The Virgin Mary in the Book: I Decide My Life with Two Swords

Cang Yue Kingdom - Capital - Imperial Palace

At three quarters past three in the morning the next day, all the ministers held a morning court in the Golden Palace. Once again, only Leng Ruxue was sitting on the throne, while the rest were standing.

After the discussion of state affairs ended, Ye Tingxun stood up and said, "This old minister has something I would like to ask for Your Majesty's decree."

"My dear, please tell me what I am talking about." Nangong Hanyi always felt that this old guy was up to no good.

"Your Majesty, my daughter has reached marriageable age. She has long been in love with His Royal Highness Prince Beichen. She doesn't dare to seek the position of consort, but only wants a concubine. I hope Your Majesty will grant me this."

After these words were spoken, everyone had their own thoughts. Prince Nangong Xuan was extremely unhappy. He had mostly used the Ye family. Now that Ye Tingxun had openly slapped him in the face, the feud was settled.

Leng Ruxue wanted to laugh in his heart. As a veteran of two dynasties, how could he not know the ups and downs in the court? Ye Tingxun, this idiot, was so smart that he thought he could have double insurance, but he actually offended everyone. Both of his daughters became concubines. It was really ridiculous.

Nangong Hanyi immediately saw through Ye Tingxun's thoughts and wanted to take a two-pronged approach. He cursed inwardly, "This old thief!" However, he immediately thought of using this incident to suppress the power of his son Nangong Xuan and create a rift between him and the Ye family. After a slight pause, he said, "Since my dear minister has said so, I will naturally grant your wish. I grant your request and let your two daughters marry together."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace." Ye Tingxun was very happy and felt that everything was under control.

After the morning court session ended, an imperial edict arrived at Beichen Palace. Seeing that his father had stuffed another woman in his way, Nangong Chen felt helpless and went home.

"Your Highness, this Ye Tingxun is really omnipresent!" said Ying Ren.

"Fortunately, I have said in advance that you don't want a concubine or a wife, otherwise it will be troublesome. One more woman in Beichen Palace is not too many, one less is not too few, it's up to you." Nangong Chen didn't care. In his opinion, women were just reproductive tools, and he would not let a woman he didn't love give birth to a child, so he kept the position of concubine.

"Then Your Highness is going to propose marriage?" Xuan Lei asked.

"Why would she be worthy of an engagement? When the day comes, just go and bring someone here. As usual, there will be no banquets or firecrackers in the mansion. This prince likes peace and quiet."

"Yes, I understand."

Meanwhile, in the Ye Mansion, Lu Caiyun was making a fuss. "Husband, Wenwen has only just turned sixteen! How could you let her become someone else's concubine? Yun'er is the Crown Prince's concubine, and Wenwen is just a concubine. Why didn't you discuss such a big deal with my daughter's marriage with me?"

"As a woman, what do you know?"

"I...what do I know? I know that the Beichen Palace has many concubines, and Wenwen is still so young. She would be bullied if she went there."

"Isn't a woman's job to take care of her husband and children? Does it make any difference whether she marries early or late? Besides, why aren't other families afraid of being bullied? The Beichen Palace is a place many women want to enter but cannot. It is her blessing that His Majesty has granted her marriage." Ye Tingxun didn't think he was wrong.

"Husband, please..."

"This is an imperial decree. Do you want to disobey it? Okay, go down." Ye Tingxun had long been tired of Lu Caiyun.

Lu Caiyun was extremely disappointed with her husband. Perhaps only women understand women. At this moment, she was a helpless mother.

Unlike Lu Caiyun, Ye Wen was very happy when she heard about the marriage because she had met Nangong Chen once and had already fallen in love with him. Now that her dream had come true, she was naturally very happy and didn't care about concubines at all.

Of course, there was someone who was even more noisy than Lu Caiyun, and that was Leng Qingqing from the Grand Tutor's Mansion. She ran to the study crying and complaining to Leng Ruxue: "Grandfather, Grandfather~"

"What's wrong? Who bullied my precious granddaughter?" Leng Ruxue is always kind to the younger generation.

"Grandfather, you said that you would make me the Princess of Beichen. How come a woman from the Ye family entered the Beichen Palace?" Leng Qingqing had long been in love with Nangong Chen and vowed to marry no one else but him.

"This matter! Girl, the daughter of the Ye family asked for a concubine, do you also want to be a concubine?"

"How about that?"

"Isn't that right? Prince Beichen has already said that he has to decide his own concubines and principal wives, and Your Majesty cannot get involved, so this matter has to wait. The court is unpredictable now, and our family must not get too involved. As a minister, it is good for yourself and your family to be prudent and protect yourself," Leng Ruxue explained patiently.

"Then why is grandpa still trying to propose marriage to Ye Ling?" Leng Qingqing was very angry about this matter, and she also disliked Ye Ling.

"Ling'er had no choice at the time. Now I think grandpa was wrong. Fortunately, this child didn't enter the Beichen Palace, otherwise she would have suffered. In recent years, His Majesty has been stuffing women into the Beichen Palace. There are at least seven or eight women in the palace's backyard. You said that if she marries now, she can only be a concubine. How can that be possible? How can the granddaughter of my great Grand Tutor be a concubine, right?"

"Grandfather is right, but... I am already eighteen years old, and mother said we can't delay any longer." Leng Qingqing was also very worried. She didn't want to be a concubine, but she didn't dare to exceed the age.

