Li Huaiyin looked over curiously, only to see an unexpected figure behind his mother.
"Your subject/son pays respects to Your Majesty."
"Your subject pays respects to Your Majesty."
After the ceremony, Li Weiyi personally helped Zhao Ru up.
No need for formalities.
Then, his gaze turned to Li Huaiyin: "Has Yin'er recovered?"
"Thank you for your concern, Mother. I am indeed much better now."
"That's good. It seems that Yunqing is indeed a lucky star for our Li family. I just conferred the title of Heir Apparent on her, and you woke up. Isn't this also a way to bring good luck?"
"The Lady of the World?" Li Huaiyin's legs went weak; he knew perfectly well what that meant.
"Yes, from now on we are family. You should treat Yunqing as your own sister. Yunqing, come and greet your royal brother."
At this moment, Li Huaiyin didn't know what he was feeling. He stood there blankly, watching the woman who had given him a token of love a few days ago slowly walk forward and softly call his name.
"Royal brother."
So that's how it is! Li Huaiyin thought.
He finally understood why Yun Qing hadn't kept their appointment that day.
On one hand, there's the throne within easy reach; on the other, there's the status of a prince's wife. It would be hard for anyone to resist such a temptation.
But that's not all. Why can she stand in front of him as if nothing happened and call him "Royal Brother" without changing her expression?
A sinister smile appeared on Li Huaiyin's face, as if he were gradually merging with his self from three years ago. Since you abandoned me for the throne, then I will make sure you never get to sit on that seat.
Shinu's Mansion.
Yun Qing, who was working in her study, sneezed without realizing it.
Looking at the charcoal brazier on the ground, she asked in confusion, "Strange, it's not cold at all."
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
Liu Chengxi stood on the steps, holding a bowl of bird's nest soup. His handsome face was filled with hope as he eagerly awaited seeing his beloved wife.
He has already made arrangements for Qi Xiao. With him here, given Li Huaiyin's personality, he definitely won't reconcile with Yun Qing. Therefore, he can only be her husband. Sooner or later, he will enter her heart.
Thinking of this, Liu Chengxi felt a pang of guilt, but it quickly vanished. He had no choice; he was doing it for their own good. As long as they weren't together, they wouldn't have sickly children, nor would they suffer from the grief of losing a child and die young.
This would change the course of history. Yun Qing would still be an accomplished empress, and Li Huaiyin would still be a hero who promoted gender equality. Apart from not being together with each other, nothing would change for them.
"Who is it?" Yun Qing's voice came from inside.
"My lady, it's me."
Upon hearing the familiar voice, Yun Qing's expression froze.
Everyone thought she disliked the Queen, but that was not the case.
Their relationship began four years ago, when she and Li Huaiyin were deeply in love.
One day, Li Huaiyin suddenly told her that he had met a like-minded friend.
“You don’t know, Cheng Xi has a lot of ingenious ideas. Others agree with me on the surface, but I know what they are really thinking. They all think I’m unconventional because I don’t want to get married and I demand that men have the same treatment as women.”
As a beneficiary of the matriarchal system, Yun Qing didn't really understand Li Huaiyin's ideas. In the world she lived in, the oppression of the vulnerable by the ruling class was invisible.
Therefore, she was very surprised that Li Huaiyin, as the most noble prince, would have such thoughts.
"So, that young master Liu is also a supporter of gender equality?"
“That’s right. Not only that, he also said that he admires me and wants to take me as his role model, saying that I am destined to go down in history.”
"Now that you mention it, I'm actually quite curious."
As far as Yun Qing knew, this young master Liu's mother was only a minor official of the fifth rank. If you threw a stone into Shengjing, it would hit a large area.
"How did you meet him? Perhaps you could introduce him to me sometime so I can meet such an extraordinary man."
"Haha, it's quite a coincidence. The newly popular Zangxiang Pavilion was opened by Cheng Xi. I wanted their new hidden fragrance balm, and by chance, I met him. As soon as he heard my name, he offered to give it to me and said that I was his idol."
"I see."
"However, I guess Cheng Xi won't see you."
"Why?" Yun Qing asked curiously. Although she didn't care much about her appearance, she knew that her face was very popular with the young master and husband of Shengjing City. This was the first time she had heard a man dislike her so much.
"Cheng Xi said that as a close friend, it's best not to associate with your best friend's lover; that's a sign of good judgment. And..."
Li Huaiyin didn't dare to say the rest, but judging from Liu Chengxi's attitude, he seemed to dislike Yun Qing.
As for the reason, Liu Chengxi did not tell Li Huaiyin.
In fact, later generations have always held Li Huaiyin in high regard, saying that as a prince, he was able to empathize with men and fight for their interests.
There's only one situation where Li Huaiyin's reputation will be less than stellar: when he's mentioned alongside Yun Qing.
At this point, his own unique qualities disappeared, and he appeared only as the husband of a legendary empress.
No matter how many merits he had, the empress's fervent fans would only say that he was a virtuous man who failed to produce a healthy heir for Emperor Wenxuan, and that he was an unqualified ruler and empress.
Whenever Liu Chengxi saw such comments, he was furious. Incestuous marriage already had a high chance of not being able to have normal children, so why did those people blame all of this on Li Huaiyin?
Oh right, there are also many of the Empress's dream man fans who say he's an old cow eating young grass. They say that Yun Qing wouldn't have married him if they hadn't grown up together. They only have familial affection, not romantic love.
Liu Chengxi dismissed all such claims as sour grapes. If there were no love, why would Emperor Wenxuan leave the harem empty for Empress Li after his ascension to the throne, even though their children had both died young, and he did not seek to have children with anyone else? How could such feelings not be love?
However, even knowing that they had a deep affection for each other, Liu Chengxi still took his anger out on her because of Emperor Wenxuan's mindless fan.
After transmigrating to the Great Sheng Dynasty, the first thing he did was find a way to meet his idol.
He originally thought that in the eighteenth year of Hong'an, Li Huaiyin and Yun Qing were already a well-known perfect couple.
To his surprise, the situation was completely different from what he had imagined.
At this time, Yun Qing had not yet been granted the surname Li or been made a noblewoman; she was merely a good-looking playboy with no talent or virtue.
As for Li Huaiyin, in everyone's eyes, he was an eccentric, unconventional, and older single man.
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