Chapter 258 Disturbances Arose and the Marriage to Unite Two Countries
Mo Xuetong did not know that she had been targeted by Feng Yuzhen.
At the moment, she was preparing dinner in the yard.
Mother Xu personally cooked, including frying and boiling. The yard smelled delicious.
Most of the young and old maids in the Qingwei Garden were newly chosen, and some of those maids were deployed by Mo Huawen from other places. They were all smart and capable, keeping the garden clean and tidy. The previous situation—the servants received their master’s command but did not carry out—never happened again.
It was a little late when Mo Huawen came. The Yan Kingdom’s envoys came to the capital, and he had to arrange for an escort to protect them. Anyway, he had to finish his business before he came back. Besides, the First Prince of the Yan Kingdom didn’t live in the posthouse.
As soon as Mo Huawen arrived at the gate of the yard, a young maid with sharp eyes saw him and ran in quickly to report to Mo Xuetong.
Then Mo Xuetong took Mo Yu to the gate to meet him.
It was the first time they had met since they were estranged because of Auntie Fang. Mo Huawen felt sorry for his daughter and did not know how to face her. However, his daughter came up to him lightly, and said, bearing no grudge, “Father, please come into the house. It’s windy and cold in the yard.”
Mo Xuetong looked up at Mo Huawen, with the respect that could not conceal in her eyes. Her eyes were moist like water that stirred. Mo Huawen felt a twinge of pain in his heart and couldn’t speak for a moment. He only made a wave and walked on, his eyes somehow watery.
It was not until he reached the house and sat down that he calmed down.
“Father, who are the people from the Yan Kingdom today? Have they brought anything interesting to the Emperor?” Mo Xuetong poured Mo Huawen a drink and looked up at him. She did not seem at all angry with her father for what had happened a few days before, and she was still his innocent daughter.
Seeing that his daughter was so schemeless and did not feel sad, Mo Huawen felt more and more sorry for his generous and lovely daughter. A warm current ran through his heart, but he still felt sorry for his daughter. He took the cup from Mo Xuetong and took a few gulps. His body, chilled by the wind, warmed, and so did his heart. He looked at the smiling face of his daughter, feeling as if the haze of the past few days had been swept away.
Hiding the emotion in his eyes, Mo Huawen pretended nothing had happened and said, “Tong’er, Princess Royal’s Manor is bustling today. I’m sorry I couldn’t come today because of the palace banquet.”
The envoys of the Yan Kingdom entered the city today on a temporary basis. According to their schedule, Mo Huawen thought that they would enter the city on the Lantern Festival. Unexpectedly, the First Prince of the Yan Kingdom said he needed a rest, so those envoys entered the city today. This disrupted Mo Huawen’s plans. He had planned to make his daughter look good this time so that no one would look down on Tong’er and think that she had been promoted to a higher class by someone else.
However, man proposes, God disposes. Or, in any case, Mo Huawen didn’t expect the First Prince, who was rushing into the capital, to spend two days on a matter. How could Mo Huawen not be depressed? He thought that Tong’er would be sad when he came back today.
To his surprise, he was greeted by his daughter’s sweet smile, and his daughter had no grudge against him, her eyes full of joy.
“Father, please don’t say that. The Yan Kingdom’s envoys entered the capital today, and the Emperor held a banquet for them in the main hall. I should be worried if you couldn’t make it,” Mo Xuetong said with a sweet smile. She lifted her chopsticks and placed two of her father’s favorite celery dumplings on his plate.
“Father, taste this. This is what I made when I came back. I wonder if it’s to your taste. I went out to watch the fireworks last night and didn’t have time to have a reunion dinner with you. So I make up it. Father, you must not say I am too fond of play or dislike me.”
“It’s delicious. What you made is, of course, delicious.” Mo Huawen was moved to pick up a dumpling. He did not even sample it carefully and just chewed a few times and swallowed. He felt very comforted and praised Mo Xuetong loudly.
“Father, have you been busy these days? You must have not eaten well. You look thinner. Eat more at my place today.” Mo Xuetong’s eyes fell on Mo Huawen, only to find that her father seemed to have lost weight when she had not seen him for only two days. She guessed that it was not only because of business but also privacy, and felt a little bitter.
“Yes, I’ve been a little busy lately, but I’ll be a lot more relaxed after the Spring Festival. Among those cases, the case of the Mingguo Manor is the most troublesome. Fortunately, we’ve got a lead. It is said that she was seen entering a carriage with her maid, so she wasn’t robbed,” said Mo Huawen in obvious annoyance, rubbing his forehead.
Mo Huawen had thought that the lady of the Mingguo Manor had been robbed. It was a big deal for a bad man to take away one’s daughter and ruin her reputation. Moreover, the girl was from Mingguo Manor. You Yuecheng went to his office every now and then to inquire about that, which annoyed him a lot. He sent a lot of people to investigate it and finally got such a result.
Investigating elopement didn’t belong to the jobs of the Ministry of Justice. As Mo Huawen put the confession file in front of You Yuecheng, You Yuecheng immediately went speechless. This was a private matter for the Mingguo Manor. They knew that there was no need to make a big deal out of it. It would be better for You Yuecheng to solve the matter by himself, so as not to embarrass the Mingguo Manor.
After settling the affair of the Mingguo Manor, the others were nothing urgent, except that the woman of the Ding General Manor occasionally sent someone for inquiries. Mo Huawen finally felt he could slow down. He was really tired recently. After all, he had to juggle palace and family affairs. Who knew how outsiders talk about him? He could only sleep a few hours a day and felt exhausted while resting.
