Chapter 566

Chapter 566 – Marriage Woes

Mo Rongyi clearly inquired about what happened at the Wu family’s banquet today and then immediately went back to the palace to relay it to his Imperial Brother.

“The fourth miss of the Lu family fell into the pond after being scared by Wu Congmin and was later rescued by him.” Mo Rongzhan’s slender fingers tapped the table lightly as he mused. Listening to his younger brother’s account of the Wu family, the corners of his mouth twitched, and his smile became more and more frightening.

“Imperial Brother, I heard that Wu Congmin kept calling her ‘princess’ after he rescued the girl,” Mo Rongyi added. Second Master Wu probably mistook the fourth miss from the Lu family as Yaoyao.

Tang Zhen, who had been standing silently at the side, raised his eyes and glanced at Mo Rongzhan. The Wu family has gone overboard. There are many people in the capital who want to marry Yaoyao, but none are as impatient as the Wu family. Fortunately, the person who fell into the water was not Yaoyao. If she were the one who fell in, Wu Congmin would probably lose his life.

“Was Yaoyao also at Wu Mansion at that time?” Mo Rongzhan asked through gritted teeth. She is such a careless little girl; doesn’t she know why these people invited her to the banquet? And yet, she actually went there! What if she had fallen into their trap?  Doesn’t she realize that everything I am doing is so that I can successfully marry her?

“For some reason, Yaoyao left early,” Mo Rongyi said.

“She’s smart.” Mo Rongzhan snorted coldly. At least she knew that she shouldn’t stay at the Wu Mansion for long.

Actually, Mo Rongzhan was sulking at the moment. Upon learning that Wu Congmin had called the rescued woman ‘princess’, intending to make everyone think that Yaoyao’s innocence was tarnished, he was so angry that he wanted to crush that little bug to death.

“Imperial Brother, are you really destined to be a wife-jinxer?” Mo Rongyi had endured it for a long time now and finally couldn’t help voicing the doubts in his heart.

“Why do you ask?” Mo Rongzhan raised his eyebrow and glanced at his younger brother.

“If that’s really true, then… Don’t make Yaoyao your empress. What if she dies?” Mo Rongyi exclaimed.

Tang Zhen couldn’t control himself and almost burst out laughing.

“Have you finished your homework? Why aren’t you going back to do your homework? You have to go to the Imperial Study every day from now on,” Mo Rongzhan said coldly.

“Imperial Brother—” Mo Rongyi groaned. The little prince had a penchant for playing truant. While his brother was away from the capital, he would laze around and go to the Imperial Study once every three days. He thought that his Imperial Brother didn’t know, but it turned out that he already knew.

Mo Rongzhan glared at him and barked, “Get lost!”

“Yes, Imperial Brother, this younger brother will take his leave.” Mo Rongyi looked at his brother dejectedly and did not forget to turn his head when he walked to the door and said, “Imperial Brother, I really mean what I just said. You—”

He swallowed the rest of his words after being met by his brother’s cold eyes. “I’m leaving.”

Tang Zhen finally couldn’t hold it in and burst into a peal of laughter. “The little prince is so innocent and cute.”

It is more stupidity than anything else! Mu Rongzhan thought unhappily. He made his people spread the news that he was jinxed, clearly for Yaoyao’s sake, and yet his brother really believed it.

“The prince is just concerned about the princess.” Tang Zhen explained on Mo Rongyi’s behalf. If he wasn’t the one who got people to spread the rumor about the emperor’s fate, he would also be worried that Yaoyao would be negatively affected by the emperor.

Mo Rongzhan snorted coldly. “You can start on the next step now. We shouldn’t delay it any longer.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Tang Zhen agreed.

♚

The Lu Mansion was in chaos tonight.

Ye Zhen learned about what happened to Lu Jing at the Wu Mansion from Old Madam Lu, and she immediately guessed that Wu Congmin must have lured Lu Jing into the lotus pond on purpose.

“Aren’t you very happy that I suffered all this for you?” Lu Jing said. She had already been sent back to her courtyard, and Ye Zhen came to visit her after she was done talking to Old Madam Lu.

