The entire front hall was silent.

After a while, Qiu Chuyan slowly spoke.

"If I had to choose one or the other, I would rather choose to become a monk."

"Chu Yan, have you thought about it?"

Qiu Chuyan forced a smile, with a faint sadness on his face, "Marrying may not be able to marry a good person, and the Yuan family is backed by His Royal Highness the Prince, who is not afraid of three points. Rather than gambling for a lifetime and having a stable life, it is better to simply become a monk."

Zhan Xinglan saw that her eyes were slightly red, and she knew that she was not willing to leave home in her heart.

"Chu Yan."

"As long as you can stay away from that deep quagmire, what if your hair falls?"

A crystal teardrop slipped down, and Qiu Chuyan's teeth clenched her lower lip, restraining herself from letting the tears fall out of her eyes again.

A few days later, Qiu Chuyan arrived at the Zhengfang in a carriage.

Tianyuan Temple stands majestically in the troubled times, if the scales are close to each other, the flying pavilion is long, there is a kind of majesty and tranquility beyond the world.

Qiu Chuyan was dressed in plain clothes, without hairpin rings, without powder, and stepped on the one hundred and eight steps with a skirt.

However, at this moment in the Qiu Mansion, Fu Rinxu was reading the note that Qiu Chuyan left for him.

"The courtier's daughter Qiu Chuyan respectfully,

Heaven is peaceful, and the world is poured. The courtiers were plagued by evil, and they avoided His Highness for several days, hoping that His Highness would understand. If this letterhead could be seen by His Highness, the courtiers would have escaped into the empty door at this moment, lost their hair and become nuns, and cut off the rolling red dust. His Royal Highness's life-saving grace, the courtiers can only report it in the future.

May Your Highness all the best, peace and well-being."

Fu Rinxu grabbed the note with trembling hands, and forced a few words out of his throat.

"Qiu Niangzi, are you really a monk?"

Qiu Zhen let out a long sigh, "Back to Your Highness, that's true. She has made up her mind, and her ministers have not been able to persuade her."

Fu Rinxu only felt a sour feeling in his heart.

Since he met Qiu Chuyan, his lonely heart seemed to have a little bondage.

Although he often comes to visit Qiu Chuyan, and Qiu Chuyan is always closed, at least he is no longer a person who cares about him.

But now that Qiu Chuyan has left home, he seems to have become alone again.

Fu Rinxu folded the note neatly, put it in his arms, and walked out of the Autumn Mansion lonely.

Now that the King of Qi has been deposed, King Ling has been married, only the crown prince and King Jian have not yet decided on a marriage.

Empress Yue was anxious to get angry all day long, and wanted to persuade Fu Tingxuan to marry He Fuyan as the crown princess.

However, Fu Tingxuan had other plans.

One day, Ao Jin went to the Prime Minister's Mansion to meet Ke Jingfeng with Fu Tingxuan's message.

As soon as he saw that it was Ao Jin coming, Ke Jingfeng frowned.

"The people who have always sent letters to this phase are dark guards, why are you here today? But the prince is aware of the relationship between you and me, and deliberately tempts you and me?"

Ao Jin hugged his fists and said, "Ke Xianggong doesn't have to worry, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince just wants to invite Ke Xianggong to go to the Chengxi Courtyard for a gathering tomorrow. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was afraid that others would know about the other courtyard, so he ordered his subordinates to come."

"Did the prince say that he made an appointment to meet his true face?"

"My subordinates don't know." Ao Jin lowered his head and shook his head, and suddenly remembered something, "By the way, the queen has often summoned His Royal Highness the Crown Prince recently, it seems that it is for the matter of choosing a concubine, and His Royal Highness the Prince is also about meeting with Xianggong Ke for this matter."

Ke Jingfeng stretched his brows and waved his hand, "I know the true appearance, you can step back."

Before, the prince wanted to marry Zhan Xinglan as the princess and use Zhan Bofeng for his own use, but now that Zhan Xinglan is the princess of King Ling, the prince's move is wasted.

