Chapter 170 Come on, let's have a blind date
The next morning, Su and Princess Huairou entered the palace. Su knew that Su Luo would not like this blind date, but she relied on her status to do it first and then report. At the same time, in order to take care of Su Luo's feelings, she and Huairou had a whole afternoon of testimony yesterday, hoping to catch Su Luo in one fell swoop, but she didn't expect that all of it was useless, and the next time they met, they were directly in the palace.
Su Luo had no intention of pursuing the matter at all. She had already given up to the point of being bullied by others and only hoped to leave the palace as soon as possible.
Her attitude made Su feel relieved, so she felt that her decision this time might be correct. Her daughter might really want to get married, but she was just embarrassed to say it.
Su, Huairou and the Queen Mother, three women representatives of traditional Chinese culture, new trends and the ruling class, sat together and talked about many topics, from eating to having children, and then from having children back to eating. Su Luo fell asleep for a while in between, and when she woke up, she heard them talking about having children again.
From this, Su Luo judged that no matter which class a woman is from, as long as she is a woman, eating and giving birth are probably things she must experience in her life, so there is a topic of conversation.
Wanli came over in the afternoon. He heard about Su Luo's entry into the palace when he went to Concubine Zheng's "business" last night. Of course, he didn't rush over immediately. It was more important to do business.
The date for Su Luo to be included in the Imperial Book of Documents has been set, and it will be after the results of the Spring Examination are announced. It is said that there was a whole morning of debate in the court today to choose this auspicious date. Su Luo felt that people might not really be arguing about the date, but about what qualifications a woman who does business has to be included in the imperial clan and included in the Imperial Book of Documents. The point of this matter is not that she is a woman, nor that she is a businessman, but why is it her? Why not someone else? Why is it not one of the people who argued with Wanli until he was red in the face and neck who entered the imperial clan? If it was them, they probably wouldn't have any objections.
As for Wanli's idea, it was even simpler. He had been frustrated repeatedly in the matter of changing the crown prince, and he needed something to save his remaining face in front of the court officials and to strengthen his momentum. The appearance of Su Luo just filled this gap. The key was to take in an insignificant sister. The court officials would just be jealous and would not die for the matter of the crown prince. At this rate, within two years, the court would go bankrupt just by paying the funeral expenses.
The time for the formal sworn brotherhood has been set, and there is still a month to go. Su Luo thinks that he can escape the disaster for now, right? Isn't it said that you should have a "legitimate" identity first before considering other things? Can he leave the palace first now?
She was just beautiful . The Queen Mother had obviously already made up her mind, and with just one sentence, she made Su Luo stand there.
"I have scheduled ten dinners. If it's a month, there will be one every three days. Luo'er, you must pay close attention. After the ceremony, I will take charge of arranging your wedding."
Whoosh—the breeze blew a fallen leaf onto Su Luo’s face, and it refused to leave for a long time. Su Luo felt strange. It was only spring, so how could there be fallen leaves?
Su and Huairou asked excitedly, "The tenth term? Are there any candidates?"
The Queen Mother was quite dissatisfied with the two's lack of trust. She asked the maid beside her to bring a list. There were about six or seven people in each session. There were duplicate participants, but the total number of people was more than 40. The Queen Mother said, "These are all talented people in our dynasty who have not yet had a principal wife, or the children of famous families."
Su Luo was not curious about the people on the list. She was just curious about one thing: where did the Queen Mother get the time to make such a list?
Perhaps because the palace had not been bustling for a long time, Wanli showed great interest in this matter and suggested, "Why not wait until the results of the imperial examination are announced, and then invite the top Jinshi and the people on this list to enter the palace together."
This proposal was approved by all the participants except Su Luo. Seeing their lively discussion, Su Luo wondered, what on earth was she doing here? It seemed like it had nothing to do with her!
Soon, the first banquet of the Empress Dowager began. There were eight people who were supposed to be present, and eight people actually attended, including one Dongge scholar of the fifth rank, two Zhongshusheng doctors of the fifth rank, one Bingbu Yuwenlang of the fifth rank, one Duchayuan experience of the sixth rank, and three others who were all sons of fourth rank officials in the court.
Everyone knew the purpose of the Queen Mother's banquet, and everyone knew that Su Luo would be promoted to the title of princess in a month, so everyone tried to show off their talent, and those who were talented showed off their talent, and those who were not talented showed off their grace. Su Luo dressed up for a day, and then came to act as a wallflower. Her second aunt and the Queen Mother did all the talking, and she was responsible for smiling, eating, eating, and smiling. In Huairou's words, even if we are not real ladies, can't we pretend to be ladies?
