Yan Li sat in Wen Hao's study, looking at the painting broken in two on the desk, then looked out the window and felt a sense of familiarity wash over her.
Did the person in the painting visit your home?
Did you even sit on the swing under that crooked tree?
She recalled Yan Menghuai visiting her residence yesterday, and an idea slowly took shape in her mind.
Meanwhile, inside the palace, Wen Hao was kneeling in the emperor's study.
"How have you been these days, my dear minister?" Yan Taiyun, dressed in a bright yellow robe, looked at the memorial and asked casually, as if it were just a routine reunion.
"I am well, Your Majesty, thank you for your concern." Wen Hao said calmly, but his eyes dimmed and his hands, which were hanging down slightly, tightened.
Upon hearing this, Yan Taiyun chuckled, glanced at Wen Hao kneeling on the ground, and put down the memorial in his hand: "I have heard that the mourning period for you is about to end. I wonder what your plans are for the future?"
"How about I find a suitable marriage for you, my dear minister..."
Wen Hao interrupted him without hesitation: "Your Majesty, I will only have Yan Li as my wife in this lifetime."
"If Your Majesty insists on granting the marriage, it will undoubtedly harm that innocent woman."
"She's just a merchant's daughter, is she really worth you remembering for three years?" Yan Taiyun's lips slowly curved into a smile, tinged with a hint of annoyance.
"If she were still alive, I wouldn't say anything. Now that she's just a dead woman, what is there for you to be so attached to?"
Yan Taiyun appreciated Wen Hao's talent; otherwise, he wouldn't have made him the Crown Prince's tutor at such a young age. However, Wen Hao's stubbornness in matters of the heart displeased Yan Taiyun.
Wen Hao slowly raised his eyes: "More than three years."
"Your Majesty, I deeply regret not protecting her back then."
"I even regretted not going back with her."
"Is my beloved minister blaming me?" Yan Taiyun understood the meaning behind Wen Hao's words almost instantly. It was truly a pity that the newly promoted top scholar, a fifth-rank official, had committed suicide with a merchant girl.
He could only use the remaining people in the Yan family to blackmail Wen Hao into living first.
Yan Taiyun must have had someone he truly loved, but he was an emperor with responsibilities he had to bear. How could he abandon the people of his country and follow them to their deaths just because his beloved had passed away?
This is not the act of a wise ruler, nor is it something a virtuous person should do.
Wen Hao: "Your subject dares not."
Yan Taiyun fell silent.
"Qingzhi, I know you still harbor resentment and are even secretly trying to find out the truth about what happened back then, but one must always look forward."
He looked up at Wen Hao in front of him and felt a headache coming on. Especially recently, when he went to court, seeing Wen Hao's listless face, he wished he could just stay home and rest.
But Yan Taiyun knew that this person was a rare stubborn individual.
Looking ahead?
In the past, Wen Hao would have said something about wanting to die, but now, thinking of Yan Li who was left in the mansion, his heart calmed down and he did not refute.
"I have heard that the Yan family has another daughter who looks very similar to your blind wife. There have been some rumors circulating recently. If you are truly interested, I can help you and will not let you be the subject of gossip."
Yan Taiyun thought for a moment.
Whether it's a substitute or a change of heart, he only wants to leave Wen Hao behind for Nan'an.
Wen Hao hadn't expected that this matter would escalate to the point that even Yan Taiyun in the palace knew about it. He couldn't help but frown as he recalled the trouble Li Xiangrong had caused him that morning.
"I will handle this matter myself."
...
The outer residence of the Yan family mansion was an old house that had been assigned to the eldest son of the Yan family.
"Ah Huai, listen to me, stop drawing. That person is no longer someone you can reach,"
Looking at her obedient daughter sitting in front of the mirror, constantly drawing her own face based on a portrait, Yan's mother felt as if her heart was about to break.
She stepped forward and burst into tears, tightly pressing down on Yan Menghuai's hand, which was about to continue applying makeup. "She's a dead person now. It's so unlucky for you to imitate her."
“Ah Huai, listen to your mother’s advice and let him go.”
But Yan Menghuai wouldn't listen to her. Her originally bright eyes now held an undeniable madness in addition to her obsession, like a demon crawling out of hell.
"Why do you say that to your daughter, Mother? How can a dead person compete with a living person like me? If Wen Hao saw me, he would definitely be willing to marry me." Yan Menghuai said, then picked up the lip rouge next to her and applied it to her lips.
Her slender, bony fingers, pale and delicate, lifted her chin slightly as she looked at herself in the mirror, her eyes brimming with delight. "Mother, don't you think I'm prettier than my cousin?"
She mimicked Yan Li's features from her memory, her gaze slightly lowered, looking down at Yan's mother with an air of superiority, as if looking at an ant.
Yan's mother, who was still holding Yan Menghuai's hand, seemed to be startled. Her pupils constricted subconsciously, and her whole body leaned back. After regaining her senses, she asked, "Ah-Huai?"
"Mother is so afraid, can't you even tell me from my cousin?" Yan Menghuai's tone was full of smugness. Her fingertips couldn't help but run over her face, which looked so much like Yan Li's, and her heart was filled with a strange sense of satisfaction.
She went through a lot of hardship to become like her cousin.
But the thought of winning Wen Hao made Yan Menghuai feel that it was all worth it.
Suddenly, Yan Menghuai's door was kicked open, and a man in a dark robe stood in the doorway, his face full of anger:
"I think you've lost your mind!"
"Look at yourself now, you're not a decent person, you're acting like a ghost." Looking at Yan Menghuai's face, Yan's father felt a chill, as if his good niece had crawled out of her grave again.
It's to the point that if you just glance at it, you won't be able to close your eyes for days.
He had previously hoped that his daughter could win Wen Hao's heart, but now he just wanted to marry her off as soon as possible, instead of her spending her days pretending to be a ghost in this house.
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