At the Qianqing Palace, Chief Steward Li reported Su Nan's reaction to Lu Xingjian without missing a single word.
Lu Xingjian's eyes turned slightly cold.
This situation is not surprising.
On the eve of the Lunar New Year, he humbled himself and personally went to Su Nan to propose marriage.
However, Su Nan diverted his attention with a chess game that had remained unsolved for centuries, causing him to back down.
He originally wanted to give the Su family a few days to process things properly.
What awaited them was Su Nan accepting the Xie family's marriage proposal.
He can't let her marry someone else.
"What about Wanwan? What was her reaction?"
Lu Xingjian lowered his eyes and casually twirled the jade thumb ring on his thumb.
"Miss Su was somewhat surprised and saddened, probably because of Master Su's attitude, which made her feel uncomfortable."
Manager Li replied cautiously.
Lu Xingjian didn't say anything more, his expression was indifferent, as if he didn't care much.
The next day was the third day of the Lunar New Year. Just like last year, a grand court assembly was to be held, and the emperor and civil and military officials would also have to fast for three days.
On the fourth day of the month, the emperor was to go to the southern suburbs to perform a grand sacrifice to Heaven and Earth.
The fifth day is the day to celebrate the completion of the grand sacrificial ceremony. The emperor holds a grand banquet for civil and military officials, as well as officials from all over the country and envoys from foreign countries.
The contents of the imperial edict establishing the empress were also quickly disseminated.
Some people were surprised, while others nodded in approval.
It is truly surprising that a dignified emperor would appoint a divorced widow as empress.
Moreover, she was a widow with a less-than-stellar reputation.
However, since neither the two empress dowagers nor the imperial family members raised any objections, no one dared to make any outrageous remarks or gossip.
Prince Ning had previously supported the emperor's attempt to reclaim his birth mother, which not only allowed him to regain the guards and farmland that had been stripped away by the previous Prince Ning for his crimes, but also led the Ministry of Rites to publicize his five acts of filial piety in accordance with the imperial edict. He also received an additional 2,000 shi of rice as a stipend and countless rewards, making him the center of attention.
The regional princes regretted that they were not bold and quick-witted enough to flatter the emperor and reap the benefits.
The Duke Yansheng also gained great benefits by supporting the emperor's recognition of his birth mother.
The heads of Nishan Academy and Zhusi Academy were not only recommended by the Duke Yansheng's Mansion, but also received imperial stipends, making their positions hereditary.
In an instant, the reputation of the two previously unknown academies was established.
In recent years, the number of students in government-run county and prefectural schools has exceeded the supply, making academies increasingly popular, with more and more people eager to study.
Everyone has figured out that the emperor has a "those who obey me prosper, those who oppose me perish" mentality.
No one dared to be the first to offend the emperor.
During the Spring Festival, a time of lively visits and greetings, the news that the emperor was about to marry a new empress became a popular topic of conversation.
Maggie was the most agitated.
As if struck by a huge blow, he immediately fell ill.
Zhou Wanxiu smashed her bedroom to pieces at home.
He angrily denounced Su Wanwan as a liar.
He told her that "even if all the women in the world died, it wouldn't be her turn," and then turned around and became empress himself.
fraud.
A complete liar!
With her seductive tricks, she seduce the emperor so much that he couldn't get enough of her, and even disregarded the fact that she had been married before, marrying her as his principal wife.
nausea!
The Zhou family's jubilant attitude chilled her to the bone.
Su Wanwan is the granddaughter of the Zhou family. Becoming empress would be beneficial to the Zhou family.
All those years of wasted time and devoted waiting by Zhou Wanxiu were a complete joke!
How could she accept this?
The most precious years of a girl's life.
Now she wants to find a suitable husband from a similar social class, but she can't find anyone to marry.
Because most men of marriageable age are already engaged.
Those who aren't engaged are either ugly or have very high standards.
Zhou Wanxiu was destined to either become someone's second wife or die alone.
No!
