By a twist of fate, the illegitimate son of the Marquis's family marries the county princess.

Chapter 304 Reminiscing about the Past

When Ruige arrived at Fengyi Palace, Pei Rujing couldn't even get a chance to hold him; the eldest princess took him away instead.

"Rui-ge'er, let your grandma hold you. Did you miss your grandma?"

Since Wen Zongji and Pei Rujing moved to the county princess's residence, the princess has been visiting more frequently, spending a long time with Rui Ge'er each time.

Rui Ge'er blinked, seemingly recognizing the Princess, and yawed twice before hugging the Princess's neck and nestling affectionately in her arms, showing no intention of looking for Pei Rujing at all.

Pei Rujing: "..."

She even doubted whether Rui Ge'er had noticed her.

The consequence of not being afraid of strangers is that it's not so easy for them to find their mother; they'll accept anyone to hold them.

The Empress also came over, with Princess Changning beside her: "Rui-ge'er, do you still remember your aunt?"

Rui glanced at her, then looked away, clearly not remembering.

Princess Changning pouted: "Cousin, Rui-ge'er has forgotten me. I need to visit the county princess's residence more often so that Rui-ge'er will remember me."

Pei Rujing: "...When he gets older, he will naturally remember you."

Don't even think about taking advantage of the chaos!

The Empress looked down at the fair-skinned and tender-looking Rui-ge'er: "He seems to have a lively personality."

The eldest princess said with a loving smile, "She's so cute; she can give everyone a smile."

"It seems he takes after his father in temperament."

"Indeed," the eldest princess agreed wholeheartedly. "He is clearly like Zongji. If he were like Jing'er, the sound of his crying would be enough to lift the roof off if anyone touched him."

Pei Rujing: "..."

That being said, why bring her up?

Princess Changning smiled secretly.

Pei Rujing glared at her, and Princess Changning quickly composed herself.

As the Empress approached, the other noblewomen also gathered around, each one more eloquent than the last, praising Rui Ge'er to the skies.

When Ruige was suddenly surrounded by so many people, all of whom were unfamiliar faces, he finally looked flustered. He buried his little head in the princess's arms and hugged her even tighter.

"Oh, the little guy is shy."

"Is she shy because we praised her?"

The Empress said irritably, "Get out of here, get out of here! You've scared Rui-ge'er. You're all old enough to be his grandmother. Don't act like you've never seen a child before."

The palace banquet was a time for entertainment. The husbands of these women were all princes and ministers. It was clear that the Empress was not truly angry. She smiled and said, "Your Majesty, we have seen children before, but this is the first time we have seen Princess Anhe's child."

"Time flies. It feels like only yesterday that Princess Anhe was taken by the Eldest Princess to her first palace banquet."

Pei Rujing: "..."

Why are you starting to reminisce about the past?

The eldest princess couldn't help but laugh: "That's a bit of a distant memory. Jing'er was only a few months old when she came to the palace with me to attend a palace banquet."

She happens to be around the same age as Rui Ge'er, since the mother and son's birthdays are only ten days apart.

Princess Changning turned to look at Pei Rujing.

Pei Rujing said expressionlessly, "Why are you looking at me? I don't remember anything."

She was still too young to understand things back then.

Princess Changning said in a low voice, "I was just wondering if my cousin threw a tantrum when she was surrounded by people like Rui-ge'er back then."

Pei Rujing glanced up at her: "Are you curious?"

Princess Changning shrank back and said tactfully, "I'm... not really that curious."

Humph--

In the end, it was the Empress who gave the order for the noblewomen to disperse, thus rescuing Rui Ge'er.

Pei Rujing went over and took Rui Ge'er from the princess's arms. Seeing that his little face was flushed from covering it, she touched his face and asked, "Are you feeling uncomfortable?"

Rui Ge'er couldn't understand, but he was happy to see his mother and waved his hands, babbling to Pei Rujing.

