Chapter 480 The Marriage Agreement is Finalized
Upon returning to the inn, the Crown Prince of Wei immediately went to Princess Chuxia's residence. Gazing at the exquisite box, the brother and sister eagerly opened it with curiosity, only to find nothing of value inside.
"Brother, is Gu Shuyan deliberately playing a trick on me?"
Princess Chuxia took the nine-linked rings out of the box, utterly bewildered as to the meaning behind Gu Shuyan's gift. Coupled with her previous attitude towards Gu Shuyan, Princess Chuxia couldn't help but suspect that Gu Shuyan was deliberately teasing her.
The Crown Prince of Wei was stunned when he saw the silver nine-linked rings. He then picked up the brocade box and began to search it. He thought that Gu Shuyan would hide something else in the box, but after looking inside and out, he found nothing.
"I don't think so!"
The Crown Prince of Wei felt that Gu Shuyan was not the kind of person who would tease them for no reason, but what exactly was the Nine Linked Rings trying to tell them? Both the Crown Prince of Wei and Princess Chuxia were puzzled, but they were too embarrassed to ask her directly, so they could only focus their attention on the Nine Linked Rings.
After seeing off the Crown Prince of Wei, Gu Shuyan went to the Yun residence immediately.
When Yun Yichen returned home that evening, he saw Gu Shuyan as soon as he entered the house. Seeing her sitting at his usual desk reading a book, he quickly came to greet her, "Did you deliver the things?"
"Yes, it's been sent out."
Gu Shuyan nodded. With such a grand entourage from the Crown Prince of Wei to the Marquis's residence, it was impossible for Yun Yichen, the current Grand Secretary, not to know. In addition, considering their previous discussion, Yun Yichen asked this question.
"That's good." Yun Yichen said with a sigh of relief, and then hugged Gu Shuyan in his arms before saying, "Xu Yunzhi will be back soon, and I'm afraid the capital will not be peaceful."
Yun Yichen's words were light and casual, and Gu Shuyan couldn't help but look up at him upon hearing them. She had always wanted to ask Yun Yichen who Xu Yunzhi really was, why she always felt that there was some connection between Xu Yunzhi and Yun Yichen, and why Xu Yunzhi always gave her a vaguely familiar feeling.
But every time the words were on the tip of her tongue, Gu Shuyan couldn't bring herself to ask. She thought that if it was her turn to know, Yun Yichen would definitely tell her. Since Yun Yichen hadn't spoken, it just meant that it wasn't the right time for her to know yet.
On April 24th, the Crown Prince of Wei had been in Da Zhou for several days.
On this day, the Crown Prince of Wei, who had been wandering around the capital for several days, finally led a group of envoys to offer his advice to the emperor.
In the main hall of the palace, the choice of a marriage alliance that had been on everyone's mind for many days was finally brought up by the Crown Prince of Wei: Prince Xian, Lu Hexuan.
The emperor had been secretly keeping an eye on the Wei people's actions these days. Seeing that the Wei crown prince was getting close to the third and fifth princes, he was worried that the candidate would be one of the two. When he heard that the Wei crown prince had finally chosen Lu Hexuan, he breathed a huge sigh of relief.
If he was still wary of his younger brother a year ago, now he only feels at ease with Lu Hexuan. For more than a year, Lu Hexuan has done nothing but act like a playboy and has hardly ever shown his face at the morning court. If such a person were to have any ambition, the emperor would not be afraid at all.
Of course, some people are happy while others are sad. For example, Lu Youming and Lu Yuanbin frowned involuntarily when they heard the words of the Crown Prince of Wei.
Before today, the two of them had gone to great lengths to curry favor with the Crown Prince of Wei, and he had even subtly hinted that he would agree to marry the princess to them. But in just one night, the Crown Prince changed his mind, which was a real slap in the face to them.
"Since Your Highness has taken a liking to Prince Xian, then I will make the decision for Prince Xian and settle this marriage for now."
Seeing that the Crown Prince of Wei was a sensible man, the Emperor was happy to continue speaking in his favor. However, as soon as he finished speaking, voices of opposition arose.
"Father, you mustn't!" Lu Youming and Lu Yuanbin retorted in unison.
"Oh? Why not?"
The emperor was surprised that his two sons dared to openly defy him in the main hall. He narrowed his eyes and looked at the two of them with sharp and warning gaze.
"Father, I believe that in matters of marriage, shouldn't the princess's wishes be considered when choosing who to marry?"
Seeing that the emperor was showing signs of anger, Lu Youming was the first to react and quickly explained to the emperor, whose expression softened upon seeing this.
Looking at Lu Youming's subservient manner, Lu Yuanbin glanced at him disdainfully before kneeling down before the emperor. "Father, I have long admired Princess Chuxia. Today, in front of you and His Highness the Crown Prince, I wish to ask for Princess Chuxia as my principal wife."
Lu Yuanbin looked like he was going all out, but as soon as he finished speaking, the scene erupted in uproar.
If Lu Youming had said these words, perhaps those present wouldn't have reacted much, since the Third Prince Lu Youming is still unmarried and it's perfectly reasonable for him to ask for a foreign princess's hand in marriage.
But these words came from Lu Yuanbin's mouth. In the Great Zhou and even among the envoys of Wei, everyone knew that Lu Yuanbin had a principal wife. What kind of nonsense was it for a man with a principal wife to stand up and ask for her hand in marriage? Was he humiliating the princess of Wei?
Lu Yuanbin was still unaware of the consequences of his words and remained calmly awaiting the emperor's decision.
Before the emperor could react, the Wei envoy sneered, "Your Highness, the Fifth Prince of your country, seems to think that our princess can sit on equal footing with the daughter of your country's ministers?"
"I think the Great Zhou has no intention of forming a marriage alliance with our Wei Kingdom. In that case, Your Highness, let's go back! Our princess would not stoop to such a place and suffer such humiliation."
As the envoys spoke one after another, Lu Yuanbin finally realized that his words had angered everyone.
"Ladies and gentlemen, that is not what I meant. I sincerely wish to marry your princess, and I guarantee that Princess Chuxia will be the only mistress of the Prince's residence."
In his desperation, Lu Yuanbin's words became increasingly erroneous. He thought that for a prince like himself, changing wives was a trivial matter, and that all the men present should understand him. However, he completely forgot that this was not as simple as just replacing one woman with a legal wife.
Seeing his son's increasingly absurd words, especially in front of foreigners, the emperor was so angry that his hands trembled, but he couldn't punish Lu Yuanbin in front of the foreigners.
"Your Highness, please don't mind. My son drank too much last night and hasn't sobered up yet. As for the marriage alliance, I guarantee that I will handle it in a grand and glorious manner for the princess."
While the emperor was trying to save face for Lu Yuanbin, he also gave a wink to the eunuch beside him. Seeing this, Lu Youming hurriedly clasped his hands in greeting to the Crown Prince of Wei: "Fifth brother did drink a bit too much yesterday. Your Highness, please forgive him."
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