"Pei Che, the son of the Duke Zhong's Mansion, pays respect to His Majesty. Long live the Emperor."
Early in the morning, Pei Che waited outside the palace to be summoned. He and Jiang Miao were married by imperial decree, and the emperor was their matchmaker. Before the wedding, he should come to pay his respects.
After the morning court session, Emperor Liang Ping heard from Xu Hai that Pei Che had come to pay a visit, so he asked him to bring him in. After Pei Che bowed, Emperor Liang Ping said, "Get up."
"Thank you, Your Majesty. Pei Che has been favored by Your Majesty and has been granted a good partner. We are now a happy couple. The wedding date is approaching and the wedding banquet will be held soon. Considering Your Majesty's grace, I have come here to express my gratitude!" As he spoke, Pei Che knelt down and bowed again.
"Hahaha," Emperor Liang Ping was slightly stunned, then he laughed out loud, "No need to be polite."
After Pei Che got up, Emperor Liang Ping said with some emotion: "Time flies. The scene when I granted you the marriage is still vivid in my mind, and now you are getting married."
After saying that, he changed the subject and said, "During this period, there have been a lot of rumors outside. Have you heard about them in the Imperial College? Have your studies been affected?"
When Pei Che heard this, a few traces of anger and embarrassment flashed across his face. He lowered his head and said in a deep voice: "Pei Che has also heard about it. What the person said is ridiculous. Pei Che doesn't take it to heart!"
Seeing Pei Che's stubborn attitude, Emperor Liang Ping recalled the memorial submitted before, which said that Pei Che had quarreled with his classmates several times because of this matter, and the good reputation he had accumulated in the past was gone. He felt very happy.
"Alas, their words are really unpleasant. If there weren't so many people saying it, I would really like to seek justice for you two. How about this, on the day of your wedding, I will let them go to the Duke Zhongguo's Mansion to watch the ceremony. After they see with their own eyes how deeply in love you two are, those rumors should disappear, right? What do you think?" Emperor Liang Ping suddenly had an idea. If it were convenient for him to leave the palace, he really wanted to see the chaotic scene with his own eyes.
Pei Che looked embarrassed, as if he wanted to refuse. Seeing this, Emperor Liang Ping gave an order directly: "Xu Hai, pass it on. The Duke Zhong's Mansion is very happy. I am very pleased. Let all officials of Liangjing above the third rank bring their families to watch the ceremony together."
"Yes." Xu Hai went out without any hesitation and ordered the palace servants to go to each mansion to convey the emperor's oral order.
"This... Pei Che thanks the emperor for his grace."
Seeing Pei Che's face full of suppressed shame, anger and helplessness, Emperor Liang Ping was very satisfied. He thought that the scene on Pei Che's wedding day would be very "lively".
After leaving the palace and stepping onto the carriage, the expression on Pei Che's face instantly disappeared. The reason why Emperor Liang Ping mentioned those things just now was to make fun of him, so Pei Che did as he wished and acted like that to make him happy.
But he didn't expect that Emperor Liang Ping would actually issue such an order just to make fun of him. Fortunately, it was still early and there was still time to tell everyone in the mansion to make preparations in advance. If so many guests came on the wedding day, it would be a real headache.
After returning to the Duke's Mansion, Pei Che first went to Grandmother Pei to tell her what happened in the palace today, and then went to Pei Shiyuan to ask him to make preparations to entertain a group of guests.
Pei Shiyuan agreed unhappily. For some reason, he always felt that Pei Che gave them full authority to organize the wedding banquet. It seemed respectful, but in fact he was treating him like a housekeeper. If Pei Che didn't hand it over to him, he could still secretly plot something and make trouble, leaving everyone with the impression that Pei Che was unreliable. But Pei Che handed it over to him. If something went wrong, no one would think anything of Pei Che, but would think he was perfunctory.
In fact, Pei Che was thinking the same way as he thought. Instead of being on guard all the time, it would be better to turn the passive into the active, so as to make the opponent wary.
After explaining the wedding banquet, Pei Che went to the study, wrote a letter, and asked someone to send it to Jiang Miao, asking him to prepare himself mentally. I don't know who said that it is not appropriate to meet before marriage, otherwise the future life will be unhappy. Pei Che didn't believe it at first, but after thinking it over again and again, he decided to do it according to what the ancients said. If you delay your life because of a momentary anger, wouldn't it be a pity
However, from another perspective, those people who disliked Pei Che had to pay money as a gift after receiving the order, no matter how unhappy they were. In the end, they also got some benefits and did not lose out.
Pei Che couldn't help laughing after reading Jiang Miao's reply. He didn't know why A Miao always came up with a new way of thinking whenever he encountered something. But after following his train of thought, he did feel better than before.
He called his men over and told them to do something. Although the men were a little confused, they still followed Pei Che's instructions meticulously.
"Have you heard? For Prince Pei's wedding, the Emperor asked all officials above the third rank in the court to go to the Duke's Mansion to watch the ceremony. This is a rare honor! It seems that the Emperor really values Prince Pei." Someone said enviously.
Another person immediately echoed, "That's right. When other princes get married, there is no imperial decree to grant marriages, and there is no such grand ceremony. I heard that those officials have prepared generous gifts to please the emperor and are ready to give them to the newlyweds when the time comes!"
"Yes, I heard there were night-shining pearls as big as bowls, red corals as tall as a person, and agarwood bracelets worth one ounce of agarwood and one ounce of gold. These are things that ordinary people like us will never have the chance to see in our lifetime."
"They are willing to do that?"
"What's the big deal? You can't catch a wolf without sacrificing a lamb. As long as we can gain the emperor's favor, what else can we not get?" the man said in a low voice.
"Too… "
Rumors like this, no one knows when they came out, but they swept the entire Upper City. People's topic gradually shifted from the fact that Prince Pei was about to marry a man to what the adults would give to the Pei family.
These people seemed to have some knowledge about the treasures collected by each family, and they spoke very seriously, as if they had heard them from the adults with their own ears.
At the same time, the young and old men in various mansions who heard the news also went out.
"Dad, are you really going to give that Ferghana horse to Pei Che?"
"Grandpa, didn't you say that the red coral in the mansion was left to me? Why are you giving it to Pei Che now?"
"… "
Everyone who was asked looked puzzled. After understanding the situation clearly, they couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
Pei Che smiled after receiving the feedback. This way, even if the gifts they gave were not treasures of their families, they would not be too shabby. Jiang Miao must have been very satisfied when he saw the gift list.
(End of this chapter)