"Okay, you don't look uncomfortable at all."

Rui Ge'er continued to smile at Pei Rujing.

Pei Rujing sighed helplessly, "Why do you laugh so much? Even your father doesn't laugh this much."

The eldest princess smiled and said, "It's good that he likes to laugh. When Rui grows up, he will be a gentle and kind gentleman who will attract many girls. Then we won't have to worry about his marriage."

Having gone through the marriage with Pei Shirong, the eldest princess was traumatized.

Pei Rujing: "...Mother, Rui-ge is only eight months old."

Zuo Mingxuan had just proposed a marriage between their children, and now the Princess was bringing up marriage again, as if everyone else was thinking further ahead than Pei Rujing.

The eldest princess pinched Rui-ge'er's little face: "Time flies."

Pei Rujing was too lazy to say more. She carried Rui Ge'er back to his seat in the Zhongyong Marquis's residence, and then several of her sisters-in-law came over to tease Rui Ge'er.

Now that Pei Rujing lives in the county princess's mansion, she spends much less time with Zhong Shi and the others, and even less time with Wen Shuxuan.

Wen Shuxuan has many years of experience managing the household affairs. Now that Pei Rujing is no longer at the newspaper and Zheng Shaohui has gone home to prepare for the imperial examination, Wen Shuxuan is basically in charge of all matters, big and small, at the newspaper.

Wen Shuxuan would frequently visit the county princess's residence to report on the newspaper's affairs to Pei Rujing, making it difficult for the two to avoid seeing each other.

"Princess, shouldn't we have a grand celebration for Rui'er's first birthday celebration?"

Pei Rujing nodded: "Of course."

In ordinary families, the first birthday celebration for the eldest son is usually a grand affair, let alone for Rui Ge'er.

Jiang said, "Why don't we hold it at the Marquis's residence? I'll make the arrangements."

Pei Rujing said, "Let's hold it at the county princess's residence. My uncle said he would come to attend the ceremony."

Aside from the coming-of-age ceremony, the first birthday celebration was the most important, and Emperor Shun'an had already told Pei Rujing that he would attend.

Upon hearing this, Madam Jiang immediately abandoned her insistence and simply said, "Then I'll bring people to help you."

Both Madam Zhong and Madam Liu said, "We'll go help."

Pei Rujing did not refuse: "Thank you, Mother-in-law and my two sisters-in-law."

"Of course."

The group looked on, bewildered, as they looked down and played with Pei Rujing's finger covering Rui Ge'er, secretly sighing that people's fates are truly different.

Being born in Pei Rujing's womb already puts you ahead of most people in this world.

In some ways, it's better than being born into the womb of a concubine.

After all, apart from the crown prince, the other sons were no different in Emperor Shun'an's eyes. Having been a father so many times, he was no longer excited.

However, Emperor Shun'an only had one beloved niece, and Rui Ge'er was Pei Rujing's eldest son, so his importance was self-evident.

……

After attending the palace banquet, Wen Zongji and Pei Rujing returned to the Marquis's residence together. Rui Ge'er was already asleep in Wen Zongji's arms. Although the little guy had slept for a long time during the day, he was still young and needed to sleep a lot.

Pei Rujing said, "My mother-in-law asked about the baby's first birthday ceremony. I said it would be held at the county princess's residence, and they would come to help."

Wen Zongji nodded: "It would be better if my mother and the others could help, as they are experienced."

"That's what I think too," Pei Rujing said, looking down at Rui Ge'er. "I wonder what Rui Ge'er will catch then."

"It's just for fun; whatever they catch is fine."

Even so, it's always better to find something with a good meaning.

Wen Zongji raised an eyebrow: "Then how about we train a bit beforehand?"

Pei Rujing rolled her eyes at him: "How can we train in advance? Isn't that just fooling ourselves?"

Wen Zongji said helplessly, "Then we can only leave it to fate."

"Never mind, we'll see when the time comes."