"This... this won't work." Xu Changqian squeezed out a few words from his teeth. Mingyu was the apple of his eye. How could he bear to send his daughter to be a concubine? Even in a noble place like the Princess's Mansion, concubines were still half slaves, servants who lived by the mistress's mood
Nanny Lu was stunned. She never expected Xu Changqian to refuse right out of the blue. She thought that Mingyu, a divorced woman, now had the opportunity to marry the Prince as a concubine. The Xu family would happily agree. Even for an unmarried girl, it was a blessing that could not be obtained even if she burned incense!
"What did you say?" Mammy Lu thought she had poor hearing due to her old age, so she asked subconsciously, and then continued with a smile: "Our Royal Highness the Prince is a famous talent in the capital. Even the paper he scribbles on can be sold for money. Normally, we dare not throw away paper in our house and have to burn it on the spot to feel at ease!" With such an outstanding Royal Highness the Prince, what else could the Xu family find to complain about
Xu Changqian's face turned pale and looked very ugly. He looked at Nanny Lu's mouth opening and closing, and the words he wanted to say were stuck in his throat, with a tendency to explode.
Madam Lu smiled and said, "I am also a mother, and I know how you as parents think. You can rest assured that our princess's mansion will never have any inappropriate opinions about Miss Mingyu because of what happened before. The princess likes Miss Mingyu very much. I have said before that the lady in our mansion is weak. If Miss Mingyu gives birth to a boy or a girl, our princess will still treat her as a proper daughter-in-law..."
"No..." Xu Changqian gritted his teeth and said, he could see that Madam Lu's attitude was sincere, and the Princess's Mansion was sincere in marrying Mingyu, but this was not okay, even if it would offend the Princess's Mansion, he couldn't agree, how could his daughter be a concubine for someone else? "Thank you for your kindness, Madam, this matter... let's just forget it."
"What did you say?" This time, Madam Lu heard it clearly. It was unbelievable that Xu Changqian actually refused without even considering it? He was just a fifth-rank official, and his family didn't have much money. He actually refused? !
Madam Xu was a business woman, not as straightforward as Xu Changqian, so she quickly smiled and said, "This... that's not what he meant. We actually thought that Mingyu was still young, and her father and I wanted to keep her for two more years, and not rush her to marry. Thank you, Princess, for liking her. It's a blessing for Mingyu, and for our Xu family, but... Mingyu is still young, so... let's just leave it at that."
Madam Lu's face was stiff. Even when the princess's mansion was in decline, she went to the Fang family on behalf of the princess to test the marriage intention. The Fang family, a family with hundreds of years of history, still happily agreed. She never expected that she would run into a snag in the Xu family, a small family. There were many rich girls in the capital who were a hundred times better than Xu Mingyu, but they could not get the chance to be concubines for His Royal Highness the Prince.
No matter how tactful Madam Xu's words were, they were still a disguised rejection. Madam Lu was furious. The Princess's Mansion had already lowered their airs, but the Xu family still didn't know what was going on? She was just a divorced woman, but she still thought she could be the grandmother of a wealthy family
She was filled with anger, and her face naturally looked unhappy. Madam Lu sneered, stood up and said, "Since Master Xu and Madam Xu have no intention of marrying the girl, then today's incident should be treated as if it never happened. It seems that I was too rude."
Madam Xu didn't dare to offend Madam Lu, so she smiled and said, "Madam, don't be angry. It's a great fortune for our Xu family that the princess's mansion has taken a fancy to Mingyu, but Mingyu has suffered a lot of grievances in the past few years. Her father and I want to keep her for a few more years and compensate her well. It's really not..."
Madam Lu snorted. She walked out with her head held high, supported by the little maid she brought with her. What a joke! He is just a country bumpkin who just came to the city. He dares to open a dyeing factory after being given some color!
Madam Xu sighed in her heart, followed Madam Lu and sent her out. Just before getting on the carriage, Madam Lu seemed to recall something, turned around and said proudly to Madam Xu: "Madam Xu, I think you are a smart person, you should reconsider what I said just now. After all -" She dragged out the words, raised her head very high, and laughed: "Such a good thing, but it is hard to find even with a lantern!"
"Yes..." Madam Xu agreed with difficulty, "Thank you for your kindness, Madam."
Nanny Lu did not respond to Madam Xu's words. She stepped on the stool with her head held high and got into the carriage, and the carriage sped away.
After returning to the princess's mansion, Nanny Lu was so angry that she didn't even have time to rest or drink water. She went straight to the princess's yard and told her everything that happened when she went to Xu's house today.
The princess' room was quiet and peaceful, with smoke curling from the purple gold sandalwood burner. However, no matter how good the sandalwood was, it could not burn away the sourness in Madam Lu's heart.
After hearing this, the princess said nothing. She leaned on the couch and slowly stroked the Persian cat in her arms, with a sneer on her face.
