Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 61: Female Official Su Caiwei, the Leisurely Prince Consort [Seeking Follow-up Reading]

"Who plays music so beautifully?"

When Empress Ma and the other two were listening intently, a cheerful male voice was heard. It was Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Biao also followed behind.

Empress Ma laughed and said, "Who is playing music? It's Kuan'er's birthday gift to Huilan."

"Oh?"

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao showed curiosity when they heard this and came over.

It was already noon. After finishing their official duties, the father and son learned that Empress Ma, Zhu Huilan, and Zhu Xuanle were still in Rouyi Palace, so they came over. Their main purpose was to find out what gift Liu Kuan had sent.

When he arrived in front of the Phoenix Case, Zhu Yuanzhang saw a cat-headed boy and a fox-headed girl on the music box holding hands and dancing slowly. The beautiful music was indeed coming from it.

He couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "This thing can actually play music automatically. It's really amazing. It's a bit like that mobile phone."

Fortunately, Liu Kuan is not here.

If he were here, he would probably laugh his teeth off.

How can a small music box compare with a mobile phone?
Zhu Biao also stared at the music box and exclaimed in admiration, "This thing from later times is truly incredible. Liu Kuan only brought a bag when he came, which couldn't hold much. This gift must be unique in the Ming Dynasty."

"The fact that he gave this to my third sister as a birthday present shows how much he values ​​her."

After hearing this, Zhu Huilan couldn't help but lower her head, her pretty face blushing.

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed and said, "Huilan is our daughter, a princess of the Ming Dynasty. How dare that boy not be attentive?"

Zhu Xuanle interrupted, "Father, this music box is not simple—it was all scattered at first, and it took my third sister more than half an hour to put it together."

“Did it start out scattered?”

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao were both stunned when they heard this.

Zhu Biao then said, "Could it be that something happened to Liu Kuan when he came to Daming, and he was scattered? Although Lan Yu checked his backpack at the time, he was also very careful."

"Did Lan Yu check Liu Kuan's backpack?" Zhu Yuanzhang focused on something different.

Zhu Biao explained, "When I first met Liu Kuan on the bridge, he asked me to get closer so that what we said wouldn't be overheard by too many people."

"Duke Xin and his men were worried that Liu Kuan might be carrying a weapon that could harm me, so they searched his body and then checked his backpack."

Empress Ma shook her head when she heard this. "How could Kuan'er be an assassin? You were too suspicious back then."

Zhu Yuanzhang felt that Tang He and others were right, but he did not refute what Queen Ma said.

He said, "Just now we were saying that the boy was attentive to Huilan, but in the end he gave her something that broke. Could it be that he thought that even if this thing from the future was broken, it could still be Huilan's birthday present?"

After hearing Zhu Yuanzhang's misunderstanding, Zhu Huilan, although introverted and even a little timid, could not help but explain.

"Your Majesty, you misunderstood. This gift is meant to be scattered. It needs to be assembled by hand to enjoy it."

As he said this, he handed the paper box and the instruction manual to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang took a look and realized that there was a misunderstanding. Even though he was thick-skinned, his face turned red.

Zhu Biao said: "This should be a toy from later times, similar to the Luban lock or puppets - but it can produce such beautiful music, which is really ingenious."

Then he said to Zhu Yuanzhang: "Your Majesty, the song 'Spring River Moon Night' must have been composed by someone in later generations. I would like to ask the musicians to record it to enrich the music of our Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't care much about this matter and said, "This music box already belongs to your third sister. You can discuss it with her."

Zhu Huilan hesitated for a moment, but still said, "Brother, if you want to use it, take it. But be careful not to break it."

Zhu Biao smiled and said, "Don't be so nervous, Third Sister. Even if I'm borrowing it, I won't take it away right now. After all, it's a gift from Liu Kuan, so you should at least have it for a few days."

The others noticed Zhu Huilan's concern for the music box and smiled kindly.

···
Youshi (around 5 p.m.).

When Liu Kuan returned to his residence from the Science and Technology Department, he noticed several more female guests. The leading woman, dressed in palace attire, greeted Liu Kuan, bowed, and said, "My name is Su Caiwei. I'm the female official sent by the Empress to help Vice-Lord Liu prepare his wedding. These four are palace maids assisting me."

