After Qiao Ruoyi returned, Zheng Xiao wanted to discuss the marriage with her in the Marquis’mansion. With the way the old madam of the Marquis was behaving, she really didn’t want to get married to the Sun family.

  However, when she heard that Qiao Ruoyi was drunk and fell into the water today, she could only give up.

  When Qiao Ruoyi’s servant girl, Xiao Man, was waiting for Qiao Ruoyi to wash up, she saw the spots on Qiao Ruoyi’s body and sucked in a breath of cold air. “Miss, were you hit by someone?”


  Qiao ruoyi said, “Maybe I hit a rock when I fell into the water.”


  Another servant girl, Yan Yu, entered the room and said, “Miss, the Xie family still sent you gu Kaizhi’s Weimalakai statue and the snow-time invitation. Master Xie said that he was doing makeup for you.”


  Qiao ruoyi pouted and said, “I won’t accept it. You can return it to the Xie family.”


  “No, wait, I think you should stay!”


  Qiao ruoyi instantly changed her mind. “Go to the place where I hid the silver and take out all the silver notes to send to the Xie family!”


  “Yes, miss. .”


  After Qiao Ruoyi took a bath, she sat in front of the window and looked at the crescent moon in the sky. She could not fall asleep for a long time. However, she still had to go to the morning court the next day. She asked Yan Yu to boil a bowl of medicine and relied on drinking the medicine to barely fall asleep.

  The matter of Xie Yun being in the Northern Mountain Imperial Manor could not be hidden from the Northern Mountain Secret Guards.

  After Xie Yun left, the Northern Mountain Secret Guards went to the Tai Chi Palace to report the matter to Lu Chen.

  Lu Chen frowned slightly. “Don’t let the Empress Know about this. Replace eunuch Huang from the Northern Mountain Imperial Manor. Also, change the serving girls in there. In front of them, deal with those two whimsical sisters!”


  Fortunately, Xie Yun was the one who was affected today. These two palace maids were extremely disgusting.

  The Secret Guards left.

  Eunuch Gu handed a cup of tea to Lu Chen and said, “Your Majesty, why didn’t you let the Empress Know About This?”


  Lu Chen said, “Xie Yun doesn’t like Qiao ruoyi. If the Empress knew about this, she would inevitably seek justice for her sister.”


  Eunuch GU said in bewilderment, “Qiao Wu is the daughter of Marquis an Yuan’s estate and is now a fifth-rank official. How could the head of the Xie family not like Qiao Wu?”


  Lu Chen said indifferently, “The difference between the direct line of descent and the concubine in the aristocratic families is like the difference between the clouds and the mud. It is a chasm that can not be crossed.”
……

  The next day, after Qiao Ruoyi returned to the Qiao family from the Yamen, Zheng Xiao went to find Qiao Ruoyi. Seeing Qiao Ruoyi’s unpleasant expression, he asked, “Ruoyi, what’s wrong with you?”


  Qiao ruoyi forced a smile and said, “Perhaps you haven’t recovered from your drunkenness yesterday. Mother, what’s the matter?”


  Zheng Xiao said, “Tell mother that you really like Marquis Jingwu and won’t marry anyone other than him?”


  “That old madam sun is really infuriating. I’ve asked around these past few days. No wonder she’s so anxious to set the wedding date at the end of this month. Not only will the heir-son of Marquis Jingwu be going to the Marquis of Wu an next year to be his first wife.

  Also, her granddaughter is fourteen years old this year. When it comes to discussing the marriage, when other people hear that there’s no first wife, they all stop talking about the marriage.

  The Marquise of Jingwu had passed away more than ten years ago. Madam Sun was afraid that the newly married house-fill would bully her grandson and granddaughter. She would delay until the grandson could get married before she wanted to fill the house for her son. With such a disgusting mother-in-law, if she married him……, she would be on guard against him.

  Ruoyi, listen to your mother. If it weren’t for the deep affection for the Marquis of Jingwu, we would choose another marriage. I don’t believe that all the good men in the world are dead.”


  Qiao ruoyi listened to Zheng Xiao’s advice and said, “Mother, what’s the difference between a different family? Unless I marry far away and leave Chang ‘an, if I stay in Chang ‘an, which scholar family would be willing to marry the daughter of a concubine?”


