Lian Dong went out, and the room became quiet again. Shen Liyue was no longer in a hurry. She sat by the charcoal fire and drank hot tea leisurely.
It was top-quality Junshan Yinzhen. Chen Liyue loved drinking green tea, especially Junshan Yinzhen from Dongting Lake. She had memorized ancient poems about it when she was young, but unfortunately Dongting Lake was too far away and she had never been there.
But she really loves Junshan Yinzhen, a tea produced in Junshan, Yueyang, Hunan. Made from plump, unopened buds, the tea has a bright golden color, a fresh aroma, a light yellow color, and a sweet aftertaste.
Chen Liyue felt that the Junshan Yinzhen she drank today was better than the ones she drank in the past. Chen Liyue guessed that this might be a tribute from the palace, so it was not usually available.
Lu Xingzhou stood aside, looking at Shen Liyue's little face which was red from the charcoal fire, and he thought it was even more adorable.
So he spoke carefully, "That day... have you thought about what I asked you?"
Lu Xingzhou no longer acted pretentiously in front of Shen Liyue. He threw all the names of "King Shen" and "Miss Shen" out of his mind and just addressed her as "you".
Shen Liyue replied: “No.”
Lu Xingzhou was speechless again, but fortunately Shen Liyue didn't hesitate and asked directly.
"There are a few things I don't understand, and I hope Your Highness can explain them to me." Shen Liyue said.
"Just ask." Lu Xingzhou said hurriedly.
Shen Liyue smiled and said, "Your Majesty, please sit down and talk."
Lu Xingzhou then remembered that he was still standing there stupidly, so he sat down opposite Shen Liyue.
Chen Liyue waited for Lu Xingzhou to sit down before speaking, "My first question is, when the prince asked me that day if I was willing to marry him, was he truly asking for your hand in marriage, or was it a matter of weighing the pros and cons? If you have any considerations, I hope you will tell me the truth."
"This king..." Lu Xingzhou paused, "I am sincerely asking for your hand in marriage."
Chen Liyue didn't bother arguing with him about the address, and asked, "Then what did the prince mean by the emergency he mentioned that day?"
Lu Xingzhou felt a little embarrassed, but he really had to make things clear to Chen Liyue at this time.
So Lu Xingzhou said, "At the palace banquet that day, my father and mother had expressed their intention to arrange a marriage. Afterward, someone informed the Empress Dowager of the news. Now, the Empress Dowager is planning to marry you to the eldest prince. So if I don't act first, I'm afraid that when the Empress Dowager issues her decree, things will become much more complicated."
Chen Liyue asked again, "I can't understand why the Emperor and Empress would want to arrange a marriage for me. Although I entered the palace as a child, but..." Chen Liyue really didn't understand. She had also been brought into the palace by her father as a child, so she had become close friends with Lu Yun. But as she grew older, it became less convenient for her to enter the palace. In recent years, Lu Yun had been coming out of the palace to visit her. She didn't know why the Emperor and Empress suddenly remembered her and wanted to arrange a marriage for her.
Lu Xingzhou scratched his head and said, "Because I mentioned you to my father and mother."
"Mentioned me?" Shen Liyue was even more confused. Why did he mention her?
Lu Xingzhou said, as if he had burned his boats, "Because I have always been reluctant to get married, my father and mother have been pressing me hard in recent years, so I told them that I already have someone I love. Later, they found out it was you, so..."
Lu Xingzhou didn't mention Lu Yun because he was not sure about Shen Liyue's feelings. He didn't want to ruin the friendship between Shen Liyue and Lu Yun because of this incident.
When Shen Liyue heard the word "dream lover," she couldn't help but blush. She wanted to ask Lu Xingzhou if she was really his dream lover, but she couldn't bring herself to ask.
Seeing Chen Liyue's embarrassed look, Lu Xingzhou continued, "Perhaps this may seem a little abrupt to you, but from the first time I saw you, I felt strangely familiar with you, as if I had seen you somewhere before. The ancients once said, 'When I first met you, it was like an old friend returning.' I'm afraid this is the case."
"I can't deny that you are...very beautiful, but you're more than just beautiful. As I've gotten to know you, I've found you to be quite interesting, and I can't help but feel drawn to you."
"Later I realized that I always thought of you when I couldn't see you. When I heard Yun'er was going to see you, I wanted to go with her."
"Seeing you running one shop after another and managing your subordinates well, I thought at that time that if I could marry a woman like you, she would definitely be able to manage the palace well."
Lu Xingzhou paused for a moment, then asked Chen Liyue, "Do you know the story of my father and mother?"
Shen Liyue was shocked. Is that something I could know?
Seeing Chen Liyue shake her head, Lu Xingzhou continued, "My father and my mother knew each other when they were young, and they were childhood sweethearts. But the Queen Mother wanted to support my father to become the Crown Prince, so she forced the daughter of the Jiang family on him as his legal wife. My father's biological mother died young, leaving him without anyone to protect him, and my grandfather had many princes, so my father couldn't refuse at the time and married Jiang. My mother admired my father so much that she never remarried."
"Later, when my father ascended the throne, the Queen Mother ordered him to make Jiang his empress. Since my father's position on the throne was unstable, he had no choice but to obey the Queen Mother's wishes. Later, the former Queen died of complications during childbirth, so my father married my mother and made her his empress."
"My father and my mother were deeply in love. After my mother entered the palace, my father never took in a new wife, and that has been the case until now."
"The Queen Mother and the Emperor have such a deep love for each other, but the children born to that queen and other concubines before her have always been a thorn in the Queen Mother's heart."
"Your Majesty, you know that as the Queen, you shouldn't be jealous. You should be the mother of the country. But as a woman, how could I be willing to share a husband with someone else? Especially since he's my childhood sweetheart, who I've always loved and we've always said we'd be together forever."
"So I secretly vowed that if I ever marry, I will marry the one I love, and having this one person in this life is enough."
"I will never let my wife suffer any of the injustice my mother has suffered."
Lu Xingzhou finished speaking and looked at Shen Liyue eagerly.
And Shen Liyue was frightened and said in her heart: I didn’t hear it, I didn’t hear it, I didn’t hear it.
Is she allowed to listen to the emperor's gossip? Will she be silenced?
Lu Xingzhou remained silent, looking at Shen Liyue, as if he wanted to wait for a reply from Shen Liyue.
Just as Chen Liyue was about to speak, she remembered something and asked, "If that's the case, why did you refuse the marriage arranged by the Emperor and Empress at the palace banquet that day?"
Lu Xingzhou felt a little aggrieved: "I didn't refuse?"
Chen Liyue bit her lip and said nothing, so Lu Xingzhou had to explain, "I just said we could talk about this later, but I didn't refuse. I said it later because I didn't want to scare you. I think I should ask your opinion on this matter. If you don't want to, then my father will arrange the marriage for you, and you will be wronged if you marry me."
"I don't want you to be wronged." Lu Xingzhou said.
Shen Liyue's face turned even redder, but Lu Xingzhou continued to ask her: "I've said so much, do you have anything to say?"
Chen Liyue said, "Isn't the charcoal fire in the room burning too high? It's so hot."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
