Marrying the Crown Prince

After finishing breakfast, Zhou Zhou and Zhou Yue appeared on time at Zhou Laowu's door.

The gatekeeper saw this and quickly put on a smiling face, practically bowing and scraping, "Eighth Miss, Ninth Miss, please allow me to go in and inform her."

It was supposed to be a notification, but it was really just a wake-up call for Zhou Laowu.

Today was a rare day off, and Zhou Laowu planned to sleep in, but Zhou Zhou came to pay his respects.

If Zhou Zhou as a child simply told Zhou Laowu not to face the situation, then Zhou Zhou as a child is telling him not to face it.

In the end, who is whose father?

He yawned and got up. Zhou Zhou looked at the listless Zhou Laowu and said a few words of concern, "Early to rise, all is well; late to rise, all is well. Father shouldn't have indulged in pleasure for a moment."

Zhou Laowu: "..."

Lao Tzu, Heavens above, why did she take a vacation so early this year?

When he heard that Zhou Zhou would no longer need to come to the palace to accompany him in his studies, Zhou Laowu's expression was already numb. At the same time, he gave a strict order: "You don't need to come here to pay your respects anymore. If you are truly filial, then go visit your mother more often."

Indeed, Zhou Laowu remarried six years ago, marrying Du Ruan, the eldest daughter of the wealthy Du family.

Du was a woman of strong character, straightforward in her actions, and a shrewd businesswoman. She even prepared a grand dowry that stretched for miles.

Logically speaking, someone like Zhou Laowu shouldn't be able to marry someone as good as Du Shi. If Du Shi's original husband hadn't gotten one of her maids pregnant before the wedding, Old Master Du wouldn't have broken off the engagement.

Old Master Du, who had broken off the engagement, was determined to find a better match for Du Shi, one whose family background would be far superior to the previous one.

Just then, Old Lady Gao acted as matchmaker, asking Zhou Laowu to meet Du Shi.

Old Master Du thought that Zhou Laowu was a fairly honest man with a fifth-rank official position. Although she would be marrying into the family as a second wife and becoming a stepmother, he thought Zhou Cheng'an and Zhou Zhou were both very good-looking and had good personalities. They were not the kind of people who would forget kindness, so he agreed to the marriage.

Returning to the old lady of the Yongjing Marquis's mansion, she was initially dissatisfied with Du Shi, feeling that she acted somewhat crudely. However, after getting to know her, she found that the girl was kind-hearted and protective of her own, and was also a capable person in managing the household affairs. Even if the old lady was biased, she had to admit that Zhou Laowu was lucky to marry Du Shi.

As expected, Madam Du lived up to the old lady's expectations, especially for the three children, Zhou Cheng'an, Zhou Zhou, and Zhou Yue. She adored them and never forgot her three children whenever she received anything from the Du family.

Zhang thought to herself that Du was truly a divine person, being so virtuous and gentle.

Actually, that's not the case. The Du family were a merchant family. Although merchants had a lot of money, they admired scholars the most.

Influenced by what he saw and heard, Du also firmly believed in the principle that all other pursuits are inferior, only studying is superior.

So when she saw Zhou Cheng's diligence in learning, Zhou Zhou's intelligence like a bright pearl, and Zhou Yue's willingness to get up early and work late to learn more, she felt a surge of affection for him.

In short, it was a pity that Du married Zhou Laowu.

Zhou Zhou had also said such rebellious things before, and was then glared at by the old Marquis, who said, "He's your father!"

So I didn't say that in front of him.

That's what she thought, but Zhou Zhou's attitude in admitting her mistake was very sincere: "My granddaughter knows she was wrong."

Seeing this, the old Marquis couldn't bear to scold her, and besides, his precious granddaughter was right.

Upon arriving at Madam Du's courtyard, I found her playing with leaf cards. Beside her, a young child was holding a small golden abacus. This was the boy Madam Du had given birth to three years ago, named Zhou Chengxuan.

