The courtyard of Wuxiang Hou Mansion is mottled with tree shadows. There are several large trees on the lawn that can only be hugged by several people. The bluestone path leads to a quiet place. Compared with Jinyi Hou Mansion, Wuxiang Hou Mansion is obviously smaller, but The layout is quite luxurious. The various furnishings in the main hall are luxurious yet elegant. Even the chairs are made of extremely exquisite yellow pear wood. Everywhere in the hall is well-proportioned, showing the charm of Wuxiang. The Hou Mansion has put great thought into both the large and small layouts.
It's just that there are few servants and maids inside and outside the main hall, which is naturally very abnormal for such a luxurious mansion.
Yang Ning was sitting in the main hall of Wuxiang Hou Mansion, and Yuan Rong was sitting next to him. After entering the house, except for the servant who led the entrance and the maid who served tea, no one else was seen.
"Why haven't they arrived yet?" Yuan Rong sat for a long time, already losing his temper, and frowned: "What on earth does Su Zicheng mean? Just leave our brothers here and ignore them?"
Yang Ning was calm and relaxed, taking it easy as he came. He picked up the tea cup, blew on the tea powder, took a sip, frowned slightly, and then a sneer appeared on his lips.
When Wu Xianghou was in the Jinyihou Mansion, he was very picky about the tea served by the Jinyihou Mansion. Yang Ning drank the tea they presented. Even though he did not have a deep study of the tea ceremony, he knew that this was by no means What a good tea, the tea powder is poor, it is inferior at first glance. I put down the tea cup, saw Yuan Rong's tea lid open, and took a look. It's no wonder that Yuan Rong just drank a few sips without any complaints. Just looking at the color of the tea, I was so disappointed. Are not the same.
Yang Ning knew in his heart that Du Ming, the Marquis of Wuxiang Mansion, was extremely poor at what he did. Even serving tea, he actually served two kinds of tea. He was like a rich country man who was only interested in profit, and did not have the magnanimity that a Marquis should have.
Seeing that Yuan Rong was very anxious, Yang Ning said lightly: "I'm afraid I won't be able to see Su Zicheng today."
He naturally already knew that Su Zicheng was the eldest son of Wuxiang Hou Suzhen. He had always had a good relationship with Yuan Rong. Both of them were good friends with each other and were good friends.
"What?" Yuan Rong was startled, "Can't see him? Why is that?"
Yang Ning said: "If we could see him, he would have been here long ago. If he hasn't appeared for a long time, it must be because the Marquis of Wuxiang refused to let him show up."
"That's weird." Yuan Rong frowned and said, "Why doesn't the Marquis of Wuxiang let Su Zicheng come forward? The Marquis knows that we are very friendly on weekdays, and every time we come over, the Marquis doesn't stop us from being together." He took a look. Teacup, "Since you won't let Su Zicheng come out, why bother serving us tea and letting us sit here and wait?"
Yang Ning smiled slightly and said, "Don't worry, if Su Zicheng doesn't come out, the Marquis of Wuxiang will come out sooner or later."
"Marquis of Wuxiang?" Yuan Rong stood up, "That's all, we didn't come here to meet the Marquis of Wuxiang. Since we can't see Su Zicheng, what are we still doing here?"
Yang Ning said calmly: "Sit down first and calm down for a while."
"No wait." Yuan Rong was not very patient, "Brother Ning, I think we should come here another day. After this day's hard work, there is no gain."
"Oh?" Yang Ning said with a smile: "Is it possible that you gain something every day?" She turned slightly and said, "Don't forget that accompanying me here is your own promise and one of my conditions. If you don't want to Wait, you can leave now, but that Manager Wu...!"
Yuan Rong glared at Yang Ning, and finally sat down, his buttocks squirming back and forth, but he couldn't sit still.
Suddenly, I heard a coughing sound coming from outside. I knew it was a cough on purpose to remind someone of someone's arrival. Then I saw Wuxiang Hou Suzhen, dressed in brocade clothes and jade belt, walking in from the door.
When Yuan Rong saw the Marquis of Wuxiang coming in, he was a little cautious. He immediately stood up and bowed to the Marquis of Wuxiang. Yang Ning also stood up. Although he was not ashamed of Su Zhen as a person, he still saluted to the Marquis of Wuxiang at this moment.
