Chapter 2 "It doesn't matter who I marry, I might as well marry Tang..."

Meng Yuanxiao didn't take Madam Cui's visit to heart.

A few days later, Madam Feng personally visited her courtyard.

Meng Yuanxiao snuggled in her mother's arms for a while, and then Madam Feng asked, "Yuanyuan, what do you think of your brother Tang?"

Meng Yuanxiao fiddled with a set of silver rings in her hand and said without thinking, "Of course Brother Tang is good. Every time I leave the capital, he brings me delicious food and fun things. In my heart, Brother Tang is the same as my eldest brother."

The magic ring in her hand was different from everyone else's; it was given to her by Cui Xintang a few days ago from somewhere.

After she finished speaking, she noticed her mother staring at her intently, and asked, puzzled, "Mother, what's wrong?"

Looking at her youngest daughter, Madam Feng sighed, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "Would you be willing to marry your Brother Tang?"

Meng Yuanxiao almost thought she had misheard. She was stunned for a moment, then said with some grievance, "Mother, don't you love me anymore?"

Why are you suddenly going to marry her off?

Besides, she has always regarded Brother Tang as her brother, so why would her mother ask such a question?

Madam Feng sighed helplessly, "What are you saying? You're the one your mother loves the most!"

She sighed softly and said in a gentle voice, "You will get married sooner or later, so your mother has to find you a good husband. I also want to keep you for a few more years, but your brother Tang is such a talented man. If we don't settle down soon, I'm afraid he will be snatched up by other girls tomorrow."

“Let them take it if they want, I don’t want to get married anyway,” Meng Yuanxiao said, her face flushing. “I just want to stay by my mother’s side.”

Madam Feng gave her a reproachful look, "You're talking nonsense again."

“That’s true,” Meng Yuanxiao argued. “Mingyue is half a year older than me, and she’s still not engaged.”

“That’s not true,” Madam Feng said. “After the New Year, the Zhang family and the Lu family have been visiting each other frequently. I heard that both families are interested in arranging a marriage between Mingyue and the second son of the Lu family.”

Meng Yuanxiao was stunned upon hearing this.

Lu Erlang...

Her heart skipped a few beats, and it took her a while to speak, her voice trembling slightly.

"Mother, is Mingyue going to get engaged to Lu Erlang?"

Madam Feng nodded, noticing her strange expression, and asked, "Mingyue didn't mention it to you?"

Meng Yuanxiao remained silent, while Madam Feng said, "Both families are interested, so it should be soon. It won't be long before it's settled."

Meng Yuanxiao felt a tightness in his chest, his nose stung, and his eyes welled up with tears.

Madam Feng was startled. "What's wrong?"

Meng Yuanxiao pursed her lips and remained silent.

She had played with Zhang Mingyue since childhood, and the two of them loved to compete with each other. Madam Feng simply thought that her daughter was unhappy because Mingyue had gotten engaged first, and didn't think much of it.

After a moment's thought, she decided to continue using Lu Erlang to provoke her daughter.

"Lu Erlang is famous for his excellent learning and ranks among the top students in the Imperial Academy. He is very likely to pass the imperial examination next year, and Mingyue will be his wife when he does."

“Mingyue is a lucky child. Looking around the capital, which unmarried young man can compare to Lu Erlang?”

"How come it's gone?" Meng Yuanxiao was indeed unhappy. "Isn't Brother Tang also a Jinshi? He was even a Tanhua (third-ranked scholar)!"

Feng smiled but remained silent, and Meng Yuanxiao regretted his words after speaking.

She was a little embarrassed, and after a long while, she asked in a muffled voice, "Mother, is Mingyue really going to marry Lu Erlang?"

“Would your mother lie to you?” Madam Feng said confidently.

Meng Yuanxiao's eyes reddened even more.

Madam Feng finally realized something was wrong and couldn't help but panic, "Son, what's wrong?"

After saying that, she grabbed Meng Yuanxiao's hand and said, "Fine, if you don't want to, your mother will refuse the Cui family. We can always find someone better than your brother Tang."

