Tie Yan crumpled the letter, took a breath, turned to her with a smile: “I’ve always noticed you don’t like dark-skinned men. How about we skip that Dan Ye?”
“Mm, let’s skip him.”
Before the words finished, another flurry of footsteps brought a slightly panicked messenger with another memorial.
After reading it, Tie Yan’s face turned iron-blue.
Tie Ci tapped the table. “Who is it this time?”
“The three-rabbit archer broke his leg while hunting,” Tie Yan smiled unpleasantly. “If he ends up lame, he won’t be worthy of our Crown Princess. This one… let’s forget it too?”
“Couldn’t agree more.” Tie Ci turned toward the window and shouted, “Chi Xue! You have the day off—go out and stroll. Sit in some teahouses. You know what to chat about, right!”
“I know!” someone responded from outside the window, voice clear as an oriole. “I’ll say Wang Ran broke his third leg while hunting! Come on, sisters, let’s go have fun!”
“Coming, coming! Though I’d say breaking a leg isn’t remarkable enough—I suggest adding that his face was ruined too.”
“The hunting background isn’t attractive enough either—how about saying he was at a brothel?”
“Fighting over women at a brothel out of jealousy?”
“Brilliant!”
Dan Shuang yanked open the window and said coldly: “And Dan Ye. Within three days, I want them to be utterly discredited and stinking throughout the capital.”
“What? Three days needed? Three hours would be an insult to us!”
…
Most of the beautiful maidservants left, but the floors in front of Ruixiang Hall still thundered with footsteps as urgent reports and memorials were delivered one after another. Tie Yan’s expression grew increasingly ugly.
Tie Ci continued smiling, focusing solely on grinding ink, dipping her brush fully, and listening repeatedly to those varied and creative marriage rejection reasons.
Tie Yan no longer dared look at her. Even for an ordinary woman, one broken engagement would be an unbearable lifetime burden. Though Tie Ci held noble status, she was ultimately still a woman at heart. These repeated rejections trampled not only the imperial family’s dignity but also her maiden pride.
This was humiliation of the Crown Princess.
This was the Empress Dowager making her move, and her warning to the Iron father and daughter.
A warning to all who would dare struggle beyond her grasp.
Just mayflies in a three-inch glass bowl—did they think they could leap to the blue sky and transform into true dragons?
As a puppet emperor, Tie Yan had witnessed countless expressionless refusals and smiling betrayals throughout his life, yet at this moment felt particularly heartbroken for his daughter.
Thinking further that perhaps her entire future would inevitably face such things as his had, he wondered if his original choice had been wrong.
Memorials were delivered one by one. After waiting to ensure no fresh material remained, Tie Ci slowly took up her brush.
Over each red checkmark, she drew a straight line from left to right—long, straight, and sharp.
A large X.
After crossing out the last one and seeing that blob of ink, Tie Ci realized there seemed to be one missing rejection letter.
“Where’s Rong Pu’s rejection letter?”
Tie Yan searched through them and found there really wasn’t one.
This delighted him, but Tie Ci shook her head and set down her brush.
“The Rong family leads the civil officials with enormous influence—currently the only family that can contend with the Xiao family. With the Rong family’s ability to gather information, they surely already know the others’ attitudes. So if Rong Pu doesn’t reject the engagement, he’s planning to become my male empress?”
Tie Yan frowned.
“The Rong family is extraordinary, and they’re related by marriage to the military Di family. This is a good opportunity to borrow influence.”
“The Rong family has always kept a low profile, suddenly jumping out to directly confront the Xiao family. This isn’t a good omen.” Tie Ci picked up her brush, voice calm. “And I, the dignified Crown Princess—all of Great Qian belongs to me. Why should I become a chess piece in the power struggle between two families?”
Rich ink, soft brush—the stroke fell quietly yet decisively.
Another large X.
Tie Yan stared at that neat row of X’s, feeling dizzy. Hearing another series of reports from outside saying that Commander Xiao had entered the palace today to see the Empress Dowager and might come pay respects to Her Highness the Crown Princess shortly.
This posturing was far too aggressive.
Tie Ci ordered the portraits collected. A dumpling-faced little eunuch entered carrying a huge basket, quickly sweeping all those portraits into it in moments. Tie Yan watched the papers flash rapidly before his eyes and suddenly pressed his hand down on several sheets.
He hung those few sheets on the wall and said urgently: “Child, look at these few.”
Tie Ci looked up. After a long moment, she sighed.
“Father, even when desperate, you can’t seek medical help this randomly.”
Did he grab the wrong Zhong Kui paintings from the Ghost Festival?
And they were photocopies—grabbing several at once, each with only minor differences. Like this one had a beard drawn on, that one had a mole dotted on.
Playing spot-the-difference?
Tie Ci clicked her tongue and searched for quite a while, finally feeling that there was no most identical, only more identical. If forced to find differences, she could only say one was exceptionally ugly in a distinctive way.
Saying they looked like Zhong Kui—even Zhong Kui would cry at that comparison.
“Sons of Prince Da’an of Liaodong… Choose the best among them.” Tie Yan said. “What do you think? Want to select one? They’re far from the capital—they couldn’t refuse so quickly even if they wanted to. By the time their rejection documents reach the capital, I’ll have your dowry prepared.”
“You know they’re far from the capital? Then do you know what’s recognized as first place on the Capital’s Nonsense Rankings?”