Surprisingly, the finance minister was much more easier to talk to, after he heard that the man his daughter eloped with was the younger son of the duke of Shen.
"I believe that you and your father would take responsibilities on this matter" he said before leaving Zhan's family mansion.
'Isn't weird that he came with the look of a murderer but left with a smile of someone who just won the lottery" Lu Zheng blurted out.
"I guess he still reserved some respect for my father"
"Respect ? that old man? That Greedy old man? He was the minister of finance for a reason you know" Lu Zheng replied with a sarcastic tone.
"I doubt he has an ounce of honesty left in his bone. I'm sorry if this offending you, but contradict to your belief, the duke of Shen's position and power means nothing for a corrupt, high ranking officer like him. You and Xiao Zhan gotta be careful after this. He can be as sly as his daughter if he wanted to."
Xiao Song flinched went he heard the bitter truth spouted by Lu Zheng. After befriending Lu Zheng for a while, he realized that Lu Zheng had difficulty to form relationship with any human being as he had always speak his mind out loud. His unfiltered opinions has always cause rage and misunderstanding among other people.
As opposed to everyone else, Xiao Song found this characteristic to Lu Zheng's specialty. He had always welcomed the harsh remark and any criticism from Lu Zheng as his opinion had always weight the truth.
However, Xiao Song could not help but felt embarrassed to think that his father's tarnished image in the capital.
"Was it that bad?"
"What?"
"My father's image?"
Lu Zheng sighed heavily. It seemed like he had crossed the line and could never be able to retract.
"A lot of people misunderstood the duke of Shen. You don't really have to worry. This people made pledge and worshiped those who had money. They would never appreciate things that he had sacrificed for Shen people of any of his good deeds. It was not your father's lost to dissociate himself from this vultures in the first place" it was not usual for Lu Zheng to comfort other people. But Xiao Song is different. He and his family did not deserved feeling worthless toward when comparing themselves with people in the capital.
Xiao Song stayed quite for a while. In order to cheer up his friend, Lu Zheng tried to divert his attention.
"Now that your family is tied to the finance minister's family by marriage, this would help to alleviate your image as the princess' husband candidate."
"Huh?"
"I mean, you have been exchanging letters with one of the emperors many daughters aren't you?"
"How….how did you know?" Xiao Song went flustered. His face turned red.
"News travelled fast in the city. You might want to be discreet in the future. Also, stop making friends with the mantou lady." Lu Zheng sniggered playfully.
If anything, Xiao Song was hoping that the floor would swallow him up. He was so embarrassed that he excused himself from helping Lu Zheng for the rest of the day.
**********
Several day after the fateful meeting with the finance minister at Lu Zheng's family mansion, Xiao Song received news about the both of them being apprehended just outside the capital.
To think that they were actually hiding at the place that was closer than he had predicted! The most surprising thing was when both of them admitted that they had not married yet. It was merely a ruckus they made in order to persuaded the minister to give his blessing to both them.
Xiao Song knew that his younger brother was not capable of scheming a grandeur plan such as this one. Lu Zheng was indeed correct when he said that the woman his younger brother had fallen for was a cunning one.
Nevertheless, promises and blessing had been given by the ministers. They held a simple ceremony to finally tied the knot between the Xiao Zhan and Guo Zheng Er.
The next step would be going back to Shen province. While Xiao Song had no urgency to go back to Shen province, however, Xiao Zhan had pleaded for him to accompany both him and his wife to meet their father. Xiao Zhan believed that his father's wrath would lessen once he saw Xiao Song coming back with both of them.
Xiao Song was slightly reluctant to go back to Shen province. He cited his weekly meetings with the emperor as the reason to excuse himself from accompanying them.
In reality, he just want to spend a little bit more time exchanging letters with princess Liu Shi. Going back to Shen province means that all the exchanging letter business needed to cease.
But seeing Xiao Zhan's pitiful face when he politely decline to go back with them was gut wrenching. Finally, Xiao Song agreed to go back to Shen province with them.
Hence, he wrote his last letter to the princess informing her that he would not be available to send letters to her anymore due to unforeseen circumstances.
To his astonishment, the princess secretly visited him at the boarding on the morning which he supposed to depart from the capital. He was supervising the servants mounted their luggage into the carriage.
The princess acted so bold, she pulled him away from their entourage to the much more secluded area.
"Why you didn't tell me earlier that you are going back to Shen province?"
"Forgive me Your Highness" he bowed his head respectfully to the princess.
"You haven't answer my question yet" The princess directly demanded for the answer.
