always been meticulous and probably won't make any mistakes.

  She had already made up her mind, so Yuandai immediately set about writing a letter and sending someone to Pingjing to deliver it to Yuanzhen. At the same time, she began to carefully gather up all the flowers and plants in her courtyard that needed to be taken away, waiting for Yuanzhen to bring people to collect them. Those that were particularly delicate and couldn't be left unattended for a moment were packed away especially carefully, with plans to put them in her own carriage when she returned to the capital. Fortunately, she had always expected that she would have to leave eventually, so many of the flowers and plants had been grown in pots all along, making it relatively easy to gather them up now.

  Xin Yi sent the invitation, and Yuan Zhen arrived the next day. She knew why Far Dai had called her over, so she only brought a few capable and careful people with her. Far Dai trusted her completely, and since Yuan Zhen had previously been by her side, taking care of flowers and plants was not something that Wen Ping and others could compare to, so she didn't give excessive instructions.

  The following days, Wenping and Cailian were busy with their own affairs, and even Zhou Yiniang's side was also very busy. Yuandai, on the other hand, seemed indifferent, as if the person who was about to return to Beijing had nothing to do with her. After many days of hustle and bustle, everyone finally finished preparing everything, and by this time, it was already October 23rd.

  Wenping and Cailian, one holding a book and the other bending over to check the items in the trunk that needed to be taken back to the Ling manor, finally finished checking after a while. The two of them almost simultaneously straightened up, and coincidentally let out a long sigh at the same time.

  Tomorrow, Ling Fu will send someone to pick you up, so all matters must be settled today.

  The two of them exchanged a smile, and Wenping beckoned to Cailian to follow her to the inner courtyard where Yuandai lived. The two of them lifted the curtain and walked into the room, only to see Yuandai reclining lazily on the kang, carelessly flipping through the book in her hand.

  Wen Ping smiled and said: "We are busy outside, but Miss is relaxed and happy here!"

  With a faint smile, Yuandai put down the things in her hand: "I said it early, the things in this house only pick up what's important and take them away! You two don't listen to me, everything in this room looks good!"

  Wen Ping smiled and said: "If we followed Miss's instructions entirely, I'm afraid all we'd bring back to the manor would be empty trunks!"

  Yuan Dai couldn't help but laugh when she heard this. More than two years ago, she had returned to the Ling family with very little in the way of personal belongings. After her return, Old Lady Ling took pity on her because she was alone and had been ill for a long time. Cai Lian and Wen Ping were originally small maidservants in Old Lady Ling's household, and Old Lady Ling had always liked them because they were quick and efficient. Seeing that Yuan Dai had returned alone with no one to rely on, Old Lady Ling gave the two girls to Yuan Dai to serve her, and also rewarded Yuan Dai with a lot of fabric to make clothes.

  Yuandai returned to the Ling mansion, and her body had not been well since then. She also coughed severely. This dragged on for several months, and the people in the Ling mansion secretly suspected that this ninth young lady might have contracted tuberculosis. Mrs. Lu didn't know where she heard it from, but she reported it to Old Lady Ling and invited a doctor to come and take Yuandai's pulse. After the examination, the doctor also confirmed that it was indeed tuberculosis.

  The old lady was, after all, an elderly person who had heard that she was suffering from a lingering illness and naturally felt somewhat uncomfortable in her heart. Moreover, at that time, Mr. Ling of the Ling family had just given birth to a daughter, but it was not yet full moon. After much deliberation, the old lady finally decided to move Yuandai to Miaofeng Mountain Villa to live.

  It has been more than two years since I moved in here.

  Although she lived apart from the manor, Ling Manor had never shortchanged Yuandai. Every month's monthly allowance, timely festivals, clothes to be made, and things to be bought, whatever the masters in the manor had, they never fell short of hers. Even if others didn't have them, Old Lady sometimes would remember Yuandai too. As a result, over these two years or so, the various things Yuandai had accumulated were not insignificant, although she herself never paid attention to it.

