"Mother!" Xie Yi turned around, his eyes wide with surprise. "Feng Ran is just a child. How can she take care of a child? It's better to let Yun take care of him!"
The elderly Lady Xie cast a disdainful glance at him. "If I let her take care of him, I'm afraid she'll lead my grandson astray. It's settled."
Xie Yi swallowed hard. He always felt this was inappropriate, but he was too concerned about his face and afraid that the elderly Lady Xie would scold him like she did to Yun. So he kept silent.
Seeing that Xie Yi didn't object, Yun also agreed. "Mother, don't worry. I'll go back and pack Chenghui's things right away."
After everyone had left, Nanny He, who had been waiting outside the door, led all the servants out of the room, closed the door and window, and then stood guard outside.
Inside the room, Nanny Su moved a stool in front of the elderly Lady Xie.
The elderly Lady Xie pointed to the stool. "Sit here!"
Xie Feng Ran sat over. Then she heard the elderly Lady Xie say, "Tell me the truth. Did you instigate your younger sister to provoke the Third Princess?"
"Grandmother!" Xie Feng Ran suddenly looked up, unable to believe her ears. "Grandmother, do you suspect that I did it on purpose? Even if I'm not sensible, I wouldn't joke about the reputation of the Marquis Mansion. Framing my younger sister in the palace would only harm our entire Xie family!"
The elderly Lady Xie stared at Xie Feng Ran's expression for a long time. Seeing that her look didn't seem to be feigned, she shifted her gaze.
"Since it wasn't you, I can reject your father's plea."
Xie Feng Ran lowered her head. She didn't have the slightest intention of pleading for Xie Yun Xi.
The elderly Lady Xie clearly didn't want to listen to her nonsense. Then she continued, "Originally, I planned to marry you into the royal family. With your conditions, you're fully qualified to be the Crown Prince's main consort. Grandmother has observed that the current emperor relies more on the Crown Prince. Once the Crown Prince ascends the throne in the future, the position of the queen will surely be yours. Fortunately, the queen also likes you. But now, this is no longer appropriate."
The elderly Lady Xie squinted her eyes and thought slowly.
The queen had urgently summoned her yesterday, but there had been no news from her until now.
Did the queen change her mind, or was she held back by something?
And there were also the rumors outside...
The elderly Lady Xie looked down at her beautiful granddaughter. Such a talented girl, if she couldn't marry into the royal family, then who else would be worthy of her?
"Grandmother, the Third Princess kept saying that our Marquis Mansion is trying to curry favor with the powerful. If we continue to form a marriage alliance with the royal family, won't this bad reputation stick to us?"
"Don't pay attention to what the Third Princess said. She's just a good-for-nothing. One day, she'll be sold without even knowing it." The elderly Lady Xie looked disdainful. She looked down at Xie Feng Ran and said earnestly, "Grandmother won't do you any harm. If the queen really intends to form a marriage alliance with our Xie family, how could she allow such rumors to spread?"
Xie Feng Ran thought about the queen's actions yesterday. It really confirmed what her grandmother had said.
When the marriage contract was announced in the future, they could just say that the queen had taken a fancy to the Xie family.
As for what her grandmother said about it being inappropriate...
Just as this thought flashed through her mind, she heard the elderly Lady Xie continue, "But now, I'm afraid the queen is also avoiding the edge of the Grand Princess and doesn't dare to propose marriage to you like this!"
Xie Feng Ran's heart skipped a beat. She asked in a low voice, "Grandmother, I don't understand. Is the Grand Princess really that powerful?"
"She's the most like Emperor Dezong!"
The elderly Lady Xie squinted her eyes and fell into deep thought.
During the period before Emperor Dezong passed away, the old marquis was in the palace. He said that Emperor Dezong had made all the arrangements.
But just at this critical moment, there was a rebellion in the northern border, and the Grand Princess had to leave the capital to suppress it.
As soon as the Grand Princess left, Emperor Dezong passed away. Immediately afterwards, the current emperor ascended the throne in front of the spiritual tablet. His first imperial edict was to confer the title of Grand Princess on his elder sister and entrust her with 800,000 troops in the northern border.
But the Grand Princess's husband became a sacrificial victim.
What did the old marquis say? After him, the Marquis Mansion should just go with the flow. Since Yi is mediocre in talent, if he can't hold on to the title, then so be it!
But if Yi can't do it, there's still Feng Ran!
A sudden stubbornness welled up in the elderly Lady Xie's heart. She lowered her head and looked seriously at Xie Feng Ran. "You must remember that the century - old glory of the Marquis Mansion must not be destroyed in our hands. Grandmother will enter the palace tomorrow and will surely arrange this marriage!"
"Grandmother, could you please listen to what I have to say?"
The elderly Lady Xie let out a grunt. "Speak!"
"Granddaughter thinks this marriage is inappropriate!"
The elderly Lady Xie suddenly looked up and stared fixedly at Xie Feng Ran. "Have you always been unwilling to marry the Crown Prince?"
"Grandmother, it's not a matter of whether I want to marry the Crown Prince or not. It's the situation that doesn't allow me to. " Xie Feng Ran stood up and knelt down. Leaning against the old lady's knee, she said softly, "Grandmother, to be honest, you've been holding up the Marquis Mansion for so many years. Granddaughter knows what's at stake. Even if I'm not willing in my heart, for the sake of the Marquis Mansion, I'll do it."
Xie Feng Ran knew very well what kind of person the elderly Lady Xie was. To persuade her to change her mind, she had to start from the interests of the Marquis Mansion.
"Then what do you think is inappropriate about this marriage?"
The elderly Lady Xie didn't push Xie Feng Ran away. She wanted to hear what she had to say.
"Granddaughter has also thought about it these days. Although I don't know what the queen sees in me, it must be related to the background of the Marquis Mansion. Similarly, is it also because of the Marquis Mansion that the County Prince has taken a fancy to me? If you enter the palace to arrange this marriage when the rumors are flying everywhere, we'll completely offend the County Prince."
"Although I've only met the County Prince once, I know he's not a good person. I've heard that he was also an autocratic person on the frontier. If we anger him and he uses some extreme means to retaliate against the Marquis Mansion, won't we suffer a great loss?"
Xie Feng Ran made it very clear that the Marquis Mansion couldn't afford to offend the people from the Grand Princess's Mansion now.
The expression on the elderly Lady Xie's face also became solemn. She sat up straight and pulled Xie Feng Ran up. "You do have a point. But if the County Prince really comes to propose marriage, if we reject him, won't we offend the queen? If we don't agree and he refuses to let the Marquis Mansion go, what should we do?"
Xie Feng Ran shook her head. "We won't form a marriage alliance with the queen, and we definitely won't agree to his proposal. In the game among the royal family, we're just the chess pieces on the chessboard. If we want to avoid being manipulated, we have to find a position on the chessboard that won't be affected."
The elderly Lady Xie squinted her eyes. There was an unfathomable light in her eyes. She seemed to be seeing this granddaughter for the first time. She tapped Xie Feng Ran's hand. "Go on."
"So, Grandmother, granddaughter wants to go to the Royal Girls' Academy."
Hearing Xie Feng Ran say this, the elderly Lady Xie wasn't very surprised.
Looking at Xie Feng Ran, she said indifferently, "Tell me. Did you have your eyes on the Girls' Academy from the very beginning? Did you ask for the invitation from the Sun family? Are you on good terms with Miss Sun?"