As soon as Lu Xian and his daughter Lu Tianjiao arrived at the front courtyard, they saw dozens of eunuchs, maids, and guards from the palace carrying several large mahogany chests, exuding an air of nobility.
Lu Tianlin was clearly unaware of what had happened. He stood on one side of the front yard, looking at everything before him with a blank and puzzled expression.
Seeing that her father had finally arrived, she hurried over to him, wanting to ask him something.
"Father has finally arrived..."
"Come and see quickly..."
"These……"
Lu Xian blocked him with a hand, then hurriedly stepped forward to greet the arrogant-looking eunuch in front of him.
"I was unaware of your presence, Your Excellency. I have failed to greet you properly. Please forgive me..."
The steward said politely, "Dean Lu, it's no trouble at all..."
Lu Xian then pointed to the several large and small red boxes that had accompanied the man and asked, "Uh... I wonder what the eunuch means by this?"
Just then, the eunuch suddenly announced in a loud voice, "Lu Xian, receive the imperial decree!"
In an instant, the courtyard fell silent.
Lu Xian, Lu Tianlin, and Lu Tianjiao all knelt down in unison, listening with utmost respect as their father-in-law read out the imperial decree.
The eunuch read the imperial edict in his hand carefully, word by word: "By imperial decree of the Empress Dowager, Lu Tianjiao, daughter of Lu Xian of the Western Qin Academy, is gentle and virtuous, talented and beautiful, and of upright character. She is hereby betrothed to Prince Xuanyuan Han of our dynasty. An auspicious day will be chosen for her to enter the Prince's residence as a concubine."
"What?"
"How is this possible?"
"The Empress Dowager? How could it be the Empress Dowager?"
Why would Your Highness suddenly agree to welcome Jiao'er into the family?
"Besides, the princess has just finished her funeral..."
"What exactly happened?"
Upon hearing this, Lu Xian's doubts went far beyond what he had just heard...
But what was truly happening before his eyes seemed to leave him no room for doubt.
Now, he seems to have completely forgotten how he got up and how he took the imperial edict back into his hands.
The eunuch smiled and said, "Miss is so fortunate to have been personally betrothed by the Empress Dowager! Dean Lu is truly blessed! Dean Lu has devoted himself to the court all these years. These boxes contain the dowry that the Empress Dowager has carefully prepared for Miss."
"Thank you for your generous gift, Your Majesty!"
Following the direction his father-in-law was looking, Lu Xian saw that the rather luxurious mahogany boxes looked so glaring, but he could only politely say...
"Alas!" At this moment, the old man suddenly withdrew his gaze, shook his head, and let out a sigh.
Lu Xian asked, puzzled, "Why is Father-in-law sighing?"
The eunuch's face darkened, and he explained, "Logically, since the Princess Consort of Qin has passed away, Miss should enter the manor as the new Princess Consort. However, the Prince of Qin insists that he will only have the legitimate daughter of the Yi family as his principal wife in this lifetime, so Miss has been wronged..."
Lu Xian listened without saying anything.
Firstly, even now, he seems to be still in a daze, completely unaware of the reason behind this sudden blessing.
Secondly, he knew quite a bit about the relationship between Xuanyuan Han and Yi Shangyun from beginning to end.
Putting everything else aside, right now, no matter what, Xuanyuan Han could not possibly agree to anyone's request to take another wife or concubine at this time.
Clearly, his father-in-law's words were a test, an attempt to sow discord between the Western Qin Academy and the Qin Prince's Mansion.
She glanced at him furtively, but seeing no unusual expression, her father-in-law decided to test her again.
"The Empress Dowager has chosen a date six months from now, the third day of the twelfth lunar month. This is an auspicious day for marriage. It is because the King of Qin claims that his deceased wife's body is not yet cold and he has no heart for marriage. Therefore, the Empress Dowager also thinks that this is good. She wants you to prepare the young lady's wedding dress and dowry properly. After all, she is marrying into the royal family, and these things are complicated and require time to arrange carefully."
"Yes!" Lu Xian finally echoed.
After a pause, the eunuch leaned closer and said, "In addition, since the young lady has no birth mother, she will be taken to the palace and the palace matrons will teach her in advance how to get along with the prince after marriage and how to serve her husband, so that she can produce offspring for the royal family as soon as possible. The Prince of Qin is not an ordinary person, and nothing can be taken lightly."
"Entering the palace..."
Upon hearing this, Lu Xian looked up into his father-in-law's eyes and his heart skipped a beat.
Instead, seeing the hesitation in his eyes, the eunuch quickly explained, "Dean Lu, you can rest assured. When Miss Lu was still young, the Empress Dowager was very fond of her. The Empress Dowager will treat Miss Lu like her own princess and will never let her suffer the slightest grievance."
How could Lu Xian not be worried?
Suddenly, he even began to suspect, no, he was certain, that this incident must have been orchestrated by his daughter on the day they entered the palace together two days prior, in her own cleverness.
No wonder she told herself earlier that he didn't need to worry about it; she had her own plans…
Upon realizing this, Lu Xian was astonished and silently thought, "My dear Jiao'er, do you know that you're putting yourself on the fire?"