  If it were just Yuandai, taking only the essentials back would be fine, but in Wenshuang's eyes, this was a huge mistake. Over the years, the two had followed Yuandai closely and knew that she had a considerable amount of silver money in her hands. Moreover, Yuanzhen would bring over account books every now and then for Yuandai to review, so the two were not surprised by the origin of the silver money in Yuandai's hands.

  However, this time back, seeing that Yu Dai is about to get married. If you want to talk about marriage, you must involve the matter of dowry. And in this matter, the legitimate daughter and the illegitimate daughter are naturally not equal. Therefore, in the eyes of Wenping and Erniang, these things they have now are absolutely indispensable.

  Yuan Dai actually knew the thoughts of both, so she didn't bother to argue with them much. She just waved her hand and changed the subject, saying: "It's getting late, Cai Lian, go tell them to serve dinner! Wen Ping, you go check on Auntie!"

  …………

  The next day, Yuandai thought that Lingfu was coming to pick her up and wouldn't be too late, so she got up early. Just after finishing breakfast, there were already loud noises outside, and with this sound, Cailian quickly walked over and smiled at Yuandai: "Miss, Sixth Master has arrived!"

  Yuan Dai suddenly heard that Ling Yuanqing had arrived, and she couldn't help but feel slightly stunned. All along, she only knew that the manor was coming to pick her up on the 24th, but she really didn't know that the person who came would be Ling Yuanqing. Her slender eyebrows rose slightly, and Yuan Dai stood up, asking: "Where is Sixth Master?"

  Cai Lian smiled and said: "Sixth Master asked me to come tell Miss first that he will be here soon!"

  Yan Dai nodded slightly, just about to take a step forward, when Wen Ping had already hastily fetched her cloak and chased after her, calling out: "Miss, it's still early now, and it's chilly outside!"

  When the distant Dai system was good, the cloak strap went out again. Ling Yuancheng had already arrived at the door. Distant Dai suddenly saw him and hurriedly smiled and came forward to pay his respects: "It's just taking me back to the mansion, why did Sixth Brother come in person?"

  Ling Yuancheng burst out laughing and said frankly, "I originally said it wasn't necessary to come in person, but unfortunately, Brother Xiao forced me to come, saying it was the young lady's intention!" The 'young lady' he mentioned referred to Xiao Chengyan.

  What he said was indeed refreshing, without any hidden meaning, and it suited Yuandai's heart better than those hypocritical words. With a faint smile, Yuandai said: "Sixth brother has arrived just in time! I really have some things here that require careful attention, can't be bumped or touched!"

  Ling Yuancheng was taken aback and asked, "I don't know what kind of things they are?" Jewelry, headpieces, and other valuable items should naturally be held in the hands of the maid, soft clothes were also soft objects, not afraid of bumps. These two things went away, Ling Yuancheng really didn't know what else his sister wanted to bring. Can't be thinking of taking all the porcelain, furniture, and so on back to the mansion?

  Yan Dai saw his expression and knew he was thinking too much, so she couldn't help but smile: "Sixth brother is overthinking!" She said, pointing to the flowers and plants with her hand, "I've lived in another courtyard for more than two years. Everything else is fine, but I'm reluctant to part with these flowers and plants that I planted myself. I plan to take them back! Please ask your subordinates to be extra careful!"

  If someone else had come to pick her up, she wouldn't have bothered bringing some of the flowers and plants. But since it was Ling Yuancheng who came, it didn't matter if she brought more back with her. After all, once she left, she probably wouldn't be coming back here again. Those flowers and plants she had personally planted and tended to would soon wither away without anyone to care for them. Although they weren't particularly valuable things, it was still a shame for them to wither like that.

  Yan Dai's words had barely left her lips when Ling Yuanqing couldn't help but burst out laughing.