Empress Dowager agreed to Anning’s request to arrange a match for Minlan, so naturally, she ant to follow through.
After discussing the marriage arrangents for Xu Minying with her own family, she began to have people send over information on young scholars from various places, intending to select a few good candidates for Anning to review.
But before the Empress Dowager had the chance to look at the materials, Prince Su ca to the palace seeking her assistance.
This ti, Prince Su entered the palace to arrange a marriage proposal for his own son.
The wife of Prince Su had passed away early, and since then, Prince Su had remained unwed.
The Empress Dowager and Emperor Pingle had spoken to him about this matter countless tis, but he rejected them each ti.
The reason was that he was occupied with his duties, having no free ti to accompany a Princess, and even if they found him a Heavenly Immortal-like Princess, he would not be interested.
The Empress Dowager also thought of granting him a few concubines, but Prince Su stubbornly refused without any discussion.
The matter infuriated the Empress Dowager quite a bit.
Later on, the Empress Dowager figured since Prince Su already had a Princely Heir and he was of a wandering and unrestrained nature, the absence or presence of a Princess didn’t make much difference, so she stopped pressing him.
Now that Prince Su’s Princely Heir had co of age, Prince Su was busy looking for a suitable young lady for his son.
He had previously inquired about a few decent families and subtly ntioned it to the Princely Heir.
As soon as these hints were dropped, the Princely Heir beca anxious and ca to Prince Su begging for help in requesting the hand of Xu Minlan in marriage.
It turned out that the Princely Heir had seen Xu Minlan several tis in the Empress Dowager Palace, and he was deeply smitten with her at first sight. After carefully inquiring about the young lady, he beca even more enamored.
While the Empress Dowager spoke with Xu Minlan, he intentionally eavesdropped once and found the young lady’s conversation quite amusing—she was not only unlike the gentle deanor typical of ladies from notable households but also sowhat straightforward. Moreover, Xu Minlan was astoundingly talented; she could compose poetry and songs effortlessly and was proficient in zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Even in mathematics and various other studies, she had so knowledge.
Having never t a young lady like Xu Minlan before, after a few encounters, the Princely Heir thought that if he were to marry, it should be such a woman. If the person he married was not Xu Minlan, life would likely be tasteless and bland.
He had not dared to ntion it before, for fear that Prince Su would dismiss the idea, and worried that the lady herself would be unwilling.
It wasn’t until Prince Su started looking for candidates for him that the Princely Heir beca anxious.
Upon hearing that the Princely Heir wanted to marry Xu Minlan, Prince Su was initially stunned.
After a good while, Prince Su patted the Princely Heir on the shoulder: "You’ve got quite the eye, my boy, to fancy such a fine young lady. I can help you with this matter, but let’s be clear first, the mother of the Xu family young lady is no ordinary person, and she’s quite formidable. If you take their daughter as your wife, you must treat her well. If you ever wrong her, her mother will not let you off easily."
The Princely Heir was aware that the person who raised a young lady like Xu Minlan must be extraordinary. Besides, he naturally intended to treat his wife well, so he quickly agreed.
After Prince Su and the Princely Heir reached an agreent, they hurried into the palace to see the Empress Dowager.
The Empress Dowager, amused by Prince Su’s declaration of intent, said, "You father and son indeed have good taste; Lan is indeed a good girl, but I’m afraid her family background might not be up to par."
The wife of Prince Su’s Princely Heir ideally ought to be chosen from a high-ranking and distinguished household. An ordinary family would not sufficiently match the Princely Heir, and since the Xu Family currently had no governnt officers, even though their daughter was exceptional, the family’s status was substantially lower.
Prince Su shook his head: "Mother, my son is my only offspring; naturally, I want the best for him. My son just wants a wife who can bring joy and satisfaction, not like the one I married..." Prince Su grimaced as he ntioned his wife, wiped his face, and said sadly, "My wife had both a solid background and high social status, but you know how she was as a person, Mother. In marriage, one should wed for virtue, not for family background or social status. And as for the Xu family’s character and nature, Mother is the most aware."
Recalling the vexing Princess Consort Su, the Empress Dowager also felt sorry for her son.
