Chapter 299 Who is the wife and who is the concubine
Leng Man didn't want to lose face, so she turned to her husband, shook her head repeatedly, showing weakness and asking for help.
Xu Mingqian understood, lowered his brows a little, looked at Gu Mengzhen with a serious face, bowed and politely refused.
"Your Majesty, my dynasty is Yue Sheng, and I have long abandoned the law of co-wifeship. I already have a wife, how can I marry another one?"
Gu Mengzhen took a sip of tea, feeling relaxed.
"My dear, what you said is wrong. You and the girl of the Leng family have no marriage certificate, and you are not in love with each other. How can you be called Madam?"
Xu Mingqian has sparkling eyes and a dignified bearing; he looks stern and awe-inspiring, yet polite and well-mannered.
"Madam and her family have treated me well for many years. Their kindness is as great as a mountain. I cannot bear it. Madam, you have not said you would leave me, so I will not let you go. Even if I ask for your love, I can only serve you as my concubine and give you the position of Miss Ning Si. Please think twice, Your Majesty."
While Gu Mengzhen was asking questions, he waved his sleeves and motioned Xu Mingqian to sit down.
"I have a plan, dear Lord, do you want to hear it?"
Seeing his wife kneeling, Xu Mingqian felt secretly guilty, but he could not disobey the emperor's will, so he could only sit down according to etiquette.
"Your Majesty, please give me your advice. I am all ears."
Gu Mengzhen raised his lips with a hint of playfulness.
"Outsiders don't know your family's situation, and they think that you two have a marriage certificate, and have always regarded Leng Man as Madam Xu. When the fourth daughter Ning enters the mansion, Leng Man can still be Madam Xu to the outside world, and the fourth daughter Ning will be a concubine; inside, my dear minister will propose marriage as the principal wife, and go to the governor's platform with the fourth daughter Ning to sign the marriage certificate."
"This way, we will not only not let down Leng Man's companionship over the years, but we will also be able to treat her fairly and not let the fourth daughter Ning suffer any injustice."
Just thinking about it made her feel that she had lost all her dignity. Leng Man burst into tears, heartbroken.
Gu Mengzhen glanced at him arrogantly and smiled complacently.
"What do you think, my dear?"
This situation was unheard of, and Xu Mingqian couldn't help but ask questions.
"Your Majesty is wise, and I dare not make any rash comments."
"May I ask, my Lord, if this is the arrangement, in practical terms, who will be the wife and who will be the concubine?"
Gu Mengzhen's cold-heartedness is evident in his words.
"According to the law, the fourth daughter of Ning is the legitimate Madam Xu; Leng Man is a daughter of the Leng family, she is neither the legal wife nor the concubine."
"As for the relationship, please do as you please, my dear."
Xu Mingqian's eyes were shocked and he couldn't believe it.
"All wives of officials have imperial decrees. For those below the prime minister, their imperial decrees should be one level lower than their husbands; for the prime minister's wife, her imperial decrees are equal to her husband's."
"I dare to ask again, Master, has Miss Ning Si received any imperial decree?"
The more miserable Leng Man cried, the happier Gu Mengzhen became.
"Of course. After you sign the marriage certificate, I will issue an edict to confer the title of Second Rank Lady to Ning Sinu, making her equal to the Prime Ministers of the Eight Palaces. As for Leng Man, she can still be a court lady in name only."
Leng Man was already in tears, unable to bear it any longer, and appealed to the emperor.
"If this is your Majesty's will, you might as well just divorce me!"
Thinking that he had vented his anger for Hua'er, Gu Mengzhen's every move was filled with joy.
"You have nothing to do with the Xu family, so there is no need to divorce. If you don't want to, pack up your things and return to the Leng Mansion immediately. No one will stop you."
Leng Man burst into tears again.
"How can I save my dignity?"
Gu Mengzhen's smile disappeared, and the warmth in his dragon eyes completely disappeared.
"When you used bad words to teach the musicians and slandered Queen Zhenyu at will, did you ever think about how her dignity would be saved?"
With no other options, Leng Man had to tell the truth.
