Chapter 96 – Helping Out the Half-Brother

Miantang had met Princess Consort Sui before, and she couldn’t bear to think that her reputation was damaged.

 

But now, the dispute between the two Princes is not the discord between the neighbors in the streets where it can turn war into friendship.

 

Prince Sui insisted to get rid of Prince Huaiyang’s residence.

 

The premise that Prince Sui smashed and burned Prince Huaiyang’s residence with his actions, and almost took her and the Old Princess Consort away. Prince Huaiyang was considered extremely generous to let Princess Consort Sui and the little prince go back.

 

How can they finish the eggs when the nest is full? Both the wife of Prince Sui and the to-be Princess Consort of Prince Huaiyang should have the consciousness of being involved in political disputes.

 

Today was Princess Consort Sui, but it’s hard to say whether it will be Liu Miantang tomorrow.

 

But after lamenting the unfortunate fate of Princess Consort Sui, it was a bit difficult to say when it came to the cousin of the Lian family.

 

After the Old Princess Consort went to visit her sister, she became seriously ill when she came back.

 

It is said that when Lian-Chu saw her daughter’s mind was turned upside down for a while, she only wept and said that her family has been involved by Prince Huaiyang.

 

Now it’s okay for her, an old lady to be humiliated, but her daughter’s reputation and integrity have been damaged, and she has become this way. How can she continue her life?

 

Lian-Chu was good at speaking, and she knew her sister was soft-hearted. She just let her watch over Lian Binglan. The residence can afford another pair of chopsticks anyway. Otherwise, their mother and daughter will hang in front of the door of Prince Huaiyang’s residence on the day of the prince’s marriage.

 

In recent days, not only the Lian family but also the elders of the Cui family have come to mediate. They only advised the Old Princess Consort to make up her mind and let Prince Huaiyang accept Lian Binglan as a concubine. Otherwise, Lian Binglan would have made such a noise in the street market that day. The public who doesn’t aware of the truth might think that the Cui family hurt the daughter of the Lian family, but refused to take responsibility.

 

The Cui family’s reputation will be destroyed when such rumors spread.

 

Old Princess Consort Chu has become more transparent after Miantang’s help these days. Although her niece Lian Binglan’s suffering is pathetic, she can’t blame others.

 

At that time, Miantang repeatedly told them to find a remote village to live in seclusion, but they just wanted to break through the barrier, and almost exposed Miantang and her. It is really a pity that poor people must have something to hate.

 

Besides, Lian Binglan got off the carriage acting like that, that day, and her reputation has been tarnished. Do they think that the royal residence is a place that collects recycled items when they ask the prince to take Lian Binglan as a concubine?

 

Old Princess Consort Chu was depressed for a moment, so she reduced the number of visits to Lian-Chu and only found Miantang to spit bitter water.

 

Miantang felt that she was not good at interrupting. She only drank tea while quietly listening to the story of her depression. The Old Princess Consort saw that Miantang has not spoken for a long time, and she was so anxious to push the teacup and said, “You should tell me what I should do!”

 

Seeing that she couldn’t get away with it, Miantang asked, “Did you talk to the Prince about this? What did the prince say?”

 

When she thought of her son’s obstinate reply, the Old Princess Consort was even angrier, “What can he say seriously? He said he was going to send someone to inquire. If the Lian family’s mother and daughter were determined, he would prepare two coffins at the door. When they were dead, they would be packed in hot!”

 

Miantang couldn’t help laughing.

 

These days Cui Xingzhou received an envoy from the central government, so he was busy with his business. She happened to go to Lingquan Town to rectify the four brothers, let alone have time with the prince.

 

But in her heart, Miantang was also afraid that Cui Xingzhou would never forget his cousin’s old love, and even more afraid that he would succumb to the pressure of the Old Princess Consort and really accept cousin Lian.

 

Although the expanded residence is large, it can’t accommodate any hostesses except her. Miantang has such a small heart that she doesn’t want to share her beloved man with others.

