Thinking that he would force his cousin to kill the king in three days, and that everyone in the world except himself would hate her, Gu Tingchen could not bear to deprive her and Ji Yuan of their last reunion moment of loving father and filial daughter.
"Okay, I'll ask Liu Zhang to invite my father-in-law over." Gu Tingchen responded and went out.
After he left, Xing Tao came in with a smile and said, "Miss, the maids and secret guards outside the yard have all left."
Ye Wanshu was not surprised.
Gu Tingchen had people guarding Cuiweitang before, but it was because he was worried that he would know the news of his aunt's death. Now that he knew what happened in the mansion, there was no need for him to watch him too closely.
After all, there was a patrol camp outside the mansion, so he was not worried about escaping from the Duke's Mansion.
Jingxin waited in Cuiweitang for two hours, and then someone came to report that her father was invited into the mansion.
Ye Wanshu led the maids and followed the visitor to the hall in the outer courtyard. Sure enough, she saw her father sitting in the living room, looking up.
"Father."
Ye Wanshu bowed and looked up at him. It had only been a month since they last saw each other, but he looked much older, with a lot of white hair on his temples.
Seeing his daughter had lost a lot of weight, Ji Yuan felt a pang of pain in his heart. He quickly stood up and took her hand. Inadvertently seeing the red mark on her wrist, he glared at Liu Zhang angrily: "Is this how you take care of the future princess?"
Ye Wanshu hurriedly shook her head at him and said to Liu Zhang, "You all go out. I'll chat with Dad for a while."
"This..." Liu Zhang suddenly felt embarrassed.
"Why? I'm stuck in the mansion all day, and His Majesty has already abdicated. Are you still worried that my father and I can stir up some huge waves in the Duke's Mansion?" Ye Wanshu shouted.
Liu Zhang thought about it carefully and realized that King Yongning had already entered the northern border, and even if his cousin knew about this, there was nothing she could do.
As for the regicide, no one knew about it except himself and King Daoan. There was really no need to make a fuss about it and be so wary of my cousin.
After all, she will be the mistress of the palace in the future.
"Okay," Liu Zhang warned, "We'll soon be a family. I know the Prime Minister is prejudiced against our Highness. My cousin should persuade him to be more considerate of our Highness in the future."
After saying that, he closed the door with confidence and waited outside.
"Wanwan, are you really determined to marry that bastard?" Ji Yuan had tears in his eyes. He deliberately raised his voice, but calmly took out a small ball of paper from his sleeve and stuffed it into Ye Wanshu's hand.
Ye Wanshu opened it and took a quick look, only to see the word "Cheng" written on it.
"He is not my eldest cousin. Please don't have any prejudice against him, Dad." In this short sentence, Ye Wanshu emphasized the words "eldest cousin" and "don't have any prejudice against him".
Ji Yuan thought for a moment and seemed to understand something.
I'm afraid it was my daughter reminding me to contact Gu Tingzhou again.
Looking at his daughter with some confusion, Ye Wanshu nodded. Ji Yuan smiled knowingly, then took the paper ball back and swallowed it.
"You've already fallen into trouble once in this house. Father doesn't want you to make the same mistake again," Ji Yuan scolded loudly.
The two consecutive sentences were both aimed at stopping this marriage, which made Liu Zhang outside the door very dissatisfied.
Pushing the door open impatiently, Liu Zhang first addressed Ye Wanshu, "My dear cousin, it's not that I'm unreasonable. The Prime Minister is simply too pedantic. How can my Highness be compared to the eldest young master?"
Liu Zhang angrily called the guards in to chase them away, and said unhappily, "Master Prime Minister, please go back. You don't need to see my cousin again."
Just like that, the father and daughter were together for only a moment before Ji Yuan was asked to leave the house. Ye Wanshu pretended to be dissatisfied and wanted to chase him, but was stopped by Liu Zhang.
"My dear cousin, the Prime Minister has ill intentions. Why bother to cause discord between you and His Highness because of him?" Liu Zhang reminded her, "You are the future princess after all. You don't want to be imprisoned by Cui Weitang anymore. If word gets out, it would be disgraceful."
Ye Wanshu spat at him with a cold look, then led Chunhong and Xingtao back to Cuiweitang.
As soon as they returned to the house, the two maids began to complain about Liu Zhang's domineering behavior. However, Ye Wanshu did not look unhappy. She knew that her father was deliberately putting on a show for Liu Zhang today.
When she thought about Fu Mingchi's entry into Lin'an, her heart, which had been calm for a long time, could not help but be stirred.
She used to try to avoid him, but now she wanted to see him every moment.
If she could meet him again, she really wanted to talk to him about the pain of their separation and tell him that she had always loved him.
......
Outside Yezhou City
As soon as autumn began, heavy rain began to fall. The rain continued, making the entire mountain road even more difficult to travel.
On the extremely steep mountainside, a group of men in plain clothes were climbing forward with difficulty on the bare stone wall. From time to time, someone fell off the cliff and disappeared without a trace.
"Your Highness, there are still two hundred miles to go to Lin'an. You have been traveling for seven or eight days in a row. Why don't you stay and rest for a while, and wait for the rain to ease before continuing your journey. I will take people to Lin'an first to rescue the princess." Looking at the exhausted Fu Mingchi, Zhu Wencai advised with concern.
"In three days, Queen Mother Gu will be crowned. Everyone must arrive in Lin'an before the ceremony."
Fu Mingchi grabbed the stone wall, turned his head to look at the bottomless abyss below, and ordered: "Tell everyone to hold on a little longer."
Zhu Wencai glanced at His Highness's bloodshot eyes, feeling particularly uneasy: "But..."
"No need to say more."
Fu Mingchi interrupted him, "Gu Erlang could have led the army himself to appease the people in the face of the crisis in the northern border, but he sacrificed the lives of so many innocent women in vain. This shows that he is a vicious person who will do anything to achieve his goals. The longer Wan'er stays with him, the more danger she will face."
Zhu Wencai knew the difficulty of this journey. If the three groups of troops could not meet up on the designated date to launch a surprise attack on Lin'an, once the court discovered it, all of His Highness's arrangements would be in vain.
By then, not to mention rescuing the princess, even His Highness and all the Yuezhou soldiers will be killed without a burial place.
"Your Highness, please be careful," Zhu Wencai consoled him, "The princess is kind and righteous, and God will surely bless her."
After saying this, he focused on ordering his soldiers to continue marching in the rain.
Fu Mingchi silently glanced at the fog-shrouded front, and regretted that he could not see into Lin'an City at a glance.
Thinking about his own cruelty and determination on the city wall of Huizhou, he hated himself even more for not being able to notice Wan'er's thoughts in time.
In order to keep Wan'er in Lin'an, Gu Tingchen did not hesitate to sacrifice the lives of so many innocent women and let Wan'er bear the infamy. If he knew about the secret decree, I am afraid he would do something even more cruel.
After all, the emperor and the Gu family have long been incompatible. Since Empress Dowager Gu chose to usurp the throne, she would definitely not tolerate the emperor.
If the grandmother and granddaughter had the intention of harming the emperor and then pinned the crime of regicide on Wan'er, it would undoubtedly push Wan'er into an irretrievable situation.
Thinking of this, Fu Mingchi felt more anxious. His steps were as fast as the wind, and he walked on the bare and steep slopes as if they were flat ground. His climbing speed increased a lot.
"Wan'er, you must wait for this king."
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