Du Xian has not yet replied to Zhang Shilang, only saying that he will think about it for a few days. But he is just pretending, and in the past few days, he has been thinking about which little lady of the Du family to choose. He is not in a hurry on the surface, but in his heart he is actually more anxious than anyone else, seeing that the agenda of the Northern Expedition to the Turks is quietly underway, if he is excluded from the door and misses this matter, who knows if he will be marginalized in the future? Or how many years do you have to stay at the border to get to Chang'an?

He thought about it, it was really difficult to choose people, and the family surnamed Du was the most prosperous in their family, and the little ladies of other relatives were either lack of knowledge or sparse manners, which were not very satisfactory. He thought of his daughters again, there were three daughters, the eldest two were married, and the younger one was ...... Du Xian's heart suddenly lit up, her young mother Du Xinmei is indeed a lovely woman. She is sixteen years old, because Du Xian has been leading troops at the border for a long time and slightly shirked to make decisions for her major affairs, and when I saw it at the beginning of this year, I found that Du Xianniang had become a good girl, knowledgeable and sensible and well-behaved, and was Du Xianam's most beloved daughter.

Thinking of this, Du Xian was also a little unhappy, after all, she was her own daughter, and she was always a little reluctant to push her into the fire pit. Although the Xue family is powerful, Xue Chongxun is already a person who has married a wife, and his mother can't dominate the Xue family with him, but he is not as good as Ming Media marrying a child of a well-connected family. However, he thought about it again, marrying another surname is also a marriage, and it is better to make a partial house for the powerful King of Jin, and it is not too embarrassing to go to the prince's house to have a justifiable title in the court. To say that Cheng Qianli's niece used to be the slave singer of Princess Taiping's mansion, isn't Cheng Qianli still the prime minister?

He figured it out and replied to Zhang Shilang, but things went surprisingly smoothly. The eunuch Yu Liben wandered around Princess Taiping every day, and when she was in a good mood, she said it softly, praised the birth and appearance of the young lady, and said what Taoist priest's life hexagram...... Yu Liben knew Princess Taiping's preferences too well, and every sentence was a characteristic of her preferences, and Princess Taiping immediately ordered Du Xian to take the little girl to Chang'an for her to see.

Du Xian didn't dare to slack off, and immediately sent his cronies home to deliver the message.

His home is in Henan Road, and it is only a ten days' journey for cars and horses to come from there. Within half a month, Du Xinmei went to Chang'an to meet Du Xian. But seeing Du Xinmei's sideburns are as black as clouds, her facial features are upright and beautiful, her skin is fair and watery, and the most important thing is that her body is full, giving people a round, moist and healthy feeling, as if she can pinch out water. Du Xian saw that her demeanor was also generous and decent, and sure enough, the person she had cultivated from her family was very well-seen, and he was very happy when he saw this.

However, Du Xinmei soon couldn't help complaining: "When the daughter saw her father's letter, she knew that she had to obey her parents' orders for lifelong events, but why did her father want to give her daughter to King Jin?" ”

When asked like this, Du Xian knew that she was not very satisfied, so he said: "Although it is a partial concubine, it is the prince's family, and it is not lower than the original status of the family." ”

Du Xinmei said: "My father raised his daughter since she was a child, and she was kind to others, but her daughter smelled that the king of Jin was cruel and unkind, and the people were ......."

"Nonsense!" Du Xian was furious, "If I listen to anyone talking nonsense like this, I have to punish him for slander!" ”

Du Xinmei hurriedly persuaded: "Father is angry...... But why are there rumors in the market? ”

Du Xian thought to himself that most of them were rumors spread by those pedantic and down-and-out scholars, it was nothing more than that Xue Chongxun's dictatorship was not so justifiable, as for what fish and meat people Du Xian didn't believe at all, he knew the national policy very well in recent years. He has always raised his children positively, and it is not easy to say that Xue Chongxun's name is not right, so he said: "Rumors stop at the wise, good and bad, good and evil must be distinguished by yourself, and you can't follow the clouds, not to mention what knowledge do the people in the market have to do?" ”

"Could it be that the king of Jin is a loyal minister and has been wronged by the world?" Du Xinmei groaned.

Du Xian was speechless, it would be a bit nonsense to say that he was a loyal minister, but he was very optimistic about Xue Chongxun in governance, and he didn't feel that there was any unkind and brutal behavior. He asked Du Xinmei to sit down, and said earnestly: "For my father, I am an official, and my ambition in my life is to enrich the country, strengthen the army, benefit the country and benefit the people." But now that the Tang family is in decline, if I get involved in the struggle for power, not only will I not be able to do practical things, but I will fall into endless power struggles, and it will easily affect my family. If I get to that point, what am I still doing as an official? ”

Du Xinmei nodded thoughtfully and listened carefully.

"In the past, Wu Zhou was the country, and the royal family was uncertain, but the famous minister Di Renjie also did many good things for officials in the Zhou Dynasty, and later persuaded the Great Sage Emperor to return to power Li Tang is even more cited as a good story for the ages. As long as we do our duty as an official, why should we be involved in the whirlpool of struggle? ”

Du Xinmei always felt that this remark was contrary to loyalty and filial piety, and she didn't agree with it very much, but when she heard her father's painstaking explanation, she didn't want to contradict her father and had to fight for the merits...... Anyway, he always has a reason for saying that.