 

But on the other hand, she also hopes that such a mess will happen, so she can give herself a justifiable excuse to completely persuade herself to leave without any worries, and avoid the day when Lu Wen’s identity is exposed.

 

Such a tangled mood made Miantang keep one eye open and one eye closed to Lian’s mother and daughter who wanted to enter the Cui’s residence, and just let it develop and see what Cui’s choice would be.

 

However, after listening to Cui Xingzhou’s words, it seems that the relationship between them cousins has really ended.

 

Seeing that Miantang was still in the mood to laugh, the Old Princess Consort was in a hurry, “My son is not considerate enough. You as a daughter-in-law are still joking around here! You tell Xingzhou that if he prepares coffins that day, he can simply prepare another one and put me in the coffin. If I close my eyes, I will be out of sight and mind!”

 

Miantang cut the freshly baked drawstring cookies with a bamboo knife and handed them to the Old Princess Consort. After that, she said slowly, “Aunt Lian is worried that her daughter will not marry out. We could just find someone who doesn’t care about her experience and is willing to marry her. Then, we can just prepare another set of extra dowry.”

 

Old Princess Consort Chu’s eyes lit up, “You’re right! Why didn’t I think of it before?”

 

Miantang smiled and said, “You are soft-hearted and were let in by Aunt Lian. She only thought about whether the prince would accept or not, but she didn’t think about anything else.”

 

Old Princess Consort Chu thought for a moment and sighed again, “But now the story of Lian Binglan is spread everywhere. Who is willing to do it? If it is an ordinary family, my sister with eyes above the top will not look up to it!”

 

At this time, the servant under the corridor came to report that it was Qin who came to greet the Old Princess Consort.

 

The Old Princess Consort frowned and said, “Ask her if there is anything wrong. If there is nothing wrong, she can leave.”

 

The servant was ordered to inquire, and after a while said, “Qin-Shi came with the fifth master, saying that he was here to ask for the marriage of the fifth master.”

 

Such a thing is really serious. Old Princess Consort Chu can’t refuse and thus, allowed Qin to come in.

 

Speaking of it, Miantang has been in the state for so long that she hasn’t seen the fifth master several times. Because of his disability, he has always lived in seclusion.

 

So there is even a rumor that Cui Xingzhou’s brothers were killed by him. It is said that the fifth brother who is still alive is just a cover.

 

Now Miantang looks at the man sitting in the wooden wheelchair. Because he has not seen the sun for a long time, his skin appears sickly white. There are some similarities between his eyebrows with Cui Xingzhou. They both have thick eyebrows and sharp noses. It is said that this is due to the old prince.

 

However, his feet exposed under his long shirt were extremely thin. It should be that he did not walk for a long time, and his muscles were withered.

 

As the hostess, the Old Princess Consort was also the nominal mother of the fifth master, Cui Xingdi. Naturally, she should also be concerned and ask if he was well these days.

 

The fifth master answered the Old Princess Consort one by one.

 

After being polite, the Old Princess Consort asked directly, “I just heard that you were going to talk about your marriage. I don’t know which girl are you fond of.”

 

Qin-Shi glanced at his son, then quickly lowered her head and knelt, and said, “I have no way to teach my son, and has made him full of delusions. He… He wants to ask for the young lady of the Lian family…”

 

If she said it earlier, it would be wishful thinking. Even if the daughter of the Lian family marriage was withdrawn by Prince Huaiyang, she doesn’t have to worry about marriage even if she was older.

 

But now, the Lian family is in such a bad reputation. Lian Binglan was suffering from hysteria. For the time being, she doesn’t know when she can recover her innocence. In addition, her reputation was damaged. Who would a decent family want such a daughter-in-law?

 

And now the Lian family only depends on the residence and wants to let their daughter enter the gate of the residence, so they can have a good reputation.

 

Since Prince Huaiyang would not want Lian Binglan, it would be great if the fifth son of the concubine would take the responsibility for Cui Xingzhou!

