Chapter 64
The emperor finally gritted his teeth and agreed to the marriage between Gu Fuzhou and Lin Qingyu. There was another war in the northwest, and he had to appease Gu Fuzhou at this time. Furthermore, Xu Junyuan also said that their marriage was an auspicious sign. For the sake of the overall situation, he could only suppress his own selfish desires. He is the king of a country, and he knows which is more important, the country or the beauty.
The emperor only acquiesced and did not grant the marriage, but he made it known that the man who married her would no longer be allowed to serve as an official in the court.
Upon hearing this, Gu Fuzhou wanted to find the emperor to argue. Lin Qingyu stopped him: "Don't worry, it won't be long before the emperor invites me back."
Gu Fuzhou pretended to complain: "Doctor Lin did something bad without taking me with him."
Lin Qingyu said: "This is not a bad thing."
On the day Lin Qingyu left the palace, most of his colleagues in the Imperial Hospital watched coldly. Except for Hu Ji who saw him off all the way, Chu Zhengde also came to see him off.
The old man still had no good face towards him, and spoke in a sarcastic tone: "Marry me if you say so. Are you worthy of your talent?"
Lin Qingyu said indifferently: "It is precisely because of my talent that it is okay to delay for a while occasionally."
Chu Zhengde choked up and said angrily, "Hurry up and leave. It's bad luck to see you."
Lin Qingyu didn't leave quickly - a eunuch from the Eastern Palace found him and said that the prince wanted to see him.
After many days, Lin Qingyu saw Xiao Cheng again and almost couldn't help laughing.
After hovering on the brink of life and death, Xiao Cheng became a completely different person from his former high-spirited self. But he had lost almost half his weight, his cheeks were sunken, his lips were pale, and even though he was wearing gorgeous clothes, he couldn't hide his dishevel. Lin Qingyu even felt that he was not much better than Shen Huaishi at Changsheng Temple that day.
When those eyes looked at Lin Qingyu, the arrogance but rationality, conceit but suspicion of the past were gone, and only paranoia and resentment remained in their eyes.
Lin Qingyu saluted according to the rules: "Your subordinate pays respect to Your Highness."
Xiao Cheng did not lock his eyes like he did in the past, and asked straight to the point: "Do you have any news about Shen Huaishi?"
Lin Qingyu raised his eyebrows: "Guard Shen is your highness's exclusive guard, and your highness actually came to ask me about him?"
Xiao Cheng's lips were tightly tightened. After so long, the Tianji Camp still hasn't found out Shen Huaishi's whereabouts. He had no place to vent his anxiety and resentment, and he could not relieve it by smashing everything in sight in the East Palace all day. Until the secret guards of the Tianji Camp asked tremblingly: "Excuse me, Your Highness, does Guard Shen have any relatives or friends? We can start with these people."
Xiao Cheng was stunned and thought for a long time before he thought of Lin Qingyu.
All of Shen Huaishi's relatives and friends disappeared three years ago along with the Tianyu Gate. In the past three years, besides himself, Shen Huaishi seemed to have only had contact with Lin Qingyu. Otherwise, he would not have shown up on Jingchun's birthday to plead for Lin Qingyu.
"You just need to answer my questions. Do you have permission to ask anything else?"
Lin Qingyu said, "The last time I saw Guard Shen was in the Imperial Medical Office. I don't know what he did for Your Highness, but he got himself injured all over. I gave him a few prescriptions, that's all."
"Did he say anything to you?" Xiao Cheng didn't have any hope in Lin Qingyu, but he really had... nothing he could do. He would grab any piece of information, no matter how insignificant it was.
Lin Qingyu thought for a moment and said, "He mentioned Princess Jingchun."
"Jingchun?" Xiao Cheng asked impatiently, "What did he say?"
"He said that he and Princess Jingchun grew up together. Back then, the princess was forced to marry into the Northern Territory. I don't know how she has been doing in the past three years."
Xiao Cheng asked, "He said he was going to the North?"
Trying to guide too much will only add to the suspicion. Lin Qingyu said: "He never said that. He said that he is the shadow guard of His Highness, so naturally he has to be with His Highness all the time."
Xiao Cheng narrowed his eyes and said, "There is nothing for you to do here."
Before leaving, Lin Qingyu asked, "Your Highness, do you know about my marriage with General Gu?"
