Little Cardamom - Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Wedding

The only thing left to do is to wait for good news.

On the other hand, Ming Tingyuan slammed the door and left, and Mrs. Pei went after him in a hurry and talked to him in a rational manner. She finally persuaded Ming Tingyuan, who almost went straight to the Duke of Ning’s Mansion, from going.

The letter said that the two brothers had been brought back to the capital and could be questioned at any time. Mrs. Pei asked someone to prepare the gifts and carriage, planning to go with Ming Tingyuan to the Duke of Chang’s residence first.

One of the reasons for going to the Duke of Chang’s house is to meet the brothers and find out what happened in person. Secondly, the Duke of Chang is Ming Tan’s own uncle, and this marriage was decided by his younger sister, Mrs. Bai, when she was alive, so if they can discuss the matter with him first, it will be able to manifest the relationship between the two houses.

When the Marquis of Jing’an intended to withdraw from the marriage, the Duke’s Mansion was still unaware of it. But after hearing that the Marquis of Jing’an has returned home, the wife of the Duke of Ning, Li, knows that there is no such thing as an impermeable wall, if you want to keep the marriage, this matter in their house can no longer be delayed.

Without even sending a greeting early in the morning, she asked her subordinates to pack their things and prepare the carriage, and was ready to leave to the capital.

“The matter has come to this, Zhu’er, it is not that aunt does not love you, aunt and your cousin have also thought of many ways, but ……,” Li looked at the woman who had been crying in her room and had fallen to the ground, and said with pity, “You should take Min’s son with you and go to Li Zhou for a while. When Miss Ming family enters the house, and the couple develop a relationship, then we will talk to her about you and Min Ge’er, naturally there will be room for discussion.”

” Once the couple has developed a relationship, how can the Miss Ming agree to take a concubine?” The woman who was called “Zhu’er” was in tears, “With his wife in his arms, how can cousin still remember Zhu’er!”

“No way!” Liang Zixuan stood up.

Mrs. Li swept him a glance, signaling him to shut up, then turned her head to look at Zhu’er and said in a gentle voice: “Min Ge’er is your cousin’s eldest son, and you are Min’s biological mother, how can you not remember. Now this arrangement is all for the sake of your cousin’s future, your cousin’s future is also Min’s future, do you still can’t understand such a simple reason?”

Hearing this, Zhu’er collected her tears and looked at Mrs. Li with a twinkle in her eyes.

“Well, all the arrangements have been made in Li Zhou, you can stay in peace, when the time comes, your cousin will take you both back to the capital with honor and glory.”

Zhu’er wanted to fight for something more, but Mrs. Li lowered her eyes, picked up her tea cup, and made it clear that her words were over, and she did not want to discuss it any further.

The servants who were at the side saw this, and went forward to pull Zhu’er, and one of them was holding one side, half dragging, and half escorting her out.

“Cousin! Cousin ……”

Zhu’er looked at Liang Zixuan reluctantly, and called out to him.

Liang Zixuan couldn’t bear it, no matter what, the two of them had been in love and slept together for quite a few days, and when Zhu’er left the courtyard, he couldn’t help but say, “Mother, is there no more room for maneuvering in this matter? Cousin her ……”

“It’s all your fault!” Mrs. Li heavily put down the tea cup, and coldly shouted, “You too go back to sober up, don’t be an eyesore in front of me!”

Liang Zixuan was a noble son outside, but at home he didn’t dare to refute his mother’s words. He was scared enough to salute hastily and leave in a hurry after being shouted at twice.

Looking at Liang Zixuan’s back, Mrs. Li closed her eyes and had a headache.

She was already known as a thunderbolt among the women in the inner house, and her methods were sharp.

Before the palace banquet the other day, she was still thinking about how to marry the Ming family’s Ah Tan back into the family smoothly. When she left the palace, she saw from afar that Ming Tan did not get into the carriage of the Marquis of Jing’an, but left with Bai Minmin, and a plan quickly came to her mind.

She sent someone to follow her from afar and went back to the house to tell Liang Zixuan in detail how important the marriage was and how difficult their current situation was.

As soon as people came to report that Ming Tan and Bai Minmin left Tingyu Tower and went to the South Royal River Street, she made an instant decision to plan a rescue scene.

If she had accomplished her plan, she would have had the best of both worlds, not only would she not have ruined the marriage, but she would have been able to use this as a bargaining chip to keep Zhu’er and her son. However, she did not think that her son would fail to do his job, and instead of finishing the play smoothly, he had to take the responsibility of falling into the water.