Zhou Chengxuan looks young, but he has shown the same high arithmetic talent as Du Shi since childhood.

The old Marquis was very satisfied—in the future, Zhou Cheng'an would marry into an officialdom, and he would enter the business world. The two brothers would complement each other, and their lives would definitely be much better than Zhou Laowu's.

Upon seeing Zhou Zhou arrive, Madam Du hurriedly ordered someone to bring her a fox fur felt and told her to wrap herself in it so she wouldn't catch a cold.

Zhou Zhou waved his hand and said no, "There's no need for that on the kang (heated brick bed) with charcoal burning in the room."

Du told the two of them to wait a moment, because she still had a few cards left to play.

After the game ended, she wasn't in a hurry to pack up. Instead, she called out to the two girls, "Want to play another game?"

Zhou Zhou didn't mind, and only asked, "Has Mother made up her mind?"

The reason is simple: Du lost an entire afternoon when she first played cards with Zhou Zhou, and after that, she played cards with Zhou Zhou very few times.

When asked why Zhou Zhou was so good at playing cards, she wasn't quite sure. She'd been lucky since she was little, and with her brains, she lost even less often.

The events of a few years ago were still fresh in her mind. Du's expression changed, but in the end, she couldn't resist the urge to play and had to say guiltily, "Let's play a few rounds. You have to let me win."

“Okay.” Zhou Zhou’s eyes were filled with smiles and tenderness.

After playing for half an hour, Du's addiction was finally satisfied. She hurriedly asked someone to put away the playing cards. It wasn't that she didn't want to continue playing, but she was mainly worried about corrupting the two little girls.

The maids who serve their masters are all very clever. As soon as the leaf cards were put away, all kinds of tea snacks and tea sets were brought up.

Zhou Zhou took the tea set, skillfully warmed the pot and cups, added tea leaves, brewed the tea, skimmed off the foam, and poured out the tea.

The set of movements was fluid and elegant, a feast for the eyes.

Mrs. Du sighed sincerely, "It's a pity I didn't give birth to a daughter, otherwise I would definitely have her learn from you."

Wealthy families, especially merchants, have never had any preference for sons over daughters.

For them, it doesn't matter whether they have a son or a daughter. If they only have a daughter, they can find a husband for her in the future. If the son-in-law is a scoundrel, then it's not impossible to divorce the father and keep the son.

"It's a good thing that Eleventh Brother is still too young to understand, otherwise he would be heartbroken," Zhou Zhou joked.

Indeed, in the past few days, in the Zhou family of the Yongjing Marquis, in addition to the birth of Zhou Chengxuan, one of Zhou Laosan's concubines also gave birth to a boy, the tenth in line, named Zhou Yan.

Furthermore, Zhou Bai became a father last year with the birth of his eldest son's great-grandson. Even though Zhou Zhou was studying in the palace at the time, he took leave to go home and attend the baby's full-month celebration.

Of course, Zhou Zhou wasn't the only one who came that day; the Fifth Prince Li Zichen and the Seventh Princess Li Zixi also came.

On that same day, word spread throughout the neighborhood that the eighth daughter of the Yongjing Marquis's mansion and the fifth prince were childhood sweethearts.

Back to Mrs. Du, she glanced at her silly son who was still clutching the abacus, and a playful thought struck her. She gently rubbed his chubby little face.

The group didn't say much more than a few words. Soon, Madam Du sent someone to deliver a box of things. She opened it, took out an account book, and asked Zhou Zhou to look at it.

"No need. If I can't even trust my mother, then there are very few people in this world I can trust." Zhou Zhou pushed the account book back.

This ledger is none other than the ledger that Du has been managing this year for the shop left behind by Zhou Zhou's birth mother, Gao.

Ever since Du entered the family, Old Madam Gao had someone inform Granny Gao that she should hand over all of Gao's dowry to Du for management.