An ugly girl starts off, then becomes a beauty

After being away for too long, it was not a good thing. Sang Ling didn't know his mother-in-law very well, so he didn't argue with Cheng Jun anymore. The two of them walked towards each other for a short distance when they met the male protagonist of today's Donghou Mansion.

She paused and subconsciously glanced at Dai Chengjun behind her. He was moving fast and had turned the corner long ago. Xun Jin was walking towards her, his steps were very fast and he didn't want to delay at all, but when he raised his head and saw her, he stopped immediately.

Since they were already staring at each other, she couldn't pretend she didn't see it. After all, they were classmates once, so she immediately put on a mask of politeness and put on a smile on her face, "Prince, congratulations on your wedding."

"Thank you, Madam Mu Wuhou." Xun Jin bowed to her. Although he had a smile on his face, for some reason, he did not look very friendly.

However, she really didn't like the Donghou family. At first, the Donghou's wife and Sang Feng'e fell in love with her, and then Xun Jin wavered between her and Sang Mei, and then suddenly proposed marriage to the Ban family. Was it still for his career? Sang Mei was not yet old enough to discuss marriage, and Xun Jin could be recommended for assessment next year, so he was eager to marry into a good family.

Now all I can do is pray that he will be nicer to Ben Le in the future.

She suppressed the thoughts in her heart, nodded slightly, and was about to walk past him.

That voice came again, "I never thought that you were actually with Nie Ce... When did you two hook up? Was it when I came to see you privately in August?"

She couldn't help but look back in surprise. She really didn't expect Xun Jialang to say such a thing.

Even if she no longer had a good impression of him, she still respected him in her heart and respected his knowledge. Looking back on the past year in the school, the many conversations between him and the teacher always made her think deeply.

"Prince Xun, please speak with more respect."

But he turned around with a sneer, his contemptuous attitude was not at all like the humble gentleman he used to be.

"Oh, your aunt has come to my house several times to hint at me."

"Madam Hou is very resourceful. She colluded with several families before the marriage. I really admire her."

The garden of the Marquis' Mansion was not completely deserted. There were either servants coming and going or guests coming to congratulate the mansion. There were people in groups of three or two, laughing and talking. Sang Ling glanced around her - Xun Jin could go crazy and not care about others, but she couldn't, especially since she came with Madam Zhaoyu today. If something happened, she couldn't bear the consequences for the time being.

After a moment of silence, he didn't plan to continue dealing with him, so he turned around and left quickly.

Fortunately, Madam Zhaoyu's greetings were not over yet, and several Chang'an noble ladies got together to chat about this and that, so they could easily spend half a day chatting. She let out a breath, letting her previous emotions go with the wind, and when she knelt down next to Madam Zhaoyu, her smile was the gentlest it could be.

*

At the end of the eleventh year of Jiansi, before New Year's Day, Nie Ce, who had been sent far away, returned.

Sang Ling thought that he would have to be gone for at least a year or two. After all, this was different from her time, with airplanes and high-speed trains, and even traveling from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere could be done in a day. At that time, transportation and horses were slow, and even if one rode at full speed, it would take at least ten days or half a month to get from Jiaozhou to Chang'an. He went there near the winter month, and returned before the New Year was over.

Was it that the mission in Jiaozhou was messed up, or that the emperor found that he could not reduce the power of the princes and urgently summoned back his reserve generals?

"I'll only stay for ten days, and then I'll have to go back. Mom wants us to hold the return ceremony in the next two days."

On the night of his return, Nie Ce was soaking his feet in his bedroom while someone helped him do so, while he talked to Sang Ling.

She walked over and sat on the felt mat beside him. After not seeing him for two months, he looked much stronger and his shoulders were much broader.

Most men of the Nie family have strong features. Unlike Gao Heng who is gentle and like a banished immortal, Nie Ce's eyebrows and eyes are more impactful. When he looks at people seriously, he does look very serious. She couldn't help but put aside the messy thoughts in her mind and calmed down. Then she carefully asked, "Are you going to Jiaozhou this time for King Cheng——"

Before he could finish his words, he was stopped by Nie Ce's look.

He waved his hand to dismiss the servants in the house, even Cheng Lao was driven out, and the next moment his tone became deep, "Where did you hear that?"

Is this still a secret? Even Zhi Qutong mentioned it at the time, and Sang Ling thought it was a tacit understanding among the people of the country. She paused, and suddenly remembered that Zhi Qutong didn't explain it too thoroughly, and later she made more connections herself.

As a person who looks back at history, she naturally sets her sights on another level. The reduction of feudal powers is a key issue that every dynasty that implemented the feudal system had to face. In the Ming Dynasty, feudal counties coexisted. The weakening of local power was a matter of sooner or later. Looking back at which feudal dynasty did not eventually move towards a highly centralized monarchical dictatorship?

So she quickly understood the matter and was very sure that Nie Ce went to Jiaozhou to do this.

Part of her confidence came from the fact that she had studied very seriously in the past year, so she had a general understanding of the situation in the country. Normally, a monarch would either keep a person like Nie Ce by his side to train him, or send him to an unstable border area like the north. However, he was sent to Jiaozhou, where King Cheng was in charge of the military power.

What else could it be other than reducing the power of the feudal lords?

But what should she say to Nie Ce, the person involved? She could only pretend to be ignorant and blinked her cat eyes, "I guess, isn't Jiaozhou the jurisdiction of King Cheng?"

Nie Ce just hummed, and although he looked her up and down suspiciously, he didn't ask any further questions.

"This matter..." He looked away and said, "Don't ask too much. Although it's not a secret, just say that I went there to train the navy."

That means Sang Ling’s guess was correct, and Nie Ce did not hide anything from her.

As soon as the conversation stopped, the room became quieter than ever. There were gusts of wind coming from the door. She inexplicably felt that this was very enjoyable.

Recalling his first words, he asked again, "Are you going back tomorrow?"

"The day after tomorrow, I'll hand over the visiting card tomorrow." Nie Ce lifted his feet from the copper basin, called a servant in to help him dry them, and turned his head to look at her again, "By the way, my grandfather has gone to the palace, so you don't have to go to the Hall of Justice tomorrow, you can sleep in."