The winding paths and corridors stretched one after another, and it seemed that they would never end. Minglan felt depressed and uncomfortable, so she simply stepped out of the corridor and strode along the gravel road covered with scattered snow, but she could not get rid of the depression in her heart.
It was almost noon, the sun was getting higher, and the sky was clear and snowy. There were many plum trees planted near and far. The fragrance of the plum blossoms, as light as floating smoke, accompanied by the coldness of ice and snow, slowly seeped into Minglan's nose. Minglan took a deep breath, and the cool fragrance filled her chest. She felt a little more refreshed, and then she slowly slowed down her pace.
Minglan walked with her head lowered. Suddenly, she heard footsteps, and then a deep male voice sounded above her head: "Sheng... Sixth Miss?"
Minglan was startled and looked up suddenly, only to see a man turning around from behind a thick old plum tree. He was wearing a dark red straight gown with flowing clouds and bat patterns, and the corners were trimmed with two-finger-wide dark golden brocade velvet. He was wearing a brown satin mink robe on the outside. He took a few steps forward, and the backlight on his tall and slender figure cast a huge shadow, and Minglan was completely covered in it.
Minglan took a few steps to the side and finally saw his face clearly. He was about twenty years old, with a straight nose casting a small shadow on his fair cheek. His eyes were narrowed into a line, the lines of his eyes were particularly long, but revealed a bit of impatience and viciousness.
Minglan's heart moved, and she finally remembered, and tentatively asked, "Second...uncle?" When the Sheng sisters saluted just now, they called him from the side of Princess Pingning.
The man nodded and said in a deep voice, "Are you familiar with the eldest daughter of Lord Yu's family?" His expression was a little unhappy and resentful, and his eyes were like nails. Although the end of the sentence was raised, it was not a question.
Minglan's heart was beating wildly, but she forced herself to suppress her anxiety. She bowed respectfully and said, "Old Madam Yu and my grandmother often worship Buddha together, and Miss Yu also often comes to my house." She didn't say anything.
The man sneered briefly, "Lord Yu, you're so arrogant! Since you already had an engagement with the Duan family from Dali, why didn't you write to inquire about it earlier? Why did you have to wait until they came to you to 'remember' this marriage?" His tone was filled with suppressed injustice and anger.
Minglan lowered her head and thought quickly. She knew that the person proposing marriage to Yanran was Gu Tingye, the second son of Ningyuan Marquis. Although he had a bad reputation, he behaved well for a while when proposing to Yanran, and even went to her house to express his sincere feelings. In the end, after trying for a long time, he still failed to marry the eldest daughter, and only gave her the second daughter born to his second wife.
He was not a good-tempered person. He had been holding it in until now and probably couldn't figure it out. Just when he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, he woke up and she changed her mind and married to Yunnan at lightning speed.
"It seems that Lord Yu is indeed a man who values trust! But why didn't you explain it earlier? You know, I don't have to have her!" Gu Tingye said sarcastically and punched the plum tree. The thick old branches shook off petals and dropped them to the ground.
Minglan took a few steps back, feeling the anger that he was trying to suppress but was about to burst out. She looked at his fist with bulging veins in fear and trepidation. She suddenly remembered the scene in the middle school textbook "Lu Zhijie Beats Zheng Guanxi". Her heart trembled, and she thought about it and knew that the words she used to fool Lian Jie'er would not work in front of this man.
She was silent for a moment before she looked up and spoke briefly, "At the beginning of September this year, a woman named Manniang brought her two young children to the Yu residence. Lord Yu vomited blood and fell ill. Then word spread of his engagement with the Duan family of Dali."
Actually, it wasn't that serious. After Lord Yu spat out the blood, he became more active. The Yu family kept this matter a secret, but when Lord Yu insisted on the marriage and promised his second daughter to him, Lord Yu wrote a letter, but Lord Yu ignored it and obviously didn't tell anyone about it, which would have been embarrassing.
Gu Tingye's expression suddenly changed, and his voice suddenly rose several notches: "Really?!"
Minglan nodded, then couldn't help but take a few steps back. This fellow's aura was truly intimidating. She figured he would definitely go back and ask. If Manniang was good with her words, perhaps she could salvage the situation. So she added, "I heard the young master of the Duan family seems to have a leg problem. If it weren't for... Lord Yu wouldn't have been in this state."
Ami Tofu, Taishang Laojun hurriedly ordered, hoping that no one would know that she had been so powerful in front of Man Niang.
Gu Tingye lowered his head, his face gloomy, as if lost in thought. Seeing him like this, Minglan quickly bowed and said respectfully, "Second cousin, I'll be on my way. You...take your time to enjoy the plum blossoms."
