Chapter 57: Frank Confrontation Road-Style Proposal

On an autumn day, the sky was pale, the stars sparse. A brief silence fell before the red-walled, green-tiled Qinzheng Hall.

After being questioned, Ji Huaixu did not give a direct answer. He was silent for a moment, then said calmly, "Actually, I've already thought about it, but it's inconvenient to say more now."

Seeing him being so evasive, Xie Xun hesitated to ask any more questions, so he said, "Tomorrow the palace will hold a triumphal banquet for my brother. How about Prince Ji then tell us about the candidates?"

Ji Huaixu nodded slightly, which was considered as his agreement.

Yun Xi didn't understand. There were only three of them here. Who could be difficult to talk to?

If he proposed to her directly at the banquet, she wouldn't even have time to discuss it with the Queen.

She was puzzled, then watched Xie Xun chat with Ji Huaixu for a few words that she didn't understand.

"Your Highness, please follow me into the palace."

Finally, it was her turn. Yun Xi followed Xie Xun into the palace to retrieve the memorials, and found that there were fewer of them this time. They should be able to be processed in a few days.

Inadvertently, Yun Xi caught a glimpse of a withered lotus in the vase on his desk, and suddenly remembered Xie Xun's trip to Jiangnan a month ago.

She asked, "I heard that the Prince Regent went to Jiangnan a while ago. What was he doing there?"

Xie Xun hadn't expected her to ask, but he looked quite relaxed. "I've already told Your Highness that we're going to look for the late queen's belongings."

However, my mother's things are no longer in Jiangnan. Since she and my father went to the capital, there is nothing left there related to them.

Yun Xi: "...I wonder if the Prince Regent knows what Uncle Yun Li has been doing in Chang'an recently?"

"He's making up rumors that you and I don't get along?" Xie Xun raised his eyebrows.

Yun Xi nodded: "And the rumors are quite strong."

"Let him go. The bigger the fuss, the better." Xie Xun half-closed his eyes. "We've been paving the way for so long, it's time to close the net."

Yun Xi's heart sank. Although she didn't know what Xie Xun had been planning these days, she vaguely realized that her situation was about to become not so good.

"Don't worry, Your Highness. I promised the late emperor that I would keep Your Highness safe." Xie Xun comforted her.

Yun Xi smiled stiffly: "..."

I'm afraid he doesn't have the final say on this matter. After all, she had read the plot in advance, and in the original novel, Xie Xun didn't protect Chang'an at all.

"Come to tomorrow's triumphal banquet. You've been stuck in the house for so long, it's time to get out and stretch your legs."

Yun Xi agreed, and after having someone move the memorial away, she didn't plan to stay any longer and just walked out the door.

Outside the hall, Ji Huaixu did not leave. He stood in the morning light in a black robe, with his back to her, his posture upright, and his back looked very much like someone in her memory.

But she knew that he was not him.

"Prince Ji hasn't left yet?"

Yun Xi walked over with a smile and asked politely.

He turned around, the mask reflecting golden light in the morning sun, his eyes sharp and cold as he met her gaze: "...I can't find the way out of the palace."

Yun Xi was stunned for a moment, then smiled slightly: "There are so many palace maids here, ready for Prince Ji to dispatch at any time."

Ji Huaixu: "I'm shy."

Yun Xi: “…”

Seeing him say with a cold and arrogant look in his eyes that he was afraid of strangers, Yun Xi felt inexplicably speechless and didn't know where to start complaining.

But because he looked like Ji Xun, she suppressed her expression and said, "It just so happens that I am leaving the palace too. Prince Ji, please come with me."

Ji Huaixu nodded in agreement, and when she took a step, he walked side by side with her just like they did when they came.

Yuan He and his attendant followed behind, keeping a distance from them. The two men also understood that their master might talk about topics that they could not hear, so they lowered their heads consciously.

However, Ji Huaixu didn't speak a word along the way. He walked steadily and calmly. Yun Xi thought it was good this way. If he didn't speak, she could feel more relaxed.

When they reached the carriage and were about to get on, Ji Huaixu suddenly stretched out his hand and touched her cheek. Yun Xi was startled, and before she turned her head, he took his hand back with a dead leaf between his fingers.

"...Thank you." Yun Xi's cheeks became a little hot. She didn't know if it was an illusion, but the moment he stretched out his hand, she seemed to suddenly smell a familiar cold fragrance.

Yun Xi pursed her lips, clutched her sleeves, and finally asked, "Prince Ji, give it to me."

Ji Huaixu paused for a moment, then handed the dead leaf in his hand to her. When he turned his palm over, Yun Xi saw his palm clearly. It was clean and empty.

