If not abolished

Chapter 392: One year old is removed from the sound of firecrackers

The New Year came shortly after Nuannuan's one-year-old birth ceremony, and Zhu Zhanji had already prepared to take the mother and daughter out of the palace before New Year's Eve.

"Come on, I'll take you out of the palace to play." Zhu Zhanji came back early after finishing his work today and said to them as soon as he entered the door.

"Leave the palace. The New Year is coming soon. If you go out now, your mother will say that you are messing around again." Hu Shanxiang looked at the snow outside which had just stopped. Beijing is covered with snow in winter, and it is very cold outside.

"Don't worry, I've told mother. Besides, it's because the New Year is coming soon and it's lively outside, so go out and play." Zhu Zhanji said as he put thick clothes on his daughter.

"Mom, go play." Nuannuan can now speak simple sentences of one or two words, but she speaks slowly. Every time she speaks, she clenches her fists, as if she is exerting all her strength.

"Well, you two, father and daughter, love to play more than each other." Hu Shanxiang scratched his daughter's nose.

When Nuannuan saw that she agreed, she danced with joy.

The family of three went out like this, and before they reached the door, they ran into Jiaxing who was coming over.

"Brother, sister-in-law, are you preparing to go out?" Jiaxing said as he looked at them as if they were going out.

The couple looked at each other, and it seemed that they would take another one, "Jiaxing, are you busy later?"

"It's okay. Madam let us go back early today. If you want to go out, take me with you." Jiaxing reacted immediately. If she went out by herself, her parents would definitely not agree. But it would be different if she went out with her eldest brother and sister-in-law.

"Ask your elder brother." Hu Shanxiang pushed the matter to Zhu Zhanji. It would not matter if he agreed to her.

Zhu Zhanji sighed, "Let's go, let's go quickly, otherwise we will be seen by others." He suddenly looked around worriedly, wondering if more people would come soon. He didn't want to take care of a bunch of children.

"Okay, I will definitely do it quietly." Jiaxing also walked with a strong sense of stealth.

"Aunt." Nuannuan looked for a long time and realized it was her aunt, so she called out.

"Okay, Nuannuan, be good. Let's do it secretly, otherwise the other uncles and aunts will find out and will go too." Jiaxing made a hushing gesture.

"Okay." Nuannuan looked at her and did the same thing.

In this way, the group of four people left the palace, and Zhu Zhanji breathed a sigh of relief after getting into the carriage.

"When you go out later, don't run around, otherwise I won't take you out next time." Zhu Zhanji sternly warned her as soon as he sat down.

Jiaxing nodded obediently, "I know, big brother. I will definitely be a good boy and not run around."

Seeing her sincere attitude, Zhu Zhanji said nothing more.

"Aunt, Aunt, let's go play." It was Nuannuan's first time out of the palace. Everything was new to her. The last time she rode in a carriage was on the way back.

After half an hour, the carriage stopped. Jiaxing had just heard the hawking in the street, but now he could hear nothing. He was feeling very strange.

As soon as I got off the car, I saw the door of a house. I looked up and saw "Hu's House" written on it.

It turned out to be my sister-in-law’s house.

"I'll come to see my father-in-law first. If you want to go out and play, wait until you meet the elders and ask someone to take you out." Zhu Zhanji said to her after he came down.

"it is good."

The Hu family, young and old, were suddenly notified that the Crown Prince had arrived, and they hurried over to greet him.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince, I am sorry for not coming to greet you in person. I hope you will forgive me." Hu Rong and his family arrived at the door.

"It's my sudden visit. It has nothing to do with you. Let's go in first." Zhu Zhanji didn't care about these empty formalities.

"Yes, yes, I wonder if they will come to your house for dinner later this evening." Although it was still early, Hu Rong still wanted to ask, even though it was unlikely that they would stay for dinner.

"We just got out. I'll take Nuannuan out to play for a while. You can stay for dinner, but Nuannuan's supplementary food may be a little troublesome."

"Don't worry about this, Your Highness. There is a chef in the mansion who specializes in making baby food. I just don't know what your Highness likes. I will make a list later and ask them to prepare it."

"Then it'll be hard work."

"It is an honor for our family." Hu Rong was very happy.

After everyone went in, Zhu Zhanji and Hu Rong, father and son, were discussing things in the study, while Hu Shanxiang carried Nuannuan and took Jiaxing and Mrs. Hu to the inner courtyard.

"Nuannuan, this is your grandmother." Hu Shanxiang pointed at Mrs. Hu and said to her.

Nuan Nuan looked at it with her eyes wide open, and then shouted loudly: "Grandma."

