Chapter 154 Prince Chun's Suspicion
Li Nuo claimed that he was innocent after being scolded by Li Anning for no reason.
Men should get married when they are old enough, and women should get married when they are old enough. What can he do?
Find a reason to arrest the nosy official in the Ministry of Rites, give him a good beating, and make him mind his own business instead of worrying about the princess' marriage?
The Ministry of Rites is responsible for these things; it is their duty to arrange the master's marriage.
Li Nuo also had no ability to interfere in such national affairs.
To put it bluntly, what else does he have besides a father who has utmost power?
Without his father, he is nothing.
However, Li Nuo felt a little uncomfortable when he thought about Li An Ning getting married in the future.
Although this is unpleasant and unreasonable.
After all, she was the person he had called "wife" countless times...
While Li Nuo was lost in thought, Li Anning knocked on the table with his knuckles, pointed at the painting, and said, "There's something wrong with your painting."
Li Nuo came back to his senses.
Does she understand painting? So she says his painting is wrong?
Li Nuo looked at her and asked, "What's wrong?"
Li Anning pointed at the phoenix and herself in the painting, puffed out her chest slightly, and asked, "Do you think you painted it right?"
At first, Li Nuo didn't notice anything wrong.
But her chest-straightening action clearly had a hidden meaning.
Li Nuo looked at the drawing, and then found that he had indeed not handled some details of the painting well.
Whether it is a painting of Li Anning alone or a painting of the phoenix alone, there is nothing wrong with this painting.
But when two people appear in the same painting, some details need to be paid attention to.
For example, the curve of Her Royal Highness the Princess' chest is slightly larger than that of the Phoenix. Although not much, it is definitely larger.
Li Nuo did not reflect this feature in his painting.
Not only does it fail to reflect the actual situation, the curvature of the Phoenix appears to be even larger.
This is contrary to the actual situation. Fortunately, Li Nuo only drew the outline of the body, so it is still time to change it now.
Li Nuo crumpled up the draft and threw it into the trash can.
He took a new piece of rice paper and quickly outlined their body curves again.
After looking at the curves of the two people's chests in the painting, Li Anning nodded with satisfaction, turned and left the room.
After painting for a while, Li Nuo felt his eyes a little sore, so he walked out of the room and planned to relax his eyes.
The lady is still learning painting with Fenghuang in the pavilion.
Li Anning and Muring'er were jumping rope in the yard.
Learning to paint is not interesting. Li Nuo stood aside and watched them skipping rope. His eyes followed the rhythm of Li An Ning's skipping, left and right, up and down...
After passively doing a set of eye exercises, I felt my eyes felt much better.
Li Nuo returned to the room and continued painting.
When drawing the lady, Li Nuo hesitated for a moment, then shook his wrist and added a little curve to her figure.
The lady actually has something special, but maybe she doesn't want it to get in the way when she's practicing, so she usually wears a tight bra binder, so it doesn't look so obvious.
But even so, there is still a big gap compared to Fenghuang and Li Anning.
Without this addition to her, the painting would look too cruel.
The finished painting was not suitable for his wife, nor for Li An Ning and Feng Huang, so Li Nuo kept it for himself.
The next day, he went out in the afternoon and did not go to the Ministry of Justice, but went straight to the Dali Temple.
Li Nuo is increasingly able to understand why the second-generation officials and rich people always like to compete with their fathers.
Whenever he encountered something he was powerless to do anything about, the first person he thought of was his father.
He really had no good way to deal with the matter that Li Anning asked him to do.
When Li Nuo walked into the office of the Dali Temple Minister, his father was playing chess with Prince Chun.
When it comes to Go, Li Nuo can only be said to understand the rules but is not a master of it. He and Mu'er usually play Gobang.
Prince Chun was playing chess when he asked, "It's boring to watch us play chess. What do you want to talk to your father about? Tell me..."
Li Nuo stood aside and said, "You guys go down first, I'm not in a hurry."
After the two finished playing a round, Li Nuo asked, "Dad, Uncle Prince Chun, I heard that the court is going to choose a consort for Princess An Ning?"
Prince Chun nodded and said, "You've heard about it, too. Time flies. It seems like she was still crawling on the ground a few years ago, and now she's eighteen. It's time to choose a consort for her..."
Li Nuo coughed lightly and said, "The princess told me that she doesn't want to get married yet."
Prince Chun was slightly stunned and asked, "Why did An Ning tell you that she didn't want to get married?"
“…”
Li Nuo said: "We are friends, she asked me to help her think of a solution."
Prince Chun shook his head and said, "She was born in an imperial family, so it is not up to her to marry or not. Princesses have always chosen their prince consorts before they turn 18. It is too late for An Ning. The Ministry of Rites is already drafting candidates for the prince consorts. They should mention it at the next court meeting..."
