CH 7

Yuan Ci Xian thought all the way back to the house.

Just now in Furong Garden, she did everything possible to be alone with Zheng Zhuo, just to find out what he really wanted. Now, she probably had some clues.

If she guessed correctly, her brother must have established a political cooperative relationship with him. However, her brother knew that their father was loyal to the emperor and didn’t have other thought, especially disliked to deal with political intrigue, so it was likely that this matter would not be supported by Diannan Prince.

But if his sister married Zheng Zhuo, everything would be different.

The same was true for Zheng Zhuo – it was useless to win over her brother who had no job, the root of this was to rope in her father, who had a massive army.

And just when her brother had no way to get their father’s support, she happened to go to the capital, giving this matter a breakthrough.

To put it bluntly, Zheng Zhuo came to capture her heart this time. It’s just that he never expected that he would be questioned by this greenhorn little girl face to face, so he was speechless for a while.

After thinking about these links, Yuan Ci Xian’s heart became more and more confused: Since Zheng Zhuo and his brother were so related, why did the Yuan family end up dying in his hands? Was the former kill the monkey when the grinding is done, or was the latter betray before the battle? Where did the Yuan family raise troops to rebel?

That night, she fell asleep full of doubts, but unexpectedly returned to that dream again.

In the dream, the light rain was pattering, mixed with a bit of chill, little by little seeped into the bluestone slab. It’s like winter.

The voices of people on all sides were quiet, and the faint crackling sound of raindrops falling on the umbrella surface could be heard. Probably someone was standing on the bridge with an umbrella.

A hoarse male voice sounded: “Still can’t find it?”

Someone replied: “Master, this servant has been searching for a whole night, and you have been waiting here for a long time. There’s no way to go on like this.”

“Keep looking…” This man’s voice trembled a little.

“You shouldn’t stay here for too long. It’s better to go back first. As soon as there is news, this servant will report back to you immediately.”

He was silent for a long time, then said “um”, dragged his steps and left slowly.

The person who stayed on the bridge sighed and said in a low voice, “Since master took the initiative to volunteer arresting Yuan’s father and son, why is he so obsessed with the life and death of County Princess? Even if County Princess is still alive, it’s impossible to let go the hatred towards the man who killed her brother and father.”

Someone replied, “There is no one else in the Yuan family. After all, she’s also master’s former fiancée, so she has to be buried…” After that, he sighed.

Dreaming of this, Yuan Ci Xian was suddenly startled, sweating profusely. She glanced out the window, the sun was rising three poles, the vegetation was verdant, it was a beautiful midsummer scene, and there was no cold winter night.

But the voice of the person in the dream was too familiar. The so-called “Master” was clearly Zheng Zhuo, who separated with her in Furong Garden yesterday.

What did those people say? She used to be his fiancée. Former?

She grabbed her hair trying to calm down. Could it be that Zheng Zhuo and the Yuan family turned against each other because the marriage contract was broken apart? But why did she become his fiancée in the first place, and later why did she break off the engagement?

She called Shi Cui and asked, “Is brother in the mansion?”

“Young lady, Master is here. he came here early in the morning, but when he heard that you haven’t get up, he asked this maid not to wake you up.

“Help me get dress.”

……

Yuan Yu was pacing back and forth in the study at this moment.

Seeing this, Jiang Bi Rou scolded him: “Don’t keep walking around, you make me dizzy.”

Then he stopped and showed an apologetic face: “The anxiety is killing me.” Once again asked, “According to what you mean, is Ci Xian really like Sixth Prince?”

Yesterday, Jiang Bi Rou was asked by Yuan Yu to go to Furong Garden as a companion, especially paid special attention to the details, and she replied when she heard the words, “I have already told you about the boating thing, I can see it clearly from the bamboo tower. If it’s not the guy likes, the girl interested, why is there such a thing?”

Yuan Yu scratched his head anxiously: “Then, shouldn’t I stop Ci Xian?”

When the gentleman sent by Zheng Zhuo proposed this marriage to him, he should have refused without even thinking about it. Regardless of whether he promised to help him seize the throne, he would never use his sister’s life-long event as a bargaining chip.

