Chapter 258 - Disturbances Arose and the Marriage to Unite Two Countries (2/2)
“Could it be that a young master of some well-known family has taken a fancy to the lady of the Mingguo Manor, but feared that their families would not approve of that, so they…” Mo Xuetong asked, blinking her bright eyes, with a smile.
This was the only situation that made sense for this to happen in such a well-known family. The one missing from the Mingguo Manor was the daughter of a concubine. If she really fell in love with a man of high rank, it was impossible for her to be his wife, so they fled. But another thing happened. Putting all this together, it was not hard to conclude that this was not a simple elopement.
“What do the young ladies who stay at home usually think? They should read more Cla.s.sics for Women.” Mo Huawen understood what Mo Xuetong said and shook his head. Then he reached out his chopsticks and offered Mo Xuetong some food.
An idea came to his mind for no reason, but he shook his head and threw it out because he felt a little annoyed. Then, he told Mo Xuetong about what happened today at the palace banquet.
It turned out that the First Prince of the Yan Kingdom really came here for marriage. He wanted to marry a beautiful girl here to make the relations.h.i.+p between the two countries better.
This kind of thing was supposed to be done by a royal daughter, and of course, the Princess was the best choice. Mo Huawen didn’t know what Emperor Zongwen thought. The Emperor didn’t make it clear and only asked the First Prince of the Yan Kingdom to choose a beautiful girl himself. For the Qin Kindom’s slight to him, the First Prince didn’t complain but thanked the Emperor on the spot.
Finally, it was settled. A banquet was to be held in the imperial palace in three days. All girls over the age of 13, whose father was an official of five grade or above, were required to attend the banquet.
“Father, shall I go too?” Mo Xuetong wanted to talk about something happy with her father, and she didn’t expect it to involve her. Her long eyelashes fluttered and black eyebrows raised.
“If you’re all right, of course, you have to go.” Mo Huawen found that it was a headache when he remembered that Mo Xuemin had to attend the palace banquet too.
Unfortunately, Mo Huawen’s three daughters all fell into that category. Mo Xueqiong was kind of crazy; Mo Xuemin was too discredited to be seen now. Except for his third daughter, his other daughters embarra.s.sed him. However, Mo Huawen did not want Mo Xuetong to attend the banquet because he thought it was an occasion for the First Prince to pick up a lady to marry.
Watching his daughter’s pretty face, Mo Huawen became increasingly worried. He was determined not to prevent the First Prince from selecting Tong’er. Mo Xuetong was now the only daughter he found comforting. Moreover, the Yan Kingdom was far away from the Great Qin. If Mo Xuetong suffered grievances after she married to the royal family of the Yan Kingdom, she would be helpless and could only endure them alone.
Mo Huawen got nervous that Tong’er might be chosen.
His greatest wish now was that Tong’er would be happy, marry a husband who loved her, and live happily ever after.
Mo Xuetong blinked her eyes and caught the bug in Mo Huawen’s words. She asked, “Father, if I have something else to do then, can I stay away from that banquet?”
Seeing how astute his daughter was, Mo Huawen became more determined that he would not let her marry to the Yan Kingdom.
After thinking about it for a moment, Mo Huawen hesitantly asked, “Tong’er, why don’t you pretend to be sick then?”
Mo Xuetong looked at her father in surprise and suddenly burst into laughter. Then, looking at her prim father, she laughed harder and could not lift her head. It had never occurred to her that her serious and sober father should have said such things in such a childish way, without any sense of self-consciousness.
Confused by his daughter’s laughter, Mo Huawen couldn’t understand what was wrong with him.
“Father, if most of the young ladies refuse to go to the banquet for this reason, and you were the host of the banquet at the imperial palace, will you consent to their request?” Mo Xuetong laughed for a long while before she took the handkerchief from Mo Lan and covered her mouth, panting and asking.
If he were the host of the palace banquet, he certainly would not believe the reason of being sick. He believed that not many people would like to marry their daughters to the Yan Kingdom far away. The First Prince was not the Crown Prince in the Yan Kingdom, and he was held down by Bai Yihao, so he could only be an idle sovereign without real power.
Considering his background, who would like to marry his daughter? This was also the reason why the Emperor did not directly agree to marry the Princess to him!
As the father of the Princess, the Emperor must love her, but who did not love his daughter? The First Prince would definitely choose a pretty girl from a family. To marry such a beautiful daughter to King Yan’s Manor or King Chu’s Manor must be better for the family than to marry her to the Yan Kingdom far away.
There must be a lot of people coming up with such an idea. When Mo Huawen knew it, he found that there would be a lot of people who used the reason of being sick to avoid the chance of becoming the First Prince’s concubine. The palace would eventually take a lot of trouble, and all requests would not be allowed.
Mo Huawen never made this kind of mistake before. The reason why he was so important to the Emperor Zongwen was that he was careful and considerate. How could he come up with such a superficial excuse? The concern for his daughter disturbed him. A wry smile crept over his lips and he said, “Tong’er, I was wrong.”
If he could simply solve this problem, he would not have seen so many colleagues looking sad when he came out of the hall…
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