After all of the people standing at the front entrance entered the estate, Wei Kangnuan gave out orders, "Butler Cui, Headmaid Yang, please take care of Miss Peng. Yuanjun, follow me to my study."
All of them bowed in unison to signal that they had received and understood his orders.
Before Wei Kangnuan left for his study though, he turned to the two middle-aged servants and warned, "She is going to be my princess consort. Please treat her with your utmost respect. Should I hear any word of disrespect, you guys know better than anyone else what your punishment will be, right?"
Though he spoke in a calm and kind voice, his subordinate, Mo Yuanjun, and two servants, Butler Cui and Headmaid Yang, shivered. All the servants that were accepted to work in the estate - or rather any person who was able to enter the estate at all knew just what the real personality of the second prince was, and it was not one that any person wanted to mess with.
Taking another deep bow, they both replied, "We understand, Your Highness. Please do not worry, we will treat Princess Consort as though she were Your Highness."
Hearing their responses, Wei Kangnuan finally gave them a real smile of kindness and warmth, "That is good. Please warn the other servants. I do not want to hear from Mo Yuanjun that my future princess consort decided to run away because she was bullied by the servants."
"Your Highness can rest easy. Us servants will surely make Princess Consort feel at home," Headmaid Yang respectfully stated with a bowed head even though she was thinking, 'If this miss here is unable to handle the servants here, she cannot not become the princess consort. Such a weak lady is unfit for such a dangerous position.'
Headmaid Yang was a middle-aged lady that was extremely loyal and caring towards the second prince. However, she also cared for the people that the second prince cared for even if she did not approve of them or met them before. One of her mottos in life, "Whatever the prince wants, she will make sure he gets."
With this mindset, even though Headmaid Yang did not like how Peng Mingzhu looked like a gentle and soft lady in her long pink robes, she still made sure to care for her. She was worried that if Peng Mingzhu took up the position of Second Princess Consort, she would be targeted and be unable to protect herself.
This meant that she would always be at risk of death all the time. If one day harm came to her, Headmaid Yang knew that the second prince would not let it be. He would probably commit homicide, something that the middle-aged lady did not want to experience or see.
As his most trusted maid assured him, he finally relented and left for his study with Mo Yuanjun walking respectfully behind him.
Whereas Peng Mingzhu was instructed by Butler Cui to follow him and Headmaid Yang
"Miss Peng, this will be your room," Butler Cui showed her after opening a very fancily designed door. "We apologize for the lack of decoration as none of us really expected a new person to join the estate. If Miss has any requests, please ask this servant or Headmaid Yang."
Staring around the huge and elegant room in interest, Peng Mingzhu said, "No worries. This is more than good enough for me."
Seeing her actions, Butler Cui gave no reactions as he thought that this was probably her first time seeing such an extravagant design. After all, the place where the second prince went to was not really full of people who were rich or wealthy.
In comparison, Headmaid Yang looked down on Peng Mingzhu. It was only a room, not even an entire hall, yet she was already looking at everything like a newborn deer. Headmaid Yang shook her head disapprovingly.
"Well then, we shall return to our duties. Please call for us should Miss need any help," Butler Cui said before pulling Headmaid Yang along with him in order to head out.
"Wait," Peng Mingzhu called out. "Um… May I ask where the kitchen is?"
A bit confused by her question, but thinking that she probably just wanted to cook nutritional soups like other ladies for the prince, Butler Cui told her, "Please follow me."
As they reached the kitchen, Butler Cui stated, "This is the main kitchen. There are side kitchens for each of the halls that are in the estate, however, since Miss will be the future Princess Consort, Miss will have access to this kitchen instead."
When Wei Kangnuan first told them that she was going to be his Princess Consort, she already wanted to deny and say that she was not, but she knew just how tricky that second prince could be so she decided not to say anything.
However, since she was an honest person who did not like to keep misunderstanding running wildly about, she decided to tell the truth, "Butler Cui, please don't call me the Future Princess Consort. His Highness is merely taking care of me until I have to leave."
Butler Cui was a bit taken aback at her words, "Uh… That… Miss Peng, us servants merely agree with the master. If Miss Peng has any words to say, please tell them to His Highness."
"That's fine then. I just wanted to make sure you guys knew. Besides, as long as you guys don't call me Princess Consort or Future Madam or whatever else names you guys use here, I'll be more than happy enough," Peng Mingzhu told him. "Oh yeah, every time I cook, don't tell His Highness. I've had enough with the bastard stealing my food every time I cook."
Even though she practically mumbled out the last sentence, Butler Cui and Headmaid Yang still heard it. They were shocked at her calling their most respected master and second prince a "bastard."
However, being trained for a long time, they both kept a straight face even though their brows really wanted to twitch at her statement.
'Their Highness? Stealing food?! And a woman's cooking at that!!?' they both internally screamed.
Wanting to just move along with their day, Butler Cui decided to speak up though much weaker than previous, "That… If Miss Peng has no more requests...then we shall leave now?"
"Oh, wait," Peng Mingzhu stopped them again.
"Uh… What else does Miss Peng have for us?" Butler Cui tried to maintain his respectful and straight face.
"Where can I find books and texts on the history of the continent and country? And is there a map of the capital anywhere?" Peng Mingzhu asked. "A map with labels on the buildings, like which place is an inn, which place is a restaurant, and whatnot."
"Miss Peng can ask His Highness for those things," Butler Cui answered. "His Highness does not like having servants go into his study, so we are unable to immediately supply them. Apologies."
"Ah, that's fine then," Peng Mingzhu said while waving her hand to sign that she was okay with that. "Then, is there a bookstore in the capital? I mean, there should be one, right? It is the capital after all…"
"Yes, there is a famous bookstore called Verbatim in the district near the palace," Butler Cui answered. "Would Miss Peng like to go there now?"
In an excited voice, Peng Mingzhu answered immediately, "Yes! That would be nice!"
Butler Cui did not expect for her to raise her voice in excitement so he coughed to cover up his shock and spoke in a semi-calm voice, "This servant will have one of the pageboys lead Miss Peng to the bookstore."
Saying this, Butler Cui left the kitchen, leaving Peng Mingzhu and Headmaid Yang to stand in the room awkwardly, mostly because they were both people who did not like to talk much. Well, at least that was what Peng Mingzhu thought until the middle-aged lady finally asked a question.
"Where did Miss Peng meet His Highness?" Headmaid Yang asked curtly.
"According to Mo Yuanjun, at Jiang River, near the campsite where His Highness stationed his men," Peng Mingzhu answered straightforwardly, not beating around the bush.
"Why did Miss Peng decide to go there?" Headmaid Yang as she knew much more than the normal person being a person privy to things related to the second prince.
"I didn't go there," Peng Mingzhu told her with a sigh. "I just happened to appear there due to some issues and things. I guess...if I had to explain…"
"How old is Miss Peng?" Headmaid Yang continued to ask in a curt voice.
"24 years old," Peng Mingzhu answered, not understanding why her age was important.
"His Highness is 25 years old. This servant supposes it is not a bad combination," Headmaid Yang commented. "However, being 24 years old, does Miss Peng not have a spouse? A relationship? Miss Peng planned to be an old spinster?"
'Ah, I forgot…' Peng Mingzhu immediately thought in her head upon hearing the questions asked.