Chapter 41: You came to me before the wedding to favor me? Under the bridge...
The river under the bridge had melted, but it looked muddy and stagnant.
Yun Yang's eyes were extremely deep and indifferent as she swept across the Tianfu Tower in front of her inch by inch. A gauze curtain made of shark silk and beads hung over the carved gate. There was constant laughter and chatter inside. Her gaze finally fell on Xue Yu.
He looked even more handsome in his dark red robe. The corners of his eyes and eyebrows were slightly red, as if he had just drunk some wine, but his expression was particularly gloomy and distant.
Yun Yang looked at him with burning eyes, his heart filled with coldness. He smiled faintly, turned around and left.
"Second Miss?!" Chang Sui shouted, scratching his head, not understanding what was going on.
Why didn't you go back home together when you met, but just turned around and left?
Xue Yu stood with his hands behind his back, angry that he was not only indifferent but also completely disgusted by the woman beside him. Suddenly, seeing Yun Yang's cold gaze at him, he felt an inexplicable sense of shame and anger rising in his heart. His temper also became fierce. He frowned and said coldly, "Let her be."
Didn't she ignore him every day? Why did she follow him so eagerly, and even followed him to a place like this?
From then on, the relationship between the two of them completely reached a freezing point. If they met by chance, Yun Yang would find an excuse to leave first in front of Old Madam Xue. Before leaving, he would pay all the necessary courtesy to Xue Yu and the old lady, looking obedient and gentle, but his eyes would never linger on him for even a moment.
If they met on a narrow road in the mansion, Yun Yang would turn around and leave without even looking up.
Xue Yu wanted to explain and coax her at first, but then he thought it was better to just leave it at that. Their previous relationship was too close, and perhaps it had tacitly crossed the line between brother-in-law and sister-in-law, which made him have such subtle thoughts and greed for her.
It's better to just leave it like this. This is how all relationships between people are. They will eventually fade away. It's time for him to stop treating her well.
The young man stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the calm Qing Lake.
She and he might eventually become well-behaved and polite, and neither of them would overstep the line.
He would never again see her smile before she spoke, never again see her fragility and tears, never again see her delicate figure with her long hair loose and without makeup.
She would no longer throw herself into his arms and softly say, "Brother-in-law, you are so kind..."
Xue Yu closed his eyes, held the brush in his hand, and turned it over and over again. He didn't even notice that the ink had stained the snow-white rice paper, and in the end he couldn't put pen to paper.
The thought that everything he would never see again would belong to another man made his heart ache.
How can I be so upset...
With a flick of his wide sleeves, he finally threw the pen away.
*
The prince's wedding is approaching, and perhaps to dispel the shadow of the previous earthquake, the capital city is decorated with lights and lanterns, giving it a festive and lively look.
One day, Fangyue took Yunyang to the market. Not long after they started walking, the little girl said she was tired and led Yunyang to Fanyue Tower.
I haven't seen the prince for a long time. When we met again, he seemed to have lost some weight, but had more majesty of a royal family. He had high brow bones and a pair of narrow and deep phoenix eyes.
Yun Yang suddenly realized why Xue Yu was so calm and serious. Facing such a person every day, how could he not show some strength to suppress him?
The skylight shone in obliquely through the carved window lattices of the elegant room in Fanyue Tower, and was divided into strands of soft light.
There was fine dust floating in the air. The prince sat in the shadow with an expressionless face, but when he saw her coming, he smiled faintly.
"Yun Yang." He called her, still speaking kindly, "I asked Fang Yue to bring you here. I was rude."
Yun Yang bowed his head and said, "Your Highness, you are joking. If Your Highness wants to see me, you can just ask for an audience directly. Your Highness is willing to spend so much time on me, how can it be rude?"
"You blame me?" The prince didn't want to be polite with her, nor did he want to wear the decent mask of the crown prince in front of her. He didn't even call himself "Gu" and said softly, "But if I go to Xue Mansion to look for you, or summon you to the palace, it will inevitably cause gossip."
"Your Highness, since you know that it will cause gossip, why do you always get entangled with me?" Yun Yang raised his eyes and said.
The prince suddenly smiled and dismissed the followers around him, leaving only Yun Yang and him in the private room.
