Chapter 353 Who said I was going to marry her?

Li Nanke felt as if a thunderclap had exploded in his ears on a clear day, and he was completely stunned.

The emperor chose her to be his crown princess?

How is that possible?

She has kept a very low profile in recent years and has hardly ever entered the palace. How could the emperor possibly remember her?

Li Nanke clenched his fists, suppressing the many questions in his mind, and tried his best to appear calm.

She forcefully pushed away Shen Xu's hand, her expression cold. "The imperial decree has not yet been issued, so I am not His Highness's Crown Princess. Please have some self-respect."

"Self-respect?"

Shen Xu laughed repeatedly, as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world.

His eyes swept her up and down. "What do you mean by this? Ha, although you're not bad looking, your personality is terrible. I'm magnanimous enough not to mind, yet you dare to abandon me?"

Li Nanke pursed her lips and remained silent.

Shen Xu thought she had taken his words to heart, and a smile appeared on his face.

"Let me tell you, a girl should be chaste, quiet, and gentle, just like Wanqing, who has a very good temperament."

"Li Nanke, Wanqing will be my concubine from now on. You should learn a lot from her."

Li Nanke felt disgusted.

Unexpectedly, after all the twists and turns, the situation turned out to be roughly the same as in my dream.

Zhao Wanqing is about to get entangled with Shen Xu again.

She scoffed, "Since Your Highness likes Miss Zhao so much, why not just marry her as your Crown Princess? Why make her a concubine?"

That's because...

Shen Xu blurted out, but his eyes flickered halfway through his sentence, and he swallowed it back.

Although Zhao Wanqing was gentle and quiet, the Zhao family was too poor.

Father is right. Although Li Nanke has a bad temper, the Marquis of Anping's mansion is wealthy. I heard that the Marquis's wife had a generous dowry, and after several years of management, the family has become quite rich.

Most importantly, Li Nanke also owns businesses outside the capital, and the clothes of all the high-ranking families in Bianjing are custom-made from her Yunqi Wuli.

I heard that the embroiderers there can earn tens to hundreds of taels of silver a month.

My father said that if I marry Li Nanke, Yun Qiwu will become his money bag.

Furthermore, Li Nanke is prettier than Zhao Wanqing, especially her soft and cute face and bright, grape-like eyes, which make it easy for people to be captivated at first glance.

Unfortunately, she never spoke to him properly.

Thinking of this, Shen Xu felt a little annoyed. He clenched the delicate hair ribbon in his hand and ordered in a condescending tone, "I don't like this delicate hair ribbon of yours. You should change it to a pearl hair ribbon from now on."

As he spoke, he pulled out a brand-new red hair ribbon from his pocket, with a South China Sea pearl the size of a quail egg attached to the end of the ribbon.

She reached out to tie the pearl hairband to Li Nanke's head.

Li Nanke ducked down and slipped under his arm, while simultaneously grabbing the delicate hair ribbon from Shen Xu's hand with lightning speed.

With a strong tug, the headband was pulled out.

Shen Xu instinctively tried to pinch it, but Jin Qiu scratched him.

"Hiss~"

He winced in pain, loosened his headband, and looked at the bloody scratch on his hand, instantly becoming enraged.

"Li Nanke, you dare to hurt me! See how I deal with you!"

He aggressively reached out to grab Li Nanke.

Li Nanke had been practicing self-defense with Nangong Qiang for over four years. He was caught off guard by Shen Xu earlier, so he wouldn't give him another chance now.

He ran away as fast as the wind could carry him.

"Li Nanke!"

Shen Xu roared, his voice echoing through the sky.

Shen Cong had just come out of the study when he heard his voice.

His expression darkened slightly. "Erfeng, go and see what's going on."

The two winds came and went in a hurry, returning in a short while.

"The Crown Prince blocked Miss Li Ke'er's way and kept saying that His Majesty had personally chosen Miss Ke'er to be the Crown Princess."

As soon as he finished speaking, Erfeng saw Shen Cong sway and instinctively reached out to support him.

"Your Highness, are you alright?"

Shen Cong touched his chest, his lips turning white from the effort, and shook his head after a long while.

