Husband, please lend me your virtues

After Zhuang Zijin arrived at the Queen's bedroom, he took the pulse of the imperial physician. After learning that Zhuang Zijin was in good health, the Queen breathed a sigh of relief, held Zhuang Zijin's hand, and talked about the purpose of calling Zhuang Zijin over this time.

"Changning, do you know that Beidi recently asked to marry the princess?"

The queen looked at Zhuang Zijin with heartache. Her daughter had waited for the young general for many years for that marriage contract, but she had never even met him and her fiancé was gone.

"I know it's not proper to let you choose a husband again after General Wen's death, but your mother doesn't want you to marry far away in Northern Di."

The queen took out a list of names from a small box beside her and took out one to present to Zhuang Zijin. "This is Qian Xiuyuan, the eldest son of the Qian family who has done a great favor to you, Queen Mother."

"His mother once blocked a bandit's sword for the Queen Mother when she and your father were on their way back to the capital. She has a kind character and the son she raised will not be a bad person."

"How does the queen know that her son takes after her and not her husband?"

Zhang Jiji has a good character? That's not necessarily true. She didn't see the good character her mother described in the play.

In the opera, the one who caused the most embarrassment to the Second Princess was Zhang Jiji, who enjoyed the benefits of Princess Shang and yet still wished that the Princess would be as respectful to her mother-in-law as ordinary people.

He used filial piety to pressure the second princess, and kept saying that he wanted the princess to integrate into the Qian family. However, when it came to anything related to the Qian family, he avoided the second princess and treated her like a thief.

The rumor that the princess in the capital was too domineering to marry was spread by the maidservants around her. Later, the Qian family committed the crime of deceiving the emperor and even begged the princess to use her dowry to fill the vacancy.

After being a good mother-in-law for a while, she found some trivial matters, such as not being polite to her sister-in-law and brother-in-law, and slapped the princess under the pretext of teaching her well.

What’s funny is that the second princess in the play actually believed Zhang Jiji’s lies, thinking that she had been too spoiled in the past, and that her mother-in-law was teaching her seriously and trying to get her to integrate into the Qian family.

She concealed her wounds, never complained or let outsiders know, and even returned her princess mansion to the royal family. She lived wholeheartedly in the Qian family, acted as a good daughter-in-law of the Qian family, and forbade outsiders and servants to call her princess.

Zhuang Zijin lowered her eyes and did not meet the Queen's gaze. She really did not want to admit that it was her in the play, and that she was being played around by a Zhang Jiji.

In her opinion, it would be better for her to just live up to her reputation as a domineering princess, follow the example of the princesses of the previous dynasty, and discuss the etiquette between the monarch and the minister with her husband's family, and treat her in a proper manner.

"This... Changning has a point. Before Madam Weiguo was named Madam, her husband didn't treat her well. He would beat and scold her at any time, and even brought prostitutes into the mansion to provoke Madam Weiguo."

If Zhang Jiji's son looks like his father, then he is not a good match, and the queen suddenly feels difficult.

Although there are many young men of marriageable age on the roster, none of them is as good as Changning's previous fiancé, and even her eldest daughter Le'an's husband is not as good as her.

Either they indulge in alcohol and women at a young age, or they are idle. If Beidi had not pressed them so hard, even the prime minister of Beidi would have come in person to ask for Princess Dalin's hand in marriage, and his troops would have gathered at the border of Dalin.

Dalin was not afraid of a defeated general who had been defeated by Dalin before. If they really fought, he would not lose. However, after Wen Shao's death, most of the civil officials in the court advocated peace.

He believed that the previous war with foreign countries had consumed a lot of troops, and there was no other general in the world like Wen Shao who was good at guerrilla warfare and was happy to defeat the larger force with the smaller one. He thought that the priority should be to recuperate and not engage in large-scale warfare.

Sacrificing a princess would promote friendly exchanges between the two countries and would not be a big deal, so he wrote letters to the court every day to support the princess's marriage.

The emperor and the crown prince did not want the princess to marry off. There had never been a case of a princess marrying off off since the founding of the Dalin Dynasty. How could they set this precedent during his reign?

However, the emperor wanted to use this incident to expose the ministers who were in collusion with the Northern Di. He pretended to be entangled in this matter and had an unclear attitude. However, he did not inform the queen, so the queen was anxious to find a good marriage for her daughter to avoid this sudden disaster.

"But Changning doesn't have to be killed with one blow. Three days later, Queen Mother will hold a spring banquet and bring him and some young masters from aristocratic families into the palace."

The queen thought of selecting some suitable young men from aristocratic families from the roster to work with Qian Xiuyuan, and then choosing a good son-in-law for Changning.

"Madam Weiguo is an excellent woman. If Changning could meet her, she would definitely feel close to her."

Zhuang Zijin did not say anything about this, but sat aside and listened quietly to the queen recalling the past.

The queen thought of Zhang Jiji, who stood in front of her, was stabbed in the chest but still wanted to comfort her, and risked his life to save her without knowing her and the emperor's identities. The usual calmness on her face faded and was replaced by longing.

She and His Majesty have always remembered this favor, and when she learned that Zhang Jiji's husband was a businessman, she promoted her husband to the position of imperial merchant.

Zhang Jiji did not stay in the capital for long before she followed her husband to the south of the Yangtze River to do business. The queen was afraid that Zhang Jiji would be wronged after her husband left the capital, so she granted her the title of first-rank lady.

The Queen had not seen Zhang Jiji for ten years. She could only learn from Zhang Jiji's letters that she was living a good life, had an imperial decree, her husband, a commoner, respected her immensely, and even her mother-in-law was no longer picky about her.

Now Zhang Jiji brought her eldest son to Beijing to do business. She learned that Princess Changning had lost her fiancé and was being targeted by the Northern Di. She took the initiative to send a letter to the Queen, recommending her son as a consort.

He also promised the empress that after Qian Xiuyuan married the princess, he would never take a concubine.

The queen conveyed Zhang Jiji's intention to Zhuang Zijin, who sneered, "Mother, the prince consorts of my Dalin Dynasty were not allowed to take concubines, and she didn't need to agree."

Zhuang Zijin did not wait for the queen to respond and rebuke her, and continued, "Mother, I am already engaged, so it is really not appropriate for me to choose a son-in-law. Please take back your decision."

The queen was shocked: "Engagement? Changning! Wen Shao is dead, the engagement is no longer valid, do you want to marry him and become a widow?"

"Mother, the young general is such an outstanding figure, it would not be a bad idea for my daughter to remain a widow for him."

It is better to be a widow to Wen Shao than to suffer the bullying and eccentricities of the Qian family.

"As far as I know, Madam Weiguo's youngest son committed a crime and was taken to the capital to await trial. He was convicted of raping and murdering a woman. A daughter would not marry into such a family."

"Is there really such a thing?"

The queen stood up and called her confidant in, ordering her to investigate Mrs. Wei's family. Then she took Zhuang Zijin's hand and said earnestly:

"Changning, I know you don't like the young master of the Qian family, but how can you stick with Wen Shao and be a widow for the rest of your life?"

"At least I can choose one of them to marry, so that I can have children to take care of in the future."

"What's more, Beidi is seeking to marry the princess! If you don't get married soon, and His Majesty is cruel enough to send you to Beidi to get married, what will you let your mother do?"