The plan did not work, and the Marquis of Jing’an came back so soon, what else could she do? Can only do this, let the mother and son disappear!

When lunchtime came, the servant came to report: “Madam, the cousin and the young master have left the city.”

The stone hanging in Li’s heart finally settled, she waved her hand tiredly and asked people to leave, intending to quiet down.

The road from the capital to Li Zhou is not far, but not too close. It will take two days to get there with a fast horse and whip, and about seven days with a slower carriage.

The road is bumpy and tiring, seeing that the prosperity and bustle of the capital are far away, and the servants have been treating her significantly poorly since she left the city, Zhu’er’s heart is becoming more and more resentful.

“The road ahead is not easy, and if we go further, it will be difficult to find an inn before nightfall.”

Zhu’er lifted the carriage curtain, looked at it and frowned: “This place is so dilapidated, how can we rest?”

After a tiring day, the servant was not in the mood to deal with this cousin girl who was not even able to carry her child into the house, so she impatiently replied, “If you don’t want to rest, you can drive on your own.”

“You!”

The servant stretched his back and ignored her, going into the inn on her own. The nurse also got down from the other carriage and went in with the sleeping child in her arms.

Zhu’er had no choice but to get off.

She wanted to go up to see her child, but the nurse refused to let her go: “Miss, the madam has repeatedly told me to take good care of the little master, so I don’t need to bother you, you should rest early.”

Zhu’er: ” Min Ge’er is my child, what do you mean by that!”

Nurse, like the previous servant, took the child into the room and rested, not paying much attention to her.

Zhu’er had a vague feeling of what was going on, and her heart instantly went half cold.

She sat back down straight away and sat in front of the table for a while, the heat of the food was almost gone before she picked up her chopsticks as an afterthought.

But from the table behind her came a sudden reminder from a strange man: “It’s drugged, don’t eat it.”

Zhu’er stiffened and subconsciously turned around.

The man said again, “Don’t turn around, someone is watching.”

Hearing “drugged” and “someone watching”, Zhu’er suddenly panicked, and her brain became a muddle, not knowing whether to believe what the man behind her said.

At that moment, she caught a glimpse of a wild cat wandering around under the table looking for food, so she pretended to be unsteady and shook the dish out.

The wild cat purred a few times, lazily approaching, first licking, and then picking and chewing the food on the ground. But even after half a day, the wild cat did not have any special reaction.

“You lied to me?” Zhu’ers voice was a little shaky and a little unsure.

The man explained: “Ruan Jin San will only make people weak and unable to escape, not fatal.”

Zhu’er braced herself to stare at the wildcat for a while, it was nestled in place, slowly wagging its tail, and indeed didn’t move much anymore, but that’s how cats are by nature, and this proved nothing.

Wait …… she was suddenly alert: “What did you say, why should I escape?”

“Back in Li Zhou you will have to marry the steward of the village to become a housekeeper, wouldn’t the girl want to escape? Or do you think that you will be able to wait until the day you return to the capital?”

Zhu’er was struck by lightning when she heard the words.

The attitude of the people around her after leaving the capital had indeed given her an ominous feeling, but marrying a head steward as a housekeeper …… No, it won’t, how is this possible! And she still has Min Ge’er, Min Ge’er is the eldest son of her cousin. There is no way that her aunt and cousin would do this to her!

The person behind her continued: “The wife of the Duke of Ning has a dowry estate in the western suburbs of Li Zhou. The steward of the estate is forty years old, his wife died some years ago and he has not married again, with only four concubines and five sons, and in the past few days, the steward’s house has been decorated with lights and wedding flowers. When the girl arrives, she will be able to pay three respects into the ceremony.

“As for the youngest son, his bloodline is inseparable, if there is a chance in the future, he will be able to recognize his ancestors. But there will be no more connection with the girl, the girl will leave. The mother and son will be separated and will never see each other again in this life.”

These words sounded extremely ridiculous. But intuition tells her that it’s true, it’s all true.

The sound of tea cups falling on the table came from behind her, and the man said in a deep voice: “Girl, if you want to return to the capital to make a future for yourself, I can help you.”

The night became slightly cold. It was dark outside the capital, but inside the city, the lights were on at night, and it was lively and brilliant. The Chang Yu Street, which was occupied entirely by the Dong Bei Wang’s residence, was a rare place in the city that was tranquil and quiet.

Jiang Xu and Shu Jingran were talking by candle in the bright room of the study when the candle flame flickered and a dark shadow entered the room by the wind, hanging his head to repeat the message: “Your Majesty, the Liang family girl and the child have been brought back to the capital and are properly settled.”