She was absolutely not going to accept this!
Meanwhile, the Su family, at the center of the vortex, remained as quiet as a stagnant pool.
Three years ago, when Su Wanwan was waiting to get married for the first time, her feelings were "nothing could be more sorrowful than a broken heart".
This time, things weren't much better either.
The person was in a state of numbness.
After all, she had longed for her father's love.
When she was being questioned at the Duke of Wei's mansion, her father appeared out of nowhere.
In Xuanfu, her father was kind and gentle, and he tried to match her with Xiao Bin.
All of this imbued the image of her father in her heart with a warm undertone.
I just didn't expect that this underlying color would fade so quickly.
These days, Su Nan has been keeping herself locked in her study, not leaving the house, and her meals are delivered to her study.
It's obvious that it hasn't been adjusted yet.
Su Wanying went to Su Nan's study to serve tea and water, and then went to comfort Su Wanwan. She was so anxious that her lips were covered in blisters.
I just hope my second aunt from my hometown of Luoyang can come over soon so that we can deal with this complicated situation.
She has already sent someone by fast horse to Luoyang to deliver the message.
“My second uncle has been studying chess scores or practicing calligraphy these past few days.”
"Sister, why don't you say a few kind words to him and give him a way out?"
Su Wanwan hesitated for a moment but still agreed, and personally cooked a bowl of pear soup and sent it to the study.
However.
Su Nan didn't let her in and even threw the soup bowl outside the door, smashing it to pieces.
Broken porcelain shards splashed from the ground, and some soup spilled onto the hem of Su Wanwan's skirt.
Su Wanwan was so frightened that she closed her eyes.
The shards of porcelain, though they didn't actually touch her, felt as if they had ripped a gaping hole in her heart.
Suppressing the lump in her throat, Su Wanwan said softly:
“Since Father is unwilling to become a relative of the Empress Dowager, I will go to the Emperor to ask for a favor and request that he rescind his decree.”
Silence was her only response.
She sent a message to Steward Li's residence, requesting a meeting with Lu Xingjian.
The letters disappeared without a trace, like a stone thrown into the sea.
From the seventh to the seventeenth day of the first lunar month, there is a customary ten-day holiday for the Lantern Festival, during which all civil and military officials take leave.
Logically speaking, Lu Xingjian should be available.
Su Wanwan was in agony.
The longer this drags on, the more people will find out, and the harder it will be to salvage the situation.
...
Lu Xingjian deliberately delayed meeting with them for the first few days, but later he became genuinely busy.
Because the border troops in Datong and Xuanfu encountered problems.
The fact that the land parcels without grain were cleared out in Datong and Xuanfu in the twelfth lunar month had already put the local border troops on edge.
The imperial edict ordering Lin Wendi, a censor in the Ministry of Justice, to go to Xuanfu to investigate the border reserves caused an uproar in the Xuanfu military and political system.
Those border generals who had just returned from the capital to defend the emperor and receive their rewards were especially shocked and frightened.
The reward is barely in my hands, and I'm already going to return it?
Because officers at all levels had received benefits from the border guards.
Once the investigation was completed, no one could escape responsibility.
The one who caused the most trouble was Maggie's brother, Ma'ang.
He served as a guerrilla general in Datong, but his family was in Xuanfu.
He was extremely pleased that his younger sister, Maggie, was favored in the palace.
So when the officers from Xuanfu and Datong all came to him, asking him to ask his sister to put in a good word for them with the emperor, he naturally agreed.
They were encouraged to make a big fuss about it so that the emperor would take it seriously enough, and in the end, the matter would be dropped because there were too many people involved.
Lu Xingjian had no choice but to promote the governor of Xuanfu to the vice minister of the Ministry of Justice, making him the superior of the person in charge of the border reserves in Xuanfu.
This reassured the generals and officers of Xuanfu.
By the time he sent someone to deliver the message, inviting Su Wanwan to go out and see the lanterns, it was already the tenth day of the first lunar month.
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