Xie Xiulin hastily pulled her hand away, clutching the handkerchief: "It's nothing, I think I'm only fourteen, and my elder sister and younger sister's marriage is not yet decided, so I don't need to rush."
Wanruo suddenly noticed a mutton-fat jade bracelet on her wrist. It had a warm texture and almost no impurities, and was of top quality.
"Where did you get this bracelet?"
Xie Xiulin's life in the third house was not easy either. Her monthly allowance was often deducted, so it was not her turn to get such good things.
Xie Xiulin reached out and touched the bracelet. She bit her lip and hesitated for a moment before telling the truth: "I'm telling you, don't tell anyone."
"Um?"
"It was given to me by Prince Zheng." Xie Xiulin lowered her head, her tone timid.
Wan Ruo was stunned for a moment before she came to her senses: "Do you know him?"
"We didn't know each other before. That day at Tai'an Lake, he spoke up for me. Afterwards, when I was crying by the lake, he came to comfort me. He said he just felt sorry for me. These past few days, he's sent people to visit me every day."
Xie Xiulin's cheeks flushed red as she grabbed Wanruo's hand and said, "Don't tell anyone about this!"
Prince Zheng?
But she remembered reading the files in Xie Xianyu's study, and found that the Duke of Zheng's Mansion was also involved in this salt tax case.
I don't know if she was being mean-spirited, but I just felt that the timing was a little too coincidental.
Wanruo held her hand and said, "If Prince Zheng likes you, ask him to propose marriage."
The Duke of Zheng's Mansion formally proposed marriage, so the elders would naturally consider the marriage. If the Zheng family had no problem, they would naturally agree to it. If the Zheng family had problems, they would just refuse.
Xie Xiulin shook his head, "No, he said his family has already arranged a marriage for him. The daughter of the Yongchang Marquis is of noble status, nothing like me... His family would definitely not want him to marry me."
Wan Ruo was stunned for a moment: "Then why are you still entangled with him?"
"But he said he would find a way to fight for me and that he would stay with me forever!" Xie Xiulin looked at her steadily: "I also like him, even if it means being his concubine, I am willing to do so."
"You are confused. You are a girl from the Xie family. Why would you become someone's concubine?!"
"So what if I'm a concubine? Even though my elder brother is engaged, I don't know how many families are still eager to send their daughters to be concubines! The Duke of Zheng's Mansion is a noble family with a hereditary title. The Prince of Zheng likes me and won't let me suffer any injustice."
Wan Ruo frowned: "But a concubine must always look after her mother's mood. Have you forgotten your mother's life?"
"How can I compare with my mother? She was born a maid, and even if she was given a concubine, she was just a lowly concubine. She was given to my father by the old lady, so she is not favored. She only has one daughter, so naturally her words are not taken seriously."
"But if I enter the Duke of Zheng's mansion, I will be a concubine, and the prince likes me. If I work hard and give birth to a son, the mother will be honored by the son, and even the mother of the emperor will not be able to do anything to me."
Wanruo shook her head: "You think too simply."
In a wealthy family with countless concubines, a man's favor is even more unreliable. As for the mother-in-law, she has plenty of ways to torture people. In the huge Xie family, although only the third wife has a bad reputation for mistreating concubines, which concubine in the first and second wives dares to act rashly now?
"Let Madam choose your marriage for you..."
"What good marriage can she choose for me?" Xie Xiulin's voice suddenly rose. "She can only marry me off to a scholar from a humble family to enhance the Xie family's reputation as a noble and aristocratic family!"
Wanruo was stunned for a moment.
"Isn't it the same with Third Sister? The First Madam married her to a lowly Jinshi from a humble family. She was given the title of legal wife, and now she's suffering miserably in a remote place like Qingzhou. A county magistrate in a poor place, with no family background, she might not even have a chance of promotion and return to the capital even after ten days of hardship."
The third girl is the concubine of the eldest wife and she got married three years ago.
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