Rong Xia, who was robbed as a commodity, was entertaining guests at home. Because it was still mourning, the officials could not drink and have fun, so he used two cups of tea to treat the guests.
The guest's status was not low. He was the Minister of Revenue, Yao Peiji, an important member of the court.
Yao Peiji was a fanatical lover of calligraphy and painting, so he had a very good impression of Rong Xia. He usually called Rong Xia brother, and did not mind that there was a thirty to forty year age gap between them. In fact, if he could ask for a piece of Rong Xia's calligraphy, he would even be willing to call Rong Xia brother.
"Good painting, good mood," Yao Peiji looked at the sketch of a cat playing with flowers hanging on the wall. His cheeks were red with excitement, and he said to Rong Xia, "Master Rong's painting skills have improved again. This kitten seems to be alive. But why is there a peony tied to the cat's head? "
Rong Xia smiled and said, "This is just a little interest of mine."
"Painting comes from the heart, so it is more spiritual. It should be like this, it should be like this," Yao Peiji gently stroked his palm. He suddenly felt that this peony was simply the finishing touch. It set off the cat's charmingly naive appearance, and it also had a little bit of willfulness.
Cats should be more willful to be cute.
Yao Peiji pulled Rong Xia and talked for a long time about the painting. Then he said with emotion, "Master Rong, you have so many talents. I don't know what kind of woman in the world is worthy of you."
Rong Xia smiled and did not say anything. He only offered a cup of tea to Yao Peiji.
"I think the second daughter of the Marquis Shi's residence is beautiful, intelligent, and very talented. She is a good match for you," Yao Peiji took a sip of tea and said with a smile, "I don't know if Master Rong has this idea?"
Rong Xia seemed to be deep in thought. After a while, he said, "Is the Lord Yao talking about the two thousand pieces of gold in the Prime Minister's residence?"
"That's her," Yao Peiji said. "My wife often talks about her. It suddenly occurred to me yesterday that this girl is a good match for you."
"I'm afraid that I'll have to disappoint Lord Yao," Rong Xia stood up and bowed to Yao Peiji. She said apologetically, "To be honest, Lord Yao, I've already arranged a marriage a few days ago. However, it's currently the Princess Royal's mourning period, so it's not appropriate to mention it. Therefore, I hope that Lord Yao can keep it a secret for me."
"W-what?" Yao Peiji looked at Rong Xia in surprise. Rong Langjun was engaged. How come there was no news at all? Fortunately, he was an elegant person. When he heard Rong Xia's words, he didn't ask any more questions. "In that case, this old man wishes that Master Rong and your future wife's love is stronger than gold, and that you will grow old together."
"Thank you, Lord Yao, for your auspicious words," Rong Xia stood up and bowed to Yao Peiji solemnly.
Yao Peiji saw Rong Xia's rosy face and bright smile. He sighed in his heart. It seemed that Master Rong really liked his fiancée. Otherwise, he wouldn't be smiling so happily. It was a pity that he couldn't achieve his goal with the Shi Family. He had to make a trip to the Shi Family.
When Rong Xia saw that Yao Peiji had the intention to leave, he couldn't persuade him to stay. Thus, he walked him to the front door. When he saw that Yao Peiji's carriage had left, he had the gatekeeper close the door.
In the Right Prime Minister's residence, Shi Jin was recuperating at home. When he heard his father's manservant call him to receive a guest, he changed into an old plain robe and followed the manservant out. Previously, because of the assassination of the Princess Royal, as the Deputy Commander of the Imperial Guards, he was punished with fifty strokes of the cane. Fortunately, he was the son of the Right Prime Minister. The person carrying out the punishment had a sense of propriety. Thus, although his injury looked serious, it didn't hurt his muscles or bones. However, the Commander who was also punished with fifty strokes of the cane was more serious. It was said that he still couldn't get out of bed. Shi Jin didn't know if he could still keep his position as the Commander of the Imperial Guards.
When he arrived at the main hall, he saw that the person who came was Yao Peiji. He guessed what the matter was and greeted Yao Peiji.
Shi Chonghai originally didn't want his daughter to marry Rong Xia. However, seeing that Rong Xia was becoming more and more famous among the scholars, and was highly valued by the Emperor. He also had more and more power in the court. He felt that marrying his daughter to him wasn't a bad choice. However, since ancient times, it had always been men who proposed to women. There had never been a case where a woman would ask the man whether or not he wanted to marry her. Thus, after thinking it over, he asked Yao Peiji to help him sound out the situation.
"Just now, at Earl Rong's fu, I was rewarded with a picture of a cat playing. It was very interesting." Yao Peiji had already drunk a bellyful of tea at Rong Xia's. When he arrived at the Prime Minister's fu, he only dabbed the tea at the corner of his mouth and put it down. "This old man spoke too much today and asked about Earl Rong's marriage."
Yao Peiji didn't mention that it was the Shi Family who asked him to ask. Instead, he said that he spoke too much and took care of the Shi Family's reputation.
"Who knew that this Earl Rong was an unromantic person and didn't care about the feelings between men and women." Yao Peiji shook his head and sighed. "I don't know what young people are thinking these days. He's already in his twenties. When this old man was his age, his children were already running around. "
Shi Jin slightly raised his eyebrows. "Earl Rong is unwilling?"
Yao Peiji looked at Shi Jin with a smile. "That's right. He just doesn't want to propose marriage." What he meant was that he had already done what the Shi Family asked him to do. However, he didn't have the heart to do it, so the Shi Family should take a break.
