After my father was sent to marry into the princess's household, I became the darling of the en

"Lv'e, go and ask Uncle Xu for a hoe."

Green Calyx stood on the threshold, holding a cup of freshly brewed hot tea.

"Young lady, what do you want?"

"hoe."

Shen Jingque stood in the center of the courtyard, hands on her hips, surveying the not-so-wide space.

"Also, a shovel, and it would be best to prepare a few bags of peat."

This is her newly acquired courtyard, Mingcui Pavilion.

The emperor bestowed upon Shen Jingque the title of Princess of Shaoning County. The night after the palace banquet, Xiao Mingyue rearranged the courtyard in the southeast corner of the Princess's residence and assigned it to Shen Jingque to live in.

The courtyard wasn't large; there was an open space against the west wall where two pots of withered chrysanthemums were piled up.

Shen Jingque squatted down, picked up a piece of mud, and rubbed it between her fingers.

The soil quality is alright.

She realized something after leaving Shennong Space last night.

All the available Spirit Spring Grass has been harvested; the next batch will take at least ten days to mature.

The number of medicinal fields in the space is limited. If they are used to grow ordinary medicinal herbs, it will take up the planting space for spiritual spring grass.

Therefore, she planned to cultivate a medicinal field in the courtyard to grow common herbs, and use the medicinal fields in the space to grow spiritual spring grass.

Anyway, it seems there are no restrictions on the use of the spiritual spring water. At worst, she can just take some extra work and bring her space out every day to water the medicinal fields.

Green Calyx stood behind her, watching her young lady digging in the soil in the flowerbed with a complicated expression.

"Does the young lady want to... grow medicinal herbs?"

Young ladies from noble families at this age usually enjoy embroidery or boating on lakes, but Shen Jingque prefers to immerse herself in medicinal herbs, and now she even wants to farm herself.

What she didn't know was that Shen Jingque didn't actually enjoy handling medicinal herbs; she just knew that this skill might be of great help to her in the future.

In this era where human life is as cheap as grass, having multiple skills means having multiple paths in life.

Shen Jingque patted the mud off her hands and looked up. "Yes, we'll clear this whole area, turn the soil over again, and then plant medicinal herbs all over it."

Green Calyx nodded and quickly went to find Uncle Xu to ask for the tools.

Shen Jingque was still squatting and calculating when a dazzling peacock blue suddenly appeared at the doorway.

Xiao Changqi strolled in, fanning himself with a folding fan. He glanced at the flowerbed and then slightly raised his chin at Shen Jingque, who was squatting on the ground.

"I heard from Ji Qianshang that you're planning to open a medicinal herb garden?"

"Um."

"How big is the land? Which part have you set your sights on?"

He closed the folding fan and began to reach for his sleeve.

"There are three villages on the outskirts of Beijing. The one in Lijia Village is flat, sheltered from the wind, and faces the sun. I'll send someone to discuss it today..."

"Wait, wait, wait!"

Shen Jingque stood up and raised her hand to block his way.

"Second brother, please take the silver notes back first. I'll just plant this part of the yard."

Xiao Changqi's hand froze in mid-air.

"This is it?"

He looked down at the flowerbed, which was less than two zhang wide, and frowned.

"This is called a medicinal herb field? What can you do with just a handful of seeds?"

"I'll try it first."

"What's there to experiment with? You know how to grow things, just go all out and get started. Even if you buy the estate, you can still—"

"Second brother."

Shen Jingque stretched out her finger and shook it in front of him.

"Even if you have money, you can't just throw it away like that. First, get this batch planted in the yard and figure out the production cycle before you talk about expanding."

Xiao Changqi was silent for two seconds, then slapped the folding fan into his palm and nodded reluctantly.

"Alright, then you can start planting first. I'll keep the land deeds for the estate until you ask."

She sighed and rubbed her forehead in exasperation; this nouveau riche behavior was sure to arouse envy.

The two were joking around when footsteps came from outside. It was Uncle Xu leading a servant in.

"Girl, the tools have been brought."

Shen Jingque took a hoe and casually dug up the remaining roots of a chrysanthemum, while Xiao Changqi watched from the side with his mouth twitching.

Uncle Xu coughed and bowed, saying, "Second Young Master, Miss, let them do this rough work. Her Highness the Princess invites you both to the main hall to have the New Year's Eve dinner today."

