Lu Xiaoyun walked to Lu Yuyan's side: "How is Ruoling?"

Lu Yuyan shook his head, his face grim. Fine beads of sweat covered his forehead. He had already used the Nine-Turn Soul-Returning Needle once, but Ruoling still hadn't woken up.

"You and Ruoling don't need to rush back to the capital. I'll have someone take you two to a secluded mountain villa so Ruoling can recover first."

Lu Yuyan nodded, picked up Ruoling, and got into Physician Jiang's carriage.

He knew that Zhu Yu, the Prince of An, owned many properties, including several villas.

Physician Jiang and the others dared not say anything, and obediently followed behind on foot.

Wu Chuan tied up the unconscious Xiao Shen and threw him onto a horse.

Feng Yan made proper arrangements, not taking Physician Jiang and the others back to Shengjing City, but letting them stay at the villa with Lu Yuyan.

Zhu Yu was kept in Tongjia Courtyard by Lu Yucheng and did not come out. Even when he wanted to leave the mansion, he was always "protected" by the guards arranged by his brother. Lu Xiaoyun went to pick up Lu Yuyan again, so he had to rest for a few days during this shameless period.

Qi Shaocheng thought the Fifth Prince was joking when he said that day, but a few days later, the imperial decree to marry him to Shen Shuyi, the second daughter of the Minister of the Court of State Ceremonies, actually came down.

Qi Shaocheng had no choice but to suffer in silence when he received the imperial decree of marriage. He was eleven years older than Shen Shuyi, almost old enough to be her father.

Marquis Yongbo and his wife were overjoyed. With the wedding date fast approaching, the two elders happily began to prepare.

Qi Shaocheng approached Zhu Dan: "Fifth Prince, even if you consider me a rival in love, is there any need to be in such a hurry? Getting married in less than two months seems a bit inappropriate."

Zhu Dan thought about it seriously and said, "It really is not appropriate. In that case, General Qi should go back to his residence as soon as he finishes his shift and prepare. I'm going to see my father."

Qi Shaocheng breathed a long sigh of relief. As long as they could drag it out for another six months to a year, he and Xiaoyun would still have a chance.

The Fifth Prince is quite easy to talk to.

Outside the Imperial Study, just as Zhu Dan was about to step inside, Zhang Zhongwei approached with a smile: "Fifth Prince, have you come to see the Emperor?"

"Hmm, is Father Emperor present?"

"Yes, yes, I'm meeting with Minister Shen of the Court of State Ceremonial at the moment. Please come in."

Zhu Dan entered the imperial study.

The old emperor's health was deteriorating, and he had no interest in dealing with the piles of memorials in the imperial study, so he handed them all over to Zhu Dan. He only attended the morning court every day, and after the court, he would either return to the imperial bedchamber to rest or occasionally take a stroll in the inner palace.

It is not common for ministers to block the imperial study like this today.

"Your subject pays respects to Your Majesty." Zhu Dan bowed to the old emperor.

When the old emperor saw him, he coughed lightly twice, and then said, "Dan'er, you've come at the right time. Shen Qing wants to move the wedding date forward. What do you think?"

Zhu Dan raised an eyebrow at Shen Mingguang, the Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial, who was over fifty years old. It was strange that their thoughts were the same.

Since the emperor has decreed the marriage, if the person is not a member of the royal family, the wedding date can be determined by the two families themselves.

However, because Zhu Dan was in charge of the ceremony, although the exact date was not written in black and white on the imperial edict, Zhu Dan sent a eunuch to the Shen residence and the Yongbo Marquis's residence yesterday morning to set the date as July 26th.

It's rather strange that Shen Mingguang came to ambush the emperor today, right after the morning court session, on a date that was set early yesterday morning.

Zhu Dan smiled slightly and asked Shen Mingguang, "I wonder when Lord Shen plans to move the wedding date forward?"

"Your Highness, I think it would be best to do it on June 20th."

Today is already the first day of June, twenty days have passed, it's getting a bit rushed.

"Given the haste, I wonder if Lord Shen has enough time?"

Shen Mingguang immediately replied, "There's still time, there's still time. My daughter will be of marriageable age in February this year, and my wife has already prepared everything."

That's strange. Why is Madam Shen Mingguang so eager to marry off her daughter?

In fact, ever since their daughter came of age, there had been a constant stream of suitors. They preferred Qi Shaocheng the most, but because he was a bit too old, they hadn't decided on a match until recently when they saw Qi Shaocheng's handsome appearance in person.

Furthermore, Qi Shaocheng was already quite old and was eager to get married.

They adored their daughter, so his wife immediately began preparing her dowry after the imperial decree of marriage was issued, and it's almost ready now.

It was not appropriate to ask too many questions in front of the old emperor, so Zhu Dan turned around and said, "Father, since Lord Shen's residence has made all the preparations, in my opinion, it would be better to move it to the tenth day of the sixth month."

"The tenth? Today is already the first day of the sixth lunar month, isn't that a bit too hasty?"

Zhu Dan smiled and said, "As far as I know, the Marquis of Yongbo and his wife have been looking forward to General Qi's wedding every day, so they have already prepared everything. Since Lord Shen's family has also prepared everything, let's just move it forward a little further."

The old emperor didn't care; it was just a marriage between the children of two ministers. Qi Shaocheng was now the commander of the Imperial Guards, and he could do his best to protect him.

"Father, I have consulted the imperial physicians, and they say the Crown Prince's condition is not optimistic. Perhaps you should issue an edict ordering all those in Shengjing who intend to marry within the next six months to hold their weddings in June, to bring good luck to the Crown Prince. If the whole of Shengjing is filled with joy, perhaps the Crown Prince's illness will be cured?"

Actually, it was right after the morning court session that Zuo Xiu rushed over to tell him that the Crown Prince's condition was very bad and that he probably didn't have much time left.

Is this even possible?

Standing next to the old emperor, Zhang Zhongwei stumbled. The old emperor glanced at him, and he quickly regained his balance.

"What Dan'er said makes sense, so let's do it that way."

Zhu Dan and Shen Mingguang came out of the Imperial Study.

Zhu Dan asked, "I wonder why Lord Shen suddenly decided to move the wedding date forward?"

Shen Mingguang was clearly in a very good mood and was very satisfied with his son-in-law, Qi Shaocheng.

"To be honest, Your Highness, my wife went to prepare my daughter's dowry yesterday afternoon and met a Taoist priest on the way. That priest is a very skilled person. He calculated that there would be a happy event in our household in the next two months, and he could even say the exact date of July 26th. Isn't that amazing?"

That's strange. The date, July 26th, was only delivered to the two residences yesterday morning, just an hour or two ago. How could even a charlatan know about it?

Then Shen Mingguang said, "But that expert said that July 26th is an unlucky day. If possible, the earlier the better. July is absolutely not an option, otherwise the Shen family will surely suffer a bloody disaster."

Zhu Dan smiled gently: "So Lord Shen believed it, and that's why he came to the palace to mention this to the Emperor?"

"Well, of course not. My wife found it strange, but she didn't believe it so easily. But then, that expert did some calculations and said that my wife would definitely choke on her lunch today."

"The lady was even more skeptical. She always ate slowly and carefully, so it was impossible for her to choke. But guess what? On the way back to the manor, she encountered the Jingzhao Prefecture arresting criminals. Half the road was blocked, and she couldn't go forward or backward."