Su Luo felt that this was quite a scam.
With the cooperation of both parties, the dinner was quite successful - although Su Luo did not remember the name and appearance of any of the guests, at least he enjoyed the meal.
From the lineup of people present today, it is not difficult to see that the Queen Mother has adopted a step-by-step approach. The first batch is the candidates with the lowest standards, and the standards will gradually increase in the future, so Su Luo doesn't need to remember their appearances and names. This is just a passing scene, and the real show has just begun! But then again, if there is really a good condition... should I follow or not... Well, this is really a problem...
The following dinners 2 and 3 passed happily and uneventfully, without any surprises, just eating. Just when Su Luo was about to breathe a sigh of relief, dinner 4 quietly arrived. In the past ten days, Su Luo had fully experienced the joy of being a parasite. In order to give Su Luo a quiet blind date space, Huairou cut off all her contact with the outside world, so Su Luo now had no business, no quarrels, only eating and daydreaming every day, or else she would kill small insects with a fan with Concubine Zheng, which they called "catching butterflies". If Wanli happened to visit the garden and there were not enough butterflies, then dragonflies and bees could make up the number.
Su Luo felt that if she were that butterfly, she would rush into the other party's nose or mouth with the determination to die. Even if she couldn't cause any fatal harm, at least she could disgust people and make them give up this stupid and boring sports activity, thus saving thousands of her butterfly compatriots from such persecution.
Where were we just now? Yes, the fourth dinner.
Because of the enjoyment of the previous few games, Su Luo let his guard down. As soon as the fourth player entered the field, he gave Su Luo a warning.
Liu Chengxuan. Su Luo had thought that he might show up, but he had never thought that he would show up with Li Rusong, let alone that Wan Yangui would be among the invited guests.
Wan Yangui? Su Luo was almost ashamed. If he hadn't used illegal means, he wouldn't have gotten this opportunity even if he was beaten to death. Anyway, why was he here ? He and Liu Chengxuan were in the same group. If he was here to laugh at the joke or cause trouble, Liu Chengxuan could just do it.
Su Luo felt a little regretful about not having looked at the list in advance. If she had looked at it, well... maybe she could pretend to have a stomachache today to get away with it... or should she pretend to have one now?
Su Luo was thinking about this when the six contestants had already taken their seats. The Queen Mother introduced them as usual, "This is Liu Hongwen, son of General Pingyuan. He is currently the commander-in-chief of the Beijing Guards. He has a promising future."
Liu Hongwen stood up, bowed to the Queen Mother, and then sat down again. The Queen Mother pointed to the second contestant next to him and said, "This is Li Bi, the Lianghuai Salt Transport Commissioner. He happened to return to Beijing to report on his work. Lord Li is the youngest Salt Transport Commissioner in our dynasty."
Su Luo's eyes lit up when he heard about this official position. This kid has a future. No! This kid has money!
"This is Lord Shi, the current doctor of the Ministry of Personnel, and the cousin of Concubine Zheng."
Su Luo nodded and smiled at the man, but the man did not respond much, and even frowned, as if he had come here out of necessity. It seemed that Concubine Zheng's statement that he had deep feelings for his deceased wife was somewhat credible.
After the three people were introduced, the Queen Mother turned to the other side and said, "This is..."
Li Rusong was originally sitting at the head of the table, but Liu Chengxuan rushed to stand up and said, "I am Liu Chengxuan." As usual, he was dressed like a butterfly and bowed to Su Luo, "Miss Su, I haven't seen you for a few days. How are you?"
The Queen Mother smiled and said, "Since you two know each other, there is no need for me to introduce you again."
Liu Chengxuan nodded slightly, "That's right, the other two gentlemen are also old acquaintances of Miss Su. It's really fate that we meet here today."
The Queen Mother was slightly surprised, "Oh? You know them all?"
Su Luo smiled awkwardly, "I am more familiar with Lord Li."
Li Rusong was sitting in his seat, staring at Su Luo with a half-smile. After hearing what she said, he stood up and greeted the Queen Mother and Huairou, then smiled at Su Luo and said, "Fortunately you didn't leave without saying goodbye like I did at the beginning, otherwise I would really regard your disappearance these days as a punishment for me."
