Chapter 592 Ning Prince's Proposal
Princess Ning glanced at her son and saw how anxious he was. She wanted to scold him and ask him why he hadn't done something earlier.
But with her son in such a sorry state, so anxious and distressed, it would be a lie for her not to feel heartache.
Moreover, now that the goals of the mother and son have finally aligned, why would she let this opportunity slip by?
Well, now is not the time to discipline her son; she needs to hurry and snatch him away!
There's no reason for the Gu family to snatch away the daughter-in-law she initially chose!
"Granny Quan."
Princess Ning spoke very quickly: "Go and invite a matchmaker to propose marriage to the Shen family. Remember, we want the second young lady of the Shen family, not the eldest."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Xiao Qingyuan finally breathed a sigh of relief, but he quickly added, "Mother, the matchmaker hired by the Duke's Mansion is the Lady of Anyuan Marquis. We can't hire a bad matchmaker!"
Princess Ning glared at him: "Do you need to tell me? Hiring such a bad matchmaker is not only disrespectful to the woman, but it also lowers the status of our Ning Prince's Mansion!"
Xiao Qingyuan chuckled dryly, "I was just reminding you because I was worried that Mother might not have any experience."
"I have no experience, but you do?"
“I have no experience either, but I just overheard people talking outside. They said that the Duke’s mansion invited the Lady of Anyuan Marquis to propose marriage, which shows that the Duke’s mansion values Shen Wantang very much. I don’t want to be outdone.”
Princess Ning was taken aback: "What? People outside already know that the Duke's Mansion went to the Shen family to propose marriage?"
"Yes, is there a problem with that?"
Princess Ning frowned: "Something's not right, this is very wrong. What kind of family would make such a big fuss about proposing marriage, and the whole city would know about it in no time? Did the Shen family spread the word themselves, or did the Duke's mansion do it?"
Xiao Qingyuan looked bewildered: "I don't know. Isn't this how a marriage proposal should be done?"
——
One hour later.
The Shen family welcomed their second matchmaker of the day—the wife of Cheng Yunda, the Minister of Personnel.
Shen Guannian was surprised and delighted that Madam Cheng would come. He treated Madam Cheng with even more warmth, thoughtfulness and respect than he had treated Madam Anyuan.
There was no other reason than that Madam Cheng's husband was the Minister of Personnel, in charge of the selection and appointment of officials of all ranks in the court. He was deeply trusted by the emperor, and whenever the emperor wanted to promote someone, he would ask Cheng Yunda for his opinion.
If Shen Guannian wanted to be reinstated to his original position or to advance further in his official career, he could not bypass Cheng Yunda.
This was the closest he had come to being reinstated to his original position since he began observing the mourning period for his father!
Normally, how could he possibly have any contact with Madam Cheng? But now, Madam Cheng was all smiles and extremely polite to him, constantly praising him for raising his daughter so well that the Princess Consort had specially asked her to propose marriage for the Crown Prince.
If it were someone else praising him, he would have gotten carried away long ago. But since it was Madam Cheng praising him, he didn't dare to get carried away at all. He remained polite and even unconsciously acted as if he were the one in a lower position, with a hint of fear in his tone.
Because Madam Cheng mentioned that she hadn't met Shen Wantang yet, he immediately ordered someone to bring Shen Wantang over so that she could greet Madam Cheng.
Shen Wantang arrived quickly.
She was dressed simply and modestly, neither humbled by Madam Cheng's noble and special status, nor complacent because of the successive marriage proposals from the Duke's Mansion and the Prince of Ning's Mansion. She bowed calmly and composedly, saying, "Greetings, Madam. May you be well."
Madam Cheng took her hand and praised her from head to toe, to the point that Shen Guannian began to show a smug look on his face, but Shen Wantang remained calm.
After Madam Cheng finished praising her, she simply smiled gently and said, "Madam, you flatter me."
Madam Cheng looked at her with some surprise. She had seen many girls, but this was the first time she had seen one who could withstand such praise.
She has a daughter of her own, who is a few years older than Shen Wantang, but her own daughter can't stand being praised like that. She either gets smug or shy.
Being able to withstand praise and being able to withstand criticism are, in a sense, the same thing. Both require inner strength, a clear understanding of oneself, and the ability to remain unmoved by external things.
Madam Cheng couldn't help but nod secretly. Shen Wantang's composure in the face of both honor and disgrace was indeed very rare. No wonder Princess Ning was so eager to snatch him away.
Half an hour later, Madam Cheng left.
It was already dark by then, and inside the room, Shen Guannian's white teeth gleamed in the candlelight.
Seeing his beaming face, Shen Wantang really wanted to roll her eyes at him.
Her voice was cold as she reminded him, "Father, a daughter cannot be betrothed to two families. You have already agreed to let the Lady of Anyuan Marquis act as matchmaker for the Duke's family, and now you have agreed to let Lady Cheng act as matchmaker for the Prince of Ning's family. If this gets out, how will you handle the mess? How will your daughter face the world?"
Shen Guannian desperately suppressed the upward curve of his lips: "Then what do you expect your father to do? Your father is of lowly status and has little influence. Do I dare to refuse the Duke's Mansion or the Prince of Ning's Mansion?"
Shen Wantang looked at him coldly: "Father dares not refuse them all, yet he dares to agree to them all. It's truly astonishing. So greedy, isn't he afraid of overburdening himself?"
Shen Guannian was so happy at this moment that he didn't care about Shen Wantang's sarcastic remarks at all. He even asked in a good-natured manner, "Then, Tang'er, which family do you think your father should refuse and which family should he accept?"
If her father truly loved her, Shen Wantang would tell the truth, but Shen Guannian didn't, so she threw the question back at him: "Which family would Father prefer his daughter to marry into?"
As expected, Shen Guannian didn't care which family Shen Wantang wanted to marry into, so he didn't take it seriously when Shen Wantang didn't choose.
He leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingers on the armrest, and said in an arrogant and conceited manner, "That naturally depends on which family shows me more sincerity! If you want to marry my daughter, you'd better give me enough benefits!"
Shen Wantang frowned. She really had a good father! She'd become so arrogant; she was truly courting death!
However, Shen Wantang herself was also quite surprised that the Prince Ning's mansion would come to propose marriage.
She was mentally prepared when the Duke's family came to propose marriage, after all, Gu Qianning had already hinted to her that Gu Qianhan was making preparations for it.
What's the story behind the Prince of Kening's Mansion?
She had never tried to curry favor with Princess Ning in her entire life. On several occasions when she visited the Ning Prince's residence, no matter what bad things Qi Shi said about her, no matter how much Princess Ning misunderstood her, she never explained herself.
She let the misunderstandings happen, because she didn't want the Prince Ning's family to propose marriage again.
However, she miscalculated.
She rarely miscalculates.
Where did things go wrong? What about Xiao Qingyuan? Why didn't he stop Princess Ning? If he had insisted on marrying Liu Nanshi, Princess Ning would have agreed.
Now that both families have come to propose marriage at the same time, Shen Guannian has become so spoiled that he doesn't even know who he is anymore. He even wants both families to give him benefits before he will agree to marry off his daughter!
Shen Wantang coldly replied, "If Father treats his daughter as a bargaining chip, a rare commodity to be hoarded and sold at a higher price, then his daughter will not marry into any family, lest she be ridiculed!"
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