Little Cardamom

Chapter 10 – Withdrawal

There was no wind or rain overnight, and the next day was clear. When Ming Tan got up to have breakfast, she heard that the Marquis, together with the lady, had left early and seemed to be heading in the direction of the Duke of Ling’s residence.

She curved her lips and was in a good mood, and even had an extra half bowl of porridge.

Yesterday, the Marquis of Jing’an and his wife went to the Duke of Chang’s house to discuss the matter of withdrawal of marriage. Ming Tingyuan and Bai Jingyuan, two grumpy people colliding together, and the more they talked, the more they were fired up.

In the middle of the discussion, the two almost died to go to the Duke’s Mansion to beat Liang Zixuan to the ground and then force him to die to pay for it.

Fortunately, the two wives at the side painstakingly and patiently persuaded. The two parties agreed, and finally decided to use the courtesy way before the military way to withdraw the marriage.

After all, Ming Tan is a daughter, and the matter has become a big deal. The damage and embarrassment will affect the future marriage negotiations.

Of course, if the Duke of Ning’s House pretended to be dumb and stupid, biting down on the marriage, then don’t blame them for spreading the ugly things to the surface, one after another. Would they still want to deny it?

But when they arrived at the Duke of Ning’s house, they really had the courage to deny it!

The wife of the Duke of Ning, Li, was sitting at the head of the table, and although she was caught off guard by the early morning arrival of the Marquis of Jing’an and his wife, she quickly calmed down and acted as if she had no idea, saying in surprise: “What are you two talking about? What do you mean, my son Xuan had an affair with his own cousin and an illegitimate son before he welcomed the first wife into the family? You can’t say this nonsense.”

Ming Tingyuan slammed the table and said angrily, “Why are you pretending? Aren’t you just afraid that things will be exposed and deliberately designed a rescue! You are simply shameless!”

I can’t believe they even knew about this.

Mrs. Li’s palms were sweating, but her face was still smiling: “What is the Marquis talking about, I don’t understand it. The one who fell into the water is not my son Xuan.”

Mrs. Pei was busy placating Ming Tingyuan to keep him from getting angry.

Mrs. Li is right, the one who fell into the water during the first day of the year is Liang Zixuan, and it can only be Liang Zixuan. As long as they know about the behind-the-scenes design, they must not reveal it face-to-face, otherwise Ming Tan’s reputation will be damaged.

Stabilizing Ming Tingyuan, Pei looked at Li, to the point and calmly said: “Mrs. Li, there is no need to beat around the bush. I and the marquis came to the door today to withdraw from the marriage, since we have already found out the ins and outs of the matter.

“Twisted melons are not sweet, your Liang family has humiliated my Ming family’s first daughter. If you smoothly withdraw from this marriage, it would be good for both sides. Our two bridges return to the bridge and the road returns to the road. From now on, the well water will not violate the river water and it won’t kill you or me. If you do not agree ……”

She stopped at the point and did not go on.

Li smiled, knowing that it was not good, and the smile at the corner of her lips could not help but stiffen. But she had prepared for the worst and she wasn’t without a plan to deal with it.

After stabilizing her mind, she reluctantly smiled and said: “Where is this going? My mother’s niece lived in the house for a while. Her parents died and she came to stay with her relatives, so I took pity on her and let her stay in the house. By the way, your house also has a distant cousin, whose family can not have a few relatives.”

Li continued, “My niece has always wanted me to find a marriage for her, but she likes to be quiet and doesn’t like the hustle and bustle of the capital. Now, I have found a good marriage for her in her hometown, so she happily packed her things and went back home. I think in the past two days, her husband’s family has been planning to welcome the bride. Before leaving, she also said, although the capital is good, she is not used to living here. I’m afraid she can’t visit me again.”

The words turned, Li looked at the non-existent Duke of Ning, her voice also softened: “To this marriage with your family, the Duke and I have always attached great importance. The Duke hoped that the Marquis will return to the capital sooner, so that the marriage can be on the agenda.

“Speaking of which, since the establishment of our Da Xian dynasty, the titles have been hereditary, but no family is smooth all the way. The Marquis of Cheng’en, for good reason, said things will happen. The father-in-law has always thought that when our two houses get married, we will have someone to take care of us in the future, and we will not be randomly manipulated by others.

“Of course, if we have offended you, I would ask the marquis and madam to be more tolerant. As long as Zixuan’s marriage goes smoothly, everything is negotiable.”

The Duke of Ling is an incompetent official, mediocre in nature, and relies on Li to manage the affairs of his family. When Li said so, he nodded in agreement: “That’s exactly what I mean, that’s exactly what I mean.”

