Chapter 134 Life History

As soon as Princess Taiping finished speaking, whispers immediately rang out in the banquet hall. The female guests were either shy or smiling, their eyes sparkling, and they were obviously looking forward to this proposal.

No matter how gentle a man is, he is full of desire to show off in front of women, especially when the ladies present are all young and beautiful, with extraordinary family backgrounds, and one of them may be his future wife.

The men said they didn't care, but in fact they were all nervous. Both sides were reluctant, and Princess Taiping's proposal was naturally fulfilled.

Princess Taiping loved to host grand ceremonies. With a wave of her delicate hand, the maids in the princess's mansion quickly prepared paper and ink and entered the palace to hand them to the gentlemen.

There were rustling sounds and conversations in the room. People came out from behind their seats and talked to each other. The banquet hall was no longer as orderly as before. The women also became bolder and walked over quietly in groups to take a look.

Ming Huazhang actually didn't want to participate in this activity. It was boring enough to comment on Princess Anle as the most beautiful woman in Chang'an, and now we have to choose the so-called most talented person in Chang'an, which is really boring. But everyone was writing, and Ming Huazhang couldn't stand out, so he picked up his pen and wrote a poem casually.

The crowd in the hall was in an uproar, and there were endless flattery. Even the King of Liang, the King of Xiang and others came down from their high seats and watched in the crowd. Ming Huazhang quickly put down his pen, and when he turned around, he found that Xie Jichuan's pen had not moved at all. He smiled, not surprised at all: "Why don't you write?"

"Why should I write?" Xie Jichuan said slowly, "Do they have the qualifications to judge me?"

Xie Jichuan didn't even give face to the empress, let alone the women present. Ming Huazhang understood, but still said: "Her Highness Taiping didn't really want to judge, but to vent her anger. Usually at a banquet, a woman will be compared regardless of her status. Princess Taiping is angry about this, but she also wants to compare with men, which is harmless. Besides, there is no real poetry competition here, it's just an excuse for young men and women to express their feelings."

Xie Jichuan looked at Ming Huazhang with a half-smile: "You should speak for Princess Taiping."

"It's not for Princess Taiping." Ming Huazhang said, "It's just that I put myself in their shoes and think a little more about them."

"Okay, you are a gentleman and I am a villain. Please forgive me. I don't want to listen to these big truths." Xie Jichuan looked at the dim screen and said, "Then who do you think will win today?"

Ming Huazhang didn't care about this and said calmly, "It's hard to say. All the princes of Li Wu are here today, and Duke Heng and Duke Ye are here too. How can this be a poetry competition?"

The right of judging lies in the hands of the female guests. If they like a man's poem, they can throw flowers to him. In this process, the least important thing is the poem.

The man's family background, the situation in the court, and the officialdom, all of these factors will affect the choices of these daughters of noble families. How well he writes poetry is the least important.

Xie Jichuan raised his eyebrows and said, "Then let me ask it another way. Who do you think the second sister will give the flowers to?"

Ming Huazhang was slightly startled, and followed Xie Jichuan's gaze, only to find Ming Huachang coming over. She pulled Ren Yao, and the two stopped in front of Jiang Ling's seat and pointed at each other.

Ming Huazhang suddenly felt a little regretful for writing such a random poem. He was not a superficial and aggressive person, but if she came over and saw his work later, it would be so badly written that it would be really inappropriate.

At this moment, Ming Huashang and Ren Yao stood in front of Jiang Ling's seat, watching him scratch his ears and cheeks, grinning, and said, "You write it."

Jiang Ling held the pen, and every time he made a move, the two people's eyes would swoop over, as if they were publicly executing him. He really couldn't stand it anymore, and begged for mercy: "Two ladies, can you stand somewhere else?"

Ming Huashang snorted and said, "Who wants to see you?"

Ming Huashang finished speaking and walked to other seats. Ren Yao said he was disgusted but his body did not move. Ming Huashang glanced at him and did not pull Ren Yao, but walked away silently.

Without a companion, Ming Huashang couldn't look at other lovers. The red silk flower in her hand was burning. She looked around the banquet hall, silently thinking about where to throw the flower.

She originally intended to give it to Jiang Ling, but it was really a bit against her conscience. Besides, with Ren Yao around, Jiang Ling didn't need her. Giving it to the princes of the Li and Wu families was obviously not an option. Giving it to a married man was not appropriate. Giving it to an unmarried man from a duke or earl's mansion was also not appropriate. She was afraid of causing misunderstandings.

Ming Huashang looked around and sighed softly.

It's so difficult.

In fact, the most reliable way is to give it to one's own brothers, and most of the ladies present did so. In the past, she would not even think about giving it to Ming Huazhang, but now she was inexplicably reluctant.

Ming Huachang was in a dilemma, and her eyes accidentally passed by Su Xingzhi. She moved her eyes, pretending to look casually, and approached Su Xingzhi quietly.

