PS Sorry, the update is late today. bThanks to the book friend Tong Yumeng for the gift "Your Majesty, I have something to say." The Prince of Qin, who had been silent all this time, spoke.
The emperor was somewhat surprised that he would speak at this time, but remembering the news he had heard before, he nodded and said, "You can go ahead and say it."
Prince Qin took a step forward, never looking at Lu Hao, standing straight with a stern expression as always, and said, "I think what Lord Lu said is inappropriate."
The emperor became interested. His princess sister had tried very hard to persuade her son to enter the government as an official. However, this nephew had almost never spoken a word since he entered the court. It was strange to see him take the initiative to stand up and refute Lu Hao.
"What's wrong?" asked the emperor.
The Prince of Qin County did not change his expression. "Your Majesty, marriage is a human relationship. For the sake of prudence, there are three matchmakers and six engagements. A verbal engagement without a matchmaker or engagement is not credible. There are many women in the world who admire Anxi Hou. If everyone is like that family and says that they have a verbal engagement with Anxi Hou, then Anxi Hou will marry every one of them. Moreover, since the Sima and Xu families have agreed to the engagement and signed the engagement letter, there is no reason to deny this reasonable marriage because of a false verbal engagement. I hope Your Majesty will understand."
The emperor glanced at Lu Hao. He just wanted to temporarily postpone the marriage of Marquis Anxi because Lu Hao strongly opposed it. He always wanted to give some face to this loyal minister who escaped with him. Since Lu Hao was dissatisfied with Xu Mingyu's marriage, he wanted to postpone Sima Hong's marriage for a while, so that Lu Hao could feel more at ease.
However, Qin Yan's words made sense, and it seemed that he was firmly on Sima Hong's side. The emperor thought about it quickly, smiled and nodded, saying, "My dear minister, your words make sense. It was I who had not thought of these things and neglected them for a moment. The marriage of Marquis Anxi is settled. As for the title of Xu Changqian's daughter... Qin Yan, you and the Minister of Rites should draft one as appropriate and show it to me after you have discussed it."
The emperor has already made up his mind when he said this, and his words are golden and will never change. Lu Hao's face stiffened slightly, but soon returned to normal, and he left the emperor's study with Prince Qin.
Prince Qin was originally a taciturn person, and Lu Hao was too lazy to find something to say because of what happened in the study.
When they were about to leave the palace and walk in different directions, Prince Qin turned around and bowed to Lu Hao as a farewell. Just as he was about to take a step, he heard Lu Hao sneer, "Lord Qin really impressed me today. I didn't expect Lord Qin to be such a broad-minded person. I really admire him!"
He really didn't expect that Qin Yan would stand up and speak for Xu Mingyu. He knew that the Qin family had proposed to the Xu family and wanted to take Xu Mingyu as a concubine, but was rejected by the Xu family. He thought that any man with some family background, especially an aristocrat as noble and arrogant as the Prince of Qin, should be very angry with Xu Mingyu.
In a rage, sarcastic words came out of his mouth, and Lu Hao felt a little regretful after saying it. He was not calm enough today, which was not in line with his usual gentle and humble style.
Prince Qin just turned around and glanced at him indifferently without saying a word. He turned around and walked forward, leaving only his back to Lu Hao.
It was already November, and the roads in the palace were lined with flowers grown in greenhouses. In the cold season, these flowers could only bloom for a day or two at most, and would soon wither. He thought of Mingyu's smile, which was as bright as these delicate flowers. He wondered why the flowers were not allowed to stay in the right place and smile forever, but were forced to move them to a place where they could not survive? However, Lu Hao, who was humble on the surface but arrogant in reality, would never understand these principles.
Lu Hao heaved a sigh of relief only when he could no longer see the back of Prince Qin. He did not expect Prince Qin to respond to his words. Prince Qin's strange temper was as famous as his paintings. He was very depressed because he failed to interfere with Xu Mingyu's marriage today. However, the emperor had made up his mind. No matter how unhappy he was, he could not openly oppose it.
When the twelfth lunar month came, Mrs. Xu did not allow Mingyu to go out. She asked Mama Liu to sew a wedding dress for Mingyu and locked Mingyu at home. She also taught Mingyu some needlework. There was a war in the northwest and the place was in chaos. After her daughter married there, she should at least know how to mend clothes for her son-in-law.
Mingyu studied very hard, and took this opportunity to sew a lot of cute little clothes for her unborn nephew or niece. The clothes were embroidered with cartoon animals created by Mingyu. Although the needlework was a bit rough, they were novel and cute. Fu Lemei loved these little clothes so much that she was more reluctant to let Mingyu marry far away.
On the 20th day of the twelfth lunar month, Aunt Su Mo from the palace came to the Xu family again. The accompanying eunuch brought the emperor's edict, which said that he had learned that Mingyu was going to marry Sima Hong, and he had granted two boxes of dowry and ordered that Mingyu be named a fourth-rank lady, and receive the same monthly salary of eighty taels of silver as Sima Hong.
Generally speaking, the title of Lady of Imperial Noble Consort is given only after one gets married, but Mingyu's situation is special, so the palace bestowed the title on her very early on.