“Father, do you mean that the young lady of the Mingguo Manor went away with someone else? How come? She is a young lady in the inner manor, so she has no chance to meet outsiders. How could she go off with anyone? Is she not afraid of being deceived?” Mo Xuetong put her hand on the table, propped herself up and asked in confusion.
Her question reminded Mo Huawen. He picked up another dumpling into his mouth and chewed slowly. Then he said, “Well, that’s truly strange. The average man can’t get into the inner yard at all. It is not possible for others to see the daughter of such a large family unless one is the family’s acquaintance.”
“Could it be that a young master of some well-known family has taken a fancy to the lady of the Mingguo Manor, but feared that their families would not approve of that, so they…” Mo Xuetong asked, blinking her bright eyes, with a smile.
This was the only situation that made sense for this to happen in such a well-known family. The one missing from the Mingguo Manor was the daughter of a concubine. If she really fell in love with a man of high rank, it was impossible for her to be his wife, so they fled. But another thing happened. Putting all this together, it was not hard to conclude that this was not a simple elopement.
“What do the young ladies who stay at home usually think? They should read more Classics for Women.” Mo Huawen understood what Mo Xuetong said and shook his head. Then he reached out his chopsticks and offered Mo Xuetong some food.
An idea came to his mind for no reason, but he shook his head and threw it out because he felt a little annoyed. Then, he told Mo Xuetong about what happened today at the palace banquet.
It turned out that the First Prince of the Yan Kingdom really came here for marriage. He wanted to marry a beautiful girl here to make the relationship between the two countries better.
This kind of thing was supposed to be done by a royal daughter, and of course, the Princess was the best choice. Mo Huawen didn’t know what Emperor Zongwen thought. The Emperor didn’t make it clear and only asked the First Prince of the Yan Kingdom to choose a beautiful girl himself. For the Qin Kindom’s slight to him, the First Prince didn’t complain but thanked the Emperor on the spot.
Finally, it was settled. A banquet was to be held in the imperial palace in three days. All girls over the age of 13, whose father was an official of five grade or above, were required to attend the banquet.
“Father, shall I go too?” Mo Xuetong wanted to talk about something happy with her father, and she didn’t expect it to involve her. Her long eyelashes fluttered and black eyebrows raised.
“If you’re all right, of course, you have to go.” Mo Huawen found that it was a headache when he remembered that Mo Xuemin had to attend the palace banquet too.
Unfortunately, Mo Huawen’s three daughters all fell into that category. Mo Xueqiong was kind of crazy; Mo Xuemin was too discredited to be seen now. Except for his third daughter, his other daughters embarrassed him. However, Mo Huawen did not want Mo Xuetong to attend the banquet because he thought it was an occasion for the First Prince to pick up a lady to marry.
Watching his daughter’s pretty face, Mo Huawen became increasingly worried. He was determined not to prevent the First Prince from selecting Tong’er. Mo Xuetong was now the only daughter he found comforting. Moreover, the Yan Kingdom was far away from the Great Qin. If Mo Xuetong suffered grievances after she married to the royal family of the Yan Kingdom, she would be helpless and could only endure them alone.
Mo Huawen got nervous that Tong’er might be chosen.
His greatest wish now was that Tong’er would be happy, marry a husband who loved her, and live happily ever after.
Mo Xuetong blinked her eyes and caught the bug in Mo Huawen’s words. She asked, “Father, if I have something else to do then, can I stay away from that banquet?”
Seeing how astute his daughter was, Mo Huawen became more determined that he would not let her marry to the Yan Kingdom.
After thinking about it for a moment, Mo Huawen hesitantly asked, “Tong’er, why don’t you pretend to be sick then?”
Mo Xuetong looked at her father in surprise and suddenly burst into laughter. Then, looking at her prim father, she laughed harder and could not lift her head. It had never occurred to her that her serious and sober father should have said such things in such a childish way, without any sense of self-consciousness.
Confused by his daughter’s laughter, Mo Huawen couldn’t understand what was wrong with him.
“Father, if most of the young ladies refuse to go to the banquet for this reason, and you were the host of the banquet at the imperial palace, will you consent to their request?” Mo Xuetong laughed for a long while before she took the handkerchief from Mo Lan and covered her mouth, panting and asking.
If he were the host of the palace banquet, he certainly would not believe the reason of being sick. He believed that not many people would like to marry their daughters to the Yan Kingdom far away. The First Prince was not the Crown Prince in the Yan Kingdom, and he was held down by Bai Yihao, so he could only be an idle sovereign without real power.
Considering his background, who would like to marry his daughter? This was also the reason why the Emperor did not directly agree to marry the Princess to him!
As the father of the Princess, the Emperor must love her, but who did not love his daughter? The First Prince would definitely choose a pretty girl from a family. To marry such a beautiful daughter to King Yan’s Manor or King Chu’s Manor must be better for the family than to marry her to the Yan Kingdom far away.
There must be a lot of people coming up with such an idea. When Mo Huawen knew it, he found that there would be a lot of people who used the reason of being sick to avoid the chance of becoming the First Prince’s concubine. The palace would eventually take a lot of trouble, and all requests would not be allowed.
Mo Huawen never made this kind of mistake before. The reason why he was so important to the Emperor Zongwen was that he was careful and considerate. How could he come up with such a superficial excuse? The concern for his daughter disturbed him. A wry smile crept over his lips and he said, “Tong’er, I was wrong.”
If he could simply solve this problem, he would not have seen so many colleagues looking sad when he came out of the hall…