Compared with other young marquises and dukes, Su Xingzhi was very quiet. He sat quietly and had no intention of chatting with others. Suddenly someone approached him, and Su Xingzhi was quite surprised. He looked up and saw that it was Ming Huashang, and was stunned.

Ming Huashang smiled and greeted, "Su Yushi."

Su Xingzhi nodded in return, his expression still cold, even slightly wary. There were many people here, so Ming Huashang didn't want to say much. She seemed to be passing by, and when she left, her long sleeves brushed across the table, and she calmly placed the silk flower on it.

Su Xingzhi was even more surprised when he saw the silk flowers on it. He was about to remind Ming Huashang that she had left something behind when he suddenly noticed a line of small words on the silk flowers.

"I have something important to discuss with you. It concerns Aunt Su. We will meet at the pavilion by the lake in the garden."

Su Xingzhi's eyes moved slightly, and he picked up the silk flower without making a sound, and tore off the piece of silk cloth with the words written on it. After doing all this, he raised his head and looked around to see if anyone noticed this place, but he bumped into Su Yuji's sight unexpectedly.

Su Yuji stood by the screen, looking at him with an unpredictable expression. Su Xingzhi felt a little guilty and tried to explain to Su Yuji, but Su Yuji turned around calmly and disappeared into the ladies' room.

The opposite side was where the female guests were, so Su Xingzhi couldn't chase after them. He stopped in the hall and looked in Su Yuji's direction. In the end, he felt that Su Yuji was not such an unreasonable person, so it was more important to deal with another matter first.

There was a lot of laughter and chatter in the palace, and no one noticed that a woman and a man went out one after another, except for those who had been paying attention from the beginning.

Xie Jichuan laughed with an ambiguous tone, and said in an inexplicably cold voice, "It seems that Second Sister's choice is neither you nor me, but Su Xingzhi."

Ming Huazhang had a blank expression on his face, his eyes were like the frosty moon in the cold river, the coldness was real. But Xie Jichuan was still restless, saying: "Although it is said that everyone can follow their own wishes and make their own choices, the flowers of the unmarried women present are either given to brothers and cousins, or to their fiancés, and very few brave ones will directly give them to their loved ones. What do you think, which type of person is the second sister?"

Ming Huazhang's eyes were dark, and he glared at him like a sharp sword: "Be careful with your words. She is so young, how can she have such a heart? She said she doesn't want to get married, so don't ruin her reputation."

Xie Jichuan raised his eyebrows, still smiling, but his eyes were filled with coldness: "Why, you didn't know? What a coincidence, my second sister told me today that she has someone she loves, and she is tossing and turning, thinking about him day and night. I thought you already knew."

He didn't know. No, why did Ming Huachang say this to Xie Jichuan? Ming Huazhang clenched his fingers, but his face remained calm. He said, "She was just joking. She likes to joke. Don't take it seriously."

Xie Jichuan looked at him without saying a word, but the meaning in his eyes made Ming Huazhang extremely unhappy. He thought to himself, why should he argue with an outsider? Ming Huachang was his sister, and he certainly knew her best. She just went out to relax, so he called her back.

Ming Huazhang was just about to get up when a maid passed by with a tray in her arms. Her belt accidentally knocked over the inkstone, and Ming Huazhang's white clothes were instantly stained with a large stain of ink.

The maid was startled and immediately knelt on the ground, hurriedly wiping the ink off Ming Huazhang: "My dear, please forgive me. I deserve to die."

Ming Huazhang looked down at the clothes, silent. The maid said timidly: "My dear, spare your life, it's all my fault for being careless. I will take you to change clothes now."

Ming Huazhang looked at the maid quietly, without objection, and let the maid lead the way.

·

After Ming Huashang came out, she avoided the crowd and quietly walked towards the pavilion in a secluded part of the garden. Not long after she sat down and waited, she heard footsteps outside.

Ming Huashang was not surprised at all. She stood up and smiled to the visitor: "Su Yushi. It's windy outside, please sit inside."

Su Xingzhi stopped outside the steps, his face cold and expressionless. He did not respond to Ming Huashang's overtures and said calmly, "Mrs. Ming Er, you and I have no friendship, I don't understand what you mean."

Ming Huashang didn't care. She found a sheltered corner and sat down. She said, "But you followed me after seeing the words, which proves that my guess was right. This is a long story. If Su Yushi really wants to stand outside, aren't you afraid of being discovered?"

Su Xingzhi frowned and looked at her, but he finally stepped forward and walked into the pavilion. Ming Huashang said, "I should have found a teahouse to entertain Su Yushi, but unfortunately the conditions do not allow it, so I can only ask Su Yushi to come out in this way. Thank you for your understanding, can I have the courage to call you Brother Su?"

