"What living dead?" Jiang Honghao was displeased and frowned. "Prince Qiyang is just in a coma. I heard that he was awake for a long time a few days ago. It shows that the treatment is effective. In the long run, Prince Qiyang will recover soon. "
Mu Mingtang was speechless. She had been in the Jiang family for a year. Basically, she was locked up for training as soon as she entered the mansion. Her knowledge of the outside world was very limited. She was originally the daughter of an ordinary family in Xiangyang. How could she understand the circles of the high-ranking officials and nobles in the capital? The Jiang family didn't teach her at all. As a result, although Mu Mingtang was nominally the second young lady of the Jiang family for more than a year, she actually didn't know many people in the capital.
Jiang Honghao in front of her and Xie Xuanji sitting next to him could be said to be all the men that Mu Mingtang knew.
However, even though she was so uninformed, she still knew that Prince Qiyang was not a kind person. Although Prince Qiyang was also a prince, he was not the biological son of the current Emperor. He was the son of the former Emperor.
Prince Qiyang was the legitimate son of the former Emperor. However, his mental state was very unstable. He was addicted to killing. He was sometimes in a coma and sometimes awake. When he was awake, he would often kill people violently. When he went crazy, even his biological father, the former Emperor, was almost killed by him.
Obviously, Prince Qiyang couldn't inherit the throne in this state. Therefore, the former Emperor passed the throne to his younger brother, the current Emperor, before he died.
After the current Emperor ascended the throne, Prince Qiyang's illness didn't get better. Instead, it got worse. It was said that all the servants in the Prince Qiyang's mansion, regardless of whether they were men or women, were all killed by Prince Qiyang. Later, the people who looked after him were replaced by soldiers. Even so, they still needed to send people into the Prince Qiyang's mansion from time to time.
It was said that there was an unwritten rule in the army. Whoever could survive for six months in the Prince Qiyang's mansion would be promoted and rewarded with a hundred taels of gold after he came out. However, even if the imperial court offered a handsome reward, no one was willing to take care of or detain Prince Qiyang. It was said that Prince Qiyang used to be in the army and was known as the God of Slaughter. Later, he killed too many people and suffered a backlash. Now, he was half-dead and half-mad.
Mu Mingtang didn't know whether the rumors were true or not, but at least she knew that even trained professional soldiers couldn't escape from Prince of Qiyang. She was just a weak girl who couldn't even escape from Xiangyang. How could she marry into Prince of Qiyang and be a pathfinder?
He was afraid that he wouldn't be able to enjoy the good fortune of being a princess consort. He would probably die on the same day and report to the King of Hell.
Mu Mingtang was a little anxious. She could tolerate humiliation, cold treatment, and even harsh treatment, but she absolutely could not allow her to die. No one longed for life more than those who had truly experienced death.
Mu Mingtang couldn't help but take a small step forward and said sincerely, "Father, you and Madam saved me from the hands of those hooligans. I am very grateful. I am willing to serve you for the rest of my life to repay your kindness. I don't want to get married, and I don't want to be a princess. My life is cheap, and I can't enjoy the good fortune of being a princess consort. Please let me stay in the mansion, serve tea, and work like a horse. As long as you don't mind, I am willing to be a maid. "
"How can that be?" Jiang Honghao flatly refused, "You are my adopted daughter, the Second Miss of the Jiang family, not a servant. How can you be a maid? Don't worry, I will support you in everything. Since you are going to be a princess consort, you just need to be at ease when you marry and enjoy your life. No one will talk behind your back. What's more, Prince of Qiyang is the legitimate son of the late Emperor, and he is also the legitimate grandson of a prince. Before the accident, he had made great contributions, and all the noble ladies in the city were eager to recommend themselves. If you marry him, you will be climbing up the social ladder no matter what, and it won't be a disgrace. "
Xie Xuanji, who hadn't spoken for a long time, was sitting on the side. When he heard this, he also closed his folding fan and said, "Father-in-law is right. Since Father ascended the throne, he has racked his brains and worked hard all day and night, for fear that he would fail to live up to the late Emperor's trust. Over the years, he has seen that the government is smooth and the people are harmonious. The people live and work in peace and contentment, and the vitality damaged by the years of war has slowly recovered. Father is very relieved, but there is one thing that he is worried about, and that is his cousin, Prince of Qiyang. He is the only remaining descendant of Imperial Uncle. He has reached the age of marriage, but he has never had a wife or concubine. Father is worried. Now that Father-in-law has taken the initiative to say that he will marry the Second Miss to Prince of Qiyang, it will solve the problem in Father's mind. After you marry him, take good care of him. If he can have a descendant, it will be your credit. In the future, the imperial family will not treat you unfairly. "
Mu Mingtang hadn't looked in the direction of Xie Xuanji since he entered the door. This was not only to avoid arousing suspicion, but also to draw a clear line between them. Mu Mingtang was very clear that no matter how nicely Jiang Honghao said it, Jiang Mingwei was his biological daughter. Look at Xie Xuanji. He didn't even call Prince of Qiyang father-in-law.
