“But…but, daughters from good families in the capital rarely get married before they reach marriageable age.” She offered Chu Yao proof, “Let’s not talk about other families, just yours. Chu Pei is already seventeen this year, and isn’t the old princess still traveling with her and not planning to get married yet?”
Upon hearing this, Chu Yao's slightly upturned lips stiffened, and his smile vanished.
Wu Shuang stared blankly at his stern face, clearly in a bad mood, and racked her brains to figure out what she had said wrong.
Is it because she doesn't want to get married too soon?
Marriages are not usually decided by the two families. Even though Chu Yao is a member of the royal family, their marriage was bestowed by the Emperor... Oh, right, when my sister Wuxia married Chu Ye, the date was chosen by the Imperial Observatory.
"Besides, shouldn't the wedding date be decided by the elders? How can we decide it privately, as if we're making a lifelong commitment?" Wushuang felt more and more justified as she spoke, and her voice grew louder and louder. "Moreover, I have an older sister who isn't married yet. I can't just rush to marry her; that would be against etiquette."
"You mean Wuyou?" Chu Yao asked. "Isn't her wedding date set for autumn? That's only about six months away."
“We’ll have to wait at least another year or two after that,” Wushuang said. “If we marry off our daughters one after another in such a short time, other families will look down on us, as if our daughters are too eager to get married and have no self-respect at all.”
No matter how grand the reasons are, it's useless; in the end, it all boils down to not wanting to get married.
Chu Yao usually manages the Lingguang Guard and deals with cunning and shrewd high-ranking officials. Compared to them, Wu Shuang is completely transparent, and her little tricks of saying one thing and meaning another cannot be hidden from him at all.
"Don't you have a cousin who's only a few months younger than you?" he asked casually.
Wushuang couldn't immediately figure out the connection between Wu Hui and the age gap between them and what they had just discussed, but she readily nodded in agreement.
"She can't get married before you either. If you stubbornly wait until you're 10 or 18 to get married, wouldn't that turn her into an old maid too?"
What old maid!
Wu Shuang's eyes widened: "Isn't it said that a girl is in her prime at eighteen?"
She was clearly at the most beautiful and charming age, so how did he call her an old maid?
"Don't be silly!" Chu Yao said. "You actually believe those kinds of things? They're just sweet talk to coax naive young girls like you. I'm a man, I know that the younger a girl is, the more popular she is."
Chu Yao wasn't the kind of lecherous man who only liked young girls, but if he didn't say that, Wu Shuang's stubborn little brain wouldn't change, and if she really waited until she was 10 to get married, he would be 30 years old by then.
He got married late in his previous life because his mother wasn't around and no one took the initiative to arrange his marriage, and he didn't find any girl he liked.
Now that there is a suitable person for you in this life, and Wushuang has grown up, what reason is there to keep delaying marriage?
Chu Yao always valued efficiency and preferred quick results, so he said decisively, "You're right. The wedding date shouldn't be decided by the two of us. Tomorrow when I go to the palace, I'll talk to my uncle and ask him to have the Imperial Observatory choose a good day."
If Chu Yao were to ask the Emperor to set a date, wouldn't that mean everything would be done according to his wishes? Wu Shuang shook her little head like a rattle drum.
"No, no, no," she said, "I really don't think this is right. Before Wuyou got married, the family was busy with her affairs and didn't have time to find a husband for Wuhui. If my wedding date is also set, they'll be busy with my affairs, and Wuhui's wedding will be delayed. As her older cousin, I can't just think of myself and not my younger sister. You wouldn't like such a selfish princess, would you?"
She should be a good older cousin, thinking of her younger sister. In their past life, she and Wu Hui were sworn enemies, and they've never been on good terms in this life either. When he took Chu Wan to visit the Jun family, Wu Hui rolled her eyes at Chu Wan, which he happened to witness. How could cousins who get along well treat each other's future sister-in-law like that?
Chu Yao narrowed his eyes, barely suppressing the urge to expose Wu Shuang's little scheme.