"Sister Yun, do you really not know why?" The prince's words were full of tenderness. He took the bright and plump grapes from the silver plate and handed them to her. "Then I will be very sad."
Yun Yang noticed the change in his self-proclaimed identity and knew that he was using his status as the crown prince to pressure her and would not allow her to speak frankly like she did just now.
He gave her face because she was obedient and lovable. If she disobeyed him or went against him, he would use his status to suppress her and make her unable to refuse even a little.
The sneer on Yun Yang's lips faded, and he obediently reached out to take the grapes, saying something irrelevant, "There are grapes in this season?"
"Whatever I want to eat in any season, there are plenty of people who will bring it to me." The prince smiled and said, "Try it and tell me, is it sweet?"
Yun Yang took a bite, and the grape juice seeped out and flowed down the corners of her lips.
Just as she was about to wipe it, the prince came forward and took out a handkerchief.
Yun Yang took a half step back and looked at the prince and said, "Your Highness, you are going to get married."
The prince's hand was suspended in mid-air, but he was not annoyed. He smiled faintly and said, "Yes, I am getting married soon. Sister Yun, do you care about this?"
Yun Yang nodded and said frankly, "I don't want to be a concubine."
"As a concubine?" The prince looked bewildered for a moment. After pondering for a moment, he slowly nodded. "Marrying into the royal family, even if you become a concubine, you are still just a concubine."
"Besides, Your Highness, you can't grant me the position of Imperial Concubine." Yun Yang looked into his eyes. "You came to me on the eve of our wedding. Are you trying to favor me?"
The prince was stunned by his frankness and felt a little embarrassed.
He came to see her, firstly because he was really bored recently, and secondly because he wanted to have a deeper relationship with Xue Yu. He didn't like the girls in the Xue family who were disciplined and looked like fake people, but he only liked Yun Yang.
Therefore, he allowed himself to appear in front of Yun Yang.
But when she looked at him with her clear eyes and asked him if he wanted to favor her, he couldn't answer.
He had already passed the period when he was impulsive about matters between men and women. Besides, there were all kinds of concubines in the East Palace for him to enjoy. It was obvious that what he wanted from Yun Yang was not sexual desire.
Crown Prince Li Yi realized that he did not want to pollute her clear eyes. Rather than getting her body, he wanted her heart more.
After a while, he sighed softly, "Yun Yang, you promised me to call me Brother Yi or Li Yi."
In fact, during the few moments when the prince was silent, Yun Yang broke out in a cold sweat. Thinking of what Xue Yu said about the prince's status, he could kill nine generations of the whole family at will, and then he felt that he had spoken rashly.
"Brother Ying..." Yun Yang softened his tone and spoke in a way that pleased him. "I've never seen a monarch as kind and benevolent as you. Brother Ying, what's wrong with you? Why are you so different today?"
The prince liked the fact that Yun Yang didn't have any deep thoughts and just said whatever she thought. Even though she had just tried to evade him, it was her true thoughts, which was very rare.
The prince stood up and opened the window, letting in the clamor of hawkers from the street below. He turned around and smiled at her, "Nothing. Did it scare you?"
Yun Yang shook his head. "I've also heard about the recent changes in the court. I don't understand officialdom, but I know my brother-in-law always comes home very late. Brother Yi, you must be working even harder. If talking to me can make you feel better, then Yun Yang will have done a great deed for my ancestors."
The prince's smile deepened as he handed her another grape, "You haven't answered me yet. Is it sweet?"
Yun Yang lowered his brows and took it, saying, "Sweet."
The prince took her hand and walked to the side to sit down. Looking out the window at the cascading palace walls not far away, he slowly said, "My marriage is not decided by me. My mother and the young master are in charge of everything. I often feel suffocated. Yunyang, you are the only one who is willing to tell me the truth. I understand that you don't want to enter the palace. Even I want to run away when I have time, let alone you."
Yun Yang carefully considered every detail and spoke softly, "My brother-in-law and Concubine Li are doing their job and have no intention of restricting your Highness or Brother Yi. Brother Yi, isn't it good to be the Crown Prince? You'll be the Emperor in the future, the Supreme Ruler."
