After denouncing the emperor and Concubine Mei last time, and facing the emperor's questioning this time, Zi'an felt that his psychological quality had become extremely strong, so strong that he no longer needed to care about what he said.
Our ancestors were right, so we should face him as a victor, because no matter how humble they are, no one will show mercy to them.
Prince Li was unable to go to Daliang to discuss marriage, so he focused all his attention on the marriage between the princess and Xiao Xiao.
In the Great Zhou Dynasty, the prince consort of the Shangzhu was generally not promoted unless he had outstanding military achievements. Therefore, Xiao Xiao was an exception among the prince consorts of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
Not only did he hold military power, Murong Jie also appointed him as the Great General Guarding the Nation, which was the highest title for a military general. Since the Xiao family already had a hereditary marquisate, there was no need to confer another title. Xiao Xiao was the heir to the title, so there was no need for this.
This time, Xiao Xiao married the princess, and Murong Jie and Prince Li prepared a generous dowry for her. It was no exaggeration to say that it was a ten-mile red wedding dowry.
Zhuangzhuang herself had a great fortune, and as she was of a high generation, all the royal relatives gave her dowry, especially the King of Yuedong, who sent cartloads of jewellery, silks and satins to the capital.
Since his only sister was getting married, the King of Yuedong expressed his love for her by giving her a generous dowry.
The eldest princess was truly the most doted on. Even the emperor, who did not like this marriage, had to order Empress Hu Huanling to add some dowry to her.
Although Xiao Xiao was granted another mansion, and Zhuangzhuang also had a princess's mansion, he had to marry a new bride in the marquis's mansion first.
In the few days before the wedding, Zi'an, the pregnant woman, and Hu Huanxi were very busy.
The main reason is that Prince Li does not trust others, and many things have to be done by his own people.
Hu Huanxi found many lucky women to show to Prince Li, but Prince Li was not satisfied with any of them. He believed that for Zhuangzhuang to get married, the lucky woman should have five generations living together, and there should not be any unnatural deaths or premature deaths in the family for three generations.
It’s a bit more difficult within three generations. Generally speaking, if the family is big, there will be some bad things.
This put Hu Huanxi in a difficult position. She went to the household registration office and checked carefully. Finally, she selected a birthday celebrant. This birthday celebrant was extraordinary. He had not just five generations living under one roof, but six. He was 107 years old this year, and was still in good health.
When Mrs. Li heard that she was going to dress up the Grand Princess, she was extremely happy and agreed immediately.
He had someone to do his hair, but he had not yet chosen someone to put on makeup. Moreover, he did not want anyone in the palace to do Zhuangzhuang's makeup, saying that there were too many dirty things in the palace and the people in the palace were more or less unlucky.
Zi'an found many etiquette shops in the capital and showed Prince Li their skills. Under the hands of the etiquette masters, even a sow could look like Diao Chan. However, Prince Li was not satisfied.
He said that his aunt was pretty and there was no need to cover up anything, but to highlight her strong beauty.
Finally, Zi'an was forced into a corner and pushed Lingli in front of Prince Li, "If it doesn't work, Lingli will take over."
After saying that, she sat in front of Lingli. After Lingli skillfully manipulated him, Zi'an seemed like a different person, incredibly beautiful.
Prince Li was stunned. He was stunned by Lingli. "What a skill! What a skill! Even an ugly person like Zi'an can be made to look so good."
Zi'an almost vomited blood, but she held it in. After all, the candidate had been decided.
Lingli had a heavy responsibility. A few days before the wedding, she asked the maids in the mansion to practice, for fear that Prince Li would be dissatisfied. On the wedding day, she would have to search all over the capital for Shangyi's people.
Three days before the wedding, Zhuangzhuang held a tea party and invited a group of ladies to come together.
Originally, not many people were invited, but many noble ladies came uninvited when they learned that Zhuangzhuang was holding a pre-wedding tea party. Of course, they did not come just for that purpose, but came under the pretext of giving gifts.
This eldest princess is a very extraordinary person. She married into a military family in the capital. Xiao Xiao was also named the Great General Guarding the Nation, holding military power. He is also the regent's right-hand man, so naturally he has to curry favor with her.
Zhuangzhuang originally wanted to relax and relieve the tension before marriage, but unexpectedly, he was made even more nervous by these people's words. After a lot of effort, he sent them away and only Zi'an and others were left in the mansion to talk.
"Zhuangzhuang, are you going to live in the general's mansion or the princess's mansion in the future?" Zi'an was also suffering from a sore waist, so he took a soft pillow and stuffed it around his waist, sighed comfortably and said.
Zhuang Zhuang said: "I have discussed with Xiao Xiao that we will live in the Princess's Mansion in the future. He said that I am used to living in the Princess's Mansion and he is worried that I will not be able to get used to living somewhere else."
When Zhuangzhuang spoke, there was a faint smile on the corner of his mouth, which was indescribably warm and charming.
Zi'an also knew that it was inappropriate to live in the general's mansion. There had ever been a general's wife there, even though she was dead. However, Xiao Xiao was afraid that Zhuangzhuang would have some grudges in his heart.
"Xiao Xiao really loves you terribly." Hu Huanxi warmed a cup of tea in her hand. "I met him a few days ago. He had a faint smile on his face. He was so happy about this small achievement in his life."
"That's right!" Liu Liu also tilted her body. She was greedy and ate two pieces of snacks just now. She vomited once and now her face was pale.
She wanted to go back, but she couldn't bear to leave. After all, they hadn't gotten together and had a good chat like this for a long time.
So, he leaned on the couch and chatted with her incoherently.
Zhuangzhuang sighed, his brows furrowed, "The emperor has granted me grace, and I don't know whether I should go to the palace to express my gratitude."
Rouyao was stunned. "According to the rules, you should go to the palace to express your gratitude. However, if you don't want to go, no one will blame you. I guess he himself is embarrassed to blame you."
"That's what I said, but I also hope to tell him something from the bottom of my heart. When he recovers and takes over the government again, if he is still wary of Xiao Xiao, his life will be difficult. We are different from Zi'an. Zi'an can hide in the Southland in the future, but where can a family as big as the Xiao family go?"
Zi'an said, "Even if you dig out your heart and put it in front of the emperor now, he won't believe it."
Zi'an understood this very well. During the past two days when she went to the palace to give him acupuncture, he looked at her with hostility. He still didn't believe that it would take about a year to cure him. He thought Zi'an was delaying the disease.
"Whether he believes it or not, I have to put this in front of him. If he feels that the Xiao family is too aggressive, Xiao Xiao will leave the army, so that he can rest assured."
"Is Xiao Xiao willing?" Hu Huanxi asked.
"I talked to Xiao Xiao, and he said he hopes to live a quiet life in the future and doesn't want to be suspected anymore."
Zi'an shook his head. "I'm afraid that won't work. Although he is afraid of Xiao Xiao, he can't not use Xiao Xiao. Which general in the court is comparable to Xiao Xiao? Old Seven? He will not use him even more."
"To be suspicious of someone and to value him at the same time, what kind of thing is this?" Liu Liu frowned.
"Being an emperor is like this. You have a lot of concerns and are suspicious of this and that all day long." Hu Huanxi smiled. "In fact, it's the same for us business owners. Although we trust people when we employ them, and don't employ people we don't trust, there is always a gap between them. How can we know who can be trusted?"
(End of this chapter)