When Zhao Ye touched her delicate and soft skin, he quickly withdrew his hand as if he was being burned by fire.
Li Can turned over and sat up.
"What's wrong?" Zhao Zhi put his arms around her.
She pushed him away and muttered aggrievedly: "You dislike me again."
"How could I dislike you?" Zhao Zong also sat up.
In the darkness, his face and ears were all hot.
"Then why don't you touch me? It was the same last time!" Li Can pushed him: "Go back to your east palace!"
Zhao Xie paused for a moment before explaining with difficulty: "This...is not in line with etiquette."
"That's what you said." Li Can stretched out her foot and kicked him: "Don't think I don't understand. I've grown up. It's not polite for you to sleep with me.
You go!"
Zhao Xie took a deep breath: "Yes, you have grown up, and this is inappropriate.
Don’t sleep together anymore.”
As he spoke, he opened the bed curtains and lit the candles.
"You go, you go!"
Li Can kicked him twice angrily, then lay down on the brocade quilt and cried.
We've been able to sleep together since we were little, but now if we don't want her, we don't want her anymore!
Zhao Ji got out of bed, took out his clothes and put them on.
He stood beside the bed for a moment, then reached out and pulled Li Can up.
Li Can lowered his eyes, his long crow-green eyelashes drooped wetly, the ends of his eyes were bright red, his lips were pursed, and he turned his face away, refusing to look at him.
"Stop crying." Zhao Ye wiped away her tears: "I didn't go back to the East Palace for the reason you said."
"What's the reason?" Li Can stared at him with eyes as clear as water.
"Because there are differences between men and women, and...you will understand in the future." Zhao Zong leaned over, kissed her on the forehead, and coaxed her in a soft tone: "Don't be angry, okay?"
"You really don't dislike me?" Li Can looked at him uncertainly.
"No." Zhao Ye raised his hand to straighten her messy hair: "Your uncle sent a letter yesterday. He will be back before you can."
"Really?" Li Can's eyes suddenly lit up: "Are the brothers coming back too?"
"Yes." Zhao Zhen nodded: "Come back."
"Your Majesty, do you agree?" Li Can was worried again.
"I will." Zhao Zhen patted her head gently: "Go to bed early."
"Okay then, I won't be angry with you anymore." Li Can pursed his lips, rolled his eyes, and hugged his neck.
She is so happy. Her eldest uncle and two cousins are back. It would be great if her third brother comes back too. When she is old enough, the whole family will be reunited.
Grandma and aunt will definitely be very happy.
Zhao Zong leaned against her, kissed her gently on the lips, lowered his head and whispered in her ear: "Don't be so close to others again."
"Except for you, I don't like others touching me, and I don't like touching other people either." Li Can let go of his hand.
"Yeah." Zhao Zhen responded.
Li Can looked sideways as he put down the bed curtains, blew out the candles, and the footsteps gradually went out.
After thinking about the return of her uncle and brothers for a while, she happily rolled around on the bed and thought about writing a letter to her third brother tomorrow, begging him to come back.
After a long time, she remembered and stretched out her hand to shake her waist. Zhao Zong just said that she would understand in the future. Is there anything else that she doesn't understand?
She didn't know how long she thought about it, but she fell asleep with doubts.
Early the next morning.
She was still asleep, so she called Tangqiu to wake her up with a whirring sound: "Girl, girl, wake up!"
"What..." Li Can turned over in his arms and muttered impatiently.
"Don't you want to see what kind of betrothal gift His Highness Prince Qi is sending? Get up and take a look!" Tang Qiu said loudly: "The carriage delivering the gifts is already halfway on the way. If you don't get up, it will be too late!"
"Here?" Li Can turned over and sat up after hearing this, rubbing his eyes and ordered: "Hurry up and ask Candy and the others to come in and change my clothes."
By the time she was properly dressed, the sound of firecrackers could be heard outside.
"Are you at the door yet?" She held up her skirt and ran out.
"Don't worry, girl." Nanny Zhang smiled from behind and said, "This is the bridge at the end of the road. Firecrackers will be set off at the bridge."
"That's not too late." Li Can heard this and slowed down.
When I arrived at the front gate, I saw everyone in the family except my grandmother.
"Auntie." She walked over and took Lin's hand.
Neither Li Cheng nor Mr. He bothered to care about her lack of courtesy. They both looked at the door eagerly.