When Liu Kuan saw that the female official was about twenty years old, with a pretty face and a neither humble nor arrogant expression, he began to trust her a little.

He returned the greeting with a bow. "So, Miss Su (the common name for the palace ladies)—I just returned to the capital yesterday, and nothing is ready at home yet. I'll have to trouble you with the wedding."

Su Caiwei smiled and said, "It's okay. The marriage between the deputy prince and the princess is extraordinary. The wedding cannot be prepared according to folk customs. It would be a pity if the mansion rashly prepared some useless things and then couldn't use them."

"However, the wedding of the Vice Prince and the Third Princess is only six days away, and things are very tight. From now on, all the servants in the mansion must obey my instructions in order to get things done."

Liu Kuan nodded, "I will give orders and have everyone in the mansion obey Ms. Su's orders."

"That's good. If there's nothing else, I'll return to the palace."

Liu Kuan thought that this female official was going to live in his house with four palace maids.

But considering that this was ancient times and the Forbidden City was not far from this mansion, it would be strange if Su Caiwei lived in the mansion.

After he sent Su Caiwei and her group out of the mansion, he returned to the central courtyard.

"Xia He, go ask the two stewards to gather all the servants in the mansion to the middle courtyard. I need to say a few words."

Xia He had been following Liu Kuan all the time. When she heard what he said, she answered yes and went to pass on the message.

Liu Kuan felt that whether it was Su Caiwei, the palace lady-in-waiting, who would come to do business in the next few days, or whether there would be a hostess in the mansion in a few days, everything would be different from before.

When he was alone, the rules in the mansion were a bit lax. Although Xia He helped him to manage it, she was just a maid after all, and she had no legitimate authority, so naturally she couldn't enforce it strictly.

Therefore, Liu Kuan had to give some instructions to the servants in the mansion, lest they fail to realize the changes in the mansion and remain as careless as they were in the past few days.

If he breaks the rules or makes a big mistake, he won't be able to forgive him even if he wants to...

In the next few days, Su Caiwei came after breakfast and left before dinner.

It was as if she had become the housekeeper of Liu Kuan's mansion, directing the servants in the mansion to prepare various items and make various arrangements for Liu Kuan's wedding.

Actually, only a small part of it was purchased in the city with Liu Kuan's money. Most of the wedding supplies were transported from the palace by Su Caiwei.

This made Liu Kuan feel like a gigolo, or a son-in-law - he didn't know if this feeling was right, after all, he had never been a gigolo in later life, nor had he ever met a son-in-law.

But it does save you a lot of trouble.

Later in life, when a cousin got married, he went to help. He was busy for several days and did countless things. He was really busy.

Now it's his turn to get married, which gives him some free time, which is also interesting.

However, this leisure time is relative. Even though he has put aside his plan to inspect the Qinglongshan Coal Mine for the time being, the power and carriage project teams in the city cannot help but visit every day.

If I have free time, I will think about the contents of those memorials or revise the content that has already been written.

One afternoon three or four days later, Liu Kuan was in the courtyard of the Department of Science and Technology, resting his chin on his hand, thinking over the completed draft of the "Proposal on Reforms of the Six Ministries", when he heard the voices of officials and soldiers coming from the courtyard.

"See His Highness the Crown Prince!"

"Stand up." Zhu Biao's clear voice came, "I'm here to see Deputy Liu. You can go and do your business."

Zhu Biao is here?

Liu Kuan looked up with some surprise.

Then he remembered that it seemed to be on Zhu Huilan’s birthday that Zhu Biao said he had something to talk to him about, but for some reason he didn’t come until today.

Liu Kuan didn't dare to sit there and wait for Zhu Biao to come in, so he immediately stood up and went to the courtyard to greet him.

　I looked up information about Mingchu's wedding in the evening, and my eyes were blurry and my head was dizzy.

　　Finally, I found out that wedding plot is not what the author is good at writing, and it has little connection with the core plot of the book. All the work was in vain. Although sometimes the information I look up may not be used, I still can't help but check it.

　　The update is late, sorry.

　　Good night~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)