If the prince consults with him about this matter this time, he probably wants to choose another little lady with a good family from among the courtiers as the crown princess.

Ke Jingfeng suddenly felt confident, straightened his clothes with his hands, and then walked back to the bedroom with his head up.

The next day.

Ke Jingfeng went to a private house in Yonghefang in the west of the city as promised.

east

Deep in the palace, in the imperial city, if you want to meet the minister or someone else, there will be countless pairs of eyes staring. Therefore, the prince privately purchased this house for the purpose of secret invitation.

Ke Jingfeng got out of the carriage and was welcomed into the house by the little servant.

But when he stepped into the door of the house with his front foot, he heard a heavy closing sound on his back foot.

is so cautious and cautious, it can be seen that the prince is very insecure.

However, Ke Jingfeng is no longer surprised by this, the prince has always been suspicious, and even Ke Jingfeng has only been to this house once.

"Ke Xianggong, please."

The little guy made a "please" gesture, then folded his hands and walked in front without saying a word.

This house looks simple and unpretentious on the outside, but there is a lot of truth on the inside.

The pond water in the courtyard is rippling, and there is a white jade bridge on the pond, which is slightly rippling on the surface of the pool.

And at the end of the stone bridge is an octagonal pavilion with glazed tiles and white jade ground, flying overhanging eaves.

Behind a row of crystal bead curtains is a bluestone round table, on which there are a few jasper buds, the sunlight floods into the pond, the sparkling color and the bead curtain reflect each other, under a closer look, the bead curtain seems to be revealing a hazy light.

The octagonal pavilion is like a fairyland, both floating into the world and above the heavens.

The little servant led Ke Jingfeng to the octagonal pavilion and then retreated.

Ke Jingfeng glanced at Fu Tingxuan, who was sitting behind the crystal bead curtain, and bowed down and said, "The minister knocks to see His Royal Highness the Prince."

Fu Tingxuan said lightly: "Ke Xianggong is here, sit down."

Ke Jingfeng opened the bead curtain and made a crisp and pleasant collision sound.

"I don't know what happened to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to meet the ministers today?"

Fu Tingxuan stretched out his middle finger and rubbed the mouth of the jasper, "Ke Xianggong has always been good at observing people's hearts, how could he not guess why this palace invited Ke Xianggong here?"

"The minister dared to guess, thinking that it was for the selection of the crown princess."

Fu Tingxuan suddenly stopped rubbing his fingers and raised his eyes to stare at Ke Jingfeng.

"Ke Xianggong's guess is good, but this palace already has a candidate for the crown princess in his heart."

"I don't know which little lady has such a blessing."

Fu Tingxuan smiled evilly, "It's Ke Wanning, the daughter of Duke Ke's family."

"What!"

Ke Jingfeng's face immediately changed.

"What? Ke Xianggong is unwilling?"

Ke Jingfeng realized that he had overreacted, and hurriedly smiled: "No, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has misunderstood, the minister is just afraid that the little girl will be reckless and can't afford to be the crown princess." Z.br>

"Ke Xianggong is too worried, Ke Niangzi has received royal instruction in Shunhua Prison, so I don't think there will be any difference. I'm afraid, I'm afraid, it's Ke Xianggong who doesn't want to."

Fu Tingxuan's words were quite tentative, and Ke Jingfeng secretly said that it was not good.

I'm afraid that the crown prince is already suspicious of him.

"The minister's little daughter can get married to the prince, this is a blessing from the minister's family, how can you not want to."

"That's fine. The twentieth day of next month is the auspicious day for choosing a concubine, and there is Lao Ke Xianggong to talk about this matter with Mrs. Ke before that, don't embarrass the palace on the day of choosing a concubine."

"Yes, I think the little girl will be very happy to know about this."

Ke Jingfeng had a smile on his face, but he felt uncomfortable in his heart.

Originally, he wanted to turn the limelight to assist King Ling, and when King Ling sat on the throne of the crown prince, he would marry his daughter to King Ling, even if it was a side concubine.