"Hey, grandma, give me a hug." Mrs. Hu had been adoring the little thing for a long time. If there hadn't been a bunch of people outside, she would have wanted to hold it a long time ago.

Nuannuan obediently raised her hands to let Mrs. Hu hold her.

"My goodness, this little kid is so cute." After holding the child in her arms, Mrs. Hu couldn't let go of him and kept praising him.

"Mother, you said that she would be proud by then. Everyone in the palace dotes on her and she is lawless."

"I think Nuannuan is very well behaved. How can you say she is lawless? Besides, there is no child who is not naughty. Naughty children are smart. Nuannuan is obviously a clever little kid." Mrs. Hu thinks her child is good in every way.

"You were not like this when we were little, but now you are like this to your grandchildren." Hu Shanxiang recalled that her mother used to be very strict with them.

"Have you never heard of hugging grandchildren instead of children?" Mrs. Hu didn't care. She hugged Nuannuan and praised and kissed her.

"Okay, okay, I won't say anything to you." Hu Shanxiang ignored her mother and stood up to invite Princess Jiaxing in.

"Do you want to go shopping first or wait and join us?" Hu Shanxiang looked at Princess Jiaxing's somewhat restrained appearance and knew that she must not be very comfortable.

"If sister-in-law is at ease, I can go first. You and I can meet at Chunlai Teahouse in an hour." Jiaxing had finally gotten out and he definitely didn't want to stay in the Hu family.

"Okay, then I'll send someone to follow you, but you have to be careful too." Hu Shanxiang nodded in agreement, and then asked Lingzhi to bring a few people to follow her.

"Mrs. Hu, goodbye, sister-in-law." Jiaxing said goodbye to them and left.

"Be careful." Hu Shanxiang sent the person to the door.

"I didn't expect His Highness would come directly here. When he came out, he just said he was going to the palace to play for a while." Hu Shanxiang turned around and said to her mother.

"Your Highness, this is thoughtful. You said that you were not in the capital last year and your family was worried about you. At that time, you gave birth to Nuannuan, and there was no news at all. Although your father did not say anything, he was also worried in his heart." Mrs. Hu felt much more relieved to see her daughter this year.

"It's my daughter's fault. I'm sorry to have made you worried."

"Oh, why are you saying all this? It's all in the past. Your father and I just hope that you stay safe in the palace. We won't force you to do anything else, and you shouldn't feel pressured." Madam Hu knew that people outside might say openly that Hu Rong was lucky, but behind his back they would gossip about him, saying that he didn't have much ability and was just selling his daughter for fame.

"Mother, I can't come back to see you often. You and father must take good care of yourselves." Hu Shanxiang didn't ask for anything, just for the safety of her family. Historically, after Hu Shanxiang was deposed, the Hu family fell into decline. Although they might not have had a hard time, the Hu brothers never appeared in history.

"Yes, we know. Don't worry, we are fine. When spring comes, your elder brother will get engaged to Miss Li. Maybe in two years we will have grandchildren." Mrs. Hu talked about the happy events in her family with a smile on her face.

Hu Shanxiang's eyes lit up when she heard this, "Brother and Miss Li are doing well?"

"It's almost done. Let's wait until spring to exchange birthday stickers and finalize it."

"That's great. This way, my mother won't have to worry about my eldest brother not being able to find him and take care of himself."

"What I'm really worried about is your elder sister. Every time I talk to her about this, she avoids the subject and gives me all kinds of excuses. What do you think we should do?" Mrs. Hu gets a headache whenever she mentions Hu Shanwei.

"Everyone has their own destiny. It can't be forced. I know it myself, sister." It was hard for Hu Shanxiang to say anything about this matter. As a modern person, she would let marriage take its course. If it really didn't work out, she would just not get married.

"You are also trying to evade me with such words. Tell me, who is not the one who got married by the parents' order and the matchmaker's words? She is so good, hiding in the palace every day, not going home, and she is unwilling to meet people. You don't know that Aunt Liu often says in a roundabout way that you married well, but the eldest girl has not yet confirmed the news. Just two days ago, the second girl wrote to say that she was pregnant. She was so happy that she said that her daughter's baby must be a boy. I don't mind listening to it."

"Then don't listen." Hu Shanxiang felt overwhelmed listening to these women haggling over trivial matters.

"You kid, we're always here, how could you not listen? Show some courage, next time..."

"Oh, I know, I know, mother." Hu Shanxiang knew what her mother was going to say before she finished listening. The New Year was approaching, and people were urged to get married and have children. The Chinese tradition of being urged throughout life has not changed for thousands of years.

"You are really... I am doing this for your own good." Mrs. Hu sighed.

