Volume 1 Chapter 26

  In the quiet royal palace, the quiet king's consort was checking accounts in her room when she heard a maid come to report something. She hastily put down the account book she had just read halfway through, got up and brought Li Niangniang and several maids with her to the main hall of the palace.

  Lord Feng was sitting upright in the great hall, comfortably sipping on a cup of top-grade Bi Luo Chun tea specially brewed for him by one of the Wang estate's maids. Behind him still stood that little eunuch holding onto his painting scroll.

  Lord Feng was savoring the authentic tea, when he raised an eyebrow and saw that Princess Jing, accompanied by her wet nurse and a group of maidservants, was hurrying in their direction.

  He hastily put down the teacup in his hand, stood up and tidied his clothes, put on a smile and went forward to bow "Your humble servant greets Your Highness, may you have good fortune."

  The Empress Dowager gently waved her hand. "Your Majesty, there's no need for such courtesy, let it be." Then, supported by Lady Li, she walked to the main hall and sat down in the seat of honor.

  "Thank you, Princess." Feng Gonggong said as he stood up straight.

  The Queen sat down and looked at Lord Feng with some eagerness. "Lord Feng, you have come this time, is there something important?"

  This Old Man Feng has always been my sister's trusted confidant and is highly valued. Now, for the matter of selecting a suitable husband for Jin'er by matching their eight characters, it has already been over ten days since he took care of it. My sister instructs him to come over at this time, presumably because Jin'er's matter has been settled.

  At this thought, Jing Wangfei's face was filled with even more anticipation.

  Marquis Feng nodded and smiled, "As for the selection of misses from various manors, their eight characters were just matched this morning. Those with mismatched eight characters have already been eliminated. The remaining ladies all have good destinies and are extremely compatible with the Crown Prince. After Your Highness has reviewed them, I will immediately instruct my servant to send over the list of selected names and portraits for Your Highness to take a look."

  He finished speaking and waved his hand, signaling the small eunuch standing beside him to come over. Several quick-witted maids also hurried over to take the dozen or so scrolls of paintings.

  The queen smiled with joy as she looked at the neatly stacked painting scrolls, laughing happily "It was really worth the trip."

  Jing Er's marriage has been on her mind all along, and she has been looking forward to it every day. Now that's good, finally made her wait come true.

  The old man Feng smiled and stepped forward, saying: "Her Majesty has specifically instructed me to tell the princess that she will let the prince choose a few suitable people to serve him here. In a few days, another batch of portraits will be sent over, and at that time, they will select a proper main wife for the prince. Her Majesty asks you not to worry, she will definitely not wrong the prince."

  The Empress Dowager naturally understood what Old Man Feng meant, this batch of people were just sent over first to be concubines for Jin'er, the later batch would be of higher status and could become the official wife.

  She had also mentioned the matter of marrying off to several Guo Gong's wives before, wanting to ask them to marry one of their eligible young ladies in the manor for Jin'er. However, as soon as these Guo Gong's wives heard this, they all evaded the topic and changed the subject.

  Or simply tell her that her daughter has already been engaged to another family, meaning to let herself give up this idea. She was so angry that she couldn't sleep well for several days.

  These things sister would not know, she had previously entered the palace to ask her sister to arrange a marriage for Jin'er.

  Although it is unclear how the later batch of people will arrange for their sister, logically speaking, those aristocratic ladies are unlikely to be willing to marry off their own daughters to a newcomer.

  But she also knew that her sister would never deceive her, so there must be some basis for Old Man Feng to say such a thing.

  The Empress nodded immediately and said, "Then trouble the eunuch to go back and tell my sister that I understand. I will be waiting for her good news."

  "Yes, then I will go back to the palace and report your orders." Feng Gonggong said with a bow.

  The queen smiled and nodded, then gestured for the maid to escort the person out of the mansion.

  Watching Mr. Feng and the little eunuch's figures getting farther and farther away.

  The queen hastily beckoned to the maid holding the painting to come forward, and with great excitement took out a painting and carefully examined the woman in it.

  These have been matched with the eight characters, and the women who match Ba Li Rong Jin's destiny in Jing Wang Fei's eyes are one hope after another, hoping to make her son's body better. That's why she is so excited and expected.

  Madam Li saw the joy on Wang Fei's face that couldn't be concealed, and she couldn't help but be infected with it. She smiled and said, "Wang Fei, shouldn't we send these paintings to the young master and let him choose one? This way, we can also bring the person into the mansion to serve the young master as soon as possible."

  The quiet queen was reminded by Li Ayi, and she finally came back to her senses, no longer burying her head in the portrait and name book, but instead hastily nodded "Right, it's all my fault for being too excited, I forgot that I should send the portrait to Jin'er first."

  After finishing speaking, she busied herself rolling up the painting and putting it back in the pile of scrolls, instructing the maids to follow her as she hastily made her way to Qinglan Garden.

  Jing'er had previously promised her that when the list of selected candidates came out, she would let him choose personally and not make decisions for him again. Otherwise, this matchmaking session would be cancelled. In order to get her son to agree to the marriage, she naturally agreed readily. Now, she still has to hurry up and send it over to let him pick one himself.