The reason why he accepted the invitation for Yuan Ci Xian was because he saw that she showed an unusual attitude towards Zheng Zhuo last time, and he was afraid that she really liked this person, then it wouldn’t be good to kill with one blow, he needed to prepare to explore the situation.

Jiang Bi Rou glanced at him: “Could it be that you, as a brother, still want to beat the mandarin ducks? From what I saw yesterday, Sixth Prince has good looks and can be a good match. And I heard that several concubines in his house were all stuffed in by His Majesty. When you think about it, he’s definitely not a lustful person, otherwise, at this age, why he hasn’t accepted a main wife, and have not children?”

Yuan Yu shook his head: “I didn’t say that Sixth Prince is bad, it’s just the situation in the imperial family is complicated, you don’t understand.”

He didn’t tell Jiang Bi Rou about the court’s political affairs, so his wife probably just looked at her sister-in-law, and didn’t look ahead like he did.

Jiang Bi Rou said in a sullen voice, “But you also know Ci Xian’s temperament. What she’s interested in? You can’t stop her…”

As soon as she said this, she heard a voice from outside the door: “Young lady…” It was the servant’s voice.

Yuan Yu immediately went out to welcome her, “Ci Xian.”

Yuan Ci Xian called out “Brother”, glanced in, and smiled at Jiang Bi Rou: “Sister-in-law is also here.”

Yuan Yu saw her strange smile, and he knew that most of the words earlier had already been heard by her. After thinking about it, he turned his head and said, “Bi Rou, you go back to the room first.”

Jiang Bi Rou nodded, lowered her eyes and retreated.

When there were only the two brother and sister left in the room, Yuan Yu asked, “Where did you hide earlier?”

Yuan Ci Xian pointed to the back window: “There.”

He smiled: “Okay, your sister-in-law is gone, just say it.”

She sat down without being invited, and said first, “Brother, don’t misunderstand. I guess you don’t want sister-in-law to get involved in the mess of the court, for fear that she will add more worries and hurt her body, so you send her away.”

“Am I unfamiliar with you. I know it all.” He came over and rubbed her head, “Why, you little girl want to talk about political affairs with me?”

Yuan Ci Xian pondered for a moment: “Yes, and no. I want to ask brother if you want me to marry Sixth Prince.”

“Brother told you last time that you cannot enter the imperial gate at will. As for what I just told your sister-in-law, you should have heard it.”

She nodded: “Sister-in-law may not understand, but I understand. Sixth Prince intends to marry me because he wants you and daddy to stand by his side, and if needed in the future, take action for him. Of course, this matter is also good for our Yuan family. Who doesn’t want to be an important minister of the dragon and have meteoric rise? Besides, if I’m married to Sixth Prince, I may become the empress in the future.”

She spoke directly, causing Yuan Yu to choke.

She continued: “Brother, don’t hide it from me anymore. I know this marriage is a transaction, and I can see that you quite appreciate and value Sixth Prince. I’m afraid you have had a lot of personal friendship with him. You may have also thought about matching me with Sixth Prince to persuade daddy to take side, am I right?”

It was embarrassing to be exposed directly, and Yuan Yu said with a bitter face: “Ci Xian, please don’t blame brother.”

Yuan Ci Xian knew his difficulties in the capital, so how could she blame him. If wanted to blame, then just blame the dream for hanging people’s appetite, failed to spit out the information at once, otherwise she wouldn’t have caused the Yuan family to be like this, ending up in a situation where the pirate ship was easy to get on but hard to get off.

She shook her head: “I don’t blame brother, I just wonder, if I don’t want to marry Sixth Prince, will brother force me?”

Although she still had many doubts in her heart, she was determined not to follow the old path in her dream. No matter what happened before and after, being engaged to Zheng Zhuo would only tie the Yuan family to him. But he was not the one who ascended the throne in the end.

Yuan Yu was a little surprised: “You don’t want to marry? It’s a good thing that you don’t want to marry. Brother was already reluctant to involve you. There’s another way to win father’s support, why sacrifice you?”

