Zhao Shu stuck out her tongue. "You're getting married soon, and I'm about to come of age. Can you please stop touching my head and poking me all the time? It hurts." She protested, trying to ease the awkward atmosphere.
"Congratulations on your wedding, Your Highness," Sun Yun said.
The prince tightened his grip on his sleeve, but his expression remained unchanged. He looked at Sun Yun and said, "Thank you, Miss Sun. I will accept it."
Sun Yun wanted to run out the door and escape, but he held back.
Even the slow-witted Zhou Hanyan could see the subtle relationship between the two. She quietly moved closer to Zhao Shu and tugged at her sleeve. "Sister Ajun, His Highness the Crown Prince is getting married, but I haven't prepared a gift yet. However, I have my eye on a jade carving in your storeroom. Would you mind giving it to me?"
Zhao Shu rolled her eyes at her, "You, Zhou Hanyan, you eat my food, sleep in my room, use my things, and now you're even eyeing my jade carvings." Zhao Shu pretended to be angry.
Zhou Hanyan sniffed, looking like she was about to cry. "Sister Ajun, my father won't give me any money, I have no choice. I'll definitely pay you back when he gives me the money. Now, will you come with me to take a look at that jade carving?"
Anyone with a brain knows that this is clearly an attempt to create an opportunity for the Crown Prince and Sun Yun to be alone together. Sun Yun is unwilling to do so. The Crown Prince is about to get married, so what would it mean if she were to be ambiguous about her attitude?
Before Zhao Shu could speak, she quickly said, "Hanyan, I also have jade carvings in my residence. Why don't I take you to take a look? I guarantee they'll be cheaper than those at Prince Yong's residence."
She forced a smile at the Crown Prince and said, "There's no need to bother preparing a gift. Miss Zhou's presence is already a wonderful gift."
After he finished speaking, as if he had made up his mind, he stood up with a smile and said, "I won't disturb you three any longer. I have things to attend to in the palace, so I'll be leaving now."
"He left so quickly?" Zhao Shu wanted to stay a while, but he had already left through the moon gate.
The Crown Prince didn't stop along the way. As soon as he left the Prince Yong's residence and got into his carriage, someone said, "Why are you back so soon?"
It was Huo Baichuan who spoke, his face full of disappointment. "Did you tell the girl?"
The Crown Prince sat down, instructed Xiao Fuzi to drive the carriage, and said indifferently, "What good will it do to say it? She can never be my Crown Princess."
"You blockhead! How do you know you can't do it if you don't even try? She comes from a scholarly family with a distinguished background, and she has enough ability of her own. Where can you find a Crown Princess like her?" The more Huo Baichuan spoke, the angrier he became, wishing he could pry open the Crown Prince's head to see what was inside.
The Crown Prince's smile vanished the moment he stepped out of the moon gate. "Even if I become the Crown Princess, what then? The harem is no ordinary place; I am often powerless to control my own destiny."
Huo Baichuan was speechless, but he was angry at her lack of ambition. After a long time, he said, "I hope you will not regret it in the future. Since you are not going to marry her, don't go and provoke her. Treat Qiu's daughter well. Although Qiu's daughter is not as smart as her, she is still a rare good girl."
In fact, it would be dangerous for someone like Sun Yun to become empress. Who knows if she might become empress dowager and rule from behind the curtain if she is dissatisfied? If she is even more ambitious, it is not impossible for her to become empress herself.
Qiu Tong, on the other hand, was much more docile and obedient, and was a virtuous and kind empress, which was excellent.
The crown prince nodded. "Yes." He had no choice but to agree.
Meanwhile, at the Yongwang Mansion's Sendai Courtyard, Zhao Shu and Zhou Hanyan each held one of Sun Yun's hands. Zhou Hanyan said, "Sister Sun, did the Crown Prince come to see you specifically?"
"Hanyan, stop talking nonsense." Zhao Shu interrupted. Now that the Crown Princess has been chosen, there's no point in bringing things up again. Sun Yun would never become a concubine, much less ruin Qiu Tong's marriage.
Zhou Hanyan reluctantly shut her mouth and then asked, "Sister Sun, do you still stand by your promise about the jade carving?"
Sun Yun rolled her eyes at her, then broke free from the two of them, saying, "I don't have any jade carvings in my residence, I'm leaving."
She walked away very quickly, leaving Zhao Shu and Zhou Hanyan looking at each other in bewilderment.
However, nothing is perfect. The next day, the Crown Prince's wedding was extremely grand. Qiu Tong, with her ten-mile-long red bridal procession, married the Crown Prince and became his Crown Princess, the future Empress, and the mother of the nation.
It was a day of universal celebration. Apart from Qiu Tong, everyone was optimistic about this marriage. From the moment she learned that she would become the Crown Prince's wife, she had already regarded the Crown Prince as the most important person in her heart.
The Crown Prince was her husband, her everything, and her everything.
How tragic it is for women to be independent and unconventional; it is so difficult.
As Zhao Shu listened to the deafening sounds of gongs and drums and the crackling of firecrackers, she felt an inexplicable pity for the protagonists of this marriage: the Crown Prince and his women, including the Crown Princess and the Crown Prince's concubines...
A joyous occasion eased the oppressive atmosphere brought about by Zhao Yan's death. Following the Crown Prince's wedding, Zhao Wanshi was immediately married off to the Xiongnu.
No matter how low Zhao Wanshi's status was before, she is now a princess, and her dowry is no less than Qiu Tong's. The wedding procession stretches for dozens of miles, and its grandeur is many times greater than when the eldest prince Tulev came.
This at least saved face for Dayong.
Before leaving, Zhao Wanshi met with Zhao Shu and said, "I don't know why you want me to sow discord between the eldest prince and the fourth prince, but the person who killed Zhao Yan should not be me, but you."
She's come to her senses these past few days and isn't entirely stupid.
"He killed himself; he was the weakling." Zhao Shu didn't know where she got this logic from. Zhao Yan's death was because he wasn't strong enough, so Zhao Bi used him as a stepping stone.
It was also Zhao Bi's ruthlessness that allowed him to harm even his own people.
She did have ulterior motives in sending Zhao Wanshi to sow discord between Zhao Bi and Tulev, but she did not expect Zhao Yan to die.
Moreover, Zhao Yan was not friendly to her, even hostile. He is dead, so why should she feel guilty?
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