"What?" Cao Fenfang asked with a raise of her brow as she stared at Wen You who was giving her a wry look.
"Master… Of all the princes, only His Highness has control over the military. Perhaps due to that, he is the fittest," Wen You tried to explain.
"The others are unfit?" Cao Fenfang teased with a small smile.
"There are indeed nine princes, it is expected that not all of them would be fit," Wen You said. "The first prince is prideful. The second prince is greedy. The third prince is wrathful. The fourth prince is full of envy. The fifth prince is lustful. The sixth prince is gluttonous, and the seventh prince is slothful."
"Eighth prince?" Cao Fenfang asked just as Xiao Xiulan came in with the tea set.
"The eighth prince is almost non-existent. Perhaps, the fight for the throne is too deadly, thus he has decided to live the life of a commoner," Wen You answered.
Hearing that, Cao Fenfang gave a fake smile, "Hypocrite. An unfit prince is not a prince."
"That is indeed true," Wen You accepted the statement for the eighth prince although he did not know if it was true or not.
Wen You was simply tasked to briefly learn of the political scene in the capital. Cao Fenfang did not tell him to learn about the ins and outs of all the royalties and nobles. Well, even if she did, he would not be able to give her all the information as he would have to utilize their Night Spies to help him seek the information.
Once he finished his statement, Xiao Xiulan set the tea on the table and poured a cup for Cao Fenfang.
When Cao Fenfang was handed the small porcelain cup with exquisite designs and took a sip, she asked, "Da-Hong Pao?"
"Yes," Xiao Xiulan briefly answered.
"Smart," Cao Fenfang praised with a small smile on her face.
"Thank you for the compliment, Young Miss," Xiao Xiulan responded with a smile hidden behind her veil that she only took off when washing her face.
Having moistened her throat, Cao Fenfang turned to Wen You and asked, "Gong Zhensheng?"
"Gong Zhensheng is one of the richest men in the capital, controlling the city port and much more. However, he is infamous for being lustful. There are rumored to be more than fifty concubines in his courtyard," Wen You explained everything that he could, especially since this is the man that Cao Fenfang would be forced to marry. "He believes that he is immortal, not caring much about lines between black and white. Although his household is chaotic, his control on the economy is very stable."
"Stable economy?" Cao Fenfang scoffed at that statement. "Unable to control household, is the ability to fail at life."
At her words, Wen You did not speak back. He knew that the Qian family was very unstable when it came to household matters. Not only that, they may seem like they are stable in court, but in fact, the emperor has long been trying to nip the Qian clan from gaining any more power than they already have. With the marriage with one of the local tycoons controlling the economy, the Qian family would not be going up - only down.
Hearing the chatter about the marriage, Wei Cuifen asked, "Young Miss, what are you planning to do about this marriage? The consummation night… and even the bowing… Miss, won't be able to marry in the future. Many people will shame Miss for being a divorcee or a widow."
"Consummating?" Cao Fenfang scoffed again. "In his dreams. Marriage? This miss never expected to marry."
"Miss, Master won't be happy when learns that you have no plans to give him a grandchild to hold," Wei Cuifen wryly spoke when hearing the last sentence.
"You can," Cao Fenfang automatically responded to Wei Cuifen.
"..." Wei Cuifen wanted to facepalm. "Who would I do it with, Miss?"
"Choose, Cui Xing? Wen You?" Cao Fenfang said without a care.
"Miss!" Wei Cuifen raised her voice a little bit, knowing that Cao Fenfang did not like loud noises. "No choosing! It's always been Wen You!"
"Wen You will be happy," Cao Fenfang spoke while smiling and giving him a glance. "Right?"
"Master, please don't tease us," Wen You sighed, shaking his head.
However, Cao Fenfang was indeed right. They were a pair and could give the Old Master a grandchild. But, the Old Master wanted a child that was the blood of his direct disciple more than anyone else.
No longer talking anymore, Cao Fenfang placed the cup of tea that she finished drinking on the table and headed towards the bed. For days, she had been unable to sleep due to the shaking of the carriage and the bustle of life that was right outside. Now that there was silence, she would finally sleep.
As the four servants knew the personality of their mistress, they all went their ways. Xiao Xiulan collected the tea and came back to guard Cao Fenfang, while Wei Cuifen went to sleep to get ready for her night shift. This was the same Cui Xing who guarded the door during the day and secretly switched shifts with Wen You.
When the next day came, Cao Fenfang had probably slept for a little over twelve hours. Normally, she would naturally wake up in a good mood. Unfortunately, she was disturbingly woken up by the shrill voice of Auntie Zheng.
Under the protection of her trusted people, she could sleep without worrying too much about safety. Of course, she still kept a quarter of her consciousness to make sure she was safe. Without her people, she would be half on guard and half asleep, but this still caused her to not get much restful sleep.
A human would never get peaceful sleep if they were always on guard, even if the majority of their body was asleep. This was simply because the person would always subconsciously be waking up and falling back to sleep. In this case, they would only wake up very tired once again.
Due to this, Cao Fenfang always slept long hours to make up for the lack of restful sleep. And, with the moodiness in her, Xiao Xiulan responded to the annoyingness of Auntie Zheng who was being stopped right outside of her door by Cui Xing.
"Apologies but Master has ordered this servant to bring Eldest Miss to the study," Auntie Zheng stated in a forceful tone that showed she was not happy at being stopped by an unknown maid.
Auntie Zheng wanted to force her way in, but she was too scared by Cui Xing who emanated a scary aura, and even when she thought that Xiao Xiulan was a softy due to the way she looked - she found out that she could not even move away the arm belonging to the maid, even by a small millimeter.
Being forced to wake up, Cao Fenfang was helped by Wei Cuifen to freshen up and put on her veils. Then, she left the guestroom with a cold face. A face that was even colder than the attitude she gave Auntie Zheng and Master Qian yesterday.
When Cao Fenfang entered the study, Master Qian told her, "Don't wear those clothes. Change into something else. I'll have Auntie Zheng change you into something else. Master Gong will be coming over soon to talk about the marriage and see you for the first time."
Cao Fenfang was willing to go through a stupid wedding, but if someone told her to take off the veils that covered her entire body, she would rather kill that person.
Thus, she responded, "Impossible."
Naturally, Master Qian was not happy and said, "How can you marry Master Gong if he can't even see your face? Hurry and go change!"
Although Master Qian was trying to show a strong front, he was actually already weakening. Why? Because since the moment Cao Fenfang entered his study until now, she reeked of death.
Knowing that not many people would understand her sentences with only one or two words, Cao Fenfang spoke, "Marry him to your concubine daughter."
Master Qian wanted to spit blood at those words, "Impossible! She's already being engaged to the ninth prince!"
"Already? Lies," Cao Fenfang gave an obvious scoff. "An idiot marrying a royal. Sending her to death."
Then, she walked out without a care for what Master Qian wanted to say. Master Qian was incredibly angry at her, but he also knew that she was speaking truths.
Qian Yingtai was indeed not yet engaged to the ninth prince. Although they had sent many pictures and proposals, he never accepted any of them. Usually, girls were engaged at the age of twelve or fourteen, but she was not because they were just waiting for the prince to accept their proposal.
Since young, they had educated her that she would be the wife of the ninth prince. However, when they knew that she would not be able to be his wife, they tried to engage her at fourteen. Unfortunately, she threw a horrible tantrum and since then, they continued to send her picture to the prince.
Even Master Qian could not deny that the daughter he has spoiled is an idiot and sending her to marry a royal would be just like sending her to the guillotine as she would be unable to navigate the perilous paths of the royal family.