Shen Jingque was indeed tired, and stopped what she was doing: "New Year's Eve dinner?"

Then she immediately broke into a smile, "Oh right, today is New Year's Eve, I completely forgot."

She leaned the hoe against the wall, dusted off her hands, and was about to walk outside.

"I didn't eat much for lunch, and I'm hungry now."

Then they realized that Xiao Changqi hadn't followed.

She turned around and saw him standing there, looking somewhat bewildered.

"Second brother, what's wrong?"

Xiao Changqi snapped out of his daze, twitched the corners of his mouth, and spoke with a hint of disbelief in his voice.

"Do you know when the last time the whole family sat down together for New Year's Eve dinner was?"

Shen Jingque shook her head. "Seven years ago."

He paused.

"My mother's first husband was involved in an incident at the New Year's Eve dinner. After that, the family never gathered together for a meal again."

Shen Jingque was speechless.

The original book mentions that Xiao Mingyue's first husband was her childhood sweetheart.

Dressed in white, riding a horse, he wielded a skillful sword.

However, he died of poisoning less than a year after his marriage.

Unexpectedly, it happened at the family dinner on New Year's Eve.

Xiao Changqi lowered his eyes, sighed softly, and patted Shen Jingque's arm without saying anything more.

"Let's go."

The main hall was brightly lit by candlelight.

There were about ten dishes on the table, steaming hot, clearly prepared with great care by the kitchen.

Xiao Mingyue sat in the main seat, with Shen Yan beside her. The two were talking, their expressions calm.

However, apart from the two of them, the atmosphere among the rest of the seated people seemed rather awkward.

Xiao Changgeng's face was colder than usual.

Ji Qianshang sighed silently, holding a wine glass.

Xiao Changqi was restless and fidgety, like a spinning top.

Shen Jingque glanced around and finally couldn't help but put down her chopsticks.

"Big brother, is the food not to your liking today? Your face is as sour as that pickle jar outside."

Xiao Changgeng: "..."

"Second brother, are there nails growing on your stool? You can't sit still!"

Xiao Changqi: "...I only moved slightly."

"Master Ji, are you sighing and drowning your sorrows in alcohol because you've broken up with your boyfriend?"

Ji Qianshang: "..."

Shen Jingque slammed down her chopsticks: "Isn't this New Year's Eve dinner? Shouldn't New Year's Eve dinner be lively and joyful?"

Xiao Mingyue chuckled softly beside her.

Everyone turned to look at her.

The reason everyone looked so awkward was because they were worried about Xiao Mingyue.

After all, witnessing your loved one die suddenly from poisoning would leave a psychological scar on any normal person.

They were worried that Xiao Mingyue would recall those past events.

But at this moment, Xiao Mingyue's face was calm, her eyes gleaming with a faint light, showing no trace of sorrow.

"The sparrow is right."

She poured herself a glass of wine and stood up.

"I've thought about this a lot lately. One can't stay stuck in the regrets of the past forever."

"Over the years, I've always felt that by not having a New Year's Eve dinner, I can think about the past less."

"But a person cannot be trapped by a single night while alive. Even if the deceased have a spirit in heaven, they may not want to see us living our lives like this."

As soon as she finished speaking, she tilted her head back and drank the wine in her glass in one gulp.

Shen Yan sat quietly beside Xiao Mingyue.

At that moment, he put down the jade chopsticks in his hand and grasped Xiao Mingyue's hand.

"Bright Moon." His voice was soft, yet every word was gentle, "I will be here every year from now on."

Shen Jingque suddenly felt a pang of emotion.

It's unknown how the eldest princess managed to get through the loss of three husbands on her own, but thankfully she has her father now.

She believed that Shen Yan would warm Xiao Mingyue's long-dormant heart again.

So Shen Jingque also picked up her own glass of fruit wine and raised it together: "The past is gone, from now on our family will always be together!"

"Cheers!!"

However, the result of this "cheers" was that the whole family got drunk, and even Shen Jingque drank too much fruit wine and became dizzy.

"This...isn't this juice?"

She watched as everything in front of her became a double image, and then burped.

I know I can hold my liquor pretty well, so why am I so dizzy?

Seeing the cups multiply into four, and then into eight, Shen Jingque collapsed onto the table with a "thud."