The prince smiled faintly, lowering his eyes to watch her innocent question. The more he looked at her, the happier he became. He gently patted the back of her hand and said, "What's so good about being a prince or an emperor? You can't even stop the woman you love from becoming a concubine."
Yun Yang saw that they had come up with this again, and she quickly stood up and gritted her teeth, "If Your Highness wants me to enter the palace, how can I say no? Whether it's as a concubine or a servant, being able to serve Your Highness is my good fortune. But my heart can only be given to my husband. Your Highness is Your Highness, the most noble person in the world, but he is not my husband alone."
The prince looked at her for a long while. With such a perfect face and such a clear heart, how could he bear to let her go? She really suited his temperament...
He didn't like the women who were there for him to touch on the dragon bed, and he also wanted to have a dream of winning the heart of one person and staying together until old age.
He wanted someone to understand his feelings and treat him sincerely. But he didn't know if he would have such a blessing again in his life...
"Yunyang." He looked at her drooping eyebrows for a long time, and his tone was gentler than ever before. "Wait for me. As long as you have me in your heart, I will not be willing to let you become a concubine. I will not be willing to let you kneel to others and be tortured by the queen like my mother."
Yun Yang was horrified when she heard this. Why was he getting more aggressive the more she tried to refuse? What did he mean? Wouldn't this be like what happened with Concubine Li? Concubine Li was already favored enough, so what kind of position would he give her?
And how true is this? Or is he just testing her ambitions?
What ambitions could she have, a weak and lonely woman...
So he was testing the Xue family behind her? !
Yun Yang didn't dare to think about it anymore and could only play dumb. "Brother Yi is really nice. If Brother Yi wants to see me in the future, he can just send someone to summon me to the palace. There's no need to hide like this. It's okay for Brother Yi to summon a maidservant, a court lady, or a female official. I will go and chat with Brother Yi to relieve his boredom."
"Female official?" The prince was stunned for a moment, then his eyes lit up.
If she were to become a female official, it would be convenient for her to enter and leave the palace.
Yun Yang, possessing the skill of feigning ignorance, which she had mastered since childhood, continued, "But you can't always come to me, or someone with ulterior motives will accuse the Xue family of trying to curry favor with you. My brother-in-law holds the position of Junior Tutor to the Crown Prince, so it's only natural that he should share your worries. If I'm involved, then it would seem like my brother-in-law is biased when he speaks for you in the court."
The prince took a closer look at her expression, which was still so gentle and beautiful, unable to hide her innocence. Even she could relate to the interests involved, which seemed to be a minefield that he could not touch at this moment.
He must not appear too close to Master Xue.
"Yun Yang, are you in your teens?" asked the prince.
"Sixteen." Yun Yang answered honestly.
The prince smiled faintly in the shadows and reached out to touch her head, "Grow up slowly."
*
Yun Yang returned to the Xue Mansion. She didn't know if it was because she was too nervous and her body was very tense, or because she had soaked in the hot springs in Wenquan Mountain before, but she had her period early.
Lying on the bed, the pain in my lower abdomen became more and more severe, and I felt listless.
Xue Yu knew that Yun Yang had secretly met with the Crown Prince, so upon returning home, he summoned Si Qing and said in a cold tone, "Send that girl named Liu Fangyue and Yun Yang over."
Seeing the young master's unhappy expression, Si Qing turned around and quickly walked towards Jinxiang Pavilion. However, when she returned a short while later, she was still alone. She said cautiously, "Young master, Jinxiang Pavilion is still closed..."
Xue Yu drank all the tea in the teacup and slammed the cup heavily on the table.
She just wouldn't listen to him, didn't she? She'd promised him that she'd consult him before doing anything concerning the Crown Prince, so why did she go to see the Crown Prince without a word? Didn't she know to send someone to look for him?
What a critical juncture it is now. If she were to be taken in as a concubine by the prince, who knows how many people would make a fuss about it!
Since this is a matter concerning the crown prince, I'm afraid the only person I can deal with will be the one who's best to deal with it...
Or... is she just angry with him and wants to do the opposite?
Xue Yu suddenly stood up and went to Jinxiang Pavilion.
-----------------------
The author has something to say: Take a day off tomorrow
I've been feeling a bit broken lately.
I feel like no book is better than the other.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com