 

Old Princess Consort Chu has not thought of the best solution for both and she came to the door automatically. She looked at Miantang with surprise.

 

But Miantang looked up at the disabled fifth master.

 

Although he was the son of a concubine, it is not difficult for him to marry a beautiful woman from a poor family in the name of the Huaiyang residence.

 

Did he live in the residence too isolated, and doesn’t know how Lian Binglan was now?

 

Cui Xingdi seemed to see Miantang’s confusion, and said in a low voice, “Lady Lian is beautiful and intelligent. She is modest, and people can’t help admiring her. It’s just that I have a disability, and she has a previous engagement with my ninth brother. I dare not be paranoid and show my feelings. But at present, her reputation is damaged, and my body is not strong. I have no other advantages, but I would like to treat her sincerely, and here I’m asking you to grant my wish.”

 

It is thought-provoking to say this. Listening to his meaning, The fifth master has been secretly in love with his ninth brother’s fiancee for a long time, but he has always been inferiority complex and dares not reveal it.

 

Now that his admired lady was in trouble, so he have the courage to force his mother to propose marriage.

 

Old Princess Consort Chu thought it was very good! The disabled man and the crazy lady are also a good match. Isn’t the Lian family clamoring for her daughter to enter the Cui’s residence? Then her family will give a match to the fifth master and see what else the Lian family will do.

 

In this way, Qin and her fifth son became a timely rain shower in the royal residence, which made the Old Princess Consort Chu look at the honest Qin-Shi more pleasing than usual.

 

One time. Old Princess Consort Chu cheerfully encouraged the fifth master, saying only that he was infatuated and moved the world. When Cui Xingzhou returned, she will let him make a decision with the Lian family.

 

How can Cui Xingzhou manage the trivial affairs of the Lian family? Miantang has never been through the door, and it is not easy to intervene. Finally, Prince Huaiyang found an elder of his family to go to the Lian family to talk about marriage.

 

Miantang reminded the gatekeeper to keep the door closed long before the elder proposed marriage. The new gate of the residence can’t be broken anymore.

 

Sure enough, the Lian family came straight to the residence in the afternoon. Lian Hanshan and his son all looked bad and said that they wanted to talk to Prince Huaiyang face to face.

 

Prince Huaiyang happened to be at the residence that day. He politely let his uncle and cousin into the study.

 

As a result, an hour later, the Lian family’s father and son left the residence in grief.

 

In the evening, Prince Huaiyang had dinner with his mother and Miantang. Old Princess Consort Chu couldn’t wait to ask about the result of the matter. Cui Xingzhou, while serving the vegetables to Miantang, said softly, “Fifth Brother rarely speaks. As a younger brother, I naturally want to fulfill his wish. But if the Lian family refuses to accept, I can’t force them. I have already told them about the pros and cons of the situation. It depends on their family’s choice.”

 

Miantang understood. The so-called powerful connection was that if the Lian family agreed, Lian Binglan would become the sister-in-law of the ninth master elder brother, and she can be barely considered as one family.

 

But if the Lian family feels that the Cui family has looked down on them, then the few remaining relations of relatives will be over. The Lian family will never be able to rely on the Cui family to enjoy the good again, and they will cut off contact with each other.

 

According to Cui Xingzhou’s thoughts, it is hoped that the Lian family will choose the second one.

 

After dinner, Cui Xingzhou and Miantang went to the newly built pond in the back garden to enjoy the lotus under the moon, with the residence lamp hanging high and the purple flowers around the lake dotted with fireflies.

 

Cui Xingzhou got two new hollow glass balls with large nail caps, then bent down and grabbed his long sleeves, caught fireflies with a gauze net and put them into the ball, hung a gold hook, and made earrings for Miantang.

 

That pair of earrings, flickering at the edge of her glittering white earlobe, was also unique. Miantang took the bronze mirror handed over by the maid, Feixue, and took a look at it. She laughed and said, “How dare you gave me something the a child would wear!”