Union

Chapter 174 Entering the palace to express gratitude
The Marquis of Chang'an's mansion was rife with petty scheming, and although Chen Yanzhou was kept under surveillance, most of his attention was still focused on Yun Ying.

On the same day, Yunying's head injury improved slightly.

She still couldn't sit or stand for long periods, and even had difficulty eating. But when she lay in bed, the dizziness lessened considerably, and her symptoms of nausea and vomiting also lessened.

Seeing this, Chen Yanzhou naturally breathed a sigh of relief.

That day, he coaxed and persuaded her, and personally fed Yunying half a bowl of rice.

After Yunying finished eating, Chen Yanzhou went out to have his breakfast.

When he returned to the inner room, Yunying was bored and flipping through a storybook she had found somewhere.

Upon seeing this, Chen Yanzhou raised an eyebrow and took the storybook away.

"Ugh……"

"What? The doctor told you to rest carefully these few days, avoid mental exertion and overthinking. Have you forgotten all that?"

Yunying struggled in vain, "It's just the doctor's words, why are you treating it like an imperial edict? Besides, they're just simple, easy-to-understand stories for entertainment, they don't require any brainpower. I'm just reading them to pass the time. Otherwise, what am I supposed to do, just lie in bed staring at you like that?"

Chen Yanzhou snorted, "Fine, we haven't even done anything yet, and you're already complaining about me."

Yunying quickly waved her hand, "I didn't, don't falsely accuse me."

After a bit of bickering, Chen Yanzhou reached out and touched her hand.

A brazier was lit inside, and her hands were warm.

After touching her hand, Chen Yanzhou wouldn't let go, holding it in his palm and kneading it back and forth, looking at it with great affection.

This was something he had been doing for the past two days. If Yunying weren't feeling unwell, he would have liked to hold her in his arms.

Unfortunately, Yunying's health is currently poor, and he has too much tenderness and affection to bear, so he can only force himself to endure it.

He restrained his actions, but his gaze remained unblinking. His eyes were burning, making Yunying feel as if she were on fire.

He was still staring at Yunying greedily, his gaze never wavering. Yunying felt uncomfortable under his gaze and couldn't help but pull her hand away and slap him.

What are you looking at? Luckily, she's made of flesh and blood. If she were made of wood, she would have spontaneously combusted by now.

Unable to bear his greedy and ardent appearance any longer, Yunying urged him to leave, "You haven't been back to the Marquis's residence for the past two days. You should go back and visit them. It's the New Year, and it's not easy for you to come back. You should at least be with your parents and take care of them. We might be going back to Lingnan Prefecture at any time..."

Chen Yanzhou snorted again upon hearing this. Her thoughts were written all over her face.

See? Her face is so sweet, but her words are like honey-coated knives.

Chen Yanzhou patted her again, "Don't rush, my parents are annoyed just seeing me. As a dutiful son, I'll stay away from them for now, so as not to upset them during the New Year."

Yunying: "..." Are you serious? How can you talk about the Duke and Duchess Rong like this behind their backs? Doesn't your conscience hurt, Second Master?
Chen Yanzhou laughed again, "You heartless little thing, who am I staying here for anyway?"

Yunying shrank further under the covers, and said weakly, "Then you should at least go back and check in."

"Tomorrow."

After considering it, Chen Yanzhou relented and said, "Your health has improved slightly, so we can't delay going to the palace to express our gratitude. I'll take you to the palace to express our gratitude first thing tomorrow morning. After we get back and settle you in properly, I'll go back to my residence."

It really is time to go back, otherwise the bodyguards will be coming three times a day, which is really annoying for him.

He was also worried that he might really anger his father.

When the Duke of Rongguo gets angry, he will punish even his own son without hesitation.

It's only because his mother is there to support him now; otherwise, he might have to personally come to their door.

Chen Yanzhou frowned, feeling a headache coming on, as he thought of his violent father.

Yunying frowned as well, "Do I still have to go to the palace to express my gratitude?"

She was extremely anxious and at a loss for what to do. "But I don't know any of the rules."

The palace rules were strict, and she dared not even imagine the consequences if she made a single wrong step.

Chen Yanzhou snapped out of his reverie and saw Yun Ying visibly panicking. He recalled his earlier words and realized he had given Yun Ying the wrong signal.

"It's said that we're going to the palace to express our gratitude, but the Emperor and Empress are both too busy to see us. I'll just take you to the palace gate to kowtow; that's how it's always been done when noblewomen receive rewards."

Of course, this applies to women of low rank and whose husbands' families are not prominent. If both the bride's and husband's families are prominent, the Empress will definitely summon them personally. If they are even more prominent, the Empress Dowager will also appear and say a few words.