Su Xingzhi's eyebrows were indifferent, and he said stiffly: "Mrs. Ming, please do as you please."

Ming Huashang was going to say some polite words, but seeing Su's attitude, she decided to get straight to the point. She smiled and suddenly said, "Brother Su, if I remember correctly, your grandmother Su once served in the ancestral home of the Wang family in Taiyuan, and later married Wang's daughter Yulan into the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion and became my mother's right-hand man, right?"

Su Xingzhi clenched his fingers, stared at her coldly with his dark eyes, and said, "What do you mean by asking this?"

"Brother Su, please don't misunderstand me. I have no ill intentions." Ming Huashang smiled at Su Xingzhi. Her fair face seemed to be shrouded in a soft light in the night, as beautiful as pearls and jade, and as bright as snow. Her eyes were clear and frank, and she said seriously: "I just want to know the truth. I believe Brother Su also wants to know the truth. Otherwise, you would not have kept my appointment. According to the generation division, I should call Madam Su "wet grandmother". I wanted to ask Madam Su these questions, but since she passed away, I can only ask Brother Su."

Ming Huashang spoke softly and smiled, but her eyes were fixed on Su Xingzhi, which was completely different from the gentleness she showed. Ming Huashang stared at him and asked, "Brother Su, is Su Yuji your sister?"

The matter of the real daughter has been weighing on her mind for a year. She initially tried to find out the truth on her own, but the clues were broken one by one, as if an invisible hand had erased all traces. Even though she joined the Xuan Xiaowei and became part of the underground dark web, she still couldn't find out the truth about her life experience.

On the contrary, as she purposefully examined the people around her, she felt that her family was more and more suspicious. Ming Huazhang seemed to know that they were not his biological children, and what was even more terrible was that the Duke of Zhenguo seemed to know it too.

This made Ming Huashang feel even more terrified than the real or fake daughter. She could accept that she was not a biological daughter, but she could not accept that her father and brother lied to her.

Duke Zhenguo and Ming Huazhang were very good to her. Ming Huashang was unwilling to speculate about them like that, nor could she feel at ease to monopolize their love. She would rather face the truth that might not be friendly to her.

If her life was destined to stop at the age of seventeen, she thought, she should at least live it clearly.

Su Xingzhi was silent for a long time, and then he sighed and said in a low voice: "No."

Ming Huashang's eyebrows moved slightly. To be honest, she was not surprised. Ming Huashang asked again: "Did Aunt Su tell you about Su Yuji's life experience before she died?"

Su Xingzhi did not answer, but took the initiative and said, "I don't know your background, why should I tell you these things?"

"Because I want to solve this old wrongful case." Ming Huashang looked into his eyes and said sincerely, "The people involved in the case are dead or scattered. It is meaningless to investigate who is right and who is wrong now. Solving the problem is the most important thing. If Su Yuji is really a member of the Ming family, I am willing to introduce her to my father and restore her identity. If you don't trust me, I will ask my father to come out and you come to talk to him. I will never say a word. Brother Su, what do you want, is it to let her live a better life or to let her live a better life?"

This time Su Xingzhi was silent for even longer. Ming Huashang waited patiently for him.

The banquet hall in the distance was filled with laughter and joy, which made their place seem particularly dead silent, with only the sound of unknown crows. Finally, Su Xingzhi suppressed the rumors and said, "Why should I trust you? If you get information from me and don't keep your promise after returning, but instead stir up trouble in the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion and confuse right and wrong, what should I do?"

Ming Huashang sighed and said helplessly: "Brother Su, have you forgotten that you are now the historian? The cases in Jingzhao Prefecture still have to go through you. The case of Feng Zhanggui needs to be re-examined, and there are many petty tricks in the cases of Song Yanbai and Yan Jingcheng. We are all counting on the high-ranking officials of the Procuratorate to help us. What good will it do if I lie to you?"

Ming Huachang's eyes were very serious, and Su Xingzhi was actually convinced by this reason. Su Xingzhi realized that he was no longer the poor peasant boy in the mountain village, but the Supervisory Secretary of the Chang'an Procuratorate. He had the confidence to talk to these wealthy and powerful families.

Su Xingzhi finally relaxed a little at this time and said, "In fact, I didn't know her identity before. If my grandmother hadn't been seriously ill and had to leave a will, I'm afraid she would never tell me this."

When Ming Huashang first met Su Xingzhi, she noticed that he was very tense and full of hostility like a hedgehog. Ming Huashang kept smiling, softened her tone, and even took the initiative to bring up the upstream and downstream relationship between Jingzhao Prefecture and Yu Shitai to dissolve Su Xingzhi's guard. Sure enough, Su Xingzhi's attitude relaxed a lot, and Ming Huashang hurriedly asked: "What did Su Mama say?"

