"I will forever remember Father Emperor’s teachings!" Yang Mengchen solemnly promised.
The Emperor nodded in satisfaction, and seeing the anxious look on his son, he glared fiercely at him, "Later, I myself will send someone to Prince Mansion and Yang family of Anping County to announce the imperial decree for the royal marriage. Sun Chuanmao, instruct the Court Astronomer to choose a good day in the coming year for Prince Chen and Princess Chen to complete their marriage."
It’s already the end of the year, and the marriage of a prince is a significant event, naturally requiring several months of preparation.
Sun Chuanmao immediately left.
"Thank you, Father Emperor!" Long Xuanmo, grabbing Yang Mengchen’s hand, kneeled to express their gratitude, his heart filled with wild joy and relief.
With the marriage arrangement for her beloved grandson perfectly resolved, the Empress Dowager quietly breathed a sigh of relief, "It is rare for the family to be all together today, let’s have a good reunion meal."
Everyone naturally responded with joy.
Outside the hall, Long Yingtong and the three others, having waited anxiously for a long time, saw Sun Chuanmao come out with a joyful expression and hurriedly stopped him, "Eunuch Sun, has Father Emperor agreed?"
"The Emperor has ordered this servant to go to the Astronomical Observatory to select a wedding date..."
Before Sun Chuanmao could finish speaking, Long Yingtong and the other three, delighted, charged into the inner chambers, forgetting even to bow in their excitement. They excitedly grabbed Yang Mengchen’s hand, chattering nonstop, Yang Mengchen finally becoming their ’third sister-in-law’—how wonderful!
Everyone watched and laughed heartily.
Jing Prince Mansion.
Hearing the news that Yang Mengchen had gone to the palace, Prince Jing paced anxiously around the room, powerless to do anything.
Meanwhile, Mo Xiang’s eyes flickered with a hint of mockery and resentment, which quickly disappeared as she lowered her head, hiding her expression, yet the tight clenching of her fists revealed her emotion.
After the noon meal, Yang Mengchen bid farewell to the Empress Dowager and the others, returned to the Yang Mansion and told her two brothers about the outcome, then readied herself to return home. First, because her family was still waiting for news, and second, she needed to be home to receive the imperial decree for the royal marriage.
Haven’t seen Ah Jiu for more than two days, Long Xuanmo was nearly going mad with longing, wishing he could spend every moment with Ah Jiu, but with Sun Chuanmao following close behind to relay the imperial decree at the Prince Mansion, he could only leave with reluctance.
Once the imperial decree for the royal marriage was given, the entire Capital was abuzz.
Well-informed families had early on heard that Prince Chen was to marry a peasant girl as his Official Wife, some happy, some regretful, some delighting in the mishap, others watching with detached interest. Now that they learned the peasant girl had successfully grown four kinds of crops that could withstand drought and yielded high outputs, and the Emperor had awarded her the title of Auspicious Princess, commanding in the decree that Prince Chen shall have her as his only wife in this lifetime, forbidding any other women; otherwise, all of Prince Chen’s belongings would belong to her. Some people sighed at the girl’s good fortune, while others felt Prince Chen deserved better. The young ladies were full of various shades of envy, jealousy, and hatred. However, with the imperial decree issued, no matter what thoughts these people had, there was nothing they could do.
The common people, on the other hand, were very pleased. After all, Prince Chen was wise and valiant, and Princess Chen had done such great deeds for the benefit of the country and the people—truly a blessing to the populace.
Duan Prince Mansion.
Upon hearing the news, Prince Duan almost leapt up, "A yield of thousands of catties per mu, how is that possible? Are you sure the news is true?"
"Back to Your Highness," a person clad in black asserted, "The peasant girl said so herself, and Sister Jin also confirmed that there should be no mistake."
Suddenly sitting back down, Prince Duan’s brows were knit with gloom, his thin lips pressed into a straight line. freeweɓnovel-cøm
The several staff officers beside him remained silent.
