The Concubine's Daughter Travels Through Time and Space and Takes the Road of Confrontation

"This man has a connection to your family. He studied at your Zhang family's clan school, passed the imperial examination twenty-five years ago, and now works in the Hanlin Academy." Mrs. Si continued enthusiastically. "This young Master Qian's mother is a distant relative of the Lu family. After her husband passed away, she took Master Qian to live in the Marquis' Mansion. Now, she has finally found happiness after all the hardships she endured."

Zhang raised her hand, revealing the purple jade bracelet on her wrist, and pressed down the slightly loosened hairbands on either side. Mrs. Si's eyes flickered, and she touched the gold filigree bracelet inlaid with gems on her wrist uncomfortably.

"Master Xiao Qian is a handsome man, but the only drawback is that his family is not wealthy." To put it nicely, Mr. Lu is now in a state of idleness, and to put it bluntly, he is unemployed at home. She only remembered this after hearing her daughter-in-law talk about Xiefang Pavilion. One is rich and the other has a promising future, so they are a perfect match.

Zhang's expression remained unchanged. "Thank you, Mrs. Si. This concerns my daughter. I should go back and discuss it with the master before making a decision." Mrs. Si smiled and watched Mrs. Zhang leave. When she disappeared, her face immediately turned cold. The master was almost reduced to a penniless person, but he still acted like an official's wife. It was really a waste of her kindness.

The maids and servants of the host family came to invite the ladies to take their seats. Mrs. Si saw Zhang at the last table and stood up, holding her cup and went over to her. "Mrs. Zhang, why are you sitting here when we rarely get together today? There's an empty seat over there. Why don't you go over there?"

"Mrs. Si, you are too polite. The guest should follow the host's wishes. The view here is wide and it is cheaper to watch the fun." Zhang persuaded her to go back.

Mrs. Si glanced outside. It was indeed true. She immediately forgot her purpose for coming and sat down beside them, a look of mystery on her face. "Mrs. Zhang is right. Mrs. Guan looks only in her early twenties if she takes good care of herself." Compared to her, her father-in-law looked much older. Thinking of the image of the two of them standing together, Mrs. Si felt inexplicably excited.

Speak of the devil, and he will appear. A groom in red wedding attire appeared at the courtyard gate to the sound of festive drums and music. Lord Lu was short and thin, a bit hunched from years of desk work, and his hair was thinning with age. He kept bowing and saluting to the guests around him, a smile on his face that looked odd.

The ladies in the hall stopped talking and looked towards the courtyard. Someone said, "It's not easy for Master Lu either. At his age, most people are brought up as children. How can he get married on a high horse? I wonder if he can even climb up to that level?"

As soon as the words fell, the ladies all laughed out loud.

Some shrews said jokingly, "What do you mean by crawling or not? I don't understand what you are saying."

"Oh, I'm talking about horses. You guys are really—"

"So it's a horse. Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

Women always talk about everything when they sit together. Because of her father-in-law's face, Mrs. Si had to hold back her laughter. She pretended not to hear the conversation and just stared outside.

Seeing the groom enter the courtyard, the wives put down their teacups and followed him. Mrs. Si saw that Zhang was still sitting there, and she felt embarrassed to go alone, but when she heard the noise outside, she felt itchy again.

Seeing that the hall was empty, Mrs. Si said, "Go to the back and change clothes," in an attempt to cover up her mistake. Then she left at the top of her lungs with her maid.

Yinhe walked in and whispered a few words, and the figures of the master and servant disappeared at the door of the flower hall.

The groom had already entered the bride's room. Seeing Guan's appearance, Lü Jijiu was stunned for a moment. Guan came from a prominent family and was born beautiful. He had never expected to be so blessed at such an age. Lü Jijiu couldn't help but smile wider, feeling a little elated.

Guan lowered her head, afraid that if she looked up, she would be unable to hide the disgust in her eyes. However, the gentlemen in the room thought the bride was shy and started to urge her to look up.

The matchmaker had already received instructions from the host family, and seeing that the situation was not good, she came over to smooth things over.

"The auspicious time is almost here. The bride will be leaving the house soon. Please make way for her and don't miss the auspicious time." As he spoke, he took out the red veil and covered the bride.

Lord Lu paced a few steps, wanting to say something but not knowing what to say, and was escorted out to the banquet. The old men couldn't help but make a few jokes, "Lord Lu is still strong in his old age, an old tree blooming, hahahaha."

Miss Yinqiao went to the small kitchen to bring some soup for the lady. The bridesmaid, busy since morning, was already hungry. She gave the maid a few words and left. Only the veiled bride remained in the room.

Through the veil, Guan vaguely saw a figure running towards her.

"Siwei, it's me. I'm here to take you away."

Guan lifted her veil and said in shock, "You, why are you here?"

The man was about thirty years old, with a long, fair complexion. Even the gray servant's clothes he wore could not hide his scholarly air.

Li Ming felt both distressed and regretful. "When you were homesick and fell ill, I secretly persuaded several uncles to send you back to Kyoto. I had planned to take you back when you recovered, but who knew your brother and sister-in-law would force you to remarry? Fortunately, I arrived in time." After saying this, he tightly grasped Guan's hand. "Siwei, I'm here to take you back to Gusu. Don't worry."

Guan's face turned grim. She immediately pulled her hand back and pushed the man hard. "Leave now before anyone notices you. I'll pretend that what happened today never happened."

Li Ming was heartbroken when he heard this. "Siwei, you've changed. Are you really going to marry that old man who's half buried in the dirt? How can I be better than him?"

Someone might come into the room at any moment. Guan was anxious and afraid, but she had to patiently coax him, pretending to be very sad. "What were you doing earlier? Even though I'm a hundred times reluctant, this is the matchmaking of the imperial concubines. If I go with you today, my worthless life wouldn't be a pity, but I can't bear to leave you, Minglang!"

Tears fell on their clasped hands. Li Ming stared into her eyes with reluctance. "Siwei, you are always so understanding. It's me who is useless. If I had explained our friendship to the Empress earlier, maybe—"

Idiot, are you going to tell Concubine Li that you cheated on her brother?

"What's the point of saying this now?" Guan covered her face and sobbed softly, "Minglang, our fate in this life has ended. I'm sorry that you can't come to see me. It's all my fault. How can I drag you down any longer? Go away."

There seemed to be voices coming from the distance. Guan stood up, grabbed his hand, opened the door, pushed him out quickly, and closed the door tightly.

Finally, the problem was solved and Guan breathed a sigh of relief.

Little did he know that there was a pair of eyes hidden in the dark, quietly observing everything in the room.

When the matchmaker came back, she found the little maid sitting in the corridor and taking a nap. "Oh, the girl can fall asleep here, get up quickly, get up quickly." After taking a few steps forward and pushing her awake, she tried to push the door but found that it would not open, and she remembered the master's instructions.

The bridesmaid panicked, "Bride?"

Miss Yinqiao's voice came from inside, "Mrs. Bride, the Madam needs to change her clothes. Please go to the tea room at the back to have a cup of tea and rest your feet. We will be busy later."