novelhk Chapter 331 The Prince's Mystery: The Cannon Fodder Bride Forced into a Substitute Marquis'
Chapter 331 The Prince's Mystery: The Cannon Fodder Bride Forced into a Substitute Marquis'
Therefore, Madam Feng wanted to use this opportunity to arrange the marriage between Lan'er and Shen Yichen, but to her surprise, when she went to discuss the matter with Madam Hou, the latter did not think much of Su Jinlan.
Even after learning that the old Marquis had initiated the decision, the Marquis's wife still refused to agree.
Later, it was the nanny by the Lady of the Marquis's side who reminded her that the marriage between the children had not been decided on a specific person. Wasn't there an eldest son of marriageable age in the Marquis's mansion?
When Lady Hou thought of the sickly eldest son, Shen Huaizhi, a plan came to mind.
Lady Hou has already found a suitable daughter-in-law for her son, but according to the order of seniority, Shen Huaizhi is one year older than Shen Yichen, so they should get married first.
But she had no clue about the marriage of this eldest son born out of wedlock. Just then, the Su family came along and the matter was settled, which solved one of her biggest problems.
Therefore, the final choice for the marriage alliance with the Su family was changed to Shen Huaizhi, the eldest son of the Marquis of Xuanping.
Upon learning of this result, neither Madam Feng nor Su Jinlan were satisfied with the choice, but this was already the biggest concession the Marquis of Xuanping's household had made.
A direct refusal was not an option, but Su Fanglin didn't want to miss the opportunity to form a marriage alliance with the Marquis of Xuanping's family. Therefore, Su Jinyue was put in charge...
Thinking about these past events, Su Jinyue also walked to the Hou Madam's courtyard.
Su Jinyue stopped at the door, and a quick-witted maidservant stepped forward to report.
Su Jinyue waited for about fifteen minutes before a maid came forward, bowed to her, and said, "Greetings, Madam. Madam invites you in."
Su Jinyue nodded and then went inside. There was not only the Lady Hou in the room, but also the Lady Hou's legitimate daughter Shen Yuxi and the second young mistress Mei Zhixu.
Mei Zhixu is the direct daughter-in-law of the Marquis's wife and the granddaughter of the Grand Princess Ning'an of the Great Xia Dynasty. Naturally, she has more standing in front of the Marquis's wife than Su Jinyue.
Mei Zhixu and Su Jinyue got married on the same day. Logically speaking, the Xuanping Marquis's mansion is not a place that is unreasonable. There is no reason for them to allow the eldest son of a concubine and the eldest son of a legitimate wife to get married on the same day.
The inside story of this matter was discovered by Su Jinyue after she married into the Marquis's mansion.
Originally, Madam Hou had already asked someone to set an auspicious wedding date for the two of them. Shen Yichen's date had been agreed upon, and the Mei family had been informed.
But unexpectedly, one day when Lord Shen returned, he suddenly said that he wanted to set this date for Shen Huaizhi, in order of seniority, and asked Lady Hou to choose another auspicious date for Shen Yichen.
When Lady Hou heard this, she was furious. The auspicious day that had been chosen had already been told to her in-laws. How could it be changed so easily?
But for some reason, Lord Shen insisted on choosing this auspicious day for Shen Huaizhi. Seeing that she couldn't reason with Lord Shen, Lady Hou also started arguing with him.
Since we're going to choose this auspicious day anyway, let's get married together!
The decision made by the Marquis of Xuanping's mansion had far-reaching consequences, affecting the entire Su family as well. Coincidentally, Su Jinlan's wedding date was also set for the same day, so there was no other way but for them to get married on the same day.
In fact, Lady Hou's decision to stagger the dates was correct, since the wedding scale and dowry of the new bride were different for a legitimate son and an illegitimate son.
