Fire Captain

The next morning, Bai Ziyang woke up and saw Minglan sleeping soundly. He grabbed the hair beside the pillow and brushed the hair tip against Minglan's cheek. However, he saw Minglan raised her hand and brushed it, then turned over and rolled to the inside of the bed, continuing to sleep with her head covered. There was no sign of waking up. He had heard that Minglan had the habit of staying in bed, and others could not easily wake her up. Now he finally saw it.

Bai Ziyang looked at the sky. Logically, they should have gone to the palace to pay their respects to the Queen Mother, the Emperor and the Empress today, but... Bai Ziyang saw that Minglan was sleeping soundly. He thought that they would not mind that they arrived late.

Bai Ziyang got up and went to the small kitchen. After Bai Ziyang left, Cui Mama and the maids who followed Minglan immediately rushed into the bridal chamber and called Minglan to get up one by one. They knew better than Bai Ziyang how difficult it was to get Minglan up, but it was getting late to pay respects to the palace. Their daughter married the prince and was already in the spotlight, and now they couldn't let anyone talk about it.

Mother Cui pulled back Minglan's quilt a little and called out, "Girl, why are you still sleeping? Get up!"

Minglan turned over, trying to grab the quilt back, mumbling: "Hmm~~Cold..."

Danju and Xiaotao said as they dressed Minglan, "My dear girl, you have to go to the palace early this morning to pay your respects to the Queen Mother and the Emperor. If you don't get up now, you'll be late!"

Hearing that she was going to the palace, Minglan finally sobered up a little, but because she was too "tired" before, she almost fell asleep again not long after. When Minglan was helped up by them, she closed her eyes and refused to open them, while listening to their instructions to raise her hands to put on her clothes.

When Bai Ziyang came in with a tray, he saw Minglan sitting in front of the dressing table, Danju was tying Minglan's hair, and Xiaotao was putting on makeup for Minglan. Bai Ziyang smiled, sat down next to Minglan, picked up the bowl and said, "It will be tiring to go to the palace to pay respects, so eat something first. But mother will definitely leave some food for later, and it's not good to eat too much, so how about trying the small wontons in the palace?"

As he spoke, he scooped one with a spoon and fed it to Minglan's mouth. Minglan instinctively opened her mouth when she smelled the food. As soon as the wonton entered her mouth, the fresh and juicy taste immediately filled Minglan's taste buds. The originally drowsy person immediately woke up, opened her eyes, took the bowl from Bai Ziyang's hand and ate it with relish, saying as she ate, "Mm, delicious! The juice is fragrant and delicious. Give this chef a reward!"

It turns out that only delicious food can wake up a foodie!

Bai Ziyang looked at Minglan who was enjoying her meal and said with a smile: "Then I would like to thank the princess for the reward!"

Hearing this, Minglan looked at Bai Ziyang in surprise and asked, "Did you do this?"

Bai Ziyang nodded and said, "Yes, there's nothing strange about this! As long as you please me, I will make whatever you want to eat in the future!"

Minglan laughed and said, "So it seems that I married a cook?"

Bai Ziyang smiled mysteriously and said, "There are still many things you don't know!"

After entering the palace, Bai Ziyang and Minglan went to pay their respects to the Queen Mother. Because the late emperor favored Bai Ziyang, and the Queen Mother had watched him grow up since he was a child, although the Queen Mother's attitude towards the emperor was more subtle now, she was still good to Bai Ziyang and his wife. She spoke to them in a kind manner and rewarded them with many good things. After the young couple came out of the Queen Mother's bedroom with a lot of rewards, they went to the Queen to eat. Not long after the two arrived, the Crown Princess also came to pay her respects to the Queen. Bai Ziyang accompanied the Queen to chat, and Minglan and the Crown Princess sat together and whispered to each other, and the two sisters-in-law also got to know each other.

After the Emperor came down from the court and arrived with the Crown Prince, the family sat together and had a formal meal. Minglan had only had contact with the Empress before, but now after having dinner with the Emperor, the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess, when leaving the palace, Minglan kept sighing that the Emperor and Empress were amiable, the Crown Prince was gentle and elegant, and the Crown Princess was dignified and generous. They were really the best family in the world. Then she looked at Bai Ziyang, who had drunk two more glasses and dragged her to pretend to be drunk and act like a spoiled child, and sighed helplessly in her heart, thinking, how could such an anomaly appear?

After returning to the palace, Minglan removed all the hairpins and left only a few simple hairpins. She saw Bai Ziyang sitting on the couch in the hall and waving at her, "Come here!"

Minglan walked over without knowing what was going on. When she was still two steps away from Bai Ziyang, she saw him suddenly stretch out his long arm and pull Minglan into his arms. Minglan was caught off guard and stumbled and fell on Bai Ziyang's legs. Minglan hurriedly raised her head and looked around. Fortunately, there were only two of them in the room. She pushed Bai Ziyang's shoulder and said, "What are you doing? Someone saw us!"

Bai Ziyang hugged Minglan even tighter with her strength, raised his head and said, "Where is that person?... I haven't had a good talk with you these past two days, don't you want to say something to me?"

Minglan asked, "What?"