Jiang Xu gave a “hmm” and raised his hand.

The dark shadow understood and quietly retreated.

Shu Jingran enclosed three black pieces, while fetching the chess pieces with his sleeves covered, he said to himself, “I’ve been thinking about why you made a move that night. This marriage is a nail in the coffin, it is not a bad thing to let Liang Shizi save Miss Ming. Now……I finally figured it out.”

For hundreds of years, Da Xian has been a dynasty, the families have been intertwined, and the power has been growing. The King has long had the intention of pruning.

The other day, the emperor picked up the most wild Marquis of Cheng’en who did not know how to restrain himself and dared to move the salt mines. I think it will not be long before the Duke of Ning and the Marquis of Jing’an flee from a disaster.

If these two families are united in marriage, they can be liquidated together and save some energy. It seems that His Majesty also has this intention, but, “You don’t seem to want the Ming and Liang families to be united in marriage, why?”

“Didn’t you figure it out?” Jiang Xu dropped a piece and slowly raised his eyes.

“……”

“I just figured out that you saved her life that day because you didn’t want the Ming and Liang families to tie the knot, that’s all.”

“So this still needs to be figured out.”

Jiang Xu lowered his eyebrows and spoke softly. He almost doubted whether this Shu Er Gongzi’s talent was worthy of the young ladies who were waiting for him to parade through the streets in the spring exams.

Shu Jingran coughed, slightly embarrassed.

In the end, he has not yet entered the Court, and there are many things that he does not see clearly. Jiang Xu also did not give him a hard time, lowering his eyes to look at the chess game, he said: “Haste makes waste. Besides, pruning the family is not my intention.”

The bright room was quiet, with some faint sounds of candle flames jumping.

Shu Jingran pondered on Jiang Xu’s words and grasped a few points from them.

The first half of the sentence is easy to understand. One breath to clean up two, is a bit too hasty. In recent years, the Empress Dowager fasted and chanted Buddhism, and is still peacefu. But the Empress Dowager’s family has deep roots and is a threat that cannot be ignored since His Majesty ascended the throne. If the action is too big, it will inevitably leave some openings for them to gather hearts and minds. It is relatively more foolproof to divide and conquer.

But for the second half of the sentence, Shu Jingran paused.

He could not figure out the relationship between Jiang Xu and the current Emperor.

In these years, the emperor has really not said anything to Jiang Xu. On the contrary, Jiang Xu has not been very warm to the current Emperor, and it can even be called cold. Many times his attitude makes people wonder whether he is standing on the side of His Majesty.

The phrase “not my intention” also makes Shu Jingran a little confused, whether it means “not my intention, but will still help” or “not my intention, I will sing against you” is not clear.

Jiang Xu seemed to be aware of what he was thinking: “Ming Tingyuan’s ability to dispatch troops is unique, so he will stay for a while.”

Then he decided on the last black piece: “You lose.”

Shu Jingran returned to his senses, not knowing when the white pawns, which had been slightly better than the black pawns, had been pressured by the black pawns, and he was trapped in a city of worries, with no more room for maneuver.

But he had no intention of playing chess tonight, so he pushed away the chess box and asked, “If you want to keep Ming Tingyuan and ruin his daughter’s marriage, then what marriage do you want to arrange for his daughter? Ming Tingyuan holds the Yang Xi Road, which should not be underestimated. And once the marriage is broken, I think there are many people who can’t resist this temptation.”

Jiang Xu did not answer, but only looked at him quietly.

“……?”

It took Shu Jingran a long time to realize that something was wrong.

He was always as gentle as a jade, encountering things calmly and appropriately. But at this moment, he probably felt absurd, and after a long time of stagnation, he laughed out a little incredulously: “Jiang Qizhi, what do you mean, I will marry?”

“The Empress has made arrangements for Zhang Huaiyu’s marriage. As for Lu Ting, he is too affectionate.”

“Then am I the one who is frivolous?” Shu Jingran still felt amused.

Jiang Xu stared: “If you don’t marry, do you want this king to marry?”

Shu Jingran: “That’s not a bad idea.”

Jiang Xu didn’t want to talk anymore. He sent his guests away without lifting his eyelids.

TRANSLATOR’S CORNER:
I am not a native speaker of either Chinese or English. I basically MTL and edit the text, sometimes I also use some sites for reference. I can’t guarantee that everything here is accurate, But I try to stick to the author’s work as much as possible. Please feel to comment any mistakes??.