As the granddaughter of Princess Ning'an, Mei Zhixu came from a prominent family in the capital that had produced many officials for generations. She was marrying into a marquis's family, so her dowry was naturally quite impressive, though the number of pieces was only slightly less than that of a princess.
Compared to Mei Zhixu, Su Jinyue's dowry was rather meager. Su's stepmother was in charge of the family and didn't care about Su Jinyue at all. It was only because she married into a noble family that Feng Shi was able to maintain a facade of respectability.
Although it seems like Su Jinyue and Shen Huaizhi are at a disadvantage, the wedding date was decided by Lord Shen, and neither Su Jinyue nor Shen Huaizhi could change it.
Lady Hou should have been overjoyed at her own son's wedding, but seeing her illegitimate son, whom she disliked the most, made her feel as if a lump was stuck in her throat, unable to rise or fall, and she was extremely distressed.
Therefore, in the two days following the wedding, during the morning and evening greetings, the Marquis's wife's attitude towards Su Jinyue was lukewarm. Seeing this, the servants of the Marquis's mansion also treated Su Jinyue, the eldest young mistress, with little respect.
On the day of his wedding, Shen Huaizhi forced himself to get up and stayed up all day, but before they could even consummate their marriage, he fell ill again and has been resting in bed for the past two days. All the social interactions within the Marquis's residence have had to be handled by Su Jinyue.
Su Jinyue could also sense that in the past few days at the Marquis's residence, while the servants appeared respectful on the surface, they were actually quite negligent in some ways. Although it wasn't anything serious, it was still very annoying.
Su Jinyue was a concubine's wife, and she was not favored by the Lady of the Marquis. She had no chance of managing the household. In just a few days, Su Jinyue became annoyed.
There are just too many rules in these ancient aristocratic families; Su Jinyue really isn't used to them.
Upon entering the Lady Hou's room, Su Jinyue respectfully bowed to her, and Shen Yuxi and the Second Young Mistress also rose to bow to Su Jinyue.
Shen Yuxi is the legitimate daughter of the Marquis's wife and is usually very pampered. She looks down on her elder brother, whom she rarely sees, and doesn't respect her sister-in-law, Su Jinyue, much, and her greetings are very perfunctory.
Mei Zhixu, though mindful of her status, was still a newlywed, and her manners were slightly better than Shen Yuxi's.
In fact, as sisters-in-law who married into the family on the same day, Mei Zhixu was secretly competing with Su Jinyue, but Su Jinyue never took the bait or argued with Mei Zhixu. Gradually, Mei Zhixu stopped paying attention to her sister-in-law, Su Jinyue.
Su Jinyue knew that she was not well-liked because of her current status, and she only planned to stay for a while before finding an opportunity to leave.
But right now, the most attention-grabbing thing in the capital is the Ye family's property being confiscated and their exile. As a relative by marriage of the Su family, the Xuanping Marquis's family knows more about this than others.
Unable to contain her curiosity, Shen Yuxi asked directly, "Sister-in-law, was your younger sister from your maternal family, who got married on the same day as you, really exiled with the Ye family? Doesn't your Su family care about her anymore?"
Su Jinyue smiled slightly and said without any hesitation, "I went out to see my sister today, and I wanted to persuade her again, but my sister said that she is deeply in love with her brother-in-law and will never regret it until death. She insists on accompanying her brother-in-law into exile. My mother tried her best to dissuade her, but she could not change her mind."
Su Jinlan did things very ostentatiously. In just a few days, she had made her feelings for Ye Jiazhou known throughout the city. Su Jinyue had no need to hide it at all.
Even if Su Jinyue doesn't say anything, Shen Yuxi and the others will find out in a few days.
Shen Yuxi was dumbfounded. This was exile. Was Su Jinlan really so unafraid of suffering for love?
Although Shen Yuxi was spoiled by the Lady of the Marquis and was somewhat naive, she had grown up in the Marquis's mansion and had been taught by the Lady of the Marquis, so her knowledge and manners were not bad.