After the departure of the Empress Dowager, i i turned to the Empress Mother. She was sure that the betrothal seed had been planted by her.
"Long Wu, take Mingzhu to the gardens and show her around." The Empress Mother commanded. "Everyone else should disperse, show your faces around the empire doing sothing useful. Interact with the foreign dignitaries and talk politics."
The royals dispersed except for Prince Long Wu’s family and the Jun’s. The emperor and Jingzhe also remained back.
"Just yesterday, our Long Wu was rejecting marriage to a Cyprian princess and today he has a fiance." The Empress Mother laughed. "Isn’t it funny how fate works?"
Long Wu’s mother pursed her lips. The Cyprian princess was in her twenties, there was never going to be a chance between that princess and her son.
"I still insist that my daughter is too young to be betrothed." i i spoke up bravely.
"And yet she commands attention when she is with a group of other children." The empress said. "Our General Mingzhu will be a formidable woman when she grows up and only a prince is worthy of a woman like that. I heard that she once said she would be the next Imperial Commander."
Mingzhu knew she was being discussed and she puffed her chest out. "Mingzhu is already learning from her uncle to be the Imperial commander."
The Empress Mother smiled. "See, she is a potential Imperial commander. History will be made if she truly does beco one and our families will continue to dwell in unity. We have your back and you have ours."
Prince Long Fen stepped forward and cleared his throat. "Long Wu is ready to escort Miss Mingzhu on that walk now."
The children were led out by royal attendants that were acting as chaperones and royal agents followed them. Everyone dispersed and i i followed her parents to the royal stables where her mother insisted they would be able to find privacy.
Chi Lian did not lead them to the larger stables but the small ones that were next to a fish pond close to the edge of the property.
i i’s fingers instinctively reached for the reigns of the nearest horse. As much as she wanted to ride it, she was still rational enough to keep her mind on the matter at hand. "This is madness or am I the only one that thinks so."
"I think it has the potential to be a good match." Chi Lian said.
i i looked at her mother in surprise. "Mom, I am sure that you do because he is a prince so his future is a smooth one. But, what about Mingzhu’s freedom of choice?"
Muyang laughed. "Baby girl, give your mother more credit than that. Her job is to keep an eye on all the royals and help the Empress Mother root us the ones that are rotten beyond saving. She knows everything about Prince Long Wu."
"He is a nice kid." Chi Lian said in a confident voice.
"Sotis nice kids grow up to be bad n." i i mumbled.
Chi Lian touched the head of the sa horse i i was admiring. "If this is about Mo Liang then I will stop you right there. He was a bad child that grew up to be a bad man."
"Your mother investigated it, you can trust her words." Muyang told i i.
"It is not about him being good it is about Mingzhu having a choice." i i emphasized.
"And how far did your first choice get you?" Chi Lian retorted.
i i clenched her teeth. That damn first marriage!! It would always hang overhead like an axe that everyone would use to cut her down.
"Sorry baby, I should not have said that." Chi Lian said in a softer voice. "But none the less, I stick by my decision to support the betrothal for now. Maybe if we had listened to the Empress Dowager back then and betrothed you to a royal or any other good noble man you would not have endured the suffering you went through with Mo Liang."
She wanted to ntion that i i’s current choice, Feng Jingzhe was also handpicked by her and things appeared to be working out just fine.
"I would have hated you for taking away my right to choose." i i answered.
"And yet you would have married out of duty to the family." Her father said.
i i lowered her head. He was right, she would have married as expected of her.
Chi Lian took an apple out of her pocket and fed it to the horse. "Your great grandmother often says that choice is for commoners. For nobles, duty is what we have. We must be more careful because we have the duty to carry the legacies of our families ahead.
We have the duty to continue growing the wealth passed on to us and we hand it off to the next generation. Even if we marry outside our circles, we must choose partners that elevate us, not those that will drag us backwards.
A wrong marriage can end a legacy i i, it can ruin an entire family. Can you imagine what would have beco of the Jun’s if we allowed you to bring Mo Liang and his family into our business."
i i pursed her lips. The Mo’s would have eaten at it like rats biting on cheese. They would have embezzled and corrupted everything.
Chi Lian fed the horse another apple and the younger one in the next stall started to huff, demanding for apples too. As she walked to the next stall with another apple in hand she said, "As parents we all want the best for our children. For Mingzhu marriage to a prince is not such a bad thing provided that he grows up as a good man and she is a sensible young woman.
Do not forget that the prince gets a choice in this as well. If Mingzhu grows up with a crooked character he won’t want to marry her."
"I will raise her right." i i said. "I just need to help her regulate her temper."
Chi Lian sighed.
"The choice will be up to the children when they grow up. Let us just leave it at that." Muyang told them. "If she does truly beco the first female Imperial Commander soday, having the backing of a prince will not be the worst thing. In fact, it will work in her favor."
i i pursed her lips. The royal family would benefit more than Mingzhu if that truly happened because they would have the Imperial Commander even closer in their fold.
If they had their way, Mingzhe would be married to a princess by now. It was true that everyone in their circle sched but the royal family sched more than everyone.
"She is going to give them hell our Mingzhu." Chi Lian laughed ad she brushed the horse’s nose.
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