Chapter 415 Land Deed
The day after Lin Changning delivered the tiger and the wild goose, his mother was summoned to the door the next day to discuss the children's wedding date.
As the autumn harvest drew ever closer, the relationship between the Chu King's Palace and the imperial court became increasingly tense. Both sides were accumulating strength and mobilizing troops in preparation for the upcoming war.
The three guards of Liangzhou, Lizhou, and Ningxia have gathered nearly half of their troops and are slowly advancing towards Taiyuan, which is also the main base of the King of Chu. Their combined strength is more than 30,000.
With the 10,000 troops brought by Li Mingde, plus the personal guards of the King of Chu and various other troops under the King of Chu, they could barely form an army of 70,000.
The King of Chu had calculated that at the beginning of the year, the court claimed to have mobilized 200,000 troops to attack the King of Sheng, but in reality, the actual force was just over 100,000. These troops were now gradually heading towards Huaiqing, Weihui, and other places to be stationed.
These were cities that the King of Chu would find difficult to cross when attacking the court and heading straight for the capital.
The atmosphere has become extremely tense. The court knows that the King of Chu is about to rebel, and the King of Chu knows that the court is now on guard against them, but neither side has been able to maintain a delicate balance.
Everyone knows that the King of Chu will rebel, but the court has a history of forcing the King of Sheng to his death, and Lin Changning has been spreading all sorts of rumors, slandering the emperor and the Xie family. Now the Xie family has split and sided with the King of Chu.
Anyone with eyes to see could tell there was something fishy going on behind the scenes, which further damaged the court's reputation. At this point, it was not an easy time to take action against the King of Chu, since they hadn't found any concrete evidence against him. The King of Chu was a very cunning man, and he was exceptionally good at putting on a show.
Even now that the two sides have completely broken off relations, the imperial court has failed to find any concrete evidence.
The army is currently assembling, and once the autumn harvest is complete and food supplies are plentiful, the King of Chu will rise up in rebellion. Therefore, the Queen Consort of Chu is thinking of expediting the marriage of her two children within these two months.
Once the army sets off, Lin Changning will not be able to return to Taiyuan for at least one or two months, or even two or three years or longer.
It wouldn't be good to leave his daughter waiting at the Prince's residence forever, so he thought he should settle things between the two of them before Lin Changning went to war with the army, to avoid any unforeseen complications.
Although she was a princess, she knew the prince's hardships. However, her daughter had lived a miserable life in the capital for so many years, and she really did not want to sacrifice her daughter for the prince's great cause. Shu'er was obedient and sensible since childhood, and her personality was completely different from her younger daughter's. She was easily taken advantage of from a young age.
This time, she finally met a kindred spirit who understood and cared for her. What's even more precious is that Changning also treated Yue'er as his own daughter, and the two became close friends.
Even if it was just once, she wanted to fulfill her daughter's wish. So when her spies in the mansion spread the word that the eldest son of the Shen family was proposing marriage, she immediately went to the Lin family and found Lin's mother to arrange the marriage between the two.
Firstly, she declined the marriage proposal from the Shen family, and secondly, she wanted to fulfill her daughter's wish. Fortunately, the two were indeed very affectionate. Princess Chu touched the tiger skin she had just peeled off and became even more satisfied with Lin Changning.
He became increasingly amiable towards Lin's mother and her two sisters-in-law: "Mother-in-law, I've called you here today to discuss the wedding date for our two children."
The princess sighed softly, "I won't hide it from you. Shu'er is a remarried woman, and she has Yue'er by her side. Changning is a good boy, and I've seen it all. Both children are very good, and there was no rush for them to get married. But with the autumn harvest approaching, and after the harvest, the prince will be leading Changning and the others to war. This war will last at least a year, and possibly several years. In the meantime, they definitely can't get married. Shu'er is 19 this year, so I'm thinking of arranging a marriage for the children as soon as possible. What do you think, in-laws?"
As Lin's mother listened to the princess speaking to them in a gentle voice, she couldn't help but turn to look at her eldest daughter-in-law and nod to the princess: "We will listen to the princess. However, we were just commoners before, and we were all peasants. We were not familiar with royal etiquette."
When the princess summoned us this time, my daughter-in-law and I had a general idea of what was going on, so we brought some money with us. Changning specifically instructed that she did not want to wrong the princess, so we scraped together some money from our family's assets.
Your Highness, this is 50,000 taels of silver, the betrothal gift for Princess Yu. The remaining betrothal gifts are still being prepared at home. I hope Your Highness and the Princess will not find them disrespectful.
A look of shock flashed across the princess's eyes. She seemed not to have expected that the Lin family was so wealthy. But then she realized something was amiss. She knew that the Lin family's embroidery workshop was profitable and that her three children had given Lin Changning 30,000 taels of silver.
Adding the betrothal gifts and dowry prepared later, plus all the other things needed for the wedding, the Lin family was preparing to spend 100,000 taels of silver, which was no less than the wedding expenses of a prominent family, thus giving their daughter Shu'er a very respectable wedding.
However, with so much silver, the Lin family would probably be emptied out. As a mother, the princess was naturally happy to see her daughter's in-laws valuing her so much.
On the other hand, seeing the Lin family's sincerity and humble attitude towards the money, he couldn't help but feel even more satisfied with Lin Changning's family.
After thinking for a moment, the princess gave a wink to the maid beside her, whispered a few words in her ear, and the maid hurriedly left.
"My dear in-laws, you are too kind. I don't know what to do with Shu'er because of how you treat her."
As he spoke, his gaze toward Lin Shi and his two sisters-in-law, Lin Changning, grew even more fervent. He pulled the three of them aside to chat about everyday matters and discuss some details of the wedding, nodding with satisfaction as he spoke.
It's easy to see from their words that neither Lin Shi nor Lin Changning's two sisters-in-law are difficult to get along with; they are both honest and kind people, and their words to Shu'er were sincere.
As they talked more and more, the group became more and more familiar with each other. The princess was increasingly satisfied with the Lin family. Shu'er would surely be happy marrying into such a family. The Lin family mother was a gentle and kind person. Although the eldest sister-in-law was not good at talking, her eyes revealed a gentleness. The second sister-in-law was more talkative and seemed to be a cheerful person.
A moment later, the maid who had just gone out quickly returned and quietly stood beside Wang Fei: "Your Highness, the things have been brought over."
Princess Chu smiled and took the land deed from the maid's hand: "Here, mother-in-law, keep this land deed."
Lin's mother suddenly pushed him away in a panic, "What? Your Highness, what are you doing?"
Princess Chu folded the land deed into a square, gently took Lin's mother's hand, and placed the land deed into Lin's mother's hand.
“I have seen how well you have treated Shu’er. This land deed was originally meant for the Lin family. Please keep it, my dear in-laws.”
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