Chapter 167: Choice (Part 1)

After the New Year, the breath of spring is as strong as one day. Willow trees unknowingly sprout, and the spring is chilly, but the cold wind is occasionally wrapped with a hint of warmth, and the ice on the water gradually becomes thinner. Last year's snow piled up behind the corner house, and it loses helplessly day by day.

Cui Ning has been both lost and sweet these days. Lost is because she heard the news that Zhang Huan and Pei Ying got married. It was not herself who was the first to become his bride. Although he also explained, Cui Ning's heart was still filled with a faint sadness. When will his happiness come?

However, what made her feel sweet was Zhang Huan's confession in the palace. He made a special trip to Beijing for his sake. He had himself in his heart, which was enough.

Although the day she got married was getting closer, there was no trace of the joy of being about to become a bride on Cui Ning. Her room was still as elegant as usual. Several Sassanian silverware were neatly placed on the table. The people of the Qin Dynasty were so cute. Cui Ning was expecting and waiting to spend it every day. She knew that her Huanlang would definitely not let her marry Wang Yan. He would come. She had an extraordinary trust in Zhang Huan. In her opinion, he could do everything. He could turn things that seemed incredible to others into reality, but the most important thing was that he truly loved himself.

Today is the eighth day of the first lunar month, and it is not suitable to go out, but even if she is suitable to go out, she cannot go downstairs. More than a dozen thick and healthy women stared at her step by step, without giving her any chance. Since she went to Dong Neiyuan last time, her father severely punished five women who were taking care of her, making these women even more trembling and dared not be careless.

Cui Ning was already in great pain for her father's persistence. In her father's opinion, happiness is that simple. As long as she is proud of her husband and shining with her son for her, she will be happy. Marriage is just a continuation of family politics, and she is the tool to achieve this combination of interests.

As for her love and love? My father never considered it. Perhaps this is the sorrow and misfortune of every woman in aristocratic family. Only a very few brave and lucky ones can get true happiness, just like Pei Ying's courage and Yang Feiyu's misfortune. What about her? Can she have Pei Ying's courage and luck?

"Aunt!" A calm and slightly tender voice came from outside the door. Hearing this voice, Cui Ning's heart was like a ray of sunshine shot in the cold winter. This was her nephew Cui Yao, also a child without happiness.

Cui Ning immediately stood up, greeted the door and smiled, "What do you don't know about asking your aunt again?"

The Cui family is generally tall, and Cui Ning is also very tall, but Cui Yao is thin and thin. This is like his mother. He is old and speaks very steadily. He rarely says wrong things. When doing wrong things, his inner emotions are not easily exposed, so he is highly valued by his elders, but Cui Ning can see a faint sorrow hidden in his eyebrows.

Cui Yao also loves his aunt very much. Only with his aunt can he feel a hint of motherly kindness and tolerance, but his aunt is about to get married, which makes Cui Yao's heart full of nostalgia and reluctance.

When he saw his aunt ask him, he bowed and bowed, "Grandfather asked my aunt to come over and have something to say."

Cui Ning patted his head gently and smiled, "Don't be so polite in front of my aunt, like a little old man."

"Yes!" Cui Yao bowed again, "Yaoer remembers his aunt's teachings."

Cui Ning shook her head helplessly, "Let's go! Go to your grandfather's place."

She took her nephew down the small building, and more than a dozen healthy women followed closely behind her, surrounding her in a fan shape. Cui Ning glanced at them with extreme disgust.

Seeing that his aunt didn't like the servants behind him, Cui Yao's face sank and pointed at them and said, "You retreat, don't follow again!"

An older woman hurriedly stepped forward and smiled, "This is what the master told me, we dare not ignore it!"

"No matter who I ordered, I will not be allowed to follow you now."

These women all knew that although he was young, he would definitely be the head of the Cui family in the future. They dared not resist and had to take dozens of steps back and follow from afar.

Cui Ning gave him a thumbs up with approval and asked him with a smile: "What kind of bride does Xiao Cui want to marry when she grows up?"

Cui Yao's face turned slightly red. He thought about it and replied seriously: "It doesn't matter what kind of bride you are going to marry, but I will definitely not marry a bride that has hindered my future."

Cui Ning was stunned. She suddenly thought of herself and couldn't help feeling a little unhappy. She forced a smile, knocked his head and said, "You are only eight years old, what do you know at a young age?"