Pei, who originally had words of response, suddenly fell silent.

They are all smart people. When Li Shi said this, she understood it. There are three meanings in these words:

One, the person has been sent away to marry, will never return to the capital. It is impossible to spread the scandal, your marquis can rest assured.

The second is that the intention of the Duke of Ling’s House intended to tie the knot as before, now that the Marquis of Cheng’en House is in trouble, it is obvious that the Emperor was not pleased that he took shots, it is difficult to say whether this is a signal of the settlement. If it is a marriage, everybody is united, and will not be so easily manipulated and tricked.

The third is that as long as you don’t withdraw your marriage, any requests you make will do.

These words have already involved the dynasty, and also involves the compromise that the Duke’s House can make to fulfill the marriage, so Pei is not in a position to make a decision for Ming Tingyuan, nor is she able to do so.

She has grown up in a deep house, and knows that oftentimes, affection and righteousness are far behind profit. Not to mention that the person being married is not a good man, even if he is not a whole person, there is no shortage of noble families who are willing to give their daughters away in exchange for the chips they need.

Looking at Ming Tingyuan again, he looked indistinguishable.

He didn’t make a sound, so the room was quiet for a moment.

When Li wanted to show her sincerity again, two maids suddenly came in a hurry from outside, looking frightened and in a rush, and their manners were in a mess.

Li was about to scold, when the maid gasped, “Madam, outside the house, outside the house ……”

“Aunt, cousin! What has Zhu’er done wrong for you to treat me like this! I gave birth to Min Ge’er in October, and it was clearly agreed that when Miss Ming entered the house, I would be taken as a concubine and have Min Ge’er put on the family tree ……”

The maid did not finish her sentence, and a woman’s mournful cries came faintly from outside.

“…… sent me away so be it, why do you still want to marry me to the head steward of the village as a housekeeper, why do you do this to me! Cousin, aunt!”

When Li heard the voice, her face suddenly became ugly.

Didn’t they send her away? Why is she back again?

Ming Tingyuan’s face was sunken to the point of dripping water, and without even thinking about it, he slammed the table and said angrily: ” With such a poor character, you still dare to think about my Ming family’s daughter, a family of stupid and poisonous women! You are withdrawing from this marriage, or else!”

After saying that, he slammed the betrothal token on the ground and got up in anger.

Since the woman had made a scene outside the house, so that the Duke’s family would not make any more concessions, there was no possibility for the marriage to continue, and there was no need to retreat from the marriage in a low profile. Thinking of this, Pei also got up after him.

Outside the house, Zhu’er hugged her baby and burst into tears, and there were many onlookers, all commenting and pointing at the Duke of Ling’s house.

Pei and Ming Tingyuan didn’t look at each other, got into the carriage and left.

But when they got off the carriage back to the house, Pei couldn’t help but ask softly, “Marquis, if that woman didn’t make a scene, would you ……”

Ming Tingyuan understood her meaning, frowned and said: “What are you thinking about? I am not necessarily a nobleman, but I do not sell my daughter for glory! In addition, the things that can be produced by the Duke’s house are not worth coveting.”

He didn’t say anything earlier because he hadn’t organized his words of abuse! How could her madam look at him like that! He “hummed” and flung his sleeves up and moved forward.

In the back, Pei looked at his back and was actually stunned for a moment.

In fact, the one who returned to the Marquis of Jing’an’s residence before Pei and Ming Tingyuan was the little girl sent by Ming Tan to find out what happened.

The young girl told Ming Tan exactly what happened in front of the Duke’s residence.

After hearing this, Ming Tan was confused, and the bird’s nest porridge in her hand instantly lost its taste: “You mean to say that the Lady of the Duke of Ning asked that woman to marry the head steward of the village as a housekeeper, and that woman escaped, with her child in her arms, and cried in front of the Duke of Ning’s residence?”

“Yes, Miss. This matter…has already spread ……”

Ming Tan: “……”

She wanted to withdraw from the marriage, but she would rather have the elders of the two families sit down and find a decent excuse to withdraw in a low profile. In this way, the damage to her reputation can be minimized. When the wind has passed, she will then think of ways to clean up after the Duke of Ning.

Earlier she was afraid that her father would not want to fight for her with the Duke of Ning, so she deliberately performed that drama to make her father’s anger towards the Duke of Ning reach its peak and take the initiative to withdraw from the marriage.

In addition, she knows Mrs. Pei, according to her usual thoroughness, she will not let her father act impulsively, and most likely, will also find her aunt and uncle to discuss it together. As long as they have some genuine consideration for her, then the result of the discussion will be as she wishes.

