As an emperor, Emperor Longfeng was of course aware that Ming Jingzhou was not willing to marry his daughter into the royal family, but the Ming family's daughter was the best candidate.
The three brothers of the Ming family are upright officials who care about the court and the people. For Prince Chen, marrying into their family is the best choice.
In the past, he always regretted that the three brothers were all sons and could not become in-laws. Now that the daughter of the third brother of the Ming family has been found, if he doesn't take action now, when will he take action?
A thin-skinned person cannot be an emperor.
Emperor Longfeng thought about it, and ordered the palace servants to take a few calligraphy and paintings and send them to Mingyue Palace. It was rare for his beloved concubine to have such a refined interest, and he wanted to support her more.
Compared to Ming Jingzhou who left in disgrace, Jiuzhu was very happy staying in Mingyue Palace. After accompanying the noble concubine to appreciate the paintings, she was invited to stay for dinner.
The food was delicious and the palace maids who served the dishes were considerate. After the meal, she was very satisfied and happy.
Concubine Su glanced at the empty plate on the table and raised her hand to signal the palace servants to clear the remaining food on the table.
This little girl looks petite, but she's actually quite good at eating.
"Your Majesty, His Majesty sent someone to deliver several famous paintings from his collection." The female official whispered in Concubine Su's ear, "Would you like to show them to Miss Ming?"
Concubine Su coughed lightly, glanced at Jiuzhu who was rinsing her mouth and hands, and whispered, "Next time, next time."
Seeing Concubine Su and the court lady whispering something, Jiuzhu thought they had something to discuss. She wiped her hands, stood up and saluted: "It's easy to get sleepy in the afternoon, please take a good rest, I will come to see you again in the future."
Concubine Su Gui smiled and said, "I won't keep you, but this is the first time we meet, I can't let you go empty-handed."
After saying this, he ordered the palace servants to take out the gifts that had been prepared long ago.
Gold, jade, jadeite, silks and satins were all in the hands of more than a dozen palace ladies.
The various jewellery in the tray sparkled with brilliant light. Jiuzhu covered her chest with her hands, unable to breathe for a moment.
There was no other way. After following her two masters in poverty for more than ten years, she couldn't help looking at so many jewels.
"These are things that girls like. Take them back and play with them." Concubine Su saw Jiuzhu staring at her and asked, "Do you like them?"
"I like it." Jiuzhu nodded honestly. Which normal girl wouldn't like these shiny and beautiful things?
"As long as you like it." Concubine Su seemed very satisfied with Jiuzhu's answer. She arranged for the most useful female official around her to personally escort Jiuzhu out of the palace.
"I told you, what little girl doesn't like beautiful jewelry?" Concubine Su leaned back on the couch and said, "You only said you were going to give her books and paintings, but what's the point of that?"
The maid smiled and said, "You are the one who has foresight, Madam."
"Not only is the Majesty foresighted, but I see that Miss Ming and the Majesty have a mother-daughter relationship." Another palace maid chuckled, "I just looked carefully and saw that Miss Ming was very close to the Majesty after she entered the room, as if they were old friends who had not seen each other for many years."
"That's what they call... if you're not from the same family, you won't enter the same door."
Concubine Su was amused by the palace maids' every word. Originally, she was somewhat reluctant about this marriage, but she understood the emperor's intention.
Most of the civil officials in the court disliked her and her children, and even called her a witch behind her back. Marrying the daughter of the Ming family for the emperor's son might not change the officials' views, but at least it would ease the conflict between the two sides.
As for the deeper things, Concubine Su was too lazy to think about them because it was useless.
What she didn't expect was that the little girl Ming Jiuzhu was very likable, cute and amiable, and did not seem like a child raised in a scholarly family.
"What are you talking about? Concubine Su gave Miss Ming a bunch of gold and silver jewelry as a gift for her to meet her?"
After hearing the palace maid's report, Concubine Ning laughed heartily: "Merchant family is merchant family, and their behavior is indeed vulgar. The three brothers of the Ming family, two of them are top scholars, one is third, and their children are all handsome gentlemen. How could they like these things?"
"Your Majesty, I heard that Master Ming went to the palace to pay his respects to His Majesty today, hoping to cancel the engagement."
"No one can change what your majesty has decided." The smile on Concubine Ning's face gradually disappeared: "Ming Jingzhou is just doing useless work."
"What should we do? What if the Ming family helps Prince Chen from now on..."
"Impossible." Concubine Ning interrupted the palace people's speculation and said decisively: "Since ancient times, there have been several families who have made plans for their daughters who married out, and abandoned their own glory."
"Woman." Concubine Ning smiled, but there was no smile in her eyes: "She is just a tool for the family to weigh the pros and cons."
"My lady."
"No need to say more, I understand." Concubine Ning snorted coldly: "I want to see how far Concubine Su Gui and her future daughter-in-law can go."
Since ancient times, there have been many problems between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law, let alone when one is a favored concubine from a merchant family and the other is a daughter of a scholarly family.
Just wait and see, there will be plenty of excitement in the future.
On the palace road, Jiuzhu was sitting in a sedan chair and saw from afar a child leading a few eunuchs walking towards them.
The child was wearing a brocade robe with no royal insignia on it. He raised his chin slightly and looked a bit arrogant. He looked at Jiuzhu sitting on the sedan chair and asked, "Who are you?"
Jiuzhu looked down at him and explained seriously: "When asking for someone's name, you should first tell us your own identity."
The child is still young and does not know manners, but he can still be saved.
"I'm a child, and I'm the cousin of King Qi." The child raised his head high, waiting for Jiuzhu to take the initiative: "You should let me go."
Even the ladies in the palace were polite to him. The rich ladies he met on weekdays would take the initiative to talk to him.
