As a monarch, Emperor LongFeng was naturally aware of Ming JingZhou’s unwillingness to marry his daughter into the Imperial family. Yet, Ming family’s daughter was the best candidate.
The three brothers of the Ming family were all upright officials; their hearts were bound to both the Imperial court and the common people. Choosing this family for Chen Wang was the most reasonable choice.
Before, he always regretted that they couldn’t become in-laws since the three brothers all had sons. Now that the daughter of the third child of the Ming family has been found, if he didn’t grab the opportunity now, when else would he do it?
A thin-skinned person could never be an Emperor.
Emperor LongFeng thought for a while and instructed a few palace maids to pick out a few scrolls of paintings and deliver them to MingYue Palace. His Beloved Consort was seldom in such a refined and elegant state of mind, he should definitely support her more.
Compared to Ming JingZhou, who was gloomy in dejection, JiuZhu was having a great time in MingYue Palace. After she accompanied Guifei niangniang to appreciate the painting, she asked her to stay behind for a meal.
The food was delicious, the palace maids were considerate and she was left perfectly satisfied and happy at the end of the meal.
Su Guifei glanced at the empty dishes on the table and raised her hand, signalling the maids to move away the remaining food from the table.
This little girl looked petite, but she could eat quite well
“Niangniang, Your Majesty has sent some famous paintings.” The female official whispered in Su Guifei’s ear, “Should I fetch it for Miss Ming to take a look at?”
Su Guifei coughed and looked at JiuZhu, who was rinsing her mouth and washing her hands. She mumbled, “Next time ah, next time.”
Seeing Su Guifei and the female official whispering, JiuZhu concluded they might have something important to discuss. So, she wiped her hands and stood up, “It’s easy to feel sleepy in the afternoon. Niangniang should take some rest now. Chennu will come to pay respects to niangniang in the future.”
Su Guifei smiled: “Then, I won’t hold you back either. However, this is our first meeting. I can’t let you leave empty-handed.”
Saying this, she instructed the maids to fetch the gifts that had been prepared a long time ago.
More than ten palace maids, with their arms full of gold, silver, jadeite, silk and satin fabrics, entered.
Jewelry of every description, placed on the trays, glistened with an overwhelming resplendence. JiuZhu covered her chest; feeling a little breathless for a moment.
She couldn’t do anything about it; she had been living in poverty with her two masters for more than ten years. Now that she suddenly saw so much jewelry, her eyes became a bit rebellious, always going back to take a look at it.
“These are things that girls usually like. Take them back for amusement.” Su Guifei saw JiuZhu’s wide eyes: “Do you like it?
“Like it.” JiuZhu nodded honestly, which normal young girl didn’t like these bright and beautiful things?
“It’s good if you like it.” Su Guifei seemed very satisfied with JiuZhu’s answer. She instructed her most important female official to escort JiuZhu out of the Palace in person.
“Just as I said, how can there be a little girl who isn’t fond of beautiful jewelry?” Su Guifei leaned on the soft couch: “You all only think about sending books and paintings. What’s the fun in that!”
Her personal maid said with a smile: “It’s still niangniang who has foresight.”
“Not only does niangniang have foresight, but this slave also felt that Miss Ming and niangniang have a predestined affinity of a mother and daughter.” Another palace maid chuckled: “This slave also noticed that after Miss Ming entered, she immediately got very close to niangniang. It was as if she had met the person she had not seen for many years.”
“This is what people say… people who don’t belong together, don’t get to live together1People who don’t belong together, don’t get to live together [不是一家人, 不进一家门] – Its an idiom that means that marriages are predestined..”
Su Guifei was quite pleased by the words of the palace maids. Although she understood His Majesty’s intention, she was still a little hesitant about this marriage before.
Most of the court officials disliked her and her child; even calling her a Demon Consort behind her back. This marriage between the Ming family’s daughter and her son might not change the views of the court officials, but it could at least ease the conflict between the two sides.
As for the deeper aspect of these things, Su Guifei did not feel like thinking about it. In any case, contemplating it wouldn’t give her any solution.
What she didn’t expect was that Ming JiuZhu, that little girl, could attract people’s affection so easily. She was remarkably adorable, naive and amiable. She certainly didn’t seem to be a child from a family with a good literary reputation.
“What did you say? Su Guifei gifted Miss Ming a pile of gold and silver jewelry?”
