The little cannon fodder kept releasing melons, and people lined up to eat melons

This morning, the emperor suddenly asked Eunuch Liu to announce that Si Yao from the Earl's Mansion would be betrothed to the Crown Prince as the Crown Princess, and that the marriage would be held on the fifteenth of next month. All the ceremonies would be handled by the Imperial Observatory and the Ministry of Rites...

As soon as the imperial edict was announced, all the ministers present were shocked. No one expected that the emperor would suddenly issue such an order. After all, to put it bluntly, the Earl's Mansion was just a title without any real power. It was just an empty shell.

Moreover, time is so tight. It is now close to the end of the month, and there are only more than 20 days left until the 15th of next month. Five days after the Crown Prince's wedding will be the wedding of the Third Prince and Princess Changle, which is actually earlier than the Third Prince's wedding.

Except for the people of the Crown Prince's faction who were unwilling to accept the result, the other ministers were all praising the Emperor for his wisdom. The happiest ones were the followers of Prince Liang and Prince Huai...

The prince couldn't believe that his father had actually arranged for Si Yao to be married to him. He and his mother had clearly told his father two days ago that he wanted to marry Song Qianning, the legitimate daughter of the Marquis of Zhenbei.

The prince couldn't understand. Even if his father was jealous of the Zhenbei Marquis family and didn't agree to assign Song Qianning to him, it would be Liu Yujiao from the Minister of War's family, or Ling Yanran from the Minister of Rites' family. Why Si Yao from the Earl's Mansion? ? ?

The Si family does not have any talented people in high positions. They are just a down-and-out aristocratic family with empty titles. Moreover, Si Yao has neither stunning looks nor amazing talents, but my father assigned such a person to him. What exactly does my father mean by doing this?

The emperor didn't care what the other ministers thought. After announcing his decree, he directly proposed to adjourn the court and let the ministers mutter to themselves.

He had never thought of passing the throne to the crown prince in the future, especially after he knew what the queen and the crown prince had done, and heard from the girl from the Song family that while he was recuperating from his injuries, the crown prince had been acting as regent and even wished he would die soon, he looked down on the crown prince even more.

The most important thing is that the fourth son will not live past twenty. Only the son he has personally trained is qualified to inherit his position. The Queen and the Crown Prince had the nerve to ask him for a marriage yesterday, and they specifically asked for the girl from the Song family.

That was the daughter-in-law that Yan'er had decided on with him a long time ago. If he really gave her to the prince, not only would the Fourth Prince be unhappy, but Yan'er would also make a fuss about it.

He still had to give up the idea of ​​the Queen and the Crown Prince, but he couldn't point to a legitimate daughter with a very strong family background. After much thought, he felt that the legitimate daughter of the Earl's Mansion was the most suitable, so he specially announced this decree at the morning court today.

The king is not joking. With this decree, the queen and the prince will no longer have any ideas about the Zhenbei Marquis family! He is really too smart.

A few days later, when the Zhenbei Marquis' Mansion held the coming-of-age ceremony for the three girls, he would announce his decree to grant the marriages.

The emperor, who was reviewing memorials in the Yangxin Palace, felt relieved when he thought of this. The eldest, third, and fourth sons had all had their wives solved. How great...

Before the emperor could be happy for long, Eunuch Liu came in to announce that the second prince wanted to see him. The emperor was a little puzzled as to why the second prince wanted to see him so late at night, and summoned him in.

As soon as Murong Jingsheng came in, he knelt down to pay his respects but did not stand up. The emperor, who was reviewing memorials, was a little surprised. He asked: "My son, do you have something to tell me..."

Murong Jingsheng nodded and said, "Father, I would like to ask you to grant me a marriage..."

"A marriage granted? Does your mother know why you are here today?"

"I don't know. I took the initiative to ask Father for help!"

The emperor was very satisfied with his second son. Because of the fourth son's physical condition, he was the candidate he favored the most. Before, Concubine Shu always hinted that the second son was interested in Huai Wang's concubine's daughter Xiao Noning. Concubine Shu also expressed that she liked Xiao Noning's talent and character. He was puzzled why Concubine Shu wanted the second son to marry a concubine's daughter as his principal wife?

