Every time the prince opens his eyes, he sees

"Now that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has left, Miss Lu, could you please invite me again so we can have tea and watch opera together?"

Lu Yaoyao made a respectful gesture of invitation, "Please."

The two looked at each other and smiled.

Lu Yaoyao entered the private room where Gu Huaigang and Xie Qingchen had been and sat down. She drank tea and listened to opera while listening to Gu Huai's gossip.

This is naturally gossip about Xie Qingchen.

Lu Yaoyao hadn't really listened when it came to Xie Qingchen and her past, but when Gu Huai said that Xie Qingchen's temperament had changed drastically since her death, becoming violent and erratic, Lu Yaoyao paused in her tea sip and asked nonchalantly, "Didn't His Royal Highness the Crown Prince ask the Emperor for permission to marry Prime Minister Li's daughter three years ago? And didn't he marry her in the end?"

After she came back, she didn't specifically ask about Xie Qingchen, so she didn't know any news about Xie Qingchen after her death.

It was not until just now, when her emotions were aroused a little, that she asked a few more questions.

"Don't you know? This incident caused a bloody storm in the whole city back then, and your Highness's position as crown prince was almost abolished by the emperor." Gu Huai was a little surprised that Lu Yaoyao didn't know.

Lu Yaoyao's heart skipped a beat as she listened to these terrifying words. She casually lied, "Oh, that year, a fortune teller came to the Lu Mansion and said that my stepmother and I were incompatible. My father had me sent to a farm in the countryside and only brought me back last year."

Gu Huai had no doubts and said with understanding, "No wonder!"

As he spoke, he said with a look of fear: "You don't know, back then, His Highness and Miss Li..."

He paused as a thought crossed his mind, glancing at Lu Yaoyao before continuing, "It was about Li Wan'er, the sister of Li Zan, who had repeatedly attempted to offend you. The Emperor had granted her marriage, and the wedding was due to take place a month later. But one day, His Highness personally led his personal soldiers into the Li residence, seized the marriage certificate from Li Wan'er, and smashed it to pieces in the street, canceling the marriage."

"When the Emperor learned of this, he was furious and nearly deposed Your Highness from the throne. If it weren't for the lack of a successor to the throne, and the seven sons of the Emperor vying for the throne, leaving only Your Highness the Crown Prince, Your Highness would have been demoted to a commoner and his life in jeopardy."

"what?"

How could this be?

Didn't Xie Qingchen love power the most? Why would he suddenly regret his marriage to Li Wan'er, even nearly losing the position of Crown Prince he had worked so hard to secure?

Gu Huai noticed that Lu Yaoyao's shoulders were shaking slightly, and she looked nervous. "Miss Lu, what's wrong? Is it windy and a little cold? How about I close the window?"

"No need." Lu Yaoyao waved her hand, "Let's listen to the show."

No matter what Xie Qingchen does, she has already changed her target. Whether Xie Qingchen loves the country or loves beauty more has nothing to do with her.

……

Clusters of peach blossoms are delicate but not coquettish, pink but not vulgar.

Xie Qingchen, dressed in plain clothes, knelt beside a tombstone, his sleeves swaying gently in the wind, forming a sharp contrast with the gorgeous peach blossoms around him, appearing particularly lonely and deep.

He gently stroked the inscription on the tombstone - My wife is dying young. Every stroke seemed to carry his endless longing and regret.

"Yaoyao, you haven't appeared in my dreams in three years, but you still hate me?"

"still……"

"Or maybe you weren't dead at all. The corpse I saw back then wasn't yours."

Xie Qingchen's expression suddenly became ferocious, as if he could hardly control the pain. He groped into his sleeve, took out a dagger, rolled up his sleeve, and slashed his arm, which was covered with new and old wounds.

Blood dripped down his arm into the grass.

"This dagger was given to me by you. It's the only relic that wasn't destroyed by the fire. You hoped I'd use it to protect myself, but now I'm using it to torture myself. If you were still alive, would you feel a little bit of heartache when you saw this?"

Xie Qingchen cut himself again, oblivious to the pain.

Blood oozed out, and he wiped it with his fingers, using the blood to smear the words on the tombstone, making them look more vivid and unforgettable.

"You certainly wouldn't. Yaoyao must have realized I betrayed you and was trying to win over the Li family through marriage, marrying Li Wan'er to secure my position as Crown Prince. You must have been angry, so you left me. Even if that was my plan, I wanted to quickly ascend the throne so that neither you nor I would be constrained by anyone!"

"Later, I realized I was wrong and corrected it in time. Yaoyao, can you give me a chance? Come back to my side? If you don't come back, even if I die, I don't even know where to find you."

He stared at the blood-red words on the tombstone with an obsessed look for a while, and then said, "Today, I met a woman who looked a bit like you. No, you are not alike at all. She doesn't deserve to be like you. Her name is just a bit similar to yours. She doesn't look like you at all. I didn't mistake her for you. Yaoyao, please don't be angry with me, okay?" Xie Qingchen's words were a bit incoherent.

Until a man came with a whip in his hand, dismounted and ran to Xie Qingchen's side, respectfully saying, "Your Highness, the Emperor has sent an urgent decree. Please come to the palace as soon as possible. There is something important to discuss." Only then did Xie Qingchen stagger to his feet, gazed at the words on the tombstone with longing eyes, said, "I will come to accompany you next time", and then turned and left.

Lu Yaoyao came back from Yipinju. Lu Jinglin looked at her and saw that Gu Huai had personally sent her back, and his face was so full of smiles.

"General Gu, would you like to come in for a cup of tea?"

"No need. I'll visit my uncle another day. My father sent a message saying that the emperor has an urgent decree and wants me and my father to go to the palace together."

"State affairs are important, so General Gu is busy." When Lu Jinglin heard that Gu Huai was going to take care of state affairs, he politely sent him away.

After returning to the main hall with Lu Yaoyao and sitting down, Lu Jinglin couldn't wait to ask, "Has the matter with the Li family's young master been resolved?"

He felt that his daughter was intelligent and clever, with boundless potential, and that the pig-headed Li Zan was not worthy of her.

"Yeah." Lu Yaoyao responded without any emotion.

"My Yaoyao is amazing. She can even handle a difficult person like Young Master Li. By the way..." Lu Jinglin pulled out an invitation from the palace from his sleeve. "The Concubine Shu is hosting a flower viewing banquet in the Imperial Garden in three days. She has invited young talents from the aristocratic families of the capital and noble ladies with both talents and skills. She has also sent an invitation to the Lu Mansion. Do you want to go?"

Lu Yaoyao glanced at Lu Jinglin coldly and thought:

If Xue Fangfei had not committed the seven offenses for divorce and was secretly killed, and the Xue family had not compensated Lu Jinglin with a large amount of benefits in order to calm the situation, and Lu Qianqian was found to be not his direct blood, how could he turn around and please himself, a concubine's daughter who had always been out of favor?

But it's not time to break up yet.

Lu Yaoyao paused and said, "Since it was the Concubine Shu who sent the invitation, I know my limits and will not offend her."

"That's good, that's good." Lu Jinglin stroked his thigh, his face showing his desire to climb up the power.

Lu Yaoyao almost vomited after watching it.

On the day of the flower viewing banquet, spring was in full bloom, and the flowers in the imperial garden were in full bloom, with an intoxicating fragrance.

Lu Yaoyao was wearing an elegant green silk dress, with two crabapple flower hairpins inserted in her hair and dotted with a few white pearl flowers. She looked fresh and refined, yet gentle and dignified.