Madam Lu laughed and said, "Those who were following Madam, are your children? They look so good, each one of them is a dragon among men!"
Being praised for one's children is a very sweet thing. Mrs. Xu couldn't help feeling comfortable and relieved from the awkward feeling. She smiled modestly and said, "They are all ignorant children. I am sorry to make you laugh." Mrs. Xu's mind was working quickly. Since it was a happy event, it must be the happy event of her children getting married.
Could it be that the Buddha was free today? She had just made a wish in the morning to find a good wife for Xu Mingye, and the Buddha heard her and sent her a wife at noon? This efficiency is too high... I don’t know what the young lady in the princess’s mansion is like, but if she is the princess’ daughter, why would she like their family? Could she be a concubine’s daughter...
Thinking of this, Mrs. Xu's heart tightened and her face became tense. She certainly didn't want her son to marry a illegitimate girl, but the princess's mansion came to propose marriage. If she refused, wouldn't it be disrespecting the princess? This was a tricky matter.
Seeing the nervousness in Madam Xu's heart, Madam Lu did not keep her in suspense and said with a smile, "I am here to propose marriage on behalf of the prince, and I am talking about your daughter, Miss Mingyu!"
Mingyu took Lixiang to sit in the house. Lixiang was embroidering while she was standing in front of the window practicing calligraphy. After a while, she heard someone knocking on the door that had been sealed before, and Mother Liu hurried to open the door.
After a while, Mama Liu stood at Mingyu's door and whispered, "Miss, the eldest lady said she came to see you."
Mingyu put down her pen, full of surprise. Since she came back from Gao's house last time, Madam Xu went out for her to scold Mrs. Hu and Xu Mingrui, and Xu Mingrui had not appeared in front of her again. Why did she suddenly come here at this time
"Let her in." Mingyu said while standing in the room. There were guests at home, and if she refused to let Xu Mingrui in at this moment, given Xu Mingrui's temper, she might make a scene and make a fool of herself.
It was the first time that Xu Mingrui stepped into Mingyu's room. After she opened the curtain and went in, she looked around. There was a brazier in the room, which made it a little warm, but the furnishings were simple. There wasn't even a high-end ornament. She couldn't help but curl her lips.
Mingyu was still standing by the window practicing calligraphy. Without even turning her head, she asked, "What's the matter, big sister?"
"Why, can't you come and see your sister if you have nothing to do?" Xu Mingrui said with a smile. She couldn't hide the bitterness in her tone. It was originally a joke, but she said it with gritted teeth.
Lixiang was about to go out to serve tea to Xu Mingrui, but was stopped by Mingyu's eyes. She continued to practice calligraphy calmly and smiled nonchalantly, "Oh, thank you, sister. You are so thoughtful."
"You..." Seeing Mingyu not taking her seriously at all, Xu Mingrui was furious. She smiled and said, "You don't know yet, do you? Just now, Madam Lu went to pay a visit to the old lady. We all know what she meant by coming. I didn't expect my sister to have such good luck!"
"What good luck?" Mingyu asked back with a frown. She didn't even recognize any Nanny Lu.
Xu Mingrui felt sour and bitter, "Don't pretend, that Nanny Lu is here to propose marriage. You are going to marry into Princess Minhua's mansion!"
Mingyu's heart was beating hard, and her mind was blank. Isn't Princess Minhua the mother of Prince Qin? "You... What nonsense are you talking about! How come I don't know?"
"Who knows where you went this morning? Nanny Lu came in through the front door of the house and went to pay her respects to the old lady first." Xu Mingrui rolled her eyes at her, and was going crazy with envy and jealousy. The Prince of Qin! The famous and handsome Prince! It must be that the Xu family's ancestral tomb was buried in the wrong way. Why did all the good luck go to Xu Mingyu!
"That...that's not necessarily true. You, you heard it with your own ears?" Mingyu was nervous and could no longer calm down. She stuttered and her hands shook unconsciously. Thinking of that cold and elegant man, it was as if she was catching a dream that had been hidden in her heart for a long time. It came so quickly and seemed so unreal.
Xu Mingrui shook her head. She didn't hear it herself. It wasn't her turn to be present at such an occasion. She heard it from her mother, Mrs. Hu, later. "That must be the case. How did you know the Prince of Qin?" Xu Mingrui asked.
Mingyu shook her head and did not answer Xu Mingrui's question. Instead, she asked, "Didn't you say last time that he had a bad reputation? What did you mean?"
"Well, it's nothing." Xu Mingrui said. She thought Mingyu was feeling uneasy when she suddenly heard that she was going to marry into the princess's mansion, so she wanted to get to the bottom of it. She regretted having said too much in front of Mingyu last time.
"How can it have a bad reputation if it's nothing?" Mingyu asked.
Xu Mingrui said vaguely, "It's nothing! You're going to get married anyway, it's not a serious matter. I heard that His Royal Highness is a very good person except that he has a cold temper."
Seeing that Xu Mingrui refused to speak, Mingyu was a little disappointed. She felt more and more nervous and uneasy. She had no intention of practicing calligraphy, nor did she want to say anything to Xu Mingrui. The curtains in the main room were still closed, and she could not see or hear what was being said inside. When she thought that they were discussing her lifelong event, Mingyu could not help but feel nervous and uneasy.
