The heat was rising, and as soon as I entered the second door of the palace, Zeng Yan came out.
When Xia Jing saw him, she joked: "Hey, what big event is going on today that you bother the butler to come to the door to greet you?"
Zeng Yan stepped forward and personally helped Xia Jing out of the carriage, and said with a smile: "The princess is serious. It is a blessing for this old slave to be able to serve the princess."
Although there was a maid holding an umbrella for her in the hot Lingnan, the ultraviolet rays were still very strong. Xia Jing covered her forehead with the fan in her hand, "You are waiting for me here, but the prince has something to ask for?"
"The princess has a clever plan. You already know the purpose of my coming here before I even open my mouth." Zeng Yan complimented.
"In that case, let's go." Xia Jing took the lead and walked to King Qian's study in the front yard. She was curious about why King Qian wanted to find her today.
Zeng Yan looked back at the two-headed carriage that Xia Jing had just sat in, "Princess, didn't the Fifth Master go out with you and he didn't come back?"
Xia Jing: "Xiao Wu went to see my steward for something to do. What's wrong? The prince wants to see Xiao Wu?"
After Li Chengmu entered the city, he was sent by Xia Jing to find Ding Daqiang, asking him to temporarily take care of the affairs of the sugar factory.
Zeng Yan was two steps behind Xia Jing. After hearing the question, he shook his head hastily: "That's not true. It was just a casual question from my servant."
Xia Jing looked back at him and said, "Do you know why the prince is looking for me?"
Zeng Yan looked around. Except for Xia Jing's eldest maid Hongmei, the other servants and maids were all at a certain distance from here. There was no need to worry about letting unimportant people hear.
Xia Jing was stunned by his movements and expression, and she was even more curious about why Prince Qian was looking for her?
Just as I was thinking about it, I heard Zeng Yan say: "It was Mr. Yuan, the governor of Jingzhou, who sent a brother from his branch here. He said that he wanted to marry the Qin and Jin Dynasties with our Prince Qian. The prince was having a headache over this matter and wanted to invite the princess to come with him.
Help me come up with an idea."
"Marriage?"
After listening to Zeng Yan's words, these two words automatically appeared in Xia Jing's mind. She stopped and looked back at Zeng Yan, "Are you two gentlemen in the study?"
Zeng Yan's footsteps also stopped: "Here."
Xia Jing nodded, and then walked towards the study room.
In the study, King Qian looked at the information recorded on the paper about the family situation of Yuan Rujiang, the governor of Jingzhou, and his marriageable son.
No matter how you look at it, you are dissatisfied. You feel that your family will suffer a huge loss if your girl marries his family.
"Your Majesty, the Princess is here." The servant's voice sounded outside the door.
King Qian put down the paper in his hand and looked at Anu.
Anu understood what he meant, walked to the door and opened it to welcome Xia Jing, "Princess, please come in."
Xia Jing passed him and walked into the study. The two gentlemen stood up and greeted her, "I have met the princess."
"No need to be polite, please get up." Xia Jing walked to the desk and sat down. She asked Prince Qian who was sitting across from him straight to the point: "Did you ask Zeng Yan to come to me in such a hurry?"
Prince Qian smiled lightly, picked up the teapot, poured her a cup of tea for the first time, and gently pushed it in front of her, "Princess, please have some tea."
Ha! The picture is not small!
Xia Jing raised her eyebrows at him. It was definitely no small matter for the old man to put down his posture and pour her tea.
Xia Jing didn't say anything, she calmly picked up the tea cup and took a sip to moisten her throat.
Although there was an ice basin on the carriage along the way, it was too hot and I still sweated a lot.
She is thirsty!
King Qian saw that Xia Jing was really calm and sat down to drink tea. He stopped asking why he asked her to come over and looked up at Zeng Yan. Was it this old servant who revealed the news?
Zeng Yan lowered his head guiltily and looked for ants on the clean marble floor. He searched around and couldn't find any ants. The floor was shining brightly. Well, the woman in charge of the study's hygiene should be rewarded.
Seeing his expression, King Qian didn't know that this old servant was talking too much again.
"Bang"
With a soft sound, Xia Jing put down the tea cup.
This soft sound brought King Qian back to his senses. He calmed down and said, "Princess, you have the courage to run outside on such a hot day. You don't have to get tanned or suffer from heat stroke."
Xia Jing looked at him with a half-smile but not a smile, "I don't have the wealth and honor you have. I've had a life of hard work since I was born."
King Qian: "."
He looked for help at the two gentlemen sitting at the bottom.
Mr. Zhang coughed lightly and said, "Princess, the governor of Jingzhou sent his clan brother to Lingnan to explain his purpose. He wants to make friends with the prince and the Qin and Jin Dynasties. What do you think of this matter?"
Xia Jing turned to look at him, then looked back at King Qian, "You have been discussing this matter for so long, have you come to a conclusion?"