Things were indeed going in the direction she had envisioned, but she didn’t expect that the Lady of the Duke would be so vicious to her own niece that she would force her to flee and make a scene regardless of the situation!

Now everyone in the capital knows about this scandal, how can her Ming family’s Ah Tan have any face!

Ming Tang was dizzy from the news when Mrs. Pei came to see her.

When Mrs. Pei saw her face was not well, she understood and asked as she walked inside, “Has A Tan already known about the matter of the Duke’s residence?”

She dismissed the maids, sat down and said softly, “Although this matter is unexpected, you want to withdraw from the marriage, and now it is as you wish.”

Ming Tan was stunned: “You know all about it.”

“The letter from the Bai House was delivered early yesterday morning, so how could it wait until lunch to come to you.”

In the end, Mrs. Pei is in charge of the Marquis of Jing’an Mansion, so there is no activity that can escape her eyes. Besides, Ming Tan is a girl brought up by her, she knows that Ming Tan is definitely not a person who can only cry when things happen.

Mingtan lowered his eyes and was silent for a long time: “Mother, it’s A Tan’s fault. A Tan didn’t tell you because she didn’t know where to start, and besides, this marriage was decided by her birth mother ……”

“No need to say more, mother understands.”

How can she not understand, for a lady of a big family, marriage is never in her own hands. She is not even sure about her biological father, so how can she put her hopes on herself.

She had wanted to talk to Ming Tan about her father’s affairs frankly, to enhance the father-daughter relationship. But now that her father has just returned to the capital, no amount of talk is as genuine as experiencing it yourself. And the affair has become so embarrassing, she does not want to consider anything else for a while.

“All right, let’s not mention this.” Mrs. Pei held her hand and helped her father her hair, “Mother knows you are aggrieved, now rip apart, it is not a bad thing. If you really find another decent excuse to quietly withdraw from the marriage, your heart will not feel comfortable.”

Ming Tan: “……”

It seems to have been a little bit comforting.

In any case, this marriage is finally withdrawn.

The scandal of the Duke’s house was spread all over the capital, and the young Miss of the Ming family was mentioned inside and outside the house, either with sympathy or with some unconcealed gloating.

Ming Tan did not hear those rumors, because she did not go out of the courtyard, since Mrs. Pei left, she sat at the table and directed the maids to pack their luggage.

She did not want to break her spirit for such a scum as Liang Zixuan, and she did not want to hang herself for nothing and take a life. Therefore, she discussed with Pei’s and found a Buddhist temple to pray for blessings, and temporarily shelter outside for a while to appear innocent.

“Spring cold has not passed, it is better to bring the silver fox cloak full of embroidery. It can be worn at night when it is cold.”

“Don’t want this, it’s all the material that was fashionable last year ……”

“These are also new clothes? Why does the color of the flower look familiar? Forget it, it doesn’t go well with the embroidered shoes I want to bring, so let’s put it aside.”

Lu’e was very active in packing. But Su Xin couldn’t help but remind, “Miss, we are going to the temple to pray for blessings, would it be too ostentatious to dress like this?”

” Is it? I picked some plain clothes on purpose.” Ming Tan looked at the boxes packed up, and said with uncertainty, “Since it’s ostentatious, let’s cut down a bit.”

At night, in the southern study of the Dongbei King’s residence, the secret guard reported the news in a low voice.

“…… and the matter of the Marquis of Cheng’en Mansion, several families are in the search for a way to extract themselves from the family, to find the doorway as the king previously expected.

“In addition, as soon as the matter of Duke Ling’s mansion came out today, the Empress Dowager, as expected by the king, called people to the palace before the palace doors closed. Marquis of Jing’an’s side is preparing five carriages, ready to send that fourth young lady out of the house to pray for a while to avoid the wind.”

Hearing this, Jiang Xu, who had not raised his eyes, suddenly put down the military book in his hand: “Five? What are they loaded with?”

The secret guard paused for a moment, realizing with hindsight that he had misunderstood the king for speaking in such a specific manner. He hung his head in shame and said, “It’s nothing, it’s all the fourth young lady’s clothes and accessories.”

Previously, he also thought that the Marquis of Jing’an wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to transport something, and specially sneaked into the stables to check out some, but the results are some women’s clothes, shoes and socks, jewelry hairpins, as well as gauze nets, incense burner sets, tea sets and so on.

Jiang Xu: “……”

Do you think you are going to a beauty pageant?

Ridiculous.

TRANSLATOR’S CORNER:
I am not a native speaker of either Chinese or English. I basically MTL and edit the text, sometimes I also use some sites for reference. I can’t guarantee that everything here is accurate, But I try to stick to the author’s work as much as possible. Please feel to comment any mistakes