Chapter 19
Qin Heng was about to persuade him further when a servant came over to remind him, "Young master, it's time to go inside."
Xie Qinghong turned her head away indifferently, leaving behind a "thank you for your guidance" before brushing past him and getting into her own carriage. However, after traveling for a while, the carriage stopped, and the driver in front asked hesitantly, "What is it, sir? There is a young lady in my carriage, she cannot ride with me."
Xie Qinghong pushed open the small side window and looked out. Before she could see who it was, she heard a familiar voice: "Please tell Miss Xie that I, Pei, the heir of the Prince of Nan, request an audience."
She asked suspiciously, "What does the young master want?"
Pei Du walked to the carriage window and nodded slightly from two steps away: "Please forgive me, young lady, things have not come to this point as I wished. However, there are some things I still need to make clear to you. Although I am not a good man, you should still be discerning and not trust the wrong person."
Xie Qinghong looked at him in surprise. He was serious, much more so than when he had deliberately scared her earlier. He did indeed look no different from a young master from a prominent family in the capital, but Xie Qinghong still felt that he was different. He exuded a kind of pure wildness, like a torrent rushing through a mountain stream.
"Thank you for informing me, Your Highness. My father and brothers are both alive and well, so they would not let me trust the wrong person." She raised her head slightly, her chin arched in a subtle way, exuding just the right amount of pride. Long gold hairpins with tassels hung down beside her face, making her skin look like white jade.
Pei Du half-closed his eyelids and said in a calm voice, "That's good then."
After he finished speaking, he was about to take his leave, but Xie Qinghong called out to him, "Your Highness, please wait. I have something I would like to ask you."
Pei Du turned slightly to the side and looked back at her: "What is it?"
Xie Qinghong glanced at his waist first; an ancient longsword was always at his side, and one hand was casually resting on the hilt, as if he could draw it at any moment and stab someone in the throat. She silently moved a little further away from the window before speaking: "On the day of the flower viewing banquet, I saw that your folding fan had 'A cassia tree on Nanshan' written on it. Did you exchange it for the one with 'Peach Blossoms in Full Bloom'?"
Pei Du seemed surprised by her question, his gaze momentarily froze, then he slightly looked away to avoid eye contact and replied, "Yes, is there a problem?"
"I'm just wondering why two of the folding fans have osmanthus trees written on them."
Pei Du then looked up at her, his eyes dark and deep. Xie Qinghong thought he didn't know either, so she sighed in disappointment: "Then I guess I was wrong. I thought someone was deliberately causing trouble."
After all, Song Lingxi had deliberately led her to choose a lotus hairpin, and perhaps others would also deliberately lead Prince Pei to choose a cassia folding fan, all to entangle Prince Pei with her, who was wearing an osmanthus hairpin. If the conspiracy had already begun then, that would be rather strange.
However, Prince Pei seemed unaware of this, which was perhaps just a coincidence. Xie Qinghong nodded to him and prepared to have the driver drive away.
"Miss Xie—"
"Hmm?" Xie Qinghong looked at him in confusion.
Pei Du's expression was cool and aloof, but his words were gentle and kind: "The words of elders are not always right. You have a long future ahead of you, and there is still time to try and make mistakes."
"And what about you?" Xie Qinghong couldn't help but lean against the windowsill and ask, "Are you trying and failing?"
“Yes,” Pei Du told her without hiding anything, “I’m doing something unplanned, and I don’t know if it’s right or wrong. I’m still waiting for time to tell. So I’m telling you this as a lesson from the past. The lesson is that everyone has to be responsible for their own choices.”
Xie Qinghong seemed to be deep in thought. After watching him bow and take his leave, she pondered for a long time. When she got home, she only told her mother that she had been very eloquent at her uncle's house, which had angered her aunt and the two ladies of the Qin family.
Liang Yu chuckled helplessly: "With your personality, you'll just end up being called spoiled and willful again."
