Marrying the Crown Prince

"Okay." Zhou Zhou followed helplessly.

There weren't many customers at Yu Yan Fang, and Zhou Zhou didn't care if today's incident got out. After all, it was Lady Jingwen who had been foul-mouthed first, and she was just retaliating.

However, she did not expect that the Duchess of Qi and Su Ye were there, and the entire scene just now had been witnessed by the two of them.

The Duchess of Qi smiled warmly, "See? I didn't lie to you, did I? Do you think the eighth daughter of the Zhou family would catch your eye?"

Su Ye glanced at Zhou Zhou briefly, then looked at the Duchess of Qi again, "I leave it to Grandmother to decide."

He was a direct descendant of the Duke of Qi's family, and his wife was destined to be a member of the clan. Therefore, family background and character came first, family background second, and beauty was the least important thing.

This Miss Zhou comes from a decent family, and her character is so good that he has to think highly of her.

Aren't you afraid that you won't be able to control a woman like that if you marry her?

Su Ye scoffed at this—only a weak and incompetent person would be afraid of his wife’s radiance.

A woman who is intelligent and resourceful, with brilliant strategies, might be seen as cunning by an incompetent man, while a capable man would think she is worth befriending, and that it would be best if she could become his friend.

Hearing her beloved grandson's words, the Duchess of Qi patted his hand with delight, "Since you've spoken, then I'll go and make the arrangements."

"Okay." Su Ye nodded in agreement.

The next day, seeing that the weather was clear and a gentle breeze was blowing, Zhou Zhou had a table and chairs set up under the eaves, and leisurely listened to Ju Fang talk about the gossip in the mansion.

While they were at it, Sizhu was applying nail polish to Zhou Zhou's nails.

Sizhu used the juice of balsam flowers to dye Zhou Zhou's nails. She applied it to her nails, wrapped them tightly with cloth strips, and left it on for a full hour. This way, her nails would be dyed a light pink, making her fingertips look round and pink.

Achieving beautiful and attractive nail polish is not easy, so Zhou Zhou rarely does it, since it takes an hour to do so.

Thinking of this, Zhou Zhou sighed, "If only rouge could be applied like lip balm, with just a light swipe or a quick application."

Upon hearing this, Jufang chuckled, "If such a thing really existed, it would surely be snatched up by the ladies."

That makes sense. Zhou Zhou asked Si Zhu to write it down, and he dictated it to Qing Rong, assigning her the task: "See if you can develop a nail polish similar to lip rouge, which doesn't require an hour of dyeing, but can be applied lightly and won't fade easily."

As for how Qingrong should try to complete this task, that's her problem, since Zhou Zhou has already invested a lot of money.

As they were talking, Lian Qing, the old lady's head maid, came over.

"Greetings to Eighth Miss," Lian Qing said fluently. "The Grand Madam said the weather has been nice lately, and asked that you have some free time tomorrow so we can go to Yongxing Temple for a spring outing together."

"Besides me, are there any other sisters from the household going with me?" Zhou Zhou replied lazily.

“Madam Hou is taking Sixth Miss to General Mingwei’s banquet,” Lian Qing replied, “so Madam Tai also asked Third Madam and Second Miss to accompany them.”

Zhou Zhou raised an eyebrow, finding tomorrow's events extremely interesting.

The third wife was Wang, who was Zhou Laosan's wife. The old lady usually didn't like to pay attention to the third wife, but this time when she went out, she didn't take her eldest daughter-in-law with her, but instead took Wang and Zhou Rong with her.

Soon, Sizhu untied the cloth strips binding Zhou Zhou's fingers—the fingernails were now dyed.

Zhou Zhou spread her ten fingers, admiring the color on her nails.

Her fingers were like delicate willow branches, tender and noble, each joint so symmetrical, her skin fair and smooth, shining like polished white jade in the sunlight, clear and beautiful.

So lovely!

Zhou Zhou said to Sizhu with satisfaction, "It's a good thing you're skillful, otherwise where would I have gotten such beautiful nail polish?"

“Of course,” Sizhu replied smugly.

Sizhu and Jufang had been by Zhou Zhou's side since they were little, and the three of them grew up together, so they didn't have as many rules in front of Zhou Zhou and spoke more casually.

Zhou Zhou was the same; she would keep a certain distance in front of others, but she could only relax completely in front of the two of them.

Just as Zhou Zhou was admiring himself, Wang Shi brought Zhou Rong to visit him.

Zhou Zhou got up to greet her and saw Wang Shi looking anxious and Zhou Rong looking natural.

"Third Aunt, Second Sister," Zhou Zhou said with a smile, "what brings you here?"

Hearing Zhou Zhou's words, Wang suppressed her emotions and tried her best to appear normal. "It's not a big deal. I just couldn't make up my mind, so I wanted to come and talk to you."

“Oh dear,” Zhou Zhou said affectionately, taking Zhou Rong’s hand. “What are you saying, Auntie? If you want to play with me, just send someone to call me. I will come over myself. Why bother making the trip?”

Zhou Rong smiled warmly, "Eighth Sister, my mother is timid, so please don't make fun of her anymore."

"Alright, I welcome you both." Zhou Zhou welcomed the two of them in, then turned to Ju Fang and instructed, "Grandmother gave me a lot of Lu'an melon seed tea last time. Find it and brew it for our two distinguished guests to try."

"Of all the sisters, the old lady loves you the most," Wang said, flatteringly. "She always thinks of you when something good happens."

Zhou Zhou chuckled softly, "What are you saying, Auntie? Which of my sisters and grandmother doesn't like this?"

Zhou Rong secretly kicked her mother, signaling her to stop talking nonsense and that the more she said, the more mistakes she would make.

After being kicked, Wang realized she had said the wrong thing and tried to salvage the situation, but when she looked up, she saw Zhou Zhou smiling and didn't know where to begin.

“Sister Lianqing, who is by Grandmother’s side, just came over.” Zhou Zhou saw Wang’s helpless expression and knew that she had no bad intentions, so she didn’t mind helping her out. “She said we’re going on a spring outing tomorrow.”

Hearing Zhou Zhou bring up the matter, Wang breathed a sigh of relief and quickly replied, "Yes, yes, I also received the news, telling me to go with your second sister."

“My second sister is now divorced, but she stays in the mansion and doesn’t like to go out. Grandmother was very worried when she found out, so she specially took us out for a walk to cheer us up.” Zhou Zhou looked at Zhou Rong and conveyed the information she knew.

Zhou Rong was more intelligent than Wang Shi and immediately understood, "It's my fault for making my grandmother and mother worry."

"Silly child, what nonsense are you talking about?" Madam Wang was indeed led astray. "You are the child I carried for ten months. If I don't look after you, who will?"

Zhou Rong smiled again and snuggled against Wang Shi's shoulder affectionately, "Yes, yes, I knew Mother loved me the most."

Afterwards, the mother and daughter sat with Zhou Zhou for another half an hour before saying goodbye.

After the guests left, Jufang came into the room to tidy up the teacups and said subconsciously, "It's really strange that the Third Madam actually came to visit us."

“She just panicked,” Zhou Zhou replied.