"I know." Xiao Cheng mocked, "Lu Wancheng is eager to remarry before his body is cold. Lin Qingyu, you really can't live without men. However, a warrior like Gu Fuzhou doesn't know what romance is, and Lu Wancheng, who is sickly, can't satisfy you. If you had followed me earlier, I'm afraid you would have tasted the sweetness long ago."
Lin Qingyu could see that Xiao Cheng was just showing off his eloquence. In his current state, he might not be able to react even if Princess Jingchun came back.
"Your Highness had shown his goodwill to me many times before, and I thought that Your Highness was looking for me for this matter. I didn't expect that Your Highness didn't mention a word about my marriage with General Gu, and was only concerned about the whereabouts of Guard Shen." Lin Qingyu chuckled, "It seems that I am far less important than Guard Shen in Your Highness's heart."
Xiao Cheng was stunned for a moment, as if he had just realized this, and then he said as if trying to convince himself: "I care about his whereabouts in order to punish him and make him suffer the consequences of his crime as soon as possible."
Lin Qingyu said: "Whatever your Highness says is what it is - I will take my leave."
Despite all the rumors flying around, Lin Qingyu and Gu Fuzhou's marriage was finally settled. The marriage was arranged in a hurry, but under the management of Lin's mother and Yuan Yin, everything went in an orderly manner, from accepting the proposal to setting the date.
The last time Lin Qingyu got married, she barely prepared any dowry. This time, Lin's mother drew up a dowry list for him, but he said, "It can be more."
Mother Lin looked embarrassed and said, "Qingyu, your father has been an official for so many years and has always been incorruptible. This is all the family property he has accumulated."
Lin Qingyu smiled and said, "Mother, you misunderstood. When I get married, I will naturally pay for my dowry myself. How can I use my parents' savings? Don't worry, mother, I will let someone else handle this matter."
Mother Lin asked worriedly, "How are you going to pay for your dowry? How long have you been in the government?"
"Let Young Marquis Lu help me out." Lu Wancheng left him so much property, and he was worried about where to spend it.
Mother Lin was surprised: "This, this is not good."
"There's nothing wrong with it." Lin Qingyu smiled slightly, "If Young Marquis Lu knew about this, he might want me to bring more to the General's Mansion."
Mother Lin felt that she was becoming less and less able to understand her eldest son. She never interfered too much in Lin Qingyu's decisions, and finally she did as Lin Qingyu wished.
Before the wedding, unmarried couples are not allowed to meet privately. Gu Fuzhou didn't see anyone, but he didn't stop either. He sent a lot of things one after another. For example, the wedding dress he was going to wear on his wedding day was personally selected by Gu Fuzhou, who then asked Yuan Yin to deliver it to the Lin Mansion.
Lin Qingyu knew that Gu Fuzhou had an inexplicable obsession with him wearing wedding clothes. He thought that Gu Fuzhou would choose a wedding dress that was even more complicated than the one he wore when he first got married. Unexpectedly, the fabric of the wedding dress sent was the finest brocade, but there was not too much embroidery on it. It was just a simple bright red, like a burning pure flame.
Lin Qingyu touched the ring on her ring finger. The relief on the ring was also very simple. Gu Fuzhou has good vision and taste, and he himself does not like to dress in a flashy way.
Along with the wedding dress, there was also a letter from Gu Fuzhou. The paper was full of plain words, saying that he had been tired and hungry these days and could not hold on any longer. Then he lamented about life, saying that life was meaningless and that he might as well jump into the lake if he couldn't eat meat.
Lin Qingyu was puzzled: "General, you may be tired, but why are you hungry?"
Yuan Yin said helplessly: "In order to urge himself to practice martial arts, the general deliberately ordered his wedding dress to be a little smaller. He has not eaten much in the past few days and has been living on vegetables and radishes all day. Yesterday he even asked me why people live, is it just to marry a beautiful wife, the world is not worth it..."
Lin Qingyu: “…”
Gu Fuzhou is actually in good shape now, with broad shoulders and long legs. He is not too strong, everything is just right. Lin Qingyu deliberately said that his abdominal muscles were loose in order to urge him to be more diligent. It is never a bad thing to move more. Unexpectedly, it dealt such a heavy blow to Gu Fuzhou.
Lin Qingyu laughed: "Tell him that I don't like men who are too thin either, and let him eat well."
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