All the gentlemen who are attacked by the female queen are stunningly beautiful

Song Xiang hummed and said, "I heard that Duke Ming passed away a hundred years ago. He had made great contributions to the Great Chu Dynasty and was awarded the title of Duke. His descendants inherited the title. By the time of Duke Lu Jili, the family business had declined and was no longer as good as before. If Duke Lu Jili had not taken the imperial examination and later served as the tutor of the crown princess, the Duke Ming's mansion might have fallen into complete decline."

"Now that she is old and in glory at home, the title naturally falls to her daughter Lu Yingmei who has done nothing!"

"No matter what, he is a hereditary noble with meritorious service. The old Duke has to give him face. Just send him a reply and tell him that I will definitely attend the banquet!"

Lu Zhu agreed, took out a card and said, "This is a card from the Earl's Mansion. It's a lotus viewing banquet, held for the noble ladies of the aristocratic family to meet the young master!"

"There is also a custom of inserting hairpins at this lotus viewing banquet! I wonder if Your Highness is interested in watching it?"

"By then, all the unmarried young men of marriageable age in the capital will be present. If the ladies see a man they like, they can borrow a garden, a flower boat, or a pavilion to insert their love hairpins into the young man's crown. This is called choosing a husband!"

"Originally, this kind of wedding ceremony was called flower arrangement, but flowers are perishable and cannot last forever, so it was changed to hairpin arrangement!"

Song Xiang smiled lightly and said with some interest: "This is quite rare!"

"What if the garden or flower boat is not suitable?"

Lu Zhu said seriously: "If you don't like me, you can give the young man opposite one or two pieces of colorful silk to calm him down, and the marriage will not be considered successful."

"Then go ahead!" Song Xiang narrowed his eyes and said, "This Earl's Mansion sent me an invitation. It's a bit like Sima Zhao's intention. Everyone knows it."

"You don't need to prepare hairpins and colorful satin for me. I can just go and join in the fun. Please reply to this post!"

Lu Zhu also agreed, took another post and said: "This is a post from the Anguogong Mansion..."

"Return it!" Song Xiang said without even listening, "Don't show me any invitations from the Anguo Mansion in the future!"

Lu Zhu nodded, and then took out another note and read: "This is a note from the eldest prince, saying that she wants the third prince to have a meal at her mansion!"

I heard that her elder sister was capricious, scheming, cruel, and not an easy person to get along with.

The reason why he suddenly invited me to dinner today was just because he heard that my reward exceeded the regulations and he wanted to test whether I had any ambitions!

She really has no patience at all. Doesn't she know that a little impatience can ruin a big plan? How can she compete for the crown prince like this?

Song Xiang felt unhappy and said, "Since she is unwilling to condescend to come to my house, please refuse for me! Just say that I am injured and not feeling well, and it is not suitable for me to go out."

Lu Zhu did not agree immediately, but hesitated and said: "If the Third Prince refuses like this, I'm afraid it will anger the First Prince..."

"Nothing, just do what I said!" Song Xiang paused and said, "If you are afraid of angering her, just mention the Queen Mother and say that she has asked the imperial physician to treat me, and I will visit her later!"

Upon hearing this, Luzhu finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He then took out a piece of paper and said, "This is a piece of paper sent from Grand Tutor Wang's residence!"

"Grand Tutor Wang...Grand Tutor Wang Huilan..." Song Xiang was shocked. That was her own maternal grandfather's home. She hurriedly said, "Give it to me. I want to write a reply myself!"

Song Xiang respectfully wrote a visiting card, and then handed it to Yun Que outside the study, and said solemnly: "It would be best if you deliver this card on my behalf!"

Song Xiang returned to the study only after Yunque had gone far away.

Luzhu picked up the post and wanted to continue reading it to Song Xiang...

Unexpectedly, Song Xiang waved his hand and said calmly: "You don't need to read the rest of the posts. You can handle them yourself! If you encounter something you can't handle, bring it to me!"

"Well, I'll take my leave!"

After Luzhu left, Song Xiang took out half of the peacock jade pendant from his chest, and the image of Shuxing appeared in his mind...

Song Xiang sat in the study for the whole morning. After lunch, she went back to the backyard to rest.

They just went to her main hall. After resting for an hour, Luzhu led Qingshan, the chief secretary, to the front of the hall.

Song Xiang got up from his bed and looked, and saw many boxes in the yard, all of which were rewards from the emperor and empress.

Chief Secretary Qingshan said to Song Xiang: "The Emperor and Empress invite His Highness the Third Prince to the palace for a chat!"

"Enter the palace?" Song Xiang asked tentatively, "I wonder why my father is looking for me?"

Could it be because I rejected the invitation from His Highness this morning?

Song Xiang followed Qingshan into the palace with a nervous mood, all the way to the emperor and empress's bedroom.

When the empress saw Song Xiang, she waved and said, "Xuan Yi is here, come over to me!"

Song Xiang walked up to the emperor and empress and sat at the table.

The emperor and empress held more than ten portraits of men and pushed them in front of Song Xiang, asking him to choose.

"Xuan Yi, these portraits are of young men of marriageable age from the famous families in the capital. They are all outstanding in talent and appearance. Take a look and see if there is any you like!"

Song Xiang held the portrait with mixed feelings for a moment. She had just recognized her relatives and was disobeying her father about marriage, which would definitely hurt her father's heart.

Helplessly, she had to put aside other thoughts and look at the portrait seriously.

The Empress pointed to the first portrait and said, "This is Xin Fusu, the legitimate son of the Minister of Works. He is extremely beautiful. Whenever he goes out, the girls chase after his carriage and throw fruits or flowers at him. He is a young man of both talent and appearance in the capital!"

Song Xiang nodded: "It's really beautiful!"

The grand spectacle of throwing fruits into the car is quite similar to Shen Yubai's.

Song Xiang turned to the second picture and took a look. This young man had a pair of peach blossom eyes and his appearance was no worse than the first one.

The Empress hurriedly introduced him, "This is Cui Jiao, the son of the Minister of Personnel. He has a very good temper and personality. His appearance may not be as outstanding as Master Xin, but he is also a famous handsome young man in the capital!"

Song Xiang wasn't very interested, so he turned over another one, took a look, and was about to flip over.

The Empress hurriedly held him down and said, "This is Tang Qinglian, the son of the Supervisory Censor Tang Shi. This boy has a kind nature and is full of virtue. My son, please make a good choice!"

After that, he turned the page for Song Xiang and pointed to the young man on the next page and said, "Gao Yinzhi, the son of the Governor of the Grand Canal Gao Yanbing, is also a young man with outstanding talents in the capital!"

Before Song Xiang could say anything, the Empress flipped over another picture and said, "This is General Qin's son, Qin Feise. Not only is he handsome and elegant, but he's also good at sword dancing. He's a stunning man who's as handsome as Master Xin!"

Song Xiang nodded and continued to flip through a few more pictures. Seeing that they were all handsome men, she felt a little aesthetically fatigued.

Until she turned to the last one: "Huh..."

"Father, why is there no face in this portrait?"