After saying that, without waiting for the man to speak, Minglan started to run. She didn't dare to run, so she could only lift her skirt lightly and move her short legs as frequently as possible. What did Lian Jie'er say just now? The stage was set up to the west of the Marquis's Mansion. Minglan looked at the sun. Although she was not good at finding directions, she was not bad at finding directions. She hurried to the west.
Perhaps it was in the midst of danger that human potential was revealed. Minglan was not confused by the winding corridors along the way. She just went west. Then, seeing the crowd growing, she grabbed a maid to ask for directions, and was safely taken to the stage.
All she could hear was the humming of the erhu and the melodious singing of the female lead. It was obvious that the play had begun, so Minglan immediately walked towards the stage.
It was called a theater stage, but in fact it was just a large hall with doors and windows wide open. It was crowded with people, and the room was filled with jewels and gems. The female guests had already taken their seats. In the middle were naturally Princess Pingning and the Sixth Princess. Then on both sides, there were many benches and high chairs in rows, and more than a dozen square tables with crabapple-shaped lacquer carvings. Seven or eight maids in blue brocade jackets were coming and going, refilling tea for the female guests or adding fruits and snacks.
Minglan turned her gaze towards the crowd and saw Wang sitting at the fourth table on the right, talking to a woman in a pink and purple floral wide-sleeved jacket, while Molan was sitting with a group of girls. Looking back again, she saw Lian Jie'er and Rulan sitting in the corner of the first row on the left, which was closest to the stage but farthest from the center. The two girls, one holding a tea bowl and the other holding a handful of melon seeds, were watching the stage with great interest and chatting a few words as they watched.
Minglan tiptoed over and sat next to them, pretending to be calm and saying, "Oh, I'm late. It's been a while since the ceremony started."
Lian Jie'er was so absorbed in watching that she said without turning her head, "It's okay, it's okay. We just sang the opening number. The main character hasn't appeared yet."
Rulan turned around and frowned, "Why does it take so long to wash your hands? Where did you wash?"
Minglan forced a smile and said, "If I had washed myself, I would have done it long ago. The Marquis's Mansion has strict rules, and the little maid was busy fetching water, scented soap, and looking for a dry towel, which delayed me."
Rulan snorted coldly and whispered, "You're the only one who's always bothering yourself. Stay put now and don't run around, or you'll embarrass yourself..."
Before she could finish her words, she heard a loud, long laugh that echoed across the entire hall. Lian Jie'er, a die-hard opera fan, was interrupted and turned back unhappily, saying, "Who's laughing so loudly? I didn't even hear Boss Hu's last sentence!"
Everyone turned their heads and saw Princess Pingning sitting next to Princess Jiacheng in the main seat, talking affectionately, like a mother and daughter. Princess Jiacheng held her chin high, looking around with pride, like a colorful phoenix, talking and laughing without restraint.
Lian Jie'er frowned and turned back to continue watching the show. Rulan pouted and whispered in Minglan's ear, "I think this county lady is too unruly. If Madam Kong were here, she would definitely teach her a lesson. This is also the royal family. Hey, I heard that the Sixth Princess is from a family of relatives by marriage. Her family used to be butchers..."
Minglan smiled inwardly. The dynasty had a clear decree that the children of relatives by marriage were not allowed to hold actual posts, and if they entered the court, they could not exceed the fourth rank. The son-in-law of a princess could only be granted a noble title and an honorary title. Therefore, princesses usually married into families with meritorious service and nobility, or hereditary military generals. Anyway, the children of these families were not in a hurry to take the imperial examinations. The real upright civil officials were just the opposite. They avoided princesses as much as possible, because once they married a princess, it was tantamount to announcing the end of their political career.
Old Madam Sheng told me that fifty years ago, there were two princesses. One fell in love with the runner-up in the imperial examination, and the other fell in love with the son of the prime minister of the time. The two young men were not only elegant, but also came from noble families. Even the empress dowager was attracted to them. However, when the two families heard the news, they acted quickly. One family immediately came up with an arranged marriage, and the other family immediately spread the news that their son had a horoscope that would bring bad luck to his wife. The marriage had to be called off, but anyone with a discerning eye could see that.
It can be seen that princesses are a kind of flashy high-end consumer goods, just like Swarovski's high-end crystal ornaments, which look beautiful but are actually useless. The royal family affection is weak, and how many emperors would care about their own sisters? If they were not from the same mother, they might not even have seen each other. For those noble families, marrying princesses is just icing on the cake. The prince consort cannot take concubines, and he has to be nervous about sleeping in the same room with a maid. He also has to watch the faces of his parents-in-law, sisters-in-law, and sisters-in-law in the family and be polite, which is very tiring.
