Madam Xue pursed her lips, her eyes full of disdain. "To put it bluntly, Su Muyao is just an adopted daughter of the Su family. Our Zixuan is the second son of the Marquis's family, born of the legitimate wife. In terms of social status, she is marrying above her station. If the Su family didn't value her, I wouldn't even look at her as Zixuan's concubine. Making her the principal wife now is an honor for her."
If it weren't for the fact that her eldest son had already married the Crown Princess, Madam Xue would have preferred her eldest son to marry Su Ruojin.
Now, the only option is to settle for second best and marry Su Muyao, which would at least establish a connection with the Su family.
Madam Xue had met Su Muyao before and thought that this second young lady of the Su family was gentle and easy to control. She thought that marrying her would make her easier to discipline.
Seeing that Marquis Xuanyi did not respond for a long time, Madam Xue called out again, "Master~"
Marquis Xuanyi then spoke up, "Go if you want, but I'm warning you, if the Su family doesn't agree, then forget it, but whatever you do, don't offend the Su family."
"Of course I know that." Madam Xue didn't care at all. She had already given the Su family face by going to propose marriage, so how could the Su family refuse?
*
On the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, the emperor began writing, and thus the longest holiday of the year came to an end.
On the first day of court after the New Year, Xiao Chenyi issued an imperial edict to hold a martial arts competition.
Although the imperial edict did not say that the garrison would be rotated based on the competition results, it did say that even commoners who could achieve a top-twenty ranking in the martial arts competition could directly enter the army and serve as a centurion. This was a rare opportunity for martial arts practitioners.
With the imperial edict issued, many people began to have designs on it, especially disciples from aristocratic families, who believed that if they could seize this opportunity to join the army, their future would be limitless.
After all, not every child in a noble family can inherit a title, especially for some illegitimate sons, such an opportunity is even more rare.
If the top twenty can all be appointed as commanders of a thousand men, then wouldn't those with even higher rankings be even more likely to be given important positions?
This martial arts competition adopts an elimination system, with a set-up arena for free challenges, ending when the opponent is right. Anyone who wants to challenge can register to participate.
The final twenty will compete to determine their rankings.
As soon as the imperial decree was issued, long queues formed in front of the registration point.
The martial arts competition attracted those skilled in martial arts, but for ordinary people in the capital, the Su General's Mansion was even more worthy of their attention on this day.
Early in the morning, Lady Anguo arrived at General Su's mansion, accompanied by a red carpet that stretched all the way from the Regent's mansion to General Su's mansion.
Behind Lady Anguo were rows of sandalwood chests adorned with large red silk flowers.
The first batch of betrothal gifts has already entered General Su's mansion, while the next batch is still waiting in line to leave the Regent's mansion.
The people of the capital had never seen such a scene of betrothal, and they all gathered around.
Curious villagers carried and counted the betrothal gifts.
"Two hundred and eight people carried it! My God, two hundred and eight people carried it!"
For ordinary people, a dowry of six or eight loads was considered very good. For ordinary officials, the dowry ranged from sixteen to thirty-six loads, while for prominent families, it was usually forty-eight or sixty-six loads.
Even the betrothal gifts the Emperor gave to the former Empress were only ninety-nine loads, but the Regent's Palace sent out two hundred and eight loads of betrothal gifts. It's as if they're going to empty the entire Regent's Palace!
At the entrance of General Su's mansion, the master of ceremonies read out the betrothal gift list one by one.
"The Regent Prince hereby extends a betrothal gift to Princess Chang Le of General Su's household: ten thousand taels of gold, one hundred thousand taels of silver, ten bolts of shimmering brocade, ten bolts of soft silk gauze, ten bolts of Persian brocade... ten pairs of imperial green jadeite bracelets, ten pairs of gold vermilion bird bracelets, ten bushels of pearls from the East Sea, one bushel of luminous pearls from the South Sea... ten gold and kingfisher feather auspicious cloud hairpins, ten jade, glass and agate hair ornaments..."
Each item that was announced shocked the onlookers; some of them were things they had never even heard of before, let alone seen.
Besides the numerous betrothal gifts, there were also a huanghuali peony-patterned Luohan bed, a zitan cloud-inlaid jade chaise lounge, a golden nanmu square table, a lacquered ivory carved screen, a half-person-high Guanyin statue carved from a single piece of Hetian jade, and a whole natural red coral tree...
The betrothal gifts quickly filled the general's mansion's storerooms and courtyard, and people continued to send them over.
A careful person calculated that the Regent's betrothal gifts would be enough to cover not just ten li, but thirty li.
The Regent's Palace's engagement this time will likely be an unparalleled event in the Great Chu.
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