Chapter 1035 The Most Hopeless Imperial Family Member
“I can ask my father to confer the princess t.i.tle on my uncle’s daughter and marry her into your country!” Princess Yutao said after pondering for a while.
Her father had two brothers, each of whom had a few daughters. Anyone of these daughters could marry into the Kingdom of Dongcang in the name of a princess. This marriage would help tighten the relations.h.i.+p between the two countries, which was what both sides had expected.
“You’re indeed kind. I heard the First Prince of your country stands a good chance to be the crown prince. In the future, his branch will be more powerful than yours. If his younger sister marries any legitimate son of a large tribe, I suppose the Xu State will be under the control of his force.”
Chu Liuchen smiled significantly.
Princess Yutao’s face changed drastically. She gritted her teeth with determination and said, “Yuyan can marry into the Kingdom of Dongcang, but can you ensure her an unsatisfactory marriage?”
!!
If Princess Yuyan married into the Kingdom of Dongcang, she could rely upon the big force of her husband. In that case, she was worried that she could help a great deal for First Prince to seize power.
“My two elder brothers have already chosen their legal wife. Even if any princess of the Xu State marries them, she can’t be the legal wife. The position of the secondary legal wife exists in ordinary families, but there is no such place in the royal family. Of course, she can choose to be a consort, but it may be a little inferior to the princess of a country. Only the position of the legal wife of Commandery Prince Qing is in suspense.”
Chu Liuchen looked at her, his thin lips slightly raising.
Princess Yutao was ambitious, overwhelmingly ambitious. That was good. He liked making deals with people driven by wild ambition. It was much better to be ambitious at times like this.
Of course, he preferred the way of inheritance adopted by the Xu State: not only sons but daughters of the king could ascend to the throne.
If the Xu State’s princess married a prince, she must become the legal wife. Even if neither Chu Liuyue nor Chu Liuzhou had a legal wife, they wouldn’t accept the princess of the Xu State. It was because once they married a princess from the Xu State, they would lose their chance to be the crown prince forever. After all, the royal bloodline was never allowed to get mixed with foreign blood.
People in the Xu State might not understand this, but those in the Kingdom of Dongcang knew this rule, especially the royal descendants like Chu Liuchen.
Therefore, it was impossible for Chu Liuxin to marry this princess, for he had a clever mother.
Of course, the princess might also marry into the Emperor’s Palace.
It would depend on the Emperor.
“But Commandery Prince Qing once said his fiancee was from a n.o.ble family. There was an engagement between two families a long time ago. They have been engaged since they were young, so they must have a great affection for each other. According to Commandery Prince Qing, he will get married as soon as he is back home.” Princess Yutao said in surprise.
“Did he say that?” Chu Liuchen played with the teacup in his hand and said with a faint smile.
“That was what he had said right in front of us. Also, he told us he would buy many gifts for his fiancee. He seems to have a deep affection for her.” Princess Yutao heard something strange and asked in confusion, “Are these all lies?”
“Of course, he wasn’t telling the truth. But his fiancee is just a niece of a minor official. Actually, she can be considered an orphan. Their relations.h.i.+p didn’t begin when they were young. He has been raised in a special place since he was a child. How could there be any contemporary accompanying him? Besides, my uncle may not admit their engagement. Marrying Chu Qing will be a good choice for the princess in your country.”
Chu Liuchen watched Princess Yutao and said, curling up the corner of her mouth.
His words had so many hidden meanings that Princess Yutao was lost in thought. She sat there and pondered sentence by sentence. The longer she thought about it, the greater his suggestions became in her eyes.
As for Chu Qing, Princess Yutao had also investigated him thoroughly. They all said he was the deceased emperor’s son, but n.o.body cared about him. It meant his ident.i.ty hadn’t yet been widely recognized, and he had a low status in the imperial family. It would be great if she could make Princess Yuyan marry Chu Qing.
In a word, Chu Qing would be a husband who had no power and love for Princess Yuyan. Princess Yutao thought, “In this way, I can get rid of the little b.i.t.c.h. Then, it will be much easier for me to deal with the old b.i.t.c.h staying behind in my father’s Palace.”
“But my father won’t agree, and Yuyan’s mother and elder brother won’t accept his marriage either.” Princess Yutao was tempted, but she frowned on second thoughts.
Given how much they doted on Yuyan, how could they allow her to marry Commandery Prince Qing, who was powerless and bound to accomplish nothing?
“Princess Yutao, human effort is the decisive factor, isn’t it? If you fail to take advantage of this chance, there will be nothing you can do about it!” Chu Liuchen said, his smile fading lightly and his handsome eyes raising a little. “As for me, I don’t care about it. If you have to marry into our state, I think Uncle the Emperor will be willing to take you in. I am in poor health, so I can’t marry more!”
He had made it clear. If Princess Yutao didn’t try her best to match Princess Yuyan with anyone in his country, she would have to marry instead. And the best choice for her marriage would be a consort in the Palace, serving a man who was the same age as her father or even older. Few young girls would embrace such a marriage.
In particular, Princess Yutao set her sights much higher than that.
“Okay, I’ll do it!” Princess Yuyan decided it and said, gritting her teeth. At this time, she had no way out. No matter what, she couldn’t get married and had to reduce the other side’s power considerably. Now was the best time. The marriage between Princess Yuyan and Chu Qin, the most useless prince, would greatly help her achieve her dream.
