Ming Dynasty: My Father Zhang Juzheng

Chapter 67 Princess Yongning
The next morning, when the sun was already high in the sky, Princess Yongning slowly woke up from her green gauze tent.

She is sixteen years old this year and has inherited the good genes of Empress Dowager Li. She has eyebrows like a crescent moon, skin like cream, and wears a snow-white gauze dress. She exudes indescribable temptation all over her body.

She rubbed her eyes and moved out of bed.

After learning about her choice of son-in-law, she couldn't sleep all night. She was worried here and scared there. She didn't fall asleep until five in the morning yesterday.

Upon learning that the princess had gotten up, several female officials immediately prepared hot water and helped the princess dress and wash.

After some tossing and turning, Princess Yongning put on a Western pleated skirt that was as thin as silk gauze and whiter than snow. It had more than ten pleats at the waist, which made her slender waist look graceful.

Her lips were not painted with rouge, but they were already as bright as blood.

Rong'er, the personal maid at the side, was stunned and picked up the mirror and said playfully: "Princess, you are so beautiful. If the prince consort saw you, he would definitely be fascinated by you."

Princess Yongning pretended to be angry and said threateningly, "You idiot, if you dare to say that again, I will tear your mouth to pieces."

Rong Er knew that her master was not angry, so she was not afraid of her. She pointed at the maids around her and asked, "Tell me, are we talking nonsense? Is our princess beautiful?"

"Beautiful!" The other palace maids followed suit and laughed.

"If you keep making noise, I will send you all to the laundry department." Princess Yongning used her trump card.

At this point, all the palace maids fell silent.

Soon, hurried footsteps were heard outside, and a palace maid who was about thirty-seven or thirty-eight years old and had a fierce face walked in.

Seeing the newcomer, not only the palace maids but even Princess Yongning shuddered.

The person who came was the nanny who managed her bedroom.

"Madame Sun."

The palace maids shouted timidly, lowered their heads and retreated behind them.

Nanny Sun looked around coldly, then set her sights on Princess Yongning, who looked like a lotus emerging from the water, and said earnestly, "Princess, you are getting married soon. The royal family has its own etiquette. You are not allowed to mess around anymore."

"Oh." Princess Yongning nodded her head, and suddenly hugged Nanny Sun and said coquettishly, "Nanny Sun, I'm so tired today. Can you let me rest for half a day? I remember everything you taught me yesterday."

"No." Nanny Sun refused with a straight face, complaining, "Princess, you are tired, but we are even more tired. If it weren't for the Queen Mother's instructions, we wouldn't want to force you like this."

"Just half a day, half a day." Princess Yongning stuck out her tongue and continued to beg pitifully.

Nanny Sun felt secretly bitter and was about to continue teaching.

Suddenly, they heard footsteps outside. Everyone turned around and saw that it was Wanhe, the eunuch in charge of Empress Dowager Li's palace.

"Hey, Eunuch Wan, why are you here?" Nanny Sun said with a flattering smile.

"Let's go find Her Royal Highness." Wan He nodded to Nanny Sun, turned his head to look at Princess Yongning, and said respectfully, "Your Royal Highness, the Queen Mother summons you to the Cining Palace."

Yongning was delighted and hurriedly followed Wanhe to leave the bedroom.

Before leaving, he did not forget to turn around and make a face at Nanny Sun.

Her princess bedroom was not too far from the Empress Dowager's Cining Palace. In just a moment, Princess Yongning followed Wanhe to the Cining Palace.

Stepping into the palace, she turned her big eyes slyly and saw that her royal brother and the queen mother were already sitting on the embroidered couch.

"Brother, mother."

Princess Yongning bowed hurriedly.

Empress Dowager Li nodded slightly, pointed at the embroidered couch on her right and patted it. Princess Yongning understood, walked forward quickly, and then threw herself into Empress Dowager Li's arms in a coquettish manner.

"You're going to get married soon, but they still treat you like a little girl." Empress Dowager Li giggled and teased. "That's right." Yongning frowned and said coquettishly.

"Emperor, look, look, this is our princess." Empress Dowager Li was helpless. She looked at the emperor and pointed at Princess Yongning and complained.

"From now on, it's not the mother who should worry, but Yongning's husband." Emperor Wanli echoed with a smile.

Princess Yongning's hands paused. She was both looking forward to and a little afraid of her husband.

So she mustered up her courage, looked at the emperor, and asked, "Brother, what will my future husband be like?"

"What kind of person is he?" Emperor Wanli was really stumped by this question. After a moment of silence, he said, "Anyway, he is a good person with a clean family background and decent appearance."

"Mother!" Princess Yongning did not agree with this answer. She pouted her lips and said coquettishly to the Queen Mother, "Look at my brother. He has definitely never seen that person. He is just making excuses for me."

Empress Dowager Li frowned and started to attack: "Emperor, what is the name of the consort and what does his family do?"

Emperor Wanli of Liang hesitated and couldn't say anything for a long time.

Wei Qing, who was standing by, saw this and whispered, "Liang Bangrui is a wealthy businessman in Beijing."

"Oh, yes, Liang Bangrui." Emperor Wanli clapped his hands and then spoke eloquently, "This man has a handsome appearance, a magnanimous temperament, and is quite knowledgeable. He is also a wealthy businessman in Beijing."

"That's not bad."

Empress Dowager Li nodded slightly.

In order to prevent external relatives from interfering in government affairs, Emperor Hongwu only allowed royal family members to marry into small families.

Just like Empress Chen, now Empress Dowager Chen, who also had a low-ranking military officer in her family.

The same was true of Wanli's Queen Wang.

It is a good destination for Yongning to find such a wealthy businessman.

"Yongning, take a look. Are you satisfied with the husband your royal brother has chosen for you?" After thinking for a while, Empress Dowager Li pointed at Emperor Wanli with a smile, then looked down at Princess Yongning in her arms and asked.

"He makes it sound nice, but I've never seen him." Princess Yongning shook her head, her face full of disbelief.

"Okay, then I'll call him over and let you meet him!" Emperor Wanli also started to get stubborn.

"Nonsense! How can a princess meet her husband before getting married?" Empress Dowager Li raised her eyebrows and glared at him, "If you don't know, you would think that our princess is worthless and has trouble finding a husband."

When the two saw that their mother was angry, they fell silent instantly.

You can hear a pin drop in the hall.

After a long silence, Empress Dowager Li continued, "Emperor, according to us, 200,000 taels for Yongning's wedding banquet is really a bit shabby. How about adding 200,000 taels to make 400,000 taels?"

"Mother, didn't you teach me to be frugal?"

Emperor Wanli looked very dissatisfied.

When he married the Queen, he only had a little over 200,000 silver coins, yet his mother still accused him of being extravagant.

"Emperor, today is different from the past. When you got married, the country was in financial difficulties and the Ministry of Revenue was unable to make ends meet. Now that the world is at peace and the people live and work in peace and contentment, we need a grand wedding to celebrate Wanli's new policies." Empress Dowager Li spoke it all at once.

"Mr. Zhang's side"

"Call him here tomorrow, and I will go with you to talk to him."

(End of this chapter)