Meng Yuanxiao felt even more aggrieved, and tears streamed down her face.

This startled Madam Feng. She cupped her daughter's face and wiped away her tears. "Mother was just asking casually. Why are you so upset?"

Meng Yuanxiao sniffed, "Brother Tang, he..."

She hesitated, but Madam Feng understood what she meant and said, "Your brother Tang is fond of you. Your Aunt Cui sent someone to ask what our family thinks."

Meng Yuanxiao pursed her lips, her voice so low it was almost inaudible, "If Mother thinks Brother Tang is good, then I will marry Brother Tang."

Madam Feng was even more stunned. "How can you change your mind so quickly? This is not something you can do on a whim. Your mother can't make the decision for you. You need to think it over carefully. If you don't like him, then we won't marry him."

Meng Yuanxiao lowered her eyes, her face slightly flushed, and after a long while she said shyly, "It's not that I don't like him, it's all the same who I marry anyway, and no one else is as good as Brother Tang."

Madam Feng stared at her. "Are you really willing?"

Meng Yuanxiao was a little annoyed. "Mother, didn't you also say that there's no one better than Brother Tang in the capital?"

Her cheeks flushed crimson, and Madam Feng knew what was going on.

She chuckled and poked her daughter's forehead. "You're always causing trouble for your mother. Alright, I know. You're not allowed to act up these next few days. In a few days, people from the Cui family will be coming."

After Madam Feng left, Meng Yuanxiao saw the storybook on the bed and felt a pang of sadness again.

Actually, before Brother Yang helped her find the storybook, she first asked Lu Erlang to help her find it.

That day, blushing, she rushed up to Lu Erlang and asked him to help her find a storybook. She emphasized that she had promised her girlfriends that she would definitely be able to get one.

She even deliberately made exaggerated claims just to find an excuse to see Lu Erlang, so that he wouldn't be able to refuse her.

Lu Erlang did not refuse her, but he did not mention his marriage to Mingyue.

If she had known earlier that he and Mingyue were going to get married, she would never have disregarded her pride and taken the initiative to go to him!

Feeling wronged and annoyed, Meng Yuanxiao threw the storybook into a corner with red eyes, no longer wanting to read it.

For the next few days, she locked herself in her room and even made excuses not to go to pay her respects to her mother every day.

Mrs. Feng was puzzled. For the first day or two, she thought the woman was just shy, but later she realized something was wrong.

That day, Madam Feng had nothing to do and was about to go to her daughter's courtyard when Granny Lai came in, holding an invitation in her hand. "Madam, this is an invitation from the Zhang family. Miss Zhang has invited you to go boating on the lake tomorrow."

Madam Feng then sat back down and waved her hand, saying, "Send it to Yuanyuan."

Sure enough, in just over fifteen minutes, Meng Yuanxiao came running over, begging her to allow her to go out and play the next day.

Madam Feng stared at her daughter closely and saw that her complexion was rosy and that she had even gained some weight in the few days she hadn't seen her. Only then did she feel relieved.

She asked, amused, "Have you been hiding in your room these past few days, secretly eating?"

Upon hearing this, Meng Yuanxiao subconsciously pinched the flesh on her cheek.

For the first two days, she felt unwell and couldn't resist eating some sweets while hiding in her room. She wanted to eat them, and no one stopped her, so she ate too many without realizing it.

When the discomfort subsided, fearing that her mother would discover her thoughts that day, she hid in her room, torn between her feelings, and couldn't help but eat some more.

I did indeed gain some weight.

Meng Yuanxiao was feeling annoyed when Madam Feng said, "Go if you want, but now that you're engaged, you need to be extra careful with your words when you're with others. Don't let anyone catch you doing something wrong. Do you understand?"

"I see."

The next morning, Meng Yuanxiao happily went out to keep his appointment.

As the weather warmed up, Mingyue invited her to go boating on the lake. There were seven or eight young ladies who came with her, all of them noblewomen from the capital.

Everyone sat in the flower boat, whispering about the Princess's birthday banquet in half a month.