She would never let this rare opportunity slip.
“It’s best for you to think in this way. Commandery Prince Qing will return in three days. If you don’t hurry up, it will be troublesome. Taking care of this issue within three days will make things much easier for you. Remember, Ningyuan Army General who goes there with Chu Qing is a man of integrity. He will honestly report whatever he sees when coming back.”
Chu Liuchen gracefully put down the teacup in his hand, his long eyelashes casting two jagged shadows on his fair-skinned face as delicate as jade. His light smile appeared elegant.
“I know what to do!” Princess Yutao understood what Chu Liuchen meant.
She needed to do something on the sly and show it to the Ningyuan Army General from the Kingdom of Dongcang. In this way, neither Yuyan nor Commandery Prince Qing could avoid the marriage.
The girl, whom Commandery Prince Qing had engaged to, was so humble that the Emperor was not satisfied with her. If Yuyan became his legal wife, she might gain a good t.i.tle, but the legal wife of Commandery Prince Qing in distress would be useless and have no real power.
Princess Yutao came and went back secretly without anyone noticing. The others didn’t know that she had reached an agreement with Chu Liuchen. The people of the Xu State were still waiting to marry her to Prince Chen. While those in the capital city were also preparing to welcome the princess of the Xu State. As for where the princess would go in the end, it had not been decided yet. They would talk about it when she came.
When the princes arrived, the final decision would be made by the Kingdom of Dongcang. As a much smaller country, the Xu State couldn’t be compared with the Kingdom of Dongcang in terms of national strength. The advantage it occupied was that outsiders couldn’t come into the Xu State easily, for it was in a remote and uncivilized region.
However, something happened in the Xu State, and it happened to happen right in front of Qin Huaiyong.
He and the two prime ministers of the Xu State accompanying them were stunned, looking at the two people in the bed inside the room.
The door of the room was vigorously kicked wide open, and the two people on the bed had no time to put on their clothes. Chu Qing grabbed only a corner of the quilt to cover him. On the other side, the dainty Princess Yuyan, wrapped up by a large part of the quilt, trembled with a dreadfully pale face. At one glance, the others could figure out what they had done.
Early this morning, Chu Liuchen from the Kingdom of Dongcang sent a letter.
Usually, Chu Qing and Qin Huaiyong would see this kind of letter together. When the letter came, Qin Huaiyong came to look for Chu Qing along with the two prime ministers of the Xu State.
Everyone had been talking about making peace by marrying a prince into the Kingdom of Dongcang. Although no one knew who it would be, they had a mutual understanding that Princess Yutao would go.
Qin Huaiyong and Chu Qing had written a letter to inform Chu Liuchen about this. Of course, they didn’t tell Chu Liuchen that he had been chosen to marry their princess and only said that a princess would marry into their country. Today, they were supposed to receive Chu Liuchen’s letter in reply.
The people of the Xu State were also very anxious, so they came here with Qin Huaiyong.
When they entered the courtyard, the servant outside Qin Huaiyong panicked. When he went to report, he stumbled in a complete tizzy. Seeing that, Qin Huaiyong knew something was wrong, so he went straight to the main room without the servant leading the way. Then, because of the unusual sound in the room, he gave the door a good hard kick and came in. What he saw was such a scene intolerable to the eye.
Qin Huaiyong was slow in reacting to this. He stared blankly at Commandery Prince Qing and Princess Yuyan on the bed, wondering what was happening.
“Didn’t they say Princess Yutao would marry into our country? “How could Princess Yuyan get into Chu Qing’s bed?”
“Get out!” Princess Yuyan, clothes in disarray, shouted frantically at the top of her voice.
Finally, Qin Huaiyong came to his senses and hurried out. But when he walked to the door, he straightened out the matter and sighed heavily, saying to the two prime ministers beside him who were still in a daze. “Princess Yuyan must want to marry Commandery Prince Qing. If it were so, she wouldn’t have to do such an embarra.s.sing thing. She could just say it!”
After that, he retreated outside.
At this time, the two prime ministers also understood what had happened and vigorously shook their heads with silent fury. “Princess Yuyan has been arrogant and willful, but how can she do such a thing at this time? This sort of thing really is…”
The two prime ministers shook their heads and left helplessly. Even if Princess Yuyan didn’t want to marry, she had no choice in the matter.
When they got back to the outside, they suddenly heard messy sounds of banging and smas.h.i.+ng from inside. Knowing that the room must be in utter shambles, the few people shook their heads, feeling at a loss.
At present, everyone could only think about the current situation in a positive way. Luckily, both of them were unmarried. There would be a marriage between the two countries. And Princess Yuyan and Commandery Prince Qing happened to be well-matched in social status. It was a good thing that would save them a lot of trouble.
The two prime ministers had no choice but to look at each other, thinking this marriage would have to be like this.
Qin Huaiyong stood in the corridor, staring into the gray sky in silence. Now that everything had been decided, what was the point of talking about it?
Princess Yuyan, instead of Princess Yutao, was going to marry into his country.
Now, her husband-to-be was also certain: Chu Qing, the least promising royal family member in the Kingdom of Dongcang. Such a result had never crossed Qin Huaiyong’s mind.
“What? Marrying into the Kingdom of Dongcang?” In a gorgeous Palace, a gentle-looking woman was terribly shocked. The teacup with lid and saucer in her hand fell to the ground, smas.h.i.+ng into pieces