“What does all of this have to do with me?” Ye Zhen asked lightly. “Did I tell you to go to the lotus pond alone? Or did I have you meet Wu Congmin? Why didn’t you reveal your identity when Wu Congmin mistook you for someone else?”

Lu Jing glared at Ye Zhen with a pale face. Naturally, she would not say that she did not reveal her identity in order to mislead Wu Congmin. “If it weren’t for you, then Wu Congmin wouldn’t… Wouldn’t have come to talk to me. My reputation has been ruined, Lu Yaoyao, and it’s all because of you.”

“It seems that you are still dreaming.” Ye Zhen suddenly felt that she really shouldn’t have made the effort to visit. There were those that always believed that it was reasonable for them to be weak and that everyone was indebted to them. Lu Jing was one such person.

“I’m more awake than ever!” Lu Jing screamed. “Lu Yaoyao, you have to remember that if there is a chance in the future, I will not let you off, certainly not.”

Ye Zhen silently looked at her for a moment. “You’d better not have such a chance, once you have such a chance, it’ll be the end of you.”

Lu Jing glared at Ye Zhen resentfully.

“Have a good rest,” Ye Zhen said softly, ignoring the other’s resentment.

So what if she was resentful? Wu Congmin was aware of her identity and standing, so it was absolutely impossible for him to marry her as his wife. After all, Wu Congmin was the child of the main wife, and a prestigious family would never take in the daughter of a merchant to say nothing of a concubine-born daughter*.

(* Lu Jing is the Second Master Lu, Lu Shixun’s, concubine-born daughter. His main wife is Wang Shi)

She believed that Old Madam Wu would not be willing to let Wu Congmin marry Lu Jing as his wife nor would Old Madam Lu allow her to become a concubine*!

(*the gist is, if a girl’s reputation is tarnished, she needs to be married either as the main wife or a concubine. Given Lu Jing’s standing, she can only be a concubine cos she is not the daughter of the main wife. Also, wife here is used to refer only to the main wife cos the others are all deemed concubines.)

Ye Zhen reckoned, the Wu family and the Lu family would probably be going back and forth about this for some time. However, she didn’t want to be dragged into this muck at any cost. So she already told Old Madam Lu that she would be going to Chengde Mountain Villa to pay her respects to the empress dowager.

Old Madam Lu originally wanted to go to the Wu family banquet to expose her so that she could bring her out more often in the future. No one expected that such a thing would happen. When she heard that Yaoyao was going to pay respects to the empress dowager, she naturally would not stop her and immediately had people prepare.

“Why do you think it’s so difficult to arrange Yaoyao’s marriage? Every time we want to arrange a marriage for her, accidents happen.” Old Madam Lu tiredly slummed back on the big pillow. She was determined to find a good husband for her granddaughter, but before they could even start looking, another granddaughter was in trouble.

Pei Shi’s face was also full of worry. “Mother, why don’t we look for a master to read Yaoyao’s fortune? Could it be that there is something hindering her marriage prospects?”

Old Madam Lu was a staunch believer in fortune-telling. She immediately nodded at her daughter-in-law’s suggestion. “It would be great if Mr. Huangfu was here. Regardless, we can still go to the Huguo Temple and request to see the abbot. It’ll be good if he is willing to read Yaoyao’s fortune.”

“Mother, let’s find a time to go to Huguo Temple then,” Pei Shi said hastily.

“You are only concerned with Yaoyao’s affairs. Xiangzhi isn’t that young anymore, so do you have any candidates?” Old Madam Lu asked.

Pei Shi said, “Mother, Lingzhi isn’t even married yet. Xiangzhi is the youngest, so he can’t get married before his elder brothers. Besides, I heard from Husband that Old Master Xu seems to want to matchmake Xiangzhi.”

At the mention of Lu Lingzhi’s marriage, Old Madam Lu dipped into an even deeper abyss of worry.

Why is it so difficult for my grandchildren to find a good match?

♚♚♚