"Alas~" Leng Ruxue was also worried. He actually didn't want his granddaughter to marry into the imperial family, but his granddaughter disagreed: "Girl, it's only March now. Wait until your second uncle comes home to visit relatives in July, and then we can discuss and decide. What do you think?"

"Listen to grandpa," Leng Qingqing could only say so.

"Be good, you should talk to Ling'er more when you have time. She is a poor girl. Your aunt is gone, and only grandpa can take care of her."

"I understand," Leng Qingqing said reluctantly.

At this moment, Ye Ling had already left the Grand Tutor's Mansion and went to the street with Qian Qing.

Qian Qing kept muttering along the way: "Miss, you are still unmarried, so you should wear a white veil to cover your face. It would be bad if others saw you."

"Qianqing, if you want to follow me, you have to follow my habits. If not, go back." Ye Ling didn't want to say more.

"Don't be angry, I know I was wrong and I won't say anything more in the future." Qian Qing quickly admitted her mistake, fearing that she would be driven away.

Ye Ling was walking when she suddenly stopped. She felt that someone was following her and the other person was quite skilled in martial arts.

"Miss, what's wrong?"

"Qianqing, there's a cloth shop up ahead. Go in first and ask the owner to take out all the finished clothes. I don't want the kind of silk dresses that ladies wear. I want... one with cuffs and a waist, like what I'm wearing now. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I'll go right away." Qian Qing had no doubt at all and walked towards the defense happily.

Ye Ling went into an empty alley and disappeared with a dodge.

At this moment, the person who was following also entered the alley. He was a young man in his early twenties, with a handsome face, wearing a black long gown with tight sleeves and a waist, and holding a sword. Seeing the empty alley, he was obviously a little anxious.

Ye Ling walked out slowly from behind: "Are you looking for me?"

The man turned around abruptly: "Miss...

"Master, he is Jiuyou! The only confidant left by your father. He was too young during the war, so he didn't go to the front line and survived. Your father asked him to come back to protect your life before he died. You have met him twice before, but the previous master didn't like him very much and told him to get out. You didn't expect that he still didn't leave!" Mengmeng hurried out to explain.

Ye Ling said in her heart: You don't need to talk so much nonsense, just tell me that he is Jiuyou. I have read the book and know the rest. This guy is very loyal. In the book, in order to save the brainless Ye Ling, he was lured to death by Nangong Xuan and was tortured to death. It was so pitiful. I cried when I read that chapter.

"Miss," Jiuyou called out again when he saw Ye Ling didn't say anything. He had promised the Marshal that he would protect the young lady, so no matter what, he could not leave Ye Ling in this life, and he had been secretly protecting her these days.

"Follow me!" Ye Ling turned around and walked out of the alley. Jiu You trotted after him.

Meng Meng spoke again: "Master, Jiuyou is very pitiful. He has no master now, no monthly salary to receive, and he is all alone."

Ye Ling was speechless in her heart: Shut up, you crazy girl.

"Miss, here, here," Qian Qing shouted at the guarded door.

When Ye Ling entered the store, the owner was very enthusiastic: "Here you are, young lady. These are the best clothes in the store. Take a look and see which one you like."

Ye Ling glanced through the books, then glanced at Jiu You at the door. "Boss, get him three sets of clothes too. I want all of mine... these sets. Also, get two nice men's suits in my size, preferably white. Also, pick out two sets for this little maid."

"Miss, your subordinate..."

"This one is nice, I want to change into it now." Ye Ling interrupted Jiuyou and came into the inner room with a purple dress. As he walked in, he said, "Jiuyou, pick one to change into."

Jiuyou was stunned for a long time before taking the clothes from the boss and going to the men's locker room.

In the women's dressing room, Qian Qing quickly changed Ye Ling's clothes: "Miss, as expected, once the fabric is ready, the clothes are good. This one looks great on you."

"I think so too" Ye Ling was not bragging, she was indeed one of the most beautiful women.

"Why did the lady buy clothes for that man?" Qian Qing followed Ye Ling after he came to the capital, so she had never seen Jiuyou.

"Didn't you see there were several puddings on his clothes?"

"I saw it, but... that's no reason for you to buy him clothes! There are so many people on the street with torn clothes, you can't buy clothes for them all, right?"

"He is not someone else, he is my father's man, the only one alive from that war." Ye Ling didn't know why, but he couldn't help but feel heartbroken when he mentioned this matter.

Ye Ling changed her clothes and went out. Seeing Jiu You, she was very satisfied: "As expected, clothes make the man!"

"Thank you for the reward, Miss." Jiuyou bowed respectfully.

"Miss, the clothes you want are fourteen sets of women's clothes and five sets of men's clothes, all from inside to outside, including shoes." The shop owner was very happy. It was rare to meet a big customer.

Ye Ling quickly paid the money: "Put all these clothes in the women's dressing room, someone will come to pick them up soon."

"Okay okay okay"

Jiuyou helped, and all the clothes were quickly put into the women's dressing room. Ye Ling went in and waved his hand, storing all the clothes in the space. He came out as if nothing had happened: "Boss, I'm leaving first. Someone will come to get the clothes later."

"Okay, take care," the boss said warmly as he saw the guest off.

After leaving the door, the three of them continued walking forward. Ye Ling quietly took out another bag of silver coins from her space and threw it to Jiu You: "Take it and spend it yourself."

"Miss, no..."

"Okay, just take it. You've worked hard these past few months, sleeping in the open air." Ye Ling couldn't understand it either. When he first read the book, he inexplicably liked Jiuyou. When he saw him being executed by slow slicing, he cried his eyes out. Moreover, he was even more handsome in real life than described in the book.