The emperor would rather have a

Chapter 97 Who to marry?
On the embroidery building in the inner courtyard.

Fu Erniang leaned against the window, holding her chin and looking at the scene in the yard.

Her sister Fu Liu was sitting on the swing and having fun, swinging and giggling, asking the maid behind her to push faster.

The swing swung higher and higher, and the silly girl laughed more happily, and the yard was filled with her silver bell-like laughter.

Sometimes, Fu Er Niang really envied her sister, who was so heartless all day long.

Although I look silly and naive, I don’t have too many worries and I live happily every day.

Looking back at herself... Fu Erniang felt like a commodity waiting to be sold, just waiting for a buyer with a high bid to come and marry her.

But after waiting for so many years, hasn’t my father found a suitable buyer yet?
Although she knew that thinking this was disrespectful to her father, Fu Er Niang did have a lot of resentment.

Just like when the eldest sister returned home to live as a widow, her father forced her to become a nun... The eldest sister's ex-husband's family failed in their rebellion, and her father was eager to draw a clear line with the other party. In order to express his loyalty to the emperor, he did not care about the eldest sister's situation at all.

Fu Erniang is very smart. She can understand the reasons behind some things after thinking about them for a while.

In her opinion, her father loves her and her elder sister, but when it comes to the interests of the family, her father would rather give up his daughter's happiness.

Fu Erniang could actually understand her father's actions. The Fu family was a prominent family with three generations of kings. Her uncles and brothers were all generals guarding one side.

In order to maintain the family's wealth, the marriage of the women of the Fu family naturally became a bargaining chip.

Since ancient times, marriages between large families have always been like this...

"Ugh--"

After a long while, Fu Erniang suddenly sighed softly: "Father, oh father, if you don't make up your mind, I, your daughter, will really not be able to get married."

Thinking that she is already 24 years old and will start to age and lose her looks in two years, the feeling in her heart can only be described as "sadness".

"Sister, come down and play with me."

At this moment, Fu Liumei's voice came, interrupting Fu Erniang's thoughts. She looked down and saw her sister standing under the embroidery building, waving towards the window.

"You can have fun by yourself. Sister doesn't have the heart to do it."

After hearing Fu Erniang's response, Fu Liumei was a little dissatisfied and ran upstairs.

"Sister, just come down and play with me." As soon as Fu Liumei went upstairs, she threw herself on Fu Erniang's back, hugged her neck and said coquettishly, "It's so boring for me to play alone."

Fu Erniang scolded her, "You, all you do is play all day long. You're already fourteen years old. Ordinary girls your age would have been married and had children long ago. Why are you still fooling around like a child?"

Fu Liumei pouted a little aggrievedly and said, "I don't want to get married. I want to stay with my sister forever."

"That's just bullshit."

Fu Er Niang pushed her sister's hand away, stood up and walked to the dressing table, took out a comb, asked Fu Liu Mei to sit down, and then combed her messy hair.

As she combed her hair, she said, "Women will eventually get married. How can they be kept at home all their lives?"

As she spoke, Fu Erniang couldn't help but think that due to her sixth sister's status as a concubine's daughter, her father didn't pay much attention to her and didn't control her too much on weekdays. He probably just wanted to find a husband for her to marry when she reached the age.

As a result, the sixth sister was not under much pressure and developed a carefree personality.

But I don’t know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing…

Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, Fu Liumei said, "Sister is already 24 and still unmarried. Why should I be anxious? Hehe, if Sister didn't get married, Father would definitely not marry me off first."

"Well, you girl, so this is what you're thinking? I'll twist your ears off!"

Fu Liumei felt pain and begged for mercy quickly, "Sister, I was wrong. I won't say that again."

Fu Erniang finally released her hand. "Oh, by the way, Sister, I overheard Father and Big Brother talking this morning, and they said that General Li, who came last time, got a promotion again."

Upon hearing what Fu Liumei said, Fu Erniang paused.

Then, a tall figure inexplicably appeared in her mind.

"What does his promotion have to do with us..."

Fu Erniang said this while continuing to comb her sister's hair, but she was obviously a little absent-minded.

However, Fu Liumei didn't notice her sister's unusual behavior and continued to talk to herself, "I heard from my father that General Li was promoted to some cavalry officer, and even became... Oh, right, I think it's called Defense Envoy."

At this point, Fu Liumei turned her head to look at Fu Erniang and asked curiously, "Sister, who has a higher rank, the Defense Envoy or Daddy's Jiedushi?"

Fu Erniang said softly, "Of course Daddy's Jiedushi is higher... Besides, Daddy has already been crowned a king, so simply comparing the size of his official position is meaningless."

She did not know the specific organization of the army. For example, she was confused about the cavalry officers her sister mentioned. After all, such matters were not something a woman should worry about.

But Fu Erniang naturally had some understanding of such prestigious positions as Defense Envoy and Jiedushi.

What she didn't expect was that the man's status had risen to the level of a defense envoy in just a few months.

If you move up a level, you will become a Jiedushi.

Fu Erniang remembered that the man seemed to be three years younger than her... In other words, he was only twenty-one years old, but he was already one step away from becoming a military governor?
However, on second thought, Fu Erniang felt that with that man's abilities, his current achievements seemed natural.

Fu Erniang had also heard about that man's affairs in the past few months. It was said that he was highly valued by the emperor's brother-in-law and was ordered to be responsible for the rectification of the imperial guards.

Thinking about it this way, he must have done a good job and made the emperor's brother-in-law very satisfied, plus he had previous merits on the battlefield.

It's understandable that he was promoted so quickly... That man has nothing to do with me, why should I care so much about him?
Perhaps in order to cover up her guilty conscience, Fu Er Niang immediately shifted the blame to her sister.

"Sixth sister, who told you to eavesdrop on Daddy and the others' conversation for no reason?"

In a flash, Fu Liumei's ears were hurt again. The little girl quickly broke free from the clutches, jumped up and shouted:
"I didn't mean to eavesdrop. This morning, I was picking flowers in the back garden when Dad and Big Brother came over on their own. I was afraid Dad would scold me again, so I hid behind the flowers and happened to hear...

I had completely forgotten about this and just remembered it. I should have told you earlier."

Fu Erniang immediately laughed and scolded, "You deserve to be scolded. Those flowers in the back garden were brought here by Daddy with great effort. They bloom in spring, summer, autumn and winter. You stole them for no reason. I'll tell Daddy."

Fu Liumei was immediately startled. She stepped forward pitifully and grabbed Fu Erniang's sleeve, begging, "Sister, please don't tell Daddy, or he will definitely scold me to death."

Fu Erniang naturally couldn't go and complain, she just wanted to scare her sister.

But she still pretended to have a stern face and said, "If you want me not to tell Dad, well... I need to think about it carefully."

Fu Liumei scratched her head in distress, messing up her bun again, but her face soon lit up with joy, as if she had thought of something, and said quickly:
"Sister, I'm going to tell you a secret. Please don't tell Dad about me stealing flowers, okay?"

Fu Erniang couldn't help but ask curiously, "What secret?"

"Sister, let me tell you, Daddy and Big Brother mentioned you this morning."

At this point, Fu Liumei said mysteriously, "Sister, you're getting married!"

"Marry?" Fu Erniang was stunned. "Marry who?"

"That's General Li..."

There was a snap.

The comb in Fu Erniang's hand fell to the ground instantly.

(End of this chapter)