Chapter 168: Choice (Part 2)

"Why, can't you make up your mind?" Cui Xiaofu smiled and took Cui Ning's hand to sit down, and said softly: "Auntie has watched you grow up since she was a child. How could she see you jump into the fire pit without any care? It would be fine if she was a very outstanding man, but she was that kind of person. If you marry him, I am sure you will never be happy in your life, and Wang Yan will not be happy either. I just disgusted with your father for this, and even sacrificed his only daughter for his little power."

"But I was worried that if I left with him, my father would hate him to the core and put on his shoes everywhere, but he would hurt him." This was what Cui Ning was most worried about. Her father was so decisive and even threatened herself with filial piety. She never understood why her father was so disgusted with Zhang Huan.

"That's because Zhang Huan is the son of Prince Yu." Cui Xiaofu seemed to see through Cui Ning's heart and smiled: "Zhang Huan's strength will sooner or later be the enemy of the aristocratic government, so your father hates him so much. As for the statement of wives and concubines is just your father's excuse. All he cares about is the interests of the Cui family."

Of course, Cui Xiaofu would not let Cui Ning marry Wang Yan, which would damage her vital interests and keep Zhang Huan in her hands, which would be in line with her Cui Xiaofu's best interests, so Cui Ning must not leave Zhang Huan, and must take her into his hands.

How to achieve both ends? Cui Xiaofu has a long time ago.

"You are right. If you leave with Zhang Huan, your father will never let him go. He is still very weak and needs the support of the court in many aspects. If you follow him, his future will be very difficult."

Speaking of this, Cui Xiaofu saw that Cui Ning was about to speak, so she waved her hand to stop her, "Of course my aunt won't let you marry Wang Yan, so as long as you follow your aunt's arrangements, your father will have nothing to do."

"Please make your words clear. If this will hurt my father, I will not agree." Cui Ning suddenly became a little sensitive. She felt that her aunt seemed to be using her.

"Don't you trust your aunt?" Cui Xiaofu's face suddenly became gloomy and she said coldly: "Okay, go and marry Wang Yan! Go and marry the eldest son of the absolutely pure bloodline. I might as well tell you the truth. The Shannan Wang family is an unclean family. Do you know whose son Zhang Xuan, Zhang Ruohao's eldest son, is? It is the work of their Wang family. In fact, your father knows this."

Cui Ning's face turned pale, and her head slowly lowered, without saying a word. Cui Xiaofu couldn't help but feel proud when she saw her showing weakness. She half-closed her eyes and two words burst out from her mouth: "Become a monk!"

"Become a monk?" Cui Ning's eyes were a little confused. She had thought about becoming a monk, but after seeing Zhang Huan, her desire to become a monk disappeared without a trace. Now Cui Xiaofu suddenly asked, which made her a little at a loss.

"In fact, it's not really a monk, it's just a way for you to avoid marriage." Cui Xiaofu looked at Cui Ning and said sincerely: "If I guessed correctly, Zhang Huan will definitely capture Wang Yan and make him unable to become a groom. So if you become a monk, you will just give your father a step, and you won't hurt Zhang Huan either."

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“If you think it through, I will arrange everything.”

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Cui Xiaofu left, and Cui Ning was also in deep thought. It should be said that the aunt's words reminded her from a negative side. Yes! Whether Zhang Huan captured Wang Yan or she and Zhang Huan left, Zhang Huan had destroyed the marriage between the two clans. He had touched his father's bottom line. His father would not let him go no matter what. As for whether he followed him or not, it was not important.

Cui Ning is also an extremely smart woman. The biggest difference between her and Pei Ying is that she always thinks about others and always thinks about the harm her behavior will bring to her family. So sometimes she would rather be wronged. This is her gentle and considerate side, but it is also her weak side. It is precisely because of her gentleness and confusion that she is hurt again and again.

But this time was her biggest choice in her life, which would determine her own destiny. She had to make a decision, whether to leave or become a monk?

"Click!" The door sounded softly, and a ball of paper rolled in through the crack of the door. Cui Ning quickly walked forward and picked up the ball of paper. From the crack of the door, he saw a corner of the Taoist robe floating away.

'It's Li Fanyun!' Cui Ning was stunned for a moment. She closed the door and opened the paper ball. There was a line of beautiful small words on it: 'Your aunt wants to use you to control Zhang Huan. If you need my help, come to me!'

This sentence seemed like a flash of lightning, which suddenly illuminated Cui Ning's heart. At this moment, she suddenly made up her mind. She quickly walked to the table, pulled out a piece of paper, and focused a little, then picked up the pen and wrote: "Dad, please forgive my daughter for being unfilial. This is the first time in my life that my daughter did not listen to you and wanted to leave with him, but my daughter also promised you that without your consent, my daughter would never marry him without permission. I also asked my father to pity my daughter. Except for him, my daughter no longer wants to marry anyone again... "

As he was writing, Cui Ning couldn't help but burst into tears, and tears rolled down onto the letter.

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When a red sun burst out in the east sky, bursting with golden light. A new day came. Early in the morning, Pei's mansion became as busy as usual. Pei Jun and several officials' sons went to the court room early, while Zhang Huan and Pei Ying packed their belongings and prepared to go out. Today they decided to go to Zhongnan Mountain for a temporary trip. Soon, several carriages full of items quickly drove out of the city under the escort of 200 personal soldiers. At the same time, another team of cavalry also escorted several carriages out of Yongjiafang.

The two teams gathered outside the city, and soon the soldiers stationed outside the city rushed over. They did not go to Zhongnan Mountain, but galloped towards Tongguan.

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At noon, Zhang Huan led more than 100 people to return to Chang'an quietly.

