Chapter 52 Still want to disgust her
Soon, the New Year will be here.

Princess Chaoyang did not make any arrangements in advance as usual.

Seeing that there was no trace of New Year atmosphere in the mansion, Xu Jinhuai took the initiative to go to Princess Chaoyang's courtyard.

After all, Princess Chaoyang is the one who is in charge of household finances, and she has been the one who handled these matters in previous years.

When Xu Jinhuai arrived, Princess Chaoyang was playing with Yaoyao with a rattle.

Xu Yaoyao was not interested in the rattle at all, but in order to cooperate with Princess Chaoyang, she pretended to like it very much. She stretched out her little hands and grabbed it, giggling all the time.

She has tried her best to make her mother happy.

Xu Jinhuai looked at her for a while, then called out affectionately as usual, "Qing'er."

When Princess Chaoyang saw Xu Jinhuai's affectionate eyes, she felt uncomfortable but did not show it on her face.

"Yaoyao, daddy is here to see you." Just as Xu Jinhuai was about to tease Xu Yaoyao like Princess Chaoyang did, Princess Chaoyang handed Xu Yaoyao to the nanny.

Xu Jinhuai did not notice anything unusual. After all, his mind was not on Xu Yaoyao.

He sat beside Princess Chaoyang and asked softly, "Qing'er, New Year's Eve is approaching, why haven't you bought any decorations yet?"

Princess Chaoyang sighed quietly and said, "Prince Consort, I was just about to ask you about this."

"Yesterday, I went to the storehouse to get some silver in preparation for the New Year, but I found the storehouse empty. All the silver and valuables inside were gone."

"I thought the mansion had been robbed and almost reported it to the police, but after asking around, I found out that the money and items inside were actually taken away by the prince consort."

Xu Jinhuai then remembered that he had sold out all the warehouses in his mansion in order to collect enough income for Princess Chaoyang's dowry.

How to explain this matter now?

"Prince Consort, did something happen to you? How could you take away so much silver? Even valuable items were taken away." Just when Xu Jinhuai could not find a reason, Princess Chaoyang asked in confusion.

Xu Jinhuai's eyes lit up, and he quickly went down the hill, "It wasn't me, it was my good friend Mr. Zhou. His family encountered some problems and urgently needed a large sum of money to turn around, so I lent him all the money in the mansion."

"Is that so? I thought the prince consort had encountered something terrible. I was really scared to death." Princess Chaoyang said with a smile.

Seeing that Princess Chaoyang still believed in him so much, Xu Jinhuai felt somewhat proud. He was a scholar from a poor family, but he could control the Princess Chaoyang so well. He felt such a great sense of accomplishment.

"Don't worry Qing'er, I'm fine." Xu Jinhuai said, and wanted to hold Princess Chaoyang's hand again.

Princess Chaoyang sighed, put her hand on her forehead, and cleverly dodged Xu Jinhuai's hand, "Prince Consort, what should we do now? There is no money in the mansion to buy the things needed for the New Year."

Xu Jinhuai felt a little embarrassed when he heard this. He really had no money now. If he really couldn't do it, he might as well trick Princess Chaoyang into giving him her dowry money.

However, before Xu Jinhuai could speak, Princess Chaoyang spoke first, "I wanted to use my dowry, but I was afraid that others would say something bad to the prince consort after knowing it, so I gave up the idea."

"After all, the reputation of the prince consort is more important than anything else."

Xu Jinhuai swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

He tried to maintain a gentle smile on his face, "Qing'er is right. I am the Minister of Works and the current emperor's son-in-law. How could I use Qing'er's dowry?"

"Don't worry, Qing'er. I'll figure out a way to deal with the money."

Princess Chaoyang nodded happily upon hearing this, "Then I'll have to trouble my husband." "Qing'er, why are you being polite to me?" Xu Jinhuai said, and wanted to hug Princess Chaoyang in his arms.

Princess Chaoyang seemed to have suddenly thought of something. She stood up and looked at Xu Jinhuai and said, "By the way, Prince Consort, Yaoyao has been a full moon for several days, but she has never been included in the Xu family tree. I wonder when Prince Consort can invite the clan leader to come and put Yaoyao in the family tree?"

Xu Jinhuai lowered his raised arm instantly, and the smile on his face faded. "Qing'er, don't worry about this for now. Let's talk about it after the New Year."

Princess Chaoyang knew he would say that, but she just mentioned it on purpose so that Xu Jinhuai would feel that she was still as devoted to him and the Xu family as before.

She looked at Xu Jinhuai and nodded, "Okay, I'll listen to you, Prince Consort."

Xu Jinhuai was very pleased to see that Princess Chaoyang listened to him in everything.

Thinking that preparations for the New Year were important, he said he would find a way to raise money and left Princess Chaoyang's courtyard.

Of course, what Xu Jinhuai called raising money was actually moving money from the Ministry of Works.

He also embezzled 100,000 taels of silver from the Ministry of Works.

However, when he returned from the Ministry of Works with 100,000 taels of silver, Princess Chaoyang was no longer in the Princess Mansion.

Xu Jinhuai asked the maid in Princess Chaoyang's courtyard and learned that the Queen Mother was seriously ill and missed Princess Chaoyang very much, so he invited Princess Chaoyang and Xu Yaoyao to visit her in the palace.

After Princess Chaoyang had her lunch, she took her nanny and two maids into the palace.

Upon hearing this, Xu Jinhuai guessed that Princess Chaoyang, the Empress Dowager and the Emperor had reconciled. He was very happy and felt that the day when he would be granted a title of nobility was getting closer.

In addition, he had not slept in the same room with Princess Chaoyang for a long time, and even missed Princess Chaoyang's body, so he decided to come again at night and stay directly at Princess Chaoyang's place.

Emperor Mingde was a well-known filial son. Ever since the empress dowager became seriously ill, he had been guarding her bedside every day. He even cancelled many New Year ceremonies, leaving only sacrifices and prayers.

After Xu Yaoyao followed Princess Chaoyang into the palace, she looked around curiously with her big eyes.

Although it is a world in a book, the palace of Fusu Kingdom is really magnificent and is not smaller than the real palace she saw in her previous life.

When I arrived at the Empress Dowager's Longevity Palace, I saw a group of imperial doctors kneeling outside the door as soon as I entered.

When Eunuch Qiao saw Princess Chaoyang coming, his face lit up with joy and he hurried to greet her.

"Princess, you should go and persuade him as soon as possible. The emperor is worried about the queen mother's condition and has been angry for two days."

Princess Chaoyang nodded slightly and walked in carrying Yaoyao herself.

When I walked into the room, Emperor Mingde was in a rage, cursing, "Quacks, you quacks!"

Princess Chaoyang held Yaoyao in her arms and bowed to Emperor Mingde. She asked worriedly, "Brother, how is mother's condition?"

When Emperor Mingde saw Princess Chaoyang and Xu Yaoyao coming in, he immediately calmed down and said with a haggard face, "Qing'er, you are here, go and see the Queen Mother."

"This bunch of quack doctors, it's obviously their own medical skills that are not good enough, but they still insist on saying that the Queen Mother is on the verge of death!"

Upon hearing this, Princess Chaoyang turned pale, her lips trembled, and she couldn't utter a word.

She bit her lips tightly, trying not to show her sadness, and followed Emperor Mingde into the Empress Dowager's bedroom.

(End of this chapter)