  Zheng xiao sighed helplessly, “The aristocratic families have been in decline for so long, and they still insist on this rule. Sigh! It’s been hard on you.”


  From hundreds of years ago when the aristocratic families were mentioned, there was a difference between the nobles and commoners. The aristocratic families and commoners were not allowed to intermarry. After the great ancestor ascended to the throne, all the emperors of the Tang Empire were devoted to suppressing the aristocratic families.

  Now, if one were to talk about the aristocratic families, there were only the Xie family, Qian family, and the Qiao family in Jiangnan.

  However, after the scholars of the Tang Empire who were favored by the imperial court obtained the imperial examinations, not only did they not think about the time when the aristocratic families gained power, scholars like them who were born from humble families would not be able to become officials even if they studied hard for decades.

  On the contrary, some of the rules of the aristocratic families were respected now, and gradually, the difference between the legitimate and illegitimate children became greater and greater.

  These were the things that only the aristocratic families would care about, and the scholars were quite concerned about these things now.

  Some of the important families in Chang ‘an would not be able to have the difference between the legitimate and illegitimate children in the residence. The illegitimate children and illegitimate children were all equal to the young masters and daughters of the residence, so the mistress of the household would not favor one over the other.

  However, when it came to marriage matters, the illegitimate children could only be matched with the illegitimate children.

  Qiao Ruoyi’s family background was high, and she was talented. Therefore, some of the illegitimate children who did not inherit the title of nobility were willing to propose marriage.

  Qiao Ruoyin was able to marry into the family of the Yun Zhou governor because she was a military general. She did not care about the difference between the legitimate children and concubines that the scholars respected.

  Zheng Xiao said to Qiao ruoyi, “Fortunately, you still have our Qiao family. You have married into the Sun Manor. If they humiliate you, you must not be like your big sister, reporting the good news without reporting the bad news.”


  Qiao ruoyi nodded and said, “Yes, mother. Let’s set the wedding date according to Old Madam Sun’s wishes.”


  She was afraid that if the wedding date grew longer, there would be changes.

  When Zheng Xiao walked out of Qiao Ruoyi’s courtyard, he helplessly went to old madam Qiao’s side.

  Old madam Qiao sighed, “The Xie family is the only aristocratic family left. Now, they still have these rules!

  Ever since the founding of the Great Tang Empire, His Majesty has fought against the aristocratic families for the sake of the common people. He gathered the imperial power and allowed the common people to live a good life. On the contrary, that group of pedantic scholars still followed the old rules of the aristocratic families!

  Everyone thought that they could become an aristocratic family by following the rules. Little did they know that back when the aristocratic families were big, they were not even worthy to carry shoes for the aristocratic families.

  “If the aristocratic families were really around, they would not even be worthy to marry the servants of our Qiao family. “Although the rules of the aristocratic families are that of the legitimate son of the concubine, that is also a marriage alliance between the illegitimate son of the aristocratic family and the illegitimate son of the aristocratic family. These poor scholars are nothing!”


  “Mother, your scolding is reasonable. However, it seems that it’s just as ruoyi said, only the Sun family is left.”Zheng Xiao said, “What do you think about setting the wedding at the end of June?”


  Old madam Qiao said, “Sigh, since she has already decided, let’s do as she says. However, the wedding date is approaching, so we should not treat her unfairly. There’s also the dowry…… you should give her less dowry that can be easily sold.”


  Zheng Xiao would not go so far as to be harsh on her daughter’s dowry. He said, “Mother, how can this be? This should at least be the same as Ruofeng’s dowry, right?”


  Old Madam Qiao said, “It’s not like you don’t know her. If you give her a dowry that can be easily sold, she will definitely sell the dowry in two or three days and buy all the bookstores in Chang ‘an.”


  Zheng xiao smiled and said, “That’s true. Then I will prepare more shops for her that are more profitable than our Qiao family’s so that she won’t sell the shops to buy famous calligraphy and paintings.”


  After the marriage was settled, the Hou mansion began to prepare for the wedding.

  At the end of June, the weather was extremely hot. The next day, they were going to get married. When Qiao Ruoyi went to her family’s temple to worship her ancestors, she was met with a fierce storm, thunder and lightning. It was very frightening.