The Marquis of Wuxiang nodded towards Yuan Rong and smiled slightly. When he saw Yang Ning, his smile disappeared instantly. He glanced at Yang Ning and walked over to sit down at the main seat. Immediately, a maid brought tea to both sides of the main hall. Each has a screen, the one on the left is a beautiful landscape, and the one on the right is a picture of a hundred birds. The two screens stand on the left and right, making the main hall splendid.
"How is your Mr. Yuan's health?" Marquis Wuxiang picked up the tea cup, slowly stirred the tea powder with the tea lid, glanced at Yuan Rong, and then turned his attention to the tea cup.
Yuan Rong stood and said, "Thank you for your concern, Lord Marquis. My grandfather is in good health."
"The difference in temperament comes from a scholarly family." Su Zhen smiled lightly and said, "Yuan Rong, you and our useless guy often move around, so teach him more poetry, calligraphy and etiquette, so that he can understand more things and understand the rules. . Speaking of which, our Su family is also a marquis after all. My title of Marquis of Wuxiang will one day be passed on to him. A noble marquis cannot even understand the rules and make people laugh." At this point, he bowed his head and drank tea. , but he glanced at Yang Ning from the corner of his eye.
Yang Ning was calm and relaxed, as if nothing had happened. When Su Zhen saw this, a trace of disdain appeared in the corner of his mouth.
"The Marquis is worrying too much." Yuan Rong said cautiously: "Under the leadership of the Marquis, the prince of Wuxiang has both civil and military talents. Looking at the capital, there are few who can compare with him."
Su Zhen smiled immodestly, put down the tea cup, and said, "Did your grandfather ask you to come? Or did your father ask you to come?"
Yuan Rong thought that this had nothing to do with them. It was Yang Ning, the brat who dragged me here. But naturally he couldn't speak directly at this time, so he could only say: "I wanted to come over and talk about poetry with the Prince of Wuxiang, so I came here to visit."
"You don't have to hide it." Su Zhen said calmly: "I will naturally give your old Yuan family face for other matters, but you'd better not get involved in today's matter."
Yuan Rong was stunned, and Monk Zhang Er was confused. What was he thinking that he should not interfere with? He glanced at Yang Ning, who was standing quietly aside, and felt uneasy. He vaguely felt that he might have been deceived by Yang Ning. From Su Zhen's tone, it seemed that nothing good happened today.
Yang Ning watched with eyes, nose, nose and heart. He did not speak easily at this moment, but he had already discovered that there were figures flashing behind the two screens. At least there were more than ten people hiding behind the two screens.
Yuan Rong could only smile awkwardly and didn't know what to say.
"Zicheng is not in the mansion today." Su Zhen suddenly said: "Early in the morning, the Crown Prince of Shu suddenly came to visit me. He was ordered by the King of Shu to come to my mansion to pay homage. The Crown Prince of Shu, a young hero, met Zicheng. They hit it off, and even gave Zicheng a good horse. It is said that it is one of the nine horses in the Prince of Shu's palace. It is a rare and high-quality horse in the world. If Zicheng can get such a horse, he will have no time to live and go out for a walk. The horse is gone.”
He spoke unhurriedly, seemingly calm and composed, but there was a sense of pride in his tone that could not be concealed.
Yuan Rong's body trembled and he glanced at Yang Ning. He saw that Yang Ning was still standing like a javelin, unmoved. He secretly wondered if this boy was frightened by his future father-in-law when he saw the Marquis of Wuxiang
However, in the past, the Jinyi Crown Prince would also be dazed and stupid from time to time, and his brain was not clear. The suddenly shrewd Jinyi Crown Prince Yuan Rong could not adapt to it. This kind of dull and silly Qining was what Yuan Rong was most familiar with.
Only then did he know that the Prince of Shu had passed through the flower market today, but had left the Wuxiang Marquis' Mansion.
It suddenly occurred to me that the Marquis of Wuxiang and the Marquis of Jinyi were in-laws. Although not everyone knew about them, they were already well known among the princes and nobles.
During the Battle of Xichuan that year, Jinyihou and the King of Shu were at loggerheads. Although the King of Shu surrendered to Chu, the feud between the two families did not resolve.
