Listening to what the lady said, Qiao Jinniang said, “Madam, to tell the truth, my parents had promised my brother before the Imperial Examination that if he passed the Imperial Examination, he could choose his wife himself. So, Madam, wait a moment, let me ask my brother.”
Qiao Jinniang left.
The lady said confidently, “Young Master Qiao had been in the academy before, and was surrounded by men.
“Miss Zhou was the only woman he could see! He must have had a thing for the only girl in the school. I’m going to tell the Zhou family the great news.”
The lady couldn’t wait to tell the news to the Duke Wu Mansion to make them owe her a favor, so she left before Qiao Jinniang returned.
Zheng Xiao thought so too. There weren’t many women around his son. Now that he said that he already had a girl he liked, he must have met that girl in school.
So she didn’t stop that lady.
In the study in the front yard, Qiao Lu was looking at a painting.
Although he won the title of Flower Picking Childe, he was too young and was the heir of Duke Anyuan, so Emperor Huilin had not found a suitable position for him for now.
Being idle at home, Qiao Lu either went out to have fun with his friends or wandered on the street, hoping to come across Fulu.
But for some reason, Fulu seemed to dislike him, and every time she saw him, she gave hima cold shoulder.
But she had taken his hand and said that she was going to marry him. As a princess, how could she break her word?
Looking at the portrait he had drawn, he was dazed, and didn’t even notice that Lu Chen and Lu Xi had walked to his side.
Little Lu Xi said, “It’s Aunt Fulu. Uncle, why did you draw Aunt Fulu?”
When Qiao Lu saw Lu Chen, his face flushed all red and he hurriedly saluted.
“We’re family. You don’t need to be so polite.” Lu Chen chuckled and jested, “Your painting skills are thousands of times better than your sister’s.”
Qiao Lu equivocated awkwardly, trying to explain.
Qiao Jinniang also came in. Seeing the paintings Qiao Lu drew, she asked curiously, “Why did you draw Fulu’s portrait?”
Qiao Lu blushed and said, “Sister, the girl I said I wanted to marry last time is Princess Fulu.”
Qiao Jinniang: “She’s a year older than you!”
Qiao Lu: “It’s only one year old. I don’t mind it.”
Then he sighed. “It’s a pity that she likes the champion of the Imperial Examination. I just won second place, so I dare not go to Princess Shou’an’s Mansion to propose a marriage to her, alas!”
Qiao Jinniang: “…”
It was no wonder that Qiao Lu was not happy at all although he won second place in the Imperial Examination. She had thought that he was a perfectionist and only wanted to win first place.
“Does Fulu know you like her?” Qiao Jinniang asked, “I think she doesn’t, right?”
Qiao Lu shook his head. “She ignores me. Whenever I see her, she ignores me except for asking about my maid. But I don’t have a maid.”
Qiao Jinniang said, “Your maid? She only knows the maid you pretended to be last time.”
Qiao Lu finally figured it out. “No wonder. She must have thought that I hid the maid, so she ignored me. I’m going to pretend to be that maid again to find her!”
Qiao Jinniang: “I don’t…” mean that.
Before she could finish, however, Qiao Lu rushed out like a gust of wind.
This seventeen-year-old boy didn’t forget to come back and salute Qiao Jinniang and Lu Chen before he hurried off like a gust of wind.
Qiao Jinniang was quite helpless. Seeing Lu Chen still smiling, she said, “Why are you still smiling? What should I do? The Duke Wu Mansion has proposed marriage to Lu’er for Zhou Shihui, but the girl in Qiao Lu’s heart is Fulu.”
Lu Chen said, “The people of the Zhou family are very considerate. Although my grandmother dotes on my cousin, she still sent that lady to ask first. She definitely won’t make things difficult for the Qiao family. You just need to tell her the truth.”
Qiao Jinniang went to the backyard and looked for that lady, only to hear that the lady had gone to the Duchess Wu, and she froze.
Seeing that Qiao Jinniang didn’t look right, Zheng Xiao asked, “Could it be that the girl Lu’er likes is not Zhou Shihui? But besides Zhou Shihui, which woman does he know?”
Seeing that there were no outsiders here, Qiao Jinniang also wanted to test out Princess Shou’an’s opinion, so he said, “My brother is really reckless and rude. He likes Princess Fulu but he hasn’t dared to speak it out.”
Princess Shou’an was shocked and said, “Poor child, blind at such a young age.”
Qiao Jinniang: “…”
Come on, isn’t Fulu your own daughter?
She didn’t know what to say for a while.
Blurting out, Princess Shou’an was a bit embarrassed. She hurriedly coughed and directly held Zheng Xiao’s hand, saying,
“Okay, deal! Fulu will marry Qiao Lu. You can give me whatever betrothal presents you’d like, and whatever dowry you want, just name it.”
At that time, Princess Shou’an persuaded Fulu not to marry Qiao Lu, because she was afraid that Qiao Lu would refuse her, so she scared Fulu into giving up the idea to marry Qiao Lu.
If Qiao Lu was willing to marry Fulu, that would be a blessing for Fulu.
She had thought that it would be difficult for her daughter to find a decent man to marry, but she didn’t expect to get such a perfect son-in-law, who was adept with both the pen and the sword and was the heir to a duke. If Fulu could marry him, she would live a care-free life.
Zheng Xiao: “Princess, if my son can marry Princess Fulu, it will also be a blessing for him.”
With a daughter-in-law like Fulu, her life would definitely be very lively, but since Fulu was the woman that Lu’er liked, she didn’t mind accepting her. She didn’t want to see her tragedy repeated on her son and daughter-in-law.
It was more important than anything else that they loved each other.
Getting Princess Shou’an’s promise, Qiao Jinniang hurried to the Duke Wu Mansion with Lu Chen, but still couldn’t catch up with that lady.
In the hall of the Duke Wu Mansion.
The lady said, “Young Master Qiao had told his parents that he would marry Miss Zhou after he passed the Imperial Examination.”
Zhou Shihui smiled. She knew that her senior brother liked her.
Old Madam Zhou smiled and hugged Zhou Shihui in her arms. “That’s great! Our Shihui is really lucky to have such a great husband.”
“Old Madam, Duchess, the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess are here.”
Duchess Wu said, “The Crown Princess went back to her natal home today. Why did she come here? Come, let’s go greet them.”
Old Madam Zhou also got up and went to the door of the Duke Wu Mansion, and the front door was opened.
Qiao Jinniang entered, and after sparing them from saluting her, she saluted Old Madam Zhou and said, “Greetings, Grandmother.”
Old Madam Zhou didn’t dare let her salute and supported her. “Good girl, aren’t you in your parents’ home? Why did you come here?”
Qiao Jinniang glanced at the lady before entering the hall and said, “Our Qiao family is very grateful for Grandmother’s favor for my brother, but my father and Prince Consort Qin have already decided on the marriage for Princess Fulu and my brother. My mother and Princess Shou’an didn’t know about this, so that lady misunderstood.”
Zhou Shihui’s face turned pale and she shouted, “How could it be possible? Impossible! How can Duke Anyuan Mansion act like this? Madam Zheng forced the Duke to marry her, and now she is forcing Senior Brother to marry a woman he doesn’t like?”
Qiao Jinniang took the tea handed over by a maid and said, “Unfortunately, my brother likes Princess Fulu, so there is no such thing as ‘forcing’.”
“I don’t believe it!” Zhou Shihui said, “How is it possible? I won’t believe it unless I hear Senior Brother admit it with my own ears. Are you trying to stop him from marrying me because I defended Tong Yingying yesterday afternoon?!”
