Capital city.
Le Yuanhou Mansion is extremely lively today. A lavish horse carriage stopped in front of the mansion’s front gate, on it was emblazoned with the character "Duan".
Obviously, it’s a carriage from the Duan Family.
Seeing this carriage, passersby couldn’t help but start to gossip.
"Ah, isn’t this the Duan Family’s carriage? If the Duan Family’s people are visiting Le Yuanhou Mansion unexpectedly, could it be..."
Lately, the most eye-catching event in the capital was naturally the marriage of the third young master from the Duan family; after all, he was currently a hot and popular young man in the capital. His marriage was naturally a topic of great interest. Duan Lan was in high demand now, and practically every eligible boudoir daughter from a prestigious family in the capital had extended him an olive branch.
Le Yuanhou Mansion was also one of them.
At this moment, seeing the Duan Family’s carriage unexpectedly stop at the front gate of Le Yuanhou Mansion, everybody naturally couldn’t avoid thinking in this direction.
"Not possible, right? I heard that the Duan Family had previously rejected many marriage proposals. Even Princess Mingyue, with her high status, was rejected! Why would they insist on being at loggerheads with Le Yuanhou Mansion?"
Duan Lan’s affiliation with Le Yuanhou Mansion had indeed become a big talking point in the capital. Everyone knew that Duan Lan was engaged to Li Junyao, the "legitimate eldest daughter" of Le Yuanhou Mansion, since childhood. However, it turned out that Li Junyao was a fake, and when the real Li Xinhe returned, they requested the emperor to grant them marriage, only for it to be snatched away by the powerful official Marquis Mu Houchu!
Logically speaking, the Duan Family and Le Yuanhou Mansion were supposed to be at odds, but the Duan Family was somehow able to swallow their pride, so selflessly gloss over the incident, and even willing to pick themselves up where they had fallen? They still wanted to marry a Li Family’s daughter?
Just as everyone was speculating with a puzzled expression, an observant man, dressed like a servant said: "Isn’t that the truth? You might not know yet, but the third young master of the Duan Family has already fixed his marriage with the second daughter of Le Yuanhou Mansion. Madam Duan is here in person today to finalize this marriage!"
When these words were uttered, there was a sudden uproar: "Is this true?!"
"Well, could there be any fabrication? Let me tell you, if my words today turn out to have a single error, you can assume my surname is yours! It’s just a pity for the hearts of those boudoir daughters in the capital, I fear they are going to shatter!"
You see, since Marquis Mu Houchu left, all the boudoir daughters of the capital had transferred their hopes to Duan Lan. Now that Duan Lan is also to be wed, their dreams are thoroughly shattered.
Immediately, there was a disgruntled voice that retorted, "What is so good about the daughters of Le Yuanhou Mansion that everyone wants to marry them?"
"Who knows?"
Amidst the noisy discussions of the crowd, the grand doors of Le Yuanhou Mansion thunderously opened.
Madam Sun of Le Yuanhou Mansion, with a beaming smile, saw off Madam Duan. After exchanging a few more words, Madam Duan finally got up into the carriage with a satisfied face and left.
Watching the carriage disappear into the distance, Madam Sun’s smile remained on her face without the slightest reduction. It was clear that she was extremely pleased with this marriage!
Madam Duan was also all smiles, pleased with herself. Although Li Junyan has a bit of charm, compared with the other distinguished ladies in the capital, she can’t be considered as extraordinary. As for her family, the Le Yuanhou Mansion had long shown signs of decline and can’t be considered good either. The initial insistence of her son Duan Lan’s engagement to Li Junyan or Li Xinhe was only because she and the late Lady Wu were sisters by blood.
Li Junyan wasn’t Lady Wu’s daughter, and Madam Duan wouldn’t treat her specially.
In this view, nothing about Li Junyan attracted Madam Duan. If Madam Duan did the choosing, there were way too many better choices than Li Junyan!
But Madam Duan was scared by Duan Lan’s attitude. During these days, how many desirable marriage proposals he had ruthlessly rejected. Now, a proposal finally remained, where would Madam Duan have the mind to pick and choose? She eagerly agreed at once, personally went to discuss marriage the next day, confronting the risk of her son suddenly changing his mind again.
Seeing that Duan Lan was approaching twenty years old, and his two elder brothers had already had children who were now running all around, but he had still been unwilling to get a wife, how could Madam Duan not be worried?
Whenever she thought of this, Madam Duan felt a headache!
Now, this engagement was finally settled. Madam Duan felt as if a huge load had been lifted off her, her entire being glowed. She went to tell her son the news as soon as she returned to the mansion.
"I personally went to finalize your engagement today. Both families have already selected an auspicious date. The day is set for the twelfth lunar month. The wedding day being some way off will allow us adequate time to prepare thoroughly. What do you think about this?" Madam Duan said with a smile.
It was currently the eighth month, so waiting for the twelfth lunar month was nearly half a year’s time.
Duan Lan sat across from Madam Duan, his face expressionless, he spoke in a quiet voice, "Whatever Mother decides is fine."
Madam Duan chided jokingly, "I decide? Wasn’t this your selection? You rejected all those proposals before, I didn’t keep any for you. Let me be clear with you today, since you chose the second daughter from the Li Family, after marrying her, you should treat her well and not disregard her."
"I understand." Duan Lan replied.
Watching his indifferent demeanor, Madam Duan felt helpless but decided not to say anything more. After giving a few more instructive sentences, she rose and left.
A moment after Madam Duan left, the, till now calm, face of Duan Lan gradually darkened.
Qingyun, standing to one side, distinctly saw this and couldn’t help shuddering, awkwardly suggesting, "Young Master... don’t you like this engagement? If you don’t like it, just tell Madam. Madam loves you and surely won’t force you or make you feel distressed. It doesn’t matter even if this engagement falls through."
Duan Lan curled his lip and scoffed, "Heh, I now have no say in whether I like or dislike this marriage."
A confused Qingyun asked blankly, "What does the Young Master mean?"
Duan Lan’s eyes deepened a bit and a coldness flickered within them. Now that he was deliberately showing his abilities in front of the Emperor, the Emperor naturally paid attention to him, and even intended to cultivate him.
However, the Emperor was a paranoid man, even if he had a clear view of Duan Lan’s spotless past and centuries of loyalty from the Duan Family, he still wanted to have an insurance, an informant in close proximity to Duan Lan.
Until the Emperor summoned him to the palace a few days ago and brought up his marriage matters, subtly hinting that the second daughter of Le Yuanhou Mansion would be a good choice, he realized that the Emperor wanted to implant a spy by his side.
Only then did he find out that Madam Sun of Le Yuanhou Mansion, turned out to be the Emperor’s woman!
In that case, the entire Le Yuanhou Mansion had already been under the Emperor’s secret surveillance right from the beginning.
Everyone said this Emperor was incompetent, but was he really that incompetent?
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