Favored Concubine

  Things turned out to be better than Yuwen thought, and Li's family visited Madame Dingguo several times. The two had already reached a verbal agreement, and they would arrange the marriage between Lige and Huiling after Dingguo reported for duty. 16kbook net update

  Dingguo Hou, as a senior noble with meritorious service, had the privilege of being exempt from selection, but Murong Fu did not have this privilege. Since childhood, she knew that she could be exempt from selection. Huiling was open-minded and straightforward, winning people's favor.

  After the New Year, in early spring, Ding Guo Hou indeed reported that he would be exempt from the selection, and as the only legitimate eldest daughter, Hui Ling was exempt from the selection. The emperor readily agreed and personally granted a marriage to the Murong family.

  The old lady, after hearing the imperial edict from Li Ge and Hui Ling, stood up with a joyful face, supported by Madame Li. Murong Jin proactively went forward and handed over a purse to Wang Gonggong.

  The king's hands moved quickly, and the bundle disappeared in an instant. "His Majesty praised the prince for being steady, wise, and intelligent. The other day, he even tested their martial arts skills and was very satisfied with their hard work."

  The emperor has been in a good mood recently, so he had the energy to review the children's homework. Murong Jin let out a slight sigh of relief, "Thanks for your hard work, Wang Gonggong, come in and have a cup of tea."

  "No, we still need to return to the palace and report back. Let's talk about it next time." Wang Gonggong flicked his dustpan and left with Xiao Huozhe.

  Wan Yu walked up to her elder brother, smiled and bowed her hands, "I've come to congratulate you, brother. Now give me the reward money." Her pale and tender jade-like hand stretched out towards Li Ge, asking for the reward.

  Lige's face turned slightly red, and he slapped his sister, saying with a mixture of shyness and annoyance: "You're asking for a beating, aren't you happier than me?"

  Wan Yu was naturally very happy, Hui Ling is a straightforward and easy-going person, they played well together, and it's only natural to be overjoyed with such a great sister-in-law. It can be said that everyone is delighted with this matter.

  Mrs. Li beamed with joy, finally waiting for her son to get married, only to feel that the days had passed in a flash, and her son was already so big. Standing up, he was taller than her, and had become an adult.

  "Alright, stop making a fuss. Everyone go back home now. This matter has been settled and I feel at ease too. You go discuss the wedding date with your family, choose an auspicious day according to the almanac, and start preparing for the wedding as well, there aren't many days left." The old lady thought to herself that she would go back and flip through the calendar to find a good day.

  Li smiled and nodded, supporting the old lady as they walked towards the main courtyard. "Yes, tomorrow I'll go write a letter to visit relatives, and have Li Ge catch two live geese."

  "Hmm, this is important." The old lady said as she walked, carefully reminding herself of the etiquette that couldn't be forgotten, or else people would look down on her.

  Lige couldn't stand everyone's teasing gaze, so he pulled Qige and ran to the front yard, disappearing in a flash.

  Wan Yu covered her mouth with her hand and giggled, her eyes full of joyful colors.

  Yun Shu let out a cold laugh, "What a pity that someone can't get what they want, the beauty is heartless." The mocking tone stood out amidst the joyful laughter and chatter.

  Yun Shu didn't care and held her face up with a serious expression. If it weren't for the voice from earlier being hers, one would have thought they heard wrong.

  The masters and servants in the courtyard suddenly fell silent, staring blankly at Yun Shu as if she were a plague, avoiding her with all their might.

  Wan Yu glanced at Yun Shu with a calm and collected expression, her eyes cold and distant, as if looking at a stranger. She took a few steps forward to support the angry old lady, her voice soft and gentle, "Grandma, today is a happy day. We must have a big meal at noon, my granddaughter loves braised pork belly with sugar and red-braised lion's head. You must tell the kitchen to make this dish."

  The old lady suppressed her anger and glanced around. Seeing everyone's pale faces, she couldn't help but feel a surge of anger again, but still forced a smile and said: "You're right, it's a happy day. The other day I was praying to the Buddha, now is also the time to repay my vows. So, Yunque, you'll take my place from today on, go to the small Buddhist hall to repay my vows, recite the Diamond Sutra for 49 days to show your sincerity. I know you're a filial child, go and prepare." After finishing speaking, she didn't even look at her and led Wenyu into the house.

  Li's family didn't look sideways and entered the house, Wang's family pouted and followed Zhao's family into the house.

  Murong Jin gave her a cold glance, "If you don't want to live, three feet of white silk can solve it. Don't cause trouble for the Murong family here. My patience has a bottom line." After finishing, he hummed and flung his sleeve into the house.

  Others just shook their heads, resentful of his lack of fight, but it wasn't their place to say anything.

  Yun Shu stood alone, with no one coming to comfort her. The servants were all busy serving dishes and wouldn't come over. Li Ayi walked up, expressionless, and said: "Second Miss, please go."

  Yun Shu didn't say a word, her eyes red as she walked away, going to the small Buddhist temple to pray for blessings. In reality, it was just another way of locking her up in isolation. No big deal, after all, it wasn't the first time she had been locked up either.

  The old lady in the house remained silent for a long time, Mu Rongjin stepped forward and said softly: "Mother, Yunshu is a bit stubborn, I'll go back and discipline her later..."

  The old lady raised her right hand to stop him from continuing, her face somewhat serious and solemn. "Older brother, I've been thinking that next year's spring selection should not let Yun Shu go, spare her the trouble of being ill, an imperial concubine born out of wedlock, the emperor won't care about it either. If she doesn't listen to advice and enters the palace, I'm afraid she'll cause big trouble."

