At present, the most urgent matter for the Marquis's Mansion was to marry off Xue Yuxin smoothly and then consider Shen Yuning's marriage.
Marquis Xue pondered that his eldest daughter's betrothal had been delayed because of the national mourning. Now, nearly four months had passed since the new emperor ascended the throne, but the new emperor's health was not good. In case there was another national mourning, the children's marriages would be further delayed. He couldn't care about the children of the second branch, but he had to plan for his two daughters in front of him. Xue Yuxin's betrothal was a certainty, but what about Yuning's?
It wasn't long before Marquis Xue's hair turned completely white with worry because something happened on the Zhu family's side.
It was already February. The wedding of Zhu Bin and Xue Yuxin was set for mid - March, an auspicious day.
Shen Yuning heard the news later. It turned out that Princess Zhaoming of the Rong Palace had been ill for several months and showed no sign of improvement. The Rong Palace had already prepared the luggage and was going to send her to the old residence of her maternal grandparents to recuperate.
Unexpectedly, no one knew where this "frail" princess got the strength, but she actually went to the military drill ground to stop Zhu Bin, who was about to get married.
Although Zhu Bin was a bit hot - tempered on weekdays, he was still a sensible man. After firmly rejecting the princess, he didn't want to spread rumors about her reputation and was eager to leave.
However, at this moment, he happened to meet Xue Yujiao, who was also looking for him. Xue Yujiao was not a normal girl. Seeing Princess Zhaoming shamelessly seducing a man, how could she not shout out immediately? She wished everyone could know about it.
Coincidentally, there was a military review on the drill ground that day. All the nominal and real - power generals were present. It happened to be the end time. Outside the drill ground, there were many carriages from various mansions.
With Xue Yujiao's shouting, the fact that Princess Zhaoming was in love with Zhu Bin naturally became well - known.
The Rong Palace naturally lost face, but the Zhu family was not much better. There were even rumors that the young master of the Zhu family was promiscuous, on the one hand about to marry the eldest daughter of the Marquis's Mansion, and on the other hand having an unclear relationship with the princess of the Rong Palace.
As for why Xue Yujiao went to find Zhu Bin that day? It was because her own betrothal was completely off. Looking at Xue Yuxin, who was about to marry into a noble family, she felt extremely unhappy. Originally, her parents had warned her not to cause trouble and said that they would try to mend the face of the two branches and then see if they could find a marriage for her with a lower - status family.
But how could Xue Yujiao sit still? Thinking that she would only be able to marry an ordinary person in the future and be oppressed by Xue Yuxin for the rest of her life, she felt unhappy. Moreover, there was Shen Yuning in the Marquis's Mansion, whom she hated so much that she wished to drink her blood.
She heard others say that the current second daughter of the Xue family, Shen Xiangjun, would surely marry into a noble family one day. This made her feel as if thousands of ants were crawling in her heart, filled with anger and hatred.
Since she couldn't do anything to Shen Yuning for the time being, she took the opportunity to go to Young Master Zhu and planned to tell him about Xue Yuxin's past with Prince Tang Chuanhan.
As a result, as soon as she found Young Master Zhu, she saw Yin Zhaoming confessing her love.
That was not all. The Prince of Rong had removed Concubine Qiao from the jade register and let his daughter be ill for so long. He had really kept a low profile for several months. Now that everything seemed to be settled and the connections between various mansions were basically resolved.
The Rong Palace had never colluded with the Second Prince's faction and was just implicated. It was time for them to hold their heads up.
Moreover, seeing that the young master of the Zhu family was good - looking and would be the future head of the Duke's Mansion, with a noble status, and he was also the man his daughter had been longing for.
So the Prince of Rong rolled his eyes and pleaded in front of the emperor in the palace. He cried and said that his daughter was almost dying for the young master of the Zhu family. Now that this embarrassing thing had happened, wouldn't his daughter have no choice but to kill herself?
He cried so loudly that the emperor, who had always been in poor health, felt a headache. After comforting him, the emperor asked, "If my cousin were unmarried, I would be happy to make a decision for Zhaoming. But now his betrothal to Miss Xue is settled and they will get married soon. What's the use of you asking me? I can't be the villain who breaks up a loving couple, can I?"
The Prince of Rong wiped his tears and shook his head. "Your Majesty, I definitely don't mean that. I also know that the young master of the Zhu family and Miss Xue are a properly - betrothed couple. How could I interfere? But Zhaoming is my only legitimate daughter. I've held her in my palm since she was a child. Now she doesn't ask for anything else. She just hopes to see the young master of the Zhu family from time to time. Your Highness, please have mercy on her and let Zhaoming enter the Zhu family."
The emperor frowned. "Zhaoming is a royal princess. How can she be a concubine?"
The Prince of Rong looked bitter, looking heart - broken for his daughter. "I have no other choice, Your Highness. Zhaoming has not eaten for three days. I really don't know what to do. If she dies, I'm afraid, I'm afraid..."
The news that the Prince of Rong was willing to let his daughter be a concubine for his daughter's sake and even fainted in the palace quickly spread throughout the capital.
Shen Yuning sat beside Xue Yuxin, holding her hand.
