Noble Lady

"I know you heard that I didn't want to come last night." Mrs. Xue went straight to the point.

Instead, Xue Chenyu was stunned for a moment.

"Mother, do you have anything to say?" Xue Chenyu paused and continued, "If you don't want to say it, you don't have to."

The implication is that she doesn't absolutely have to know those things, and she won't ask for answers.

Madam Xue smiled when she heard this, "You are still like this, child. You never force others to do things against their will."

"But even if you don't ask, I'll still tell you."

"I just didn't want to talk about it, but that doesn't mean I feel guilty."

Xue Chenyu nodded, "I know."

For the rest of her life, Mrs. Xue would feel warmed whenever she thought of this scene: she really gave birth to a very caring daughter.

"Did you hear everything His Majesty said last night?"

Xue Chenyu nodded, then remembered that it was not her who heard it, so she shook her head again.

Madam Xue: “…”

"Xia He heard it." Xue Chenyu said.

Mrs. Xue sighed. Her daughter was sometimes good at interrupting at critical moments.

It didn't matter who heard it, she knew it after all.

"As you heard, I was married to him once. But it was arranged by my parents, and it happened a long, long time ago."

Xue Chenyu couldn't help but ask, "...But, isn't the Jiang family a merchant family? How did you get engaged to the prince?"

In this era of clear social classes among scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans, merchants were not allowed to take the imperial examinations, so they were looked down upon by the scholar-official class.

Not to mention that His Majesty was once a prince, even ordinary scholars would not marry the daughter of a merchant casually, let alone allow their daughters to marry into a merchant's family.

Everyone understands the interests involved. No educated person wants his descendants to have an inferior status.

Xue Chenyu asked so seriously that Madam Xue was stunned for a moment, then she sighed with a helpless smile, "Is it possible that he wasn't a prince from the beginning?"

Xue Chenyu: “Hmm?”

Aren't princes born princes? Could it be that their status is acquired later in life?

Mrs. Xue pinched her cheek and told her the story of the past.

"Many years ago, our Majesty was not yet His Majesty, not even a prince..."

That was when Madam Xue was not yet Madam Xue, but Jiang Wanqing, the daughter of the wealthy Jiang family.

She was different from others since she was a child. Although she was not obviously rebellious, she was unwilling to learn the things in "Rules for Women" and "Instructions for Women". Instead, she liked to dress up as a man and follow her father on business trips.

He has an older brother who is also a legitimate child, and a younger brother and sister who are illegitimate children.

But neither the legitimate elder brother nor the illegitimate younger brother was cut out for business. Instead, Jiang Wanqing, the young girl who many people called a child, had many clever ideas and often said shocking things.

Because of her various suggestions, the Jiang family started out as a small silk merchant, gradually grew and became stronger, and even started a silk business. In just a few years, they became a well-known wealthy businessman in the local area.

That year, she was only a little older than Luoluo is today, thirteen years old.

It was also in that year that she met the impoverished prince who was living among the people, and the current Marquis Xue.

It all started when Jiang Wanqing passed by Jinling and saw a boy with wounds all over his body but handsome features among the slaves being openly sold.

Because of malnutrition, he is thin, but his appearance is different from others.

Acting on some instinct, Jiang Wanqing bought him and brought him home, only to find out that he was not a slave, but was abducted by those people.

So Jiang Wanqing gave him back his freedom and also did a good deed by reporting the matter to the authorities, who arrested all the human traffickers.

But he refused to leave the Jiang family.

Jiang Wanqing felt sorry for him because he was homeless, so she kept him at home as a runner and handyman.

At that time, no one knew that he would be destined to rule the world;

At that time, he called himself Mo Ling.

Later, Mo Ling showed his extraordinary talents in all aspects and was appreciated by Mr. Jiang, Xue Chenyu's grandfather, who gradually promoted him to work by his side.

And because he saw that Jiang Wanqing had some interest in him, he decided to betroth Jiang Wanqing to him.

Everyone in the Jiang family knew about this, and Mo Ling himself agreed to it.

Afterwards, Master Jiang trained Mo Ling as his son-in-law and took him to the border to discuss business.

It was also during that conversation that he met Xue Heyan, the current Marquis Xue.

He was just a teenager at that time, but when he was less than ten years old, he followed the old marquis to the border and vowed to find his childhood playmate - the eldest prince who was separated in the war.

What happened next was bloody and outrageous.

Mr. Jiang was originally discussing the silk business, but he met Xue Heyan who was returning with his men to purchase things.

Xue Heyan saw Mo Ling just like that. He felt familiar at first, and then the more he looked at him, the more he felt that he looked like the eldest prince who had been missing for many years. Then he asked people to track him down, and for this reason he even stopped Master Jiang and his party.

Xue Heyan sought confirmation from many sources, but Mo Ling refused to admit it. In order to force Mo Ling to recognize him, the young and frivolous Master Xue did many extreme things.

The two childhood playmates fell in love and hate with each other there, which almost ruined the Jiang family's business and almost gave someone with ulterior motives an opportunity to take advantage of it, causing the Jiang family to be destroyed.

Jiang Wanqing had to embark on a journey to the border to find her father.

Then, for the sake of the Jiang family who had done him a favor, he had to bow his head and admit his identity.

Afterwards he was taken back to Beijing.

When Jiang Wanqing arrived, she did not see Mo Ling, but only saw the unruly young Marquis Xue. The two of them disliked each other because of the previous crisis of the Jiang family.

Xue Heyan disliked Jiang Wanqing because he felt that his playmate was the eldest prince. How could he ignore his heavy responsibilities and indulge in petty love just for the daughter of a merchant?

Jiang Wanqing was also angry at him for being indiscriminate and almost destroying their family with just a few words.

During that period, it would not be an exaggeration to say that it was a clash of swords.

But Jiang Wanqing also knew Mo Ling's identity, and she knew in her heart that there was no possibility for her to be with him.

Even though he left a letter before he left, saying with all his heart: "I will never let you down in this life."

Mo Ling, who had returned to the capital, was faced with the late emperor's critical illness and the joint siege and oppression by other princes. He was already breathless and had no way to escape, let alone return to Jiangnan.

What awaited him was only the cruelty and bloodiness of the royal family's internal strife, which was also the experience of embarking on the road to becoming a king.

Two or three years passed in a flash.

At this time, Jiang Wanqing was already an unmarried woman of advanced age. She was still engaged to Mo Ling, and had a marriage certificate as proof, so it was naturally not easy for her to marry someone else.

In addition, she herself didn't care about marriage, so the matter was put on hold.

It was not until the eldest prince Mo Ling successfully ascended the throne of crown prince that she packed up and moved her business to Shengjing.