Last year, He Zhuo had already considered the issue of arranging marriages for his maids and had asked Yin Zhi for help.
Later, Yinzhi produced a list. At that time, Yinzhi had not yet left the palace to establish his own residence, and the list he brought consisted of people from the military.
He Zhuo thought Dong Hui was a good match. Dong Hui had a somewhat fiery personality, and if she married a junior officer like him, her husband would definitely be able to manage the family business well while he was away.
Unexpectedly, Donghui refused, saying that she only served her master. When pressed, she said that if she were to marry, she would want someone by her side who would care for her. She didn't care if she was a second wife or had children; she just wanted someone by her side.
So they had to put it on hold. He Zhuo asked Bai Xia, but Bai Xia insisted on staying by He Zhuo's side, saying that besides her master, she was only interested in medicine. He Zhuo thought about it and realized that Bai Xia was indeed a medical fanatic, so he let her have her way.
Qiu Fen agreed, and He Zhuo took it upon himself to arrange the marriage for him. The man was a Manchu, an ordinary bannerman, 32 years old, and a centurion, which was only slightly better than a common soldier, equivalent to a captain.
He Zhuo let her choose for herself. Several people chose him during the Mid-Autumn Festival. The others were curious as to why they chose this person. Qiu Fen hesitated and refused to say, but later she did tell them that it was because this person had no parents or children.
She wouldn't have to serve her in-laws or raise her previous children after she got married.
Qiu Fen agreed, but her parents were anxious. They would rather their daughter marry a servant than a soldier, in case she accidentally became a widow. So they asked someone to speak to He Zhuo.
He Zhuo let Qiu Fen make her own choice.
Qiu Fen was determined, and her parents couldn't do anything about it. He Zhuo actually thought highly of this man, but he was just a burden from his family. Two of his older brothers had died in battle, and his father had passed away long ago. When his mother heard that her second son had also died, she was paralyzed, but she still persevered and lived. Then, her third son got married, married off his youngest daughter, and then she passed away.
The family was managed by the third son. Before his mother passed away, she kept saying that she had not left any descendants, so he stayed at home. Finally, his wife became pregnant, but died in childbirth. He had no more worries, so he joined the army.
This man is capable of managing the family business, taking care of his sister after she got married, and caring for his paralyzed mother for so many years.
The other women that Yinzhi brought back were also quite good, and they shouldn't be wasted. Chunfen said frankly that he was still too young and would have to wait a few years. She said she would talk to her husband about marriage arrangements herself, and Hezhuo agreed.
He Zhuo thought for a moment. The four senior palace maids in the front courtyard had served Yin Zhi for many years and had always kept to their duties. They were also quite good-looking. If the eldest, Ping Tong, was not betrothed this year, she would be released from the palace next spring, as she was of marriageable age.
Palace maids, even after leaving the palace, rarely found good families. They typically left around 25 years old, and were either remarried as wives or concubines – that was considered a good ending. A worse ending was being kicked out by their brothers or sisters-in-law, or being sold by them.
They served Yinzhi wholeheartedly, whether because they had been threatened by Consort Hui before that they could not climb into his bed, or because they could see the prince's disgust for the palace maids who climbed into his bed.
He Zhuo was happy to grant them a good life. After discussing it with Yin Zhi, Yin Zhi handed the matter over to his wife and told her to handle it as she saw fit. He told her to let him know if she had chosen a suitable woman, and he would provide her with a dowry, since she was his maid.
He Zhuo couldn't just release all four at once, so he decided to first betroth the older Ping Tong and Ping Cao to other families, and then release the other two after they left the palace.
Ping Tong and Ping Cao were quite nervous when they came to the main courtyard. The Fujin (principal wife) never called them over, and they had been behaving themselves lately, not associating with the concubines and princesses in the back courtyard.
Upon hearing that it was about marriage, the two women were so excited that they shed tears. They had thought they would be leaving the palace like this, but they didn't expect that the Princess Consort was still thinking of them.
The truth is that Ping Tong's brother and sister-in-law have already found a husband for her, a 50-year-old man, to be her second wife. The old man's son is even older than her. How could she be willing to accept that? But she can't escape it.
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