Yunying doesn't have the prestige right now, and he doesn't have the ability to make her valued in the palace. So, he should still strive to climb up the ranks until no one can afford to treat her with the slightest disrespect upon hearing her name.

Hearing that she only had to kowtow outside the palace and didn't even need to enter the palace gates, Yunying relaxed completely.

She nodded and said, "Then I'll get up earlier tomorrow."

"You don't need to get up particularly early, just follow your usual wake-up time. It's just that it's terribly cold today, and you haven't fully recovered yet, so you might have to suffer a bit tomorrow."

At this point, Chen Yanzhou asked worriedly, "Are you sure you can hold on? If you're still feeling very unwell, it's not impossible to postpone it for a few days."

Yunying quickly waved her hand, "I won't postpone it, I'll do it tomorrow."

She pulled a purse from under her pillow, inside which were her household registration documents.

The household registration document was delivered to her yesterday; it was the official in charge of household registration at the Ministry of Revenue who personally made the trip to deliver the document to her.

With this household registration, she is now a law-abiding citizen, no longer subject to manipulation or control, and can live with dignity.

Not only was she a law-abiding citizen, but she was also given a separate household registration for women. This meant she was exempt from corvée labor and received tax reductions... but that wasn't important. What mattered was that she would be an independent head of household from now on, able to make all her own decisions without being subject to anyone else's control.

That's great.

His Majesty's grace is boundless; it is only right that she kowtows to him.

In other words, she didn't know she was supposed to go to the palace gate to express her gratitude. Otherwise, she would have crawled to the palace gate the moment she received the imperial edict yesterday.

Yunying held a household registration document, almost digging herself into a hole.

Chen Yanzhou noticed that her attention was entirely focused on the paper in her hand, and he couldn't help but feel jealous.

She had never looked at him with such a rare and admiring gaze...

But considering her temperament and the fact that she had been controlled by others for a long time and had to suppress her true nature, this piece of paper was too important to her, and it was no wonder that she cherished it so much.

But in just a few days, once she adjusts to her new identity, she'll forget about this piece of paper.

He was different.

His importance in her heart will only grow, there's absolutely no need to fight for temporary favor...

Yunying talked with Chen Yanzhou for a while longer, then felt a heavy weight on her head. Her chest felt tight, and her temples throbbed with pain. She had overworked herself and needed to rest.

Seeing this, Chen Yanzhou covered her with the blankets, patted her gently, and coaxed her to sleep.

Yunying was truly exhausted. She closed her eyes and her breathing became even shortly afterward. After she fell asleep, Chen Yanzhou sat with her for a while longer before reluctantly getting up and leaving the room.

In the courtyard, Sui Yu, Mo Xue, and Lei Ting waited quietly. When they saw him come out, they all stepped forward.

Chen Yanzhou gestured for silence and led the three into the adjacent side room.

This side room was originally empty, but it was cleaned up yesterday and is now his lodging in this house.

The side room wasn't large; upon entering, one would see a screen. The screen divided the room into two parts: the inner part was the living quarters, while the outer part had a round table for people to sit and talk.

This room is so simple and cramped, it's not even as big as the room of a favored maid in the Rongguo Duke's mansion. It's really unfair that the Second Master is staying here.

Sui Yu glanced around the room and once again protested for her second master's innocence.

He wanted the Second Master to move into the mansion, while he stayed with Yunying.

But considering that Second Master had finally seen the light at the end of the tunnel and was now enjoying Yunying's company, if he asked Second Master to return to the mansion, Second Master might think that he was deliberately trying to break them up—although he didn't have the same status as the Queen Mother, his actions were pretty much the same.

Since she had put in the effort but received no reward, Sui Yu curled her lip and said nothing more.

As long as he's with Yunying, even eating coarse food tastes delicious.

As these thoughts raced through her mind, Sui Yu heard Second Master ask about yesterday's events.

Sui Yu dared not let her mind wander any further and quickly brought her thoughts back.

Chen Yanzhou quickly learned from Mo Xue that the Lady of Chang'an Marquis had been refused help when she went out to ask for assistance, and that Lin Shuqing had volunteered to ask the Second Prince for help to turn the tide.

Upon hearing this, Chen Yanzhou's expression turned cold.

Seeing this, Mo Xue asked, "Second Master, should we...?"

Mo Xue's meaning was clear: she was asking if she wanted to intervene and prevent Lin Shuqing from meeting the Second Prince.

Chen Yanzhou said, "No need, let them go."

The second prince is cowardly and irresponsible; he will not agree to this.

Lin Shuqing and Lady Chang'an placed all their hopes on the Second Prince, which was a mistake.