Jiuzhu withdrew her gaze and ignored him.
Children who behave badly are probably doing it out of habit.
"Hello, auntie." The eunuch following the child recognized the female official from Mingyue Palace and was frightened. He bowed and saluted: "Mr. Zheng is still young, and his words were inappropriate. Please forgive me, auntie."
The female official of Mingyue Palace said with a smile: "I am only following the order of the Queen Mother to escort Miss Ming back home from the palace. I cannot accept the courtesy from the eunuch."
Miss Ming?
The young eunuch's knees went weak and he knelt on the ground. The news that His Majesty had asked the Minister of Rites to personally act as a matchmaker and decide on Miss Ming as the Princess of Chen had already spread throughout the harem.
Even if he had ten courages, he would not dare to offend the future Princess Chen.
Jiuzhu was confused. Why did he kneel down without saying anything?
The little brat didn't know that the eunuch who came out with him was already scared to death. He looked at the phoenix hairpin on Jiuzhu's hair and said: "The hairpin in your hair is beautiful."
In the past, whenever he asked for something like this, the other party would give him something.
"Oh." Jiuzhu touched the hairpin and nodded: "I think so too."
The kid looked at Jiuju.
And then?
Jiuju looked at the kid.
What? You want her to praise him for his good taste?
"Young Master." The eunuch kneeling on the ground gently pulled his clothes and said, "This is Miss Ming, the fiancée of His Royal Highness Prince Chen."
This is something you really can't afford to offend.
Young Master Zheng pulled the hem of his clothes out of the eunuch's hand and whispered, "It turns out that he and the demon concubine are from the same family."
The palace servants of Mingyue Palace kept smiling, as if they had not heard these words. However, the eunuchs were so frightened that they turned pale and trembled all over.
Demon concubine?
Jiuzhu looked at the female official of Mingyue Palace in confusion, and she nodded slightly at her.
Only then did she realize that the "evil concubine" the little brat was referring to was actually Concubine Su Guifei.
"Miss Ming, you don't have to take the child's words to heart." Seeing Jiuzhu frowned, the court lady of Mingyue Palace knelt down and saluted her: "The queen will not bother with a child."
"Just because the queen is kind and generous doesn't mean others can say whatever they want." Jiuzhu felt her hands itchy. If they were in Lingzhou, this kind of mute child would get a beating sooner or later.
Kind heart?
Generous?
The eunuchs kneeling on the ground thought there was something wrong with their ears. What nonsense was Miss Ming talking about?
"Children are ignorant, most of them are not serious about their studies." Jiuzhu considered herself a reasonable person. When the child made a mistake, she could not beat him, so she went to the child's parents and asked, "Just now you said that this young master is the cousin of His Royal Highness Prince Qi?"
When dealing with small matters like this, it is always right to sue the parents.
But which prince is His Royal Highness Prince Qi? Never mind, that's not important.
"Aunt, why not ask someone to send the young master back to His Royal Highness Prince Qi and let His Royal Highness Prince Qi discipline him." Jiuzhu thought for a moment and added, "His Royal Highness Prince Qi is gentle and refined, and he will definitely be able to correct the young master's mistakes in speech."
She had no idea what the King of Qi looked like, but she could use the term "good temperament" to describe him.
"Yes." The female official smiled: "I obey your orders."
Seeing the naughty kid being taken away with his head down and sad, Jiuzhu snorted softly, "What does a little kid like you know about women?"
The Royal Concubine is clearly a fairy.
Within two days, the news that Miss Ming and Prince Chen were engaged spread throughout the capital.
"We all know Lord Ming's character. Lord Ming, there is no need to embarrass us."
"A daughter who is married off is like water spilled out. Lord Ming, please think more positively. Think more positively."
Ming Jingzhou left the civil servants who were trying to comfort him and stepped into the carriage with a sullen face.
It's easy to say, but the one he married wasn't a daughter of his family. Is this something he can easily get over?
What's wrong with the young lady? Doesn't she feel sorry for her?
As a depressed old father, Ming Jingzhou looked at those colleagues with whom he had a good relationship on weekdays and felt that they were not very pleasing to the eye.
When he got home, he looked at his cute, beautiful daughter and almost shed tears.
Seeing his expression, Shen knew that he still couldn't accept the fact that his daughter was going to marry Prince Chen. While comforting him, she asked her nephew to take Jiuzhu out for a walk.
These days she was always worried about losing her daughter, and she even dared not let her daughter go out. It seemed that if she stepped out of the door, her daughter would disappear and she would never be found again.
Jiuzhu was very well-behaved. Since she was not allowed to go out, he stayed with her in the house and never made a fuss to go out.
But His Majesty was determined to make his daughter the Princess of Chen, so as a mother, she had to force herself to learn to let go. She didn't want to imprison her daughter because of this love wrapped in guilt, because that was not love, but harm.
"My daughter doesn't like going out and wants to stay at home with you." Jiuzhu gently held Shen's hand, her eyes brighter than the stars.
"Your father and I have something to do. You and your cousin can go out and pick out a few boxes of rouge for me." Shen smiled and helped her tidy up her scarf. "Go ahead. Let the kitchen cook your favorite dishes tonight."
"The daughter will be back soon." Jiuzhu held Shen's hand with some force before standing up and walking out the door.
Shen stood up unconsciously, took two steps towards the door, and forced herself to stop.
"Mother." Jiuzhu, who had already walked out the door, turned around and smiled at Shen: "I want to eat tomato in the evening, don't forget it."
The moment her daughter turned around and smiled, Shen's heart calmed down.
Her child is here.
She was like an ordinary child. She would not forget to act coquettishly with her family when she went out, and would talk about what she wanted to eat in the evening.
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