Chapter 244 My biased mother wants me to adopt my younger brother’s son!
Si Yuan didn't care what the emperor's real intention was. At least on the surface, the fact that the emperor sent his trusted eunuch to send his blessings showed that he valued the Duke Chengguo and the Duke Yingguo. To other people who didn't know the inside story, it meant that Si Yuan and the Duke Yingguo were in the emperor's heart and were deeply favored by him.
This also added a bit of brilliance to Ning Fu and Lin Chengqi's wedding.
The third prince and the sixth prince, who came to attend the wedding, started to make wishful plans in their minds after learning that the emperor had sent people to send their blessings.
The third prince carefully analyzed the emperor's intention in his mind. He had vaguely noticed before that the emperor seemed to be a little afraid of Duke Chengguo, but now the emperor seemed to value Duke Chengguo very much. He even asked his trusted eunuch to bring a message to Duke Chengguo, and the tone of his speech sounded like a joke between friends.
The Sixth Prince regretted that he did not act earlier. He has not married yet. If he had proposed to Duke Chengguo earlier and married Ningfu as his princess, he would have gained Duke Chengguo's support, and he would have been able to suppress his old rival, the Third Prince, in the battle for the throne. With the help of Duke Chengguo, his father-in-law who has a sacred heart, his father would definitely value him more.
No matter what the two princes thought in their hearts, on the surface they both politely sent their blessings to Si Yuan and Duke Ying. As for the two newlyweds, they didn't care much.
The scene of Ningfu's wedding was extremely grand, with a ten-mile long red wedding entourage. Si Yuan had no intention of being low-key and married his daughter off in a grand manner.
Ning Yucheng and Li watched as Ning Fu's first set of dowry entered the Yingguo Mansion, while the last set of dowry had not yet been carried out of the Chengguo Mansion. Looking at the specially customized red wedding box that was a few sizes larger than ordinary dowry boxes, they knew that the dowry inside must be full, and their eyes were so jealous that they were about to bleed.
As the uncle and aunt of the bride, they naturally had to attend the wedding banquet. Although there were many conflicts within the Ning family, they would hide their conflicts in their sleeves. The internal struggles of the Ning family would not be exposed. No matter how unhappy they were, they had to put on a smiling face and congratulate their niece Ning Fu on her marriage.
Since Ning Chi's conspiracy to murder his own brother was exposed, although he was not formally punished, he consciously hid in his room and seldom went out. He was afraid that hanging around in front of his elders would remind them of his wrongdoings, so he thought about waiting until the limelight had passed before coming out to admit his mistakes and seek forgiveness.
Now that Ninfu is getting married, it is a happy event for the whole family. No one will say anything if he comes out now, so he just comes out and acts as if nothing happened. He even tries to carry Ninfu to the bridal sedan himself, pretending to be Ninfu's brother.
However, how could Si Yuan and Cheng allow Ning Chi to be the one to carry Ning Fu into the bridal sedan?
When Ning Chi brought up the matter, Si Yuan said without giving him any face: "Didn't Chi Ge'er fall ill before and recuperate for a long time? Although he has come out now, I guess he is still not fully recovered. I won't bother Chi Ge. I can ask the boy from the next room to carry Fu'er when the time comes."
Ning Chi's face looked a little ugly. He didn't dare to expose himself in front of Si Yuan, so he could only lower his head and reply: "Thank you for your concern, uncle."
So at today's wedding, when Ning Fu got on the bridal sedan, the person carrying her was her cousin from the next room in the family, while Ning Chi, the cousin with a closer blood relationship, became a spectator who stood by and watched.
Some people noticed this, but no one dared to say such offensive words on such a happy day.
However, many people who were interested in this matter took note of it. It seemed that the relationship between the first and second wives of the Chengguo Mansion was not very harmonious. Even when the first wife's legitimate daughter got married, the second wife's legitimate son was not allowed to carry the bridal sedan. Did they even tear the next generation apart?
Si Yuan didn't care what outsiders thought. He just wanted to keep the fig leaf intact and not affect the reputation of the Chengguo Mansion, thereby not affecting Ning Fu's reputation. As for what those smart people guessed, he didn't care.
After all, every family has its own problems. Who doesn’t have some troubles? As long as the lid is well covered, no one would be so undignified as to lift someone else's lid. After all, if you lift someone else's lid, there is no guarantee that the other person will not get angry and lift your lid as well, thus hurting each other and both sides suffering. It is something that everyone understands tacitly.
Moreover, even if Si Yuan wanted to protect his reputation and not affect the mission target Ning Fu, he was unwilling to let the people from the second house take advantage of his relationship to bully others.
Therefore, some external hints are still necessary.
Si Yuan's actions were not in vain. At least when the Sixth Prince who came to attend the wedding banquet saw that Ning Chi's treatment at Si Yuan's place was not even as good as that of a cousin from a different branch of the family, he gave up the idea of winning over Si Yuan through the second branch.