If she counted on her former fiancé to stand up for her and keep entangling with Prince Jin, it would be like poking a nail in Jiang Honghao and Madame Jiang's eyes. She would certainly not get a good end.
Mu Mingtang was very self-aware. From the beginning, she kept a distance from Xie Xuanji. But at this moment, when she heard Xie Xuanji's words, Mu Mingtang couldn't help but look at him.
It was really ironic. Three or four days ago, he was still her fiancé. Now, in front of her father, he was telling her that after marrying his cousin, she should take good care of him. It would be best if she could get pregnant with his child as soon as possible.
Mu Mingtang originally thought that even if Xie Xuanji didn't have any feelings for her, she had been Jiang Mingwei for so long and had been his fiancée for so long. Even if he met a stranger, after spending three months together, he should have some feelings for her. How could he watch as she became a widow for a living dead, and even be buried with him?
Mu Mingtang gritted her teeth. The most valuable lesson that the chaotic world had taught her was to be shameless. Only those who didn't have to worry about food and clothing were qualified to consider face. Mu Mingtang just wanted to live. She just wanted to live a long and stable life.
She suddenly lifted her skirt and knelt down. She kowtowed to Jiang Honghao and said, "Father, I have today all because of your kindness. You saved me once. Why don't you save me again? If it was someone else and her father asked her to marry him, she would have married him without hesitation. But Prince Qiyang was not an ordinary person. Everyone knew that he was moody and murderous. When he went crazy, he didn't distinguish between friend and foe. He even hurt himself. It was said that he didn't have any maids by his side now. They were all experts in the army. Even the carefully selected soldiers in the army couldn't control him. How can I protect myself? I'm afraid I can't even get close to him. He will kill me like an ant. I don't want to die. I still want to live to be filial to my parents. Father, please have mercy and save my life! "
After saying that, Mu Mingtang bowed deeply and put her forehead on her hands. Jiang Honghao's face flashed with some emotion. But he immediately thought of the benefits that the Jiang family might get if he gave Mu Mingtang away. That moment of softness immediately froze into an indestructible ice.
Jiang Honghao didn't look at Mu Mingtang. Instead, he sighed and said, "I know you are afraid. But rumors can't be trusted. Those are just rumors spread by idle people. Prince Qiyang is a hero. Although he is delirious now and often attacks others, the treatment has begun to take effect. After you marry him and take good care of him, you may recover soon. You don't have to think too much. Just prepare for your marriage. "
Perhaps seeing Mu Mingtang raise her head and open her mouth to refute, Jiang Honghao's face became serious and he decisively stopped her. "A monarch doesn't joke. His Majesty is very happy when he knows that the Jiang family is willing to share his burden and that you are willing to marry him to take care of Prince Qiyang. He especially praised me in the morning court. Now that the imperial edict has spread throughout the court, if you refuse, won't you be disobeying the imperial edict? At that time, not only will you lose your life, but I will also be implicated by you. I didn't raise you to let you repay kindness with enmity. "
Repay kindness with enmity? What an enmity! Mu Mingtang's heart turned cold when she heard this. She didn't want to die. She didn't want to marry a dead person. Was it her fault? She finally understood that Jiang Honghao was determined to sell her. No matter how she begged or how humble she was, Jiang Honghao wouldn't change his mind.
