Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 483 - 481

Chapter 483: 481

Mrs. Li and Chu Die’s faces instantly soured.

However, they couldn’t fault anyone. After all, the current status of the Lady of Rui’an County was different from the past - she was now a royal daughter-in-law officially recognized by heaven. Even the Empress Dowager no longer expressed any objections, and any affront towards her was simply an affront to the imperial family!

Fuming but unable to voice her anger, all Mrs. Li could do was to sit there, maintaining a stiff smile on her face.

The flower passing game resumed. The maiden who started the game wouldn’t be able to recognize all the vegetables displayed, but she undoubtedly would’ve put in the effort to identify a few easier ones, therefore they all guessed correctly. Depending on the difficulty level of each guess, the Empress would reward them with a variety of valuable items.

By the time the silk flower reached Li Mingfang, all the simple ones had already been identified.

She looked at the small basket on the flower stand, pacing back and forth, but she couldn’t recognize any of the items, they were also unfamiliar to her.

How was she supposed to guess? If they asked her to guess martial arts moves, she could have done it. To guess about a vegetable, it was like they were asking too much out of boredom!

She could only randomly select one to guess, she examined it from left, right, top to bottom but still couldn’t recognize it.

She was left with guessing a riddle. She picked up the pink silk and read: "A red rooster, green tail, with its head buried in the ground."

She had no clue!

Li Mingfang shook her head: "I don’t know."

"Failure to answer will result in punishment!" said the Empress with a laugh.

Li Mingfang nodded, "I’m willing to take the punishment."

"What should be an appropriate punishment?" The Empress asked, smiling.

"Since it’s a beautiful spring day, how about composing a poem with spring as the theme?" Di Junya suggested, glancing at the bright spring scenery around them.

"Yes, that sounds good! What do you think, Lady of Rui’an County?" Fu Ranhui said with a beam.

"Composing a poem is fine! It’s not difficult."

’Composing a poem...not difficult?’, Mrs. Li felt like coughing up blood. Her daughter dreaded Chinese poetry more than anything else.

For others, composing a poem might not be much. Even if they weren’t proficient in all Four Arts, they could definitely handle a piece or two.

But Li Mingfang had a predilection for martial arts instead of makeup and girly stuff! The last thing she had patience for was poetry; she had never even bothered to learn it and everyone knew that.

Di Junya suggesting it was clearly to make things difficult! Weren’t the two of them on good terms before?

Why was Di Junya obviously making things hard for Li Mingfang today? All the maidens present couldn’t help guessing.

Could it be because of Crown Prince Di’s engagement withdrawal? (After Di Shaowei consummated his marriage, Marquis Zhongyong managed to get him the title of Crown Prince, so everyone started addressing him as Crown Prince.)

Was the real reason Crown Prince Di withdrew from the engagement not as Mrs. Li claimed - that he was changeable and flexible, hence Di Junya got angry over the Li family spreading such talks about Crown Prince Di?

The curiosity of the gossips was aroused.

Di Junya was upset with Li Mingfang obviously because Mrs. Li had been gossiping about Di Shaowei being ungrateful and fickle!

The Li family was not satisfied with Li Mingfang getting married to the Third Prince at all. If it was the Second or Fourth Prince, it’d be a different story, regardless of whether they would ascend to the throne one day, the fate of a prince was certain! This way, at the worst, Li Mingfang would still be a princess!

But the Third Prince, his fate was obviously cannon fodder!

But now, even if they were not satisfied, they couldn’t express their disdain. They could only use the disengaged Di Shaowei as a scapegoat, venting their frustration.

After all, even though the Third Prince is out of favor, he is still a prince. For one to marry a prince is considered a tremendous blessing and an enormous grace in the eyes of the world!

Mrs. Li is now regretful to the core. When the Governor’s Mansion sent people to propose, she refused to agree despite her daughter’s objections! At the time, she was genuinely dissatisfied with the Governor’s Mansion, which was a notch lower in status than her own family.

Since ancient times, the practice has been for the daughters of high status families to marry into lower-status ones. Her daughter excelled in every regard compared to other girls, and naturally could not be married off casually! Even Marquis Shengping’s rooster had climbed up to the Sixth Prince to become a phoenix!

Her family has been loyal and noble for generations, and her daughter cannot be married off poorly!

She had her sights set on the Fourth Prince, who, along with her daughter, were childhood sweethearts. The two had fought side by side in the northwest, and it would be the best if they could pair up.

She asked the old lady of her family to hint to the Empress Dowager that Mingfang had grown up in the military camp with the princes. Now that they were of marrying age, she wondered where their marriage destiny lay.

Because the Empress Dowager and Madam Li were childhood friends, their relationship was quite good. Hearing from her old comrade, she found Li Mingfang to be a pleasant child. Her marriage into the royal family would help win over the military, so she agreed.

Who knew that when the match was arranged, it was indeed for a prince, but it turned out to be for the unimportant Third Prince!

The day the imperial edict arrived, mother and daughter cried the whole night!

Li Mingfang was both wronged and angry. She did not eat for a day and stayed in her room for three days before stepping out!

Mrs. Li incredibly regretted rejecting the marriage proposal from Zhao Youwei, the eldest son of the Governor’s Mansion.

Now it really was a case of all choices leading to picking the worst possible option!

"I can’t write poetry, Junya, don’t you know this?" Li Mingfang looked at Di Junya discontentedly, her tone somewhat aggrieved.

"But wasn’t the punishment always about writing poetry, playing the guqin, and things like that? Or would you like to drink?"

"I will drink three cups as punishment!" Li Mingfang quickly retorted after hearing this.

As long as she does not have to play the guqin or write poetry she was fine with anything! She was even okay with being whipped twice!

"Miss Li is indeed a heroic woman. I will help you pour the wine!" Di Junya stood up and instructed a maid behind her.

The maid looked at the Empress Dowager, who nodded her head. She could see that the Di family’s young miss wanted to make things difficult for Li Mingfang, and she wanted to see how Li Mingfang would cope. After all, she was to be married to her grandson in the future, and as an Imperial Consort, she could not be a ninny to face everyday situations and unexpected events.

The maid quickly brought over a jar of wine and a large bowl with a blue leafy pattern and a mandarin duck motif.

The ladies and young ladies present were stunned: How many cups would that big bowl be equivalent to?! And that was plum blossom wine, which wasn’t the most potent kind of alcohol, but it had a strong aftereffect!

After three big bowls, even the tasteless fruit wine would get one drunk!

Di Junya personally poured a big bowl and handed it to Li Mingfang.

Seeing this, Mrs. Li quickly said, "This is such a big bowl of wine, isn’t Miss Di deliberately making things difficult for Mingfang?"

"But Miss Li has always been a heroic woman, unbeaten by a thousand cups, don’t I belittle her if I serve her with a small wine cup? Besides, for someone who has a high tolerance, is three cups still a punishment?"

Mrs. Li was rendered speechless by this! Her own daughter did have a good tolerance for alcohol, but not to the extent of being unbeaten by a thousand cups!

"Mother, it’s fine, I’ll drink it." Without even furrowing her brows, Li Mingfang accepted the bowl of wine

After downing three large bowls of plum blossom wine, Li Mingfang wiped her mouth with a handkerchief and returned to her seat.

When everyone saw that her face didn’t change the slightest after downing three big bowls of plum blossom wine, they praised her for having an excellent tolerance for alcohol.