Some time ago, the concubine daughter of Prince Huai disappeared. Many people were sent to look for her but her whereabouts have not been found until a few days ago. Until recently, a rumor came out from the palace that the concubine daughter had eloped with someone. The palace directly issued a statement to sever ties with the concubine daughter and even removed her name from the family tree.

Now the second brother suddenly proposed a marriage, does he have a new crush? ?

The emperor cleared his throat and asked, "Second brother, tell me, do you have someone you like?"

"I guess so! But more importantly, her reputation is now affected by me, and I can't just ignore it..."

Murong Jingsheng knew that he could not say the word "like" or his father would doubt his motives for proposing the marriage, especially now that his fourth brother's poison had been cured, his father would most likely be wary of him wanting to compete for that position.

But who can believe how much he hates that position now? No matter who is the man or woman, once you sit in that position, talking about promises is bullshit, talking about being loyal is a pipe dream, hoping for a long-term relationship is foolish, and talking about conscience is even more ridiculous.

The most important point is that he knows about his fourth brother's feelings for the third daughter of the Song family. Now that his fourth brother is in good health, his father and Empress Chen are probably eager to grant him the marriage as soon as possible since he has taken the initiative to ask for someone.

Although the person he proposed to marry was the concubine's daughter of the Marquis of Zhenbei, and they were not related by blood at all, the Marquis of Zhenbei did not announce to the public that Song Qianxue had no blood relationship with the Marquis. Everyone in the world thought that Song Qianxue was the daughter of the Marquis' concubine. Only the Marquis' family and the emperor, or people like him who had experienced the past life, knew the truth.

Therefore, if he said that he liked Song Qianxue, his father would definitely think that he had some ulterior motives and would definitely not agree to grant the marriage.

When the emperor heard the second brother say that the girl's reputation was ruined by him, he put down his brush, examined the second brother, and wondered if he had done something.

"Second brother, what do you think of that girl's reputation? Tell me, which family is she from?"

"The concubine's daughter of the Zhenbei Marquis's mansion, the eldest daughter of the Song family, Song Qianxue..."

The emperor was very surprised to hear that it was the concubine Song Qianxue. Wasn't that the fake daughter taken in by Song Boyan? How was she related to the second son?

"Tell me, what is going on?"

"Father, on the day of the Hairpin Flower Banquet, I felt dizzy from drinking too much, so I sat in the pavilion for a while after using the toilet..."

Murong Jingsheng began to narrate the whole process of how the two sisters of the Song family took the wrong road on their way back from the toilet and how Song Qianxue accidentally fell into the water when passing by the koi pond.

Finally, Murong Jingsheng said: "Seeing that Miss Song was about to sink into the water, I had no choice but to jump into the pool to rescue her. When I swam to Miss Song's side, I found that she had lost consciousness and sunk to the bottom of the lake. I had no choice but to pull her up and drag her ashore. It happened that a patrolling guard passed by and saw this scene..."

The emperor didn't expect that there would be such a thing at the hairpin banquet. It was really fate! He was somewhat glad that it was not the third girl of the Song family who fell into the water, otherwise he would not know how to explain it to Yan'er.

Seeing that his father did not say anything, Murong Jingsheng continued to speak nervously: "Father, too many people saw this scene that night. I have thought about it for a few days and decided to ask you for a marriage. I cannot let Miss Song be criticized. I beg you to grant me your blessing..."

The emperor looked at the second son, afraid that he didn't know Song Qianxue's background, so he reminded him: "My son, do you know that Song Qianxue is not a concubine's daughter of the Marquis's Mansion? She has no relationship with the Zhenbei Marquis or the entire Song family. Even so, do you still want to marry her?"

The emperor didn't believe that the second son would marry a girl with no background as his principal wife. After all, this would not be beneficial to him in his future fight for that position.

Murong Jingsheng knew it very well, but he still pretended to be incredulous.

The emperor knew what was going on when he saw his expression, so he told the second son the truth about the child swap incident involving the Marquis of Zhenbei.

Finally, the emperor asked: "My son, now that you know Song Qianxue's identity, do you still want to marry her? I think that only some guards and eunuchs saw it, and they dare not gossip about it. If you regret it now, I will pretend that I have never heard of this matter today, and you have never been here..."