Xia Tingzhen did not leave much room for her daughter to speculate, and said straight to the point: "My father has found a marriage for you."
...marriage?
Xia Xi was stunned for a moment.
Before the important event of her life, she subconsciously asked: "I wonder which family my father is interested in?"
"The new champion, Cao Lang."
Xia Xi almost thought she heard wrongly.
The new top scholar?
"Father wants to marry his daughter to the new top scholar?"
Xia Tingzhen looked at her.
The girl's face was full of shock, and underneath this shock, she was obviously not happy at all.
But Xia Tingzhen didn't care about her daughter's mood and didn't say the same thing again.
Xia Xi reluctantly came to her senses and said anxiously: "But my daughter doesn't want to marry him! My daughter didn't even recognize him before, so how can she marry him just as she said?"
I don't recognize this sentence, but it is actually an excuse thrown out in a hurry.
In fact, she also went to see the top scholar on the day when he was parading on the horse. Cao Lang, who was said to have won the top prize at a young age, had a very ordinary appearance. He was said to have just turned 20, but he looked very old.
His appearance and demeanor indicate that he comes from a poor family, and he is no more calm than the Tan Hwa Lang behind him!
At that time, even the young ladies from other families who followed her looked down upon, let alone her?
Yes, a man's future is the most important thing, but with his background, he is destined to have to work harder than the noble children in the capital. According to her background, she can obviously marry into a better family, so why bother?
Spend time with him?!
Her father is the chief minister of the dynasty!
"If you don't want to marry him, then who do you want to marry?" Xia Tingzhen looked at her daughter coldly.
"Daughter... my daughter has no one she wants to marry... but among the people her mother had chosen for her daughter, marrying anyone... would be better than marrying this Cao Lang!" As Xia Xi spoke, she looked at the person sitting down.
The mother there had a cry for help in her eyes.
But Mr. Xue just sat there, looking indifferent.
Xia Tingzhen said coldly: "When will it be your turn to pick and choose when it comes to marriage? It's a shame that you, a daughter, have the nerve to say such things like who you want to marry or who you don't want to marry!"
This daughter has always been willful, and he has told his wife many times that she must be disciplined well - is this the result of his wife's discipline?
"..." Xia Xi's face turned red as she was scolded, and her eye circles immediately turned red.
When it comes to her own marriage, she doesn't care about her daughter's family's face whenever she says a word about it?
What about Xu Mingyi? - Zhen Guo Gong had almost snatched the grandson of Prince Dingnan to congratulate Xu Mingyi! Wouldn't that be even more shameless? She had even heard secretly that Xu Mingyi's marriage had always been the most important thing in Zhen Guo Gong's palace.
It is up to her to make the decision. It is said that it is up to her whether to marry or not!
At that time, she also sneered at the government's lack of decorum, and if word spread, it would be a laughing stock.
But now she was suddenly arranged by her father to have such an undesirable marriage, and her father didn't even allow her to express what was in her heart - she just felt like she couldn't laugh anymore.
At this moment, the grievance even overshadowed the fear of his father's majesty.
"The daughter dared to ask her father why she had to marry her daughter to this man?"
For such a person from a humble background, her parents must also be vulgar. Didn't her father consider what kind of monsters she would have to face if she got married?
"You have your own considerations when doing things for your father. Do I still need to explain it to you in detail?" Xia Tingzhen's tone was deep, and her patience was running out.
Xia Xi grasped the fingers in her sleeves tightly.
Have your own considerations?
"Father is trying to win over Cao Lang?" She tried her best to sound polite and aggrieved, rather than retorting, "But father is the current chief minister. If you want to recruit him, you only need to give him some hints. Is this such a good thing?
Will he still refuse? Why does the father have to marry his daughter to him?"
Xia Tingzhen sneered when she heard this.
A completely ignorant little girl actually wanted to discuss court matters with him?
Nowadays, Ji Xiu is becoming more and more unwilling to settle down, and even secretly wants to divide and provoke the officials under him. Under this situation, he naturally wants to recruit the new number one scholar, no, to put it further, he wants to cultivate and promote this person.
——Young people who come from poor families and have no one to rely on are often the best at using it.
But he has no time to promote a real outsider - he needs a relatively solid relationship to ensure that this person will not get too far out of his control.
As for Yaonv's marriage, there is indeed no better value at the moment, so it is not a waste to use it here.
"As a father, I came here today not to discuss this matter with you, but to inform you of this matter -" Xia Tingzhen had no intention of wasting any more words, stood up and looked at Mrs. Xue: "Get ready in time when you need to prepare.
If you can't even do this, then leave it to others to arrange it."
After saying that, he rolled his sleeves and left the place.
Looking at her husband's leaving figure, Xue, who never said a word, had a sarcastic smile in her eyes.
"Mom, I don't want to get married...can you help me persuade my father?" Xia Xi came forward and grabbed one of her mother's arms, her eyes filled with urgent pleading.
"Persuade?" Mrs. Xue seemed to have heard some joke: "Can I persuade him?"
"But my daughter really doesn't want to marry that Cao Lang..." Xia Xi cried and threw herself into her mother's arms, as if she was trying to hold on to the last glimmer of hope.
Mrs. Xue patted her daughter's back gently, her eyes a little distracted and said: "Who gave you the surname Xia? Think about how your second brother died... you may be able to truly understand your situation...
"
Hearing this, Xia Xi immediately cried louder. She felt that there was no need to hug her mother anymore, so she got up and ran away crying.
…
At the same moment, the Zhenguo Duke's Mansion had just sent away Wen's mother and daughter.
Xu Mingyi returned to Xiyuan and went to the study, telling A Kui: "Come and grind ink for me."
Akui responded immediately - the girl was about to write a letter to Wu Shisun again, right? But this letter was written so suddenly, was there any inspiration?
But she soon discovered that the girl did not want to write a letter, but to paint.
To be precise, the girl drew a portrait of a man.
The man in the painting is about thirty or forty years old, with an ordinary appearance, a short beard, and slightly sunken cheeks...
Who is this?
Akui thought about it for a long time, but couldn't recognize it.
Is it because the girl's painting skills are not exquisite and expressive enough? - This must not be the case.
Therefore, it must be someone she has never seen before.
"Bring this portrait to Uncle Zhu and ask him to lead people to look out for people with similar looks inside and outside the capital - if there are, arrest them first." After the ink dried, Xu Mingyi quickly rolled up the drawing paper.
He got up and handed it to Akui.
While Akui said "yes", she couldn't help but ask: "Girl, who is this?"
Xu Mingyi stood up from behind the desk and said casually: "Maybe it's the flower picker."
Akui was stunned when she heard this, and subconsciously glanced at the rolled-up painting in her hand.
The flower-picking thief must be caught, and she understands why, but——
"How did the girl know that the flower picker looked like this?"