King Qian handed her the paper on the desk, "Yuan Rujiang's youngest son is about the same age as Yuzhu, and his family background is the same as ours. If he succeeds, he will make a good story."
Although King Qian felt in his heart that the boy from the Yuan family was not worthy of his granddaughter, in terms of family interests, he admitted that both parties would benefit from this marriage.
Xia Jing took the paper and read it.
Yuan Rujiang's youngest son is seventeen years old. He is as tall as a tree and has a talented person, so he is favored by Yuan Rujiang.
From his family background, good looks and talents, judging from the information on this piece of paper, this young master is indeed good and is a good son-in-law candidate in the eyes of all mothers-in-law.
But Xia Jing never believed in what was written on paper. This kind of information available to the public had little value.
If you want to know the character of this young master, you can only have credibility if you send a close associate to find out.
When King Qian saw Xia Jing staring at the paper without speaking, he asked a little eagerly: "How is it?"
Xia Jing put down the paper and sighed inwardly, lamenting that in ancient times, family interests were often sacrificed at the expense of women's happiness.
Sometimes this in-law relationship is very strong, sometimes it is weak.
"You should ask the second child and his wife to come over to discuss this important matter of marriage, not me. After all, the second child and the others are Yuzhu's parents. I won't overstep the boundaries of my parents' orders and the matchmaker's words. I have reservations."
"This" King Qian thought about thousands of possibilities, but he never thought that Xia Jing would react like this.
"Princess, we just want to hear your opinion. We will definitely ask the second child for their opinion on the marriage with the Yuan family."
"When it comes to marriage matters in a girl's family, you should first go to the second brother and the others. There is no need to go to me."
Xia Jing's face was sullen and she felt very unhappy. She hated getting involved in this kind of thing.
She has a special status. She is the stepmother of the second child and his wife. No matter what era they are in, stepmothers are always in trouble.
If the second child is dissatisfied with the marriage, they may think that she is meddling in it.
If they happen to be satisfied with the marriage, it's okay. Xia Jing usually avoids such thankless things.
"Princess, you." King Qian felt that Xia Jing completely treated him as an outsider, and this feeling made him unhappy.
Xia Jing raised her hand to interrupt him, "I believe that based on the intelligence of you and the two gentlemen, the result has been discussed. It is your business to decide. If you really consider Yuzhu, you should ask the second couple and her
Opinions, instead of asking me.”
As she said that, without waiting for their reaction, she stood up and said, "Okay, I'm covered in stinky sweat from running outside all morning, so I'll go back first while you guys are busy."
Xia Jing took Hongmei out of the study and looked at her retreating figure. King Qian pointed at the door and was furious.
He slapped the table and said, "That's unreasonable. This woman is just here to make me angry!"
He didn't say anything when he wanted her to come up with some ideas. He didn't want her to interfere, but she insisted on getting involved, just like expanding Xiao Wu's private soldiers. His private soldiers were almost catching up with his troops.
.
"Your Majesty, calm down!"
Mr. Zhang stood up and said, "Since the princess doesn't want to get involved, we won't force it. In fact, the princess is right. We have analyzed the good and bad of the matter. In this case, it is better to send the second master over and we will discuss the matter.
Discuss it with him?"
"That's it." King Qian waved his hand and motioned for Anu to pass on the message.
Thinking of his interactions with Xia Jing, King Qian sighed. After all, he was still dependent on her and always wanted to hear her opinion on everything.
Returning to Yiguiyuan, Xia Jing wiped the sweat from her face. It was really hot today.
She glanced at the sky outside and asked, "Is it going to rain today? It's too hot and muggy today. I feel a little out of breath."
Bai Mei walked out of the inner room, "Princess, I have put water in the bathroom. You go and take a shower first. It's been too hot these two days and it might really rain."
Xia Jing nodded, she also felt that there might be a heavy rain in the afternoon.
By the time she came out after washing, Bai Mei had already laid out the food.
Xia Jing looked at the carefully prepared lunch, sat at the table and smiled: "You girl, you are becoming more and more capable now."
Bai Mei pursed her lips and smiled: "This is my duty. If I can't even do my duty well, the princess will not keep this useless person as my slave."
Xia Jing glanced at the dishes on the table, shook her head and chuckled: "It seems that you know me very well."
Bai Mei chuckled and stretched out her hand to help Xia Jing fill a bowl of mung bean porridge and put it in front of her.
It was a hot summer day for Xia Jing. She really couldn't eat anything at noon, so she drank porridge and had a good appetite.
After Hongmei washed up, she returned to the main room. By then, Xia Jing had already had lunch.
Seeing Bai Mei clearing the table, Hong Mei helped Xia Jing pour a glass of boiled water, "Princess, please drink water."