"I'll go ask His Highness how he is. It's getting late, and we should go out, otherwise Nuannuan will make a fuss." As if to confirm her words, Nuannuan suddenly moved restlessly in Madam Hu's arms.

"Mom, go play." Nuannuan struggled to get out of her arms.

"Okay. Let's go find your father. See if he has finished his work and I'm not here yet. Let's go out and play, otherwise your aunt will be waiting anxiously." Hu Shanxiang simply asked Mrs. Hu to put her down and let her walk by herself. Now she could hold someone's hand and walk slowly.

As they were talking, they came to Hu Rong's study. Just as they were about to knock on the door, it opened from the inside.

"Daddy, get out." Nuannuan looked up and saw that it was her daddy, and said anxiously.

"Okay, let's go out now." Zhu Zhanji touched his daughter's face.

"Then I'll have someone prepare it. Come back for dinner after you're done playing." Hu Rong said after sending them to the door.

"Okay, say goodbye to grandpa and grandma, and see you later." Hu Shanxiang said, holding up her daughter's hand.

"Goodbye."

There were three people in the family and there were many people on the street. Zhu Zhanji didn't dare to put his daughter down and could only hold her in his arms.

Nuannuan wants everything she sees and finds everything new to her.

"You bought so much, you can't finish it." Hu Shanxiang looked at her daughter's little finger, pointing at this and that, not missing any.

"Go back and give it to aunts and uncles. There are so many people." Nuannuan did not forget that there were a lot of aunts and uncles in the palace, and everyone needed one.

"So Nuannuan bought so much to share with them. Then take some more. Your aunt and uncle can't come out, so they can't eat it." After hearing his daughter's explanation, Zhu Zhanji immediately bought some more.

"It's great that Nuannuan knows how to share at such a young age," Hu Shanxiang praised.

"Yeah." Nuannuan was thinking, if someone gives you something for your benefit, you should be grateful. So in the future, uncles and aunts must help her to dig out bird nests and pick fruits, right?

If the couple knew their daughter was thinking like this, they would probably be shocked and amused, thinking that she knew how to bribe people at such a young age.

"This is beautiful, mom, wear it." Nuannuan saw a stall selling pearl hairpins and pointed at the items on it and said.

Zhu Zhanji picked up the pearl hairpin chosen by his daughter and put it on Hu Shanxiang's head.

"It looks good." Nuannuan clapped her hands.

"Yes, it looks good." Zhu Zhanji nodded.

"You two are singing the same tune." Hu Shanxiang raised her hand and touched it.

"It's really beautiful, don't take it off." Zhu Zhanji thought she was going to take it off.

"Okay, then pay quickly." Hu Shan put down his hand.

"Also, this, this, this..." Nuannuan pointed at a bunch of them.

"Is it for the aunts again?" Zhu Zhanji asked.

"Yes, and also, grandma and great-grandmother." Nuannuan did not forget about the Crown Princess and Concubine Wang.

"Nuannuan is so thoughtful. You don't want to bring gifts for everyone, do you?" Zhu Zhanji looked at his daughter's expression.

"Yes, great-grandfather, grandfather, I want one too." Nuannuan nodded heavily.

"Okay, I want both. You can choose." Zhu Zhanji had no objection.

In this way, the family almost bought up half of the street.

"Oh, I almost forgot, Jiaxing is waiting for us in the teahouse, let's go there first." Hu Shanxiang was almost delayed while strolling around.

"Okay. I'm tired from shopping, so I'll go over and sit for a while."

"Sister-in-law, you are finally here. I thought you had forgotten me." Jiaxing came to wait as soon as the time came, but no one showed up for a long time. She didn't want to run around, otherwise her brother would definitely not bring her out next time.

"Sorry, I delayed you for a while." Hu Shanxiang said embarrassedly.

"It's okay, it's okay. You guys sit down for a while. You must be thirsty. Have a cup of tea first." Jiaxing immediately poured them tea.

"You're so well behaved today." Zhu Zhanji looked at her with admiration.

"Brother, I have always been very good, okay."

So they had dinner at the Hu family again, and when they returned to the palace, they just happened to see the palace gates being locked.

"You should go back soon. Your mother must be worried after not seeing you for such a long time." Zhu Zhanji urged Jiaxing to go back.

"Okay, goodbye, brother and sister-in-law." Jiaxing went back happily.

Nuannuan had fallen asleep long ago out of exhaustion, and Zhu Zhanji put his daughter on the crib.

"Thank you, Your Highness, for today." Hu Shanxiang said as she undressed him.

"It's just a small matter. Besides, I just happened to have something to ask your brother and others, so I just did it by the way." Zhu Zhanji said indifferently.