If enduring hardship can balance the relationship between his mother and Xie Zhaoran, then he is willing to suffer hardship!

Xie Zhaoran nodded and said, "Because Her Majesty bestowed her only precious son upon me!"

Gu Zhixing was taken aback: "...What?"

"It's said to be to balance the political situation." Xie Zhaoran leaned closer, his breath brushing against his ear, "so that she would keep an eye on me every day and not take away my military power. As for me, with military power in hand, I don't have to worry about her discarding me after she's done her bidding."

She paused, her smile deepening. "So, as a pawn in balancing the court—Lord Gu—you'd better keep a close eye on me from now on."

Gu Zhixing stood there dumbfounded for a long time before he came to his senses, and he was both amused and exasperated: "...I was worried for so long!"

Xie Zhaoran laughed and casually ruffled his hair: "What? You're not happy?"

Gu Zhixing grabbed her wrist and pulled her back into his arms. He lowered his head and whispered through gritted teeth in her ear, "...I would be more than willing."

"You're happy, but I'm not!" Xie Zhaoran suddenly broke free from his embrace, a hint of annoyance flashing in her eyes, and said, "Lord Gu has someone else in his heart, and every year he paints a portrait of that person to hang in his study so that he can remember them. Now you come to tell me you're 'happy'?"

Gu Zhixing paused for a moment, then suddenly chuckled: "Just for this?"

Seeing his nonchalant attitude, Xie Zhaoran became even angrier and punched him on the shoulder: "Isn't this important?!"

“Important, of course it’s important.” Gu Zhixing’s smile deepened, and he suddenly grabbed her wrist. “Come on, let me show you something.”

He led Xie Zhaoran through the corridor to a quiet little study on the south side.

Pushing open the door, moonlight streamed through the window lattice, illuminating the paintings covering the walls—the figures in the paintings, some wielding swords, others riding horses, possessed exquisite features and heroic bearing.

Xie Zhaoran frowned and approached, the more he looked, the more familiar it seemed: "This..."

"Doesn't he resemble some heartless little rascal?" Gu Zhixing wrapped his arms around her from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder. "He kicked me into the lotus pond when I was five, threw me into the pawnshop to get candy when I was five and a half, and when I was six..."

Xie Zhaoran suddenly turned around: "You're that crybaby?!"

The blurry figure in her memory suddenly became clear: the young master who always followed behind her, who refused to leave even when she bullied him until his eyes were red.

"Doesn't seem like it?"

Xie Zhaoran looked up and sized up Gu Zhixing, unable to reconcile him with the crybaby she remembered.

"Don't remember?" Gu Zhixing lowered his head, his nose brushing against her earlobe. "It's okay, I have plenty of ways to make you remember..."

The moonlight quietly seeped into the room through the window, merging the two shadows together.

On the sycamore tree outside the courtyard, a nightingale chirped softly twice before fluttering its wings and flying away.

——

Xie Zhaoran and Gu Zhixing happily prepared for their wedding, carefully selecting and distributing wedding invitations.

Everything was going smoothly until, on the third day after the wedding invitations were sent out, the court was in an uproar.

"Absurd! Utterly absurd!" The Minister of Rites, his beard twitching, slammed the wedding invitation onto the imperial desk. "Lord Gu is His Majesty's only son, destined to inherit the throne. How can he marry into the royal family?!"

"Xie Zhaoran is trying to end the life of our Great Yong Kingdom!" Several old ministers beat their chests and stamped their feet, as if the sky were about to collapse.

The ministers unanimously believed that the person sitting on the throne now was Gu Zhixing's mother, and His Majesty only had Gu Zhixing as his child. After His Majesty passed away, the throne would definitely be passed to Gu Zhixing. Now, Gu Zhixing wanted to marry into the family. What kind of behavior was this?

Therefore, they jointly wrote a letter opposing Gu Zhixing's marriage into the family!

When the news reached Gu Zhixing, he was trying on his wedding attire.

His bright red brocade robe accentuated his handsome features, and the jade belt at his waist was engraved with the Xie family crest.

"My lord..." Chongyang entered carrying more than a dozen memorials, sweat beading on his forehead. "This is the twenty-third impeachment today."

Gu Zhixing glanced at the top book—"On the Violation of Ancestral Rules by Sons-in-Law"—and suddenly smiled.

"Very well." He slowly untied his jade belt. "It's been a long time since I've stretched my muscles."

And so, the first day began.

The residence of the Minister of Rites was infested with rats.

Hundreds of white-haired mice appeared out of nowhere and began to gnaw on his treasured rare books.

As the old minister chased the rats all over the courtyard, a soft laugh came from the top of the wall: "My lord, I heard you oppose my son's marriage into the family?"

Day three.

The Vice Minister of War suddenly received a box of love poems, signed by the name of his political enemy.

The vice minister was so angry he almost vomited blood, but then he saw someone outside the window, in the shadows of the trees, raising a wine pot to him and saying, "It's just a marriage into the family; compared to these love poems, why make such a fuss?"

The seventh day.

The most stubborn censor opened the gate at dawn and found more than a dozen "illegitimate children" kneeling in the courtyard, each holding a sign that read "Recognize your ancestors and return to your clan".

The old censor fainted on the spot. In his dazed state, he heard someone say in his ear, "If you submit another memorial, there will be more than just these people coming tomorrow..."

Within half a month, the court was completely silent, and no one dared to voice any opposition.

Gu Zhixing leaned against the Xie family's veranda, leisurely peeling grapes: "My wife, what do you think of my idea?"

Xie Zhaoran glanced at him: "The composure that Lord Gu has been putting on all these years has all been a lie."

"How could that be?" He smiled and leaned closer, feeding her a grape. "I just suddenly realized something—"

"Um?"

"The court is in complete chaos." He leaned down and kissed her. "Why don't we drink it while it's hot?"

Outside the window, the last piece of the memorial opposing the memorial was blown away by the wind and floated lightly into the fishpond.

The End.

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