Ning fei2Ning fei [宁妃] – The ‘Ning’ here is a title meaning ‘peaceful’, bestowed to her by the Emperor. It’s not her surname but Su Guifei’s ‘Su’ is her surname. laughed heartily after hearing the report of the palace maids: “She really is a woman from a merchant family. Her habits and conduct are so unsophisticated. Of the three brothers of the Ming family, two are zhuangyuan3Zhuangyuan [状元] – Refers to the top scorer in the palace examination. and one, a tanhua4Tanhua [探花] – Literally translates to ‘flower snatcher’ xD It refers to the candidate who achieves the third rank.. Their descendants are all talented people of noble character. How could they be fond of ‘that thing5That thing [阿堵物] – Ning fei actually used these words (pinyin: ēdǔwù) as an euphemism to indicate ‘money’. The noble people of the ancient times, especially the scholars or those from the scholarly families, used to view money as vulgar and low-class, only suitable of the merchant class who had the ‘scent of copper’ on their bodies.‘?”
“Niangniang, this slave has also heard that Lord Ming entered the Palace to meet His Majesty today, hoping to break off the marriage.”
“No one can change His Majesty’s mind once he had decided something.” The smile on Ning fei’s face gradually disappeared: “All of Ming JingZhou’s efforts are in vain.”
“What should we do then? If by any chance, the Ming family supports Chen Wang from now on…”
“Impossible.” Ning fei interrupted the maid’s assumption and said decisively: “Since ancient times, there had not been many families married off their daughter and put forward their plans and ideas in her favor, all while disregarding their family’s glory.”
“Women.” Ning fei smiled, but the smile didn’t quite reach her eyes: “They are just tools for the family to weigh the advantages and disadvantages.”
“Niangniang.”
“No need to say more. Ben Gong is clear about it.” Ning fei snorted coldly: “I want to see how much trouble Su Guifei and her future daughter-in-law can stir.”
Since time immemorial, there have been many problems between a mother-in-law and her daughter-in-law. Let alone, in this case, one was the favored concubine from a merchant family, and the other was a well-known scholarly family’s Young Miss.
Now, she only had to wait. Some day, there would be plenty of noise and excitement to witness.
On the palace road, JiuZhu, who was sitting in the sedan, saw a child walking towards them from a distance. A young eunuch was following him.
The child was dressed in brocade attire but it didn’t have the Imperial family’s insignia on it. Raising his chin a little, he sized JiuZhu up arrogantly: “Who are you?”
JiuZhu looked down at him and explained seriously: “When asking other people’s names, you should first state your own identity.”
The child who was still young and did not know how to be courteous to others could still be saved.
“I’m the child who’s Qi Wang’s maternal cousin.” The child raised his head high, waiting for JiuZhu to take the initiative: “You should move from my way.”
Even the ladies in the Palace treated him courteously. Usually, when they saw him, the Young Misses would all take the initiative to say a few words.
JiuZhu withdrew her gaze and ignored him.
Most of these rude children were terribly spoiled.
“Greetings, gugu.” As soon as the eunuch following the child recognized the female official of MingYue Palace, his face paled in fright. He hurriedly bowed: “Zheng gongzi6Gongzi [公子] – An address used to refer to the son of a noble or that of an official. is still young. I beg gugu to forgive him for his inappropriate words.”
The female official of MingYue Palace said with a smile: “I’m merely following niangniang’s instruction to escort Ming family’s Young Miss back. I don’t dare to accept gonggong’s7Gonggong [公公] – Title used to refer to an eunuch. regard.”
Ming family’s Young Miss?
The young eunuch’s knees softened as he knelt on the ground. The news that His Majesty commanded the Minister of Rites to personally serve as a matchmaker for Ming family’s Young Miss to be selected as Chen Wangfei had already spread throughout the harem.
Even if he was given ten times more courage, he wouldn’t dare to offend the future Chen Wangfei.
JiuZhu was at a loss. Why did a verbal clash lead to someone kneeling down inexplicably?
However, the little brat was unaware of the hardships of the eunuch following him. He was already scared. He looked at the phoenix buyao8Buyao [步摇] – It’s a dangling head ornament worn by women. on JiuZhu’s hair and said, “The hairpin on your hair is beautiful.”
In the past, so long as he said something like this, the other party would give it to him as a present.
“Oh.” JiuZhu touched the phoenix-tailed hairpin and nodded, “I think so too.”
The child looked at JiuZhu.
And…?
JiuZhu looked at the child.
What? Did he want her to praise him for his good taste?
“Little gongzi.” The eunuch kneeling on the ground gently pulled the hem of his clothes: “This is Miss Ming, His Highness, Chen Wang’s fiancée.”
This person really cannot be offended.
