Chapter 372 With a slap, it landed on the old lady's face!

Please, by imperial decree, grant a marriage!?

When the old lady of the Marquis's mansion and Zhuang San heard these four words, they were as if struck by lightning.

The old lady of the Marquis's mansion exclaimed, "How is this possible?!"

"His Majesty is still ill and has not attended to state affairs for several days."

“We have come to propose marriage today in an extremely low-key manner, not daring to make a fuss. How could His Highness Prince Su disregard His Majesty’s health and enter the palace at this time to request an imperial decree for marriage?”

"Moreover, why would Prince Su marry Li Qingluo, a woman with no family background, as his concubine?"

"No, she should only be a concubine. Even if she is a concubine, she is given a lot of respect."

"You know, Prince Su never gets close to women and is very chaste. How could he possibly take a fancy to a country girl like Li Qingluo?"

"Li Qingluo, what exactly are you...?"

Madam Pei: "Enough! Qian Jin'an!"

"You even know that His Majesty is unwell!?"

"Then why did you come all the way to my Xiuli General's Mansion to propose marriage? What kind of good intentions do you have?"

"Does she think that I, Pei Xiuzhen, am completely ignorant of the affairs of the court, and therefore wants to take advantage of the situation to manipulate us, grandmother and grandson?"

“We won’t agree. Anyway, no one knows, and your Marquis’s mansion won’t lose face. You can pretend this never happened.”

"If you agree, your Marquis's Mansion can also use this as a reason to prevent us from announcing the good news in a grand manner. In this way, you can say that our Xiuli General's Mansion will not lose face in this marriage as well."

"You've got a good plan in mind!"

"You, Qian Jin'an, I was even willing to give you some face, but you schemed against me like this."

"You still look down on my Luo'er from the bottom of your heart."

“I, Luo’er, am the best maid in Jinling City. Whether I become a concubine or the principal wife of some family is none of your business!”

"Now you, Qian Jin'an, and your good grandson, get out of here right now!"

Zhuang Wei: "Madam, there must be some misunderstanding. Your grandmother and I certainly did not mean it that way!"

"Actually, I have long admired Miss Li, which is why I begged my grandmother to help me propose to her."

"It was because I was in a hurry that I didn't think things through."

“We all sincerely wish to marry Miss Li as my principal wife; we have no intention of degrading or belittling her.”

"Miss Li, you wouldn't be like Liu Qingzhu, willingly becoming a concubine, would you?"

"I, Zhuang Wei, offer you the position of the principal wife of the third son of the eldest branch of the Marquis of Zhongyi's family. Are you willing...?"

Li Qingluo: "I don't want to."

She coldly interrupted Zhuang Wei.

Ignoring Zhuang Wei's instantly pale face, she said, word by word, "Why should I be willing just because you think you are?"

"Young Master Zhuang, if you still want to maintain some decorum, please leave immediately."

The old lady of the Marquis's mansion looked heartbroken and said, "Third Brother, you've been so foolish!"

"Don't you understand yet?"

"Li Qingluo looks down on us!"

"She's already hooked up with Prince Su!"

"What's the difference between her and Liu Qingzhu?"

"I'd rather be a concubine in a prince's mansion than be the legitimate wife of a marquis."

“They have such high aspirations, they all want to be those high and mighty ‘nobles,’ and they look down on our family… Sanlang, you should give up!”

Zhuang Wei: "No, that's not it. Miss Li is definitely not that kind of person."

"Miss Li, is it possible that His Highness Prince Su coerced you on his own initiative...?"

Li Qingluo hadn't spoken yet.

Madam Pei pointed at Zhuang Wei and said, "Why haven't you taken him away yet!"

"You're spouting nonsense! You're just trying to ruin my Luo'er's reputation because you couldn't get her hand in marriage!"

"Guards, get those two, grandfather and grandson, out of here right now!"

"From this day forward, I do not wish to see any of the people from the Marquis of Zhongyi's mansion again!"

A group of old women, no longer holding back, rolled up their sleeves and rushed forward, roughly grabbing Zhuang Wei and the old lady of the Marquis's mansion.

The old lady of the Marquis's mansion said, "Pei Xiuzhen, you shameless old woman."

"You dare say your granddaughter is innocent and hasn't been having an affair with Prince Su long ago—"

A crisp 'snap' sound.

Before Li Qingluo could rush out, Eunuch Wu's whisk had already struck the old lady of the Marquis's mansion in the face.

His face was contorted with rage: "Even if my family has offended your Marquis Zhongyi's mansion today, I will still slap you across the face!"

"You old geezer, you're really ruthless when it comes to throwing mud."

"Is your mouth already full of feces, which is why you spew such a strong and foul stench?"

"How dare you implicate our Prince Su! You're asking for trouble!"

"Does she really think she's something special just because she's an old lady from a noble family?"

"Let me tell you, the Prince Su's Mansion is not afraid of you!"

"Don't you even bother to find out which old man our Highness has ever been polite to?"

"Anyone who dares to provoke or offend our prince has never lived a single day longer!"

"Would you like to give it a try too?"

Seeing his grandmother being humiliated, Zhuang Wei struggled fiercely: "You eunuch! How dare you humiliate my grandmother! I'll kill you—"

Grandpa Wu: "Come on over. We're waiting for you at home!"

"If you're so capable, go ahead and sue us at the Dali Temple. We're not afraid of you."