Originally, the Sixth Prince was thinking that since the daughter of Duke Chengguo was married, his niece was not yet married and was just engaged. He did not take the declining nobleman of the Yong'an Marquis's Mansion, who only had a title but no real power, seriously at all. As long as he could reach an agreement with the second branch of the Duke Chengguo's Mansion and let Ning Yucheng and Li cancel the engagement with the Yong'an Marquis's Mansion, he would ask for permission to marry Ning Rong as a concubine.
As the daughter of a mere fourth-rank official, Ning Rong was definitely not qualified for the position of principal wife. He was willing to give her the position of concubine because Ning Rong was the niece of Duke Chengguo.
Now he sees that even his nephew Ning Chi has no face in front of Si Yuan, let alone his niece Ning Rong.
The Sixth Prince immediately felt that Ning Rong was not worthy of his position as a concubine, and he also had to bear the reputation of stealing someone else's fiancée.
Ning Rong looked at Ning Fu's grand wedding and felt mixed emotions. Her wedding date was not far away, but would she be able to get married as grandly as Ning Fu in the future?
A wedding only happens once in a lifetime, so which girl wouldn't dream of having a grand wedding?
Especially when you see other people’s weddings being so grand and splendid, you can’t help but feel envious and yearning.
But Ning Rong knew in her heart that her wedding could not be as grand as Ning Fu's.
Not only was the Yong'an Marquis's Mansion where she married not as good as Ning Fu's husband's family, the Yingguo Duke's Mansion, but even her own status was far inferior to that of Ning Fu, the eldest daughter of the Duke.
Moreover, her uncle didn't want their family to get any benefit from him at all, and he wanted to kick them out before her wedding.
Since she couldn't marry from the Duke Cheng's Mansion, she could imagine how shabby her wedding would be. She might not even be able to invite a few tables of guests.
Ning Rong wanted to feel resentful and hateful, but when she thought about the horrifying truth that she had overheard her father and mother reveal when they quarreled, she didn't know how to hate her uncle's family, who were already the victims.
After all, it was her parents who did something wrong.
But Ning Rong was still unwilling to accept it. Her parents and brother did something wrong, but she was innocent!
Why did my uncle take his anger out on her too?
Why didn't they allow her to marry out of Duke Cheng's Mansion? Doesn't my uncle know that if she marries out from her own family after the second house is separated, she won't be able to gain a foothold in the Yong'an Marquis' Mansion and will be looked down upon?
When Ning Rong was lost in thought and blaming others for everything, she discovered that her mother was quietly complaining to her father about something. As if she was addicted to eavesdropping, she subconsciously moved closer and pricked up her ears to listen.
Then she vaguely heard her mother saying to her father: "I don't know how much of Sister Fu's dowry mother contributed. When Sister Rong gets married, she can't give less than Sister Fu. Sister Rong is much closer to her grandmother than Sister Fu..."
Ning Rong was too embarrassed to listen to the following words. Her mother was so blatantly coveting her grandmother's private property, as if she, as a daughter, had been close to and filial to her grandmother just for the sake of gaining her grandmother's private benefits!
But Ning Rong couldn't blame her mother Li, because she knew that Li was doing this for her own good, and that she was doing this to get her a bigger and more decent dowry.
As a vested interest, she is the least qualified person to blame Li.
But her moral values made her feel ashamed and embarrassed about such things.
But her inner reason told her that without her mother's efforts, her dowry would be very meager.
With all kinds of emotions pulling at her heart, Ning Rong finally chose to escape, pretending that she knew nothing.
Just like after she overheard her parents' quarrel that day, she chose to pretend that she knew nothing.
She instinctively made the choice that was best for herself.
Ning Yucheng was very dissatisfied with his wife Li's blatant coveting of his mother's private property, but although he was dissatisfied, he still agreed with Li's statement. His mother should not be so partial. She gave the dowry to her eldest brother's daughter, and she should also give his daughter a fair share. His eldest brother had a title and 70% of the family property. He couldn't possibly take the lion's share of even this little thing, right?
Under Li's overt and covert hints, Ning Yucheng never told his mother Zhang that he would personally ask for a dowry for his daughter Ning Rong, and just pretended that he didn't understand.
Did he really not understand what Li meant? No, he understood, but he felt that even if he didn't care, Li would definitely not ignore it. He just needed to let go and wait. Li would do this undignified thing, and he didn't need to do it himself.
Ning Yucheng didn't want to ruin the impression he had on his mother Zhang, so he let Li be the bad guy and he would reap the benefits. His mother would think that all the bad things were done by Li and he was just deceived by Li. He was still the caring and good son in his mother's heart.
Just like the previous plot to murder the heir of the eldest family and to seize the title, Zhang still thought that Ning Yucheng knew nothing and was being kept in the dark by the vicious woman Li.
Zhang was still thinking that if Si Yuan wanted to hold Ning Yucheng accountable, she would let Li die of illness to ease the resentment of the first wife. However, she did not expect that Si Yuan did not mention the treatment of the second wife. Zhang was lucky and did not treat Li.
Zhang and the second branch both thought that Si Yuan had forced the second branch out of the house, and the matter was over.
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