Four Seasons Brocade – CH 073

Chapter 73 ☆、

Ah Wu also had this plan. When she was young, she had naively planned to marry into a family of high-ranking officials. These families had good traditions, and while their official rank was not high, with the Third Master Rong overseeing things, she was confident she would have a good life.

But now, with her worried face, even if she were willing to marry, discerning families might not dare to take her in. A wife could not stay hidden at home forever; she would need to socialize, and Ah Wu was simply not suited for public life.

Of course, things would work out in the end. Besides worrying about her own future marriage, Ah Wu was also considering the marriages of Fourth Young Lady Rong and Fifth Young Lady Rong, which would be the biggest variable in the Duke of Anguo’s Mansion.

Fourth Young Lady Rong was sixteen this year, and her marriage was still undecided. Firstly, she was indeed quite talented and beautiful; her only shortcoming was her family background. As for her character, outsiders could only see her a few times, so how could they truly know? When a young woman went out as a guest, she always presented her best side.

Fourth Young Lady Rong was picky about marriage prospects, and the Second Madam, impatient with her, let her be. This dragged on until Fourth Young Lady Rong was fourteen or fifteen. Then, last year, the Second Madam’s mother passed away. Although she was a married woman, she was still considered dutiful. When it came to Fourth Young Lady Rong’s marriage, she used the excuse that it was inappropriate to go out during her mother’s mourning period, let alone arrange a marriage for Fourth Young Lady Rong.

As a result, Fourth Young Lady Rong was now stuck in a limbo. The Second Madam had been waiting for this day to punish the “misdeeds” committed by Fourth Young Lady Rong’s concubine mother so that the mother and daughter could carefully observe the consequences of their past actions.

As for Fifth Young Lady Rong, she would turn fifteen this summer, and her marriage was still undecided. However, unlike Fourth Young Lady Rong, Fifth Young Lady Rong had no trouble finding a husband. She was the legitimate daughter of the Duke’s Mansion; her father was the future Duke of Anguo, and she herself was both beautiful and talented, one of the most outstanding noble ladies in the capital. Matchmakers had practically worn down the threshold, but the First Madam just would not budge. With so many suitors seeking a young lady, everyone understood why Fifth Young Lady Rong’s marriage was still undecided. However, Ah Wu knew that the First Madam was not simply overwhelmed by choices; she had already made up her mind about Fifth Young Lady Rong’s marriage, and her eyes were set on a very high standard.

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Currently, several princes in the capital were of marriageable age, yet none had chosen a principal wife. Among the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh princes, the fourth prince was already twenty-one years old (Chinese age), a rare case of a prince of such advanced age without a principal wife. The youngest, the seventh prince, was seventeen.

Princes of the Great Xia Dynasty could only leave the palace to establish their own residences after formal marriage. The age for marriage varied; the Emperor could keep them for a couple more years if he wished or send them away early if he did not.

However, living in the Forbidden City was inconvenient. While a prince might be a powerful figure outside the palace, within the palace, if he was not favored, he sometimes held less power than even a high-ranking eunuch. Therefore, princes who reached the age of fifteen were all eager to marry and establish their own residences as soon as possible.

The fact that the Fourth Prince, Chu Mao, was still unmarried at twenty-one was considered unusual in any dynasty. However, he had already left the Forbidden City at fifteen and moved into Prince Qi’s residence. Around the time the Fourth Prince turned fifteen, the Longqing Emperor had arranged a marriage for him with the eldest daughter of the Governor-General of Yunnan and Guizhou.

The entire royal process of formal marriage rites and gifts would normally take at least a year. But the eldest daughter seemed to have a death wish—she died suddenly just a month after the imperial edict was issued.

The first requirement for a bride in the royal selection process was good health. The fact that someone chosen died so suddenly in less than a month was quite intriguing. Consort Xiang and the current Empress hurriedly promoted the idea that the Fourth Prince was destined to bring misfortune to his mother and wife, which was why Chu Mao remained single at twenty-one.

It was said that the Emperor’s daughters never had trouble finding husbands, so the Emperor’s sons should also have no trouble finding wives. But Ah Wu knew better than anyone that the Fourth Prince, Chu Mao, was truly “all alone.”

When Chu Mao was born, his mother, Empress Xiaozhen, died in childbirth. At eighteen, he was betrothed, but his fianceé had died suddenly less than a month later. His subsequent Empress also died young, shortly after he ascended the throne. His second Empress died less than two years later. The mother of Chu Mao’s only son also apparently died in childbirth. Ah Wu could not remember clearly, but something flashed through her mind—something she could not quite grasp, but it felt extremely ominous and important.

However, what Ah Wu knew even more clearly was that Chu Mao’s fate of being “all alone”—regardless of whether his mother and the two subsequent empresses died from poor health or depression, the eldest daughter of the Governor-General of Yunnan and Guizhou had died unjustly.

A young, vibrant life was strangled by her own father, all because the Governor-General of Yunnan and Guizhou refused to align himself with the Fourth Prince, Chu Mao. His attitude was resolute enough.

It was because the princes were all grown up, and with Emperor Longqing not having designated a crown prince, all the adult princes now had a chance to ascend the throne. This was a sensitive time, and they could not afford to choose the wrong side.

At this point, even if they could not be favored by powerful figures, such as the Empress’s Fifth Prince or Consort Xiang’s Sixth Prince, they absolutely could not be favored by those who were freezing to death, like the Fourth Prince.

It was not that the Fourth Prince, Chu Mao, was bad; he was an excellent person, but unfortunately, he was born into the wrong family. His mother, Empress Xiaozhen, had deeply offended Emperor Longqing. The Emperor’s first Empress was not allowed to be buried in the imperial mausoleum after her death; her coffin was still kept in the Daye Temple, a royal temple.

