Chapter 109: Defend your love to the death!

Sure enough, within a few days, the imperial edict to punish Li Jinheng came down.

In the imperial edict, Li Jinheng was demoted to a commoner and exiled to the bitter and cold north because of his treason.

Not long after that, Chu Ran heard that Chu Siqian was missing. Old Man Chu had posted notices all over the streets of Beijing looking for his son, but there was still no news of his son.

Old Man Chu only has one son, Chu Siqian. Oh no, he only treats Chu Siqian as his own son. After Chu Siqian disappeared, Old Man Chu aged several years. Once, Chu Ran saw Old Man Chu in the palace and found that most of his hair had turned gray.

But Chu Ran did not sympathize with him. He felt more sympathy for Chu Qinglin, who was born by a mother but not raised by a father.

It was only after a long time that we heard news about Chu Siqian. It turned out that Chu Siqian had gone to the place of exile with Li Jinheng.

But that was also the last time Chu Ran heard from Chu Siqian.

Emperor Chengwen's health has been getting worse recently. In fact, as early as last year, Emperor Chengwen's health had shown signs of deteriorating, but it only seemed to be getting worse this year, as if he had suddenly aged.

Li Gaoyou, who had been locking himself up in his mansion as if to isolate himself from the world, recently began to attend court.

Of course, it was not that Li Gaoyou figured it out on his own, but Emperor Chengwen scolded him and ordered him to attend the court, so Li Gaoyou had no choice but to go.

Chu Ran had seen Li Gaoyou several times in the palace. In the past, he was arrogant and domineering. Even if someone blocked his way, he would grab the person, scold him, and kick him a few times before he stopped. Now he was like a plucked rooster, hanging his head and looking depressed. There were even several times when Chu Ran saw Li Gaoyou, he felt that he was not as good as a rooster, but more like a male ghost whose yang energy had been sucked away.

Li Gaoyou remained half-dead, and the emperor got angry when he saw this. Every morning at court, he would scold Li Gaoyou to vent his anger. However, no matter how harshly Emperor Chengwen scolded him, it did not arouse Li Gaoyou's bloodiness. Instead, he became even more decadent.

Chu Ran thought with some gloating, how could he be accused of being bloody? After all, he was not a man anymore.

After scolding for more than two months, Emperor Chengwen may have been tired of scolding, or his body no longer allowed him to lose his temper, so he stopped scolding Li Gaoyou. Instead, he has been paying more attention to Li Dingning recently.

Of course, he was not concerned about Li Dingning's studies. Perhaps he also knew that no matter how hard he tried to improve Li Dingning's abilities, it would be a waste of effort. Li Dingning was simply not suitable for doing these things?

So what is he good for?

He is suitable for writing storybooks, that is, he is an ancient writer. Moreover, Chu Ran has read it and found that the storybooks written by Li Dingning are quite interesting. They are worthy of being influenced by all kinds of modern melodramatic and abusive love stories.

Since he knew that Li Dingning was unreliable, Emperor Chengwen began to plan to find a wife for Li Dingning.

At this age, Li Dingning is indeed old enough to get married.

Emperor Chengwen thought that if he worked hard for a few more years, Li Dingning would give birth to a big fat grandson for him. Even though Li Dingning was unreliable, at least his good grandson would not be unreliable, right?

After Emperor Chengwen thought about this, he called Li Dingning over.

Li Dingning didn't know what Emperor Chengwen wanted him to do, so he took Chu Ran with him.

It seems that this matter should not be hidden from outsiders, and Emperor Chengwen did not let Chu Ran withdraw.

At first, Emperor Chengwen discussed with Li Dingning in a friendly tone: "Old Fifth, you are not young anymore, it is time for you to get married."

Emperor Chengwen did not mention starting a career, but he decided to get married first.

Li Dingning was very happy when he heard this, as this was exactly what he was thinking.

"Father, I have the same idea. I happen to be outside the palace..."

"I have seen the daughter of Grand Tutor Liu before. She is well-educated, gentle, docile, and knowledgeable. She is a perfect match for you."

When Li Dingning heard that his father had already chosen a candidate in mind, he refused without a second thought, "Father, I don't want to marry her."

Emperor Chengwen's face immediately darkened, "Why, the daughter of the Grand Tutor is not worthy of you?"

Li Dingning explained: "It's not a question of whether she is worthy or not. The truth is that I have never seen her and I don't like her. If I were to marry, I would definitely marry someone I like..."

"That's fine."

Emperor Chengwen was indeed too lenient towards Li Dingning. "I'll tell the Grand Tutor that when you have nothing to do, you can spend more time with Miss Liu. As time goes by, you'll naturally develop feelings for her."

Li Dingning shook his head again, "Father, I don't like people who are well-educated and well-mannered."

Emperor Chengwen: "So what kind do you like?"

Qin Nianwei's figure instantly appeared in Li Dingning's mind, so Li Dingning said: "My son likes heroic, strong and powerful women."

"Ridiculous!" Emperor Chengwen was so angry that he slammed the table and then couldn't control his violent coughing. After coughing for a long time, Emperor Chengwen stopped, but his face was still angry. "What do you mean by like or dislike? It's all childish talk! I picked the Miss Liu for you after careful selection, how dare you reject her! My words are the imperial decree. If I say it's the Miss Liu, it's the Miss Liu! You dare to disobey my order and try!"

In the past, when Li Dingning saw Emperor Chengwen getting angry, he would shrink his head into his neck in fear and agree to whatever Emperor Chengwen said, not daring to resist even a word.

Chu Ran was standing not far from Li Dingning, with his head lowered, thinking that this time would be the same. Once the tiger showed its might, Li Dingning would turn into a docile little cat and be manipulated at will by Emperor Chengwen.

It has always been like this anyway.

Unexpectedly, Li Dingning was so bold this time that he stood up.

He stiffened his neck, with an expression of being ready to die bravely, "Since Father says so, then Father, please kill me! Unless I die, I will never marry that Miss Liu!"

“You…you you…”

Emperor Chengwen pointed at Li Dingning with a trembling finger. Li Dingning's head seemed to be welded to his neck, standing straight and motionless.

The next moment, Emperor Chengwen's eyes rolled back and he passed out.