Noticing Song Qingshu's gaze, the young woman lowered her head with a slight blush. Xue Ji smiled beside her. "This is my daughter, Baochai. Baochai, come pay your respects to prince Qi."
The young woman gracefully curtsied, every movement exquisitely poised. "Greetings, prince Qi."
"No need for such formality, Miss Xue." As expected of Xue Baochai—she was the very picture of a refined young lady, flawless in etiquette. Song Qingshu still had not quite recovered from the surprise of seeing one of the two female leads of Dream of the Red Chamber standing so vividly before him.
Then again, he had already met the young ladies of Jia Mansion, and even Shi Xiangyun had appeared. Seeing Xue Baochai was not really all that strange.
What Song Qingshu found more curious was why Xue Ji had brought his daughter tonight. Was he trying to use a beauty trap to win Song Qingshu over?
Song Qingshu quickly dismissed that guess. He was not narcissistic enough to think so, and besides, he was openly the Imperial Son-in-Law of the court now. How could Xue Ji be so tactless as to make his daughter compete with the Princess for a man?
Seeing Jia Sidao and Xue Ji chatting merrily and occasionally glancing toward Xue Baochai, Song Qingshu suddenly understood. They had not come to win him over at all—they were clearly taking this opportunity to let Jia Sidao inspect his future daughter-in-law.
Xue Ji was a core member of Jia Sidao's faction, and their children happened to be close in age, so they had entertained the idea of strengthening their ties through marriage. But this was no small matter. If handled badly, in-laws could become enemies, so neither side dared raise it directly at the outset. To avoid drawing attention, it was also inconvenient