Seeing that her daughter was obedient but noncommittal, Du Xian was also faintly worried, and couldn't help but tell her again and again: "If you want to see Princess Taiping tomorrow, you have to be polite and thoughtful to make her like it, otherwise she will blame us for not telling the truth, not only to her own disadvantage, but also to implicate her father's friends." ”

Du Xian also said: "If the Taiping Duke wants to promise you to the King of Jin, it is a princely family, and it will not treat you badly." You must do your duty and serve well, and when the time is right, you should advise the king of Jin to be cautious in managing the government and doing more things for the benefit of the people. Don't forget the words of the Father. ”

Du Xinmei responded, filial piety is something that has been mentioned since childhood. She really can't disobey her father's orders, because her family education is very strict and she has not developed a willful temperament, so there is nothing she can do when she encounters such a thing.

She remembered that she cried like tears when her mother said goodbye, and she couldn't help but feel a little sad in her heart. My mother has the same character as her, and she never dared to disobey Du Xian's words, even if she was very reluctant in her heart, she had to send her out as scheduled.

The next day, Princess Taiping really summoned Du Xian's little daughter in the Chengxiang Palace, and she liked it very much at first sight, and casually praised two sentences, and a eunuch immediately said next to her: Your Royal Highness rarely praises people, and a sentence is more expensive than a thousand taels of gold. Du Xinmei said that I was rewarded with 2,000 taels of gold as soon as I came, and the "great grace" really couldn't bear it.

The first time she entered the palace, although the pomp and circumstance were several times greater than that of her hometown, she was also faintly nervous, but she was still well-behaved and there were no omissions. Princess Taiping's two words of praise are one of them, which means that she has seen the world and behaves generously, but it is also pertinent. In contrast, Du Xinmei's father seemed to be too much, his waist was bent out of shape, and he was more respectful than his mother when he answered.

At this time, Du Xinmei saw the other side of her usually majestic and stern father for the first time, and it turned out that he would be like this in front of other people.

Princess Taiping said: "The young lady of the Du family is likable, just stay in the Chengxiang Palace for a few days, I am the master, can you rest assured?" ”

Du Xian hurriedly bowed down and said: "Your Highness's words are true, and the ministers dare not have any objections!" ”

Princess Taiping smiled slightly: "In the future, our two families will be relatives, and you will walk around the palace with your husbands on weekdays and talk to me." She turned her head and glanced at Yu Liben, "If Du Xiaoniang hugged my grandson, the family would be closer." ”

Du Xinmei's face turned red, and naturally she would not speak at this time, unless someone else specifically asked her, she would not say a word more, so that she would be polite.

After that, Du Xinmei lived in Daming Palace for a period of time, and found that Princess Taiping treated people generously, not only gave a red dress, but also gave a lot of jewelry, jewelry, jade pendants and other things, as if the gold and silver jewelry in this palace could not be used up...... But she soon felt the domineering of Princess Taiping, anyway, what does she want you to do, you can't have the slightest disobedience and can only be obedient, more powerful than her father.

Because Princess Taiping is good to Du Xinmei, the women in the court are very affectionate and kind to her, and sometimes she is a little embarrassed by her kindness, and she has a very good impression of these people in the royal family. However, once the thin, elegant and gray-haired eunuch pointed to the west and said: Many people in the Taiji Palace may not have seen a fresh face for decades. One sentence made her mind a little colder, and she inexplicably gave birth to a chill, about the fear of the unknown.

stayed for a few days, but she didn't see the person she thought about the most: Xue Chongxun. When she was told that she wanted to give it to someone she had never met, she couldn't help but think about it more. She only knew some vague information, in her thirties, the Prince...... Then there are all kinds of rumors, some people say that they are brave and good at fighting, and the few people are terrified when they hear about it, and some people say that they are cruel and inhumane and kill innocents indiscriminately, and so on. In short, all she heard were stories about violence, and Du Xinmei subconsciously felt that there would be a person in front of her, who was five big and three with a thick beard and a big face, eating meat and drinking a lot. In fact, Xue Chongxun was also helpless about his reputation, and the main breakthrough of the 500,000 Tubo army was too eye-catching, and people's attention was shifted to it, and his previous achievements such as river politics, money, and the French military system were overshadowed.

At this moment, Princess Taiping sent someone to spread the word: Your Royal Highness is going to hold a banquet in the Chengxiang Hall tonight, and the King of Jin will also come, so you dress neatly for the banquet.

The so-called neatly dressed is just to say that this court dress is not only thin, but also exposed...... Originally, Du Xinmei was plump, and she was very uncomfortable with most of her breasts exposed. When she was at home, a young lady who had not been out of the cabinet never wore such clothes, and there were not many women around her who were dressed like this, unless it was a woman who came out to hang out in the land of fireworks; Then there are some noblewomen who are vassals of Chang'an women who will dress like that.

So after the palace maids skillfully changed her clothes and dressed her, she was uncomfortable, she didn't even want to go out of the door, and her usual generous and decent bearing weakened by more than half. G