Climbing on the Sparrow Branch – CH 184

Chapter 184: The Meeting

Upon hearing that An Xu had sent the ointment, Huiping immediately dropped her chopsticks, eager to rush out to find An Xu. Only when her maidservant pulled her back and gave her a subtle signal, noticing her mother’s expression had softened, did she timidly sit back down.

“You’re so impolite!” The Princess frowned at her daughter and put down her chopsticks. “You were so reluctant to marry him before, but now, just because he sent some ointment, you’re acting like this? Were you satisfied with the meeting?”

In the vast capital city, there was nothing the Grand Princess couldn’t find out if she wanted to. She knew her daughter was straightforward, and she had investigated An Xu’s character beforehand, knowing the An family lacked a proper matriarch, which was why she and the Emperor had chosen him.

Seeing her daughter so eager now, she sighed, “You, with all your emotions written all over your face! What will you do once you’re married?”

“As long as we love each other, everything will be fine,” Huiping thought simply; as long as An Xu liked her, everything else would be manageable.

She was a princess, the most esteemed person in the An family, and no one would dare to mistreat her.

The Grand Princess looked at her daughter’s innocent face, wanting to give her some advice but feeling a bit reluctant. However, the wedding was approaching, and she couldn’t wait any longer to speak her mind.

“Stop eating and come with me,” the Grand Princess stood up and said.

Huiping, upon hearing about An Xu, suddenly lost her appetite. Seeing her mother walk away, she wanted to know about An Xu, so she secretly signaled the little eunuch and asked him about An Xu.

“Young Master An delivered the ointment to the gatekeeper and left,” the little eunuch replied.

Huiping frowned slightly. “Didn’t he leave any message?”

The little eunuch shook his head. Catching the princess glaring at him, he hurriedly bowed and left.

Huiping pouted and muttered, “Why didn’t he leave even a word?”

Seeing her daughter so fond of An Xu, the Grand Princess felt a bit like her daughter now belonged to someone else. She coughed lightly. “An Xu isn’t your husband yet. He just came to deliver the ointment to show his affection. In another month, you’ll be married, and then you’ll be with An Xu for the rest of your life.”

At that moment, the Grand Princess felt a pang of sadness. She only had one daughter; in the imperial family, there were no siblings, and her in-laws, fearing her status as a princess, always kept their distance. Her only family ties in this world were with her daughter.

But soon, her daughter would be leaving her.

“Why are you sighing, Mother?” Huiping, following her mother, heard her sigh and asked curiously.

“Nothing,” the Grand Princess replied softly.

~

After the engagement, there were even more things to do at the An Mansion. However, since Meng Jie had recovered from her confinement period, An Zhi delegated many tasks to her, which relieved her of much work.

As the madam of the household, Meng Jie understood, after her grandmother’s advice, that making a grand wedding for An Xu would reflect well on her own status. Therefore, she put in all her effort, both inside and out.

Seeing his wife diligently working on their son’s wedding, An Cheng-ye felt reassured and spent ten consecutive nights sleeping in her room.

With only three days left until the wedding, all preparations were almost complete, and An Zhi finally had some free time.

With nothing to do at home, An Zhi thought about making some scarves or something, but her aunt called her out.

The pretext was to enjoy the snow, but when An Zhi arrived at the lakeside pavilion, she saw a woman she didn’t recognize and another young man. She then realized her aunt had arranged a potential match for her.

The family that Madam Qian had chosen was the Xia family from Lingnan.

Like the Bai family, the Xia family was also a family of military generals. Lingnan bordered the Northwest, but unlike the barren Northwest, Lingnan was mountainous and had abundant water resources, making it relatively prosperous.

The two families had a good relationship; Madam Qian and Madam Cheng of the Xia family had known each other before their marriages. So, when Madam Qian heard that the Xia family would be returning to the capital this year, she specifically invited Madam Cheng out.

Both women were straightforward. When Madam Qian invited Madam Cheng, she mentioned the youngest son of the Xia family; if Madam Cheng was interested, she would bring her son along.

Before An Zhi arrived, Madam Qian had already chatted with Madam Cheng for a while.

“Sister, look at her! I’m not exaggerating, am I?” Madam Qian took An Zhi’s hand and smiled at Madam Cheng. “My niece is so well-mannered, thanks to her mother’s upbringing, and she’s very pretty too.”

An Zhi didn’t know there would be other people today, so she dressed simply, which happened to please Madam Cheng. The Cheng family had two sons. The eldest son was already married to a girl from a family of military generals; she was spirited and straightforward, and Madam Cheng liked her very much. However, as she grew older and witnessed more of the bloodshed and violence of war, Madam Cheng wanted to find a suitable wife for her younger son from a scholarly family. She hoped that her grandchildren could have a different path in life.

Madam Cheng had heard about An Zhi, especially about her broken engagement with the Pei family.

But Madam Cheng believed in seeing things for herself, so she wanted to meet An Zhi. Her first impression was quite positive.

Xia Yunjiang, who was with Madam Cheng, hadn’t said a word since An Zhi entered.

Seeing her son’s flushed cheeks, Madam Cheng knew he liked her. After all, An Zhi was very beautiful; if he married her, she would surely give him many lovely grandchildren.

“Very good, very good! Your niece is the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen,” Madam Cheng said with a smile, then turned to her son, “Yunjiang, my dress is a bit dirty. I’ll go change with Madam Bai. You stay here and chat with Young Lady An.”

Xia Yunjiang immediately stood up. “Mother, I can get you another dress…”

Before he could finish, Madam Cheng glared at him impatiently, her hand on his shoulder. “No, just stay here.”

Madam Qian understood Madam Cheng’s intentions and agreed, then left the room with her.

Only An Zhi, Xia Yunjiang, Binglu, and the servant were left in the room.

An Zhi sighed inwardly. She had observed Xia Yunjiang; he had tanned skin, strong, well-defined features, and a small scar on his right forehead, about the size of a fingernail. It wasn’t unattractive but rather added to his manly charm. Xia Yunjiang was indeed good-looking, but he seemed to have a thin skin, or perhaps he simply didn’t like her, which explained why he kept tilting his head away, never looking at her. That was An Zhi’s conclusion.

After all, it was her aunt’s carefully arranged plan, so An Zhi didn’t want to leave early. Fortunately, since Xia Yunjiang wasn’t saying anything, she could remain silent as well.

She just sat there, waiting for her aunt and Madam Xia to return.

An Zhi counted the minutes in her mind. After getting bored, she picked up some melon seeds and started arranging them on the table to spell out words. When she finished, she saw that it spelled “Pei.” Quickly, before anyone saw it, she scrambled the seeds to hide the word.

Perhaps fate intervened; An Zhi suddenly heard Shunzi’s voice outside the room.

Outside, Shunzi was running after his master. “Master, please slow down; we’ve arrived. No need to rush!”

Pei Que turned around and gave Shunzi a disapproving glare.

How could he not be in a hurry? He had received news that Madam Qian was arranging a marriage for An Zhi, so he immediately dropped his work and rushed over.

He had worked so hard to win over An Zhi’s heart; if someone else came along now, he would be furious.

An Zhi, inside the warm room, heard Shunzi’s words clearly and knew that Pei Que was outside the door, instantly feeling anxious and fearful. Pei Que was someone who held grudges, and if he found out, it wouldn’t be something as simple as calling him “Fourth Brother” to resolve.