"Sister, when you get promoted in the future, don't forget that I'll tell you the news!" Xu Mingrui said with a warm smile, flattering. If she could get promoted to the Prince of Qin, she would be in the royal family, and the children she gave birth to would also be royal descendants, which was like a sparrow flying up a tree and becoming a phoenix.
Mingyu smiled and said, "Sister, what are you talking about? Marriage is a serious matter, it's decided by the parents and the matchmaker, it's not even decided yet, sister, don't talk nonsense."
Xu Mingrui gritted her teeth while laughing. She ate all the grapes by herself and then boasted to the people around her who couldn't eat any grapes that the grapes were a bit sour! This was too much!
"Although I am a concubine and cannot be as good as the wife of the main wife of the Marquis's mansion, it is a princess's mansion after all, and the family status is higher than that of the Marquis's mansion. His Royal Highness is a legitimate descendant of the royal family. In the future, if you give birth to a boy or a girl, you may also have a title." Xu Mingrui said with a smile, "Your future is very bright..."
"What did you say?" Mingyu frowned and interrupted Xu Mingrui, "What do you mean by being a mistress?"
Xu Mingrui was startled for a moment, then she started laughing, looking at Mingyu as if she was watching a joke, "Of course you're going to marry her and be her mistress! Do you think you'll be the principal wife when you marry her? The Prince of Qin already has a principal wife!"
The pen in Mingyu's hand fell to the ground. Her heart went cold and her happy and nervous mood disappeared. "You said he already has a wife?" Mingyu asked, staring at Xu Mingrui.
"It's normal that you don't know." Xu Mingrui saw Mingyu's pale face, and she felt happy. In fact, marrying into a princess's mansion was not so good, and being a concubine was not so easy. "When the thief Dong was in power, the Prince of Qin married the daughter of Minister Fang of the Ministry of Revenue."
Mingyu closed her eyes. Her hands and feet were cold and her nails dug into her flesh. She suddenly felt that she had been a complete joke for so long.
Since Xu Mingrui had already started, she simply finished her story in one breath. "It's actually okay to tell you. It's just a reminder for you. At that time, the thief Dong kept killing the royal relatives who refused to obey him. Later, he wanted to kill a bigger one to scare the monkeys. Princess Minhua was not liked by the emperor before. She only had the dignity of a princess. She was afraid of being harmed by the thief Dong, so she asked the Prince of Qin to marry the daughter of Minister Fang. The Fang family is a family with hundreds of years of history. There are countless officials worshipping under Old Master Fang. With the protection of the Fang family, the princess's mansion has spent the past two years safely."
"It's just that Miss Fang has always been in poor health. She has been relying on medicinal herbs to stay alive since she was in her mother's womb. She can't get out of bed, and even had to be carried to the wedding ceremony. It is said that she is so weak that she takes three breaths to speak. People say that she will not live long. Others are jealous of the Fang family's status, but they don't want to marry such a sickly lady. No one wants to be a widower at any time! But Prince Qin married her. Isn't it obvious that he did it to curry favor with the Fang family? They are royal relatives, but they do such things. They have lost their integrity. Others will think there is something wrong with him." Xu Mingrui continued.
"Then...how is Miss Fang now?" Mingyu asked.
Xu Mingrui shook her head, "I don't know, she's still alive." Seeing Mingyu's cold expression, she felt a little maliciously happy in her heart, and pretended to comfort her: "Don't worry, she's a sickly girl anyway, she can't have children, and she may not live for a few days, why worry about her? Besides, the emperor is very good to Princess Minhua now, and their princess mansion no longer needs to rely on the Fang family to make a living, what are you worried about!"
At the same time, in the main room of the Xu family's main house, Madam Xu and Xu Changqian's faces were not very good, but in front of Madam Lu, they still managed to remain calm.
Madam Lu was a straightforward person. She carefully looked at the two people's faces and said with a smile: "Our princess had met Miss Mingyu once before and liked her very much. Although Miss Mingyu married as a concubine, our princess said that she should be brought into the family according to the etiquette of a concubine. In the future, she will give birth to a few children for His Royal Highness the Prince, and she won't have to worry about having to live under the guise of others!"
Madam Xu curled the corners of her lips with difficulty and forced a smile, "Thank you for your kindness, Madam, but..." She could never have imagined that the person who came from the princess's mansion was proposing marriage to Mingyu, and she could not have imagined that it was not to marry her daughter as the principal wife, but to be a concubine. How could she agree to this! She did not expect Mingyu to marry into a wealthy family. The child had suffered too much injustice. She just wanted to find a simple and kind family for her daughter.
Before she finished, Madam Lu continued, "Actually, as a servant, I shouldn't say this, but I just saw that you and Madam get along well, so I'm going to tell you quietly." After that, she moved closer to Madam Xu and whispered, "Our Madam is not in good health. She may die at any time. If Miss Mingyu gives birth to a boy or a girl, it will only be a matter of time before she becomes the principal wife!"