Bai Ziyang rested his chin on Minglan's shoulder and said, "I see you had a very happy chat with your sister-in-law today?"

Minglan said, "Yes, the Crown Princess is gentle and virtuous, and she is well-read. Listening to her talk is worth ten years of reading. It is really a pleasure to chat with her!"

Bai Ziyang said, "Sister-in-law comes from a family of scholars and grew up under the guidance of Elder Liu. She is indeed very talented and knowledgeable... But today, both my father and mother like you very much. Do you feel a lot more relaxed?"

Minglan was indeed a little nervous before this. After all, these were not ordinary parents-in-law. As the saying goes, living with a king is like living with a tiger. It was indeed worrying. So much so that when she was eating just now, she was busy observing others and had no idea what she was eating. Fortunately, Bai Ziyang had been taking good care of her at the table, constantly putting food into her bowl and often bringing up a topic so that she could say a few words to avoid awkward silence. In the end, she ate too much.

Thinking of this, Minglan raised her hands and put them around Bai Ziyang's shoulders, leaning into his arms. Bai Ziyang paused and continued, "The mansion is in need of a housekeeper like you. I was not in the mansion most of the time before, and I did not ask for a housekeeper. Most of the things in the mansion were managed by Shangcheng. Now that you are here, he can finally be freed. I will ask him to send you the account books and the keys to the warehouse later. I will trouble you in the future!"

Minglan said: "Why talk about hard work? This is what I should do."

Bai Ziyang said, "Well, now that we've finished talking about business, let me take you around the palace. Don't get lost in your own home in the future!"

Minglan stood up in confusion and said, "It shouldn't be that exaggerated!"

After the tour, Minglan realized that Bai Ziyang was not exaggerating. This palace covers a vast area, with pavilions and towers with carved beams and painted rafters. In particular, there is a small lake in the palace with a small island in the lake. There is a two-story attic on the island which is the highlight. Just imagine on a hot summer day, lying in this attic with ventilation on all sides, with the cool breeze blowing from the lake, what a pleasure it would be.

Bai Ziyang saw Minglan looking at the attic in the lake and liked it very much, so he said, "Father thinks it's too damp there, which is not good for preserving his ancient books and paintings. Mother doesn't like to mess around, and my eldest brother can't snatch it from me, so the attic is basically occupied by me every summer. Now the weather is still cool, and it won't be long before the weather gets hot and we can live on the island together, so you can enjoy it, it's very comfortable."

"Yeah!" Minglan was a little yearning.

When they reached the back of the mountain, Minglan saw a vast racecourse. Bai Ziyang said, "This used to be the training ground of the mansion. I trained soldiers here, and my mother would occasionally come here to practice martial arts and stretch her body when she felt like doing it."

Minglan exclaimed, "Training troops?"

Bai Ziyang said: "Where do you think the people who came to the palace to rescue the emperor came from? Could they really be all my friends in the martial arts world?"

Seeing that Minglan understood, Bai Ziyang said, "But those people have now been incorporated into the Imperial Guards. From now on, this training ground will belong to you. I know you love playing polo, so if you feel like playing polo, you can ask your sisters to hold a polo match in the mansion. When the time comes, we can join forces and be invincible... Hehe..."

Minglan said happily: "Okay, okay! When you are not busy, let's have a competition first!"

Bai Ziyang said: "Okay!"

After walking around the palace, Minglan returned to her room and said worriedly, "I have seen some mansions in the capital, but none of them can compare to this palace. Such a big palace, and only the two of us live there?"

Bai Ziyang said, "How big is this? This doesn't even include the forest behind the mansion. If you count it, you may not be able to walk all the way there in a day."

Minglan said with difficulty: "But this... this is too... I lived with my grandmother since I was a child. Later, I became a housekeeper and had my own yard, but it was also very small. You suddenly gave me such a big yard. I'm afraid I can't manage it well!"

Bai Ziyang said nonchalantly, "What's the big deal? If you manage Sheng Mansion well, you can manage this palace well. The people are the same, and the things are the same. I believe you can do it! And believe it or not, this palace may be easier to manage than your Sheng Mansion, because everything here is up to you, and you don't have to look at anyone's eyes. If anyone dares not to listen to you, just come to me! The first time is the second time, and who is born to manage these things? If you don't want to manage it one day, just give it back to Shangcheng. He won't dare to say no!"

Shang Cheng, who was seeing the dawn and looking forward to liberation, suddenly felt a chill on his back. He had a bad premonition. What should he do?

Minglan looked at Bai Ziyang with a smile and said, "It's easy for you to say that. Your young prince Jing is well-known. I don't know how many eyes are staring at me as a princess. They are waiting for me to make a mistake. If I, as a princess, am really confused, stupid and incompetent, I will be laughed at to death. Even the emperor and the queen will lose face!"

Bai Ziyang looked at Minglan and laughed, "Are you confused? Are you stupid? Who would believe that? You don't have to care too much about what others think. If anyone dares to laugh at you, I will beat them up at home. Anyway, I don't intend to give up the name of the devil."

Minglan finally smiled after hearing what Bai Ziyang said and said, "Then I'll try it!"