The newly built residence of the Lady of the Palace.
The personal maid followed behind Yun Qing, her face full of indignation: "I never expected that this Young Master Liu would be so ungrateful. You personally came to propose marriage, a good thing that young men in Shengjing wouldn't even dare to dream of, and he actually wants to think about it?"
Yun Qing listened to the maid's complaints with amusement, and only after she finished speaking did she casually offer a couple of explanations for Liu Chengxi.
"He's not ungrateful; on the contrary, he's extremely ungrateful. The son of a newly promoted third-rank official, no matter how much wealth he can create, is nothing more than a fish on a chopping board in the face of absolute power."
"If that's the case, then why did you even bother coming all this way?"
Yun Qing tapped the little maid's forehead and smiled, "Don't worry, he will eventually agree."
Three days later, Liu Chengxi indeed came to her door and shyly confessed his feelings.
"Yunqing, I know you didn't marry me because you love me, but don't worry, I will be a responsible ruler and try my best to make you fall in love with me."
Yun Qing extended her hand, gesturing for him to place his hand on hers: "I hope we can have a pleasant collaboration."
Three years later, the two officially got married.
After their marriage, they treated each other with respect, one managing the household and the other handling external affairs, and they managed the Lady's Residence in an orderly manner.
Yun Qing gradually demonstrated her talents in the court. In just half a year, she changed her former reputation as a playboy and became a highly respected candidate for the crown prince.
This trip to Lin'an County was a risky move on her part. In the past two years, seeing that her aunt had not officially named her as the Crown Princess, Yun Qing was inevitably anxious and could only use the Empress Dowager to pressure her.
Recalling the news that had come from the palace, Yun Qing knew that she had made the right move.
She was the only adopted daughter closest to the royal bloodline, and the court officials could not stand by and watch her risk her life time and time again. In order to keep her settled in Shengjing, they would definitely try to persuade Li Weiyi.
After finishing the bird's nest soup, Yun Qing waved to Liu Chengxi.
"Liu Qing, sit down next to me."
Liu Chengxi's face lit up with joy, and he quickly moved closer to her, saying, "My lady."
"I have something to discuss with you."
"What is it? Please speak freely, my lady."
Yun Qing smiled gently, but her words made Liu Chengxi freeze in place.
"I wish to marry a concubine. What do you think?"
Instantly, Liu Chengxi thought of Qi Xiao, who had just entered the manor, and he put on a stiff smile again.
“My lady, it is probably unreasonable for Young Master Qi to be a concubine.”
“It wasn’t him.” Yun Qing interrupted him: “Have you forgotten? Three years ago, because of framing you, Zhao Shuyu was banished to the frontier by me. He was supposed to be back in the first half of this year, but unexpectedly…”
Yun Qing sighed halfway through her sentence, seemingly filled with regret.
"What exactly happened? Please tell me quickly." Liu Chengxi was extremely anxious. What did Zhao Shuyu's matter have to do with her marrying a concubine?
Yun Qing gave him a meaningful look and continued, "He's stubborn too. After I gave him a good talking-to, he realized his mistake and said he would make a name for himself on the frontier as atonement. So, he followed General Zhao to train in the military camp. Occasionally, when neighboring countries invaded, he would personally go into battle to fight the enemy. Who knew that two months ago, he had an accident on the battlefield and was shot in the abdomen with an arrow, which almost cost him his life."
"And then?" Liu Chengxi had a bad feeling.
Fortunately, he was saved, but unfortunately, he will never be able to have children again.
As she spoke, a hint of guilt appeared on Yun Qing's beautiful face.
"Do you think this wouldn't have happened if I hadn't insisted on sending him to the frontier?"
Seeing his beloved in this state, Liu Chengxi immediately comforted her: "How can you think like that, my wife? No one wanted to see this happen. When you sent him to the frontier, you hoped that General Zhao could discipline him properly to prevent him from causing even greater trouble in Shengjing. It was just fate, how can you blame yourself?"
"Even so, I still feel guilty towards him, so I thought—" Yun Qing paused for a moment.
Liu Chengxi's heart was also in his throat. In fact, after all the foreshadowing, he had already guessed what Yun Qing meant. However, out of selfishness, he pretended not to know anything.
"How about we take Zhao Shuyu as a concubine? You know he's deeply in love with me. He almost harmed you back then, and now he's been punished. Anyway, he can't have children, so he'll never threaten your position. It's just one more pair of chopsticks. What do you think?"
What else could Liu Chengxi say? Things had already come to this point, and Yun Qing had only informed him out of humanitarian considerations. In fact, his thoughts had no impact on the course of events.
In the end, he simply smiled and said in his usual gentle voice, "I will do as my wife wishes."
But as he said those words, he could almost hear his own heart breaking. Perhaps this was the price he paid for falling for someone he shouldn't have.
The Prince's Residence.
"What did you say? She wants to take Zhao Shuyu as her concubine?"
The paperweight on Li Huaiyin's desk was once again thrown to the ground. The person who reported the news knelt down with his head down, not daring to look at his face.
"It seems that something has happened that I don't know about during this time," Li Huaiyin said with a cold smile. He placed the paper under the brush washer and picked up his brush to write a letter.
"I want to ask my aunt, what exactly does she mean? And why does that idiot Zhao Shuyu keep falling for those heartless and unfaithful people, ruining my plans time and time again?"
Meanwhile, Zhao Shuyu, who is on the minds of many, is on his way back to Beijing.
Seeing his pale face, yet unable to hide his excitement, General Zhao, who was accompanying him, sighed: "Children are all debts!"
"Mother, what did you say?"
Zhao Shuyu took Yun Qing's reply out of his pocket and carefully traced the words on it, stroke by stroke. He felt so sweet that he was almost overflowing with honey.
"Look at this, what's so interesting about it?" General Zhao said irritably, snatching the paper from his hand. "Look at your pathetic self."
"Mother!" Zhao Shuyu quickly snatched the letter back from her hand, gently blew on it, and then carefully flattened it, as if afraid of it being damaged in the slightest.
The letter contained only one short line: "I agree to marry you with the respect due to a concubine."
With his gaze fixed on the words "wishes" and "marry," Zhao Shuyu was unconsciously captivated again, lost in beautiful fantasies about the future.
Seeing his appearance, General Zhao sighed again, "What a misfortune for our family! What a misfortune for our family!"
Considering that the Zhao family is full of heroes, their hearts are filled with patriotism and national righteousness, yet the only two boys of this generation are both infatuated with petty love. That's bad enough, but the most important thing is that they are both hung up on the same crooked tree. How could this not cause the iron-willed General Zhao to have a heart attack?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