The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. They won't get what they want. If the Second Prince can appease Lin Shuqing, that's fine. But if he can't, there'll be plenty of fun to be had later.

The second master's expression was extremely cold. Seeing this, the other three thought about the matter carefully and also felt that letting it go was indeed one way.

If the Second Prince gets involved, he will surely be disliked by the Emperor; if he doesn't, Lin Shuqing alone will be enough to cause him trouble.

The thought of them fighting like dogs suddenly made the three of them feel a sense of satisfaction.

They couldn't easily touch the Second Prince, a member of the imperial family, but someone else could.

As long as they can make a move, that's good. As long as they send out some signals, how things will progress after that is not up to them to decide.

The three then discussed the matter of how they had decided to push down the Marquis of Chang'an that day.

These people were all unexpected; whether out of personal grudges, to follow the crowd, or for other schemes, they suddenly appeared and wanted to kill the Marquis of Chang'an.

The matters they reported, whether major or minor, true or false, undoubtedly brought the matter to a climax with their involvement.

In other words, it would be extremely difficult for the Marquis of Chang'an to escape this time.

Of course, Sui Yu and the other two also noticed another situation: among the people who were going to deal with the Marquis of Chang'an, there were more or less some female relatives behind them.

They made bold guesses and carefully verified them, and finally learned that these people all had favored beauties in their families, and those beauties all came from the Chang'an Marquis's mansion.

This is real-life karma coming true.

The Marquis of Chang'an's household only thought about sending beauties to win over powerful figures, never imagining that these beauties entering the household and gaining favor would make things difficult for the original wife.

Now that the original wives are showing their power, they're enough to give the Marquis of Chang'an's mansion a run for its money.

Sui Yu and the other two told Chen Yanzhou about this. After a moment of silence, Chen Yanzhou instructed the three of them, "Don't let Yun Ying know about this."

The three women exchanged glances. Yunying was also a beauty from the Chang'an Marquis's mansion. Such a beauty naturally clashed with the interests of the first wife. When those first wives dealt with the Chang'an Marquis at this time, upon closer reflection, weren't they also dealing with those beauties or concubines?

If Yunying knew about this, she would probably be embarrassed.

Although she was personally sent to the Second Master by Lin Shuqing, and had not engaged in any inappropriate behavior with him before the Second Master's divorce...

The three nodded in agreement, and then informed the Second Master of the news from the manor.

Once the Second Master learned that the manor was functioning normally, he didn't pay much attention to the matter. He said a few more words, telling the three of them to pay more attention to the situation outside and not to rush into things again, before sending them away.

After the three left, Chen Yanzhou glanced at some of the accounts in the capital and then went to Yunying's room to keep her company.

Thus, on this day, the Second Master still did not step out of the gate of the "Yun Mansion," nor did he obey his father's order to go to the Rongguo Duke's Mansion.

Soon it was the next morning.

Yunying was dressed properly under Chen Yanzhou's "attendants".

Although Chen Yanzhou's actions were relatively restrained and he did not lay a hand on her, his gaze was intense, making Yun Ying feel uncomfortable all over.

Although Yunying was left blushing and breathing rapidly, she was finally dressed and ready to go out.

Chen Yanzhou went to the palace with Yunying.

The carriage rolled over the bluestone slabs for about half an hour before gradually coming to a stop.

There was no court assembly today, and the palace gates were very quiet.

Chen Yanzhou carried Yunying down from the carriage. The imperial guards on duty at the palace gate saw them coming towards the palace gate and came over to inquire.

Upon learning that they had come to express their gratitude, the Imperial Guards nodded slightly and did not stop them.

They didn't say anything, but the Imperial Guards on duty exchanged glances without interruption.

They finally got to see the real person.

Chen Yanzhou and the others had met a few times. After all, they were all brothers of noble families. Even though there was an age gap, and they didn't usually play together, they would always see each other a few times when attending banquets. They were quite familiar with Chen Yanzhou, but Yun Ying...

Although her head was covered in gauze and her face was pale from the severity of her injuries, this very frailty and pitifulness made her appear all the more delicate and harmless.

Looking closer at her features, figure, temperament, and charm, she possessed a cool and gentle beauty that was so delicate it made one's heart tremble.

With such a beauty by his side, it's no wonder that Chen Yanzhou would abandon his original wife, who came from a noble family.

It's no wonder that he took action against the Marquis of Chang'an's residence because the beauty had been humiliated.

The Imperial Guards were inwardly thrilled, but outwardly maintained a cold and stern expression.

They stared straight ahead, swords at their sides, exuding a chilling aura that kept strangers at bay. Yet, out of the corner of their eyes, they kept a close watch on two figures approaching.