If not abolished

Chapter 139 Banquet Troubles

Before the maid could finish her words, He Yunyue had already walked a long way away, and the maid had no choice but to follow her.

He Yunyue came to Madam He's courtyard and heard her mother talking to someone before she entered.

"Madam should have also received an invitation from the Prince of Han's Palace, right?" He Yunyue paused outside the door. The voice sounded like the family of a military general, and seemed familiar, but she couldn't tell who it was for the time being?

"The Princess of Han wants to choose a principal wife for His Highness Qi. All the girls of marriageable age in the capital have received invitations." Madam He said.

"Madam, don't you know?" the lady asked puzzledly.

"Know what?" Mrs. He seemed like she really didn't know the inside story.

The lady looked around, came closer and said, "I heard that most of the people who received the invitations this time were from military families, and there were very few civil officials."

"I haven't heard of this before. Why is this?"

"Madam, why don't you understand? His Royal Highness the Prince of Han has been competing with the Crown Prince for the position of the Eastern Palace. It seemed to have calmed down for a while in the past few years, but I heard from our master that there are signs of it again recently. This time the selection of concubines is even more obvious. It is obviously to increase his own support." The lady explained when she saw that Madam He didn't understand.

Mrs. He suddenly realized, "If that's what you said, then whoever is chosen this time is..."

"Is that so? Although His Royal Highness the Prince of Han is very favored by His Majesty, the position of the Eastern Palace has been decided. His Royal Highness the Prince of Han has made things so obvious this time, I'm afraid he is trying to..."

"Sister, don't say such things carelessly, don't say such things carelessly..." Mrs. He was so scared that she interrupted her before she could even say the last word, and shook her head.

"Look at my mouth. I talked too much." The lady realized what she had said and immediately slapped herself on the mouth.

He Yunyue had heard almost everything, so she pretended to have just arrived and went in and called out, "Mother."

When the two saw He Yunyue coming over, they hurriedly stopped talking and said, "Why did you come here suddenly? Come, meet Madam Li."

"Hello, Mrs. Li." He Yunyue greeted.

"Okay, oh, this is Yunyue, she has grown up and become more and more beautiful." Mrs. Li looked at He Yunyue and kept praising her.

"It's not as good as you say. Look, she's at this age, but she hasn't even talked about her in-laws yet. She's not in a hurry every day." Mrs. He had a headache when she thought about her daughter's marriage.

"As for the word marriage, it depends on fate. Maybe fate has not arrived yet. As for marriage, there is already one ready-made one. Madam, why don't you take Yunyue to try your luck? Who knows?" Madam Li gave Madam He a wink.

"Let's wait and see..." Mrs. He laughed.

"Oh, you see I've been bothering you for so long today, it's time for me to go back." Mrs. Li said as she stood up and said goodbye.

"Hurry up and send Madam Li off." Madam He said to the servants.

Madam Li got on the carriage, and the maid beside her asked, "Madam, do you think Madam He understands?"

"Who knows? Anyway, there is no girl of the right age in our family, so no matter how the fire burns, it will not burn us," said Mrs. Li.

"That's what the lady said."

When Mrs. Li arrived home, Lord Li immediately greeted her at the door.

"Madam is back." Lord Li personally helped Madam get out of the car.

"Why are you waiting at the gate? Aren't you afraid of being laughed at?" Mrs. Li said when she saw her husband approaching.

"I'm holding my own wife's hand, what's the joke?"

"I have told Madam He all those words. As for what she should do, that's it..."

"Madam has done what she should do. Don't worry about the rest. We have tried our best. If Lord He still insists on having his own way, there is nothing we can do." Lord Li said.

"Ah."

Ho's

"Mother, shall we go to the banquet at Prince Han's Mansion?" He Yunyue asked after Madam Li left.

Mrs. He sat down, drank a sip of tea and said, "Haven't you always disliked those banquets? Why are you suddenly interested in them?" Mrs. He understood her daughter well. In the past, she got a headache when she heard about banquets, so why did she suddenly ask about it today?

"Just curious."

"Why do you want to go?" Mrs. He tried to find out what her daughter was thinking.

"No, how could that be? I was just asking." He Yunyue pretended to lie.

Mrs. He looked at her and guessed her true thoughts: "Tell me what you want to do?"

"As expected, nothing can be hidden from mother. I heard that this banquet is to select a queen for His Highness Qi, so I wanted to go and see what Sun Ruoji's expression is. It must be very interesting." He Yunyue showed a happy look when she spoke.

"What's wrong with you, kid? You've always been at odds with that Concubine Sun. If people get to know about this, your family will be in big trouble."

"I'm happy as long as she's in trouble. Will mother go or not?" He Yunyue said, shaking Mrs. He's hand.

"Let me think about this again. The situation is unclear now, and it would be best to find an excuse not to go." Madam He thought of what Madam Li had just said. If the King of Han was really preparing... then their family would not get involved in this muddy water.

"Oh." He Yunyue became disappointed.