Logically speaking, since the Marquis of Wuxiang and the Marquis of Jinyi are in-laws, they can never get too close to the King of Shu. After all, they have to take care of the emotions of their in-laws. However, at this moment, the Marquis of Wuxiang did not hide the interactions between the Wuxiang Hou Mansion and the King of Shu. , Although Yuan Rong's political understanding is not high, he also knows that this is an abnormality.
He vaguely felt that something troublesome was about to happen. Sure enough, Su Zhen picked up the tea cup again and said calmly: "Did Madam ask you to deliver a message? What does she mean?"
Yang Ning knew that Su Zhen had finally gotten to the point with her. She raised her head slightly and was about to speak, but Su Zhen had already raised her hand to stop her, and her expression became even more indifferent: "I will not agree to this marriage, even if your wife is If you don’t agree with my proposal, that’s meaningless.”
Yuan Rong did not expect to hear this sentence, and was stunned for a moment. His first reaction was that there was something wrong with his ears, and he must have heard the wrong words.
"Back then, the old marquises of your family and I arranged this marriage. It sounded like a good story, but they were not gods and could not have predicted what would happen later." Su Zhen said slowly: "In fact, the old marquises of our two families From the time of his death, this marriage ceased to exist.”
Yang Ning just smiled slightly, looking a little shy.
"Yuan Rong, the Jinyi Hou Mansion came to your Yuan family and wanted your Yuan family to mediate. But only letting you come here means that your old Yuan family also knows my temperament and knows that things cannot be changed." Su Zhen drank lightly. Taking a sip of tea, he put down the cup and said, "I, Su Zhen, always do things without changing anything. Go back and tell Mr. Yuan that this is not because I don't want to give you the Yuan family face. He should be able to understand."
At this time, Yuan Rong was finally sure that he had heard correctly. He opened his mouth wide and couldn't believe it. He only felt that this was more incredible than Yang Ning's recitation of the lotus poem.
"Master Hou, I... you... this...!" He stammered. He didn't know what to say for a moment, but he was thinking in his heart, you Yang Ning, you brought me here, it turned out to be just for this kind of thing. The matter, whether the marriage is successful or not, is a matter between your Qi family and Su family. It has nothing to do with our old Yuan family. It's a good time. By accident, my old Yuan family was also involved.
Although he said nothing, Su Zhen obviously believed that the old Yuan family wanted to help the Qi family as lobbyists.
He was a little angry in his heart. This kind of feud between wealthy families is the most difficult to deal with. A smart person always tries to distance himself from the relationship and prevents his family from getting involved. But when Yang Ning dragged him into this family, things became troublesome. Very well, now he is only worried that once the gods in his family know that he is involved in the feud between the Qi and Su families, he will not get any good results.
"Qining, it's not that I look down upon you, but as we all know, you can't hold up the wall with mud." Su Zhen lightly dusted his sleeves without looking at Yang Ning, "You are frivolous and immoral, my Zixuan Well-educated and reasonable, if you are not good at literature or martial arts, my Zixuan is good at playing music, chess, calligraphy and painting. You are not good-looking, stupid and shallow, but my Zixuan is smart and smart... Forget it, my explanation is clear enough, no matter how stupid you are, you should still I know that you are not worthy of our Zixuan at all. Having said this, I think there is no need to continue." He stood up, put his hands behind his back, and said in a deep voice: "Come and see the guests off!"
Yang Ning stared at Su Zhen, suddenly sighed and said, "Marquis Wuxiang, have you misunderstood something?"
"There is nothing to misunderstand." Su Zhen said in a cold tone, "I still have something to do, so I won't keep you here."
A smile appeared on Yang Ning's face: "Marquis Wuxiang, you must have misunderstood. Do you think I came to Yuan Rong to beg you to give up the idea of breaking off the engagement?"
Su Zhen was startled, frowned and said, "Isn't it?"
"Of course not." Yang Ning suddenly sat down, leaned on the chair, and picked up the cup of bad tea, "I have never thought about marrying your daughter. It is inevitable to break off the engagement. I am here today to break off the engagement. Let me tell you clearly, your daughter cannot enter the door of my Qi family." He took a sip of tea, then sprayed it towards the ground, cursing: "What is this? Is it still for human consumption? Marquis of Wuxiang, Is this the kind of tea you drink in your house? Even our dogs won’t even lick this kind of tea.”