Ordinary people take concubines, either for sex or for heirs, but this is obviously not Li Wei's purpose, at least not the main purpose. He now made this request to show his abandonment of the princess, I guess, and Wang Wuzi then told me: "The official asked him if he had a crush, and he said no, and then added: 'If the official family is gracious, the minister will go to find it.'" ’”

Jinshang naturally agreed to his request, which is conceivable, and soon I also saw that Concubine Miao Xian's trip was not just to comfort the princess.

After crying with the princess, Concubine Miao Xian wiped away the tears and summoned Jiaqingzi and Yun Guoer into an inner room for a secret conversation. After a while, the three of them came out, Concubine Miao Xian held Yun Guo'er's hand and smiled Yan Yan, very affectionate, and Jiaqingzi walked behind them with her head bowed and said nothing.

Concubine Miao Xian took Yun Guoer to see Mrs. Yang and ordered Li Wei to accompany her. When their figures disappeared, I whispered to Jiaqingzi Miao Niangzi what she told them. Jiaqingzi blushed, slurred, and said a rough idea for a long time. It turned out that Concubine Miao Xian heard that Li Wei wanted to take a concubine, and was worried that Mrs. Yang would find him a rough and vulgar woman, which would make the princess angry, so she wanted to find a person who knew the roots and gave it directly to Li Wei. After thinking about it, I feel that Jiaqingzi, Yun Guoer and the princess have grown up together since childhood, and their feelings are not comparable to others, in recent years, the princess's maid who married either married or went home, Xiao Jing'er was expelled again, it is rare that these two will not abandon and have stayed with the princess, it can be seen that they are affectionate and righteous, and they are also stable and proper, so they are strongly persuaded to marry Li Wei as a concubine, so that they can not only end the matter of taking concubines, but also let them continue to accompany the princess.

After the secret talk, Jiaqingzi politely declined, and Yun Guoer finally nodded in agreement.

Presumably, Mrs. Yang and Li Wei also accepted this result, and Concubine Miao Xian looked relaxed when she returned to the princess pavilion, as if she had let go of the big stone in her heart. Before leaving the princess's mansion and returning to the palace, she also considered the words and carefully told the princess about the concubine. The princess was not unhappy, but she was very surprised, called Yun Guo'er, and said to her: "The matter of marriage is not trivial, don't marry an unsatisfactory person for me." I don't know what my sister told you just now, if you are not happy at all, shake your head now, I will make the decision for you, and then explain to the mother and son of the horse, and let them choose another candidate. ”

Yun Guo'er said softly: "The princess is too worried, I am voluntary." In the past few years, I have not listened to the advice of my family to marry, in addition to the reason that I am not high or low, but also afraid that I will marry a stranger in a daze just by relying on the matchmaker's three-inch tongue. Two years ago, Miao Niangzi said that she would ask the official family to give our sisters to a certain official as concubines, but I also pushed it back, because there are many concubines in large families, and the situation is even more difficult to say...... And in front of the princess, I naturally don't worry about this, and besides, I have seen him every day for the past few years, and I also know that his character is excellent, and he treats his subordinates very generously, and he will definitely not treat the concubine badly in the future...... I am willing to stay in the princess's mansion for the rest of my life to serve the princess and the concubine, but if the princess thinks it is inappropriate, it is Yun Guo'er who is cheeky, please ask the princess to do nothing......"

After repeatedly questioning Yun Guo'er and confirming that she was voluntary, the princess also agreed to the matter, and Concubine Miao Xian each rewarded her with a lot of property, and instructed the official in the house to prepare a rich dowry for her, and then choose an auspicious day to salute, so that the concubine officially gave her the title of the side room.

At the beginning, I was also worried that Yun Guo'er was forced by Concubine Miao Xian to say this, so I asked Jiaqingzi to ask her again in private, but Yun Guo'er still said that it was voluntary, and said: "I am different from the princess." The princess is a golden branch and jade leaf, and naturally hopes to marry a perfect husband, talented and good-looking, and can recite poems and lyrics with her, play the piano and paint. And I come from a humble background, and I don't have any talent, my biggest wish is to marry a husband who can treat me well. The colt is a good man, and a nobleman. In this world, there are definitely not many sincere nobles like him, what am I not happy about? ”

The auspicious day is chosen in mid-October. It was less than a month before the day of taking the concubine, and Li Wei was not happy, and when he saw Yun Guo as a child, he was the same as before, and he didn't pay special attention to it. While Yun Guoer was actively embroidering wedding dresses, he put more energy into the collection and appreciation of calligraphy and paintings, soaking in the study all day long, and it seemed that the mountain of scrolls was more like his favorite concubine than Yun Guoer.