Cuiyunju in Pingkangfang, the original wine shop of Jingniang, was later occupied by Cui Qinggong as another big restaurant in the backstage. Soon after, no authentic source of wine, its business gradually faded day by day.

But yesterday, a big customer suddenly spent the whole day with a 300-cent wallet. This was undoubtedly a great news for a light-business restaurant. Cui Yunju has packed up early in the morning to prepare for today's feast.

Zhang Huan sat alone in a small house in Cuiyunju drinking. Although several impatient families had already come outside, the person he was waiting for had not arrived yet. He was not in a hurry. He had just received the news that Wang Yan had gone out. Zhang Huan glanced at the hourglass in the corner of the room. It was still noon, and there were still two hours before the appointment. It seemed that he could not wait. Zhang Huan smiled and immediately called the shopkeeper to explain a few words.

Wang Yan's age seems to be as tall as Zhang Huan, with a pancake face, and barely dignified facial features. He will be happy for two years. First, he learned that he would marry Cui Ning, who is the number one beauty in the aristocratic family, and then he was appointed as the Minister of Justice. On the wedding night and the golden list, he encountered both great joys in life. Wang Yan couldn't help but feel happy. At the beginning, under the suppression of his father, he stayed at home for a few days, but in the past two days, he could no longer help but feel that if he didn't go out to show off to others, his two great joys would become dull.

It happened that Zhang Huan's remarks in the court aroused public indignation among the children of the aristocratic families. As the biggest advantage of the reform of the family, Wang Yan felt that he had the obligation to become the leader of this movement to maintain the dignity of the aristocratic families. After receiving the war letter from Zhang Huan, he became busy early in the morning, conceiving and raising emotions, and at the same time he picked up more than a dozen guards with big and round waists. By noon, he could no longer stand it, so he rode a horse and led a group of subordinates to rush towards Pingkangfang.

Cui Yunju has been here several times, so he is naturally familiar with the passage. When he walked to the door, he signed up and immediately ran up to two beautiful Hu Ji, one on the left and the other on the right, and intimately pulled Wang Yan into the room.

The room was decorated with luxurious decoration, with a square table of rosewood in the middle. Opposite the table was a man with a black face, wearing a military uniform, about the same age as himself. He smiled and looked quite friendly.

"Is he just Zhang Huan?" Wang Yan thought to himself. He bowed slightly and said coldly: "I am Wang Yan in Xiangyang, who is your lord?"

"I am Zhang Huan! I have been waiting for you for a long time."

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The late winter night came very quickly, and the sun finally had not disappeared, and the stars were already shining in the deep blue sky. Cui Yuan was tired for a day and was exhausted when he returned to the mansion. He had just sat down to prepare for supper when an old housekeeper suddenly ran to report: "Master, Wang Shangshu is at the door, and he said he had something urgent to ask for a meeting."

Cui Yuan was stunned. He immediately realized something was wrong. He threw away the chopsticks and walked out the door. When he walked to the door, he saw Wang Ang paced back and forth anxiously with his hands behind his back. As soon as he saw Cui Yuan, he hurriedly said: "Cui Xiang, I'm afraid something is wrong. The dog has not come back since noon."

"What!" Cui Yuan was shocked, and he immediately asked, "Do you know where Zhang Huan is?"

"I just asked, saying that they went to Zhongnan Mountain to have a trip."

"Not good!" Cui Yuan's scalp became numb. He had just relaxed his vigilance when something happened. He suddenly remembered that his daughter kowtowed three times to him yesterday. At that time, he thought she was going to get married into the Wang family, but unexpectedly it was.

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"Come on! Prepare a carriage for me to go to Daming Palace." Cui Yuan could no longer control the anxiety in his heart and shouted loudly.

At this moment, a few horses rushed to the distance, but they were guards in the palace. One of them flew off the horse, ran to the front, knelt down and raised a letter and shouted: "This is the letter left by Princess Qinghe to the Prime Minister. I will send it to the Queen Mother for a thousand years."

A guard came forward to take it and passed it to Cui Yuan. Cui Yuan tore open the letter skin in a few seconds and swept it quickly with the faint light in front of the mansion. Suddenly, his hand trembled violently and slowly raised his head. He looked up at the starry sky for a while without saying a word, with great melancholy and loss in his eyes.

"Prime Minister, what should we do now?" Wang Ang asked carefully.

"You go back! Wang Yan will be fine. Zhang Huan will release him back as long as he leaves Hedong." Cui Yuan looked at Wang Ang and smiled helplessly: "Shangshu Wang, since the marriage between our two families has not been announced yet, let the eldest son of Cegong, Cui Xiong, come to marry your second daughter. I will transfer Wang Yan to serve as the Minister of Personnel. What do you think?"

Wang Ang knew that this was Cui Yuan’s biggest compensation, so he nodded, “Assuming the Prime Minister’s orders!”

Cui Yuan looked at Wang Ang and walked away. He immediately turned around and waved to his nephew Cui Wushang. Cui Wushang stepped forward and bowed and said, "Please give orders from the head of the family!"

"You immediately bring some people to chase you in the direction of Tongguan. If you can catch up with the lady, tell her that I vomited blood and fainted on the ground after reading her letter."

"But the head of the family, what if I can't catch up?"

"If you can't catch up, come back!"

Cui Wushang responded, turned around and greeted the guards. Just as he was about to leave, Cui Yuan hesitated for a moment and suddenly called him again. Cui Yuan took out his daughter's letter and read it over and over again, tears in his eyes. After a long time, he finally shook his head and said, "Forget it, let her go!"

After saying that, Cui Yuan sighed long, as if she had suddenly become ten years older.

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To be continued...