"Well." After eating and drinking, Xia Jing leaned on the soft couch and didn't want to move. She just took a look at Hongmei when she came in, "At noon, I added two ice basins in the room and it was still comfortable. The temperature in this room is just right.
Hot or cold."
Hongmei glanced at the dazzling sunlight outside and remembered what happened in the study just now.
"Princess, the marriage between Miss Yuzhu and the young master of the Yuan family is a perfect match. Why don't you agree?"
Xia Jing looked at her funny, "I didn't say I disagreed. As long as the second brother and the others agree, I have no objection."
Hongmei was still confused, "Are you afraid that Miss Yuzhu won't be happy?"
Xia Jing narrowed her eyes slightly and said softly: "This is just one of them. Being a matchmaker is really a thankless task for me. If the couple live well after marriage and have the same temperament, it would be better.
If the two of you are unhappy and unhappy, the matchmaker will be the first to complain."
The most important thing is that she wants the conflicts in the palace to be transferred to her.
After hearing what she said, Hongmei thought it made sense.
Xia Jing: "Oh, I forgot to ask, do the guests from Jingzhou stay in the mansion or in an inn in the city?"
Hongmei looked at Baimei.
Bai Mei took a step forward and replied: "I heard that we are staying in the guest room, which was personally arranged by Butler Yan. This shows how much the prince values this marriage."
"Haha!" Xia Jing had a mocking look in her eyes. Men are all profit-oriented species.
In the end of the world, which man will talk about feelings?
Of course, the same is true for women, so it’s fine that her marriage to Prince Qian remains as it is.
Apart from the impact on the children if the two get together and separate, the most important thing is that without the palace as a sign, she will have many inconveniences when doing things outside.
Since the impact of separation is too great, it is better to maintain the status quo and live their own lives without interfering with each other.
Let’s cooperate sincerely and spend the New Year together.
The matter of marriage was delayed for several days. When the preparations for Xiajing Sugar Factory were completed, the news finally came.
"The princess, the second master and the second wife have all agreed to the marriage. The two parties have exchanged tokens this time. They just have to wait until they return to Jingzhou to arrange the next process. After combining the eight characters, the appointment will be truly finalized."
During dinner time, Bai Mei walked in from outside and told Xia Jing the news she heard while walking.
Xia Jing glanced at her: "This is not unexpected, it is expected."
Then she thought of something, and Xia Jing put down her chopsticks, "Whether the marriage is decided or not, we have to ask the caravan going to Jingzhou to find out what the reputation of this young master of the Yuan family is like!"
After hearing her words, Hongmei said hesitantly, "Although the princess is doing this for Miss Yuzhu's good, the marriage has been decided, so what's the use of asking for anything else?"
The palace will never agree to break off the engagement at that time.
If you know a little about the man's shortcomings before making a decision, you may break the contract.
But after the decision is made, it means that Miss Yuzhu is already a member of the Yuan family. The difference is that after getting married, she was a married woman, and now she is an unmarried daughter-in-law, and her identity has been tagged with the Yuan family.
"Do your best and obey fate. Yuzhu is a good girl. As a grandmother, of course I want her to live a happy life."
Xia Jing was a little worried. Logically speaking, anyone who could sit in the position of governor of Jingzhou was not stupid.
Since Yuan Rujiang wants to marry with Prince Qian, he will not find a son with a bad reputation to marry. If so, then the two families will not be married, but will become enemies!
Of course, this premise is that the mother's family must have a straight back and be able to support the woman. Otherwise, the Yuan family will probably be able to do anything.
"Princess, you are so kind." Hongmei finally commented to her.
Xia Jing smiled after hearing this and said nothing.
The little girl is still too immature. If she knew how many people she had killed and how many monsters she had destroyed in the last days, she would know whether she was kind or not.
Xia Jing took the tea from Bai Mei, drank a sip of water and rinsed her mouth, then took the handkerchief from Hong Mei and wiped her lips clean.
Bai Mei didn't want to always mention the second wife's marriage, so she changed the subject and said: "Princess, Manager Ding has sent a message, saying that the sugar factory can officially start work tomorrow. He sent a servant to ask, will you go to the sugar factory tomorrow?
"
Xia Jing was overjoyed when she heard this, "It's done so quickly? Ding Daqiang is such a capable person!"
This is a treasure found.
With so many capable subordinates, she wouldn't have to worry about following up and keep up with the progress.
"Who says otherwise? It seems that he can easily solve any problem for the princess if it is left in his hands." Hongmei also affirmed that Ding Daqiang is a capable man.
The corners of Xia Jing's mouth couldn't help but curl up, "Then let's go to see the sugar factory make sugar for the first time tomorrow."
Thanks to the hacked book friends who keep checking in again, Min Min, xiaozuyeye, Miaomiao Zi, camera., Shan Wangye, Luo Jiuan, a! Ziye, mingliu2056, @元&元@, Deep Blue-eb, Xinruzhishui's