Qin Luan clutched Qin Ruo’s letter, remembering how she had pleaded Su Rong to let her go to Nanchu, only to be rejected by him.
Now, would her brother ask her to go to Nanchu? Could she go?
After going to Nanchu, would Su Rong value her?
What if he didn’t? Would she run to Nanchu to get married? Marry whom? She knew Zhou Gu was out of the question for the rest of her life, and as for the second young master from Ye Xiang Residence of Nanchu? She was not sure if she could reach that high.
She was well aware of her ambition, it was not about getting married and raising a family, if she were to get married, it would have to be someone with power, like the current Crown Prince.
But her status was too low now, no matter how the Crown Prince selected his wife, he would not choose a daughter of a criminal.
But what if she wasn’t the Crown Prince’s wife, but a side wife, or a concubine?
She could always achieve that.
She clenched the letter, lifting her head to look towards the inner hall of the study, through the window screen, she could only see a hazy figure of the Crown Prince seated at the desk.
She thought, the Crown Prince should be selecting his wife now, maybe the Emperor and the Queen were preparing for it. As long as she stayed in the Eastern Palace, there would always be a chance, right? As long as she became the Crown Prince’s woman, she would have a hope of becoming the queen in the future.
At this moment, Qin Luan forgot that there was a Xie Lin who cared for her, who even had a big fight with Zhou Gu for her.
At the same time, at the Rui’an King Residence, Xie Lin, after leaving the office, was having dinner with Rui’an King and Queen. Because of the return of the Crown Prince, the state affairs had become hectic, and Rui’an King and Xie Lin were also busy, causing them to return home late recently.
The Rui’an Queen had been waiting for the father and son to have lunch together, letting the kitchen prepare various tonics, fearing that the father and son were too tired, their physical nutrition could not keep up, and they couldn’t stand it.
She kept serving Xie Lin soup, after Xie Lin drank two bowls, he pleaded, "Mother, I really can’t drink anymore."
"Look at you, you’ve lost weight, fighting in wars is so hard and now you’re finally back safely, you need to eat more and supplement your nutrition." The Rui’an Queen insisted, pushing another bowl of soup to him, "Drink it all."
Xie Lin made a bitter face, even the most delicious soup would become nauseating after a few days, he looked to the Rui’an King for help.
The Rui’an King gave him a helpless look.
"I know how bad the food is in the military camp, you’ve been suffering for months, you need to replenish your body." The Rui’an Queen gracefully said: "Don’t worry, tomorrow I’ll let the kitchen change the soup, this black chicken soup is the last time."
Xie Lin breathed a sigh of relief, "Alright!"
The Rui’an Queen watched his relieved expression, the son had become mature and stable after following the Crown Prince to the frontline to gain experience, she brought up a old topic, "You should get married, I’ve selected a few girls from several families, you can have a look in a few days."
Xie Lin immediately said: "Mother, I still want to marry Qin Luan."
The Rui’an Queen frowned, "Why are you still thinking about Qin Luan? She’s a palace maid of the Eastern Palace and a daughter of a criminal."
Xie Lin immediately said: "I want to marry her."
The Rui’an Queen was unhappy, "She is the Crown Prince’s woman."
"The Crown Prince told me, Qin Luan is only a palace maid of the Eastern Palace, not a woman of his room." Xie Lin said.
The Rui’an Queen frowned, "So she says, but she’s still not a match for you."
"Mother, wasn’t our Rui’an King Residence, a hundred years ago, also of bandit origin?" Xie Lin said quietly: "Why are you looking down on her? All that matters is that I like her."
The Rui’an Queen was choked.
The Rui’an King had been silent all this time, but now he turned his head and glared at Xie Lin, "Do you like her that much?"
"Yes." Xie Lin nodded.
The Rui’an King sighed and looked at the Queen.
The Rui’an Queen was unhappy in her heart, "Qin Luan doesn’t like you. There’s something I’ve never told you, three years ago, when I planned to arrange a marriage for you, the first one I looked at was Qin Luan, the daughter of the former Vice Minister of Justice, Qin Yuan. I personally approached Mrs. Qin, she did not refuse at the time, but after a while, she subtly told me that her daughter was still young and was not in a hurry."
She put down her chopsticks and looked at the stunned Xie Lin, "What does this indicate? It means that Mrs. Qin went back and asked Qin Luan. Qin Luan didn’t like you, she didn’t agree."
She looked at her son, "It’s not that mother is rigid and demanding you to marry with an equally matched partner, I just don’t believe that the person who didn’t like you back then, would like you now. Even if she likes you now and agrees to marry you, it’s because of your identity, because of the doorway of Rui’an King Residence, not because of you as a person."
Xie Lin was really unaware of this, his mother had indeed not told him, "Mother, are you lying to me?"
"Why would I lie to you?" The Rui’an Queen glared at her son unhappily, "This matter is also known by Mrs. Shen, wife of Shen Xian. If you don’t believe it, you can go and ask your Aunt Shen right now. Although she is tight-lipped and doesn’t like to participate in gatherings, because of Shen Xian’s status, there’s nothing in the capital she doesn’t know about. I once asked her to find out about Qin Luan’s character."
Xie Lin put down his chopsticks, "So who does she like?"
To arrange a marriage for him with the daughter of Vice Minister of Justice, Qin Yuan, means that his mother must have taken a liking to Qin Luan herself. But Mrs. Qin refused, was it because the Qin Family didn’t want to marry into the Rui’an King Residence? Of course not, it must be that Qin Luan disagreed.
The Rui’an Queen looked at her son hesitantly.
Xie Lin pressed on, "Mother, you tell me, you know something, just say it."
The Rui’an Queen sighed, "I don’t know if it’s accurate or not, but after Mrs. Qin rejected me, I was very puzzled, what’s not good about you? Although you are a bit immature, but who is born mature? You can still grow, I suspected she had someone she liked, so I sent some people secretly to spy on her, and after keeping a close eye on her for half a year, I found that Qin Luan’s attention was on Zhou Gu."
Xie Lin was shocked, "You’re saying Qin Luan likes Zhou Gu?"
The Rui’an Queen said, "If she didn’t like him, why would she always watch what Zhou Gu was doing? Twice, she even created opportunities to encounter him. Later, I got irritated and let it go. After all, if it got out, our family would lose face."
Xie Lin was angry, "Is Zhou Gu born to be against me?"
He asked the Rui’an Queen angrily, "Mother, by hiding this from me, were you afraid that I would go pick a fight with Zhou Gu?"
"Yes, you can’t beat him anyway." The Rui’an Queen said helplessly, "Who knew that in the end, you would still end up fighting Zhou Gu over Qin Luan. Nobody got any good out of it."
"Zhou Gu doesn’t like Qin Luan." Xie Lin said, "I only found out later that he agreed to take care of Qin Luan because of Qin Ruo. He apologized to me."
He was dispirited, "I don’t know if she still likes Zhou Gu now."
The Rui’an Queen looked at him, "If you really want to marry her, I won’t stop you, but I’m telling you, if you marry a woman who doesn’t like you, and you can’t make her fall in love with you, over time, there will be a rift between the husband and wife, and the house will not be peaceful. The one who suffers will be you."
Xie Lin was disheartened, "I will think about it carefully, thank you, mother."
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