She remembered that there was a scar on Ji Xun's palm, which was left to protect her.

Yun Xi lowered her eyes: "Thank you."

"I'm sorry for wronging the princess along the way." Ji Huai said.

Yun Xi: "Hmm?"

"The princess doesn't seem to want to go with me. It's really rude to force her to do so."

"That's not the case." Yun Xi explained, "It's just that Prince Ji reminded me of an old friend, so..."

"I wonder if the princess could tell me?" His eyes were calm, as if he was just saying it casually.

Yun Xi took a deep breath. Since he asked, she had nothing to hide. After all, she was the first to mistake him for Ji Xun's shadow.

Moreover, she also wanted to try to let go of this hopeless longing.

"It's my former lover," she said. "I don't know why, but he suddenly left, and I can't find him... You bear some resemblance to him, and it reminds me of him."

Ji Huaixu listened quietly, his dark eyes motionless. After pondering for a moment, he said, "The princess's sweetheart is that Mr. Xie who ran away from his marriage? Abandoning a pregnant fiancée is truly an act of a beast."

Yun Xi was stunned for a moment. She didn't expect that he could find out such a thing. "It's not him... He's just... an ordinary person."

"Excuse me for being blunt, but apart from Mr. Xie, the son of an important official, the other lovers the princess mentioned are probably just concubines who are not presentable enough to be on the stage?"

Hearing this, Yun Xi retorted, "In my eyes, it doesn't matter who he is. I like him, and that's enough."

"He's just a concubine, but he's still in the princess's thoughts. Luckily, he left early and didn't stay long enough to bore you."

Yun Xi frowned slightly: "I thought you were a gentleman and would not judge people by their social status."

"The princess may not be like this." Ji Huaixu said coldly.

"Of course I wouldn't be like you, asking to marry a princess of another country right away and sacrificing my lifelong happiness just to consolidate the status of Jin." Yun Xi was also ruthless. "If it weren't for the situation, I would marry him and make him my consort."

Even if Ji Xun had not become the general, she would not despise him. If possible, she even wanted to stay away from this place of disputes and leave with only him and Yuan He.

But the reality is not so easy. She lost her father, and there are so many eyes watching her in the court. She can't leave Chang'an, and she can't keep Ji Xun, and she can't keep everything she has in the future.

She was born without understanding those power struggles, but was still pushed into the center of the vortex by her father's words. However, they never told her what their plan was.

In comparison, Yun Xi was just like a chess piece.

"Is this what you really think?" Ji Huaixu looked at her.

Yun Xi: "This has nothing to do with you."

She no longer wanted to talk to him and was about to get on the carriage, but the next moment she heard a low, suppressed voice from behind:

"The princess said that I am similar to that old friend. If that's the case, why don't you please consider me?"

Yun Xi was stunned.

"Just now, I couldn't speak directly in front of your regent. Actually, ever since I first saw the princess, I have had the intention of marrying her."

Yun Xi now began to suspect that he was mentally ill.

"Sorry, I'm pregnant."

I thought he would give up after hearing this. After all, it is simply unacceptable for ordinary people to have a princess who is pregnant with another person's child, let alone in the conservative state of Jin.

"Give birth to the baby and I will raise it." Ji Huaixu said calmly.

Yun Xi froze for a moment, and then a question slowly emerged in her mind: "?"

…

The path outside the palace.

Duan Song waited here for a long time, until it was completely bright, then he saw a man in black slowly walking towards him.

The attendants around him lowered their heads and said nothing. The atmosphere was very depressing. Duan Song asked, "What's wrong? Did Xie Xun offend you?"

The man stopped and did not answer him. He lowered his eyes and stared at the flower ornaments he had been hiding in his hand, his expression gloomy.

Duan Song glanced at his ears and saw that they were red. "Are you cold from such a small breeze?"

He was standing alone in thin clothes and didn't feel cold at all.

"Yun Xi beat me."

He finally spoke with great compassion and calmly stated a fact.

Duan Song: "???"

Now that he is the crown prince of Jin, Yun Xi still dares to act without any scruples?

"Now you can take revenge on her." Duan Song said sarcastically.

However, the next moment, he saw the flower ornament in his hand, but before he could look at it for a few moments, he hid it.

"Has everything been arranged on General Xie's side?" Ji Xun said expressionlessly.

"We can take them down in one fell swoop at tomorrow's triumphal banquet," Duan Song said. "Once we accomplish this, they'll naturally be thrown into disarray. As for Yun Xi... the Regent should be able to take care of her affairs."

Ji Xun pondered for a moment, clenched his flower ornaments in his sleeves, and finally walked forward without saying a word.