The rough sound was extremely harsh in the quiet night.
Madam Gu outside the west warehouse did not leave. She had a tense face and stared at the swaying warehouse door with uncertain eyes. She could not calm down for a long time.
Besides the surprise, anger and irritability, I also feel more of a headache.
If the Lady of the Duke of England agreed to the conditions she proposed today, but she could not produce the jade pendant by then, would the Duke of England's family think that she was deliberately playing tricks on them? !
Just thinking about it, Madam Gu felt a tightness in her chest, as if something was stuffed in her chest, and she was holding her breath.
But she had no other choice now and could only coax Gu Yanfei in a gentle voice.
Over the years, Madam Gu had become accustomed to being the head of the Gu family. The feeling of being out of control made her feel uncomfortable and her face became even gloomier.
"Return to Cihetang."
She spat out these four words in a cold voice, and was carried back to Cihetang in a sedan chair. She was silent all the way and felt uneasy.
That night, Mrs. Gu tossed and turned in bed, almost sleepless all night.
For the next three days, she was in a bad mood. She kept sending people to keep an eye on Gu Yanfei, watching him spend a day sorting out everything in the west warehouse and building a small kitchen in Yuheng Garden. What's more, he bypassed the housekeeper and went directly to find people to come to Yuheng Garden to do some repairs. He built a small door in the backyard that connected directly to the racecourse in the northeast of the Marquis' Mansion.
All these behaviors challenged Mrs. Gu's patience, making her unable to bear it any longer, but she had no choice but to endure it.
The people in the mansion were used to reading the wind's direction, and seeing that Gu Yanfei was acting so flamboyantly, they thought that she was now favored by Madam Gu, so they began to curry favor with her, and even sent much richer meals to Yuheng Garden.
Madam Gu had no intention of taking care of other matters. She thought about the jade pendant every day, but she didn't know where to start... until the tenth day of the eleventh month, when a maid came to report in the morning: "Madam, the wife of the Duke of Ying is here!"
Madam Gu was shocked. She didn't expect that the Lady of the Duke of England would come to visit without notice.
Mrs. Gu didn't have time to think about it and told Li Ma Ma, "Go and welcome him yourself."
Nanny Li quickly agreed.
As a result, Li Ma Ma hurried away and hurried back, panting and reporting: "Madam, the Duke of England's wife brought a matchmaker here...she said she came to arrange a marriage for the third young lady."
What?! Madam Gu's hands trembled, and the string of Buddhist beads in her hand almost slipped off.
She originally thought that the Duke of England's wife came for the jade pendant, but who would have thought that this would happen! Madam Gu tightly clenched the Buddhist beads in her hand, and the anger in her heart almost condensed into a ball.
It is obvious that the British Duke's Mansion wants to make things bigger!
I'm afraid this time there's no way to end it peacefully.
Just as Madam Gu had worried, the Duke of Yingguo's Mansion made a grand display this time. The matchmaker they invited was the wife of the Prince of Yongnian. Not only that, they came with drums and gongs, carrying more than a dozen boxes of small betrothal gifts, and scattering money along the way. They arrived at the gate of the mansion amid the onlookers of the people of the capital, who surrounded the mansion in three layers inside and outside.
Because the Duke of England's mansion made a big fuss, word spread from one person to ten, from ten to a hundred, from a hundred to a thousand... within half a day, almost the entire capital knew about the incident.
The whole capital was talking about it with great relish: "Look at this scene, the Duke of Ying's Mansion attaches great importance to this marriage."
"When the British Duke's motorcade passed by just now, I ran over to take a closer look. Each box of small betrothal gifts was so heavy that it bent the shoulder pole."
"I followed him all the way from the Duke of England's mansion to here today, and I picked up a total of twenty copper coins, enough for me to drink a pot of good wine."
“…”
The conversation below was also clearly heard in a private room on the second floor.
Prince Kang Chu You, who was sitting by the window, had a fierce fire burning in his eyes. His right hand was tightly holding a white porcelain wine glass, almost crushing it.
With a "pop", the wine jug next to him was knocked over by his elbow, and the wine flowed out of the jug and spilled onto the table.
The young eunuch dressed as a servant hurried forward, cleaned the table neatly, and replaced the wine jug with a new one.
The atmosphere in the private room was depressing and one could hear a pin drop.
Opposite Chu You sat an elegant man of about 27 or 28 years old. He was wearing an indigo robe and had his hair tied up with a silver crown. He had a calm and reserved temperament. It was Chu You's cousin Yuan Zhe.
Yuan Zhe picked up the wine glass, his eyes flickering slightly, as he recalled the scenes of the Duke of England's motorcade passing through the streets with music and drums.
He took two sips of the wine, then looked at Chu You's indignant expression. He suddenly understood something in his heart and sighed softly.
"Your Highness, is this 'Miss Gu' the one you like?" Yuan Zhe asked directly.
The interests of their Yuan family and those of King Kang are naturally aligned, so when facing King Kang, Yuan Zhe did not beat around the bush and spoke frankly.
Chu You nodded silently, then suddenly raised his head and drank the wine in the glass. His whole body was as tense as a fully drawn bow that seemed like it would break at any time.
At this moment, his initial anger turned into panic, as if something in his heart was about to be dug out.
If the Gu and Fang families really signed the marriage agreement in person today, then would he still have a chance?! It is conceivable that once things develop to this point, the Queen Mother will not agree to his marriage with Meng'er!
There were surging waves in Chu You's eyes. He held the empty wine glass in his hand even tighter, wishing he could rush to Dingyuan Marquis Mansion right now.
However, Chu You still restrained his inner impulse.
He had already proposed to the Gu family once, but Mrs. Gu did not agree to it last time. He knew that Mrs. Gu valued and loved Meng'er and did not want Meng'er to marry casually. And he could not make any promises to the Gu family...
This was not the Gu family's fault. It was all because of the Fang family's aggressiveness and because he was unable to convince the Queen Mother.
Chu You picked up the wine jug, poured himself another glass of wine, and drank it all again.
The cold wine flowed down the throat into the stomach, burning the intestines.
Chu You calmed down a little, cast a deep gaze at Yuan Zhe, and slowly and firmly said the decision he had considered for several days: "Cousin, I want Chu Yi to enter the court."
As soon as these words came out, even Yuan Zhe, who usually kept his emotions to himself, changed his expression slightly and raised his eyebrows in confusion: "Your Highness?"
Chu You pursed his thin lips, and his eyes became darker and deeper.
When the previous emperor was still alive, when he first proposed to depose Crown Prince Chu Qi, half of the courtiers in the court strongly opposed it on the grounds that "the crown prince cannot be deposed without reason" and "the eldest son system". Most of these pedantic people were civil officials who came from humble backgrounds and relied on the imperial examinations to gain their fortunes.
Precisely because of the constraints imposed by these powerful officials from humble backgrounds, the late emperor had spent more than a decade laying out plans in the court and implementing the "Nine-Rank System" to gradually strengthen the power of the aristocratic families in the court, all in order to accumulate influence for him and wait for the opportunity.
The previous emperor's efforts over the past decade have not been in vain. Although the current Emperor Chu Qi has ascended the throne, he has not yet secured his position firmly. He has been suppressed by the aristocratic families in the court, making it difficult for him to move forward.
(End of this chapter)
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