  The old lady looked far and wide, thinking very deeply. Every three years, a selection of beauties was held, and all eligible girls from families of officials ranking fourth grade or above had to participate. Both Wan Yu and Yun Qing were on the list, but Yun Shu's behavior really made one break out in cold sweat. If she entered the imperial palace and uttered such a sentence, wouldn't that be risking the lives of her entire family?

  Murong Jin thought for a moment, gritted his teeth and said: "In that case, let's follow mother's wishes." He was really disappointed with this daughter of his. He had never wronged her before, but he had spoiled her too much, yet she couldn't even be relied upon to take care of things properly.

  The old lady nodded and didn't say anything else.

  Wan Yu sat under Li's hand with her head bowed and remained silent. She didn't like Yun Shu's ambiguous attitude, always finding fault in herself, and had done everything she should have reminded and done. The rest wasn't her responsibility anymore. It was better not to enter the palace, so she wouldn't have to be on tenterhooks and worry about Yun Shu causing trouble.

  Wan Yi pulled her older sister's hand, Wan Yu looked up at her, Wan Yi smiled at her and pinched the palm of her hand, with a somewhat comforting meaning. Wan Yu felt warm in her heart, smiled lightly, raised her hand to scratch her little nose, and Wan Yi pouted, blushed, and turned her head away.

  Wang's eyes glanced at the interaction between the two, and she couldn't help but smile. She said: "Look, now that Old Lady has reminded me, I remember that next year Yu will be old enough to participate in the selection of brides, we should start preparing for this too. Eldest Sister is busy with preparing for Lao Ge's wedding, why don't you let me and Third Brother's wife take care of this small matter? We can also find something to do." She spoke with a smile all over her face.

  Zhao nodded with a smile and replied, "Yes, elder sister is probably too busy alone, why don't we lend a hand?"

  Li smiled and said: "That's a good thing, even if you don't say it, I'll still pull you up, don't think about slacking off."

  "Haha, what was I saying? Eldest sister will definitely remember us working together." Wang Shi shrugged her shoulders and laughed loudly.

  The old lady was also amused by everyone's words and smiled, "Well, let's just say that. You two should check their homework more often, especially etiquette and the entrance to the palace after entering. The imperial palace is not a place where you can run around casually, once something happens, we will be unable to help."

  "Yes, Mother, don't worry, I know what's at stake." Wang nodded solemnly as she stood up.

  The Wang family, although a bit showy, has always been clear and consistent in the face of family honor, never arguing with outsiders, which is a tacit understanding with the Li and Zhao families.

  "There's another thing I'd like to ask Mother about. My niece from Heyang County has come over, and this year she was promoted to a fourth-rank official, just in time for the selection process. My own daughter is also going to be selected, but previously we hadn't anticipated it and didn't invite any wet nurses, so now they're all relying on me, their sister. I was thinking of asking Zhang Niangniang to instruct them together, lest they make fools of themselves. What do you think, Mother?" Wang Shi asked with some trepidation.

  It's too late to invite the wet nurse now, besides, my sister and brother-in-law's house in Beijing is relatively small, and my brother-in-law doesn't have many connections in Beijing. This time, there's also a request for help, so I specially prepared 1,000 taels of silver for myself.

  The old lady looked at Wang with a half-smile, and Wang shrank her neck, lowering her head in silence. After a long while, the old lady finally said: "Since that's the case, let it be then. We're all relatives, and it wouldn't do to not help out a bit. I'll go talk to Nainai about it."

  "I'll thank Mother on behalf of my sister then. Tomorrow, I'll have my niece come to the mansion to pay her respects." Wang's face lit up with joy.

  "Let's have someone tidy up Jingfang Courtyard for that young girl to live in." The old lady said indifferently.

  "Rest assured, I'll take care of it right away. I'll also have the seasonal clothes and new bedding prepared. The young lady will follow the monthly allowance of five taels of silver, as set by Yuwen and the others. Is that acceptable to you?"

  "Uh-huh, just do as you see fit." The old lady nodded in agreement.

  Wang let out a sigh of relief, this way he could also show off in front of his sister and make up for it.

  Wan Yu looked at Wan Yi curiously and asked in a low voice: "Have you seen your cousin?"

  Wan Yi shook her head, "I haven't seen her either, just heard Mother mention that she's a bit older than me and is called Ming Xin. We'll know when she arrives, it seems like she'll be living with us for a year or so, who knows if we'll get along?" In her heart, she thought as long as she doesn't embarrass herself like Yun Shu did, it would be fine.

  Wanyu thought the little girl couldn't be that bad, after all, she was innocent. "She should be easy to get along with. Tomorrow, shouldn't we prepare some gifts?" It turned out she was a guest.

  Wanyi also shook her head, somewhat perplexed. "I don't know either, sending a hairpin or something should be enough, otherwise we can ask Aunt."

  Wan Yu thought for a moment and nodded, "How about we give different gifts? I'll give a bracelet with gemstones, and you guys can give something else?"

  She didn't send anything too expensive, but if she had sent something too expensive first, her younger sister wouldn't have been able to give a gift, especially for someone like Yun Qing who was already not wealthy.

  Wanyi also nodded and said: "I'm the youngest, I'll just give a hairpin. Third sister can give a ring."

  Nodding her head in agreement, "I have another agate ring that looks very good, why don't I just give you this one instead." She couldn't take out anything else.

  Sorry for being late. Asking for pink today three updates