  Inside Qinglan Garden, Baili Yongjing quietly leaned against the reclining chair, her slender white hands holding a book and reading it carefully. The guard Qingyu also stood by, faithfully performing his duties.

  At this time, some noise came from the gate of the courtyard. The quiet queen, wearing a red fox fur coat, hurriedly walked over with several maids surrounding her.

  As soon as she entered the courtyard, Jing Wangfei saw Baili Rongjin leaning against a reclining chair on the outside, quietly reading a book. She hurried over to her son's side and sat down, "Rongjin, why did you come out here? Be careful not to catch a chill."

  Baili Rongjin slowly lowered the book in her hand, and lightly curled up the corners of her mouth. "It's rare to have sunshine today, so I came out for some fresh air. Nothing will happen, but Mother, why did you come here?"

  Seeing Jing Wangfei's joyful expression, Baili Yongzheng couldn't help but feel a little surprised - had something good happened?

  As soon as this was mentioned, Jing Wangfei couldn't help but smile all over her face. "Mother has come to tell you that the eight characters of each of the young ladies from the various manors have already been matched, and your aunt just sent Feng Gonggong with the name cards and portraits, so Mother quickly brought them over for you to take a look."

  After finishing speaking, he pulled his son over and sat down beside the stone table carved out of Han white jade, turning his head to signal the maid to unroll the painting.

  Baili Yongjin was slightly stunned after hearing this, and he allowed Jing Wangfei to pull him over to sit down at the stone table.

  He never really put his mind on the matter of choosing a partner, and his mother had always been extremely worried about his health. Recently, his condition had indeed been getting worse and worse. Later, somehow she came up with the idea of marrying him off to improve his luck.

  His mother secretly sought to marry him off to several misses from the Duke's manor, but when that failed, she directly entered the palace to seek help from his aunt.

  The empress dowager was unaware of the true situation and thought that her mother had finally persuaded him to agree to the marriage, so she immediately issued an edict ordering all high-ranking officials in the court to report the birth dates of their eligible daughters for selection.

  He was furious upon learning of this matter, as it was the first time his mother had disregarded his wishes and attempted to decide on his marriage without his consent.

  But the anger in his heart finally turned into a sigh when he saw his mother's tears, and he knew that she was doing this just to make him feel better.

  Although he didn't believe in the auspicious marriage, to comfort his mother, after repeated consideration, he still agreed to this matchmaking event. He thought that once he was selected, he would choose a woman of lower social status and bring her into the mansion, placing her in Qinglan Garden, as a way to give his mother an explanation.

  He just treated it as if he had invited a guest to stay for a few days, and normally didn't need to meet. The Qinglan Garden was full of his people, and Mother wouldn't have the opportunity to know that he had taken someone in but didn't touch them.

  After a while, he would find an appropriate time to send her away from the house, so that she could find another good match and avoid wasting the life of a virtuous woman.

  By then, he had also calmed down and his anger had dissipated. Mother naturally didn't have anything else to say either.

  Now, although he knew that it was just a casual selection of a minor official's daughter to come and stay for a few days, and not really intended to take her as a concubine, his heart still secretly harbored some resentment.

  What's wrong with me? When I decided on this matter before, there was no other feeling in my heart. It's just that now when I think about a strange woman coming to live here, he inexplicably feels uncomfortable.

  The quiet queen didn't know what her son was thinking in his heart, and she kept introducing the woman in the painting to him.

  Baili Rongjin appeared to be listening intently on the surface, but in reality, his mind was wandering. The women in these paintings looked as if they were all molded from the same template, and in his eyes, there wasn't a single difference between them.

  Through these paintings, his thoughts gradually drifted away, as if he had seen the woman he met that day again. She was clever, lively and a very vivid woman.

  Although it has been so many days since then, he still remembers her every frown and smile with extraordinary clarity.

  He seems to always think of her inadvertently.

  Snapping back to reality from her distant thoughts, Baili Yongzheng saw that her mother had already unrolled nearly ten paintings and was still explaining with an expression of not having enough time.

  He couldn't help but frown slightly and interrupt her, "Mother, I'm not feeling well, I'd like to go back to my room to rest. We can look at these paintings another day."

  Before the princess could react, Baili Yuyan had already stood up and was about to walk into the house.

  It so happened that the maid who was standing behind him, holding the remaining few scrolls of painting, did not have time to dodge and collided with Baili Rongyin.

  The several scrolls held in his hands also fell to the ground and scattered around.

  The queen hastily said, "Ji'er, are you alright?"

  "Hey! What's with the sloppy work? Hurry up and pick up that painting!" The maid quickly squatted down to pick up the painting on the ground.

  Baili Rongjin was also somewhat unexpected, fortunately it was just a light touch, and only a few paintings fell. He shook his head at his mother, indicating that he was fine.

  Just as he was about to lift his foot and continue walking forward, the corner of his eye caught a glimpse of a painting that had fallen open at his feet.

  The maid was just about to pick it up when she was suddenly stopped by Baili Yongjue's "Don't move."

  By the way

  Everyone, I've become more cultured! How does it feel like I wrote?