ebookland Chapter 221 Giving Up Completely
Chapter 221 Giving Up Completely
Shi Lidie was indeed a little curious.
Xu Sen, the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Works, was not a very high-ranking official. At least in the capital, he had countless high-ranking officials who could suppress him, and Xu Sen's daughter was probably not the first in the circle of noble ladies from aristocratic families.
In the ancient social environment, getting married required a lot of effort.
If Miss Xu wants to be the legal wife, she can only look for one from a family of the same or lower level as her father's. Even if she can find one with a slightly better family status than her own, it won't be much better.
If she wanted to marry into a noble family, then given her status, she could only be a concubine.
But the Fourth Prince is somewhat special.
When the Fourth Prince was working in the Ministry of Works, he happened to be Xu Sen's subordinate. He was of marriageable age, but the Emperor had no intention of arranging a marriage for him. Xu Sen then decided to marry his daughter to him.
After all, given the Fourth Prince's background, he couldn't actually marry any noble lady.
Normally, noble ladies would have better places to go and would not marry a prince like the Fourth Prince who has no future.
Therefore, the Fourth Prince was destined to marry a wife of low status.
Since it was a marriage of lower status, why couldn't the Xu family marry into this family? If Miss Xu married into the family, she would at least be a princess, wouldn't it be more respectable than marrying into a small family and becoming the wife?
After Xu Sen returned, he told his daughter about this matter and asked her about her wishes.
If Miss Xu agrees, Xu Sen will risk his reputation to find a good marriage for his daughter.
It’s a pity that Miss Xu doesn’t want to.
Chen Shuting heard everything that Miss Xu and her best friend had said in the shop. She said:
"That Miss Xu said that instead of marrying the Fourth Prince and taking up the title of a prince's consort, it would be better to marry someone lower and find a husband with potential and a promising future. After all, the Fourth Prince's future is foreseeable at a glance."
"Miss Xu also said that the Fourth Prince has been completely abandoned by the Emperor and will never achieve much in his life."
According to Miss Xu, the Fourth Prince is now not even as good as the students from poor families.
Ever since the conspiracy case at the Duke Dingguo's Mansion occurred, the Fifth Prince, before his death, had been trying to flatter the Emperor, saying that the Fourth Prince was two-faced and that he seemed not to be aggressive, but in fact, he had the ability to get this booklet.
This made the emperor suspicious of the Fourth Prince.
But the Fourth Prince insisted that he obtained the booklet "Brothers Fighting for the Succession" by chance. After investigation, the Emperor found that the Fourth Prince did not have the ability to collect the information in the booklet, so he did not impose a severe punishment on the Fourth Prince.
But even so, the emperor did not have a good face towards the Fourth Prince.
The palace allocated money to other princes to build their own residences outside the palace, and they also received monthly allowances from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but the Fourth Prince did not receive these benefits.
He moved out of the palace and built his own house, which was rented.
By then, he had reached the age to leave the palace and set up his own residence, and the emperor asked the Ministry of Internal Affairs to make arrangements. However, since the Fourth Prince had few connections in the palace and no support from his maternal family, by the time the money reached his hands, only one tenth of it was left.
After layer upon layer of exploitation, they had taken all the bribes they should take. Seeing that the Fourth Prince had nowhere to turn to for help, everyone teamed up to deceive their superiors and hide the truth from their subordinates.
The Fourth Prince was not valued by the Emperor. Even when he went to file a complaint, the Emperor only told him to figure it out himself. So he could only endure the pain, take the little money he had, rent a house outside the palace, and build his own mansion.
Even though the house he lives in now has "The Fourth Prince's Mansion" written on it, he can no longer live there if he can't pay the rent.
In the past, the Fourth Prince worked in the Ministry of Works and ate at the yamen. Apart from buying books, he had no other hobbies, so his expenses were not high and he was able to save money to pay the rent.
But ever since the incident with the Fifth Prince, the Emperor's dislike for the Fourth Prince has been made clear.
Although the Ministry of Works is not a department with real power, nor is it a lucrative government office, it is at least one of the Six Ministries and is also involved in party struggles. Some people who are on good terms with the An family think that the Fifth Prince's accident is related to the Fourth Prince, so they specifically contacted the Ministry of Works and asked them to make things difficult for the Fourth Prince.
From then on, the Fourth Prince's life in the Ministry of Works became difficult.
In the past, he only needed to go to work and get paid, but now he goes to work but doesn’t get paid. The Ministry of Works will find excuses to delay the Fourth Prince’s salary or deduct his salary.
As a result, a prince lived a life worse than that of an ordinary employee of the Ministry of Works and could not even get his salary because of the emperor's dislike and lack of support.
From Miss Xu's perspective, the Fourth Prince has absolutely nothing.
He had no support from his maternal family, no connections in the court, no attention from the emperor, he had to rent a house, his salary was often short, and he had no private property that could earn money. He had few servants in the house, but he still lived a tight life.
More importantly, the Fourth Prince is not like other scholars who can enter the court by taking the imperial examinations and get promoted with their own abilities. It can be said that apart from the title of a prince, he really has nothing.
Miss Xu is, after all, the daughter of an official family.
Her father and brother both served in the court. Her father was a member of the Ministry of Works. Although he was not a high-ranking official, he was not without hope of promotion in the future. Her brother passed the imperial examination and entered the officialdom, and had a bright future.
In her opinion, why should she marry the Fourth Prince and suffer this?
By then, she will have nothing except the title of the prince's consort, and the Fourth Prince's Mansion may even have to rely on her dowry to support the family.
"These words were said by Miss Xu herself. She and her sister spent almost two hours selecting fabrics and patterns from me, and also chose a lot of custom-made styles. I heard everything they said while they were choosing."
"But Xiaodie, why are you suddenly asking about the Fourth Prince? Is there something wrong with him? Or do you have any new plans?"
Shi Lidie shook her head and explained:
"I plan to make a wheelchair for Ye Zhaonan and I need to hire a carpenter. The Fourth Prince has also come to my house to apply for the job. I am very curious about his intentions, so I came to you to inquire."
"If what Miss Xu said is true, and the Fourth Prince is truly miserable, then his intention in applying for the job is obvious. It's all for the money."
"The commission I offer is not cheap. As the saying goes, a penny makes a hero fall. The Fourth Prince is currently strapped for cash, so it is understandable that he would come out to take private jobs."
After hearing this, Chen Shuting was stunned for a moment and didn't know what to say.
It was hard for her to imagine that an adult prince could live such a miserable life. She had no idea what the Emperor of Ye State was thinking. After all, he was his own son, so why was there such a huge difference in the treatment?
"What are you going to do with the Fourth Prince?" Chen Shuting asked.
"As I said, it is better to be still than to move." Shi Lidie said, "But the fourth prince is really good at carpentry and has a flexible mind. I gave him the blueprints and he was able to make targeted improvements. He is a talent for invention. If we conquer Ye State in the future and he has no intention of dying for his country, we can bring them back and make reasonable use of them."