Madam, protect me!

Chapter 154 Prince Chun's suspicion

Li Nuo was inexplicably beaten up by Li Anning, but Li Nuo expressed his innocence.

It's time for a male to get married and a female to get married. What can he do?

Find a reason to arrest the nosy official of the Ministry of Etiquette, give him a good beating, and make him mind his own business and stop worrying about the princess's marriage?

This is what the etiquette department does. It is their responsibility to handle the marriage of the owner.

Li Nuo also had no ability to interfere in such national affairs.

To put it bluntly, besides having a powerful father, what else does he have?

Without his father, he is nothing.

However, Li Nuo felt really uncomfortable when he thought about Li Anning getting married in the future.

Although this doesn't make sense.

After all, that was the person he had called "Lady" countless times...

While Li Nuo was thinking a lot, Li Anning knocked on the table with his knuckles, pointed at the painting, and said, "There is something wrong with your painting."

Li Nuo came to his senses.

Does she know how to paint, so she just says that his painting is wrong?

Li Nuo looked at her and asked, "What's wrong?"

Li Anning pointed at the phoenix and her in the painting, straightened her chest slightly, and asked, "Do you think your painting is right?"

Li Nuo didn't notice anything wrong at first.

But her chest-thumping action obviously meant something.

Li Nuo looked at the painting and realized that he had indeed not handled some details of the painting well.

Painting Li Anning alone or painting Phoenix alone, there is nothing wrong with this painting.

But when two people appear in the same painting, you have to pay attention to some details.

For example, the curvature of Her Royal Highness's chest is a little larger than that of the phoenix. Although it is not much, big is big.

Li Nuo did not reflect this feature in his paintings.

Not only does it not reflect the real situation, it seems that the arc of Phoenix is even larger.

This is contrary to the real situation. Fortunately, Li Nuo only drew the outline of the body, and it is still too late to change it now.

Li Nuo crumpled the draft into a ball and threw it into the wastebasket.

He took a new piece of rice paper and quickly outlined their body curves again.

After looking at the curves of the two people's chests in the painting, Li Anning nodded with satisfaction, turned and left the room.

Li Nuo painted for a while and felt his eyes were a little sore. He walked out of the room and planned to relax and relax his eyes.

The lady is still studying painting with Fenghuang in the pavilion.

Li Anning and Muer Ning'er were skipping rope in the yard.

There is nothing interesting about learning to draw. Li Nuo stood aside and watched them skipping rope, his eyes following the rhythm of Li Anning's beating, left, right, left, up and down...

After passively doing a set of eye exercises, I felt that my eyes felt much better.

Li Nuo returned to the room and continued painting.

When it came to drawing the lady, Li Nuo hesitated for a moment, flicked his wrist, and added a little curvature to her.

The lady actually has something, maybe she doesn’t want to get in the way when she’s practicing. She usually wears a tight corset, so she doesn’t look so revealing.

But even so, compared with Phoenix and Li Anning, it is still far behind.

Without this addition to her, the painting would look too cruel.

The finished painting was not suitable for my wife, and it was equally inappropriate for Li Anning and Phoenix, so Li Nuo kept it himself.

The next day, he went out in the afternoon. Instead of going to the Ministry of Punishments, he went straight to Dali Temple.

Li Nuo can understand more and more why those second-generation officials and rich second-generation people always like to compete with their father.

When he encounters something he can't do anything about, the first thing he thinks of is his father.

Li Anning asked him to do something, but he really didn't have any good ideas.

When Li Nuo walked into the office of the minister of Dali Temple, his father was playing chess with King Chun.

Li Nuo can only say that he understands the rules of Go, but he is not proficient in it. He usually plays backgammon with Muer.

While King Chun was playing chess, he asked, "It's boring to watch us play chess. If you have anything to do with your father, tell me..."

Li Nuo stood aside and said, "You guys get off first, I'm not in a hurry."

After the two of them finished playing a game, Li Nuo asked: "Dad, Uncle Chun Wang, I heard that the court is going to choose a consort for Princess An Ning?"

King Chun nodded and said: "You have heard it too, time flies so fast. It seems that she was crawling on the ground a few years ago, and in a blink of an eye she is eighteen. It's time to choose a consort for her... "

Li Nuo coughed lightly and said, "The princess told me that she doesn't want to get married yet."

King Chun was slightly stunned and asked, "An Ning doesn't want to get married, why do I have to tell you?"

"..."

Li Nuo said: "We are friends, and she asked me to help her think of a solution."

King Chun shook his head and said: "Being born in an emperor's family, it is not up to her whether to marry or not. Traditionally, the princess has chosen her consort before she is eighteen years old. It is already too late for An Ning. The Ministry of Rites is already drafting the candidate for the consort. , it should be mentioned at the next court meeting..."

