Curious, Yuan Qi asked, "Why haven't we seen this Lady of the Duke of Zhenguo come before? Why did she suddenly send us an invitation? Is she trying to curry favor with us?"
The Jiang family is one of the four great families, and countless people try to curry favor with them, so it's no wonder Yuan Qi thinks that way.
After seeing off He Xiang, Green Bamboo introduced the Lady of the Duke of Zhenguo to Yuan Qi.
"Miss, you don't know, but the Duchess of Zhenguo and our Madam are very close friends. The Duchess of Zhenguo has given birth to two daughters and a son. The eldest daughter was even engaged to our young master. However, the eldest daughter of the Duchess of Zhenguo fell in love with a poor scholar. The scholar was very handsome and talented. Four years ago, he became the third-ranked scholar in the imperial examination."
"I don't know what got into the eldest daughter of the Duke of Zhenguo. She insisted on marrying this poor scholar Zheng Yiwen. She even came to our door in person with the young master to annul the engagement. The Jiang family has lost face. The young master has been unhappy for a long time. He is the commander of the Imperial Guards and has made military achievements. How can he be inferior to a poor scholar?"
Green Bamboo snorted: "Ever since then, Madam has been annoyed with that Duke Zhenguo's wife, and the two families haven't had much contact. Otherwise, with our young master's status, position, and talent, why would we have waited until last year to get engaged? That Duke Zhenguo's wife is shameless and feels sorry for our Madam. I don't know what's wrong with her lately, but she actually took the initiative to come to our door. Madam even accepted her invitation."
Hongshan nodded to the side: "What else could it be? I heard that the Duke of Zhenguo's son is not young anymore, he's seventeen, right? He's quite handsome. I guess the Duke of Zhenguo is holding this flower viewing banquet to find a wife for her son. Maybe she wants to marry the fifth or sixth young lady. Although the two young ladies are born out of wedlock, they come from prestigious families and are more than qualified to marry her son as his principal wife."
Green Bamboo hummed in agreement: "What you said makes sense. Do you think the young mistress will go this time? If she does, wouldn't it be very awkward to see Sun Qiao'er, who also returned from Qin with the young master?"
Hongshan shook his head: "Who knows? I heard that Sun Qiao'er's husband is still working as an editor in the Hanlin Academy, waiting for an official appointment."
She lowered her voice and asked speculatively, "Do you think it's because our Marquis is secretly targeting the Duke of Zhenguo, preventing Zheng Yiwen from getting ahead?"
Green Bamboo shushed her, saying, "Don't talk nonsense. This is not something we should discuss. We're just giving Seventh Miss a heads-up. The people in the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion are all bad, especially the eldest daughter. It's best not to talk to her."
The two women stood beside Yuan Qi, recounting all the gossip about the Zhenguo Duke's mansion over the past few years. They talked about how the Duke had a very beautiful concubine who had given birth to a seven-year-old son, how the Duke favored her and planned to make her son the heir apparent, and how the Lady disagreed, causing a huge uproar.
Yuan Qi listened to the two gossip and gained a general understanding of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion. It's true that every family has its own troubles.
"According to you, I don't need to go, right?"
Green Bamboo and Redwood were unimpressed; they looked at each other, completely puzzled.
Hongshan said, "Miss, why don't you need to go? You will also be looking for a husband in the future, and you need to show your face in the capital. Otherwise, who will know that the Jiang family has someone like you? Everyone knows that there is a young lady who studies Taoist magic, but no one knows that you exist."
Yuan Qi glanced at the two of them but said nothing.
Wen Zhujun waved for the two to leave, then spoke to Yuan Qi in a low voice.
"You really don't plan to get married?"
Yuan Qi gave a faint "hmm" and buried himself in carving the jade talisman. This Kunlun jade was given to him by Xiangli Youming.
Wen Zhujun reminded her, "When you were having your fortune told today, Young Master Jiu passed by our stall in his carriage. He stared at you for a long time, and even after the carriage had passed, he was still leaning out the window and turning his head to look. If you ask me, Young Master Jiu is quite nice. You're still young, so don't be in such a hurry to reject him. Didn't you see the look in Young Master Jiu's eyes when he looked at you? He looked so sad and resentful."
Yuan Qi glanced at her: "This has nothing to do with age. What's so good about getting married? Besides, I don't think the Ninth Master is that great either. He's just a little better looking than the average person and has a better family background than the average person. I don't care about either of those things, so why should I care about his feelings?"
Wen Zhujun chuckled: "Don't be so self-righteous now. You won't think that way when you're older."
Yuan Qi hummed in agreement: "Don't forget, I've lived for many years. I'm not like I look, only ten years old. I'm mature, and everything I say is carefully considered."
Wen Zhujun was dejected; she had forgotten about this incident and could no longer view this person with ordinary eyes.
Seeing her expression, Yuan Qi continued to express his thoughts: "Young Master Jiu is famous and comes from a prominent family. At only thirteen years old, he has already attracted countless young girls in the capital who are eager to marry him. Since he is so good at attracting suitors, I won't join in the fun."
Wen Zhujun had an "I understand" look on her face: "Oh, so that's why. That's easy to explain. Young Master Jiu isn't the kind of person who's promiscuous..."
Yuan Qi raised his head and quietly scrutinized the other person: "Why do you always speak well of Ninth Master? Have you seen him and been bribed by him?"
Wen Zhujun quickly denied it: "No, how could that be?"
She was secretly alarmed. Yuan Qi was really cunning; he could even guess this. She would have to be careful when she met with the Ninth Master again in the future, so that he wouldn't find out.
A few days later, it was time to go to the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion to admire the flowers.
Early in the morning, Xiangli Mingzhu, along with her prepared gifts, a daughter-in-law, and three illegitimate daughters, rode in a carriage to the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion.
Today, the Zhenguo Duke's Mansion was bustling with activity. Although the Zhenguo Duke's Mansion was not as prestigious as the Jiang Mansion, it was still a prominent family among the second-class nobles. Therefore, there were quite a few guests invited today, all of whom were women.
Lady Zhao, the wife of the Duke of Zhenguo, had already arranged for someone to wait at the street corner. As soon as Xiangli Mingzhu's carriage turned into the street, she would personally come out to greet it.
"We've been waiting for you!" Zhao was in a good mood. Behind her were her two daughters and a son. "Quickly greet Madam Jiang."
The two families exchanged polite greetings, with Yuan Qi following at the back, her manner rather perfunctory. She wasn't really interested in such matters; she was simply curious about the woman who had broken off the engagement with Jiang Juncai.
After Zhao's introduction, Yuan Qi realized that the woman was nothing special. Although she was somewhat attractive, she wasn't the most beautiful, and probably wouldn't even rank among the top in the capital. He wondered what gave such a woman the right to refuse Jiang Juncai's marriage proposal.
Feng Caiyi naturally knew about this matter. She was in a good mood. In terms of appearance and family background, Feng Caiyi was the clear winner. Moreover, Feng Caiyi was pregnant and had been pregnant for several months. If she hadn't come to stand up for her husband today, she wouldn't have come out to visit with her big belly.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com