Xin He put Ah Guai on her lap and fixed the slightly loose twin buns on her head. "Little Chaohuo seems not yet at the age of being interested in girls. I think it might take another two years or so."
For some reason, Mu Houchu’s smile seemed a bit cold. "I think he’s maturing quite early."
Xin He raised her eyebrows in surprise. "What do you mean?"
Mu Houchu said lightly, "What man isn’t interested in girls at his age? Might as well start considering marriage for Xiao Bei while we’re at it."
Xin He laughed sarcastically, "You, on the other hand, matured quite late? Isn’t it absurd for someone who only matured at the age of 24 to say that?"
Mu Houchu pinched Ji Xinhe’s face, seemingly hearing the sound of her grinding her teeth. "What did you say?"
Xin He laughed sheepishly, "I was just casually saying it, just casually."
Mu Houchu snorted lightly, then got up straight away. "Forget it, you handle this matter yourself. I have something to do, I’ll go to the study first."
"Mm."
Xin He then held Ah Guai and smiled, "Ah Guai, did you sleep in this morning? Did you miss class?"
Ah Guai hurriedly shook her head, "No! Ah Guai was even praised by the teacher today!"
"Oh? What did the teacher praise you for?" Xin He asked with a smile.
Ah Guai bit her finger and said, "The teacher said that Ah Guai didn’t come late today for a change."
Because there was no morning class today.
Ji Xinhe: "······"
Shulan entered and said, "Princess, Madam Song is here."
Xin He smiled, "Please let her in."
Madam Song was invited in, followed by Song Yalin. They followed the proper etiquette to greet Ji Xinhe before Shulan invited them to take their seats.
"Why did Madam Song come today? You were just here the day before yesterday for Ah Guai’s birthday banquet, weren’t you?" Xin He asked with a smile.
Ah Guai was holding a large apple, sitting quietly on the large Taishi chair next to her, nibbling away. She was very well-behaved – as long as you give her something to eat, she’d sit quietly and eat without interrupting. Xin He always found her easy to raise.
Madam Song’s smile seemed a bit worn out today. "On little Princess’s birthday banquet the day before yesterday, I was there on behalf of the Song Family. There were many guests and the Princess had no free time, so there were some things we couldn’t say."
Xin He was slightly startled and then said, "Madam Song, just speak your mind."
In fact, Xin He already had a vague idea in her heart. She glanced briefly at Song Yalin, who rarely followed Madam Song out, and seemed to guess Madam Song’s purpose for coming.
Madam Song sighed softly, "In the end, it is still about Lin Lin." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞
Xin He’s eyes flashed, as she had expected.
Five years ago, when the Great Prince first returned to the capital, his marriage contract with Song Yalin was settled, presided over by the Empress. The Great Prince didn’t even have room for resistance.
However, such a thing is not a big deal in the royal family, nor is it a big deal in the whole aristocratic circle. Marriage of sons and daughters is always subject to parental orders and matchmakers’ words. To put it more bluntly, this marriage is actually about benefits.
When Ji Xinhe married Mu Houchu in the past, the uproar she caused and the curses she received were essentially due to the fact that she couldn’t bring any benefits to Mu Houchu.
In such a circle, marriage is such a thing.
Although Xin He was very disgusted with this, she couldn’t change anything, nor did she have too much leisure to care about how others did things.
So when Song Yalin and the Great Prince got engaged, she just let it go. As for the Great Prince’s persistent attachment to Ah Lian, it was doomed to become a sacrifice of this era.
But who would have thought that things did not turn out as she had expected?
Or perhaps, the Great Prince was not as weak and submissive as she had thought. Even if he was a bit foolish, he was certainly quite stubborn.
Not long after the marriage contract was established five years ago, the Great Prince requested to go to the border, for the sake of defending his family and country. The Emperor, who was happy to let his less favored son gain some experience, gladly agreed. The Great Prince left for five years. This marriage contract was delayed and delayed, and five years have passed without Song Yalin getting married.
Five years ago, Song Yalin, then 15 years old, was the most sought-after lady in Yu State and was even known as the number one lady of Yu State.
Five years later, Song Yalin, 20 years old, has become an object of mockery and ridicule in Yu State and even in the whole of Da Qian. Unmarried at 20, with the Great Prince staying at the border for so long without even mentioning his fiancée, it seemed that he didn’t want to marry her.
Though out of consideration for the face and power of the Song Family, no one dared to say anything in front of Madam Song or Song Yalin, as time went on, such talk only grew worse. In recent years, Song Yalin could no longer go out because of it.
Regarding this matter, Xin He also felt quite the pity, she sighed helplessly, "As long as the Great Prince is still at the border, I can’t say anything about this matter."
Even if the Great Prince really returned to the capital, she wouldn’t be able to say much either. The current situation between Yu State and the court is already rather awkward, how could Ji Xinhe possibly speak up on behalf of the Great Prince about this matter?
Madam Song helplessly said, "I know the difficulty of the Princess, but if it weren’t for the utmost necessity, I wouldn’t have come with this request, showing my old face. Lin Lin is not young anymore, and she really can’t afford to delay. I heard that the Great Prince and His Highness have a good relationship. Could you please ask The Prince to pass along a message for us? Our Lin Lin is not a narrow-minded person if he really has someone else in his heart. She would have no objections to him marrying that girl as a concubine or side consort. His marriage contract with Lin Lin has already been settled, and there is no point in dragging this matter on any longer."
The "good relationship" between Leng Zhuo and Mu Houchu, which was formed when Leng Zhuo was assigned by the Emperor to Yu State to suppress bandits and was sent by the Emperor’s order to the bandit’s den, was a joke. After Leng Zhuo was "saved" by Mu Houchu, he became very grateful to Mu Houchu and occasionally wrote to him from the border.
In fact, Ji Xinhe sometimes thought that the Great Prince was quite foolish. How could he have thought that Mu Houchu’s rescue of him at that time was simply to save him? Now that Mu Houchu’s relationship with the court is so tense, continuing to correspond with Mu Houchu at this critical moment will only anger the Emperor further, won’t it?
It’s indeed justified for the Emperor not to like this son of his.
However, sometimes Xin He also felt that the Great Prince might not be so foolish, or perhaps the moment the Emperor ordered him to die in the bandit’s den, his heart towards the Emperor had already died. So he went to the border and continued to correspond with Mu Houchu, wasn’t it just a kind of anger and competition after all?
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