After the princess of Daxia reaches the marriageable age, if His Majesty has not designated one, the Ministry of Rites will usually draw up a list.

The Ministry of Rites will select several candidates for the Prince Consort based on age, family background, character, etc., and go through a process at the court meeting. The final list will be handed over to His Majesty, who will appoint a Prince Consort.

He looked at Li Nuo and said: "If An Ning has any favorite candidate, you can tell him directly, and I will ask the Ministry of Rites to add that person's name..."

Originally this was against the rules, but for the sake of An Ning's future happiness, as his elder brother, he could make an exception for him.

Li Nuo said: "She said she wanted to wait."

Prince Chun asked in confusion, "What are you waiting for?"

Li Nuo shook his head, "I don't know."

He was angry because he asked her this question.

He just conveyed her words verbatim.

At this time, Li Xuanjing nodded and said, "I know, you go back first..."

Father didn't have as many questions as Prince Chun. Li Nuo believed that he understood what he meant and left without worry.

After Li Nuo left, Prince Chun touched his chin and murmured, "An Ning doesn't want to get married, how can he say that, the two of them will be fine, right?"

Before he finished speaking, he shook his head and said, "He is already married, but he can't be a son-in-law. Besides, there is a difference in seniority. Speaking of it, he has to call An Ning aunt, I think I'm overthinking..."

...

The palace.

At the mid-month court meeting.

Today's court meeting has been going on for a long time.

The spring exam is coming soon, and after the spring exam, it will be the imperial examination. At that time, it will be the busiest time for all departments of the court, and detailed matters need to be arranged a few months in advance.

The court meeting was about to end. The Minister of Rites came out, holding a letter in his hand, and said: "Princess An Ning has reached the age of marriage. The Ministry of Rites has initially drafted five prospective princes-in-law. The list is as follows..."

"Zhao Jun, the son of the Right Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, is 19 years old. He has a noble character and is filial..."

"Zhang Xiande, the grandson of Zhang Lian, the Grand Secretary of the Hongwen Academy, is 18 years old. He has outstanding talents and is both civil and military..."

"Wei Yue, the son of the Junior Secretary of the Imperial Household, is 17 years old. He is gentle and honest, and has both good character and appearance..."

...

When the court selected the princess's prince consort, there were certain requirements for talent, appearance, character, and family background. The ones selected by the Ministry of Rites were all young talents among the children of officials in Chang'an.

After reading the information about these prospective princes-in-law, the Minister of Rites asked: "Regarding the list of five prospective princes-in-law, do you have any objections, my lords?"

Although the Minister of Rites said so, generally speaking, it was just a formality.

The candidates for the son-in-law are carefully selected by the Ministry of Rites, so there won't be any problems.

If you object at this time, you either have a life-and-death feud with the family of the prospective son-in-law, or you are deliberately looking for trouble with the Ministry of Rites.

Seeing that no one objected, the Minister of Rites spoke again: "Since..."

"I have objections."

In front of the hall, a figure slowly walked out.

Seeing this, the Minister of Rites trembled slightly, and swallowed back the words that were about to come out.

Other officials in the court also looked at Li Xuanjing in surprise.

The Minister of Rites moved his throat and asked carefully, "Master Li, please speak."

Li Xuanjing said calmly, "Princess An Ning is beautiful and graceful. Although she is young, she has reached the fourth level of cultivation. Even if you look at other countries, she is a rare and extraordinary woman. The prospective consort selected by the Ministry of Rites is also a young and outstanding man, but he is far from the princess and is not worthy of the status of a consort. If a hasty decision is made, it will not only wrong the princess, but also be disrespectful to the royal family."

Several officials of the Ministry of Rites fell into deep thought.

What the Dali Temple Minister said made sense.

It was rare for him to reason in the court.

But even if she is a remarkable woman, she has to get married. The daughter of the Song family is a remarkable woman, isn't she? She married your son, why do you have double standards when it comes to the princess...

The Minister of Rites was about to speak, Li Xuanjing glanced, randomly locked onto an official, and asked: "What do you think?"

The official trembled, and although he was talking about the adults, he was looking at him. He immediately said: "Lord Li is right!"

Li Xuanjing's eyes swept over a row of officials.

Everyone spoke up as his eyes fell.

"Lord Li is right."

"The selection of the Ministry of Rites was too hasty..."

"None of these candidates are worthy of Princess An Ning."

...

If one person objects, the Ministry of Rites can ignore it.

But if a group of people object, especially the Dali Temple Minister takes the lead in opposing, they can only go back and re-select.

The next court meeting will be ten days later.

This delay will take at least another ten days.