Xie Qinghong didn't care at all: "They are all elders, why would they lower themselves to argue with a young girl like me? Besides, so what if I say it? Will it cost me a piece of my flesh?"
That evening, the three men of the Xie family returned home, their faces grim. Upon reaching the hall, Xie Qingzhou angrily shouted, "The Qin family is truly insidious! I used to think Qin Zheng was a gentleman, but I never imagined he would turn black into white like this!"
Xie Qinghong inquired further and learned that during the small court meeting today, Qin Zheng deliberately brought up the matter of Xie Qingzhou's competition with Prince Pei at the post station. He heard that it was because Prince Pei happened to bump into the Xie family's daughter's carriage. Later, at the flower viewing banquet, Prince Pei personally climbed a tree to retrieve the kite for Miss Xie, and even injured the back of his hand in the process. At that time, Qin Yu's kite was also hanging on the treetop, but Prince Pei did not touch it at all.
The conclusion is that Prince Pei and the Xie family's daughter are destined to be together. Qin Zheng's original words were, "The Xie family's daughter is truly a beauty that could topple cities. Prince Pei will surely fall in love with her at first sight. Isn't this a match made in heaven?"
Emperor Xingde, as expected, said he wanted to make this marriage happen. Xie Wen politely said that it depended on his daughter's own wishes. However, the Minister of the Imperial Clan brought up the matter of the Hu envoys seeking marriage. Because the originally chosen Zhao family girl had lost face, they needed to discuss and find a suitable candidate as soon as possible.
This blatant threat turned Xie Wen's face ashen. He had always opposed sending his daughter to marry foreign rulers and had repeatedly remonstrated against it, which displeased Emperor Xingde. If he were to submit another memorial now, the Censor-in-Chief and the Minister of the Imperial Clan would surely seize the opportunity to use Princess Yuxiu as an excuse, saying that if a member of the imperial clan was to marry a foreign ruler, how could a subject's daughter be so picky?
Even worse, some might suggest marrying Xie's daughter to a barbarian. Xie Wen dared not consider such a possibility; if A'yao were to marry a barbarian who ate raw meat and drank blood, it would be tantamount to tearing out his heart!
"Ayao, it is your father who has wronged you. If I had arranged a marriage for you earlier, those treacherous people would not have targeted you today." Xie Wen felt powerless. The northern barbarians were eyeing the country covetously, but the Sheng Dynasty was still complacent. The emperor sought peace at all costs, and the court officials formed cliques and flattered each other. He feared that the dynasty would collapse one day.
Perhaps having prepared for the worst, Xie Qinghong was not as sad as her father and brothers, and even smiled: "Qin Erlang said that Prince Pei is infatuated with me? That's utter nonsense."
The Xie family also felt that Qin Zheng was talking nonsense because Pei Shizi was not present at the small court meeting, but Emperor Xingde had already decided that the two were destined for each other, so he could not argue about it in court and could only sigh.
After half a day of contemplation, Xie Qinghong had already decided on what to do: "Father, don't be sad. It's not necessarily a bad thing for me to marry into the South. But the benefits of 'sacrificing oneself' for the country must fall on our family. We can't let others steal my reputation."
"Ah Yao, what nonsense are you talking about!" Liang Yu couldn't sit still any longer. "Why are you going to marry someone from the south?"
“Mother, I’ve thought it over.” Xie Qinghong raised her head, her eyes shining like stars in the candlelight. “I don’t want to be confined to the inner quarters of Wangjing for the rest of my life. Since I’m destined to become a pawn, I’ll choose to walk my own path.”
She thought that even if Prince Pei had no feelings for her, he didn't dislike her either. Nowadays, it's rare to marry someone you love. She was quite satisfied with her bland marriage.
Although she dreamt of spending the next ten years in misery, she didn't believe it. First, it was Qin Heng's subjective speculation, without any factual evidence; second, she respected the Nanwang family for defending the country against foreign enemies and believed they wouldn't bully a weak woman; most importantly, she believed in herself.
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