Yuan Ci Xian believed these words. But in the dream, she did become Zheng Zhuo’s fiancée. This showed that this marriage was in the interests of Emperor Huining at some point.

She said: “But brother, I’m afraid that this matter is not up to us. I see that Sixth Prince seems to have everything ready, and he only lack my answer. Maybe he has already won His Majesty’s approval. What if His Majesty intend to play the matchmaker?”

Yuan Yu choked. That’s right, if he hadn’t passed His Majesty this big mountain, how could Zheng Zhuo have made such a heavy promise to him? Remembering that gentleman’s calm appearance that day, he felt more and more that his sister was reasonable, and said anxiously: “How can this be?”

Yuan Ci Xian got up and paced back and forth a few times: “It’s not that there is no room to maneuver, if His Majesty has already made up his mind then the marriage is a given, why should Sixth Prince still ask my opinion? His Majesty will not tear his face with our Yuan family.” Remembering the situation in the dream, she changed her words, “At least not for now. His Majesty really intends to let me become his daughter-in-law, and must hope that I am willing, so that he can sell the Yuan family saome face, while fulfilling his wishes.”

Her frowning brows gradually loosened, and she said with a smile: “I don’t want to marry, so there is only one method—before getting forced into a passive stand, let’s strike first.”

“How we strike first?”

“If I set up a marriage agreement with someone else first, His Majesty wouldn’t mess with the mandarin ducks, right?”

Yuan Yu hatefully slapped his thigh: “That’s true. But that means I have to marry you off!”

Yuan Ci Xian said in her heart, so what if she got married, sooner or later she had to, which was better than dying miserably.

Yuan Yu, however, became more and more anxious: “How can you decide your life-long event in such a hurry? How can you randomly find someone to marry? How about this, you hurry up and pack your bags and go back to Yaozhou, brother will take care of this side for you. The sky is high and the emperor is far away, it can’t reach you.” After saying that, he came to push her.

“Hey!” Yuan Ci Xian shoved him away, “Is brother so anxious that you become stupid? Everywhere under the sky is the monarch’s land, and Diannan is not really our Yuan family’s land!” In her past life, at around this time she still hadn’t been confer with marriage.

“Besides, the so-called striking first is just a stalling tactic. If it can be delayed for a while, it will be delayed for a while. I can be engaged, and I can also withdraw from the engagement, right? If I really have to get married, then I can still reconcile!”

Yuan Yu was really convinced by her and took a step back: “But in such a hurry, who can you get engaged to? No, I have to send a letter to discuss this matter with father.”

“Brother, did you forget, over the years the letters you sent to Yaozhou will be dismantled and inspected every so often? Could it be you want to let His Majesty know what we are planning!”

“This can’t work, that can’t work, you’re going to make brother die from anxiety!”

Yuan Ci Xian glanced at him: “What’s the hurry? I already have a good candidate in mind, as for whether it can be done…” She touched her face, “Brother, am I beautiful?”

Yuan Yu was stunned by the question, opened his mouth and nodded, and said, “As beautiful as a fairy, no one can compare, the most beautiful in the whole world.”

“Then it’s done.”

He was dumbfounded: “What do you mean it’s done? How it’s done? Who let you done?”

Yuan Ci Xian didn’t answer, but asked: “Last time in Lu Pavilion, Assistant Minister Lu gave you a piece of jade, where did you put it?”

Yuan Yu almost couldn’t keep up with her wild-horse-like train of thought: “Of course I throw it away! I’m a big man, what do I want his jade pendant for, it’s not even rare for our Xioa Hei!”

Yuan Ci Xian sighed, hated iron not becoming steel: “If I remember correctly, it seems to be a blue and white nephrite?” Seeing that he had obviously forgotten everything, she stopped talking nonsense with him, “Okay, I’ll think of it myself.”

Yuan Yu nodded and watched her go, only to realize later – wait, Yuan Ci Xian’s so-called good candidate is Lu Shi Qing?