But now the crown prince suddenly wants to marry his daughter as the crown princess, which completely disrupts his plan.

After Ke Jingfeng left, Fu Tingxuan picked up the jasper and took a sip of the slightly sweet peach blossom wine.

"Come out."

Suddenly, the window sash on the south side of the octagonal pavilion was opened.

I saw Ao Jin turn over and come in, clenching his fists and saying, "His Royal Highness the Prince."

"You personally go to monitor Ke Jingfeng, if he goes to King Ling's Mansion, he will return in time."

"Yes!"

Ke Jing replied with a heartfelt heart

When I arrived at the Prime Minister's Mansion, I saw Ke Wanning followed by a bunch of small people, heading to the backyard.

"Wan Ning."

Ke Wanning looked back, and immediately ran over and grabbed Ke Jingfeng's arm affectionately.

"Father is back."

Ke Jingfeng nodded, looked at those little guys holding a lot of things in their arms, and couldn't help asking:

"Wan Ning, did you just go shopping and come back?"

"Yes, I will choose a concubine on the twentieth of next month, and my daughter wants to dress up to attend the crowd, so I went to buy some rouge and dresses. If she can be selected as a side concubine by His Royal Highness King Ling, her daughter will be satisfied. Although I want to be subservient to that shrew of Zhan Xinglan, my daughter is confident that His Royal Highness King Ling will definitely like me more."

Ke Wanning was full of joy and fantasized about the scene after her marriage to King Ling.

Ke Jingfeng patted Ke Wanning's hand holding his arm, and said heavily, "Wanning, my father has something to say to you, follow my father to the front hall to talk."

Ke Wanning nodded and waved her hand at those little guys.

"Go and put these things in my bedroom first, be careful, don't break them."

As soon as he entered the front hall, Ke Jingfeng got straight to the point.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince summoned his father and talked about the selection of a concubine. The prince's intention is to choose you as the crown princess."

As soon as these words came out, Ke Wanning was like a thunderbolt from the sky.

"What? The prince wants to choose me to be the crown princess? Doesn't the queen want He Fuyan of the Anguo family to be the crown princess?"

"I'm afraid that the prince doesn't look down on He Fuyan's family background, so he wants to choose you as the crown princess. As a father, he is also the prime minister of the dynasty, and he has real power in his hands, which is much stronger than An Guogong."

"My daughter doesn't want to marry!" Ke Wanning immediately refused, "The crown prince is weak now, how can he compare to His Royal Highness King Ling? The daughter would rather be the side concubine of His Royal Highness King Ling than the main concubine of the crown prince!"

Ke Jingfeng said sharply: "Nonsense! How can a little lady be willing to be small and not big?"

Ke Wanning pursed his lips and asked, "My father used to want his daughter to be the concubine of King Ling, but now that the prince has spoken, is he going to change his mind?"

"King Ling is in the limelight now, he first made meritorious contributions to disaster relief, and then he was married by His Majesty and got a powerful father-in-law. In contrast, the advantage of the crown prince is the identity of the queen's concubine and the power accumulated in the court for many years. The prince's move is to firmly control me, the prime minister of the court, so that he can do his best to assist him for his father."

As soon as Ke Wanning heard this, she knew that she couldn't make the decision on this matter, so she cried loudly.

"Father is also forced to be helpless, if we reject the prince, this will be a complete enemy of the prince. If something suddenly happens to His Majesty one day, the prince will be the rightful prince, and the first thing the prince will have to deal with at that time is our Ke family. Wanning, you don't have a choice in this matter, and you don't have a choice for your father."

Ke Jingfeng sighed, since he couldn't do it left and right, he could only adapt to the situation.

But Ke Wanning cried breathlessly, on the one hand, she loved, and on the other hand, the family righteousness.

She had to give up the former to keep the latter.

After a while, two lines of tears welled up like springs, and she choked up and said, "Father, it's time for a daughter to marry His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"Good daughter, as a father, I know that Wan Ning will not watch our Ke family go to a dead end."