He also came to visit the princess every day, but as long as he saw me in his presence, he hurriedly withdrew without saying a word, as if he was afraid of disturbing us. That unusually humble gesture always made me feel guilty and uneasy.

After a particularly difficult consideration and choice, late one night, I knocked on his door and said to him, "Captain, can you postpone the matter of taking a concubine?" ”

At the end of September, when Li Wei's garden near Yichun Garden was completed, he immediately invited the princess to live there. In order to build this garden, he spent several years, and the effect is indeed good, the flowers and trees in the garden reflect each other, the beautiful scenery is endless, extremely prosperous, a number of strange flowers are planted in the plant, many are transported from afar, most of the people in Beijing can not name it, the princess casually asked the name of one or two flowers and trees when enjoying the flowers, Li Wei is also very concerned, and then ordered a number of Lantian jade plates, carved with the name of the flower, hanging on the branches of each kind of flowers and trees, so that the princess can know at a glance.

But again, this is a thankless task. The princess just sneered when she saw it: "I heard that Yan Shu once made fun of Li Qingsun's rich and noble poem, 'The scroll music score is written in golden calligraphy, and the tree is named with flowers and jade seals', and said: 'This is a beggar's appearance. Yu every word of wealth does not say that it is beautiful and beautiful, but only about the weather. Now it's a good thing, someone has really hung the jade seal in the beggar poem in the garden. ”

She said this in private, and I told those who heard it not to spread it, so Li Wei didn't know it, and sometimes he would ask me about the princess's opinion on the garden, and I said that everything was fine, but tactfully persuaded him to remove the jade plate.

The plaques in the garden are empty, Li Wei means to ask the princess to give the name, and the princess has no such thoughts, let me name it, I naturally will not do this kind of overstepping the bounds, so I suggested that Li Wei ask the current celebrity Junyan to inscribe the plaque. Li Wei was also willing to accept my suggestion, and asked who was better, I thought about it for a while, and said, "Please Ouyang Neihan." He is only eight years old, and his words are also well written, and the world calls him 'true bachelor', not to mention that he has drafted many edicts about the princess over the years, and the marriage ceremony between the princess and the concubine is also drawn up by him, and it is also a rare fate. ”

Li Wei thought so, and decided to invite Ouyang Xiu to visit the garden, and said that Cui Bai's opinion had been sought for the design of the garden before, so it was better to have a banquet that day to thank you.

Two days later, Ouyang Xiu and Cui Bai arrived as promised, and there was a young scribe with Ouyang Xiu, elegant and handsome, and it seemed that he would not be more than thirty years old.

Li Wei and I went to greet the guests, and when we saw the scribe in person, Li Wei asked Ouyang Xiu to introduce him, Ouyang Xiu smiled and said: "I was about to go out before, and suddenly saw this distinguished guest coming to the humble house, I couldn't help but be overjoyed, and wanted to leave him to talk, but I didn't dare to make the appointment of Du Wei, in order to get the best of both worlds, I ignored his opposition and forced him to come with me, hoping that Du Wei would not be blamed." ”

The scribe was personable and graceful, and Ouyang Xiu respected him so much, Li Wei could naturally see that he was by no means an ordinary person, so he saluted the scribe again and politely asked his name and surname. Ouyang Xiu wanted to answer on his behalf, but the scribe stopped him and said to himself: "I came from a humble background, and I am just a minor official who can't glorify my ancestors, and I don't dare to say my name and surname, which is insulting to the nobles. I'm the seventh in the family, and my friends often call me Shichiro, and if the captain doesn't give up, he will call me the same. ”

His tone was not rude, but his expression was cold, and there was a perceptible sense of arrogance in Li Wei's gaze, thinking that his trip was indeed extremely reluctant, against his wishes.

After the greetings, Li Wei welcomed them into the garden, visited with Cui Bai, who had arrived before, and invited them to enjoy and evaluate the beautiful scenery everywhere.

Hearing that Ouyang Neihan and Cui Bai came to be guests together, the princess was very interested, and sent someone over to tell Li Wei that she wanted to invite them to the middle pavilion where she was to have a banquet, and they would eat and gossip in the hall at that time, while she sat on one side of the curtain, only listening to their conversation, and she would not show up.

Li Wei hesitated, but agreed. At the dinner, everyone went to the middle pavilion and sat down one by one, but when she heard that the princess was wearing a ring, she gently moved the lotus step into the hall through another door, and sat down behind the beaded curtain.