The Flirtatious Prince and His Savage Concubine

After Lu Lingxi and Nan Wangyu had lunch together, Nan Wangyu was considerate enough to let her take a nap before going to the study together.

As soon as Lu Lingxi entered the study, he saw a desk in the middle. On the desk were all kinds of pens, ink, paper and inkstone, as well as some books and official documents.

Next to the desk was a smaller desk, which was obviously newly added and specially prepared for Lu Lingxi. Fortunately, the study was large enough, so the two desks side by side did not seem crowded.

After entering the room, Nan Wangyu began to introduce Lu Lingxi, "The books on the bookshelf are all organized into categories. There are books on humanities and history, regional features, state governance, etc. There are all kinds of books. The classification labels are on the wooden sign above the bookshelf. Do you see it?"

After saying that, he pointed it out to Lu Lingxi. After she looked up and saw it, she looked around and exclaimed, "Your study is really big. There must be thousands of books, right? It's not inferior to that bookstore. Have you read all these books?"

Nan Wangyu said deliberately, "There are more than that! There are two side rooms in the study. One has a soft couch where you can take a nap when you are tired. The other one contains rare and precious copies of famous books. I have read them all."

Lu Lingxi gave him a thumbs up and praised him, "You are really amazing! After reading so many books, can you memorize them all?"

This was a bit embarrassing. He had read so many books, but he didn't have to memorize them all. He only remembered what he thought was useful. But it was a bit embarrassing to answer like that, so he chose not to answer the question. He just said, "Go and see if there is anything you like. Pick it out and read it. If you don't understand, you can ask me. I have some official documents to read right now."

Lu Lingxi just asked casually, not expecting Nan Wangyu to answer. Now that she was asked to choose a book, she no longer bothered about the question and ran to choose a book excitedly.

She picked out a few books from each category and flipped through them at random. In the end, she chose the history and humanities books with strong story lines, which were more interesting to read. The other books that talked about general principles were too roundabout and made her dizzy; the ones that talked about regional features were also boring without real scenes for reference. There were also some books about tea art, piano art, chess art, and some flower planting, which were also boring to read. If there were real objects for her to use in the book, maybe it would be a little interesting.

When Lu Lingxi had chosen the books and was about to take a seat, Jiang Wen reported at the door: "Your Highness, Madam, the Prince of Qi's Palace has sent three invitations. Your Highness, Madam, and the two concubines are invited to attend the full moon banquet of the eldest grandson of the emperor."

When someone is in the study, the door is usually open so that the light is good, but generally no one can enter without the master's permission. Someone has to report at the door in advance and get permission before entering. Chunhong and Liulu can only guard the door when they come, so Lu Lingxi simply gives them half a day off and lets them arrange their time freely.

After listening to Jiang Wen's report, Nan Wangyu said, "Well, bring the invitation in."

Jiang Wen respectfully placed the invitation on the large desk in front of Nan Wangyu and then walked out.

Lu Lingxi: "Eh? I remember what Nanny taught me before, this kind of banquet is usually only attended by the wife and legitimate children, why did the King of Qi also invite Concubine Shang and Concubine Su? And the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet hosted by Queen Gu before, also invited Liu Fufeng, who was just a concubine. Is this the custom of their Gu family, and they don't care about the wife and legitimate children?"

Nan Wangyu was amused by Lu Lingxi's question: "What nonsense are you talking about? Are you only listening to half of what Nanny says to you? Yes, these banquets usually only invite the wife and legitimate children, but if there is no wife and legitimate children for the time being, the concubines or noble concubines who have a high status in the family and manage the household affairs will also be invited. Otherwise, if no female relatives are invited, it would be too disrespectful to the other party. But most people marry the wife first, and then take in concubines, and basically they will not invite concubines. Didn't the King of Qi never marry the Princess of Qi before? By mistake, he took in two at once. Before, Gu was pregnant, so the King of Qi's mansion could only have Liu attend. Before, Shang was in charge of the internal affairs of our mansion, and she was invited when each family received a letter."

Lu Lingxi: "Oh, that's what happened. So it's customary in your family to keep the position of the principal wife. The rule of not taking a concubine without a principal wife is something your royal family set for other families."

Nan Wangyu was not easy to respond to this. If other families took a concubine without a wife, it would be seen as a problem with the family tradition. They might favor the concubine over the wife, or they might speculate that the concubine was very resourceful and difficult to deal with. No matter which case, the wife's life would not be easy, so naturally no one would be willing to be the wife in this family.

However, there is no shortage of people who want to take the position of Crown Princess or Princess Consort when the positions are vacant, so naturally there are not so many concerns. There is no explicit rule for this matter, it is all customary, so how can it become a rule set by their royal family for others?

But no matter how he explained it, it sounded like quibbling, so Nan Wangyu had to change the subject. He sniffed and asked seriously, "Lingxi, do you smell a sour smell?"

Lu Lingxi didn't know why Nan Wangyu suddenly asked this, so he sniffed and said in confusion, "I don't smell any sour smell?"

Nan Wangyu: "No? Then why do I smell a strong smell of jealousy? Lingxi, are you jealous? Do you think those people in the backyard are an eyesore? If you think they are an eyesore, how about we just send them all away?"

Lu Lingxi was a little angry: "Don't talk nonsense, why am I jealous?"

Nan Wangyu pretended to be puzzled and said, "I'm not jealous, why are you talking so harshly? We were talking about the invitations, and you suddenly started talking about the principal wife and concubine. You are really concerned about this, right? It doesn't matter. I won't laugh at you if you say you are jealous. I'm actually very happy that you are jealous of me."

After saying that, he winked at Lu Lingxi ambiguously.

Lu Lingxi: "You...you...you", he kept saying "you" for a long time but couldn't come up with anything to say. It was useless to dwell on this issue, so he didn't want to pay any attention to Nan Wangyu.

She buried her head in her book and said without even looking at him, "You should write your reply first. The Prince Qi's Mansion is still waiting for your reply."

Nan Wangyu said uncomfortably, "Lingxi, Su can't go now. Do you want Shang to accompany you? She is always calm and has more experience in attending banquets like this. With her company and advice from the side, you can relax. What do you think?"

Lu Lingxi continued to answer without raising his head: "Just make the arrangements as you see fit."

Nan Wangyu wrote the name of Lu Lingxi and Shang's concubine - Shang Jia, and of course his own name on the reply. He had to go as well. This was his father's first grandson, so he had to give him some face.

After writing the reply, Nan Wangyu said to Jiang Wen at the door: "Send someone to deliver the reply to the Prince of Qi's Mansion, and then order Sun Fulu to personally prepare a decent full-month gift for my little nephew."

After receiving the order, Jiang Wen went down to do his job.

Lu Lingxi sighed in his heart at this moment. In ancient times, there were no communication tools, so people who ran errands and delivered messages were indispensable. Otherwise, it would be a lot of trouble. For example, if you want to invite guests to a banquet, without an errand runner, you have to go door to door to invite them. How tiring it would be. If you have an errand runner, you can just write an invitation and arrange someone to invite whoever you want, and you don't even have to leave the house.