freenovelworld Chapter 352 Let's go shopping.
Chapter 352 Let's go shopping.
If the Crown Prince heard the Empress's words, he would probably turn pale with fright.
"Your Majesty, please have some bird's nest."
"Hmm, where's Chen'er?"
"Your Majesty, His Highness the Great has left the palace. I heard he's gone out for drinks with some young gentlemen."
"Chen'er is a good child. I cannot let him be ruined by the Crown Princess."
The female official was startled; these were words that none of the palace servants dared to answer.
"Now that the principal wife has been chosen, it's best to decide on Chen'er's concubine as well," the Empress said, glancing at the portraits beside her. "Send these to the Fourth Prince so he can take a look and let me know if he has one he likes."
"Yes, ma'am."
When the Crown Prince returned to the Eastern Palace, he found that the Crown Princess had been waiting outside for a long time. What she said was exactly as the Empress had expected: she wanted to arrange for her niece from her maternal family to be Chen'er's concubine.
The crown prince's face darkened, and he immediately rejected the idea.
"There's no need to discuss this further, and you don't need to be so busy with his wedding. If you have some free time, you should go back to your parents' home for a visit."
The crown prince uttered a single sentence and then abruptly went to his study.
The Crown Princess stood there stunned, unable to react for a long time. After a while, she finally ordered, "Go, quickly go and ask if something has happened to my brother and the others?"
"Yes, ma'am."
Little did Prince Chang Le, Duanmu Chuze, know that his desire to get married soon would lead the Emperor and others to start arranging concubines for him.
When Duanmu Chuze arrived at the Mu residence, he was naturally invited to the study first. After talking with Mu Chang'an for a while, the two went to Wangyue Pavilion together.
Mu Xin Nuan happened to be there, checking their homework one by one. She was mainly checking her two younger cousins and Liu Zhuangzhuang's.
"Greetings to the prince."
"No need for formalities, we're all family now."
"Brother-in-law, my eldest sister said you're leaving. Will you come to see us again?" Liu Zhuangzhuang, the youngest of the three, said the most surprising thing, directly calling him brother-in-law.
Mu Xin Nuan froze on the spot, then immediately scolded lightly, "Don't call me that, you should call me Your Highness."
Liu Zhuangzhuang tilted his head, seemingly considering whether to change his form of address, when Duanmu Chuze laughed and said, "Don't be afraid, just call me brother-in-law from now on. You all should call me that too. If anyone calls me 'Your Highness' again, I won't take him horseback riding and hunting."
Mu Qingxuan rolled his eyes. So they couldn't go horseback hunting without him?
Duanmu Chuze laughed, "I'm taking you to the royal hunting grounds! Think about it."
Sure enough, upon hearing that Duanmu Chuze referred to it as the royal hunting grounds, the children's eyes lit up. The royal hunting grounds weren't places anyone could just enter. Even Mu Qingxuan was now somewhat unsettled.
Duanmu Chuze, a veteran of the battlefield, could easily see the change in Mu Qingxuan's eyes. He raised an eyebrow slightly, having won over his brother-in-law. Done!
Next, a chorus of "Hello, brother-in-law!" accompanied the greeting, along with the bowing gestures of a group of children. Mu Xin Nuan felt somewhat bewildered.
Mu Chang'an, standing to the side, couldn't help but chuckle. He wanted to laugh but felt it was inappropriate, yet his eldest son-in-law's actions were undeniably amusing. As an elder, he could only suppress his laughter.
Just as Li Shi led Mu Qingyang to the door, she was startled by the sudden, unified voice.
As soon as Mu Qingyang entered, he ran straight to Mu Xinnuan's side. But before his short arms could even touch his elder sister's dress, he felt his feet sink into the ground, and he found himself suspended in mid-air. A large hand was on his waist, controlling his posture.
"Are you Xiao Qingyang?"
"Little Qingyang?" Why does that name sound so awkward?
"I'm not Xiao Qingyang, I'm Qingyang. Who are you?"
“I am your eldest sister’s husband, the man who will spend his life with your eldest sister. Come on, little one, let’s get acquainted.”
Mu Xin Nuan truly felt her brain wasn't working properly. Had Duanmu Chu Ze taken the wrong medicine today? Why was he acting so strangely?
"Brother-in-law?"
"That's right. Come on, sweetie, say it for me. Then I'll take you outside to buy some delicious food, like sugar figurines and candied hawthorns. Do you want some?"
"Yes!" Mu Qingyang's eyes almost popped out of their sockets. "I want to eat, I want to eat."
"Okay! Come on, I'll take you out to buy some." Duanmu Chuze hugged him and then looked at Mu Xinnuan with a smile. "Let's go together. The Double Ninth Festival has just passed, and the streets outside are still very lively. Besides, I heard there's a flower market with nice chrysanthemums, so we can go and admire them."
Mu Xin Nuan was slightly taken aback. Was she to be asked to accompany her out? That seemed inappropriate.
Duanmu Chuze glanced lightly in Mu Qingxuan's direction and naturally saw that Mu Qingxuan also wanted to go out.
"Lord Mu, how about this? It's rare for me to have some free time to spend with Anuan. These children don't go out much these days, so how about I take them out for a walk? Don't worry, I will definitely bring them all back for you."
Li was at a loss for a moment. Not only had she never seen such a situation before, but even the well-informed Mu Chang'an had never heard of it!
It's one thing for the future son-in-law to bring his fiancée out, it's barely acceptable, but why did he also bring a bunch of radishes? And listening to these kids calling him "brother-in-law" so happily, although he was happy to hear it, he still felt that it was somewhat improper.
"Father, please let us go out for one day. We promise we won't run around or cause trouble. We'll take good care of our younger siblings."
Upon hearing Mu Qingxuan's words and seeing Duanmu Chuze smiling at him, Mu Chang'an felt that if he didn't agree, he would become a bad father.
"Alright, bring more people with you, and don't let them wander off. Qingxuan, take Zhuangzhuang with you, and Ayuan, take your two cousins. Be extra careful."
"Yes, Father," the Mu brothers replied, their eyes brimming with excitement. Although they had gone out for the Dragon Boat Festival, there were too many people, and remembering the assassination attempt on Mu Xin Nuan during the Lantern Festival that year, Li Hao Ran and the others didn't dare to take them out for long. They only strolled around for a short while before returning home early.
The group left the Mu residence in a grand procession. Li Shi was worried, and Qingyang insisted on going along as well, so she had no choice but to take Granny Yu with her and go along as well.
Such a large shopping group would be extremely conspicuous no matter which street they walked on.
As luck would have it, after walking around for nearly an hour, everyone complained of being tired. Duanmu Chuze's eyes lit up, "Let's go to Taihe Restaurant then."