Chương 455: Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao Ask Their Sister

Cai Yan's courtyard was indeed very lively.

On the stone table were freshly cut fruits and freshly brewed tea, the aroma of which wafted gently, mingling with the fragrance of winter plum blossoms, a truly delightful experience.

The seven ladies, Cai Yan, Zhang Ning, Ren Hongchang, Du Xiuniang, Zou Yu, Zhen Jiang, and He Lian, were sitting together, eating melon seeds and chatting.

Cai Yan held a cup of hot tea in her hands, a faint smile on her lips.

Zhang Ning leaned back in his chair casually, spitting sunflower seed shells all over the floor.

Ren Hongchang sat quietly, occasionally interjecting with a comment.

Du Xiuniang and Zou Yu huddled together, whispering to each other.

Zhen Jiang held her teacup and sipped it slowly.

He Lian sat on the far side, her belly already quite large. She leaned against the cushions, holding a teacup in one hand and touching her belly with the other, her face radiating maternal glow.

Every now and then, bursts of clear laughter could be heard, and even the maids outside the courtyard couldn't help but peek inside.

Seeing the two Qiao sisters run in with flushed faces, everyone laughed and stopped talking.

"Oh, Ying'er and Qian'er are here? Please have a seat!"

Cai Yan smiled and waved, signaling the maid to bring them stools and pour tea.

"This is freshly brewed tea. Try it and see if it suits your taste."

Xiao Qiao picked up her teacup and gulped down a large mouthful, burning her tongue and making everyone laugh.

The two sisters sat down properly, holding their teacups. They looked at each other, their faces flushed red, their heads bowed low, their fingers twisting the hem of their clothes. They hesitated for a long time, neither of them daring to speak first.

Zhang Ning couldn't stand their timid, submissive manner, and couldn't help but laugh and tease them:

"What's wrong? The two girls' faces are so red. Is there something you want to tell us? Just say it. We're all family. There's nothing we can't talk about behind closed doors."

Her words made the two sisters even more embarrassed, their ears turning bright red, wishing they could disappear into the ground.

In the end, Xiao Qiao was the bravest. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, steeled herself, and shouted out in a voice so soft it was like a mosquito's buzz:

"Sisters! We just want to ask! Why won't our husband take us as concubines, or even sleep with us?"

After shouting, she immediately buried her face in Da Qiao's arm, not daring to lift her head.

Da Qiao also shrank her neck, wishing she could burrow into the ground with him.

Upon hearing this, the crowd exchanged glances, paused for two seconds, and then burst into a deafening laugh.

Zhang Ning laughed the hardest, slapping the table and stomping her feet, tears almost welling up in her eyes.

"Oh my! I thought it was something incredibly important! So this is what it's about! You two little girls, so young, but you've got quite the scheming minds!"

Ren Hongchang covered his mouth and laughed, his shoulders swaying and his face turning red.

Zhen Jiang and Du Xiuniang were laughing so hard they couldn't stand up straight; one was leaning on the table, and the other was holding onto the back of a chair.

Even the usually dignified Cai Yan couldn't help but cover her mouth with her handkerchief, laughing so hard her shoulders were shaking.

Only He Lian remained relatively calm, though she pursed her lips and her eyes were full of smiles.

The two sisters were so embarrassed by their laughter that their faces felt like they could fry eggs on them, and they wished they could just disappear on the spot.

Cai Yan finally managed to stop laughing, cleared her throat, and gently explained to the two of them:

"Silly girls, don't worry. It's not that your husband doesn't like you, it's just that... he prefers 'bigger' girls."

"what?"

Upon hearing this, the two sisters simultaneously looked up and exchanged a blank glance.

Then, without prior arrangement, they both lowered their heads, secretly lifted a corner of their shirts, quickly glanced at their chests, looked at each other, and whispered together: But... ours is alright too... my mom says that for my age, it's already pretty good..."

"Yes, yes, I measured myself yesterday, and I'm a little bigger than last year... The clothes I wore last year are all a bit tight around the chest area this year..."

"Does my husband prefer really big ones? Then... then should we eat more papayas from now on? I heard that eating papayas can make you grow bigger?"

"Yes, yes, yes! I also heard that drinking soy milk works too! Let's drink soy milk every day starting tomorrow!"

Upon hearing this, everyone laughed even harder, laughing so hard they almost fell off their chairs.

He Lian laughed so hard she clutched her stomach, pointing at the two of them, unable to utter a single word for a long time.

Zhang Ning laughed so hard she collapsed onto the table, pounding it and yelling, "Oh my god! I'm dying of laughter! What kind of nonsense are you two little girls thinking about?!"

"Oh, my silly sisters! What are you thinking!"

Zhang Ning finally managed to stop laughing, wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, waved to the two of them, and explained with a wry smile:

"It's not the 'older' you're thinking of! It's just a little older! You two are only sixteen this year, still quite young girls. Your husband can't bear to mistreat you, so he wants to wait until you're a couple more years older, more mature, and your bodies have grown before we talk about anything else!"

"Oh? I see!"

The two sisters suddenly realized what was happening, and their faces instantly turned so red they looked like they could bleed.

It turns out they had misunderstood something and even said it in front of so many older sisters—how embarrassing! Xiao Qiao buried her face back into Da Qiao's arms, her ears turning bright red.

Da Qiao blushed deeply, twisting her handkerchief between her fingers, wishing she could find a block of tofu to smash her head against and die.

It took the two sisters a long time to recover. Da Qiao blushed and asked softly:

"But... according to the rules of our Han Dynasty, a girl is already an adult at sixteen and can get married long ago. Why do husbands have to wait until we are older? My mother was only fifteen when she married my father."

"Hey, when has my husband ever followed the conventional rules?"

Zhang Ning waved his hand and said with a smile, "If he had followed the rules, he wouldn't have started his rebellion in Youzhou, and he certainly wouldn't have imprisoned Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu in the Gongdelin Forest. He has his own reasons, and it's all for your own good. Look at him, he seems carefree on the surface, but he's actually very thoughtful."

Cai Yan smiled and nodded, adding, "That's right. The previous Mi Zhen and Gan Mei sisters, like you, entered the manor at the age of sixteen."

"My husband let them live peacefully in the manor for two years, spending their days admiring flowers, reading, and learning needlework—doing whatever made them happy. Only when they turned eighteen, their bodies had grown and their minds had matured, did he take them as his concubines and share his bed with them."

She paused, her tone softening further: "My husband has always been like this; he would never force a young girl. He always says that at your age, you should be having fun every day and shouldn't be bound by these romantic relationships too early, much less suffer the pain of childbirth. Childbirth is a life-or-death ordeal for women, and the younger you are, the greater the risk. He truly cares about you."