"My grandmother said that the internal strife in the Ming family had affected the baby, and she couldn't bear it. As she was about to retire and return home, she took the child away and raised him in her own home. Although the Su family and the Gongfu were very different in status, they were sincere to Yu Ji and treated her like their own daughter, which was no less than that of the Ming family."

"I know." Ming Huashang said hurriedly, "Of course I believe that Brother Su and Nanny Su treat her very well. Looking at Sister Su's strong and straightforward personality, I know that she has never suffered any grievances since she was a child."

After Ming Huashang comforted Su Xingzhi, her eyes moved and she felt a little strange. Su Xingzhi's statement was quite different from her guess. In the dream, it was said that Su Mama swapped the two children out of greed, but now Su Xingzhi said that because of the internal strife in the Ming family, Su Mama took Su Yuji away in order to save the child's life.

No matter what is said, it is up to the person concerned. If Nanny Su really did such a thing, it is normal for her to beautify herself. However, looking at Su Xingzhi's strange and cautious attitude towards her, doesn't he know that his own sister was replaced in the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion?

In the past, Ming Huashang would have tried again and again, taking things step by step, but now that she would not survive this year, there was nothing she dared not ask in person. Ming Huashang asked directly, "So, you are my real brother?"

Ming Huashang originally intended to express her goodwill. If she was really a member of the Su family, she would not have any prejudice against Su Xingzhi and would be willing to get along well with him. However, Su Xingzhi's performance was far beyond Ming Huashang's expectations. His eyebrows were furrowed, his eyes were distant, and he said unmoved: "What tricks are you playing?"

"Ah?" Ming Huashang was also confused. She and Su Xingzhi looked at each other, both of them feeling puzzled. Ming Huashang tried to ask: "Since Su Yuji is the daughter of the Duke of Zhenguo, then am I not a child of the Su family? Have you forgotten that the Su family also has a daughter?"

Su Xingzhi looked at Ming Huashang and frowned even more tightly: "I do have a younger sister, but my mother said that our daughter died prematurely, and Yuji was brought home by my grandmother to ease their grief over the loss of their daughter."

Ming Huashang was completely stunned. Su Xingzhi saw that Ming Huashang looked a little strange, and he also became serious: "Why, isn't that the case?"

A mother would not curse her child to die early. Even if she were to exchange her biological daughter for a rich family's daughter for protection, she would never say such a thing as premature death. So, is this true?

Ming Huashang suddenly felt that the wind on the lake was very cold. She clasped her hands tightly, trying to warm her fingers that had become cold. She paused for a long time before she had the strength to say to Su Xingzhi: "Your grandmother told you that Su Yuji was brought back to the Su family from the Zhenguogong Mansion. And what I know is that Su Mama, out of selfish desire, swapped her own granddaughter with the Zhenguogong's daughter. Your sister, the Zhenguogong's daughter, should have been three children. But now it is known that the daughter is dead, and the Zhenguogong's daughters are all alive, and Su Yuji is raised in your family. There is one more child here."

"Who is the extra one?"

·

Ming Huazhang remained calm along the way, secretly memorizing the scenery along the way. The maid led him left and right, and finally led him into a room, crossed her arms and bowed, saying, "My dear, please wait a moment. I will go and get some clean clothes."

Ming Huazhang nodded in thanks and watched the maid quietly as she closed the door and left. Only after she left did Ming Huazhang's eyes turn cold.

The maid's "mistake" was indeed a bit deliberate, but he wanted to know what the person behind it wanted to do, so he did not refuse.

Minghua Zhanghuan looked around and paced leisurely in this magnificent guest room. The room was elegant and luxurious, with precious wood, new brocade and satin, and a Sichuan brocade screen dividing the room into two halves.

There is no aphrodisiac and no mechanism. So why did the person behind this go to such great lengths to lure him here? It can't be that he wants to catch her changing clothes and ask her to marry him, right?

That's too stupid.

Ming Huazhang looked around the room, thinking about where someone might be hiding. At this moment, there was a noise behind the screen. Ming Huazhang's short knife slipped into his palm and he grasped it tightly without making a sound.

The screen in the room was much thicker than the one in the banquet hall. A blurry shadow was reflected behind it. The sound of tinkling continued, but the face of the person could not be seen clearly. Ming Huazhang approached the screen silently, drew his knife suddenly, and stabbed behind him.

The person behind the screen was holding up the hem of her skirt. She looked up suddenly when she heard the wind. It seemed that she could see the swaying curve of her skirt above her head. Even at this time, she still did not look ugly. Ming Huazhang also saw the other person's appearance clearly at this time. He was shocked and put away his knife immediately.

Ming Huazhang suddenly retreated during the attack and stumbled before he could stand up. The wooden frame beside him was shaken by the impact, and the vase fell. Ming Huazhang raised his hand and caught the vase lightly, looking at the person in front of him in surprise: "Your Highness?"