"What is she doing here? How would a country bumpkin who only became a county magistrate by sheer luck know anything about appreciating flowers and tea?"
Many of the young ladies present looked down on Xu Nian.
They felt very uncomfortable that she, a refugee who had fled from war, had become a county princess whom they had to greet and pay their respects to.
As soon as these two sentences were uttered, others immediately echoed them.
Liu Qingmei stood beside a cluster of peonies, her face covered by a handkerchief, listening to the not-so-quiet discussion of the young ladies from official families. Her expression finally improved somewhat.
Yesterday, her father returned home and specifically summoned her mother to the study. The two whispered amongst themselves, and when she came out, she saw her mother, day after day, quietly tending to her shop and dowry in her courtyard.
She was suspicious and kept pestering her mother for a long time before she finally got the answer.
His Majesty intends to bestow a marriage upon her and the Third Prince, and specifically sought her father's opinion. The Minister, accustomed to loyalty throughout his life, naturally had no reason not to refuse such a request.
Moreover, judging from the emperor's demeanor, he was determined to do so.
If he doesn't agree, he will lose the Emperor's favor and be unable to protect the entire Liu family, which would be a huge problem!
Although Liu Qingmei was in love with Gu Zhan, she was bound by her parents' wishes and the matchmaker's words. Moreover, since the Emperor was interested, even if she had objections, she dared not disobey her own father who had already agreed.
No matter what kind of county princess Xu Nian is, once she becomes a prince's consort, won't she have to kneel and pay her respects to me?
The morning court session of the Xuan Dynasty didn't begin until 9 AM, and Xu Nian and Su Wanting arrived at the flower-viewing banquet just as Lord Su and Gu Zhan were leaving the palace.
Military and civil officials have never gotten along well, and they usually leave separately after court.
Once outside the palace gates, Gu Zhan walked quickly, soon leaving everyone far behind. From a distance, he gave off an air of being detached from the world.
Seeing this, some people started to have their own ideas.
Could it be that General Gu himself whispered something in the emperor's ear before the emperor suddenly issued an edict to annul the engagement?
Even if it's just a guess, some people want to turn these superficial things into reality.
"Lord Su," said Wang, the Grand Secretary, as he approached her. "Miss Su is also seventeen or eighteen years old this year. I wonder if she has any plans regarding marriage?"
Prime Minister Su Bingcheng gave him a wary look.
This Grand Secretary is thirty-six years old this year, and was a top scholar in the imperial examinations a few years ago. His son is still young, just the right age to take the imperial examinations.
What the emperor feared most was that officials would collude with each other at this time to promote sons of noble families to power. Thinking of this, he subtly distanced himself from the two.
"It all depends on the child's own wishes." Su Bingcheng cupped his hands, looking completely at ease. "Even if our daughter doesn't get married, I can still support her."
Lord Su said exactly what he was thinking.
At first glance, Su Mu didn't think much of it, but after observing the people eavesdropping around him, he immediately realized something was wrong.
Who would believe that the Prime Minister would really be willing to let his beautiful daughter stay at home and become an old maid for the rest of her life?
Looking around, I saw several people on the left who seemed to be on good terms with the General of the Cavalry.
I don't know what they imagined, but their gazes toward Su Bingcheng were filled with a mixture of pity and, of course, a more purposeful, voyeuristic look.
"A military general spends his days fighting and killing enemies. How could he possibly understand a woman's heart?" Lord Wang's eyes darted around. "Prime Minister, please don't be troubled. There are plenty of fine young men in the world. Why worry about not finding one who is devoted to Miss Su?"
What he said was rather strange.
Although they didn't say much, the other military officers weren't exactly innocent either. What "wholeheartedly devoted"? Wasn't that a veiled criticism that Gu Zhan was fickle and easily tempted?!
The hot-tempered man couldn't hold back and rushed forward to yell, but was stopped by someone behind him. "Don't be impulsive, this is the palace. Don't cause trouble."
"A bunch of gossipy blabbermouths, what else can they do besides spreading rumors?" the man gritted his teeth in exasperation. "Their daughter was jilted, and everyone has their own plans. Why are you blaming General Gu for everything?"
The Right General was Gu Zhan's vanguard officer, and the two were usually the closest of friends. "You can't say that. The situation in the court is very unpredictable right now. Who knows what those censors are up to? We must not fall into their trap."
While the two of them were talking, Su Bingcheng and the others had already walked quite a distance away.
Su Mu followed behind his father, observing closely. The father and son immediately understood what kind of wickedness these people were harboring.
They would just laugh it off and brush it off. Those officials and literati who considered themselves upright scholars dared not actually say anything bad about Gu Zhan by name, out of consideration for their reputation.
Seeing that the father and son seemed completely oblivious and didn't respond at all, she didn't want to continue.
Once outside the palace gates, they parted ways, boarding their carriages and returning to their respective residences.
They were too concerned about saving face to criticize Xu Nian, a woman, but they wouldn't care about such things when it came to those ladies who had already made it big.
Madam Su, Liu Yunlian, had been wondering why, just today, after her daughter left with Xu Nian, so many people were sending visiting cards to her door.
Most of the banquets had only one purpose: to use the opportunity of appreciating flowers, composing poems, or strolling in the garden to find suitable partners for the daughters of various families.
Liu Yunlian arrived at the Duke's mansion after Xu Nian and the others, and didn't even go to the garden area to greet them. She let the maid lead the way and went directly to the front hall.
Many familiar ladies had already arrived. Upon seeing her, they smiled and gathered around to exchange pleasantries.
Apart from a few close friends who genuinely cared about her situation, everyone else was just using the opportunity to inquire about Su Wanting and the Su family.
"If you ask me, although this dynasty doesn't have strict rules about the separation of men and women, or the Three Cardinal Guides and Five Virtues," the wife of the Minister of Revenue clapped her hand, filled with righteous indignation, "this Princess Fu'an has really gone too far! General Gu has always been Wan Ting's fiancé, yet she stole him away. I wonder what that little girl is up to!"
Madam Yang from the Imperial Clan Court also stepped forward and chimed in, "It's true what they say, people from small places are just not polite. They can't compare to the children we raise in the capital, who are so well-mannered and well-educated."
"You don't know, the other day when I went to South Street to buy things, I saw those refugees. Oh my, they were all poorly dressed and in tattered clothes. It was truly indecent."
Upon hearing this, Madam Su laughed and looked at the woman who had spoken, who was not the wife of a vice minister. "Improper manners? They have fled here and it is already difficult for them to survive. Madam's words are like asking, 'Why don't they eat meat porridge?'"
Having made a fool of herself, the Vice Minister's wife could no longer maintain her haughty demeanor under the contemptuous gazes of the crowd.
Head bowed, she slunk into the crowd. A moment of silence followed, until the Censor-in-Chief's wife broke the silence with a smile, "Raised in seclusion, her experience is inevitably limited. But you must be vigilant. My niece is young and doesn't know how to discern, but as her mother, surely you can tell good from bad?"
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