The two of them came to Cui Yuan's outer study room. Cui Yuan's main official business today was to listen to the report, but after listening for a day, he was a little annoyed, so he went down to the court to return home in advance. Today, Cui Xiaofu asked Cui Ning to stay in the palace for a few days to learn some royal etiquette. After all, she is Princess Qinghe and cannot lose face of the royal family when she gets married. Cui Yuan also wanted to ease the tense relationship with Cui Xiaofu, so she agreed. Later, she met Wang Ang at the gate of the Daming Palace. He mentioned the marriage between the two families and implicitly asked Cui Yuan to announce the marriage.

Cui Yuan was always worried that his daughter would be embarrassed like Jiang Huan's marriage, so he refused to announce it for a long time. However, he also knew that since Zhang Huan had married Pei Jun's daughter, he could not have any hope for his daughter. From his performance in the past two days, Cui Yuan also believed that he would not make any unwise moves to his future, and his heart gradually fell down.

On the contrary, he was worried that his daughter would not be able to think about it. After all, she herself was very reluctant to do this marriage. Cui Yuan had seen Wang Yan more than once. In fact, he himself did not like the future son-in-law. He had some common shortcomings of the Wang family, such as arrogance, short-sightedness, self-proclaimed romantic but ignorant. Perhaps it could be described as a young man, but also young people, Zhang Huan and Pei Mingyuan of the Pei family, and even his eight-year-old grandson were much better than him.

But the meaning of marriage does not lie in the marriage itself. No matter how unsatisfactory Wang Yan is, at least the Wang family will be firmly tied to him. A daughter-in-law of the Yang family and a son-in-law of the Wang family, and Cui Yuan's two moves were also perfect.

At this time, a slight footsteps came from outside the door. Cui Yuan suddenly heard that this was the footsteps of his daughter. Only she would walk so gently, for fear of disturbing her thoughts. Cui Yuan sighed secretly. Her daughter always thought about others. She was sorry for her about marriage, so she would compensate her for her children in the future!

The door knocked gently, and Cui Yuan walked up to open the door. There was only his daughter standing outside the door, and his grandson was sensible and did not follow him.

"Oh! You're here, come in and sit down." The guilt in his heart made Cui Yuan smile a little unnaturally.

Cui Ning walked in slowly and sat down, lowered her head and said, "Dad is there anything to ask me for trouble?"

"Actually, it's nothing. Daddy wants to talk to you." Cui Yuan looked at the thin chain on her daughter's neck and pointed at it gently and said, "You give that piece of jade to Daddy! Daddy will return it to Zhang Huan for you."

Cui Ning didn't say anything, and a look of despair gradually appeared in her eyes. Cui Yuanxin was about to break. He knew that his words had also wiped out his daughter's last glimmer of hope.

"Ning'er, you don't understand it yet. After more than ten years, your beauty will gradually fade away. You will understand what is the difference between being a big wife and a concubine? Even if you don't care and can endure loneliness, what about your children? They are concubines, their status and future in their family, and when their destiny is tragic, they will hate you."

"Dad, stop talking. My daughter knows that this is fate, I accept it." Cui Ning held the jade reluctantly, and tears poured out from her beautiful eyes again.

Cui Yuan gently stroked her hair and said to her with great affection: "Child, just wear this piece of jade first! Keep it on the day you go out."

Cui Ning suddenly covered her mouth and turned her head, and her thin shoulders were twitching. She restrained herself and did not let herself cry. Cui Yuan didn't say anything, but just waited silently for her mood to calm down.

After a long time, seeing that she stopped crying, she smiled and said, "This afternoon, your aunt asked me to send me to the palace to learn etiquette. You can stay for two days! Daddy has been busy these days and has no time to take care of you. When you are married the day before you go out of town, Daddy will send someone to take you back."

A subtle bright color flashed across Cui Ning's eyes. She seemed to understand something. She looked up at her father's white haired temples, and suddenly knelt down and kowtowed him three times.

Cui Yuan smiled, and he nodded slightly and said, "Actually, as long as you marry well, it will be the greatest reward to Dad. Dad raised you for 17 years and there is no other requirement. I just hope that you promised Dad this time that you must not marry Zhang Huan. No matter how you like him, you cannot. This is Dad's decisive decision."

Cui Ning was shocked all over, and her father's decisive attitude suddenly made her heart, which had just a little hope, fall into the abyss again, and her whole body became cold.

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Cui Ning leaned sadly in front of the window, looking at the cold moonlight above the Taiye Pool, she clasped a letter tightly in her hand, and her father's pale temples and Huanlang's hot eyes appeared alternately. She thought of the words her eight-year-old nephew said, and when she mentioned Zhang Huan's tight fists to her father, the painful choice seemed to be a squirting flame burning her heart. Where should she go?
Chapter completed!