Prince Qiyang was the legitimate son of the late emperor and the nephew of the current emperor. The late emperor didn't pass the throne to his son but gave it to his younger brother, which was very suspicious. Prince Qiyang was half dead and his life was hanging by a thread. No matter how one looked at it, the emperor was very suspicious.
Mu Mingtang didn't know whether Prince Qiyang's current condition had anything to do with the emperor or whether the late emperor's passing on the throne was fake. But the current emperor was guilty and afraid that others would say that he mistreated the late emperor's legitimate son.
At this time, Jiang Honghao stood up and said that he was willing to marry his second daughter to Prince Qiyang, which solved the emperor's biggest problem. The emperor didn't give up treating his nephew for many years and even married a wife for his nephew. Even if Prince Qiyang didn't recover in the end, he couldn't blame the emperor.
Since the Jiang family pleased the emperor, the emperor would naturally give Jiang Honghao some benefits. Jiang Honghao had been the deputy of the three departments for many years. Maybe he could be promoted to the head this time. The emperor got fame, the Jiang family got benefits, Jiang Mingwei got rid of an eyesore substitute, and Xie Xuanji could also please the white moonlight. Everyone was happy. The only one who had been sacrificed was Mu Mingtang.
Everyone got benefits, and it was a big benefit. Mu Mingtang was just an outsider. Even if Jiang Honghao cried until he was blind, would he give up the benefits for an adopted daughter?
How could it be? Mu Mingtang herself thought it was impossible.
Mu Mingtang's blood turned cold, and so did her heart. She had been in the Jiang family for one and a half years. Although she was clumsy at first, she tried to please everyone after she adjusted. Mrs. Jiang, Jiang Honghao, Xie Xuanji, and even the maids of the Jiang family, she tried her best to treat them well. She thought that even if the Jiang family couldn't treat her as their biological daughter, they would have some feelings for her after being together for more than a year. Even if it was a dog, they wouldn't be willing to kill it after raising it for a year.
But she was worse than a dog.
Actually, she wasn't a gentle and refined person. The year she was on the run had already honed her into a shrewish and shrewish shrew. She would haggle over the smallest details. But Mrs. Jiang liked it, so she did her best to act. In fact, she didn't like cyan or green. People of humble origins liked tacky but festive red and gold.
But Jiang Mingwei liked this kind of high-class color. Mu Mingtang cut her feet to fit her shoes and stuffed herself into Jiang Mingwei's shell. She didn't dare to speak, laugh, or even eat. All of this was just to survive.
Living like a human being, in all aspects, alive and well.
But today, the reality was clearly in front of Mu Mingtang. They never treated her as one of their own. They didn't even treat her as a human being. Her only meaning was to be Jiang Mingwei's substitute. Now that Jiang Mingwei was back, she, the fake, should be dealt with. She could be thrown into Prince Qiyang's residence to squeeze out the last bit of her value.
Jiang Honghao saw Mu Mingtang kneeling on the ground and didn't speak for a long time. He couldn't bear it. She was, after all, a girl who was like a fresh flower. When Madam Jiang brought her back, her face still had some of Jiang Mingwei's shadow. Over the years, as she grew up, Mu Mingtang became less and less like Jiang Mingwei. Instead, just like her name, she had some of the shadow of a deep spring scenery, tender and beautiful. If Xiangyang hadn't been destroyed, if she hadn't wandered to the capital, Mu Mingtang would have been raised in a boudoir, carefree, and doted on by her parents.
