Chapter 1049 The night is long and I can’t sleep

After the banquet.

Cui Zheng brought her daughter back to her residence. She was drunk and went to bed early with Chuntao taking care of her.

From Cui Yingying's residence, the sound of poetry reciting could be heard continuously:

"Flying swallows come when the New Festival comes, pear blossoms fall when the Qingming Festival comes. There are three or four green mosses on the pond, one or two orioles sing under the leaves, and the flying catkins are light during the long day..."

Hongniang, who was sleeping in the small bed next to her, listened to her mistress reciting it over and over again. She felt that she was almost able to recite it by heart, so she joked:
"Miss, are you interested in Mr. Su?"

Cui Yingying was teased by the maid, but she did not get angry. She just sighed and admitted:

"So what if he likes me? My father has already betrothed me to my cousin Zheng Heng. My mother won't agree to betroth me to Master Su again!"

Thinking of the marriage arranged by her parents, Cui Yingying simply got up from the bed, and walked back and forth in the tent, regardless of her smooth and half-naked shoulders, constantly sighing about her fate.

As Hongniang was the personal maid, seeing that her mistress couldn't sleep, she felt it would be inappropriate for her to continue lying down, so she had to get up, put on a veil, and stand with her mistress at the door, gazing at the crescent moon in the sky.

The master and servant were silent for a long time.

Hongniang suddenly complained:

"Miss, Zheng Heng is just a coward who relies on his family background, is idle, and is lustful. How can the master let you marry him?"

When Hongniang recalled the news she had heard about Zheng Heng, she immediately felt indignant for her young lady and at the same time worried about her own future situation.

After all, Hongniang is Cui Yingying's personal maid. If Cui Yingying marries a useless man, she will have to serve him.

Even if it wasn't for the sake of saving the young lady from her unfair fate, Hongniang decided to fight just for herself.

"Miss, if there is a way for you to marry Mr. Su, are you willing to do it?"

"any solution?"

Cui Yingying knew that her maid had been cunning since she was a child, and she might have some good ideas.

"Privately get married!"

As soon as Hongniang opened her mouth, she startled her young lady:
"This... How can I do this? My mother will beat me to death!"

In this era, getting married secretly will make the whole family subject to criticism from the whole society.

As the saying goes, if you are criticized by thousands of people, you will die without any illness.

If the news spread and ruined the reputation of the Cui and Zheng families, Cui Yingying couldn't imagine how angry her mother would be.

Hongniang was different from Cui Yingying. After all, she was born as a maid. She believed that if one person was full, the whole family would not be hungry. So she directly came up with a "bad idea":
"Miss, you are the only daughter of the Madam and the Master. If the Madam knew about this, she would at most scold you. Besides, since the matter has been settled, the Madam can do nothing about you."

Hongniang kept encouraging Cui Yingying.

Cui Yingying thought of her notorious cousin Zheng Heng, and then thought of Su Mingzhe. After comparing the two, her desire for freedom finally prevailed:
"Hongniang, I would like to get married to Master Su privately, but do you think he would agree?"

"Miss, if you agree, I will go and ask right away."

Hongniang drank a lot of wine at the banquet tonight because she couldn't recite poems. At the moment, she was feeling hot all over. She told the young ladies to stay in the camp and she went towards the general's tent.

Not long after.

In the commander's tent, Hongniang saw Su Mingzhe and told him her purpose directly.

"Hongniang, you said your daughter likes me?" Su Mingzhe saw that his performance at the banquet really attracted Cui Yingying, and he immediately laughed excitedly:
"In that case, I will go to Madam Cui to propose tomorrow and try to get engaged as soon as possible. Once your young lady's mourning period is over, we can be together."

"Mr. Su, I'm afraid my wife won't agree to your marriage."

Seeing that Su Mingzhe also had feelings for her young lady, Hongniang told him how her wife had deceived her master and betrothed her young lady to Zheng Heng, the son of Minister Zheng.

"Minister Zheng?"

When Su Mingzhe heard this, a 'weird' expression appeared on his face:
"Hongniang, the Minister Zheng you are talking about is the former Minister of Rites Zheng De?"

Years ago, some people attacked Prime Minister Cui because his ancestral home was in Boling, which made him a Liang native, and wrongly accused him of betraying his country and treason.

Prime Minister Cui was so angry about this unjust accusation that he died of illness.

Zheng De, who came from the Zheng family of Xingyang, could be considered a native of Liang. In addition, he was the brother-in-law of Prime Minister Cui, so he was also suspected by the emperor and had to take the initiative to report illness and return home.

At this point, although the Cui family and the Zheng family still have some connections in the Tang Dynasty court, the power they can directly grasp has been completely gone.

After three hundred years of suppression by the Tang Dynasty, the current Cui and Zheng families have long lost their thousand-year-old family heritage.

If we were to give a single comment, it would probably be "a lean camel is bigger than a horse", which is barely enough for these children from wealthy families to comfort themselves.

"it's him."

Hongniang thought Su Mingzhe was just a poor boy, and didn't know the current situation of the aristocratic families, so she started to explain:
"The Zheng family father and son are different from my master. My master and His Majesty are close friends. When His Majesty reestablished the Tang Dynasty ancestral temple, he received strong support from the Cui family of Boling. It was natural for His Majesty to let my master be the prime minister. However, the Minister Zheng was able to become the Minister of Rites because of my master's connections. He has no real ability..."

Su Mingzhe did not expect that Hongniang was so bold that she dared to say that one of the six ministers had no real ability.

However, he only thought about it for a moment and then burst into laughter.

Somewhere else, there might be some idiots filling the role.

But those who can get into politics are all "outstanding talents" with superb IQ.

A person without any ability mixed in with them is like a husky mixed in with wolves.

Unless he keeps silent and pretends to be a "dead wolf", his true colors will be revealed in the blink of an eye.

Therefore, Zheng Heng’s father must have real ability to become the Minister of Rites of the Tang Dynasty.

On the contrary, the accusations and impeachments against Prime Minister Cui and Zheng Heng's father in the court did make some sense.

After all, the Zheng family of Xingyang and the Cui family of Boling were both within the territory of Liang State. It might be false to say that they committed treason, but it is absolutely true to say that they had connections with Liang State.

Hongniang kept nagging for a while, but when she saw Su Mingzhe just smiled and said nothing, and looked at her with a bit of contempt, she couldn't help but get angry:
"Mr. Su, do you think I'm lying to you?"

"No."

Su Mingzhe flatly denied it and said seriously:
"I was thinking that without the support of the Prime Minister, Zheng Heng and his sons wouldn't even be able to gain a foothold in the court. I'm afraid they are all good-for-nothings."

"What you said is very true!"

When Hongniang saw Su Mingzhe agreeing with her, she turned her frown into joy, and even began to show some spring in her eyes:
"Sir, it's getting late. If you have nothing else to do, I will take my leave."

Is this girl hinting at me that I can do something to her?

Su Mingzhe thought of the matchmaker's 'boldness' in the movie, and a spark of anger suddenly rose in his heart:
"Hongniang, the night is long, why don't we sit for a while..."

(End of this chapter)