Feng Yuheng brought up the topic of marriage again, and Concubine Yuan was so frightened that she instantly forgot about the question of whether she would be a concubine or not. She stared at Emperor Tianwu, hoping that he would shake his head and say no.
Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. Emperor Tianwu not only did not shake his head, he even nodded, following Feng Yuheng's words and said: "I have also considered this marriage recently. Although I have no impression of the girl from the Lu family, Mo'er is stationed at the border. He chose the person himself, and I can't refuse his wishes. Let's settle this marriage. When Mo'er returns to the court during the New Year, I will personally grant him the marriage."
As soon as Tianwu finished speaking, the Lu family rushed forward and knelt on the ground, kowtowed and thanked the emperor. Lu Song also said: "I am grateful for your grace. In the future, I will do my best to be loyal to Dashun and help the emperor solve his problems."
Emperor Tianwu nodded, without saying much, but his eyes fell on Lu Yan, looking at her for a long time. Lu Yan had been keeping her head down, not knowing that she was being looked at by Emperor Tianwu, but when Lu Song spoke, he raised his head, and saw her clearly, and couldn't help but feel his heart in his throat, silently praying that his daughter would fight for her own spirit and not make any mistakes at this critical moment, otherwise if she made the emperor unhappy, the marriage would be cancelled, and the Lu family would be happy in vain.
Fortunately, Lu Yan also helped him by kneeling quietly, and didn't cause any trouble. But on the other side, Concubine Yuan, who finally reacted, collapsed and shouted - "No!" Then she knelt forward desperately, and was about to kneel down at Tianwu's feet, but Zhang Yuan winked at her, and immediately a palace servant came forward and carried her back. Concubine Yuan collapsed and cried, crying and shouting: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, you can't agree! How can a woman from the Lu family be worthy of our Mo'er! Your Majesty, please think twice!"
Her crying and begging did not arouse the slightest sympathy from Tianwu. Tianwu even looked at Yuan Guiren in disbelief and asked, "Isn't this exactly what you expected? Now that I have granted your wish, why are you asking me to reconsider?"
Yuan Guiren was stunned. When had she ever expected to marry into the Lu family? How could this matter today be considered a fulfillment?
Before she could figure it out, Feng Yuheng's voice came again, saying to her: "The lady of the prime minister's mansion is married to the son of the nobleman, this is already very good. Noble Yuan, what else are you not satisfied with?"
Noblewoman Yuan stared at her fiercely and said angrily, "It's all because of you! It's all because of you! Although I am now a noblewoman, don't forget that my son is still the eighth prince of the current era, the Prince of Sheng, and a general stationed at the border. How can a small prime minister's mansion like them be worthy of such a high position and power?"
Feng Yuheng shook her head, "Your Excellency, you always look down on others and think too highly of yourself. You said before that I was just a princess, and now you say that the Lu family is a small prime minister's mansion. So in your eyes, who is as noble as you? If the family mansion of the current left prime minister and the first-rank official is small, what kind of woman do you want the Eighth Prince to marry? In the current Dashun, apart from this princess and Princess Tiange, among the women of the right age, the daughter of a first-rank official should be the most noble, right? If this still doesn't satisfy you, then the only one who can match the Eighth Prince is a princess from a foreign country." As she spoke, she suddenly realized, as if she had thought of something, and then said, "Remember that on the day of the Yuexi Palace Banquet, you seemed to be very close to the Seventh Princess of the Ancient Shu Kingdom. Could it be that you have chosen the Seventh Princess? If so, then Ah Heng can help you ask for a favor from your father."
Yuan Guiren's mind was in a mess at this moment, and she couldn't think at all. Her thoughts were completely pulled by Feng Yuheng, and she followed wherever he talked. At this moment, when she heard Feng Yuheng mention the Seventh Princess of Ancient Shu, her intuition was definitely stronger than that of the Lu family, so she nodded as if she was being controlled by a ghost, but she heard Feng Yuheng say again: "Have you thought it through, my lady?"
Noble Lady Yuan had no ability to think, she just nodded subconsciously, but everyone present gasped, even the concubines present looked at her and shook their heads helplessly, as if they were looking at a hopeless person. She was puzzled, staring at Feng Yuheng blankly, and actually asked: "Aren't you going to say that you can ask the emperor for help? Why don't you say it?"
hiss!
Finally, someone below couldn't hold back any more, but they didn't dare to say anything, and only whispered. But Lu Song, who was kneeling beside him, was more anxious than anyone else, and he shouted: "My Lord! I, Lu Song, am a high-ranking official of the dynasty, how can you despise my daughter? Why is she not worthy of His Highness the Eighth Prince? To the point that Your Highness would rather ruin His Highness's future and let him marry a foreign princess than let His Highness take my daughter home?"
Lu Song's words were like a flash of light, crackling Yuan Guiren to a crisp, and even her maid Yuexiu couldn't help but whispered a reminder: "Madam, according to the rules of the Dashun Dynasty, once the prince marries a foreign princess, he will be cut off from the throne from now on!"