Which parent would be willing to see their youthful daughter marry a half-dead lunatic? Jiang Honghao sighed in his heart. He softened his voice and said, "A few days ago, your sister came back. We didn't have enough people at home, so we didn't organize your birthday banquet properly. In a while, I'll give you a birthday gift. "
Jiang Honghao felt that as her adoptive father, he was condescending and extremely charitable to talk to Mu Mingtang so kindly and even give her a birthday gift. Mu Mingtang must be grateful and full of admiration. Jiang Honghao waited for Mu Mingtang to express her gratitude, but Mu Mingtang didn't say a word. She suddenly got up from the ground.
Jiang Honghao frowned. Commoners really didn't know the rules. Father talked to her. It was fine if she didn't answer, but she even stood up on her own.
Did he let her get up? It was simply improper. Rotten wood couldn't be carved.
Mu Mingtang wasn't like before. Whenever Jiang Honghao's expression changed, she would apologize in fear and trepidation and reflect on what she had done wrong. She curled her lips into a smile and looked at Jiang Honghao. Then she turned her head to look at Xie Xuanji. She said, "Pretending to be sanctimonious but gaining fame by deceiving the world. I didn't understand these two words when I first learned them. Today, I've seen a living example."
Xie Xuanji's expression suddenly darkened. Jiang Honghao also flew into a rage. "How dare you! Jiang Mingtang, what are you saying? Why aren't you kneeling down and begging for forgiveness? "
"Birthday? Birthday gift? Quickly put away your hypocrisy. My name isn't Jiang Mingtang. My birthday isn't in June. Jiang Mingwei's birthday is on the third of June. My birthday has long passed. "
Jiang Honghao choked. Mu Mingtang's birthday had long passed? At this time, Jiang Honghao remembered that he didn't seem to have asked when Mu Mingtang's birthday was. Not only him, but no one in the Jiang family cared. As a matter of course, they held their birthday banquet on the third of June.
June 3rd was Jiang Mingwei's birthday.
"You keep saying that it's for my own good. I'm marrying Prince Qiyang to climb up the social ladder. Then let your daughter climb up the social ladder! My life is cheap. I can't climb up the social ladder, okay? "Jiang Honghao was about to speak, but he was interrupted by Mu Mingtang." I don't want to listen to your hypocritical quibbling. If you want to curry favor with your superior, then you should curry favor with your superior. If you want to sell your daughter, then you should sell your daughter. You have to find an excuse of 'I'm doing it for your own good'. Don't you feel ashamed to say it yourself? "
Jiang Honghao was the deputy prime minister. In the officialdom, he flattered and talked with his colleagues. At home, he was the head of the family. Mrs. Jiang didn't dare to disobey Jiang Honghao. Even Jiang Mingwei was afraid of Jiang Honghao. No one had ever dared to point at Jiang Honghao's nose and scold him for being hypocritical.
"How dare you!" Jiang Honghao was furious. He slammed the table hard, stood up and shouted, "The Jiang family adopted you, provided you with luxurious clothes and food, and ordered you to have servants. Is this how you treat your savior? If it weren't for me, you could only marry peddlers for the rest of your life. How could you be a princess? "
"Yes, I don't deserve it. So, was it me who begged you to adopt me? Was it me who begged you to marry me to the Prince of Jin? "Mu Mingtang completely abandoned her pretense and stared at Jiang Honghao without dodging. This was her, the commoner girl who came to Chenliu from Xiangyang alone and dared to scold the pawnshop owner on the street.
Jiang Honghao was stunned and didn't respond. Indeed, he said it with a strong sense of righteousness. However, this was the Jiang family's own choice from the beginning. It was true that Mu Mingtang had accepted their kindness, but she didn't owe them anything.
Mu Mingtang had pretended for too long and had long been fed up with this kind of attitude. Originally, in order to repay their kindness and preserve her hard-won stable life, she did her best to curry favor with the Jiang family. However, she now discovered that no matter how much she pretended to be a lady, the Jiang family didn't treat her as a person. Then why did she have to put in so much effort and endure her vexation? Jiang Honghao wanted to send her to the tomb of the living dead in exchange for a promotion. Was she supposed to be grateful to the Jiang family for letting her become a princess?
