When Mingyu was in modern times, she never expected that one day her soul would be possessed by a little girl from an unknown era. Even though she considered herself to be the open-minded type who would make the best of whatever happened, she had to admit that her life was actually very ordinary. She did not have the domineering power of her fellow time travelers who could call the wind and rain and command the affairs of all directions, nor did she have the schemes and wisdom to scheme against each other.
She was just an ordinary girl who occasionally had dreams with Cinderella plots. The cold and elegant figure was probably the prince charming in her imagination. Unfortunately, there is a saying that the man riding a white horse is not necessarily a prince, but may also be Tang Monk. Now it was her turn, and the result was even more tragic, as this Tang Monk had a family with him.
"Nothing." Mingyu bowed her head to Madam Xu and swallowed the bitterness that welled up in her heart. "I just asked him to help save my brother when I was in Lu'an. Later... I saw him at the banquet at Gao's house. Nothing, really nothing."
Mrs. Xu breathed a sigh of relief, hugged her daughter and sat down. Looking at Mingyu's pale face, she thought her daughter was frightened by her tone, and felt distressed. She comforted her, "Don't panic, your parents are here for you. They won't let you suffer any grievances. I'm just scared... Actually, it's nothing, don't think about anything else."
Madam Xu thought Mingyu didn't know the purpose of Madam Lu's visit, but Xu Mingrui had already told Mingyu. Mingyu suppressed the sourness in her eyes and asked, "Mother, is that madam here to ask me to be the concubine of the Prince of Qin?" She still had a glimmer of hope. Xu Mingrui had always been at odds with her, so maybe she was here to deceive her. But who would deceive someone so well
"That's not true!" Madam Xu denied it outright and said with a smile, "What kind of family is the princess's mansion? How could they look down on a family like us? Besides, your parents will keep you for two more years. They will never send you to someone else as a concubine!" Seeing Mingyu didn't say anything, Madam Xu felt a little flustered and gathered her hair. Madam Xu asked, "Who told you this dirty talk?"
Mingyu sighed, pointed in the direction of the second room, and said, "Madame Lu went to the old lady first. I'm afraid my second and third uncles already knew about it."
"Don't be afraid!" Madam Xu said with a sullen face, "If they have the nerve to tell others about this, I will make sure they don't have the face to go out of this door and see people the next day! What can the princess's mansion do? Can they forcibly seize a commoner's daughter? Besides, didn't you save the emperor? If it doesn't work, I will take you to the palace gate to kowtow and plead your innocence!"
If the Princess's Mansion really did something to bully others, she would just give up. Now her children are everything to her and Xu Changqian, so how could she just watch Mingyu become someone else's concubine
Mingyu's heart seemed to be filled with bitterness. She couldn't speak it out, and there was no one to talk to, so she could only swallow it silently. Looking at Mrs. Xu's concerned eyes, Mingyu nodded and whispered, "I know, I won't do anything to embarrass my parents and brother."
Madam Xu touched her daughter's head and sighed secretly that Mingyu was really scared. She cursed the big-mouthed second wife in her heart. It seems that the Qin County Prince is not a good person. Fortunately, when she was in Lu'an, she was grateful to His Royal Highness. Now she thinks that it would be better not to ask him for help. Xu Mingye was only in prison for a while and then released. It would be better to avoid being like someone who owes someone a favor and comes to ask for his daughter to pay off the debt.
In the evening, Mingyu said early that she was not feeling well, and after eating a few bites of food, she went back to her room to sleep. Xu Mingye rarely teased her that she would turn into a pig if she slept after eating.
It gets dark early in the winter. When Mingyu fell asleep, it was already dark outside the window. Only the cold wind blew through the window, shaking it slightly. Mingyu pulled the quilt up to her head. In addition to feeling disappointed, she also felt annoyed. She was annoyed that she was too stupid and had a simple mind.
Who is His Royal Highness the Prince? He is one year older than Sima Hong, how could he not be married yet? She should have thought of something when she didn't see him at the banquet of Prince Li's Palace last time. If a talented man like him didn't have a wife, why didn't Prince Li's Palace invite him
Now, the arrival of Nanny Lu was like a blow to her head, waking her up from this dream. After waking up from the dream, she could start a normal life. Mingyu thought she was not a broad-minded person, and she could not let herself become the third party despised by everyone. She prayed viciously every day that the weak wife of the county prince would die quickly so that she could replace her and become the principal wife. In that case, would she still be Xu Mingyu
The most important thing is that Mingyu doesn't want to be a concubine for a day. No matter how good the Prince of Qin is, it is not as good as dignity and freedom. When she was still in the Anxi Marquis's mansion, when Aunt Yu came in, she humbly knelt at Miao's feet. Miao's face was full of arrogance, and she looked down at Aunt Yu as if she was scolding a domestic dog. Mingyu still remembers it clearly. Mingyu didn't want to be the one scolding others, and she didn't want to be the one kneeling.
She is a person who would rather give up than compromise.