"You mean the Emperor chose a young girl as his Crown Princess?"

Erfeng nodded, "That's what His Highness the Crown Prince said. He also tore off Miss Ke'er's hair ribbon. Miss Ke'er used the hair ribbon to injure the Crown Prince, and then left."

Shen Cong's brows were furrowed tightly, and his face was so gloomy that it seemed as if water could be squeezed out of it.

"This marriage cannot go through!"

Erfeng nodded with a grin.

"Of course not! Miss Ke'er and the Prince grew up together as childhood sweethearts, so she should naturally become the Princess Consort, not the Crown Princess."

Shen Cong lowered his eyes. "Who said I was going to marry her as my queen?"

"ah"

Erfeng's mouth was agape, wide enough to fit a fist, as he stared at Shen Cong in disbelief.

"Does Your Highness not want to marry Miss Ke'er? But... but you two... Your Highness is so good to Miss Ke'er, how could you..."

As an observer, Erfeng had witnessed every little thing that happened between his lord and Li Nanke over the past few years.

I thought the prince was just waiting for Miss Ke'er to come of age so he could propose marriage.

Who would have thought that the prince would say he... had never considered marrying Ke'er?

Where is justice?

Erfeng said excitedly, "These past few years, you and Miss Ke'er have been together day and night. When she gets cold, you prepare a cloak in advance."

You can tell what she wants with just a glance, and you've already prepared for it.

She's sick, and you're more worried than if you were sick yourself, wishing Gui Liu would examine your pulse three times a day.

Every year on her birthday, you set aside a day to be with her and give her whatever she wants. Tell me, besides Ke'er, when have you ever treated any other girl like this?

My subordinate kept muttering to himself, "You practically raised your wife yourself, so... what are you trying to do?"

Erfeng became more and more excited as he spoke, his eyes widening like copper bells, and his thick beard bristling.

"Your Highness, don't you like Miss Ke'er?"

Shen Cong's eyes flickered slightly, a hint of bitterness flashing in them.

Do you like it?

He didn't know.

The little girl barged into his life while he was still suffering from the blood curse, leaving a deep mark on his life.

If you count the time, the two have known each other for seven years.

Over the past seven years, he has grown accustomed to sharing all his joys and sorrows with her.

But... he is cursed with a blood curse and cannot live a normal lifespan, so what right does he have to say that he likes her and wants to marry her?

Shen Cong interrupted Er Feng's incessant chatter in a deep voice.

"Alright, go and investigate what happened with the Crown Princess right away."

Erfeng refused to give up.

"No, you have to tell me clearly, what exactly are your feelings for Miss Ke'er? The Prince can't possibly still see her as a younger sister, can he? Is it more like brotherly and sisterly affection?"

Shen Cong remained silent.

Erfeng was so startled that he jumped up.

"Then... it can't be a father-daughter relationship, can it? Your Highness, you're only four years older than Miss Ke'er! That won't do!"

A vein throbbed on Shen Cong's forehead.

"roll!"

Meanwhile, Li Nanke returned home and saw Li Mu teaching Li Yichen how to draw.

Four years ago, after taking the antidote for more than half a year, Li Mu finally recovered from the toxicity of the sterilization drug. Song Yi became pregnant as she wished and gave birth to Li Yichen.

Li Yichen, who has just turned three, is at a very active age and can't sit still. He is holding a pen and rocking back and forth in his chair.

Seeing Li Nanke come in, his eyes lit up, and he slid off the chair and ran over with his short legs.

"Sister's back! Chenchen missed you so much."

Li Nanke knew exactly what he was thinking, and reached out to pinch his little cheek.

"Your sister and father have something to talk about, you go and play first."

Li Yichen cheered and ran off in a flash, afraid that if he was too slow, his own father would nag him to come back.

Li Mu frowned and tapped Li Nanke's head.

"You spoil him. He's already three years old, which is a good age for him to learn to draw."

Li Nanke blinked her big eyes and spread her hands.

"Father, this isn't about getting out of trouble, it's about something really urgent."

"What's up?"

"His Majesty wants to choose me as the Crown Princess!"