To hell with being grateful. She, Mu Mingtang, was an unbearably vulgar merchant girl. She was just a pile of mud and couldn't learn the elegance of these noble families.
Mu Mingtang pulled out the Jiang Mingwei -style hairpin from her hair and threw it to the ground, saying, "My father said that in this world, you can owe anything, but you can't owe kindness. I'll give up my body and the rest of my life to repay your kindness of taking me in this year. After that, I'll make a clean break and we won't owe each other anything. "
The slender hairpin fell to the ground and shattered with a crack. The jade-green tassel beads scattered all over the ground and bounced back and forth. Jiang Honghao was quite angry. Mu Mingtang actually dared to say that they won't owe each other anything in front of him. There were some things that he could understand, but others couldn't say it out loud.
Jiang Honghao said with a gloomy face, "Won't owe each other anything? The Jiang family has done you such a great favor, but when you say it, it seems like you've been wronged. You haven't learned anything about benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and trust, yet you turn around and accuse the Jiang family of being unjust to you. The Jiang family's fault that you're talking about is that they didn't let you marry into the best family. As expected, you're still coveting Mingwei's things. "
Mu Mingtang had already decided to call it a day, but when she heard Jiang Honghao's words, her entire person instantly exploded. This year, as a substitute, in order to imitate Jiang Mingwei, she gave up her own surname, gave up her own birth, and even gave up her entire personality. Everyone had the right to say that she coveted glory and wealth, but only the Jiang family didn't.
Mu Mingtang couldn't bear it anymore and pointed her finger at Jiang Honghao, cursing angrily, "You dog official, I covet Jiang Mingwei's things? Do you really think that your family is a house made of gold and that everyone wants to curry favor with you? Others are just flattering you, that's all. Do you really think that you're a clear-minded and capable lord? Pei! I only said those words because I need to rely on the Jiang fu to pass my days and have no choice but to flatter you. What are you glaring at? Don't you know your own weight? Do you really think that just because Jiang Furen, your two concubines, and the Jiang family's servants flatter you, you really think that you're good? Wipe your eyes clean and take a good look in the mirror. You're just a hypocrite who tries to curry favor and sells his daughter for glory. You're really a vile person! "
Mu Mingtang's curses flowed smoothly and in the end, she realized that she had actually used two idioms in one sentence. She was simply bursting with literary talent. She finally let out the bird's anger that she had been suppressing for the past year. Seeing that Jiang Honghao was so angry that he couldn't speak, Xie Xuanji stood up and looked like he wanted to teach her a lesson, Mu Mingtang immediately turned around and glared at Xie Xuanji with an extremely arrogant and petty expression. She raised her eyebrows and said, "What do you want to do? You're really worthy of being called the Saint of Love Wang Ye. Even when your fiancée ran away from the marriage, you're still deeply in love. I really admire you. I hope that you and Jiang Mingwei will grow old together and never separate for the rest of your life! "
"Unbearably vulgar, you don't know what you're talking about." Xie Xuanji frowned as he looked at her. It was as if he was looking at something dirty that he couldn't endure. Mu Mingtang had originally treated him as her fiancé, so she naturally tried to curry favor with him. Now that she was about to become his sister-in-law, was she afraid of him?
Mu Mingtang gave a cold laugh and said, "I'm unbearably vulgar, I'm unbearably vulgar and ignorant. What does that have to do with you? This old mother wanted to say it a long time ago. Look at your appearance, your eyesight really isn't good. You're pretentious and pretending to be elegant. You like these flashy things, but who are you pretending for? I treated you sincerely, but you gave me to another man. You're good! We'll go our separate ways. Just wait and see in the future! "
Mu Mingtang said this as she walked out. When had Xie Xuanji ever been offended like this? He reached out and tightly held onto Mu Mingtang. Mu Mingtang was suddenly pulled back and immediately screamed, "Lecher, what do you want to do to your sister-in-law!"
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