I just want to be a princess, no, you want to be a queen

Chu Mingzheng lifted the woman's chin and said with a smile, "You mean, you are willing to put yourself in danger for me?"

"Yes!" Lu Mingyang met the teasing gaze, "If Your Highness allows me to be your princess, I will go through fire and water for you, even if it means death."

Chu Mingzheng leaned over and picked up Lu Mingyang. Her slender waist rested on his large hand, barely wide enough to fit in a fist. He gradually tightened his grip and said with a smile, "If you stay with me for one night, I'll be happy. Perhaps I'll consider it."

His large hand roamed along her waistline, reaching under her clothes and touching the beauty that a woman never reveals to others. Lu Mingyang whimpered and held his hand in fear.

He was inside his clothes, she was outside, and the unfamiliar rough temperature frightened her and made her tremble. It would be bad if he found out that she was still innocent.

"What, you don't want to?" Chu Mingzheng snorted coldly.

Lu Mingyang argued, "I am your Highness's woman, and I shall serve you wholeheartedly. However, if I am not fully pregnant, I am afraid it will damage your Highness's reputation."

"So you're thinking about me?" Chu Mingzheng sneered, frowning in embarrassment. "But I'm not happy, so I'm afraid I can't agree to your request."

Yes, when asking for help, one must naturally show sincerity first.

But does a woman have to do this to express her sincerity?

Lu Mingyang fought back tears and spoke with difficulty, "Is it okay if I use my hands?"

Chu Mingzheng's shocked gaze swept across the woman's face, anger rising. How could a fifteen-year-old girl know such a thing?

"Come on!" Chu Mingzheng exerted force.

Lu Mingyang frowned in pain, but didn't dare to hold his hand anymore. He begged, "Your Highness, please go to the room, okay?"

Although it was dark, although we were in the flowers, and although there was no one outside, this was the Glazed Pavilion, as if transparent. What was the difference between this and being naked between heaven and earth?

"Right here."

A cold command came from above. Lu Mingyang trembled as she touched his shoulder and raised her head to offer her red lips. Although awkward, she tried her best to please the man who didn't respond.

Back then, she just used medicine to fool people in order to survive.

Lu Mingyang, you are really willing to risk everything for him.

He lied to you about marrying you, and you happily plotted to have me cancel the engagement. I pitied your ignorance and didn't bother with you. But now, not only do you not repent, but you're also willing to be his beauty pawn just to please him.

Do you really think that I am a plaything in your hands, that you can summon me and send me away at will?

With a loud slap, Lu Mingyang fell to the ground on all fours in a mess.

Chu Mingzheng said disgustedly, "I have every woman I want. Who do you think you are? Do you think I'll agree to anything just by coaxing me? I said I wanted to marry you because I felt sorry for you. With your brains and looks, you really think any man would like you? You're overestimating yourself."

"excuse me!"

Lu Mingyang was so ashamed and angry that she just wanted to escape from this suffocating place.

"stop!"

He doesn't want a woman like this.

Chu Mingzheng watched the woman's departing back, picked up a grape she had peeled, and snorted coldly, "You just don't want to be my concubine, you want to climb up the social ladder. Since you've come to me for help, I'll show you a way!"

Lu Mingyang controlled his trembling legs and turned around, saying, "Your Highness, please speak."

Chu Mingzheng smiled and said, "Noble Concubine Song's brother, Song Wei, is handsome and talented. When the new emperor ascends the throne, he will be a prime minister second only to the emperor, far superior to a dying man like me. If you marry him, your sister will immediately find a good marriage, and your elder sister's position in her husband's family will be unchallenged."

"How could he possibly marry me?" He was just finding ways to trick me into working for him.

Lu Mingyang's self-deprecating remark stung Chu Mingzheng's ears even more. So, even though you knew he was lying to you, you still worked so wholeheartedly for him.

Chu Mingzheng's face darkened, and he said angrily, "Don't be discouraged, Miss Lu. Practice your seductive skills a little more. Who knows if Mr. Song won't fall at your feet? Anyway, you're familiar with this matter."

"Don't worry, as long as you have the ability to bear his child, I will help you achieve it..."

The words got stuck in my throat because the little girl in front of me was crying. Tears fell like beads from a broken string, hitting the newly sprouted orchid branches and leaves continuously.

"Your Highness, do you have to humiliate me like this?"

Chu Mingzheng spread his hands innocently: "Humiliation? I am helping you."

Lu Mingyang wiped away his tears fiercely and asked with a smile, "Although the decree hasn't been issued yet, everyone in the palace knows that I am your Highness's woman. If I get pregnant with another man's child, where will your Highness's face be? Moreover, the child is from a man who is determined to harm your Highness."

The woman who had been timid at first straightened her back and spoke in a voice that was neither humble nor arrogant. Chu Mingzheng couldn't help but look at her sideways.

Lu Mingyang walked over to the low couch, knelt down, and met his gaze frankly: "There's a spy from the Song family in the Clear Water Pond!"

"What?" Chu Mingzheng was stunned.

"After the rumor that I had seduced Your Highness spread throughout the capital, Song Wei hinted that I might have offended Your Highness. If there were no spies from the Song family in Bishui Youtan, how would he know that I had offended Your Highness?"

Lu Mingyang told Song Wei everything about how he used him to frame him.

"If I am lucky enough to be your Highness's principal wife, I will be devoted to helping you enjoy the rest of your life."

"Young lady, that's a bit foolish," Chu Mingzheng said flatly, "She's the future empress dowager and prime minister. It's really not worth it to rely on a sickly person with no future just for a few years of wealth and honor."

Not a good deal?

Thinking of the five corpses lying in the lobby of the Jingzhao government office, Lu Mingyang said firmly: "I want to be a human being, not a dog."

Chu Mingzheng walked up to Lu Mingyang, knelt down on his knees, pinched her cheeks and slowly lifted them up, "What makes you think that this king will let you behave like a human being?"

Their eyes met and they were silent for a long time.

Lu Mingyang's eyes were sharp: "Even if I have to be a dog, I will choose my own master!"

A teardrop as big as a bean fell on the back of Chu Mingzheng's hand, and the burning sensation spread all the way to his heart. Although he knew the answer, he still wanted to ask.

"Why do you have to be a princess?"

Lu Mingyang bowed his head heavily and said, "I do not wish to be humble to others and serve you day and night. I beg Your Highness to grant me this favor."

Deep in the flowers, she knelt like that, her back trembling slightly; he knelt like that, his back stiff.

For a long, long time, my eyes hurt from the fragrance of the flowers.

It was not the reason he told Leng Lingfeng. Chu Mingzheng was a little dazed, as if he saw the scene ten years ago when he knelt in front of the emperor and called him "father" for the first time under the gaze of all the civil and military officials in the court.

At that time, he was even thinner than the girl in front of him.

Suddenly, a crack appeared in his hard heart: "If you don't want to, I can set you free."

"I am willing to marry." Her answer was clear and concise.

Chu Mingzheng lifted Lu Mingyang's chin and pressed his fingertips hard: "This king hates people who are fickle the most."