"No, I don't want to marry him!" As soon as Wu Ruyue heard Madam Wu mention Song Shucheng to her, she immediately stood up from her seat at the dressing table and said resolutely.
During her lunch break, Madam Wu summoned Wu Ruyue to her bedroom to rest together. As soon as Wu Ruyue entered, she ran to her dressing table and examined her jewelry.
"So what do you want to do? You're already thirteen this year. Xiuxiu still has two years left. Are you going to wait until the imperial concubine selection? By then you'll be fifteen. If you go looking for a husband then, people will all think you're too old. First, settle down with Song Shucheng, and then your sister can try to build connections with a concubine. Maybe you won't have to wait until the imperial concubine selection to get married," said Madam Wu.
Upon hearing that Madam Wu was still preventing her from participating in the selection of concubines, Wu Ruyue immediately stood up and shouted, "No, I don't want to! I want to participate in the selection! Sister, you can't control my people like this!"
Looking at Wu Ruyue's flushed face, her large, beautiful eyes shone with a light that even the Wu family found too dazzling.
"Ruyue, haven't I told you this before? The Emperor is already over sixty, and the other relatives are all capable of being your ancestral fathers. Even if you were betrothed to one of them, you would only be destined to be a concubine. Furthermore, even if you were betrothed to a grandson or nephew of a relative of similar age, you would never be the principal wife. Do you understand? Our Wu family doesn't have that kind of background. Look at your sister, what do I have besides these things? I've spent my whole life alone, without even the chance to have a child. I don't want you to follow in my footsteps, Ruyue. Listen to me, marry a promising and talented man of similar age and live a good life. That's better than anything else," Madam Wu pleaded with a heavy heart.
"Sister, isn't Consort Niu also the principal wife? Why is she living so well? Sister, you gave up long ago because you're not ambitious enough, but Ruyue is determined to strive for something better." Wu Ruyue couldn't listen to anything at this moment. She had long hoped that she could be betrothed to the Fourth Prince, because she had fallen for him ever since she met him at the Yuanmingyuan.
“You! The kind of opportunity that comes with being a concubine is extremely rare. Haven’t you seen our father’s concubines? How many of them have had a good life? Anyway, listen to your sister. I won’t harm you. Song Shucheng is young and promising, and with your connection to me, the Prince’s future is uncertain. Promoting him will be inevitable. If you become his principal wife, you’ll have no shortage of wealth and honor, and you can bear children and raise them yourself. Isn’t that better than what I did?” Wu said, her eyes filled with anxiety.
Wu Ruyue dared not disobey Madam Wu's wishes for the time being, so she remained silent. However, she did not agree with Madam Wu's words. She thought further ahead, because she also knew that the Fourth Prince's position in the court was currently at its zenith, and he might one day be made Crown Prince. Therefore, Wu Ruyue wanted to marry the Fourth Prince even more, so that she would have a chance to enter the palace as a concubine in the future.
“Ruyue, your sister just got some white fox fur. But because of the concubine, Song-jie and I got better things. This year, I'll make you a cloak. And a fur vest from that gray rabbit pelt. Later, your sister will have the embroiderer come to take your measurements. Let's make you two winter robes in total. This is your first time spending the New Year in the Prince's mansion. Song-jie's brother will also be back for the New Year. You can get to know him then. Maybe you'll like him very much.” Seeing that Ruyue was no longer speaking, Wu-shi assumed that she had been moved by her words.
"Thank you, sister," Wu Ruyue said, bowing her head.
"Alright, Ruyue. Let's go, come with me to get your measurements taken," said Madam Wu, taking her sister's hand.
Meanwhile, Madam Song had already sent a maid out of the manor to deliver winter clothes to Song Shucheng, and also to tell him to come to the Prince's manor after his New Year's leave from the yamen. Naturally, she also thought about Wu Ruyue. Song Shucheng had seen Wu Ruyue in the Changyin Pavilion of the Yuanmingyuan Garden and couldn't forget her. Now that Madam Song had spoken to Wu on his behalf, and she had readily agreed, Song Shucheng was overjoyed. Seeing that the girl he admired could finally be engaged to him, he planned to use his first paycheck to buy Wu Ruyue a New Year's gift.
This day was the Little New Year. A dense rain of snow fell from the sky. Emperor Kangxi had made it clear that he would not return to the palace for the New Year; all the ancestral worship ceremonies for this year would be carried out by Prince Yong.
This news caused quite a stir in the imperial court. Was Kangxi's action a silent declaration to everyone that Prince Yong was the future crown prince?
As a result, the Yong Prince's Mansion became the place where officials from the capital and even the whole country most wanted to send gifts.
Song Shucheng bought a cotton cloak and went to the best gold jewelry shop in the capital. He wanted to give Wu Ruyue a hairpin.
"Sir, what would you like to see?" The waiter noticed him walk in, saw that he was a young man, and saw that his clothes were quite nice, so he immediately went up to greet him.
"I'd like to see your best hairpins. Do you have any new styles?" Song Shucheng asked.
"Of course! Our Jinrui Jewelry is among the best in the capital. Sir, come over here and take a look," the shop assistant said hurriedly.
This was Song Shucheng's first time coming to such a place to choose jewelry for a woman. Looking at the gold hairpins displayed in the large lacquer tray, he was a little undecided.
"Sir, who are you giving this to? Why don't you tell me? I see these things every day, maybe I can help you choose the right one," the waiter said.
“I wanted to give it to a young girl. She is only thirteen years old,” Song Shucheng said.
"How about this pearl hairpin? Look, this hairpin has a gold setting, and the head is carved in an openwork style. It's also adorned with two South Sea pearls, making it very lively and delicate. It's perfect for a teenage girl to wear." The shopkeeper pointed to a hairpin next to Song Shucheng.
Song Shucheng gestured for the shop assistant to bring it out. He took it in his hand, looked at it, and said, "It's not exquisite enough. Do you have any others?"
"How about this jade hairpin? It's carved from top-quality jade unearthed from an old mine. It's perfectly natural, with excellent translucency," the shopkeeper said.
Song Shucheng looked at the jade hairpin again and thought it was nice too. However, he didn't rush to buy it. Instead, he looked through all the jewelry in the shop and finally chose the jade hairpin.
"Sir, you have excellent taste. This hairpin is the best item in our shop. But seeing that you really want to buy it, I'll give you a discount. It will be eighty taels of silver in total," the shopkeeper said with a smile, as if the price he had just quoted was not an exorbitant one, but a special discount he had given him.
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