When a princess of Daxia reaches marriageable age, unless His Majesty has made a designation, a list will generally be drawn up by the Ministry of Rites.
The Ministry of Rites will select several candidates for the title of Prince Consort based on their age, family background, conduct, etc., go through the process at the court meeting, and hand the final list to His Majesty, who will then choose a Prince Consort.
He looked at Li Nuo and said, "If An Ning has a favorite candidate, you can just tell me, and I will ask the Ministry of Rites to add that person's name..."
Originally this was against the rules, but for An Ning's future happiness, he, as his brother, could make an exception for him.
Li Nuo said: "She said she wanted to wait a little longer."
Prince Chun asked in confusion, "What are you waiting for?"
Li Nuo shook his head: "I don't know."
It was because he asked her this question that she got angry with him.
He simply conveyed her words verbatim.
At this time, Li Xuanjing nodded and said, "I understand, you go back first..."
His father did not have as many problems as Prince Chun. Li Nuo believed that he understood what he meant and left with peace of mind.
After Li Nuo left, Prince Chun stroked his chin and murmured, "An Ning doesn't want to get married, so why let him say that? Will there be any problem between the two of them?"
Before he finished speaking, he shook his head and said, "He's already married, but he can't be a prince consort. Besides, there's a generation gap. In fact, he should call her Aunt An Ning. I must be overthinking..."
…
The Imperial Palace.
At the mid-month court meeting.
Today's court meeting has been going on for a long time.
The spring examination is approaching, and after the spring examination, there will be the imperial examination. By then, it will be the busiest time for all departments of the court, and detailed matters need to be arranged several months in advance.
The court meeting was about to end when the Minister of Rites came out, holding a memorial in his hand, and said, "Princess An Ning is already eighteen years old and has reached the age of marriage. The Ministry of Rites has preliminarily selected five potential princes-in-law. The names are as follows..."
"Zhao Jun, the son of the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, is nineteen years old, has noble character, and is known for his filial piety..."
"Zhang Xiande, grandson of Zhang Lian, the Grand Secretary of the Hongwen Academy, is eighteen years old, with outstanding talent and both civil and military skills..."
"Wei Yue, the son of the Minister of the Imperial Household, is seventeen years old, kind and honest, with both good character and good looks..."
…
When the imperial court was selecting a princess's husband, it had certain requirements for talent, appearance, character, and family background. Those selected by the Ministry of Rites were all young talents among the children of officials in Chang'an.
After the Minister of Rites finished reading the information about the prospective princes-in-law, he asked, "My Lords, do you have any objections to the list of the five prospective princes-in-law?"
Although the Minister of Rites said so, generally speaking, this is just a formality.
The candidates for the prince consort are carefully selected by the Ministry of Rites, so there won't be any problems.
If one opposes at this time, it means either one has a life-and-death feud with the future prince consort's family, or one is deliberately looking for trouble with the Ministry of Rites.
Seeing that no one objected, the Minister of Rites spoke again: "Since..."
"I have objections."
In front of the hall, a figure walked out slowly.
Upon seeing this, the Minister of Rites trembled slightly and swallowed back the words that were about to come out of his mouth.
Other officials in the court also looked at Li Xuanjing in surprise.
The Minister of Rites moved his throat and asked carefully, "Master Li, please speak."
Li Xuanjing said calmly, "Princess An Ning is beautiful and graceful. Although she is young, she has reached the fourth realm of cultivation. Even if you look at other countries, she is a rare and extraordinary woman. The future prince consort selected by the Ministry of Rites is also a young and outstanding person, but he is far from the princess and is not worthy of the status of a prince consort. If we make a hasty decision, it will not only wrong the princess, but also be disrespectful to the royal family."
Several officials from the Ministry of Rites fell into deep thought.
What the Dali Temple Minister said makes sense.
He rarely speaks reason in the court.
But even if she is a rare girl, she still has to get married. The eldest daughter of the Song family is a rare girl, but she married your son. Why do you act hypocritically when it comes to the princess?
Just as the Minister of Rites was about to speak, Li Xuanjing glanced around, randomly locked onto an official, and asked, "What do you think, my Lords?"
The official shuddered. He was talking about the gentlemen, but he was looking at him. He immediately said, "Master Li, what you said makes sense!"
Li Xuanjing's eyes swept across a row of officials.
As their eyes wandered, everyone started to speak.
"Master Li is right."
"The selection of the Ministry of Rites was too hasty..."
"None of these candidates are worthy of Princess An Ning."
…
The Ministry of Rites can ignore one person's objection.
But a group of people opposed it, especially the Chief Justice of the Dali Temple, so they had to go back and re-elect.
The next court meeting will be in ten days.
This delay will last at least another ten days.
The Minister of Rites sighed inwardly and could only say: "Since so many people are against it, the Ministry of Rites will draw up a new list..."
(End of this chapter)
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