Chapter 175: Marriage Proposal (Part 1)

Feng Ke had four sons and three daughters. The third and fourth sons were born out of wedlock, and the eldest and second daughters were also born out of wedlock.

The fifth young lady that Yang Shengqiu mentioned is Feng Ke’s second daughter, Feng Yalan. She ranks fifth among the cousins ​​of this generation in the Feng family, and Feng Jiahe ranks seventh.

Feng Ke's first wife, Mrs. Zhong, was betrothed to him when they were young. The two families were well-matched, and they were childhood sweethearts. Feng Ke wrote many poems for Mrs. Zhong. The two were deeply in love and supported each other through thick and thin. Mrs. Zhong was even known as a model of boudoir love.

Feng Ke had five concubines. Except for the second concubine, the mother of the third son, who was brought up by Madam Zhong, the other four were given by others.

Feng Yalan's biological mother is the third concubine. She comes from a scholarly family. Although she is a concubine's daughter, she is proficient in music, chess, calligraphy and painting. She is also born with a beautiful and elegant appearance. Feng Ke likes her very much.

People only know Feng Jiahe, but few people know that there is another Feng Yalan in the Feng family. Even Yang Shengqiu spent a lot of effort to find out that Feng Yalan was no less favored by her father than Feng Jiahe.

But she was a smart person and never showed off in front of others. She always put Feng Jiahe first in everything. Therefore, even Mrs. Zhong praised this concubine's daughter.

However, Feng Yalan's marriage has not been finalized yet. She is already eighteen years old. Feng Jiahe, who is younger than her, got married last year. But precisely because Feng Jiahe became the third prince's consort, the marriages of all unmarried children in the Feng family have to be planned in a long time.

With the Third Prince as their son-in-law, the Feng family was firmly tied to the Third Prince, and even the Feng family's relatives became the Third Prince's people.

This means that Feng Yalan’s husband’s family must be a supporter of the Third Prince.

But her status as a concubine's daughter still restricted her after all.

Families with higher status than the Feng family would not allow a concubine's daughter to be the mistress of the household, and Feng Ke could not find a suitable one among those families that had to rely on the Feng family.

At this time, Yang Shengqiu volunteered, which was unexpected to Feng Ke.

He looked at Yang Shengqiu and smiled coldly: "I thought you wanted to be a prince consort."

Yang Shengqiu's head buzzed. He thought he was cautious, but he still couldn't escape the eyes and ears of this old fox.

Yang Shengqiu fell to his knees with a thud: "Teacher, I have studied so hard just to serve the court one day. How could I have ever thought of becoming a consort?"

Feng Ke smiled: "Really?"

He pulled out a piece of paper from below and spread it on the desk. The servant boy observed his expression and hurried forward to grind ink. Feng Ke picked up the pen and continued to practice calligraphy, leaving Yang Shengqiu aside.

An hour later, Yang Shengqiu walked out of Feng Mansion. He paused in front of the door for a moment, then turned and walked around to the side wall of Feng Mansion. From there, he could see a corner of the embroidery building. That was the Qiqin Pavilion where the three young ladies of the Feng family lived. Now, only the fifth young lady, Feng Yalan, still lived there.

Yang Shengqiu stood there for a moment, sighed, and left reluctantly.

Even after he walked a long way, he could still feel the gazes on him. He knew that the people from the Feng family were hiding in the dark, watching him.

Yang Shengqiu didn't care about Feng Ke's indifference. He was confident that Feng Ke would soon agree to his proposal.

Yan Xia, who has a powerful background, has to risk becoming a thorn in the emperor's side and endure humiliation to marry the eldest princess of Liang Wang Mansion. However, he is just an orphan with no one to rely on, so he has no right to be picky.

He knew his situation, and he also knew that once the novelty of being the top scholar wore off, he would just be a minor official working hard in the Hanlin Academy.

What he had to do now was to grab everything he could grab, and Feng Ke was the thickest vine he could grab.

The reason why he treated Feng Ke as a vine instead of a big tree was because a big tree could only be relied on forever. If you relied on it for too long, once you left, the tree would not even be able to stand.

But the vine is different. He can use this vine to fly into the sky. If it doesn't work once, he will try it twice or three times. One day, he will be able to use the vine to fly to the height he wants to reach.

And Feng Ke is this vine!

Feng Ke is an old fox, and Yang Shengqiu cannot guarantee that he can stand out from all the disciples, so the most urgent thing is to tie himself and Feng Ke together tightly.

The best and most effective way is marriage.

Feng Ke certainly had several nieces, but nieces were not as good as daughters after all, even if the daughter was born out of wedlock. A foolish man might favor his nephews and nieces, but Feng Ke was different. He valued his own offspring very much, and would carefully train every child, regardless of whether they were legitimate or illegitimate. On the contrary, his nephews and nieces were not even as good as his disciples in front of him.

And Feng Yalan is the best marriage that Yang Shengqiu can find for himself at this time.

As long as he marries Feng Yalan, he will be Feng Ke's son-in-law and the third prince's brother-in-law!

Yang Shengqiu walked neither fast nor slow, but every step was steady. He walked out of the alley where Feng's house was located, got into his ordinary sedan chair, and disappeared in the crowd.

In the study, Feng Ke finished writing the last stroke: "Gone?"

"Yes, he stood there looking at Qiqin Pavilion for quite a while."

Feng Ke nodded. Yang Shengqiu was the one he was most optimistic about in recent years. As for the matter with Princess Huiming, Feng Ke believed that Yang Shengqiu knew what to do.

How can love compare to rising to the top?

The more one climbs up from the bottom, the more they understand this truth.

Therefore, Feng Ke never took this matter to heart. If Yang Shengqiu didn't even understand this principle, he would not be worthy of being his student from the beginning.

As for the matter between him and Feng Yalan, although Feng Ke did not agree, he did not refuse it outright.

He needs to think about this matter carefully.

......

At this time, in the Third Prince's Mansion.

The third prince was looking at the boxes that were constantly being moved in with a smile on his face.

Those boxes were filled with ingots of silver.

Fifteen camphorwood boxes, each box worth one thousand taels, a total of fifteen thousand taels!

These fifteen thousand taels are not banknotes, but cash, hard cash!

It is no exaggeration to say that this is the first time that the Third Prince has seen so much silver in his life.

Who doesn't need banknotes? But Master Zhen sent him a cart full of silver. He asked, with such a large amount of silver in front of him, who could bear it?

For the Third Prince, fifteen thousand taels was not a large sum, but the fifteen boxes of silver ingots were so bright that he could not open his eyes.

The third prince was in a very good mood. If there was anything that could make people feel better than silver, it must be gold, the gold of the golden dragon and the gold of the Golden Palace!

He wanted to reward him, but then he remembered that Master Zhen was not his slave, but his boss in whom he had a stake.

If that is the case, then there is no reward.

The Third Prince thought for a moment and said to Da Zhuang, who was standing there stupidly, "Tell your son to accompany me to the palace for the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet."

Da Zhuang agreed in a muffled voice and went back to report.

The Third Prince smiled and said to the eunuch beside him, "Look, isn't this follower of Master Zhen interesting?"

The eunuch hurriedly said, "He is a simpleton. If the Third Master likes this, I will imitate him."

The Third Prince laughed and scolded, "Get out of the way, you're trying to be clever again."