The Arrangement

Chapter 36

Prince Ling Min stared at the old woman standing in the door with wide eyes. She was bent over nearly in half, wrinkles on her face like time worn ravines, glaring at the both of them. He moved forward slowly and offered the large carved box in his arms to her.

A servant came forward to take the box and opened it to show the woman. She glanced in it and then waved it away. General Yu was staring at her with a mild look on his face and tapped the Prince's elbow to give the old woman a nodding bow in unison out of respect.

"Granny Yu, pleased to introduce my wife, Prince Ling Min." General Yu said respectfully. She huffed and slammed her walking stick down on the poor man's toe with more strength than was expected.

"Pleased my ass! Grandson never comes to visit his granny and comes back with man for wife. Why you never visit your granny? Hmm? Bad grandson. Bad." She smacked his foot again and General Yu struggled to keep a straight face as his toe throbbed with pain.

Prince Ling Min tried very hard not to laugh at the scene, and in fact sank to his knees and bowed low before the old woman in respect, unable to see the surprise on the old woman's face.

"Apologies to Granny Yu. I will do my best to make sure we visit you more often in the future." He said with an earnestness that put a reluctant smile on the old woman's face.

"Yes yes, now get your prince up off the ground you bad grandson. Let's go in and eat. I am starving. You are too late coming." She complained with a huff and one last stab at his toe for good measure.

The two followed the woman into the house and were treated to an enormous meal, which was piping hot despite her insistence that they held up dinner. It seemed the old woman loved to complain about everything, but the staff seemed to ignore it completely.

After all, even as she said the dish was too spicy, she was still shovelling it onto her plate with a straight face. It was almost frightening how deadpan her face stayed through all her griping. The only time she twitched her lips was when Prince Ling Min complemented her kitchen.

"How did you hook this handsome boy into marrying such a bad grandson like you? Why you get a nice boy to be bad with you? Tsk. You are a bad influence. The Emperor is going to throw you out of the capital and see if I keep you here with me." She grumbled.

The two of them were really trying hard not to laugh. General Yu and Prince Ling Min exchanged glances all through the meal that were laced with humour. It didn't take long for Ling Min to understand that Granny Yu was not serious about most of what she said, just said it because she could.

They retired to the guest rooms at the villa with a sigh of relief and laid down on the large bed that had been prepared for them. Neither of them spoke to the other, just sat at ease with each other and felt the strangeness of being in Granny Yu's place.

"She seems fun." Ling Min finally said to Yu Zhi with a grin.

"She seems fun until it is your foot being squashed beneath her cane." He said to his wife with a frown. Ling Min laughed under his breath and nodded.

"Yes, I suppose so. Do you think she likes me?" He scrunched his brows in worry. Yu Zhi smiled and looked over at him.

"Of course she does. Give it a day or two and she will begin complaining about you too, and you will know you are really part of the family." He teased him, poking his side. Ling Min pursed his lips.

"In that case, maybe I should hope she doesn't like me too much." He replied. General Yu looked alarmed.

"Oh no, be glad she does. Really scary if she doesn't like you." He shuddered as though remembering something and Ling Min looked at him with worry.