When Cui Yunchu arrived, the hall was already packed. Several women, all dressed in identical red-and-green outfits with big red flowers pinned in their hair, were chattering away noisily. The moment they saw her, they all looked up in unison, flashing their signature smiles, their faces creased with wrinkles.
Cui Yunchu was dizzy from all the red. It felt as though the hall was filled with clones—same clothes, same smiles, even the same way of speaking.
"Oh my, this must be the Eldest Miss Cui! What a stunning beauty," they all said in unison as they rose to greet her.
Cui Yunchu let out a light cough, waved a hand dismissively, and took her seat in the main chair. She picked up her teacup, took a slow sip, and asked lazily, "So I hear you've all come to discuss a match?"
"Yes, yes, great news for the Chancellor's manor!" Several of them spoke at once, all talking over each other in a lively cacophony.
It gave Cui Yunchu a headache.
"Stop." She called out, and the matchmakers all turned to look at her at once. Frowning, she said, "Which young lady are you all here to propose for? The Lord Prime Minister and the eldest young master are both out right now. Once they return, I'll pass the message along."
The lead matchmaker broke into a smile. "Today, we've all come for the same person."
One person, and a whole gaggle of matchmakers? Were they afraid they couldn't get the job done otherwise? Cui Yunchu had never experienced such a thing, though she'd heard of it. A proposal like this was a first.
She nodded, somewhat curious about which young lady was so exceptional. "Then who is the young lady commissioning you?"
"Why, the elegant and noble Second Princess, of course!"
The teacup in Cui Yunchu's hand nearly slipped. "Who did you say?"
"The Second Princess," the matchmaker said, covering her face with a giggle. "Look at the Eldest Miss Cui—she's so happy she's lost for words."
"..."
Cui Yunchu's face stiffened as she stared at the matchmaker and let out two dry "heh heh" laughs.
The Second Princess, Xiao Lan, matched with her eldest brother?
Did Shen Xiabai know about this?
Cui Yunchu suddenly felt a pang of toothache. The lead matchmaker had already pulled out a red card and handed it over. "This is the Second Princess's birth date and time."
Cui Yunchu stared at the crimson card but didn't take it.
She wasn't stupid. The emperor would love nothing more than to wipe out the Cui family. For him to suddenly pull something like this—there had to be some ill intent behind it.
But... "Who sent you?" Cui Yunchu asked.
If it were the emperor's will, he'd simply issue a decree directly.
Then it hit her: an imperial consort's husband couldn't hold real power. Was that the reason...?
"Lord Shen," the matchmaker said, and her next words made Cui Yunchu freeze on the spot.
She gaped, and beside her, Xing'er gave her a nudge and whispered, "Miss, no need to ask again—I heard her clearly. She said it's Lord Shen."
"Lord Shen of the Shen family, the one in charge of the Bureau of Punishments?" Cui Yunchu asked, dumbfounded.
The matchmaker nodded. "Yes. You may not have heard yet, but His Majesty has put Princess's marriage arrangements in Lord Shen's hands. We've all come at his bidding to make the proposal."
Cui Yunchu scratched her head, feeling her brain couldn't keep up.
Shen Xiabai's woman was being offered in marriage to her eldest brother?
Was he trying to plant a spy to wipe out her entire clan?
What scheme were he and Xiao Lan cooking up?
"I don't agree," Cui Yunchu said flatly.
The matchmakers were taken aback. They exchanged glances, and the lead one said, "Lord Shen said you would definitely agree, and that you'd be overjoyed."
"I refuse." Cui Yunchu glared.
Look, while she didn't exactly run the household, when it came to Shen Xiabai's schemes, she still had a right to say no.
"Go back and tell him: I, your grandmother here, say no. Tell him to go die."
The matchmakers all fell silent, but then Cui Yunchu suddenly softened her tone, as if she realized that was poorly worded. "On second thought—let him live a long life."
The matchmakers: "..."
"Eldest Miss Cui, the Second Princess truly is a heavenly beauty. Her status is noble, and while she may have had some unsavory rumors in the past, those are all behind her now. She's really a fine person."
That matchmaker's tongue could turn the dead into the living.
"Heavenly beauty? Who said that? Shen Xiabai? Have you even seen the Second Princess? How beautiful is she? Beautiful as me?"
"..." The matchmakers were at a loss for words.
In all their years of matchmaking, they'd rarely seen a face like Cui Yunchu's—one in a hundred, no, one in a thousand.
"Miss jests," one said. "We're not worthy of an audience with the Second Princess."
"So you haven't seen her. It was Shen Xiabai who told you, wasn't it? Does he have eyes just for decoration?"
As for Xiao Lan being dubbed a heavenly beauty, Cui Yunchu snorted in disdain as she muttered with dripping sarcasm, "The ancients never lie—love truly is blind."
She took it back. She wanted him dead after all.
Cui Yunchu rose to leave, then stopped dead in her tracks and turned back to the lead matchmaker. "Earlier you mentioned the Second Princess had some unsavory rumors? What about?"
Was it just like her—a bad reputation?