"Since you're worried about her marriage, I'd say it's actually quite easy to handle. Tomorrow I'll ask my uncle to arrange a marriage for her. You can go back and ask her if she prefers a member of the imperial family, a relative of the emperor, or a noble family. It doesn't matter if she prefers the eldest son or grandson of a member of a collateral branch."
Is this even possible?
Why didn't you ask her what she liked back then?
She had no desire to pick on that old man, Chu Yao!
Wu Shuang pouted unhappily. All the obstacles she could think of for getting married soon had been easily overcome by Chu Yao, but she just didn't want to get married so soon!
Although so many years have passed and she has long accepted the fact that she is really going to marry Chu Yao in this life, she still feels a little regretful.
Wushuang had witnessed her parents' deep affection and Chu Ye's infatuation with Wuxia, but she had no such feelings for Chu Yao. She had never experienced love in her previous life, and now that she was given a second chance, she hoped to make up for all her regrets and marry a husband who was her soulmate.
However, it is not appropriate to express such thoughts aloud. Girls from respectable families do not think about love and romance, as that would be considered frivolous and undignified.
Seeing Wu Shuang's face scrunched up, Chu Yao teased her, "What? All the obstacles have been cleared, and you're still not happy? What else is bothering you? Just tell me, and I promise to do my best to help you come up with a solution and resolve it quickly."
She even offered advice and suggestions, but he's the one who puts her in the most difficult position!
Wushuang was already full of dissatisfaction, and these words made her like a firecracker, ready to explode at any moment. She blurted out, "Wanwan is only a few months younger than Wuhui. You like to arrange marriages for others so much, why don't you find a suitable husband for your own sister first!"
"I'm still very, very young!" Chu Wan's soft, gentle voice sounded from behind Wushuang. "I don't want to get married. When you, Shuangshuang, marry into my family, we'll be together every day!" She sounded a little sad as she spoke. "So, Shuangshuang, you don't want to keep me company? I thought we were very close..."
Wu Shuang was so startled that she jumped off Chu Yao's lap. For a moment, she didn't know whether she should find an excuse to explain her intimate posture with Chu Yao earlier, or comfort Chu Wan and tell her not to misunderstand.
Chu Yao, accustomed to grand occasions, gently smoothed the wrinkles on his clothes, stood up unhurriedly, walked to Chu Wan, patted her shoulder, and said, "Shuangshuang didn't mean that. She'll be your sister-in-law in the future, so naturally she cares about your marriage. She's afraid that if she doesn't find a good man for you soon, all the good men will be snatched up by others. You see, when I said I'd find a man for her cousin Wuhui first, she got angry with me, complaining that I, as her brother, didn't prioritize your marriage. She's just trying to be nice to you, so she's upset on your behalf."
Chu Wan immediately beamed, "So I was just overthinking it. Shuangshuang, you're really good to me!" As she spoke, she pushed Chu Yao toward the stairwell, "Brother, why did you come up here? Shuangshuang and I are two girls, we have so many secrets to tell each other. You're a man, you can't listen to that, and you can't take Shuangshuang away from me!"
well!
Who actually stole it?!
That's his future queen!
Chu Yao didn't say anything, but he was already thinking about how to make his sister realize that marrying Wushuang was to accompany him, not her.
Chapter 79 | Table of Contents
Chapter Seventy-Nine:
Inside the Yuanxiang Residence of the Prince of Ying's mansion, Wushuang and Chuwan chatted and laughed happily, thoroughly enjoying themselves. (80)
At the same time, in the side room of the main house at the ends of the earth in the Marquis of Runan's mansion, Wu Hui paced back and forth restlessly.
A few days ago, she listened to He Yao's advice and temporarily suppressed her thoughts of punishing her two older sisters. However, with nothing to do for days, the days became dull and boring. The emperor's departure date for his northern tour was still undecided, and Wu Hui had completely lost patience.
"Miss, have some fruit." The maid Yuanxiao placed a fruit platter on the octagonal table. "These are the freshest snow pears."