"Pretty, pretty."
Yangyang certainly had an eye for beauty; his little head nodded vigorously.
"Haha," Commandery Princess Dongyang was amused by him, dispelling the gloom of the recent days, "Yang Chuxia, your son has such good taste, knowing I am a great beauty."
"Great beauty, great beauty!" Yangyang repeated after her.
"Why does he say everything twice?" She had noticed this peculiarity earlier.
Yang Chuxia felt helpless about her sonās habit of repeating words like a parrot, "He just likes to say things twice. I canāt get him to change it; weāll just have to wait until heās a bit older to see."
Commandery Princess Dongyang nodded, then had Su Ma bring out the gifts she brought for the two kids.
This time, Commandery Princess Dongyang actually brought something quite valuable, two small gold plaques.
"Xiaxia, where is your husband?" Commandery Princess Dongyang asked. She had long heard that Yang Chuxiaās husband was a handsome man, and she wanted to see if he was more attractive than Mu Shaoling. Thinking this, Dongyang immediately spat, berating herself for her thoughts. The man was going to have a son next year; what would he want with her?
Yang Chuxia saw a fleeting sadness cross her face, but it changed so quickly that if it werenāt for her sharp eyes, she wouldnāt have noticed.
"He went to the yamen this afternoon and will be back tonight."
"Oh," said Dongyang, nodding and not asking any further.
Ye Ziāan returned early in the afternoon, having dealt with his matters promptly; he came home before the sun had set. Hearing that Commandery Princess Dongyang was visiting, he was a bit surprised but quickly decided to send a message to the Capital City.
Thus, Commandery Princess Dongyang was sold out by Ye Ziāan, whom she had never met.
"Yang Chuxia, Xiaxia, your husband truly is a peerless handsome man. How does the saying go? āA gentleman like jade is unparalleled in this world.ā"
This was Commandery Princess Dongyangās first impression of Ye Ziāan.
When she learned that Ye Ziāan had leaked news of her visit, her only thought was that good-looking men are always so unreliable.
"Why has she come?" After dinner, Ye Ziāan inquired.
"I donāt know, I didnāt ask, but she said not to disclose her whereabouts," Yang Chuxia replied, shaking her head.
Not to disclose her whereabouts? Ye Ziāan chuckled, what was he to do when he had already spilled the beans?
"Anyway, you might as well not ask about this. Go check on Lele and Yangyang first." Yang Chuxia couldnāt help rubbing her forehead as she thought of the childrenās stubborn tempers. Young as they were, each had a temper. It was one thing to be angry, but their stubbornness was really something else.
"The two of them? What happened?"
Yang Chuxia had eaten dinner with her sons and Linyu from Dongyang, so Ye Ziāan hadnāt yet learned that the boys had been upset with each other.
"They got mad at each other," Yang Chuxia explained, "Lele was practicing his calligraphy when Yangyang pulled at him, asking if the birthmark on his forehead looked good. In the tussle, Yangyang smudged Leleās writing with ink, which made Lele call him ugly, so Yangyang cried, and then they both got mad. Now neither of them is speaking to the other." She couldnāt help but twitch at the corner of her mouth when thinking about the dinner scene.
Whenever the two headstrong children accidentally met gazes, they just twisted their heads away. Especially during dinner, if Yangyang ate shrimp, Lele absolutely refused to eat shrimp; and if Lele ate chicken, Yangyang would not touch the chicken either. They insisted on not eating the same thing.
Ye Ziāan gaped at this news.
He was about to say something else, but then he remembered his kids couldnāt be compared to their peers and held his tongue.
"You should check on them. Iām really not good at heart-to-hearts."