Chongfei Manual pt. 1

49.1

The woman was standing underneath a plum tree in the painting. Her calm and beautiful figure was wearing a crimson cloak with golden embroidery and a peony pattern. The white snow was boundless behind her. She was standing on her tiptoes to gently smell the plum flowers and only the side of her beautiful smiling face was shown. That face was very similar to Wei Luo’s. The nose and mouth shapes were more or less the same. The only difference was that she was gentle and refined and Wei Luo was lively and deviously intelligent.

Wei Luo realized who this woman was in a split second. And it was exactly because of this that she became angry.

He readily arranged an engagement for Chang Hong and punished Chang Hong with kneeling in the ancestral hall just because Chang Hong didn’t agree, while he was here fondly reflecting past memories and looking at Jiang Miao Lan’s portrait. What was his meaning? It couldn’t be that Chang Hong’s marriage was Jiang Miao Lan’s last wish?

Wei Kun became aware of her presence. After his moment of surprise, he didn’t forget to roll up the painting so that she couldn’t look at it. “Ah Luo, why did you come here? Why didn’t you say anything when you came inside?”

Unfortunately, she had already seen everything that she should.

Wei Luo stayed a few steps away from him. She pursed her lips and stared at him. After a while, she finally said, “I heard that daddy wanted to arrange an engagement for Chang Hong and that the other person is Prince Ru Yang’s daughter, Li Xiang?”

Wei Kun tied up the painting with red silk and settled himself before saying, “Exactly. After I have carefully deliberated that since House Li’s Miss and Chang Hong’s age are similar and our families are well matched in social status, I wanted to arrange the engagement now. It won’t be too late for them to marry in another two years.

Wei Luo didn’t say anything.

He added, “Did Chang Hong say this to you? That’s perfect. Help me persuade him to not be so persistent in his own views… “

“Daddy!” Wei Luo interrupted his words with a rarely heard harsh voice. “Did you forget that time when Li Song pushed Chang Hong into the lake? From that time onwards, Duke Ying’s family had enmity towards Prince Ru Yang’s family. Do you think that if Chang Hong marries Li Xiang, the two families will shake hands and dispel their former hostility?

Wei Kun had been choked off by her words. He wanted to refute, but he also had difficult to accept pain from being punctured in his heart.

The reason that Prince Ru Yang suggested this engagement was indeed this reason. During the past several years, Duke Ying’s family had supported and served Prince Jing. Zhao Jie had also gained a lot of prestige in the imperial court. It wouldn’t be much longer until Emperor Chong Zhen abdicated. When this happened, the country would be Zhao Jie’s. Prince Ru Yang had already seen that this wouldn’t be good for him and wanted to find an escape route for himself. He wanted to marry his daughter in Duke Ying’s family so that at least he could preserve his daughter’s life and possibly save himself.

As for why Wei Kun agreed, he owed Elder Princess Gao Yang* a debt of gratitude.

* (T/N: She’s Prince Ru Yang’s wife, Li Song and Li Xiang’s mother, and the emperor’s sister.)

Elder Princess Gao Yang had read his essays, greatly admired his literary talent, and had wanted to be friends with him. At that time, he already had feelings of love towards Jiang Miao Lan, so he had tactfully declined the princess’s patronage. Later on, when he wanted to marry Jiang Miao Lan and Duke Ying and his wife wouldn’t agree, Elder Princess Gao Yang had come forward to persuade his parents and this was why they relented.