The best thing about the Princess Jiacheng is that, as the only daughter of the Sixth Prince, if everything goes well, after her brother Xiaozong succeeds Dazong, she will not have to bear the various taboos of a princess, but can enjoy all the real benefits of a princess; her husband can still be an official and hold great power, and even the censors will not be able to openly attack her based on etiquette and law.
No wonder Princess Pingning is so enthusiastic.
"Ah!" Rulan suddenly exclaimed, pulling Minglan and pointing to the princess, "Yuan...Brother Qi is here."
Minglan glanced at Lian Jie'er, and seeing that she was not paying attention and was watching the show, she made a gesture to Ruolan to keep quiet, and then looked over. She saw Qi Heng paying his respects to the Sixth Princess. The Sixth Princess pulled Qi Heng to look left and right, up and down, and said a few words to Princess Pingning with a smile on her face.
Minglan could almost dub them, and she must be praising how handsome and outstanding Qi Heng is.
Princess Pingning was a strong-willed woman by nature. As she had no brothers to support her, she always wanted to compete with her sisters-in-law and uncles. She had disciplined Qi Heng very strictly since he was young. A prince like him would have already been busy with watching birds and fighting cocks, but Qi Heng sat honestly in his study, going back and forth to study in the capital or Dengzhou, regardless of winter or summer.
Qi Heng has been handsome and fair-skinned since he was a child, with an honest and filial nature. Whenever he visited various families, it was inevitable that female relatives would ask him about him. Princess Pingning was afraid that her son would be dazzled, so she usually did not let him have much contact with girls from relatives' families. She especially taught her son to be wary of those attentive girls. As for the maids in the room, the princess was even more cautious, guarding against them like thieves. If there was any frivolous behavior, she would either punish them with a beating or drive them away and sell them away, or even kill them.
When they were in Dengzhou, Qi Heng half-jokingly said, "Sixth sister is probably the girl I've talked to the most."
Rulan looked over there, gnashing her teeth as she sarcastically said, "Look? Princess Jiacheng is quite warm and friendly, just like the one in our family. Huh? But why is Brother Qi...? He seems unwell?"
Minglan looked up, not knowing what Princess Pingning said. She only saw the princess shyly leaning against her and smiling sweetly, her big eyes looking at Qi Heng without any hesitation, revealing a look of longing.
But Qi Heng looked listless, answering incoherently, with a pale face and a melancholy expression. The flowers decorating the ceiling cast mottled shadows through the sunlight, and the faint shadows fell on his beautiful jade-like face, as gorgeous and delicate as a girl's flower ornaments.
Minglan was slightly distracted.
When she was a child, he liked to pinch her little pigtails the most. When she grew up, he liked to pull her ears. When Minglan hid in Shou'an Hall, he went to pay his respects to Old Madam Sheng early in the morning and late at night, and bullied her when no one was looking. When Minglan moved into Mu Cang Zhai, he dragged Changbai and found excuses to go find her. She was greedy for life and afraid of getting into trouble, and was angry at him for lying to him and ridiculing him, but he still came back.
Whatever she liked, as long as she mentioned it to Changbai, he would send it to her in Changbai's name within a few days. She returned each item, but he continued to send it to her. Later, even Changbai stopped helping her...
Minglan glanced over casually and saw that he was slightly raising his eyes, his empty gaze looking at something unknown. Suddenly, he met her eyes across the noisy crowd. Minglan immediately avoided his gaze and turned to stare at the stage without any expression.
Qi Heng could only see Minglan's profile, her small jaw soft and graceful. He didn't dare to linger on her gaze and immediately turned away, but he felt a surge of blood rushing to his head. The Princess Jiacheng was talking to him, but he didn't hear a word. His pale face suddenly flushed, and he suddenly stood up, bowed heavily to his mother and the Sixth Princess, then turned and left.
The Princess Jiacheng seemed a little embarrassed, the Princess Pingning was also a little awkward, but the Sixth Princess was calm. The Princess chatted and laughed with the Sixth Princess while hurriedly ordering people to follow him: "This silly boy must be tired from the birthday banquet these days. Quick, go up and follow him, tell him to have a good rest!" This sentence was spoken particularly loudly, as if it was intended to be explained to all the female guests who were secretly peeping at the scene.
Before Qi Heng had taken a few steps, a large group of people surrounded him and asked him about his well-being. The Sixth Princess even sent her nanny who was skilled in medicine to check on him to see if he was alright.
Minglan sat with her head down, her palms cold.
——He is in the center of the crowd, surrounded by stars; while she is in a secluded corner, fragrant all by herself.
The road is wide and wide, so let's each go our own way.
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