"But please don't forget to tell the officials of the Dali Temple that it was you who offended my prince first."

"For offending and slandering a prince, you are guilty of a grave offense; exile would be the least of your worries!"

Zhuang Wei: "King Su is truly impressive."

"Where exactly did I say something wrong that offended him?"

Eunuch Wu: "Did I say it was you? Stop trying to cause trouble here."

"That old hag has such a foul mouth, if I'm going to teach someone a lesson, it'll be her!"

"My lord only wanted to marry a girl like Miss Li who was both talented and beautiful and of outstanding character, but in her mouth, it was already a case of them having an affair."

"Couldn't it just be that my lord is the only one with genuine and devoted feelings?"

"You Zhuang family can get it by begging? But we, the Prince Su's mansion, can't?"

"The saying goes, 'If a family has a daughter, a hundred families will seek her.' Is it that your Marquis of Zhongyi's family clearly looks down on Miss Li's background and social standing, yet still wants to marry her, and thinks you can control her by degrading her?"

"When they can't get what they want, they get angry and resort to slander, even daring to attack our prince."

"Madam Qian, our Highness is not someone anyone can demean."

After finishing speaking, Eunuch Wu waved his whisk and looked at Old Madam Pei with a smile.

"Madam, we have offended you by being so insolent in your residence today."

Madam Pei chuckled twice: "Father-in-law, you're too kind. You stood up for me and Luo'er, so we won't be ungrateful."

After saying that, Madam Pei waved her hand and ordered her men to quickly drive away the pale-faced old lady of the Marquis of Zhongyi's mansion, Zhuang Wei, and the Zhuang family's servants.

Just before they were thrown out completely, Eunuch Wu remembered something.

He quickly reached out to stop them, saying, "Wait!"

Eunuch Wu deliberately raised his voice: "Our prince has taken a liking to the young lady and wants to marry her, so naturally he is also seeking the position of his principal wife for her!"

"Remember, Miss Li is a noble person whom your Marquis Zhongyi's mansion cannot possibly reach."

"roll!"

Li Qingluo secretly winked at Eunuch Wu.

Grandpa Wu chuckled to himself.

Now, his position in the girl's heart should be secure, right?

Tsk, thank goodness Zhuiyu didn't come today, otherwise that guy would definitely have stolen his thunder.

whee……

The person is gone.

Madam Pei looked at the boxes piled up all over the courtyard with a headache.

As the servants from the Prince Su's residence opened each box, she saw that inside, besides most of the gold and silver treasures, there were also picture books, various Western trinkets, luminous pearls larger than a fist, and corals that the boxes couldn't hold...

There were even a few rare weapons.

Li Qingluo's eyes instantly lit up like the stars in the sky.

I almost drooled.

She quickly wiped her mouth, thinking to herself: Duan Rongshi really knows what she likes best. These things are all her most cherished possessions!

However, she still maintained a composed demeanor on the surface, and simply helped Old Madam Pei look at Eunuch Wu.

"This...this, how dare we accept such a generous gift from His Highness Prince Su?"

"And what did you just say, Your Highness? That His Highness went to the palace to request an imperial decree to grant us a marriage? Is that true?"

"Your Highness has truly come to know about Luo'er... Ah, this old woman is truly flattered. But why didn't Your Highness inform us beforehand..."

"this……"

Madam Pei was unhappy.

These people all wanted to take her Luo'er away.

But not one of them came to her first to sincerely express their true feelings.

Madam Pei was very upset.

Of course she wanted to keep Luo'er by her side, but she also understood that if Prince Su really obtained the imperial decree for the marriage, it would be a great honor for the whole family.

I no longer have the option to make any decisions or hesitate.

However, that imperial edict was by no means easy to obtain.

After Luo'er left the Li family with him, she avoided disaster, but she also lost her noble family background.

Now, as an old general from thirty years ago, he can offer her no help whatsoever.

With such a family background, how could the current emperor possibly agree to let her become his fifth daughter-in-law?

If Eunuch Wu just blurted it out, and Luo'er fails to become the Princess Consort of Prince Su, and the Marquis of Zhongyi spreads the news, wouldn't Luo'er become a laughing stock?

Prince Su was too arrogant in his actions.

They didn't care about Luo'er's reputation.

Although I stood up for the grandmother and granddaughter today, it was still truly absurd.

Li Qingluo sensed her grandmother's disappointment.

She felt a pang of shame.

Duan Rongshi had promised to come last night.

He must have been held back by something, which is why he couldn't come to express his feelings to his grandmother in advance.

Moreover, she never expected the Prince Su's mansion to pull this stunt today.

But since things had come to this, Li Qingluo could only try her best to comfort her grandmother: "Grandmother, it doesn't matter. Even if the imperial decree doesn't come, Luo'er is not afraid of being ridiculed by the world."

"Your Highness, I will certainly do my best as well."

Madam Pei sighed and patted Li Qingluo's hand: "Grandmother knows what she's doing."

Then Eunuch Wu remembered something and hurriedly and respectfully took out a letter from his pocket.

"Madam, our Prince was originally going to visit you in person yesterday."

"But he received a last-minute order from His Majesty and left the city overnight."

"That's why I had no choice but to come today to deliver the young lady's birthday gift and a letter to you, Madam."

"His Highness said that he will definitely return on the day of the young lady's birthday and personally celebrate her seventeenth birthday."