In the back garden of Princess Taiping's Mansion, Li Lingyue was wearing a peacock gown, a red pomegranate skirt, and a mandarin duck embroidered belt. She was holding a silk fan painted with albizia flowers and was walking slowly among the flowers. Two leopard cats with tiger stripes sometimes jumped into the flowers to catch butterflies, and sometimes ran to her feet and squirmed in her skirt.
Princess Taiping usually did not like to raise cats, but somehow she knew that the "Long-faced Arhat" raised by Xiao Man and the "Thousand Wen Qian" she sent to the palace were both bought by Yang Fan. Princess Taiping suddenly became interested in cats, so she gave an order and raised two cute heterogeneous cats in her mansion.
There was no palace maid beside her, only a shrewd family member in green clothes and a small hat. He was Princess Taiping's coachman. Don't think that a coachman was a very low position among the servants. In fact, it was not. A coachman in ancient times was like a car driver for a modern official. Only the most trusted people could be a coachman.
This coachman, who had once pretended to be Yang Fan, was called Xu Houde. Although he looked a little flamboyant, he actually did things as his name suggested. He was very steady and meticulous. Otherwise, how could he be put in an important position by Princess Taiping?
Xu Houde's voice became a little muffled. Princess Taiping smiled faintly and bent down to pick up a kitten. She gently stroked its fur and said, "You are just passing on the message. You can say it. I don't want to listen to your modified words. You should learn from what he said!"
"Yes!"
Xu Houde agreed and repeated the words that Wu Youji scolded her. Although he did not use the same tone as Wu Youji, Princess Taiping could naturally hear the hatred in Wu Youji's heart after hearing such vicious insults. She slightly raised her willow-leaf-like eyebrows and said as if nothing had happened, "Oh? What did Yang Fan say? "
Xu Houde repeated what Yang Fan said. Princess Taiping suddenly stopped and turned her head. She lightly asked, "Did he really say that?"
Xu Houde put down his hands and said, "I dare not deceive the princess."
Princess Taiping suddenly turned around, she thought to herself, "He said I am unparalleled in beauty, a peerless beauty in the world, but as a man, who wouldn't be moved?"
Princess Taiping hurriedly took a few steps forward and passed through a cluster of flowers. Amidst the swaying flowers, her eyes quietly curved like a crescent moon, "You can continue!"
"Yes! The prince consort flew into a rage, he said … "
Xu Houde repeated the conversation between Wu Youji and Yang Fan to Princess Taiping from beginning to end. Princess Taiping could not stand still. In her heart, she kept repeating Yang Fan's words, "Her Royal Highness got married at the age of sixteen. She and Prince Consort Xue were husband and wife for seven years. She adhered to the womanly virtues and loved each other deeply. In the world, there has never been a word that could slander her …"
Princess Taiping tasted it several times, suddenly her nose turned sour, tears were about to flow down.
She did not care about the slander of the world, but she did not want to be looked down upon by Yang Fan from the bottom of her heart.
It was true that in front of Yang Fan, she had done a lot of provocative things, but to be honest, was she really a dissolute woman? As a princess, if she only wanted a handsome and tall man, it was not difficult to find a man who was even more handsome and tall than Yang Fan. If she did not really fall in love with him, why would she degrade herself like this in front of him?
"So … so he also knows my, Li Lingyue's, character. He did not look down on me …"
Two clear tears finally could not help falling into the cluster of flowers. At this moment, Taiping's heart was blooming. She felt that everything she had done for him was worth it.
At this moment, another family member hurriedly ran over, shouting from afar, "Princess! Princess! Things are not good, Lord Consort brought many brave family warriors and hacked that Yang Fan to death on the long street! "
When Princess Taiping heard this, she could not help but turn pale with fright. She threw away the cat in her bosom and did not bother to go around the small path. She hurriedly passed through the cluster of flowers and rushed to the front of that person. She asked with a trembling voice, "What did you say, Yang Fan … what happened to Yang Fan?"
That family member ran until he was out of breath, panting heavily, he said, "Oh … Lord Consort brought a lot of people and trapped Yang Fan on the long street. He could not escape, Lord Consort's people … all carried knives …"
Princess Taiping could not restrain herself and hurriedly interrupted him, "You said, Yang Fan was … what happened to him?"
When she thought of the word 'hacked to death', she was frightened and did not dare to say it out loud.
That family member said, "He must have been hacked to death!"
Princess Taiping's two eyebrows immediately raised, she said in a deep voice, "Must be?"
That family member confidently said, "When I saw that the situation was not good, I hurriedly ran back to report. Although I did not see the result, there were so many guards and they had already surrounded him. How could he still have a way out? Of course he was hacked to death! "
Princess Taiping was furious and raised her hand to slap that family member. The family member spun two rounds on the spot, covered his face and did not know what to do. Princess Taiping frowned and shouted to Xu Houdao sternly, "Prepare the horse!"