Xue Yuxin's eyes were red, and she said nothing. This matter was clearly closely related to her, but it also seemed to have nothing to do with her. Everyone was only talking about how pitiful Princess Zhaoming was. Was she going to die just because she was in love with a man?
But what about her? She had done nothing wrong. Just a few days ago, she was still looking forward to what her life would be like after marriage. In a blink of an eye, she had to consider that her future husband would have a concubine with a higher status than herself.
How could she be just a concubine? When it came to the formalities in the future, should she say that she was the mistress, or should she say that Yin Zhaoming, as a royal princess, had a higher status?
Shen Yuning didn't know what words of comfort to say. Putting herself in Xue Yuxin's shoes, she wondered what she would do if this happened to her.
For some reason, the face of Qiao Peilan appeared in her mind. She was startled by herself. Why did she think of Qiao Peilan? The identity of her future husband had not been determined yet, and Qiao Peilan had already become a slave. No one knew where she had been sent.
At this time, there was a knock on the door. The maid quickly opened the door. It was Marquis Xue.
When Xue Yuxin saw her father come in, she tried to hold back her emotions. She didn't want her father to see her current state, for fear that this would only make her family more worried.
However, Marquis Xue walked to the table and sat down. He looked seriously at his daughter's haggard face and asked, "Xin'er, do you want to go ahead with this marriage?"
Xue Yuxin looked up, a bit confused about what her father meant.
Marquis Xue said, "Although our Qiyang Marquis's Mansion is not as noble as the Rong Palace, my daughter, Xue Zexuan's daughter, has also been held in the palm of my hand since childhood. No one can bully her. If you still want to marry into the Zhu family, I'll go to the Rong Palace right now and have a good talk with the Prince of Rong. I won't let you marry into their family and have to face a princess who is trying to steal your husband."
Xue Yuxin's tears fell straight down. In fact, her father was not very close to them. Because of his serious face and the lack of a smile, she had been quite afraid of her father since childhood.
When she was a child, her mother had a difficult time giving birth to her, and she also had to manage the entire Marquis's Mansion. Later, her elder brother had smallpox and was almost dead. So her mother sent her to her maternal grandparents' Shao family to be raised so that she could take care of her elder brother whole - heartedly.
At that time, the Shao family was not in the capital. She was raised there for three or four years. When she came back, she was already five or six years old. And there was another cute and smart younger sister, Shen Yuning, who was less than a year younger than her in the family.
She was sometimes jealous of Yuning, thinking that her family seemed to favor Yuning more. Sometimes she also thought that Yuning was smarter than her, so she tried harder to outdo Yuning.
Later, she also found that her family loved her too. Gradually, that feeling of dissatisfaction disappeared.
But she had never been very close to her father. Her father's words today made her burst into tears.
Yes, what was she afraid of? She had her father and elder brother to support her. With her loving family by her side, she could get through even the toughest days.
Xue Yuxin looked up and showed a smile. "Father, I won't marry."
Madam Shao stood at the door. When she heard this, her fingernails dug deeply into her flesh. She didn't even notice that she had pricked her palm.
Xue Yuxin slowly said, "Anyway, my reputation has been ruined once. This time, although it's not about ruining my reputation, it's still using me and the face of the Marquis's Mansion to be roasted on the fire. I'm neither willing to be generous and accept Princess Zhaoming, nor willing to let people say that I'm forcing Princess Zhaoming to death. It's better to just let it go. From now on, we'll go our separate ways. Just pretend that this betrothal never happened."
She thought for a while and then turned to look at Shen Yuning. "Speaking of which, elder brother once said that even if I never got married, he could support me. It's just going to be hard on Yuning. Now you're my only younger sister. I'm afraid your betrothal will be delayed because of this."
Seeing her show a long - lost smile, Shen Yuning also felt happy. She held her hand. "As for my betrothal, it was already difficult. This little thing won't make much difference."
Marquis Xue's eyes were filled with tears, but there was a smile on his face. He said loudly, "Good. This is the daughter of our Xue family. She never shrinks back when facing difficulties. We in the Xue family don't even look up to a young man like that from the Zhu family!"
Hearing this, Xue Yuxin's eyebrows moved slightly, as if she was reluctant, but in the end, she said nothing.
So Marquis Xue made the decision. He sent back Zhu Bin's horoscope and carefully calculated all the betrothal gifts that had been given. Then he had them all carried back to the Zhu family. They were just waiting for the Zhu family to send back the dowry list and Xue Yuxin's horoscope, and this betrothal would be completely over.
However, Madam Shao, with red eyes, finished handling all these matters and then went to the second branch. She really couldn't hold it in anymore. This trouble - maker, Xue Yujiao, was involved in everything. Since she came to the Marquis's Mansion, Yuxin's betrothal had changed again and again. The whole family of the second branch was like leeches, sucking them dry.
Now that they had finally seen some hope, they encountered such a bad thing. How could she bear it?
Madam Shao didn't care about the dignity of the first mistress. She went to the porter's lodge and banged on the door loudly. At the same time, she cried and shouted, "Xiao Qian, Xue Yujiao, come out! Xue Yujiao, you dare to do it but don't dare to take responsibility. You've harmed my daughter like this. Today, I'll never forgive you!"