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  Chapter 12: The Cost

  Zhu Yichan rode his horse for a little over an hour before arriving at the Beijing city, as soon as he entered the mansion gate, he immediately went to the front yard study to pay respects to Old Master Chu.

  Chu Lao Ye Zi and Chu Nan Cai were both present, they saw him without beating around the bush, directly asking: "Yue Chen, I have a question to ask, answer honestly."

  Zhu Yichan saw the old man being serious and hurriedly knelt down saying "Sir, you have something to ask, please go ahead."

  "Chu Lao Hanlin nodded and said, "I heard that your family had discussed marriage with the Qiu family not long ago. The eight characters of the two families have been matched, and it is said that the betrothal gifts have been sent. Why didn't it work out? What's going on?"

  Zhu Yichan didn't expect it was about this matter, and he was taken aback for a moment. The old Hanlin then said to Yichan, "Tell the truth!"

  Zhu Yichan hastily knocked his head and bowed to the ground, saying "Yichan dare not hide a single bit. This matter is indeed true, but that was the intention of our county king's consort, my mother and I have been kept in the dark all along..."

  "Have you already found a matchmaker? Has the matchmaker also deceived them?"

  "It's true that I was deceived. You see, the Qiu family is the maternal family of the county princess, and she asked Wu to be the matchmaker, perhaps with some benefits in mind. The betrothal gift was given by the principal wife when Wu went to their house. At the time of the betrothal, I wasn't even present... they had already set a date to exchange the betrothal gifts, and only then did I find out."

  Chu Lao Yezi stroked his beard and sat in the Eight Immortals chair. Upon hearing this, he seemed to have a reason, so he stood up and said, "Speak now, tell me everything in detail."

  Zhu Yichan didn't dare disobey and immediately stood up, saying in a soft voice, "If the child has offended you, sir, please don't take it to heart."

  "Old Master Chu nodded and said nothing, go on." He had heard the previous words and vaguely thought that it should be related to the Empress, so he asked Zhu Yucheng to clarify, which must involve the Empress.

  "Our family's situation, Your Excellency should know that the original prince was my older brother, and he was also born to the main wife, so it was only natural. However, my older brother passed away prematurely, and both my third and fourth brothers also died young. Now, my fifth brother is the only son of the main wife, but he's still very young..." Zhu Yixun hesitated for a moment before stopping himself from continuing.

  "Chu Lao Yezi nodded and continued, 'In our great Ming dynasty, the royal family has always only had a distinction between elders and juniors, without any distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children. According to ancestral rules, as a side consort's child, he is also about to turn 18 this year, so the title of Duke should be his to inherit. However, I suppose our main consort has some reservations about this?'"

  Zhu Yichan said in a low voice, "What the old master said is... Mother wants you to marry a girl from the Qiu family, which is also... the same meaning."

  Mr. Chu said that he was also a close relative of the royal family, and this kind of infighting within the family had been seen many times before. He thought for a moment and understood. He stroked his beard, momentarily silent, pondering their family relationships.

  "Chu Lao Ye Zi didn't ask anymore, and Chu Nan only then inserted his mouth to ask: 'Is it the Empress's intention? Is it time?' "

  "After the engagement, when the wedding date is set."

  "When you were hired, didn't you sign a contract?!" Chu Nancai asked.

  Zhu Yichan shook his head and said, "No, the letter of appointment was not sent with the betrothal gift."

  "What?! Chu Nan had never heard of it before and was shocked for half a day, he shouldn't have asked."

  "It's exactly what I was forced to do, first giving the betrothal gift, making a big fuss about it, so that the Qiu family would hear about it too, and then forcing me to sign the marriage contract when the time comes."

  "Chu Nan was already a bit angry when he heard this... How can people be so hard-hearted and forceful?!"

  Mr. Chu was also stunned, he didn't expect there to be someone like the Duchess of Devonshire who would do such a thing! After all, she's just a woman, doing foolish things without considering the consequences!

  He shook his head and asked "What happened afterwards?"

  "After Matchmaker Wu sent the betrothal gift on my behalf, he still felt uneasy and went to ask Empress Zheng. Empress Zheng's intention was that when the wedding is arranged, I would have to show up, but she didn't tell me or my mother until then, saying it was unavoidable and I couldn't disagree! The betrothal letter and gift book were sent together with the welcoming letter at the time of the wedding. Matchmaker Wu thought this wasn't right and advised my mother, who... immediately blew up, dragging Matchmaker Wu to find Empress Zheng, saying Matchmaker Wu was meddling in the imperial family's marriage... I told Matchmaker Wu not to interfere again, and Matchmaker Wu, scared by my mother, didn't dare say another word. Empress Zheng and my mother... went to Princess Xian of Jing's place to reason with her, and Princess Xian also advised Empress Zheng not to manage my marriage anymore. Only then did Empress Zheng give up and agree not to interfere again."

  "Is it really okay for the Qiu family...?"

  "They all listened to the Empress's words, and in the end, they couldn't blame anyone else even if they were unwilling. Zhi Yuanchen said this inadvertently, but then he was afraid that Chu Lao Hanlin would think it was too improper, so he quickly lowered his head and said... This matter... I also cannot get entangled with them..."

  Chu Lao Hanlin nodded upon hearing this, feeling relieved and letting out a sigh. So that's how it was. In that case, Zhu Yuxuan couldn't be blamed for the marriage affair being a mess, which didn't count as a proper one with the Empress.