"Your highness, this lowly subject is going back to my hometown. It was a far and different place where you could not even imagined the intensity of the scorching heat. The place where I came from, people have no place like the Golden Tea place to enjoy lovely musics and exquisite food. Drought is annual occasion. All this while, we have been living in two different world. This is the time for me to returned back to the place I hailed from." he smiled affectionately to the princess.
He had been mulling over regarding their relationship for the past few days and concluded that this relationship would not going anywhere. They were from two different world. Thus, it would be better for him to cut any ties that they had before it turned into much more unbearable pain.
He could see tears already welled up around the brim of her eyes . He longed to be the one who wiped away the tears that had already rolled down her cheek. However, he accumulated as much as power possible to restrain himself from doing so.
"Farewell, princess" he tipped his last goodbye before going back to the carriage . He tried to distract himself by helping the servant to mount the luggage into the cart. He knew that the princess was watching him from her hiding place but decided to ignore her.
It was better this way. Once he return to Shen, there was little to no possibilities for him to coming back to the capital.
Being the son-in-law of an influential family, Xiao Song knew that the minister would not let his daughter remained in a dire place like Shen province for that long. Once the gossip subsided, both of them would probably be summoned back to the capital. Hence, Xiao Song was the only one left to help his father managing Shen province.
Once their carriage left the boarding house, he could no longer sense the princess' presence. He decided to closed his eyes and to get some sleep as the journey would take around three days to get to their destination. There's nothing much he could while sitting in the rocking carriage.
However, his wish for a peace nap was shattered as the new sister in law decided to strike a conversation with him.
"Brother-in-law, were you meeting Princess Liu Shi just now?" the curious Zheng Er was laying down the bait.
Xiao Song opened one of his eye in an irritating manner. He was still leaning back against his seat, trying to assert his position that mirroring someone who did not want to be disturbed.
'I hope she gets the hint'
"How did you know?" he replied lazily.
"I saw her bodyguard in the lobby just now. That man would not go anywhere far without the princess. He was loyal like that. So, I figured the princess was the one you met while you were helping the servant with the luggage"
'she was sharp'
The bait was taken. Xiao Song began to move his body forward. He looked as if he was ready to soak into a lengthy conversation with his new sister-in-law.
"We were just acquaintances. There's nothing more to it "
"I didn't say anything" She giggled in the way that annoyed Xiao Song so much.
"Good then" he sharply put a stop to the meaningless conversation. Xiao Song found it difficult to find a common ground with his new sister-in-law. As someone who hailed from family where everybody were reserved and always careful with their words, he found Zheng Er's brazen attitude to be unbearable.
It was unfortunate that he had to share the same space with her for the consecutive three days. Frankly, Xiao Song had always wander which quality that this woman possessed that attracted Xiao Zhan's attention.
Wan Zheng Er was a petite woman with ordinary-looking features. She did have a nice and pleasant appearance . But, her overbearing nature had always make Xiao Song felt suffocating he didn't know ho Xiao Zhan handled himself around her.
He personally found nothing similar between both of them. Xiao Zhan was indeed a well built and handsome young man albeit submissive and timid.
It was surprising for not only him, but to other people as well, to think that the charismatic , crown princess candidate decided to ditch her bright future as a crown princess to be with the second son of the impoverish duke of Shen.
Regardless how curious he was, Xiao Song was respectful enough to not directly question Xiao Zhan's choice of wife.
Despite the rough beginning of their journey, however, the rest of their trip was rather smooth and tedious.
As soon as they arrived at their hometown, Xiao Song was delighted to see the slight changes that improved the condition of people in his hometown. He could see , a lot of happy faces and was informed that they were on the process of building an irrigation system that could help people in the province faring the incoming drought.
He was satisfied to see that his effort of going to the capital was not futile. He believed that given a few more years, they would be able to fend for themselves without depending on financial aid from the capital. Xiao Song was motivated to look forward to the future where he would joining hands with the people of Shen in transforming the province into a fertile land.
To his heart content, Xiao Song was also elated to see his frail looking father standing in front of their family's house waiting for both of his son. His father rarely spent his time outside of his room due to his sickness that limiting his movement.
The feeling of guilty resurfaced upon seeing his father's face streaming with tears while hugging both him and Xiao Zhan. The old man kept on whispering the word "I miss you so much" to his sons.
The Duke was not a touchy person nor he was this sentimental toward his sons. The man was known for his taciturn and no-nonsense personality in which non of his sons inherited from him (Xiao Song for being a gentleman and Xiao Zhan for being submissive). it appeared that old age and long-time separation had worn him from wearing the serious mask.
Xiao Song felt bad for thinking of declining the offer to return with Xiao Zhan in the first place. Meeting Princess Liu Shi had made him forgotten that he had his father waiting for him back at home.
He determined to seek forgiveness from his father by helping him making Shen province to be a better place for its people!