After receiving the imperial edict, before the Xu family had time to be happy, Su Mo brought Mingyu into the palace and said that after Mingyu got married, she didn't know when she would return to the capital. The Queen was reluctant to let her go, so she took this opportunity to summon Mingyu to have a talk.
Mingyu felt quite uneasy. She remembered the Queen's attitude when the Qin family came to propose marriage last time. She just didn't know what the Queen would think about her marrying Sima Hong again this time.
Su Mo still had a faint friendly smile on her face, and she spoke very tactfully. Mingyu asked Su Mo several times in a roundabout way, but she couldn't get anything out of her. Then she thought again, the emperor had conferred her the title of fourth-rank lady and given her a dowry, which meant that he was in favor of this marriage. It would be useless for her to think too much.
It was already afternoon when Mingyu saw the queen again. As the New Year was approaching, many ladies of honor flocked to the palace. Mingyu waited for a full hour before it was her turn to see the queen.
The Queen was quite old, and after meeting people for the whole morning, she looked a little tired. Mingyu suddenly felt that she seemed to be older than the Queen she had seen at her birthday banquet in April this year, but she did not dare to look at her any longer. She knelt on the ground, kowtowed to the Queen earnestly, and thanked her.
The Queen had a dull expression, and it was hard to tell whether she was happy or angry. She leaned on the beauty couch and said a few words to Mingyu. Most of the words were polite words, such as asking Mingyu to support Sima Hong's career, take care of the household affairs, and help Anxi Hou solve his problems after she got married.
Seeing that the queen was in low spirits, Su Mo said softly, "Your Majesty, I heard that Miss Xu has to rush to make wedding clothes when she returns..." The queen found a way out and waved her hand for Mingyu to stand up. She said, "In that case, let someone send you back. I can't keep you here any longer."
Mingyu thanked the Queen and was about to bow and leave when she heard the Queen sigh, "It's easy to find priceless treasures in this world, but it's hard to find a lover. The Marquis of Anxi has deep feelings for you, and your Majesty and I have seen it. You should not let him down."
Mingyu's heart trembled, and she quickly agreed, lowering her head even lower, and followed the eunuch out of the Queen's palace. On the way out of the Queen's palace, she was still thinking about the Queen's helpless words, "It's easy to find a priceless treasure, but hard to find a lover." It wasn't until she almost bumped into the eunuch leading the way that she came to her senses.
The young eunuch in front had stopped and bent down to bow to a beautiful lady in palace dress in front of him. Mingyu hurriedly stood aside and imitated the young eunuch to bow. In her panic, she didn't see clearly what the beautiful lady in palace dress looked like. She only vaguely saw that there were four or five eunuchs and palace maids standing behind her.
"Who are you taking and where are you going?" asked the beautiful lady in palace dress.
The young eunuch said quickly, "The Imperial Concubine said that the Queen has summoned Xu Changqian's daughter Xu Mingyu, and I am here to take her out of the palace."
Mingyu understood after hearing this. The emperor had only one imperial concubine, Concubine Xie, who was the rival of the empress and the biological mother of the second prince.
Apart from today, she had only met the Queen twice, and each time she saw Concubine Xie competing with the Queen, either openly or secretly. She also heard that the Second Prince and the Third Prince, born to the Queen, were fighting fiercely for the position of Crown Prince. It was estimated that the two women competed for favor when they were young, and when they were older they began to fight for their sons. There will never be a peaceful moment in their lives.
"Xu Mingyu?" Concubine Xie laughed. Although she was about 40 years old, her laughter was crisp and clear, just like a 17 or 18-year-old girl. "Oh, I remember now."
Mingyu thought of the beautiful Concubine Xie she had seen before, and thought to herself that it was no wonder that the emperor had doted on her for so many years. Although the queen was his first wife, she was already old and ugly, and how could she compare to the charming and beautiful Concubine Xie. Thinking of the fact that men are all obsessed with sex, she couldn't help but sigh in her heart.
"Raise your head and let me take a look." Concubine Xie said with a smile.
Mingyu didn't dare to make any other movements. She raised her head to let Concubine Xie take a look, then quickly lowered her head again.
Concubine Xie laughed again and said to the palace maid standing next to her: "I saw this girl once a few years ago. Now she has grown up and is more beautiful than before. Marquis Anxi is a blessed man!"
Mingyu didn't know whether she should respond or not, but finally, under the eunuch's signal, she kowtowed and thanked the imperial concubine for the compliment.
After the eunuch led Mingyu away, watching Mingyu's white back disappear around the corner, Concubine Xie immediately stopped smiling and said to herself, "How did this little girl win the favor of the Queen? She helped her again and again! Minhua was very angry about the matter of Prince Qin, and the Queen stopped her from doing anything..."
The maid next to Concubine Xie whispered in agreement, "Is it because of Marquis Anxi's honor?"
Concubine Xie shook her head. Why bother saving face when they are already divorced? "I heard that the emperor praised her before. I thought the little girl was very pretty and thought the emperor was attracted to her. Now..." Concubine Xie sneered, "That's good. I am relieved."