Prince Su continued: "Speaking of family background and social status, there is no household under heaven higher ranking than our family. Anyway, since it’s a marriage considered beneath our status, what difference does the lady’s family background make? Besides, isn’t that social status uplifted by Imperial Brother? The highest of ranks can be declared traitorous and executed with an imperial order while the lowest of ranks can be ennobled and appointed as high officials with his favor."
He did make a point.
The Empress Dowager couldn’t help but smile: "Alright, I know you care for your son, and I care for my grandson even more. I’ll take this matter to heart."
Anning had no idea what the Empress Dowager was plotting.
She and the children were waiting at ho for the servants to check the examination results.
They waited until late morning when a governnt officer arrived, beating gongs and drums to first bring good news to Xu Minwu.
Xu Minwu had passed, his ranking was quite good too, at forty-eighth place.
Later, close to noon, another governnt officer ca with more good news: Min Ying had beco the top scorer in the Imperial Examination.
With both children having passed the exams, Anning was so pleased that she had servants set off firecrackers and even rewarded the household servants with two months’ worth of monthly salary.
After that, Anning made the children focus on writing articles at ho instead of attending any literary gatherings, since the imperial examination would co after so ti.
The results of the imperial examination would be announced on the sa day.
An article by Xu Minying caught the favor of Emperor Pingle, and he was chosen as the top scorer, while Xu Minwu passed the two levels of the Advanced Scholar examination, even ranking higher than in the Imperial Examination, securing a place in the twenties.
With Xu Minying becoming the top scorer, the Xu Family’s door was almost kicked down by matchmakers.
These matchmakers were not only proposing marriage for Xu Minying and Xu Minwu but also so prominent families in the Capital had taken an interest in Xu Minlan, seeking her hand in marriage.
Anning was swamped with matchmaker visits every day, keeping her on her toes.
She wrote to Xu Zhiqin for his opinion, and Xu Zhiqin, trusting Anning completely, entrusted the marriage arrangents of Xu Minwu entirely to her.
After receiving the letter, Anning began the ticulous process of selecting daughters-in-law for the two young n.
She planned to choose wives for her son and nephew first, then focus on finding a son-in-law for Xu Minlan.
However, before she could make a choice, she was summoned by the Empress Dowager to the palace.
The Empress Dowager spoke candidly with Anning, proposing to match-make for the two children and sharing her own family matters with Anning, who was sowhat dazed by it all.
In truth, if Xu Minying were to marry a girl from Duke Cheng’en Mansion, the Empress Dowager’s family, it would already be considered a huge leap upwards, and for Xu Minlan to marry into Prince Su’s Mansion as the Heir’s wife, that was beyond anyone’s wildest dreams.
Anning was aware of the Duke Cheng’en Mansion; the family was known for being shrewd and their descendants were quite outstanding.
Duke Cheng’en Mansion had only brought forth an Empress Dowager, and since then, had not sent any other girls into the palace. This made Emperor Pingle quite trusting of Duke Cheng’en Mansion, who frequently bestowed favors and grace upon them.
In Anning’s view, with such traction, Duke Cheng’en Mansion could continue to grow in wealth and status over the generations without any problem.
After so thought, Anning agreed to the marriage.
As for Prince Su’s Mansion, Anning was very reassured.
If it were any other prestigious and wealthy family asking for Xu Minlan’s hand in marriage, Anning might have hesitated.
But with Prince Su’s Mansion expressing their interest, Anning did not hesitate at all.
The population of Prince Su’s Mansion was really small.
Prince Su had no Princess, no concubine, not even a concubine in the house, and moreover, Prince Su only had the Princely Heir as his sole blood relative, not to ntion sons, he didn’t even have any daughters.
One could say, such a large Prince Su’s Mansion only had two masters; if Xu Minlan were to marry there, she wouldn’t need to serve a mother-in-law above her or take care of any sisters-in-law below, it was the epito of tranquility.
Moreover, with Prince Su watching, the Princely Heir wouldn’t dare treat Minlan poorly.
After weighing her options for a while, Anning also agreed to this marriage proposal.
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