Princess Taiping didn't have time to change her clothes. She just hurriedly rushed to the front yard, mounted the horse, and rushed out of the gate. Xu Houde, the family member who reported the news, and some warriors of the Princess Mansion all jumped on the horses and chased after her …
…
The market place only opened in the afternoon. After noon, Xiaoman packed up and went out of the mansion with Taomei and Third Sister to the South City. Not far away, they met Pasta and Miss Xiaodong. There was also a kind-looking old lady accompanying them.
The old lady also lived in the Xiu Wen Workshop. Her family ran a wine shop. Her surname was Zhong, and her name was Zhong Ruojiu. When she was young, everyone called her Ruojiu Niang. Now that she was old, they still called her that.
Ruojiu Niang was entrusted by Aunty Ma and Aunty Hua to help Miss Xiaodong in marriage. Speaking of which, the marriage she was talking about was not an outsider, it was Chu Kuangge. Naturally, it was because Maqiao was the middleman. But as a man, it was not appropriate for him to be the matchmaker.
Ruojiu Niang was very attentive to this matchmaking task. Today, she found Xiaodong and accompanied by Pasta. They came to the South City to get some new cloth to make some new clothes for Miss Xiaodong. This matter had already been discussed by several aunties in private, but Chu Kuangge had not mentioned it yet. They planned to ask Maqiao to invite Chu Kuangge and Miss Xiaodong to have a marriage.
The matter of Yang Fan being imprisoned, Pasta and Miss Xiaodong did not know. The common people only knew that a lot of high-ranking officials had been arrested recently. They had also heard a little about the Prime Minister, but officials like Yang Fan belonged to the "wait" category.
Maqiao knew that Pasta and Yang Fan were like brother and sister. He was afraid that she would be worried, so he did not tell her about this matter. Today, Ruojiu Niang brought the young lady and daughter-in-law to the South City. On the way, she casually talked about the love affair of Princess Taiping. Only then did Pasta and Xiaodong know that something had happened to Yang Fan.
Fortunately, now that Yang Fan had been safely released from prison, the two did not need to worry too much. But since they knew that such a thing had happened, they naturally had to come and take a look. Ruojiu Niang had no choice but to accompany them.
When the three of them arrived, Xiaoman was about to go out. Xiaoman wanted to invite the three of them into the mansion. As a result, the three of them asked where Xiaoman was going, and Yang Fan was not at home, so they cooperated and went to the South City.
Along the way, Xiaoman told the story of how her husband was imprisoned and rescued. As for why Princess Taiping stood up for Yang Fan, Xiaoman naturally could not admit the rumors. The reason she found was roughly similar to what Yang Fan had said in the "Golden Hairpin Drunk". This could be considered as a husband and wife of one mind.
Ruojiu Niang, Xiaodong, and Pasta naturally would not ask this question. After Xiaoman vaguely answered it, she asked about Xiaodong's marriage. Knowing that the person Ruojiu Niang was going to introduce to her was Chu Kuangge, Xiaoman was happy to see it happen, and said a lot of good things about Chu Kuangge.
Miss Xiaodong still had a face of hesitation. Pasta said, "Although Chu Kuangge is a little older, it is not too outrageous. Besides, he is a dignified officer of the Jin Wu Wei. I heard from Qiao Ge 'er that he will soon be promoted to Brigade Commander. Such a Langjun, what do you have to be dissatisfied with?"
Miss Xiaodong timidly said, "This Brother Chu, I … I seem to have seen him on the day of Erlang's marriage. Brother Chu's body is so strong, his arm is thicker than my waist. He looks so scary, I'm afraid … I'm afraid I'm not a good match for him."
Pasta smiled and said, "You little girl, do you want to find a sickly person to be satisfied?" Carefully looking at Miss Xiaodong's delicate figure, and then thinking of Chu Kuangge's lion-like physique, there was really a big difference between the burly and petite ones. Pasta couldn't help but cover his mouth and snicker.
Ruojiu Niang heard Xiaodong's worry and said indifferently, "Hey! You little girl, what are you worried about? Auntie is someone who has been through this. Let me tell you, us women have the bones of a camel. If you lie down somewhere and a bag that weighs dozens of kilograms presses on you, you won't be able to breathe. But if this bag is a man, then it is different. Even if he is eight feet tall, burly and majestic, and weighs more than two hundred kilograms, it is not enough to press on you, he still has to smash down, ram down, and stab down. Hey! Not only will you not feel uncomfortable, the harder he works, the more comfortable you will be … "
Ruojiu Niang had been selling wine when she was young, and most of the people who liked to drink did not have a filter on their mouths. Ruojiu Niang had long been used to it. When she was young, she didn't even blush when she talked dirty with others. Now that she was older, it was needless to say.
When she said this, Miss Xiaodong didn't really understand and really didn't have any reaction. Instead, Pasta and Xiaoman blushed. Especially Xiaoman, who had just had a melon last night. At this time, after hearing Ruojiu Niang's words, her face was really as red as a pomegranate flower.
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