History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 371 Princess Jinan and Gao Meng

She danced wildly, sometimes snatching the wine jug from the performer's hand to pour wine for him, and sometimes pouring wine for herself.

The music grew increasingly cheerful, and Yuanzhen poured the wine more and more quickly.

One of the actors advised, "The princess is drunk; any more drinking will harm her..."

Before he could finish speaking, Yuan Zhen smashed his face with a wine pot, leaving it covered in blood.

Yuan Yu stopped dancing, pulled Yuan Zhen down and made her sit on the banquet table. He then gestured with one hand behind his back for the musicians and performers to leave, and sat down opposite Yuan Zhen, saying, "Taking your anger out on the performers will make people laugh if word gets out."

"What, even Fourth Uncle looks down on me?"

Yuan Yu shook his head and instructed, "You are a princess. If you want to vent your anger, then beat up the powerful and wealthy people in the capital. At the very least, they should be merchants who are richer than a country. When you're done beating them and they're trying to get back to you, they should be smiling and stuffing your hands full of gold and silver treasures." At the end, he made a gesture of grasping something.

"Heh, haha, hahaha, Fourth Uncle is right! I'd like to hear that."

Yuan Yu looked around, leaned forward, and lowered her voice: "Good niece, I have something to discuss with you. You know about the Empress Wenzhao's relatives... the Gao family, who moved to the capital and were granted dukedoms and luxurious mansions in the city, right?"

Yuanzhen's eyes widened slowly as he tried to clear his muddled mind, but he suddenly let out a hiccup.

"Ouch, don't spit in my face." Yuan Yu fanned away the alcohol fumes spraying on his face and said, "I knew you had no idea! There are too many people in the Gao family. I'll only tell you about one person, Gao Meng, who is Empress Wenzhao's nephew. He is the same age as His Majesty and was granted the title of Duke of Bohai by imperial favor. The key thing is... Gao Meng is not married!"

Yuanzhen finally regained some composure and hesitated before saying, "I understand what Fourth Uncle means, but there are several princesses waiting to be married. Who would think of me for such a good opportunity?"

Yuan Yu said nonchalantly, "Come on, of course everyone would think of you first when it comes to something like this. Otherwise, why would they avoid you and be on guard against you?"

Yuanzhen's face turned red with anger, then purple, and even his drunkenness vanished. He wished he could scratch his uncle's face all over with bruises!

Yuan Yu grinned and said, "Good niece, we're birds of a feather, how about we make a deal?"

Yuan Zhen was about to retort angrily, "Who's in cahoots with you?" but upon hearing the word "deal," he knew it must be related to Gao Meng, so he suppressed his anger and said, "Please speak frankly, Uncle."

Yuan Yu: "I know you have dealings with the Feng family members. Here's what I'll do... I'll take you to meet Gao Meng and give you a chance to get to know him. After it's done, you can invite that bastard Feng Junxing to Taoxiang Pavilion so I can get revenge for him hiring a group to beat me up. How about that?"

“I’m at a disadvantage in this deal. It’s easy to run into Gao Meng, but it’s hard to trick Feng Junxing. Besides, when my uncle sees Feng Junxing, he’ll definitely kill that bastard. Then the Feng family will hate me to the core.”

"Are you stupid!" Yuan Yu pretended to be anxious and said, "Back then, you and Gao Meng had already slept together. The Gao family was His Majesty's maternal family, while the Feng family had long lost their power as maternal relatives. Why would you be afraid of the Feng family's resentment? Ah... I understand now. You couldn't even wait to cross the river and then destroy the bridge. You wanted to build the bridge yourself to cross the river."

“Fine,” he stood up, his smile laced with threat, “I’ll go warn Gao Meng right now, tell him to be on his guard against you…”

"Fourth Uncle! Deal!"

"Hmph." Yuan Yu was still angry and left in a huff. The favored actors wanted to come and serve her, but Yuan Zhen turned them away. She sat quietly, lost in thought. To be honest, she despised the Gao family's background. For the noble "Yuan" surname, they would never use servants from the Eastern Barbarians! But now it was very difficult for her to choose a husband with a promising career from a prominent family. For example, she had hesitated before about Lu Daoqian, a young man from the Lu family, but before she could even use any tricks, her younger sister Yuan Lang had already married Lu Daoqian.