After the first Empress Yuan’s death, the Emperor forbade the nation to wear mourning clothes, ordering the people to continue weddings and celebrations as usual. Emperor Longqing even held a three-day grand banquet, as if in celebration, and within a month, he established a new empress, the current Empress.

If Empress Yuan was treated this way, it was even more difficult to say what Emperor Longqing thought of the Fourth Prince, Chu Mao. Afterwards, rumors circulated that Chu Mao was not Emperor Longqing’s biological son, and that the character “Zhen” ^(chaste) in Empress Xiaozhen’s posthumous title was deliberately chosen by Emperor Longqing to satirize Empress Yuan.

Of course, the truth of these palace secrets remained unknown. Even Ah Wu had never heard Princess Fuhui speak ill of Empress Yuan. However, judging from the Princess’s attitude towards the Fourth Prince, Ah Wu felt that the rumors were mostly true. There was no smoke without fire.

But let’s digress and return to the Governor-General of Yunnan and Guizhou, Yang Jingbiao. If his daughter were to marry the Fourth Prince, regardless of the father-in-law/son-in-law relationship, he would be seen by outsiders as part of the Fourth Prince’s faction. Forget about promotions, wealth, or high-ranking positions; his very survival would be in question. The struggle for the throne was a game of life and death, not child’s play.

While the Fourth Prince, Chu Mao, seemed to have no interest in the throne, he was undeniably a nuisance. The Longqing Emperor’s first three sons were all deceased, and Chu Mao, being the eldest remaining son, was, in the eyes of some conservatives, the undisputed heir apparent.

However, judging from the Longqing Emperor’s intentions, the Fourth Prince had no hope of ascending the throne, and if the Fifth or Sixth Prince wanted a legitimate succession, the Fourth Prince was someone they must eliminate.

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Yang Jingbiao, as the Governor-General of Yunnan and Guizhou, was one of the nine highest-ranking regional officials in the Great Xia Dynasty, a first-rank official with immense power and influence, practically the regional king of Yunnan and Guizhou. He had absolutely no reason to play this predictable game of power grab with the Fourth Prince.

Trading a daughter for the safety and future of his entire family was the best deal imaginable.

All this talk about the Fourth Prince, Chu Mao, has a real purpose: the First Madam definitely did not approve of him. Ah Wu sighed inwardly, “No matter how cunning you are, who could have predicted that this seemingly insignificant figure would become the future Emperor?”

The current Empress’s Fifth Prince and Consort Xiang’s Sixth Prince, nineteen and eighteen, respectively, had both expressed their intention to choose a principal wife and establish their own residences outside the palace in the past year.

The Seventh Prince’s mother was a lowly palace maid; she must have been incredibly lucky to give birth to a prince. However, the Seventh Prince was of mediocre talent, with little hope of ascending the throne, though still better off than the Fourth Prince.

Ah Wu remembered that Fifth Young Lady Rong had married the Sixth Prince, born to Consort Xiang, and indeed became Empress. Unfortunately, she did not enjoy her happiness for long before dying alongside Emperor Ai at the hands of Chu Mao.

Ah Wu shuddered at the thought. The Duke of Anguo’s Mansion was no safe place; she had to find a way to escape. Unfortunately, the Duke of Anguo was also Third Master Rong’s father, a relationship that was difficult to resolve.

Therefore, Ah Wu was more worried about the Duke of Anguo’s Mansion than her own marriage.

As Ah Wu sat alone in thought, Zi-Shan entered again, carrying a gilded bronze incense burner with a lion-head, gourd-shaped handle, and cloud patterns. She dismissed Tong-Guan and looked like she had something to say.

Ah Wu asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Miss, I heard that the Fourth Young Lady’s marriage has been arranged. It happened in just half a month; it must have been arranged while we were on the ship,” Zi-Shan said, lifting the lid of the incense burner and taking a small incense pill that Ah Wu liked from her purse, placing it on the fire-resistant cloth divider.

Ah Wu said, “Oh,” and asked, “Whose family is she betrothed to?” Although Ah Wu had experienced these years in her previous life, Fourth Young Lady Rong was such a nobody that she could not possibly care about her, so she could not remember who Fourth Young Lady Rong had married at all.

“They say the marriage arranged for her is with the second son of the heir of the Marquis of Jianning—the family of the Old Madam—as his second wife.” Zi-Shan placed the carved gourd-patterned sandalwood lid on the incense burner and then placed it on a tall table about five feet away from Ah Wu.

Ah Wu painfully rubbed her forehead. Although she did not know who the second master’s illegitimate son was, Lady Ma of the Marquis of Jianning’s Mansion, who was also the Old Madam’s sister-in-law, was the aunt of the current Empress Tian. Their family must be related to the Fifth Prince.

Now things were really messed up. Once Fifth Young Lady Rong was engaged, the Duke of Anguo’s Mansion itself would already be divided into two factions vying for power.

“I heard it was the Old Madam who arranged the marriage,” Zi-Shan added.

Ah Wu nodded, indicating she understood. After all, Fourth Young Lady Rong was the Old Madam’s granddaughter; they could not let the Second Madam continue to mistreat her. The Old Madam was eager to curry favor with Empress Tian, ​​and marrying Fourth Young Lady Rong back to her maternal family would further strengthen that relationship.

Although Fourth Young Lady Rong was born of a concubine, she was considered both talented and beautiful, and with a younger sister as outstanding as Fifth Young Lady Rong, others would look at her with more respect. Besides, although the groom was the second son of the Marquis’s heir, he would not inherit the title, and this was a second wife selection, so they could not be too picky.

“Miss, I wonder what kind of family the First Madam is going to arrange for the Fifth Young Lady?” Zi-Shan asked curiously.