Concubine Yuan woke up with a start, and immediately realized that she had been fooled by Feng Yuheng again. She was so angry that she almost fainted. She stared at Feng Yuheng with eyes spitting fire, but apart from staring, what else could she do to the other party?
Feng Yuheng curled his lips and asked again: "Does your Excellency really want His Highness the Eighth Prince to marry the Princess of Ancient Shu?"
Yuan Guiren gritted her teeth and said, "Of course I don't want to."
"The Lu family's marriage..."
"The Emperor has granted me the marriage, so why would I refuse?"
"That's right!" Feng Yuheng smiled and said, "Since ancient times, it is true that mothers are honored by their sons, but my lady, don't forget that sons also prosper with their mothers! What Yuan Guiren should consider now is whether her demotion will have a bad impact on His Highness the Eighth Prince. In addition, she should also be thankful for being able to marry into the Lu family. After all, things are different now than they were before."
Everyone stroked their foreheads. It was not that things were different now, it was clearly that things were different now! In the blink of an eye, the concubine became a noble lady, and even her title changed from "Niangniang" to "Xiaozhu". What a dramatic thing, but it happened so truly. It was really... fate!
Seeing that Concubine Yuan had no intention of objecting, the Lu family thanked them again. However, Lu Yan plucked up the courage to look at Feng Yuheng, thinking in her heart, this Princess Ji'an was so helpful, could it be that she decided to agree to what she said to her in the morning?
In just a short while, a prince's marriage was decided. Before people could react, it was already a done deal. The ministers who had always stood on the side of the eighth prince had to accept this reality. After thinking about it, Lu Song was the left prime minister, so it was not a big loss. It was better than marrying a foreign princess. So they stood up one by one to congratulate Concubine Yuan, and Concubine Yuan was so angry that she wanted to explode on the spot and send all these people away.
After another incense stick of time, the princes and sons came back one after another. Some palace servants immediately stepped forward and counted the total number of huntings of each prince together with those who were holding prey in their hands.
Soon, the results came out. The fourth prince Xuan Tianyi won the first place with 26 preys, followed by the second prince with 18, the fifth prince with 11, and the eldest prince was mediocre, only shooting 6. But everyone knew that the eldest prince was not good at this. He was a prince who was engaged in business. The meaning of his existence was to make money for Dashun and to continuously fill the Dashun treasury. In addition, the eldest prince was always kind to others and had some business dealings with these people, so no one would look down on him for shooting prey.
In fact, people were thankful for their own sons at this time. They were quite competitive and did not really compete with the princes for rankings. They just fought a few symbolically, and that was enough for the sake of meaning.
As for the seventh prince Xuan Tianhua, the palace servants following him were empty-handed, and did not bring back a single prey. However, Xuan Tianhua was standing on the field in white clothes, not a single sign of being exhausted from hunting, nor panting like the others. He was calm and composed, as if he had not left the hunting ground just now, but was just sitting by the side drinking tea. For a moment, the ladies who followed him were all stunned, and some even wiped their tears on the spot, whispering to their mothers, could they find a way to arrange a marriage for themselves and the seventh prince today, like the Lu family did?
However, everyone wanted to marry Xuan Tianhua, but everyone also knew that Xuan Tianhua was the most difficult prince to marry. Even the Ninth Prince, who was considered the most difficult to marry in the past, was now conquered by Feng Yuheng, while the Seventh Prince was still as beautiful as a fairy, untainted by the mundane world, leaving them with nothing to do but watch.
Seeing that Xuan Tianhua had no gains, everyone was not surprised, including Emperor Tianwu. After all, they were too experienced. Emperor Xuan Tianhua rarely participated in this kind of hunting before. The few times he came along, he mostly stayed in the stands and drank tea with them. Later, he went out twice, but the first time, he only caught more than 20 small animals alive, and the second time, he simply used arrows without arrowheads to shoot, which were dyed with colors, so that the small prey brought back by other princes were first shot by him with the dyed and harmless arrows, which was very embarrassing.
However, who doesn't know Xuan Tianhua's temperament? People have long been accustomed to his hands not being stained with blood, no matter whether it is human blood or animal blood. In short, he is not stained by the mundane world, and he is willing to do this. The emperor doesn't care, so what can others do to him?
People thought that this time, the Ninth Prince simply did nothing and rode his horse into the hunting ground for a half-day tour.
It was Emperor Tianwu who broke the silence and asked Xuan Tianhua, "Hua'er, did you gain anything from your hunting trip this time? Or did you gain any insights?"
Xuan Tianhua smiled faintly and saluted Tianwu, then nodded, "I, your son, have also gained something."
"Oh?" Tianwu became interested. "What do you mean by harvest?"
Xuan Tianhua said: "Since it is hunting, then my harvest is naturally prey."
When people heard this, they became interested. Could it be that the Seventh Prince had shot a small animal? Killed a creature? Or had he seen blood?
Unexpectedly, the palace servant following Xuan Tianhua loudly announced, "Your Highness the Seventh Prince successfully released a total of 28 small beasts during this hunting trip!"
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