But now that things have come to this, what can he say or change?
The consequences of disobeying the imperial edict were something he could not afford to bear...
Ultimately, it was all too late.
Finally, Lu Xian could only say silently, "In that case, I will have to trouble Your Majesty the Empress Dowager to take care of things..."
The imperial procession, carrying the imperial decree, finally departed from the academy.
Lu Tianjiao's mind was still buzzing, and she said with immense excitement, "I did it! I really did it! Brother Han, I said it before, you can only be mine for the rest of my life. Wait for me, and soon I'll be able to stay by your side every day!"
But when he thought of the concubine mentioned in the imperial edict, he felt a deep sense of regret: "It's a pity she was just a concubine! That wretched woman must be long dead by now, but even in death, she still lingers in the position of the Prince of Qin's principal wife."
"Hmph...so what?"
She turned away, but quickly recovered, and mustered her courage: "How could I, the eldest daughter of the prestigious Xiqin Academy, be inferior to a dead man? As long as I treat Brother Han well enough, one day he will surely discover my worth and make me his principal wife. The position of Princess Qin is mine!"
"Smack!"
Just as she was lost in her daydream, a resounding slap landed on her smooth face, finally waking her up completely.
Caught off guard, Lu Tianjiao winced in pain and quickly covered his face, which had turned bright red in an instant, looking at Lu Xian, who had delivered the slap, with confusion.
Even Lu Tianlin, who was standing to the side, was so frightened that he took two steps back.
Lu Xian, who had been suppressing his anger for a long time, was now furious and questioned her: "That day in the palace, did you secretly go to see the Empress Dowager behind our backs? What exactly did you promise the Empress Dowager?"
Lu Tianjiao has long since mastered the skill of crafting all sorts of stories and lies with ease.
She immediately put on a particularly aggrieved expression and said, "What are you saying, Father? I didn't! Why are you hitting me, Father?"
No one knows a daughter better than her father, so how could Lu Xian believe her words? "How could that be? Have you forgotten the Empress Dowager's character since you were little? You almost killed Consort Chun in that fire. Have you really forgotten all of that?"
It turns out that Lu Xian already knew about everything that had happened in the past.
But after all these years, he has managed to refrain from mentioning it to me.
For a moment, I didn't know if it was out of fear, self-blame, or even a lot of grievances mixed in.
Lu Tianjiao suddenly felt a lump in her throat and began to sob, saying, "No, no. Father, you've misunderstood me. This time, it was only because I learned that the Empress Dowager was seriously ill and bedridden that the Empress Dowager sent me over to ask if I would be willing to marry into the Prince's mansion to bring him good fortune. I thought that if this could help Brother Han, even just a little bit, I would be willing to try. That's why I agreed to become Brother Han's concubine. Do you think this is a transaction in Father's eyes?"
"She did indeed meet with the Empress Dowager alone!" Seeing that his daughter always forgot her mistakes and never learned her lesson, Lu Xian was both anxious and angry, not knowing what to do.
"Even now, you still dare to argue? I'll teach you a lesson today."
Just as Lu Xian was looking around for something to discipline him, Lu Tianlin suddenly stepped forward, spread his arms, and shielded him behind him, saying, "Father, no!"
Then, she anxiously urged Lu Tianjiao, who was still standing still, "Sister, why don't you kneel down and apologize to Father?"
Unexpectedly, Lu Tianjiao remained adamant, saying, "I haven't done anything wrong, why should I admit it?"
Lu Tianlin ultimately felt sorry for his younger sister who had grown up with him and didn't want her to be beaten.
He wanted to scold her awake: "Sister, wake up! His Highness the Prince of Qin doesn't like you at all. You won't be happy with someone you've forced!"
At this moment, Lu Tianjiao was almost crying with joy.
"So what? As long as I can marry into the Prince of Qin's mansion, I would gladly die. I know that His Highness does not love me. The only one he loves is that wretched woman, Yi Shangyun, but she is dead, isn't she? As for me, I am still alive and well. I believe that as long as I stay by Brother Han's side, there is hope. One day, he will accept me."
It was clear that she had made up her mind, and no amount of persuasion could change her mind.
For a long time afterward, no one spoke.
Lu Xian seemed completely powerless. After calming down, he only said one last time, "I'll ask you one last time, have you thought it all through? Even if you die, you will never regret entering the Qin Prince's mansion?"
Without the slightest hesitation, Lu Tianjiao said, each word distinct and forceful, "I was born a member of the Qin Prince's Mansion, and I will die a ghost of the Qin Prince's Mansion. I will never regret what I have said today."
"Remember what you said today. This is your own choice. Don't blame us for not advising you in the future!"
After finally uttering those words with a sense of helplessness, Lu Xian seemed completely drained. Weak and powerless, he walked towards the backyard with Lu Tianlin's support.
Lu Tianjiao was left alone, standing there forlornly, motionless.
It was getting dark.
Yi Shangyun entered a dense forest, went back and forth several times, and finally returned to the same spot.
At that moment, she had to admit that she felt as if she were lost in this forest, a place full of hidden wonders...
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