The matchmaker didn't hold back. After all, Lord Shen had said the proposal was as good as done as long as he talked to the Eldest Miss Cui—though it wasn't looking quite like that at the moment. Full of enthusiasm, the woman said, "The Princess previously had two husbands who both passed away young, one after the other. Naturally, the common folk started spreading rumors that the Second Princess... brings bad luck to her husbands."
Wow. Cui Yunchu felt like she'd struck gold and plopped herself back down.
"And then? Were they really just early deaths?"
The matchmaker blinked. "Well... what else?"
Cui Yunchu never believed in fate, because she herself had been shackled by it—a child people pointed fingers at.
What if they had been murdered?
Cui Yunchu propped her chin on her hand, and in her mind, a dramatic, tangled tale of love and revenge began to write itself: Shen Xiabai and Xiao Lan in love, the emperor and empress dowager refusing to bless the union, tearing them apart. And so, in a fury, Shen Xiabai killed both of Xiao Lan's previous fiancés...
"Lord Shen said that while the Second Princess is thus, the Lord Prime Minister is also a man of strong fate. The two are perfectly matched—for the safety of others, they're the ideal pairing."
Cui Yunchu found herself nodding along absently, then suddenly snapped to attention, staring in shock at the matchmaker who had spoken.
It was as if a thunderbolt had struck her from above.
"Wait—who did you say you're proposing for?"
"The Lord Prime Minister," the matchmaker said, her smile absolutely flawless, not a trace of hesitation. She'd been in this business long enough. "With the Second Princess as your new stepmother, the Eldest Miss Cui will become kin to the imperial family!"
"And as for the Lord Prime Minister—a widower for so many years, now getting to marry a young and beautiful princess? Why, that's the dream of every middle-aged man!"
Cui Yunchu's petrified body slowly came back to life.
She twitched her lips, and then a grin split across her face. A huge, huge grin.
She covered her face with her hand but couldn't hide the smile. She had to bite down hard just to keep from bursting into laughter.
The Second Princess, and her dad? The Second Princess married to her dad?
Hahahaha...
The matchmakers stared at the suddenly roaring-with-laughter Cui Yunchu, exchanged puzzled glances, and then started laughing along too.
"So, Eldest Miss Cui, what do you think of the match?"
"It can be done, it can be done, it can definitely be done," Cui Yunchu nodded. "Since it's the wish of the royal family, how would a lowly daughter of a concubine like me dare to refuse? Please leave the Second Princess's birth details here first, and we'll wait for the Lord Prime Minister to return before making a final decision."
She covered her mouth, smiling like a piece of half-ripe fruit.
All her earlier suspicions about Shen Xiabai dissolved into invisible smoke, drifting softly away.
"Go back and thank him for me. Tell him I've never been this happy in my entire life." Cui Yunchu patted the matchmaker on the shoulder with a sigh.
Though the matchmaker didn't understand why Cui Yunchu had suddenly changed her tune, she was also quite pleased, since Lord Shen was generous — the fee he'd paid them was exorbitant.
Another thing: Lord Shen's foresight was uncanny. He'd told them to come when the Lord Prime Minister was away, and that they'd be received by the Eldest Miss Cui, and that Eldest Miss Cui would agree.
After seeing the matchmakers off, Cui Yunchu stood in the main hall, holding the gilded invitation card against her lips, smiling in a way that was eerie and sinister.
Xing'er couldn't help but shiver. "Miss, so Lord Shen... has become your future stepmother's lover?"
What a mess. She couldn't make heads or tails of it.
Cui Yunchu's smile froze for a moment. "Don't make me slap you right now when I'm this happy."
Cui Yunchu gripped the invitation card, hummed a little tune, and walked out with light, quick steps.
As she walked, she suddenly threw her head back and laughed loudly several times, like she'd gone mad.
The household servants cast glances her way and all hurriedly kept their distance.
Xing'er lagged a few steps behind, trying to untangle the relationships.
The Lord Prime Minister's new wife has a past with his future son-in-law. Miss's future stepmother is her future husband's old flame. In one sentence: the stepmother-mother-in-law and the son-in-law have a history.
Xing'er felt her head was about to explode.
Is this really okay?
The whole capital must be getting their laughs from the Cui household. Although she felt that what Lord Shen really liked was her miss, her miss was convinced that Lord Shen and the Second Princess had something going on.
But now, Lord Shen had married off the Second Princess to the Lord Prime Minister.
Could it be that he was trading the princess for her miss?
Too many threads, Xing'er couldn't sort them out. "Miss, wait for me. Did we misunderstand Lord Shen earlier?"
In the carriage, Cui Yunchu pinched the invitation card, joy radiating from the corners of her eyes and the tips of her brows.
"Miss, isn't it possible that you misunderstood Lord Shen and the Second Princess, that they were completely innocent all along?"
Who else would send the one they love to an old man?
"Maybe Lord Shen was telling you in this very way — proving to you that there's nothing between him and the princess."
"Oh, that doesn't matter at all," Cui Yunchu waved a hand dismissively.