  Chu Nan was still somewhat dissatisfied and said, "Even if it's like that, when you came to propose marriage, this matter should have been mentioned in advance! This isn't a small thing!"

  Zhu Yichan immediately knelt down and kowtowed, saying "It was I who wanted to say it, but I had selfish thoughts and was afraid that if I said it, you and the old master would not agree to the marriage, so I stopped her..." This is my fault, please forgive me." He was sincerely fearful and bowed his head to the ground.

  The old man was still softhearted and quickly signaled Chu Nan to help him up, smiling and saying "It was originally a non-existent matter, it's okay."

  Zhu Yichan was helped up, still with a humble and fearful expression, lowering his head, afraid that they would discuss the marriage again.

  "Well then, Uncle, let's discuss the next thing. Old Master Chu stroked his beard and smiled, saying "Let's set a date..."

  Zhu Yicheng's heart suddenly fell to the ground! From receiving the message from the subordinate until just now, it was like sitting on a small boat in the sea, his mood was fluctuating up and down, tossing him around, this moment when he heard these words, it was as if heavenly music had entered his eardrums, 'plop' and he knelt down again! The child will go immediately!" He said, getting up, turning around and running away.

  He turned around and stunned Chu Lao Hanlin and Chu Nancai, who were behind him. Chu Lao Hanlin waited until he had run out of the yard before finishing his sentence: "These past few days have been..."

  Chu Nancai smiled and shook his head, but in his heart, he was still more inclined towards Zhu Yuxuan. Firstly, there was the intention to make up for the loss of Liu Su's heart, and secondly, he was dissatisfied with Zhu Yuxian's regret over the cancellation of Chu Yunqing's marriage. Chu Yunqing was after all his daughter, and he didn't have the same sense of justice as Chu Lao Hanlin, so he put his heart in a straightforward manner, without any bias or inclination. He still favored his daughter, and since Zhu Yuxian no longer wanted to marry Chu Yunqing, he absolutely did not want to give Chu Keqin to him again!

  Liu Maoxi's home was in the west city, and Zhu Yucheng had gone there too. Unexpectedly, half an hour later, Liu Maoxi followed him hastily to the Chu Mansion.

  He turned to make Old Master Chu feel embarrassed, and repeatedly said, "This child... please uncle should also have etiquette! Scheduling a time, such a hasty transmission, it seems that I am too rude!"

  Liu Maoxi didn't find it strange at all, and smiled as he paid his respects. "Old master, you're a senior, if you want to see me, I'll naturally come immediately! Haha, let's discuss the happy event, the younger generation will naturally hurry up!"

  Chu Lao Hanlin nodded with a smile, and Chu Nan then said to Zhu Yuheng, "Go ahead and take a turn first. Huan and Zhen are in the mansion, go find them."

  Zhu Yuheng was both surprised and delighted when he heard that Zhu Yuhuan had arrived, and hastily agreed to come out.

  After leaving the Upper House, he found a servant and asked, "Is the Fifth Master of De Xing County Prince's Mansion at your mansion? Where is it now? Take me there."

  The servant hastily replied and led him to the guest house. Zhu Yuxuan entered the room, but there was no one inside. He circled around the courtyard, but didn't see Zhu Yuhuan anywhere.

  ……

  Zhu Yuhuan was actually busy all day today.

  He took the servant who came with him out for a trip in the morning, led the servant to Shao'er Hutong, pointed to the house at the end and said: "Find some people to come and repair the house of that family. Rebuild the collapsed house and tidy up the kitchen. Go in and have a look, and find someone to clean it up today."

  The servant hastily agreed and went in to take a look. Just as Zhu Yuhuan was about to leave, he saw the servant who had run in earlier running out again, calling out to him: "Fifth Master! Fifth Master, please go take a look inside, there are two people crying in there!"

  Zhu Yuhuan was taken aback for a moment, then suddenly realized that it must be Lan Zixu who had arrived. He wondered, "Isn't she not supposed to come out? Why is she here again? And crying?"

  She followed the servant in, walked to the inside, and after crossing the fence wall, she saw that it was indeed Lan Zhi standing in the courtyard, crying and stamping her feet, while another little maid cried and tried to persuade her.

  Zhu Yuhuan was shocked and heard Lan Zixun still scolding... acting on his own! Let's see if he has a good ending!"

  "Hey! Who's he scolding?"

  Upon hearing his shout, Lan Zhi immediately lifted her head and saw him standing outside the door. He wiped away tears and shouted loudly: "Didn't I tell you? Just give her ten taels and it's fine! Why did you give her so much?"

  "What's so strange about Zhū Yì Huàn? He gave a hundred taels, enough to live a lifetime without worries, and no need to sneak out to sell embroidery, being chased by bad people all over the streets!"

  "Done? Ran away! I'm so angry!"

  Zhu Yuhuan exclaimed in surprise: "Who ran away?!"

  "Chun Lan, Chun Lan has run away! She was given so much silver and she took it and ran! It's infuriating!" Blue Orchid exclaimed, stamping her foot.

  Zhu Yuhuan was completely stunned and ran away. He stared blankly at Lan Zixun, really couldn't figure out the situation.

  Lan Zhi Chou looked at him with a mixture of anger and helplessness, pouting her mouth and stomping her feet in frustration. (If you like this work, welcome to subscribe and reward on Starting Point Website (), your support is my greatest motivation.)

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