Half a month later was the Princess's thirty-fifth birthday. A banquet was held at the Princess's residence, inviting the families of nobles and officials from the capital to attend.

The young ladies who came today mostly have elders holding official positions of the fourth rank or above. Their families have all received invitations, and they will attend the banquet with their elders.

More than a year after the late emperor's death, the new emperor was young and sickly, so the eldest princess temporarily ruled as regent.

Because of this, everyone is very careful when discussing it today, with a hint of unease.

After all, it was against moral norms for the eldest princess to rule as a woman.

Moreover, they had heard about the new policies that the eldest princess had been implementing recently, and they didn't want to say anything wrong and cause trouble for their families.

Princess Chang's eldest son, Prince Rong, had turned eighteen. The banquet, though called a birthday celebration, was actually a ceremonial event for Prince Rong to find a suitable lady.

Other ladies attending the banquet could also take this opportunity to find a suitable husband for themselves.

The young ladies dared not discuss other matters, but chattered about what talents they would each perform.

Meng Yuanxiao listened curiously, just as she was worrying about how to get by since she didn't have any skills to show for herself, when someone called on her.

"Wonhyo, what are you planning to perform then?"

"Yes, everyone's saying it. Why don't you say it? Are you afraid that someone will beat you to it and steal your thunder?"

Before Meng Yuanxiao could speak, someone said, "Only we are worried. Why would Yuanxiao be worried? Didn't Yuanxiao steal the show with a painting at the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet at the Princess's residence last year?"

These words were spoken in a sarcastic tone, and anyone could tell that they were meant to belittle her.

Meng Yuanxiao didn't like reading, but her painting skills were truly outstanding, and she was famous among the noble ladies in the capital.

Although the Princess's birthday banquet was ostensibly for Prince Rong to find a suitable daughter, everyone present knew that the Princess already had a daughter-in-law in mind. However, she was using this opportunity to let the two young people meet and for the prospective daughter-in-law to make a splash at the banquet.

The noblewoman chosen by the eldest princess is most skilled at painting. If Meng Yuanxiao really steals the spotlight in painting, he might offend the eldest princess.

Meng Yuanxiao wasn't stupid; how could he not know the crux of the matter?

But there was nothing wrong with what she said, and she couldn't help but get annoyed. Before she could think of a way to retort, Zhang Mingyue started to argue.

"What does it matter to you what Yuanyuan chooses? No matter what she chooses, she'll still outshine you. Are you being bullied by your sisters at home and too afraid to talk back, so you're taking advantage of Yuanyuan?"

"Would you dare to be so domineering at home? If you ask me, don't worry about others, take care of yourself first, or your half-sister will steal your thunder again."

Although the noble lady who spoke earlier was the legitimate daughter of her family, her maternal grandparents' family had declined, so she was not favored at home. On the contrary, the children born to her aunts were more favored by her father.

The mother and daughter had suffered a lot at home, and Zhang Mingyue's merciless ridicule brought tears to their eyes, and they almost cried.

Zhang Mingyue showed her no mercy whatsoever, "What, am I wrong?"

She clicked her tongue and said, "All you do is cry all day long, no wonder you're always overshadowed by your half-sister!"

After swimming in the lake, Zhang Mingyue was unwilling to continue playing with them and called Meng Yuanxiao to the Zhang residence.

Once inside the carriage, Zhang Mingyue tapped Meng Yuanxiao's forehead with her hand, saying with exasperation, "Why are you such a coward? What happened to the skills you used on me earlier?"

Meng Yuanxiao slapped her hand away and snorted, "Even if you don't say anything, I know how to argue with her!"

Zhang Mingyue scoffed, "With your clumsy tongue?"

Meng Yuanxiao rolled her eyes, thinking to herself, "My mouth isn't stupid; it's just that your mouth is too fierce."

Apart from Mingyue, she has never lost an argument with anyone else!

No, that's not right. She's suffered several losses against Brother Tang.

Suddenly thinking of Cui Xintang, Meng Yuanxiao couldn't help but blush.

A note from the author:

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