Chapter 235: A Ruan Asks for Help
"Secret room? Why build a secret room? To hide radishes?" Xia Chunyu joked.

Ye Jiayao glared at him: "I'll use it to hide you."

The smile in Xia Chunyu's eyes became more intense: "I heard that there is a beautiful woman hidden in a golden house, but you made a secret room to hide your husband. Is your husband so shameful?"

Ye Jiayao said angrily: "I'm not kidding you. Anyway, I want a secret room, and we are the only two who know how to enter this secret room."

Maybe she lacks a sense of security in this world, and always hopes that no matter where she is, there is a place where she can hide safely and have a way out.

Seeing that she was serious, Xia Chunyu followed suit: "Okay, if you say so, we'll fix it. Do you want Uncle Jiang to design a few mechanisms? It will be more reliable."

Ye Jiayao was delighted: "Okay, okay, that's the best."

Xia Chunyu was so upset. He was just joking, but she took it seriously.

In the Marquis of Jing'an's mansion, Liuli's eyes were gloomy: "Did the Second Young Madam and the Young Master go to the farm?"

"Yes, they said there were matters that needed to be taken care of over there, and the prince happened to be on vacation. I thought that taking care of the matters was just an excuse, and the real purpose was to go to the farm for leisure." Xiaoya said.

"How many days of vacation do you have left, my Lord?"

"There are seven days in total, and there are still five days left!"

Liuli gritted her teeth and said, "Do they want to stay here for five full days? Madam doesn't care?"

Xiaoya said, "With the support of the Crown Prince, what can Madam say? Madam loves the Crown Prince the most."

Liuli snorted coldly: "If he doesn't come back, I will always find a way to make her come back."

Today is the third day of fumigation with moxa. Imperial Physician Li said that there is no improvement at all and the situation is getting worse and worse. The fetus in the belly has not moved for half a month. Medicines are useless and fumigation with moxa is useless. It seems that it is irreversible and cannot be delayed any longer. It will not be good for her health if it is delayed any longer.

Thinking of the child, Liuli was overwhelmed with grief. Imperial Physician Li still hasn't figured out what went wrong and why this happened.

This time there was an accident, what about next time? Will the tragedy happen again? Liuli was filled with fear.

Ye Jiayao didn't want to go back to the farm after staying there. Here, it was like staying in a paradise. The hustle and bustle of the mundane world seemed to be far away from her. Every day, she went horseback riding, fishing, and cooking with Chunyu. She also went for a walk to the nearby Peony Garden. In the evening, she did some exercise to improve the relationship between the couple. She felt so comfortable there.

Today is her third day at the farm. Under Chunyu Xin's anxious urging, Ye Jiayao is ready to try making flower cakes.

She taught Zhong Xiang a lot of things, and Zhong Xiang also taught her the pastry-making skills that he was good at.

The rose jam is ready, and now we need to knead it into a water-oil dough.

The flour is mixed with water soaked with fresh rose petals to give the dough a rose fragrance. Butter and a certain amount of sugar are added and kneaded evenly. Then, the dough is covered with gauze and left to rise for more than half an hour.

The next step is to knead the oil dough. The oil dough does not require water. Just knead it with butter and let it rise for half an hour.

After the dough has risen, wrap the oil skin with water-oil skin, knead and roll it into round shapes to make thirty dough pieces. Then roll the dough pieces into strips, roll them up and roll them again. Repeat this several times and continue to let it rise.

Mix rose jam with cooked glutinous rice flour, adjust the seasoning and mix well.

Xia Chunyu sat aside and watched her with great interest. Xiangtao and others watched and took notes carefully. Such an opportunity was rare.

Finally, roll the strip-shaped dough into a round dough, add the rose filling and knead it into a pancake shape.

Xia Chunyu felt itchy and tried to make one himself, and it turned out to be quite good. He was very pleased with himself and boasted about his talent.

Ye Jiayao said with a smile: "Why don't you follow your husband's lead in the future? You don't need to be a guard anymore, learn to cook from me."

Xia Chunyu shook his head and said, "No, no, I'm just doing this for fun. If I learn cooking, I will definitely be far better than you. That would really dampen your enthusiasm."

Ye Jiayao couldn't help but spit at him, you arrogant guy.

"Hey, we're making food! Be careful not to spray your saliva in there." Xia Chunyu said, trying not to laugh.

"I don't mind if it gets stained with your saliva, but Xiangtao, Song Qi and the others are waiting to eat it!"

Ye Jiayao clenched her floury hands and waved her fist at him, "You deserve a beating." She was not afraid of embarrassment at all when she said she was eating saliva in front of the maid.

Song Qi was already used to it and looked nonchalant. Xiang Tao and the others couldn't help but cover their mouths and laugh, but they didn't dare to laugh out loud. Their shoulders twitched and they were trying very hard to endure it.

"Young Master, Young Master." Zhu Wang ran in hurriedly.

Xia Chunyu suppressed his smile and asked calmly, "What's the matter?"

Zhu Wang said, "There's a guard outside who claims to be from the post house and wants to see you urgently."

Xia Chunyu frowned. Posthouse? They actually found this place. Something must have happened.

Putting down the flower cake he had just rolled, he said to Ye Jiayao, "I'll go out and take a look."

When he came back a moment later, Ye Jiayao saw that he looked serious. Before she could ask what happened, Xia Chunyu said in a hurry, "Pack up, we have to go back. Ruan is in trouble."

Ah? Are we going back now? Ye Jiayao wiped her hands and pulled Chunyu out of the kitchen.

