"Oh, Shuang'er girl, why aren't you waiting at the main gate? I stood there for ages, and the Roujiamo is already cold..."
Everyone turned to look. Chu Jiangtun trotted in, holding a Roujiamo wrapped in brown paper, along with other snacks.
Since Chu Jiangtun was a frequent visitor to the Marquis's mansion, the servants didn't stop him and let him in directly...
Hu Ge Shuang'er paused her assault, staring blankly at Chu Jiangtun, "Young Master Chu, why... why are you here?"
"Ahem!" The old Marquis rapped the table with his pipe. "Shuang'er girl, since Young Master Chu personally brought you Roujiamo, why don't you go chat with him? I'll handle the matters of Yan'er and Yan'er, so you don't need to worry..."
He wasn't afraid of his son getting beaten, but he was concerned about Han Chi Yan's reputation.
Now that the deed was done, the old Marquis felt as sweet as if his heart were coated in preserves...
To hold his grandson as soon as possible, he still had many tricks up his sleeve.
Hu Ge Shuang'er snorted and warned Gu Ming Yan, "Don't you dare bully my princess again!~"
With that, she grabbed Chu Jiangtun's sleeve and went to the next room to eat Roujiamo...
The main hall fell silent again. The old Marquis closed his storybook, stood up, and kicked Steward Zhou, "What are you looking at? Haven't you seen young lovers flirting? Go, go, go, go to the kitchen and make me two stuffed pancakes!~"
Steward Zhou: "..."
After the old Marquis and Steward Zhou left, Gu Ming Yan looked up and gazed deeply at Han Chi Yan, "It was my fault, Yan'er Princess. If you want to hit or scold, do it to me. This has nothing to do with my father!~"
Han Chi Yan's pretty face flushed slightly. She tightly clutched the embroidered handkerchief in her hand, remaining silent...
Her heart was in turmoil. In the barbarian tribes, there was a rule: if a girl had her first night with the first man, she had to marry him and become his wife.
Now that Han Chi Yan's first night was gone, and that man was sitting in front of her, did she have any other choice?
"Princess Yan'er, please rest assured, I will take full responsibility...~" Gu Ming Yan said with a determined expression. He stood up, walked around the desk, took Han Chi Yan's hand, and said, "Marry me. I will treat you well for a lifetime!~"
Outside the window, the old Marquis, with his rear end sticking out, was pressed against the window lattice, more excited than the parties involved.
"Yan'er girl, quickly agree to him! Getting married early will allow you to have more chubby babies!" the old Marquis chuckled.
Steward Zhou, standing behind him: "..."
Master, you should read fewer storybooks from now on.
Finding a wife for your son with such insidious methods, aren't you afraid of divine retribution?
Inside the room, Han Chi Yan withdrew her hands and turned her face away, "I... I can't marry you yet!~"
To be honest, the first time she saw Gu Ming Yan, she had already developed a good impression of him...
The renowned Marquis of Pingyang was not only courageous and resourceful but also handsome, like a combination of a scholar and a military officer.
In this era, girls liked men like him.
"Why?" Gu Ming Yan asked, surprised.
Han Chi Yan pursed her thin lips and looked out the window, "The war between the two countries has not ended, and the conflicts are deepening. If I marry a Marquis of an enemy country at this critical juncture, my people will call me a traitor, a villain, and unfilial. Therefore, before the war subsides, I cannot get too entangled with the Marquis on a personal level..."
Gu Ming Yan: "???"
They had already slept together, so what was the point of saying all this?
However, he could understand Han Chi Yan's predicament. After all, their respective positions and allegiances were different, and their perspectives on the matter would naturally differ...
If he were Han Chi Yan, he wouldn't rashly marry himself off either.
"Alright!~" Gu Ming Yan nodded gently and reached out to smooth the stray hairs on Han Chi Yan's forehead. "I will handle the rest, don't you worry...~"
Since the matter was settled, he wasn't afraid of Yan'er flying back to the grasslands.
Seeing Han Chi Yan's melancholic expression, as if she were missing her family back home, Gu Ming Yan sighed slightly, "If you want to go back, I will send someone to escort you back to the grasslands tomorrow...~"
It was because of the war that Gu Ming Yan had detained the two princesses.
But after spending so much time together, Gu Ming Yan vaguely felt that he had made a big mistake.
The crucial point was that he had genuinely fallen in love with Han Chi Yan.
"You'll really let me and Jiao Jiao leave?" Han Chi Yan blinked her beautiful eyes, her face full of surprise.
Did the Marquis take the wrong medicine today...
Gu Ming Yan squeezed Han Chi Yan's cheek and smiled slightly, "If possible, I will personally escort you home!~"
He just didn't know if Han Chi Jiao would be willing to go back.
Meanwhile, in the General's mansion, a certain barbarian princess suddenly sneezed, "Who's thinking of me?"
It had to be said that the food in the General's mansion was truly excellent, even including seafood...
Han Chi Jiao held a large crab in one hand and a lobster in the other, her cheeks bulging as she ate. The delicious food entering her stomach made her eyes squint with comfort.
Steward Cao brought another plate of fried ribbonfish and placed it in front of Han Chi Jiao, smiling, "Princess Han, eat slowly. There's plenty more in the kitchen..."
This seafood was all transported overnight by the young general, and the price was, as expected, outrageously high, unaffordable for ordinary people.
To entertain his family well, Gu Zhenshan had also hired sugar figure craftsmen to make snacks for children like Xiao Xi Tian and Gao Jing De...
Old Man Yun, holding a wine cup, took a large gulp, "Haha, I never thought that at my age, I could still eat such delicious big crabs. These must be very expensive, right?"
"If brother-in-law likes them, I'll buy more back later!~" Gu Zhenshan clinked glasses with Old Man Yun, grinning from ear to ear.
Zhen Mei Li sat to the side, her little face puffed out, feeling disgusted...
There wasn't a single decent person in that old Yun family. They ate like barbarians.
Especially Han Chi Jiao, who acted as if she had never eaten seafood before.
As it turned out, Han Chi Jiao, who had lived on the grasslands since childhood, had indeed never eaten seafood...
She had tasted river shrimp and river crabs, but she had never seen such large crabs, and the taste in her mouth was different.
"Xi Tian, Jing De, Xiao Lou, Xiao Bao, you eat too, don't be shy!~" Gu Zhenshan's face was flushed from drinking. He separately gave each child a large lobster.
"Thank you, Uncle!!~" Xiao Xi Tian smiled sweetly and rubbed her round little belly, "Last one...~"
It was fine to be fat, she didn't care.
Xiao Jin Heng had no high demands for food and drink. After tasting a few bites, he went to the back garden to practice his sword.
Outside the General's mansion, a carriage slowly approached. After confirming it was the right place, a young man lifted the curtain and jumped off the carriage...