Chapter 52 I Determined to Marry
After a night of revelry, Jing Cang was exhausted from recuperating and her condition worsened.
Yu Fei felt a little regretful. She shouldn't have been so distracted by him and made love with him.
But in that situation, they were at loggerheads at first, and then they beat around the bush, and they really needed a thorough lovemaking to prove their inseparability for each other.
Not knowing what Jing Cang was thinking, he went back to his bedroom to rest the next day and started to shut himself in and not see her again.
Yu Fei would never think that Jing Cang wanted to change his mind, he had never lied to her. She guessed that he was thinking about how to break off the engagement with Yang Zhi and marry her in public.
In ancient times, engagements were not as casual as they are today. If things went wrong, a woman whose husband’s family broke off the engagement would be criticized, and it would be difficult for her to find a husband in the future. She might even become a disgrace to her family. Some women would even commit suicide to clear their names.
Yang Zhi is the daughter of the prime minister, so she does not have the worries of ordinary women. However, because of her status, even if the royal family breaks off the engagement, they cannot obviously damage the reputation of the important officials in the court.
However, her family background was indeed humble, and if he insisted on marrying her, he would inevitably be criticized.
Jing Cang has to think of a foolproof plan to deal with these difficult issues.
He hadn't seen her for several days, and Yu Fei was waiting like an ant on a hot pot, but she couldn't just barge in and ask him, otherwise it would seem like she was urging him to break off the engagement and marry someone else.
That day, the Queen came to the East Palace to visit Jing Cang.
Jing Cang saw the queen in her gorgeous attire and forced himself to get up from the couch, "Your son has come to see you, mother."
"Okay, take a rest." The queen frowned and stopped him, as if she saw that he was seriously ill.
He guessed the Queen's intention and estimated that she came today to talk about him breaking off the engagement with Yang Zhi and asking for marriage with Yu Fei instead, so he kept silent and waited for her to explode.
Sure enough, the queen walked to the bedside, took out a letter from her sleeve and threw it in front of him.
She sneered, "As far as I know, you haven't met with officials from the Qintianjian these days. What's this about you and Yang Zhi not getting along, and you need Yu Fei Chongxi's words because of your long-term illness? Did a ghost tell you that, or have you learned fortune-telling and divination?"
Jing Cang wrote a memorial full of empty words. He said respectfully, "The engagement of the Crown Prince is a matter of state. It doesn't matter whether I meet with Qin Tianjian or not. They will follow your and my father's advice. If you and my father agree with my statement, you can just tell Qin Tianjian to announce it widely according to that statement."
Seeing that he was not afraid of deceiving the emperor, the queen angrily asked, "Do you still want me and your father to cooperate with you, a rebellious son, to call a deer a horse?"
After Jing Cang submitted the memorial, he was prepared to endure his parents' wrath. But when he heard the empress's disappointed and angry tone, his heart ached.
His mind seemed to be pulling at his body, and a sweet and fishy taste surged from his chest to his throat. He forced himself to suppress it and said slowly, "My son's words are false but his heart is true. Please grant my wish, Father, the Emperor, and Mother, please grant my wish."
The queen looked at him. He was wearing a plain white shirt, with his hands propped up on the couch, his upper body held very straight, trembling slightly, and his face was as pale as paper and sweat was pouring down his forehead, as if he was a seriously ill person who was about to die.
She felt her eyes sore and her heart ached, and sighed: "Your body is a gift from your parents, so if you don't appreciate and cherish it, you can just forget about it. Why are you torturing yourself like this for a woman and threatening your parents..."
Jing Cang guessed that the Queen must have heard about his decision to stop taking the medicine and refuse medical treatment. He carefully chose his words, "Mother, last time I argued with you to save Yu Fei, and I felt deeply guilty afterwards. This time I thought about breaking off the engagement and marrying her. I am ashamed to face you and my father, so I have toiled and suffered to seek forgiveness from my parents."
The queen sneered at his high-sounding words and said, "If I don't agree to your marriage to Yu Fei, you want me and your father to send your son off with us?"
Jing Cang was silent.
“Parents who love their children will plan for them in the long run.” His action was indeed a threat to his parents.
The Queen glanced out the window and asked, "Yu Fei insists on being the Crown Princess?"
Jing Cang suddenly became alert, fearing that the Queen would execute Yu Fei as she said last time. He lifted up his quilt, got down to the ground and knelt in front of the Queen, "Mother, it was I who insisted on marrying Yu Fei."
Perhaps due to his impatience, he still spat out the fishy blood. He felt his body gradually becoming weak, but his chest felt much more comfortable.
The Queen panicked and ordered someone to find Doctor Yu. She wanted to help him to the bed, but Jing Cang refused. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and said softly, "Mother, I can die for Yu Fei, so what else can I not give her? I'm just afraid that she won't say no and will stubbornly leave."
"Perhaps in the eyes of the royal family, she has nothing but beauty. But I feel happy when I am with her. Thinking about spending time with her and having children in the future, I feel more satisfied than inheriting the throne in the future."
"I was born a prince, and I have lived a law-abiding life for twenty years according to your and my father's wishes. This time, I want to be willful and marry the woman I like. Since ancient times, most emperors have been lonely, and so have the crown princes. I want to keep her in the palace to accompany me..."
He kowtowed deeply and said, "Please grant my blessing, Father, the Emperor, and Mother, please."
When the Queen saw Jing Cang this time, she couldn't help but think of the old days.
At that time, she and the emperor also thought that they could be together for the rest of their lives, but the pressure of the court forced them to drift apart. She had a thousand words to say, but in the end, they said, "Qilin, since you said this, don't let her down in the future."
Jing Cang said happily: "Thank you, Father, Emperor, and Mother, Empress."
The Queen went out and saw Yu Fei waiting outside the palace.
The little girl looked much thinner than she was a few days ago. Her palm-sized face was pitifully pointed, and her waist was slender enough to be held in one hand, like a thin bamboo that was about to break in the wind.
It seems that Jing Cang's life will not be easy if she delays her illness.
The Queen sighed and told Yu Fei: "Take good care of the prince and take care of your health."
Seeing that the empress had arrived at the East Palace, Yu Fei felt it was unacceptable to stay in her bedroom any longer, so she went to wait outside the Jingcang Palace. Unexpectedly, the empress suddenly spoke a word of concern, as if she were treating her as... her daughter-in-law.
She really didn't think too much. She just heard the palace maids say something like "the prince vomited blood" outside. She guessed that Jing Cang must have used some means to force the queen to agree to break off the engagement and marry her. Considering his worsening condition and the reason for closing the door, it was most likely a self-torture trick.
She strode into the palace, only to see a row of imperial doctors kneeling in front of Jing Cang's bed. The head of the group gave him a bitter warning: "Your Highness's back injury has not healed, and the remaining poison in your body has not been cleared. You must not refuse medical treatment or stop taking medicine in the future. Otherwise, you will suffer from underlying diseases and we will be held responsible even if we die a thousand times."
Yu Fei asked: "How is your highness now?"
The chief doctor said: "It's just that the condition is a little serious. With careful treatment for a few days, there shouldn't be any serious problems."
Jing Cang saw her coming and waved to dismiss everyone.
He extended his hand to her, motioning her to come closer. Yu Fei stood three feet away and said coldly, "I was wondering what you were thinking about in your room these days. It turns out you were just torturing yourself and committing suicide, so that I could spend a lot of money on prostitutes and flirt with decent men on the street."