Prince had secretly investigated the peasant girl long ago, and the results revealed she was utterly unremarkable. When they learned that Prince Chen actually intended to marry this peasant girl as his Official Wife without taking any other women, they were overjoyed for a while and even let their guard down. They never expected such a major incident to erupt now, which hit them like a bolt from the blue. Let alone Prince, even his advisors found it hard to believe.
"Mr. Wen, what is your opinion on this matter?" Prince Duan naturally understood that if those four crops were to be promoted, it would have a tremendous impact on the Imperial Court. Whoever was in charge would undoubtedly gain great merit. Unfortunately, the Emperor had directly assigned the task to his third son.
The middle-aged man known as Mr. Wen shook his head: "Not to mention the Emperor has always valued Prince Chen, but solely because these crops were grown by Princess Chen, the Emperor would only entrust Prince Chen with the responsibility."
"Prince, this woman is devious and cunning. We must eliminate her; otherwise, she will surely become a serious threat!" one of the Staff Officers suggested.
Who knew that Prince Duan would wave his hand: "This woman managed to deceive me and has made good relations with families of nobility like Grand Prince and others. It would be a pity to kill her just like that."
"Does Prince wish to take this woman for himself?" Mr. Wen frowned slightly: "The Emperor has already betrothed her to Prince Chen. If..." Should the Prince snatch this woman, it would certainly incur the Emperor’s displeasure and Prince Chen’s furious revenge, with the outcome being more loss than gain.
Prince Duan smirked maliciously: "So what if the marriage has been granted? I have ways to make her give her heart to me completely!"
All the Staff Officers flattered the Prince for his wisdom.
Only Mr. Wen lowered his head, and no one noticed the fleeting glimpse of inscrutable brightness in his eyes.
Jing Prince Mansion.
Furiously smashing all the valuable vessels in the room, Prince Jing’s expression was gloomy and fierce, his eyes sparkling with bone-deep resentment and unwillingness to concede.
At Zongren Mansion.
On hearing the news, Prince Su’s hand holding the black chess piece paused, then he continued to play chess with himself, his expression indifferent and calm, ignoring the daily quarrels coming from the neighboring mansion as if he were deaf to them.
Hua Mansion.
"Ms. Yang was the daughter-in-law I had set my heart on; I didn’t expect Momo to snatch her away, my perfect daughter-in-law has flown the coop," Lady Hua sighed.
Hua Yunfan also felt regretful: "Now that it has come to this, stop thinking about it. Maybe our family simply wasn’t fortunate enough."
"Not fortunate enough?" Lady Hua gave her husband a disdainful look: "I said we should secure Ms. Yang earlier, but you insisted she was too young. After all the procrastination, now look, a fine daughter-in-law has become someone else’s. This is all your fault."
"Yes, yes, it’s all my fault," Hua Yunfan admitted, knowing his wife had high standards and, over the years, she only took a liking to Ms. Yang. It was no wonder his wife was angry, especially since Yuyu was twenty-six or twenty-seven and still reluctant to marry.
Now that the matter was settled, Lady Hua had no choice but to accept it. But she truly liked Ms. Yang, and since she could not become her mother-in-law, she decided to treat her like a daughter instead. After coming to terms with it, Lady Hua personally took charge and began arranging the dowry.
With the elders away, Luo Jingrui and his two brothers, as the brothers from the bride’s side, also personally prepared the dowry for their sister.
After visiting several families, Yang Mengchen returned home three days later, accompanied by Long Xuanmo, Yang Chenghong, and their servants, alongside Sun Chuanmao and a grand entourage.
Although Long Xuanmo had already proposed to Yang Mengchen earlier, he still wanted to propose to her in front of everyone again. Additionally, the Emperor had tasked him with the agricultural matters, so he proceeded to go along with her.
In the midnight hour, in a government post station approximately a hundred li from The Capital, several masked men in black quietly infiltrated Yang Mengchen’s room. Glancing at her slumbering form, they exchanged looks before approaching the bed. Suddenly, more masked men in black burst in, and the groups were taken aback, swiftly erupting into a skirmish. Unbeknownst to them, another band of masked men in black neared Yang Mengchen.
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