Maybe it's because she doesn't like him enough, not to the point that she would give up everything for Prince Qin.
Or maybe it was because she had never truly liked Prince Qin. What she liked was just an illusion in her heart, an illusion that relied on Prince Qin, noble and elegant, mature and steady, cold and handsome.
The princess's mansion came to propose marriage, so the prince of Qin must have been a little attracted to her. Mingyu couldn't explain the feeling in her heart. She was neither happy nor regretful, but just sad. Being attracted to someone couldn't be weighed on a scale to see who had more or less.
The news that Xu Changqian rejected Madam Lu on the spot soon reached the ears of the old lady and the second wife. Hu felt so sorry that her heart ached. If she hadn't been standing in front of the old lady, she would have wanted to beat her chest and stamp her feet. What a good marriage, why didn't it happen to her back then! At worst, it would be fine if His Royal Highness the Prince liked Mingrui!
Xu Changgong was not happy. He was no longer young. If he could not be promoted, he would be stuck in this position for the rest of his life. God knew how much he wanted to curry favor with a powerful person so that he could get promoted. However, his big brother who was not smart enough actually rejected him outright! He hated it so much that he wanted to run back and question Xu Changqian on the spot, what exactly did he want!
"That's fine." The old lady remained silent for a long time before she uttered this sentence.
Xu Changgong was stunned. "What? Old lady, what's the good of this?"
The old lady sighed and said leisurely, "You don't understand... Xu Mingye had just entered the official career, and his sister became someone's concubine. This is said to be related to the royal family, but it is still inferior to them! Besides, the Fang family has been a powerful family for hundreds of years, how can we afford to offend them? If they make a small mistake behind our backs, more than a dozen of us, young and old, will be in trouble!"
Forget it, forget it. Xu Changqian doesn't listen to her anyway, so there's nothing she can do except get angry.
"So that's how it is!" Xu Changgong said angrily, but he still couldn't help feeling regretful and angry. It was like giving him a mountain of gold, but before he could run to the mountain of gold, Xu Changqian opened his mouth lightly, and he could only watch the mountain of gold grow little wings and fly away. How sad!
On the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month, Mingyu received a notice from the eunuch in the palace early in the morning that the Queen had summoned her to the palace to have a chat. After receiving the notice, Mingyu felt as if she was hanging seven or eight buckets of water, and was uneasy. She intuitively thought that the Queen had learned about the proposal of marriage from the Princess's Mansion and was looking for her to question her.
Mingyu couldn't figure out the Queen's attitude in this matter. She didn't want the Queen to agree with her marrying Prince Qin as a concubine. However, if the Queen disagreed, there was no need to ask her to enter the palace. But in the final analysis, this matter seemed to have nothing to do with the Queen and the Emperor.
Feeling nervous, Mingyu followed the eunuch who came to deliver the imperial edict to the palace gate. However, to her surprise, there was a long queue at the gate, all of them were ladies waiting to enter the palace to pay homage to the queen.
The young eunuch was twelve or thirteen years old and had a lively personality. Seeing Mingyu's confusion, he took the initiative to explain, "Miss Xu is in the capital for the first time. You may not know that every year before the New Year, the ladies of the imperial court who have imperial decrees must come to pay homage to the Empress. In addition to the ladies of the imperial court, the Empress will also summon some female relatives who have no imperial decree."
Mingyu pointed at herself and laughed, “Like me?”
The young eunuch was dazzled by Mingyu's smile and said with his head down, "Yes, usually the Queen is worried about someone and will summon that person to talk before the New Year."
So that's it! Mingyu's uneasy heart was half relieved. It was just like the group party held by the leaders of the company every year during the Spring Festival. The difference was that the group party here was just for the employees to go to the leaders to thank them.
After waiting for about an hour, it was almost noon before the carriage assigned to Mingyu came. Carriages from outside were not allowed to enter the palace. Mingyu only saw a wealthy old lady with silver hair, supported by a middle-aged noblewoman, get off the carriage and follow the palace maids into the palace.
"That's the old lady from Duke Deng's family. Duke Deng was a hero who followed Emperor Taizu to conquer the world. Even the emperor has to show him some courtesy when he sees him." The young eunuch whispered when he saw Mingyu looking at the old lady's back.
However, even when the sun was setting, no one from Duke Deng's residence came out. After a while, Mingyu saw Miss Suxin, who was beside the queen, come out, followed by two eunuchs carrying things, walking towards her.
Mingyu hurriedly got off the carriage and went to Suxin.
Su Xin smiled and said, "The Queen wanted to see you today, but unfortunately she didn't expect so many people to come and delayed her for so long. It's getting late now and the Queen is tired. Let's summon you to the palace after the New Year."
Mingyu hurriedly asked, "How is the Queen?" No matter what, she had to show her concern. After all, the Queen helped her deal with the damn Luo Lingxiu.
At this moment, a group of people surrounded a nobleman in purple robes and walked out of the palace gate. His cold and tall figure made him visible in the crowd at a glance.
Inadvertently, Mingyu looked up and met his dark eyes.