Shi Jin seemed to have thought of something and couldn't help but frown.
Shi Chonghai heard this and laughed. "Young people like to live a free and undisciplined life. Without the supervision of the elders at home, it's natural that they don't want to live a life of marriage."
He was just a person who had lost his parents and had the life of a lonely star. How dare he be picky about his daughter? He really didn't know how to appreciate favors!
Yao Peiji pretended that he didn't hear the mockery in Shi Chonghai's words. After sitting in the Shi Family's residence for a while, he stood up and said goodbye. The person who saw him out was the Shi Family's housekeeper.
After getting on the carriage, Yao Peiji shook his head and hummed a little tune. He was obviously in a very good mood. In other people's eyes, he was just a vassal of Shi Chonghai's court. Originally, even he himself thought so. However, this didn't mean that he liked being treated as an errand boy by the Shi family. There were juniors in the house, and it wasn't a busy time with many guests, but the Shi family had a servant send him out. They were really looking down on him.
Rong Xia was so respected by the Emperor that he personally saw him out. Was the Shi Family's face really so big that they couldn't even see him out a few steps?
Scholars were very particular about etiquette. If other people's etiquette wasn't up to standard, it would be considered an offense to them.
Yao Peiji finally had a problem with the Shi Family.
"Do you really think that your daughter is a fairy who can marry anyone she fancies?"
Yao Peiji snorted. He maintained a strangely good mood as he left the Shi Family's territory.
Ban Huai returned home with an indescribable expression on his face. He called his wife and children to his front. After dismissing all the servants, he looked at the other three people in his home with a serious expression.
"Husband, what happened?" Seeing Ban Huai's strange expression, the Yin Family hesitated and asked, "Is it because the Emperor regrets and doesn't want to give you the title of Duke anymore?"
Ban Huai shook his head.
"Did the Second Prince offend you again?" Ban Heng craned his neck and moved closer to Ban Huai. "Or did you meet some strange people on the road?"
Ban Huai still shook his head.
Ban Han saw his father looking at him. He pointed his index finger at the tip of his nose and asked, "It has something to do with me?"
Ban Huai nodded his head.
Ban Han slammed the table and said, "Who's talking bad about me now?"
Ban Huai wiped his face and said, "Good girl, can't we think of something good?"
"Then from the expression on your face, it doesn't seem like something good happened." Ban Han took a deep breath and lowered his head to drink his tea, "Just say it, I can handle it."
"Duke Rong asked the Emperor to be a matchmaker for him. He wants to marry you."
"Cough, cough, cough!" Ban Han choked on his tea and even choked on his tears. The whole family was so scared that they started patting his back and holding handkerchiefs.
"I, I'm fine." Ban Han patted his chest and looked at Ban Huai with tears in his eyes, "Is Duke Rong blind?"
Ban Huai shrugged his shoulders and said, "I also want to know the answer to this question."
"Speak properly, what nonsense are you two talking about!" Yin Family raised her eyebrows, "My daughter is so beautiful, it's not strange for anyone to want to marry her. What's a duke?"
Ban Huai snorted and said, "But he's Rong Xia, there are so many girls in the capital who want to marry him."
"So what if he's called Rong Xia? So what if he's called Rong Wuxia?" Yin Family slammed the table, "Besides, what's so good about this kind of man who has so many girls looking at him? What if he's unfaithful?"
"Then the men that my sister likes, which one of them isn't handsome and has so many girls thinking about them?" Ban Huai looked at Yin Family and said in a low voice, "If my sister can really marry Rong Xia, then it's not bad. At least Rong Xia is a gentleman. Even if our family falls in the future, he won't mistreat my sister because of it. Then I can rest assured."
Yin Family heard this and fell silent.
They weren't sure what would happen in five years. But in the dream, Huahua didn't seem to get married and was no longer the Lord.
No, no!
Yin Family suddenly looked up at Ban Han and said, "What did you say your title was in the dream?"
"Lord." Ban Han answered with certainty. She remembered very clearly that a eunuch came to their house to announce an edict, saying that her father's title of Marquis, her mother's title of Lady, and her title of Lord.
"But you're now a Princess, and your father has become a Duke." Yin Family's voice became very low, "Reality … is already different from your dream."
"All of this …" Ban Huai thought carefully, "seems to have started after my sister whipped Shen Yu a few times on the street."
"You mean to say that in the dream, I didn't end up well because I wasn't unruly enough?" Ban Han frowned, "That doesn't seem to make sense."
Ban Huai looked helplessly at her children, "How can things be as simple as you think? Your dream was a mess, and the process was even more confusing. Most importantly, you didn't even know who rebelled in the end. It's too difficult to deduce reality from your dream. Maybe you're a Princess now, but later on, because of something you did, you were demoted to Lord. Maybe because of something I did, I became Marquis again? "
"That's right," Ban Han agreed, "Do you think … it's possible that the Shi Family rebelled? The eldest son of the Shi Family, Shi Jin, seems to like wearing black clothes. Also, their family is very powerful now. If they wanted to rebel, it's possible. "
The four members of the Ban Family fell into deep thought. The more they thought about it, the more they felt that the Shi Family was indeed suspicious.
"Duke, Cheng Anbo requests an audience."
The housekeeper's voice sounded in the courtyard. The four members of the Ban Family looked at each other in dismay. Someone wanted to be their son-in-law?
To meet or not to meet, that was the question.
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