Jiu Zhang Ji: The Daily Life of the Reborn Daughter

Chapter 48 Tailor-made

In the afternoon, the news that Qiao Lili, the daughter of Duke Dingguo, and the Sixth Prince had become engaged and had accepted the marriage proposal swept across the entire capital.

In the teahouse, the storyteller clapped his stick and said, "Dear guests, what would you like to hear today?" This storyteller did not tell books or historical stories. He specialized in telling the latest news in the capital. Moreover, nine out of ten times, the news he told was true.

"Tell me about the Sixth Prince's engagement."

"Do you know anything about the royal family?"

"Do you know about the Dingguo Mansion?"

"This daughter of the Duke of Dingguo's mansion, the one who is engaged to the Sixth Prince, is she the one who just cancelled her engagement with General Bai?"

If you want to wait, you have waited. The storyteller slapped the wake-up stick again and said, "What I am going to talk about today is the so-called engagement between General Bai Xiao and the daughter of Duke Dingguo."

The storyteller talked about how Bai Junzhe's father, Lord Bai, and Bai Junzhe's mother, Bai Rushue, got together, how Bai Rushue was not liked but still stuck to the wife of Duke Dingguo like a sticky candy every day, and finally, when the wife of Duke Dingguo was dying, Bai Rushue stole Qiao Lili's engagement letter and lied that the wife of Duke Dingguo and her son Bai Junzhe were engaged.

The wife of Duke Dingguo and Concubine Yun were close friends, the Sixth Prince and the daughter of Duke Dingguo were childhood sweethearts, and Concubine Yun intended to marry the daughter of Duke Dingguo, but as fate would have it, the letter that the wife of Duke Dingguo sent to Concubine Yun before her death was not received by Concubine Yun until six years later.

Bai's scam was exposed, and fortunately, the emperor had canceled their engagement. So, Concubine Yun went to Duke Dingguo's mansion in person this morning to propose marriage and has already accepted the betrothal gift.

The storyteller spoke eloquently, mixing true and false, eight percent true and two percent false, with saliva flying all over the place, leaving everyone listening dumbfounded.

"There is actually someone so bold that he dares to steal the engagement letter of the daughter of Duke Dingguo."

"What is there for a woman like that to be afraid of? She followed others to the banquet and was able to seduce Lord Bai to bed, and was caught in public. Now that she is the wife of the Marquis, there is nothing she would not dare to do."

"That's true. If the Imperial Concubine hadn't seen through it, she would have succeeded and tricked the daughter of the Duke of Dingguo back home to be her daughter-in-law."

"That's impossible. Our emperor is wise and knows that her family is corrupt. He cancelled the engagement at the grand court meeting."

"Yes, Your Majesty is wise."

"She stole someone's engagement letter and told everyone she was engaged to the Duke of Dingguo, but she didn't even write the three letters and six ceremonies."

"Yes, yes, there is not even a Nacai."

In fact, after the exchange of the Geng Tie, Qiao Lili began to observe mourning, which required three years. Two years later, the marquis's mansion was stripped of his title, Marquis Bai committed suicide, and Bai Junzhe went to the border.

As soon as I came back, the engagement was cancelled and nothing could be done.

Can’t it be carried out without Bai Junzhe?

How come Yu Jingyan is not here, but he also accepted the proposal today?

The crux of the matter was that Bai felt that the Duke Dingguo's Mansion was as good as their word, and as she had the engagement letter in hand, she was not afraid of any changes in the engagement, so she was happy to not worry about anything.

After answering all kinds of strange questions from the audience, the storyteller began to talk about today's gift list for the marriage proposal.

"The red coral produced in the South China Sea is as tall as two people. It took more than a dozen people to carry it into the Duke Dingguo's Mansion. Have you seen red coral?" The storyteller began to talk nonsense to attract the audience.

"He was right. My cousin's second aunt's uncle's cousin's brother-in-law happened to be selling pancakes on the roadside there. I saw with my own eyes that more than a dozen people were shouting and carrying the pancakes. I heard that two groups of people changed jobs on the way. It was really heavy."

In fact, there is no such thing. The storyteller was just talking nonsense, and someone happened to be praising him, so it was confirmed.

"Have you ever heard of sending wild geese as a gift for a bride price?" the storyteller asked again.