Madam Lu was still furious and said, "You tell me, he is just a fifth-rank official, and the woman is divorced, but he really thinks he is a piece of cake! As soon as I finished speaking, he directly refused! Damn Xu Changqian, no wonder the county magistrate has been hiding in Lu'an as a small official for more than ten or twenty years!"
After that, Madam Lu looked at the princess's face and asked tentatively, "Do you want to find someone to teach that blind Xu Changqian a lesson? Let him know that our princess's mansion is not so easy to mess with?"
The princess sneered, "He looked down on us and rejected us outright. What else can we do? Are we going to vent our anger by finding someone to teach him a lesson? Before long, everyone in the capital will know that we are trying to force Xu's daughter to marry us. If we fail, we will try to trip her up and hurt her!"
"This... How can that be possible!" Madam Lu said with a smile, "How capable can Xu Changqian be? Let others see that he is just ungrateful!"
The princess gritted her teeth and smiled, "You don't understand..." The hand that was stroking the pet cat unconsciously used more strength, and the cat screamed. The princess was startled, and the cat in her hand jumped out and ran away in a few steps. The princess patted the cat's fur in her hand and breathed a sigh of relief. She had heard early in the morning that the queen had summoned Xu Mingyu into the palace, and it seemed that she liked Xu Mingyu quite a lot. She even fought with Concubine Xie for her and dealt with the eldest daughter of the Luo family.
If Xu Mingyu really won the Queen's favor, marrying Yan'er would only be beneficial. From what she had observed these days, Xu Mingyu was a well-behaved and peaceful woman. The only drawback was that she was of a low birth and had been divorced before. However, as long as Yan'er liked her, she would turn a blind eye to all these shortcomings.
But the unexpected thing is that the Xu family, who should have happily agreed to the marriage, was unwilling to let their daughter marry. If the queen really liked Xu Mingyu, she couldn't do anything to Xu Changqian. If so, not only would the queen have a problem with her, but even the emperor would have a grudge against her.
She and the emperor have been siblings for many years and have a deep relationship. The princess's mansion has the status and glory it has today, thanks to the emperor's care and love. If they lose the emperor's heart, the family will return to their previous situation. It is not easy for ordinary people to live in poverty, and it is even more difficult for the royal family to live in poverty. No one knows the difficulties of poverty better than her. She doesn't want to experience the embarrassment and humiliation of living in fear of death, being murdered by treacherous officials at any time, and having to rely on her son to flatter and rely on the aristocratic family to survive again.
Nanny Lu looked at the princess's conflicted and painful expression, and dared not say a word. The princess had already said that she didn't understand, so she naturally couldn't speak up. Besides, she really didn't understand. Could it be that the princess was afraid that His Royal Highness the Prince would be unhappy, so she was so cautious
“Since the Xu family is unwilling and looks down on our family background and Yan’er… then forget it. Don’t mention this to anyone else.” The princess sighed and said.
"Yes." Madam Lu stood up and bowed in response, unable to help but say, "What a pity, it's so rare for His Royal Highness to meet someone he likes..."
The princess was a little impatient. She was not happy to hear such words. Her son was a rare talent. He could marry any woman he wanted. It was not a few years ago when Dong was in power. There were many rich ladies who wanted to marry her son. Did he have to hang himself on Xu Mingyu's tree? Oh, it was a crooked tree that had been divorced!
"She's just a girl, what's there to like or dislike?" The princess exhaled, smiling coldly, "I want to see what kind of good family Xu Mingyu can marry into in the end!"
Seeing that the princess was angry, Nanny Lu didn't dare to say anything. She sat down to accompany the princess. After a while, she saw that the princess's expression had eased a little, so she carefully started talking about irrelevant topics.
Outside the door, the Prince of Qin, dressed in a dark brocade robe, had been standing outside the door for a long time, his face was cold and his eyes could not tell any emotion. Finally, when there was no sound in the room, he slowly lowered his eyes. He remained motionless for a long time, and his body was a little stiff. He turned around and dragged his heavy body and walked out.
At the beginning, he walked very slowly, but then he walked faster and faster. He ignored the greetings of the maids and servants along the way. His steps became bigger and bigger, and each step was more powerful, as if he was venting the depressed mood in his heart.
After Lu Ma left, Madam Xu was so upset that she didn't bother to go back to her room to discuss with Xu Changqian, and went into Mingyu's room first. Xu Mingrui had already left, and Mingyu was sitting by the window holding a book, looking absent-minded.
Madam Xu asked Lixiang to leave first, and closed the door of Mingyu's room. She held Mingyu's hand tightly and asked in fear, "Mingyu, tell me the truth. Did you meet the Prince of Qin again after arriving in the capital?"
She is not a fool. Why would the princess fall in love with your daughter at first sight? Besides, your daughter is divorced. Put yourself in her shoes. Even if she wants to take a concubine for Xu Mingye, she would not want a divorced woman, not to mention the princess's family is so high. What she fears most is that Mingyu looks quiet but is actually very brave. What happened in between that she doesn't know. RS