Two or three years had passed, and her father, the Emperor, had not mentioned the engagement again. Rong Yu assumed that her mother had persuaded her father, and that he had given up on the idea.
Caught off guard by the sudden re-emergence of the topic, Rong Yu anxiously ran to her mother to plead, "Mother, please persuade Father again! I really don't want to marry Lejur!"
Su Yushan felt deeply troubled about this matter. "I have tried to persuade him, but the marriage alliance is a matter of great importance, and it is linked to the politics of the country. It is also very difficult for your father, the Emperor."
Rong Yu wiped away her tears and cried, "Can you bear to let your son marry so far away? Then you will never see your son again!"
As a mother, most women hope their daughters can live close to them, so that if she suffers mistreatment in her husband's family in the future, her parents can support her. Su Yushan thought so too, but things didn't go as planned.
"Of course I'm reluctant, but there's nothing I can do about it. You're the only princess in the palace, so you're the only one who can be sent for a political marriage. Rong Yu, you have to understand your father's difficulties."
"Then why don't you have another daughter, and let your younger sister go to marry into a foreign power?"
Children are innocent and naive, and they tend to think of things very simply. This suggestion made Su Yushan both amused and exasperated. Yunfang covered her mouth and laughed:
"Princess, don't forget, Lejur is already thirteen years old. Even if Her Majesty has another child, by the time the little princess is born, Lejur will be fourteen years older than her! How can he marry a little child! The betrothed prince and princess must be of similar age!"
“Hmm…” Rong Yu pondered for a while and then came up with an idea, “Why don’t we find a princess or something of similar age for the daughter of a member of the royal family and betroth her to Lejur?”
She said it so casually, "There are many princes and heirs of the Mongol royal family, not just the Darhan Prince. They are all waiting to marry into the royal family. Other royal women will also be unable to escape the fate of marriage. They all have marriage partners and can hardly protect themselves. Who can help you?"
After trying several methods to no avail, Rong Yu snuggled in her mother's arms and pleaded, "Anyway, I don't want to be engaged to him! Mother, please help me think of another way to refuse this marriage!"
If there were even the slightest hope, Su Yushan would never agree to let her daughter be engaged to Lejur. She had tried many times and had witnessed Hongli's difficulties firsthand, so she couldn't put Hongli in a difficult position any further.
“My dear daughter, I want you to stay by my side more than anyone else. I have tried my best to fight for you, but the situation is what it is, there is really no other way. I hope you can understand me and your father.”
Rejected, Rong Yu stormed out of her mother's arms, sobbing sadly, "Who can understand me? I'll have to marry far away to Mongolia, and everything will change—their food, clothing, shelter, customs—I'll never see my family again. How am I supposed to live like this?"
Just imagining that situation terrified Rong Yu.
Su Yushan also felt sorry for her daughter, but there was nothing she could do. She had won Hongli's exclusive favor, but it forced her daughter to marry far away.
A mother's duty is to protect her daughter, but she was powerless to do so. She had to find all sorts of reasons to persuade her daughter to agree to the marriage, just like anyone else. She was truly derelict in her duty as a mother!
Su Yushan felt increasingly guilty and for a moment didn't know how to respond to her daughter.
Unable to persuade her mother, Rong Yu refused to give up and went to find her father, the Emperor.
Unlike Yu Shan, Hongli was not patient. In his view, his daughter's marriage was inevitable and unchangeable. "As a princess of the current dynasty, you have enjoyed wealth and honor, so you should fulfill your duties. I told you long ago that you must marry into Mongolia. You have no other choice!"
With a pout, Rong Yu complained, "It's not like I wanted to be a princess. Did you give birth to me just to marry me off to Mongolia? This isn't love at all; you're just using me! If I had known this, I would have preferred not to be your daughter and to be a commoner!"
"How dare you!" Enraged, Hongli immediately slapped her across the face!
Having always been pampered by her parents, Rong Yu was never beaten before. The burning pain on her cheek made her even more heartbroken. She became even more convinced that her father, the Emperor, didn't truly love her, and sobbed:
"Father Emperor, how could you hit me! You're a bad person! I hate you!"
With tears in her eyes, Rong Yu glared at her imperial father with hatred before turning and running away.
At this moment, Hongli's palm also felt pain. He imagined that Rong Yu must be in even more pain. He regretted his actions, but what she had just said was too outrageous. As her father, he had to teach her a lesson!
Hongli was still angry and did not go out to chase after his daughter. Instead, he ordered someone to keep an eye on her.
The young eunuch immediately followed her out, staying close behind the princess, and kindly advised, "Princess, please don't be angry. The Emperor was just angry for a moment, that's why he took action. He'll calm down in a while."
Rong Yu's tears fell like beads from a broken string. "He's calmed down, but I'm still angry! Mother has never hit me, so why did he? I don't like Father Emperor anymore!"
"As the saying goes, 'the deeper the love, the harsher the criticism.' The Emperor only took action because the princess made a slip of the tongue, which angered the Emperor. This servant believes that the Emperor certainly did not intend to hit you."
The little eunuch kept following behind her, speaking on behalf of the emperor. Rong Yu was getting annoyed by it. If she simply asked him to leave, he definitely wouldn't. So Rong Yu changed her strategy and said that she was a little hungry. She asked him to prepare some tea and snacks, and she would wait for him in the pavilion diagonally opposite.
Little Pine knew that girls would want to eat when they were unhappy, so he immediately went to prepare tea and snacks to cheer up the princess.
But when he returned with the tea and snacks, he was shocked to find that the princess was not in the pavilion!
He hurriedly put down his tea and snacks to look for the princess, but after searching for half an hour, he still couldn't find her. He then asked the nearby palace staff and patrolling guards, but none of them had seen the princess!
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
