Chapter 2016: The Hapless Fiancée vs. The Young Lady of a Wealthy Family (Part 51)

For no reason at all, Chang Gensheng suddenly felt his eyes grow a little hot.

A daughter making something of herself is the greatest comfort in the world to any parent.

He followed along with a smile. "Yes, things will only get better and better from now on."

"Father’s Jiujiu is really amazing."

...

The newly opened Flower King Pavilion in the Capital City had, practically overnight, become the talk of every street and alley.

The nobles were all excitedly discussing the rare flowers in Flower King Pavilion, and calculating roughly how much silver they’d need to take home the ones they liked.

Ordinary commoners, meanwhile, were buzzing with excitement as they spread the word that those big shots were spending sums of silver they themselves wouldn’t dare even dream of in a lifetime, just to buy one particularly beautiful pot of flowers.

"You know Cold Pavilion Nether Orchid, right? The top-grade treasure among orchids. Yesterday, a Duke spent more than three thousand taels of silver on that single pot. Tsk tsk tsk, more than three thousand taels..."

A fruit seller was bragging to the people beside him, spittle flying. Judging from how proud he looked, anyone who didn’t know better might have thought the flower belonged to his family.

...

Prince Ping’s Mansion.

Old Prince Ping naturally had also heard what was going on outside.

He was chatting with his son.

"Miss Chang really is a capable person. I used to think only her medical skills were impressive—never imagined that her skill in cultivating flowers would be like this..."

Thinking of all those plants in Flower King Pavilion, each pot worth a sky-high price, Old Prince Ping couldn’t help feeling a bit worried...

At the terrifying speed at which Flower King Pavilion is selling... this daughter-in-law’s fortune in the future will be beyond measure!

Qi Chengxuan was filled with pride. "Of course. How could the girl your son likes possibly be some vulgar nobody?"

Old Prince Ping gave him a look. "I’m going into the palace today; I’ll just bring up the matter between you two while I’m there."

Qi Chengxuan’s eyes lit up. "Thank you, Father."

Old Prince Ping was as good as his word; by afternoon he was already in the palace.

"You’re here to ask for a marriage for Chengxuan?" The Emperor was quite surprised.

This nephew of his was already getting on in years. He’d paid some attention to the matter in private, but Prince Ping’s Mansion hadn’t seemed in any particular hurry, and the Emperor himself had his own little calculations, so the issue had just been left hanging.

Now, hearing Old Prince Ping bring it up on his own, the Emperor was curious as well.

Old Prince Ping’s expression was full of irritation as he sighed and said, "To be honest with Your Majesty, this old minister is really not very satisfied with that girl."

The Emperor grew even more curious. "What do you mean by that?"

So Old Prince Ping, even more dejected, began to explain, from Gu Shengyin’s looks to her family background to her occupation...

To sum it all up:

Too pretty—one look and you know she won’t be content to stay put!

From a merchant family—her status is a bit too low!

Now she’s opened a flower shop to sell flowers—sounds so embarrassing when it’s mentioned in public!

Yet after the Emperor listened to all that, his heart suddenly relaxed.

He trusted Prince Ping’s Mansion, but that didn’t mean he wanted his vassals to grow too powerful.

He’d been putting off granting a marriage to Prince Ping exactly because he didn’t want to give Prince Ping’s Mansion another strong alliance through marriage.

Now that his nephew had actually fallen for a Merchant’s Daughter—couldn’t be more perfect!

Refuse? Even though he was secretly delighted, the Emperor couldn’t let it show on his face at all.

Didn’t you see the Old Prince looking all depressed?

So the Emperor first properly consoled Old Prince Ping, then they had a nice shared rant about the nephew, and afterward he began comforting Old Prince Ping that children and grandchildren have their own fate, and as elders they shouldn’t interfere too much...

And so on and so forth—after more than a shichen of conversation, the deep furrow between Old Prince Ping’s brows finally eased.

——

Fourth Watch of the Night.

My brain’s still kind of foggy and not working right; writing is super slow ==

I’ll try to update more tomorrow.

Good night, everyone.

Uh... right, it’s the end of the month—can I maybe, very meekly, in a tiny little voice, beg for a few votes...?