"Only the rich and powerful can give away wild geese. Where can we ordinary people find wild geese? We can buy a few goslings in the spring, raise them and catch two to give to others. That's the etiquette."

"That's right. My eastern neighbor asked for marriage proposal a few days ago and sent two baskets of fruit and two baskets of snacks. The girl was very happy and said that her eldest daughter asked for marriage proposal, so the other party sent a basket of fruit and a basket of snacks."

"But our Sixth Prince went to the Lotus Lake, 200 miles away, and caught two swans to propose marriage." The storyteller's words made everyone excited again.

Someone asked the man who said his relative saw the red coral, "Did your relative who sells pancakes see the swan?"

"Yes, did he? I never saw a swan before."

"Yes, yes, my relative said that the swan's neck is this long," he stretched out his hands to show, "and its feathers are whiter than cotton. It is said that you can see them at night without turning on a light, they are so white that they glow."

Everyone sighed, they had to believe it.

The storyteller continued to speak eloquently. Such scenes were played out in many teahouses, taverns and restaurants in the capital. The content varied slightly but was basically the same. In short, Bai had stolen the engagement letter and the contract was a pure lie and fictitious.

However, Qiao Lili and the Sixth Prince are childhood sweethearts. Lady Dingguo and the Imperial Noble Consort were engaged six years ago. They have accepted the marriage proposal today and will ask for the name of the bride in ten days.

All these true and false news in the capital were spread through various channels by Bao Zhiqiang after discussions between Qiao Lili and Concubine Yun.

Yu Jingyan and Qiao Lili's engagement could not be concealed. In order to prevent those with ulterior motives from taking advantage of Bai Junzhe's engagement to discredit Qiao Lili and the Duke Dingguo's Mansion, it would be better for him to control the spread of the news himself.

Once the correct information occupied all public channels, few people would believe the news that was unfavorable to the Sixth Prince and Qiao Lili.

*

In two days, Yu Jingyan was already six hundred miles away from the capital. Wuying could travel five hundred miles a day, but the horses of his entourage were not so good. Even if they traveled early in the morning and late at night, they could only travel three hundred miles.

After walking for two days, we were exhausted. Fortunately, there was an inn where we could stay the night, so we rested early tonight.

Kuailai, the servant who followed Yu Jingyan, took Wuying to wash him and then found some fodder to feed him. Wuying had always been taken care of by Kuailai himself, as he was worried about leaving him to the waiter at the post station.

He quickly tried to take the pigeon cage from his master, but Yu Jingyan refused.

"Master, you have been riding for a whole day. Let me take care of this little creature. I will make sure it is well fed."

"It's okay, I'm not tired. Go ask the post station for some millet. If there is any broad beans, ask for some. I will feed it myself." This is a treasure. He and Ali have relied on it to communicate during this period. He doesn't feel at ease to leave it to anyone.

Go quickly and unhappily find someone to ask for rice to feed the pigeons.

When Yu Jingyan was a child, he was very impatient, and his usual temper was "Come quickly, come quickly, go quickly, go quickly."

Concubine Yun gave him two servants, named Come and Go, to remind him to be steady at all times and that a real man should remain calm even when faced with a catastrophe.

Not to mention, Yu Jingyan is only eighteen years old now, but he is calm, wise, cool-headed and resolute, and he does things like a general who is good at planning strategies.

He was usually very humble, his words and actions were measured, and he was low-key and calm. Even the fact that he knew martial arts was only known to his father, mother, and a few close guards who came and went and protected him, apart from his father and mother.

These people knew that he was skilled in martial arts, but they did not know that his skills were unfathomable.

His brothers, all of them, thought that he was a delicate boy who was held in the palm of Concubine Yun's hand.

When Kuailai and Kuaiqu fell asleep in the outer room, Yu Jingyan took out the letter that Qiao Lili gave him. He did not open the letter because he had memorized the contents by heart. He just put the letter on his chest and felt very happy.

If before, because they were childhood sweethearts, Yu Jingyan's feelings for Qiao Lili were vague, but after this reunion, the feelings became firm and clear. Qiao Lili seemed to be tailor-made for him. Her every frown and smile, every move, were so pleasing to his heart. His feelings were like a flood that could not be stopped.

Ah Li, my mother is going to propose marriage today. Are you happy? I am very happy.