Li Lainan seemed to be forced to come here. There was no smile on his face, and he stood beside Li Xiangnan with his head lowered.
Li Xiangnan wore a green long-sleeved skirt with a light gauze cover. She had lost a lot of weight these days, and the skirt was a little loose, but she looked very energetic.
Although the process was somewhat disgraceful, Princess Qi's position can be said to be stable this time.
Mrs. Lin looked at Li Can with a smile and asked her in a low voice: "Did you never have breakfast?"
"How does Auntie know?" Li Can opened his eyes wide and looked at her in confusion.
"I see you look like you just woke up." Mrs. Lin handed her a snack and said, "First put it on your bed."
"Auntie, do you still carry snacks with you?" Li Can looked at the snack and found it interesting, so she asked with a smile.
"I just took the extra ones when I was putting them on the plate," Mrs. Lin explained to her.
"Is this just the extra piece?" Li Can didn't understand. It's okay to put an extra piece of snack on any plate.
"No." Mrs. Lin smiled and said, "Today is a happy event. All the objects must be in pairs, and the snacks on the plate are no exception."
"That's right." Li Can nodded. She seemed to have heard of it before, but she never paid attention to it.
The sound of carriages and horses was heard outside the door.
"Coming."
Lin held her hand and walked forward.
Then there was a deafening sound of firecrackers.
Many people gathered outside the door to watch the fun and wait to pick up some money.
When a wealthy family holds a happy event, it is indispensable to throw some money at the door, just to make it look good.
Amidst the sound of firecrackers, two young men walked in leading a pair of rams tied with large red silk flowers, and then carried boxes of things inside.
Li Can looked around and saw that every box was tied with festive red flowers, and the visible silver wine bottles were also tied with red flowers.
A courteous official held the list and chanted loudly: "Today King Qi betroths Li Xiangnan, the eldest daughter of the Marquis of Jing'an, as his wife. The betrothal gift is a pair of sheep. A place in Zhuangzi in the western suburbs. A pair of wooden furniture, nanmu Duobao, and camphor wood."
There are four pairs of boxes, containing sixteen pieces of clothing for all seasons including leather, cotton, jackets, singles, and yarn.
A pair of huanghuali dressing boxes, containing six boxwood combs and a pair of Sichuan bamboo grates..."
After listening to this, Li Can felt that although these things were not made of the best materials, they were not bad, and they were pretty passable.
But when I turned around and looked at my aunt's face, I immediately realized something was wrong.
My eldest aunt always greets people with a smile, but now she frowns?
Isn't it right that it was a gift from Zhao Xun?
Mrs. Lin noticed her gaze and smiled at her, her face returning to its usual easygoing look.
Li Can looked at Li Cheng and his wife again, and now he was even more sure that there was something wrong with the betrothal gift. The faces of the couple were not very good-looking.
She pursed her lips and smiled. What was wrong with what Zhao Xun had given her? As long as Li Cheng and his wife were unhappy, she would be happy.
"That's not how the betrothal gift is pronounced." Mrs. Lin explained in a low voice in her ear: "Usually it's how many pieces of wooden furniture, how many dressing utensils, and how many pieces of gold and silver jewelry.
For example, the combs and grates are almost always counted according to the number of boxes. No one cares about the number of combs, unless they are from extremely poor families."
What she said was already very reserved.
Li Can understood everything clearly and nodded: "I understand."
The things that Zhao Xun sent were really too few. If he had reported a few items, he would probably have finished reporting in just a few sentences, so he reported it in such detail.
It seems that Zhao Xun also put a lot of thought into it!
Mrs. Lin thought about it and said next to her ear: "So, before you get married, even if your husband's family is interested in you, you can't get too close to him, as it will make others look down upon you."
"Can't we sleep together?" Li Can inexplicably remembered what happened last night.
"Of course not." Mrs. Lin warned again: "You should have some sense of propriety between you and the prince in the East Palace."
"Oh." Li Can nodded thoughtfully: "No."
Mrs. Lin suddenly looked at the door, frowned, and said "Huh" in confusion.
"What's wrong, auntie?" Li Can also looked over.
"Look at these betrothal gifts, how come they are all brought in by horse-drawn carriages, and they are not tied with flowers?" Ms. Lin looked at the newly entered carriage, confused for a moment.