"What trouble? What happened to A'ruan?" Xia Chunyu said, "The third prince asked the emperor to marry A'ruan."

Ye Jiayao was stunned. Why was it so sudden?

"Did the Emperor agree?"

Xia Chunyu shook his head and said, "The Emperor will eventually have to ask A-Ruan about this matter, but the Third Prince is also very outstanding. Since the Third Prince has this intention, the Emperor will definitely be happy to facilitate it. A-Ruan has already entered the palace this morning. The Queen asked her, and she didn't refuse or agree. She was anxious to find us to go back and discuss it."

"What's there to hesitate about? Just reject it directly." Ye Jiayao also became anxious. She knew what A Ruan was thinking. Since she had someone she liked in her heart, she should just reject him/her decisively!
"It's not that simple. Let's go back quickly!"

Ye Jiayao didn't dare to delay any longer, as this involved A'ruan and Xiaojing's lifelong happiness. A'ruan only had her as a close friend in Jinling, so it was naturally her responsibility to act as a guiding light for A'ruan.

Not caring about the flower cakes, Ye Jiayao asked Xiangtao to put them away first, and the group got on the carriage or rode on horses, and quickly returned to the city and went straight to the inn.

When A Ruan heard that Sister Yaoyao had arrived, he rushed out of the room, looking anxious.

"Sister Yaoyao, you're finally here. I was so anxious."

When Xia Chunyu met him, he asked, "Where is Helian Jing?"

Ah Ruan pouted and said, "I haven't told him yet. He's in the Ministry of War."

Xia Chunyu ordered Song Qi: "Go to the Ministry of War immediately and call Prince Jing."

Song Qi rushed to the Ministry of War to call for help.

Ye Jiayao and A Ruan went in and everyone sat down to talk.

"What did the Queen say?" Ye Jiayao asked.

Ah Ruan frowned and said, "The Queen said a lot of good things about the Third Prince. Anyway, it sounds like it's best not to refuse this matter. I also asked Lord Bumu, and Lord Bumu meant that I'd better agree to it."

Bu Mu was the deputy envoy who came with A Ruan this time. The main envoy had already returned to Nanyue to report.

Ye Jiayao could understand what Lord Bumu said. Marrying a prince was definitely better than marrying a prince. Moreover, the prince had performed well recently and was deeply loved by the emperor. This would be more beneficial to stabilizing the relationship between Nanyue and Huaisong. But Ye Jiayao couldn't quite understand what the queen said.

The Crown Prince is the Queen's biological son. If the Third Prince marries A'ruan, with the support of the King of Nanyue, he will be even more powerful and have more capital to compete with the Crown Prince. What is the Queen thinking?

"And the Queen Mother, the Queen Mother also wants me to marry the Third Prince!" Ah Ruan said sadly. Although she liked Xiao Jing and wanted to marry Xiao Jing, the matter involved the interests of both countries. She did not forget the mission of this trip, which was really difficult.

"What about you?" Ye Jiayao asked. A'ruan's position was the most important. Of course, she also knew that things were not that simple.

Ah Ruan lowered his head and said weakly, "If I was willing, I wouldn't ask you, Sister Yaoyao, to make the decision for me."

Xia Chunyu stroked his chin with one hand and thought deeply.

Ye Jiayao understood. She felt that Chunyu should be very clear about the interests involved in the court, and she wanted to hear what Chunyu had to say first.

"Chun Yu, what do you think we should do about this?"

Xia Chunyu pondered and said, "I don't think marrying the third prince is a good thing."

He couldn't make it too clear, and he didn't dare to make any assertions about the unknown future, but there was always a layer of hidden worry.

Ye Jiayao nodded: "I think so too, but it's not easy to deal with it if the Queen Mother and the Emperor have that idea."

"It is difficult to do, but it is not difficult either. The key lies in the attitude of Prince Helian's Mansion." Xia Chunyu hit the nail on the head.

In fact, as long as Xiao Jing nodded and said he wanted to marry A'ruan, the eldest princess could come forward and say that the two children were in love. With the power of the Helian Palace, the emperor would not make it difficult. This was also the emperor's original intention.

Ah Ruan blushed. Actually, she asked them to come here because she hoped that they would talk to Xiao Jing. She had already hinted at it herself, but Xiao Jing was so silly that he didn't react at all. Did she have to take the initiative to say, "I want to marry you?"

Ye Jiayao said: "Don't worry, I'll talk to Xiao Jing when he comes."

Ah Ruan nodded shyly.

I thought, Xiaojing should marry her!

Helian Jing was dragged to the inn by the anxious Song Qi.

"What's the matter? I'm busy with official duties!" Xiao Jing didn't know about the third prince's proposal.

Song Qi said: "Young Prince, you should ask the Crown Prince! Anyway, the order I received is to call you here."

Xiao Jing secretly complained in his heart, but he had actually roughly guessed what Chunyu meant. He just wanted to match him with A'ruan, but he had already said that he needed time to think about it, and he hadn't thought it through yet!
Besides, if we have something to talk about, why don’t we go somewhere else and talk about it at the inn?

Xiao Jing was reluctant and a little stage-frightened, but since he was already there and Song Qi was blocking the door and wouldn't let him out, he had no choice but to come in.

"Brother Chunyu, what do you want from me?" Xiao Jing said unhappily.

Xia Chunyu and Ye Jiayao exchanged glances, and Xia Chunyu put his arm around Xiaojing's shoulder and said, "Come here, I want to tell you something."

(End of this chapter)