Little Zheng gongzi pulled the hem of his clothes out of the eunuch’s hand and muttered in a low voice, “It turns out you and that Demon Consort belong to the same family.”
The smiles on the faces of MingYue Palace’s subordinates did not change; it was as if they hadn’t heard these words. On the contrary, the young eunuch’s face lost all its color. His whole body trembled.
Demon Consort?
JiuZhu glanced at the female official of MingYue Palace suspiciously. The other party nodded slightly towards her.
It was only then that she realized that the Demon Consort this little brat was talking about was actually Su Guifei niangniang.
“Miss Ming, don’t take the words of a child to heart.” The female official saw JiuZhu frowning and bowed her knees: “Niangniang won’t bother to bicker with children.”
“Just because niangniang is benevolent and magnanimous, it doesn’t mean others can make such irresponsible remarks about her.” JiuZhu looked at her somewhat itchy hands. If it was LingZhou, this kind of a little devil who spouts nonsense would have been beaten sooner or later.
Benevolent?
Magnanimous?
The young eunuch kneeling on the ground had a feeling that there was something wrong with his ears. What was Miss Ming talking about?
“Children are not sensible. Usually, most of them don’t like to study properly.” JiuZhu whole-heartedly believed that she was a pragmatic person. If a child made a mistake and it was not acceptable for her to chastise the child, she would seek the child’s guardians: “Didn’t you all say that this little gongzi is His Highness Qi Wang’s maternal cousin?”
It could never be wrong to make a report to the guardians to deal with such trivial matters.
But which prince was His Highness Qi Wang? Let it be, that didn’t matter.
“Gugu, it would be better to send this little gongzi back to His Highness Qi Wang’s side. He will discipline him.” JiuZhu thought about it and added a few more words: “His Highness Qi Wang is cultured and refined. He will definitely be able to correct the errors of this little gongzi.”
She didn’t know what Qi Wang looked like, but she had heard people complimenting his temperament and choice of words.
“Yes.” The female official smiled: “This slave will carry out the order.”
Seeing the dejected little devil being led away, JiuZhu snorted softly. What did that little fart know about women?
Guifei niangniang was clearly a fairy.
Within two days, the news that Ming family’s Young Miss was engaged to Chen Wang spread throughout the capital.
“We all know Lord Ming’s temperament. You don’t need to feel embarrassed or awkward.”
“A married daughter is like the water that is spilt. Lord Ming, get over it. Accept the situation and move on.”
Ming JingZhou left behind these officials who were comforting him and set foot in the carriage calmly.
They spoke so lightly. If the person getting married was their own daughter, would they still be able to accept the situation and move on so easily?
Or was it just because it was a daughter that they would not feel bad?
The depressed old father, Ming JingZhou, looked at the colleagues who could be regarded as his good friends, feeling that they were not very pleasing to the eye.
Returning home, he looked at his clever and adorably beautiful daughter, almost shedding two streaks of bitter tears.
Seeing his expression, Shen-shi knew that he still couldn’t accept that his daughter was going to marry Chen Wang. While comforting him on one side, she called the nephew to take JiuZhu out for a walk.
These days, she had been too worried about the personal gains and losses to even dare let her daughter out. She had a feeling that as long as she stepped out of the door, her daughter would disappear and never be found again.
JiuZhu was very well-behaved. Since she was not allowed to go out, she accompanied her in the house and never making any trouble.
However, His Majesty was determined to make their daughter Chen Wangfei. As a mother, she had to force herself to learn to let go. She didn’t want to imprison her daughter because of this love wrapped in guilt. It wasn’t love, but harm.
“Daughter doesn’t like going out. She wants to stay at home with you.” JiuZhu gently held Shen-shi’s hand, her eyes brighter than the countless stars in the vast sky.
“I have something to discuss with your father. You can go out with your Cousin Brother to help me choose a few boxes of rouge before coming back.” Shen-shi smiled and helped her tidy up her clothes: “Go ah, I’ll let the kitchen prepare your favorite dishes at night.”
“Then, daughter will be back soon.” JiuZhu clasped Shen-shi’s hand with some force before she got up and walked out the door.
Shen-shi stood up unconsciously, taking two steps towards the door and forcing herself to stop.
“Mother.” JiuZhu, who had already walked out, turned her head and smiled at Shen-shi, “I want to eat stuffed eggplant at night, don’t forget it.”
The moment her daughter turned back with a bright smile, Shen-shi’s restless heart settled down.
Her child was here with her.
Like any other child, she went out, acted like a spoiled child with her family and kept repeating what she wanted to eat at night.
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