Chapter 71 If He Wants Her...
Shen Qingci's face showed undisguised astonishment and bewilderment: "What elite army? What troop mobilization order?"
"You handed it over to me? How come I didn't know?"
She frowned and thought carefully. After she married Huo Yunzhan, Huo Yunzhan had indeed asked her several times if her father had given her anything.
She was also a little confused at the time. Huo Yunzhan explained that he was afraid that if her father gave her something he shouldn't have, it would affect her and even the entire Huo family.
Even after she denied it, Huo Yunzhan still tried to probe her a few more times.
Furthermore, it was Huo Yunzhan who suggested entrusting her dowry to Liu Ruolan for management. He said that her family had suffered a great upheaval and she probably wouldn't have the heart to manage such things. Moreover, Liu Ruolan was in charge of the Marquis's mansion, so entrusting it to her would also show that they had no ulterior motives towards the Marquis's mansion.
After she agreed, Huo Yunzhan personally inspected and counted her dowry before handing it over to Zhonggong.
Shen Qingci frowned, and connecting the rumors Chu Jichen had just mentioned, a vague suspicion began to form in her mind: "Could it be that Huo Yunzhan married me for this reason?"
"Is it because they couldn't get that so-called troop mobilization order from my father, and they thought that if they wiped out the entire Shen family and left only me as their only daughter, my father would definitely hand over the item to me?"
"If I marry Huo Yunzhan, it will be very convenient for him to find out if I have the troop mobilization order, and try every means to coax me into handing it over?"
Chu Jichen lowered his eyes, casually turning the jade thumb ring: "Perhaps."
Shen Qingci bit her lip: "So, after I became pregnant but still didn't reveal the location of the troop mobilization order, Huo Yunzhan began to doubt whether the troop mobilization order really existed?"
“He felt that since I was already pregnant, I was completely tied down. If I really had some kind of troop mobilization order, after I gave birth, it would either be passed on to my child or handed over to the Huo family.”
“The Shen family has been wiped out. He married me for a troop mobilization order that may not even exist, but I can’t help him at all. He’s at a loss.”
If such rumors exist, then everything seems to make more sense.
Her previous confusion was now explained: why would someone as ambitious as Huo Yunzhan marry her when the Shen family was on the verge of disaster?
It wasn't Lady Hou who said it; it was her contribution.
It's not that the Huo family keeps their word.
Rather, Huo Yunzhan had ulterior motives towards her.
Shen Qingci's eyes trembled. So, after Huo Yunzhan was thrown into the Heavenly Prison, he told Prime Minister Liu about the possibility that the troop mobilization order, whose existence was unknown, might be in her possession? And on this basis, he asked Prime Minister Liu to find a way to help him regain his identity as Huo Yunzhan?
Shen Qingci closed her eyes. Did Huo Yunzhan have even a shred of genuine affection for her? Perhaps, it was only exploitation.
All the kindness he showed her was probably just an act, wasn't it?
She, however, was completely unaware...
Shen Qingci took a deep breath before looking at Huo Yunzhan again, her brows furrowing slightly.
Although she didn't say anything, Huo Yunzhan seemed to know exactly what she was thinking. He looked up at Shen Qingci and smiled, "What is Qingci thinking?"
"Are you thinking that Huo Yunzhan married you for the troop deployment order, and what about me? Am I also after that thing?"
Shen Qingci's hands, which were tucked into her sleeves, twitched slightly, but she remained silent.
Chu Jichen maneuvered his wheelchair to Shen Qingci's side, reached out and covered her hand, enveloping it tightly.
I don’t know whether General Shen has secretly recruited troops and trained elites as his private army.
“But I have it.”
Shen Qingci looked up in surprise and stared blankly at Chu Jichen.
Did Chu Jichen mean what she thought he did?
Chu Jichen's lips curled up slightly: "I have been secretly stockpiling troops and training them in secret."
"Moreover, the troops I have secretly trained are several times larger than the elite army of General Shen that is rumored to be."
Shen Qingci's eyes widened. Is this... something that can be said so openly and honestly?
Chu Jichen looked at her, a glint of light in his eyes: "If Qingci is interested, after we get married, I can take you to see my private army."
“You are my queen, and I don’t think there’s anything to hide.”
Shen Qingci bit her lip. This person…
Although she had agreed to marry him, they had not yet actually gotten married.
Isn't he afraid that she might use this as leverage to reveal it to the outside world?
Chu Jichen didn't think he had just dropped any bombshell news. He just looked towards the courtyard gate, where the steward and maids were bringing breakfast.
Chu Jichen smiled and said, "I had the kitchen make your favorite soup dumplings. Try them and see how they taste."
Shen Qingci was taken aback. How could this person so smoothly shift the conversation from private soldiers to soup dumplings?
She was still in shock.
The butler laid out breakfast and then withdrew.
Chu Jichen took a plate, poured some vinegar on it, placed a soup dumpling on the plate, and pushed it in front of Shen Qingci: "Want to try some?"
Shen Qingci did as instructed and took a bite, but her body suddenly froze.
The taste of this soup dumpling was very familiar; it was exactly the same as the one she had eaten when she was at the Shen residence.
"Is it good?" Chu Jichen asked.
Shen Qingci nodded, but then remembered what Chu Jichen had said earlier: he had asked the kitchen to make her favorite soup dumplings.
How did he know she liked soup dumplings?
Shen Qingci's mind stirred slightly: "It's delicious, and the taste is almost... exactly the same as what I used to eat at home."
Chu Jichen smiled: "Yes, I used the chef from the Shen family before."
“Before the incident at the Shen residence, your parents dismissed the servants. I spent some time finding the cook who used to work at the Shen residence, and I just had someone bring him over yesterday.”
"I'm glad you like it."
Shen Qingci's eyelashes trembled slightly. So it was the Shen family's former chef. No wonder... no wonder Chu Jichen knew what she liked to eat.
But Chu Jichen, as the regent, went to great lengths for her. Even something as small as finding a cook was personally entrusted to him, and he went to great lengths to find the Shen family's former cook…
She couldn't help but think that if Chu Jichen married her, it wasn't for something like Huo Yunzhan, but for that completely fictitious troop mobilization order.
Could it really be... just because I like her?
She looked at Chu Jichen, her mind involuntarily replaying the image of that thing that had been pressing against her back for most of the night...
Since it's not a troop mobilization order, then it must be a man.
Or perhaps, he was after her body?
It was obvious that he desired her.
So... will she get married? If she does, and he wants her, will she give herself to him?
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