"Your Majesty is wise. I didn't know about Empress Zhenyu. It was the musician who accidentally told me about it, which made me jealous. It's just a little bit, I can forget it after thinking about it. How can I be disrespectful?"
She knew the truth was absurd and the emperor would not believe it.
Sure enough, Gu Mengzhen asked coldly.
"He is just a civilian musician. How did he know about Queen Zhenyu?"
Leng Man replied respectfully.
"He said that King Dijin had told him to tell her, so he had to tell her."
Hearing her talking without thinking, Xu Mingqian was startled and hurriedly reminded her in a low voice.
"Madam, please be careful with your words..."
Gu Mengzhen was immediately furious.
"You mean, Prince Di Jin deliberately instigated you to slander his mother? Not to mention that he had no idea about it. Even if he knew about it, why would he do such a disloyal and unfilial thing?!"
"Can you instruct others to slander your mother?!"
Leng Man temporarily forgot about crying and focused on defending herself.
"That's someone else who used the name of Prince Di Jin to stir up a dispute between the Emperor and Prince Di Jin, hoping to reap the benefits. In short, I am indeed wronged!"
Gu Mengzhen's heart was filled with pity for Huaer and he simply refused to listen to what she said.
"How can I believe such nonsense without any evidence?"
"Besides, if you weren't jealous, how could this happen today?"
Leng Man argued tirelessly.
"The musician described it vividly and in great detail. I really...really..."
Xu Mingqian couldn't bear to watch it anymore, so he stood up and knelt down to plead for his wife.
"In our daily life together, Madam has never done anything to be jealous of others' talents, let alone to disrespect the late Empress. I am willing to be your guarantor and I pray that Your Majesty will understand."
Gu Mengzhen chuckled.
"is it?"
"I didn't know that the girl from the Leng family was such a reasonable person. On the contrary, I heard that she had done many shameless things. First, rumors made people think that Lord Xu had countless mistresses in his backyard. Second, for the sake of so-called face, she was tit-for-tat with all women. Anyone who approached Lord Xu would be punished by any means."
"Is this a rumor or a fact?"
Xu Mingqian's eyes were resolute.
"Your Majesty, this is all fabricated."
The intimidation in Gu Mengzhen's dragon eyes was self-evident.
"Lord Xu is deliberately protecting her, so I have wrongly accused her?"
Xu Mingqian trembled and bowed his head.
"Wei Chen is terrified."
Seeing him like this, Gu Mengzhen put away his anger and gradually became friendly.
"Considering your gratitude and kindness, I will give you a lenient sentence."
"Leng Man is still in charge of the third branch of the Xu family. When you welcome the fourth daughter of Ning, I will issue an edict to confer Leng Man the title of a third-rank imperial lady. What do you think, my dear?"
Leng Man was dissatisfied.
Oh, my wife is of the third rank, and I am of the second rank. My wife is not a member of the Xu family, so even if she has an imperial decree, she can only be called Madam Leng. I am the real Madam Xu.
I have stooped to this point, which is even worse than Madam Ning's being favored as a concubine and having her wife abandoned... It would be better to keep this a secret, but once it is made public, won't I be laughed at by the whole world?
Xu Mingqian bowed politely.
"Thank you Lord for your grace."
Gu Mengzhen thought about it briefly and came up with a plan, which he then expressed generously.
"I have learned that Miss Ning San is going to open a shop recently, called a beauty salon. There will be a beauty salon on the first floor, which will be run by Miss Ning Si. Upstairs are all side rooms, and the doctors and female doctors from Huichuntang will be hired to treat the skin of the guests. When the shop opens, Lord Xu can go and take a look. You can give him any silver you want, and it will all be paid from the national treasury, so you don't have to worry about the cost."
Xu Mingqian politely declined.
"I dare not. There is still some money in the treasury of the Xu Mansion that can be used."
When Leng Man heard that her own warehouse was to be used, she was extremely angry and could not bear it any longer.
"Your Majesty, please think twice. Is there any such way of courting love in the world?"
Gu Mengzhen was calm and took it as a matter of course.
"Publicly, you are planning great things; privately, you are willing to study the boring and dull principles of health care for your wife. Both of these are for the greater good and love, so why are you not proud of them but have objections?"