"Okay, stop thinking about those unnecessary things. If you want to attend the banquet, there will be banquets in several mansions next month. Let's see if there is a chance to arrange your marriage. It's also your father and I's fault for not arranging a marriage for you earlier. Now..."

"Mother, it's nothing, I'm leaving first." Seeing that her mother was going to trouble her about her marriage again, He Yunyue ran away immediately.

"You kid..."

"Madam has been worrying about the girl's marriage for the past two years, but the girl is not anxious at all for some reason."

"Well, who says it's not true? She is the only girl in the family, and my husband and I have spoiled her since she was a child." Mrs. He was also worried when she talked about this.

On the way back, the maid saw He Yunyue looking very happy and asked, "Madam didn't even agree to let you go to the banquet, so why are you so happy?"

"It doesn't matter whether mother agrees or not, we will definitely go." He Yunyue vowed.

After listening to Madam Li's words, her mother didn't want to let her go, but how could her father miss this opportunity to form an alliance with the King of Han? He would definitely find a reason to convince her to let her go.

At night, General He returned home.

Madam He said as she changed his clothes: "The Princess of Han sent a letter to Fuli, asking me to bring Yun'er to the banquet."

"Is there any problem with this?" General He was puzzled. When would he be asked about such a thing?

"I heard that most of the people who received the invitations this time are from military families, and they want to choose a wife for His Highness Nenqi of the Han family."

Hearing this, General He was stunned for a moment, "What does the madam mean?"

"I am also unsure, so I came to ask the master." Madam He thought, if she wasn't asking him, why was the question thrown to her?

General He thought for a long time before speaking: "Back then, we were on the battlefield with the King of Han. Even the Eastern Palace has labeled us as the King of Han. Whether we go or not, we will not be well received by the Eastern Palace. On the contrary, if we don't go to the King of Han, I'm afraid... So Madam, you should take Yun'er with you."

"But if Yun'er is selected, then..." Mrs. He said worriedly.

"That is her fate, and also the fate of our family." Both of them understood that if they were chosen, they would be tied to the King of Han.

"I understand." Mrs. He had no way to refute.

Three days later, He Yunyue got off the carriage and stood at the gate of Prince Han's Mansion for a while.

"Yun'er." Mrs. He saw that her daughter did not catch up, so she turned around and called her softly.

He Yunyue hurriedly followed, and at this time another carriage stopped at the door. She looked back curiously, only to see the word "king" on the carriage.

He Yunyue thought, I didn’t expect she would come too.

When He Yunyue arrived at the flower hall, she saw that many people had already arrived. Everyone looked at her, and one of them suddenly greeted her: "Sister He is here too. We thought you were not coming this time."

"I'm here to accompany my mother." He Yunyue simply replied.

"Speaking of which, Sister He, you used to have such a good relationship with the Crown Prince's Consort. Now that she's in the palace, why don't you see her taking advantage of you at all?"

"That's right. Sister He used to always stand up for the Crown Prince's Consort, but what about her? How can you say this?"

"That's enough for all of you. If someone with ulterior motives hears you making up stories about our nobleman, we won't be able to bear the consequences." He Yunyue saw that they were getting more and more outrageous and spoke out to stop them.

Everyone realized that what they said was indeed a bit too much.

He Yunyue thought that the man should be here soon, and sure enough, another person came into the hall.

The man walked in without saying hello to anyone. He found a seat and sat down quietly.

When everyone saw her, they whispered, "Why is she here?"

"Didn't they say that all the invited guests this time were military commanders? How did she, a civil servant, get here?"

"Who knows? Didn't you see how arrogant she looked when she came in?"

"That's right, who cares about her?"

Later, more people came one after another. They were basically daughters of military generals, with only a few from civil officials' families.

The four of them went to see the Princess of Han in a group and were asked some questions.

"Why can't we see His Highness Qi?" someone asked after coming back.

"I heard that His Highness Qi is trying to appease the concubine?"

"Concubine Sun?"

"Yes?"

"No wonder the princess is so anxious to choose a wife for His Highness?"

"It's also a headache to marry into a favored concubine like this."

"Speaking of which, Concubine Sun is a few years older than Your Highness. I don't know what ability she has to make Your Highness act like this."

"If you ask me, you just have no ambition. If I were to come in, I would definitely make that Sun look bad. Isn't she pretending to be weak all day long?" The person who said this was a young lady from a military general's family, and her family tradition was quite tough.

"That's what my sister said."

There were a few who remained silent, including Wang Jundai.

He Yunyue walked quietly to her side and tugged at her sleeve.

Wang Jundai turned to look at her, He Yunyue pointed outside, and the two walked out together.

"Huh, I'm finally out. It was so uncomfortable in there." He Yunyue said.

"Miss He, is there anything I can help you with?" Wang Jundai asked after following her out.

"It's nothing. I just felt uncomfortable seeing you in there. I didn't have much to say to those people, so I pulled you out."

"Ah? But it would be bad if someone found out, right?"

"What's wrong with that? With so many people here, they won't be able to find us." He Yunyue said as she pulled her away.

"Ms. He, where are we going?" Wang Jundai was still a little worried.

"Let's go find a quiet place to sit for a while."