The one who loses regrets it!
Yuanzhen thought again, her fourth uncle has an eccentric personality. If she doesn't expect him to trick Feng Junxing, he might actually go to Gao Meng and say bad things about her.

She recalled what her fourth uncle had just said... She was a princess, and when she wanted to vent her anger and hit someone, only powerful and wealthy people were qualified to be hit by her. Hitting actors would only dirty her hands! If the prince consort she married was incompetent and of inferior birth, then her future would be at the bottom among all the princesses. How could she dare to bully the powerful and wealthy at will?

No!

She can suffer in silence for a while, but she can't suffer in silence forever!
Three members of the Gao family, who originated from the Dongyi people, have been granted the title of Duke. There have been various rumors circulating in the court and among the people these past two days. Given Yuan Zhen's status, he could easily find out where Gao Meng is currently residing if he wanted to.

Before noon, Yuanzhen's carriage stopped outside the Gao family residence, and she ordered her maid to call Gao Meng out.

If the master does not follow the rules, even if the maid knows the rules, she must pretend not to! The head steward of the mansion saw that the visitor was not an ordinary maid, and that she presented the jade dagger of Princess Jinan. He dared not be negligent and first went to inform Gao Meng, and then went to report to Gao Zhao.

During their few days in Beijing, Gao Zhao and his nephew Gao Meng witnessed once again the wickedness of human nature.

After Gao Zhao and the other stewards finished their story, they were hesitating whether to leave the mansion to pay their respects to the princess, since she hadn't invited them. Then they heard a chaotic commotion outside.

It turned out that Yuanzhen, accompanied by more than twenty maids, had stormed into the Gao residence. The maids attacked anyone they saw and smashed anything in sight. Yuanzhen, disheveled, gripped Gao Meng's hair like a hook, and cried out in a hoarse voice, "Where is the Duke of Pingyuan? Where is the Duke of Chengcheng? Come out here! Look at the lecherous scoundrels and filthy things you've raised! I was just passing by and kindly offered him some calligraphy and paintings, and he pounced on me like a starving dog! Is there no justice in this world? Is there no law? I'm not even married yet..."

Gao Meng had scratches on both sides of his face, his collar was pulled crooked, and his hair was disheveled. He looked several times more disheveled than the princess!
His sobs were real, and he kept repeating the same thing over and over: "No, I didn't, I didn't..."

It's really hard to explain. He shouldn't have boarded the princess's carriage in such a muddled way. As a result, he felt an attack on his leg and when he realized what was happening, he was being scratched all over.

This kind of thing is really hard to explain, and even if you could explain it, no one would believe you!

That very day, news of Princess Jinan and Gao Meng's outrageous affair reached the emperor's ears. The emperor was furious, and the officials and attendants in the Dongji Hall held their breath as if they were in a deep rage.

"Check properly."

"Yes." Imperial Physician Wang Xian understood immediately. As the emperor's most trusted confidant, he knew that to truly elevate the Gao family, simply granting them titles, changing their household register, and moving the graves of Empress Wenzhao's father and brothers to Bohai County was not enough; a marriage alliance was also necessary.

The most advantageous and fastest way to achieve the goal of marriage alliance is naturally to choose a princess to marry Gao Meng. The princess should be able to see the big picture, understand how to deal with powerful people, and most importantly, she must be better than the other princesses.

Therefore, the best candidate to marry Gao Meng would be Princess Chang Le Yuan Ying, the emperor's half-sister.

After Princess Jinan and Gao Meng made such a fuss, the only option left was for the princess to marry into the Gao family. However, this princess was infamous and her brain was as empty as her intestines. How could she have used such despicable means to make this happen when the Gao family had just settled in Luoyang and the Gao family members were still simple-minded?

While Wang Xian was setting up spies to investigate, the Prince of Rencheng began his second scheme against Gao Xian, the Duke of Chengcheng.