Marrying the Crown Prince

“My lady, there’s no need to blame yourself,” Emperor Chenze sighed as well. “My seventh son also made mistakes.”

Finally, the Duchess of Dingguo produced the blank imperial edict that the Duke of Dingguo had obtained after his great victory on the frontier, and pleaded for Yang Yu'an's life.

Emperor Chenze was in a difficult position, but seeing that the Duchess of Dingguo insisted, he had no choice but to withdraw the imperial edict.

Emerging from Chengming Palace, Yang Yu'an was still weak, leaning sickly against the soft cushions of the carriage, grimacing as he said, "Mother, you were too ruthless."

The Duchess of Dingguo scoffed coldly, "How else can we fool that person?"

Yang Yu'an remained silent for a long while, then asked uncertainly, "This... do I really want to marry her? Isn't her status too high?"

"Just you wait, I reckon the imperial decree will be delivered in a few days." The Duchess of Dingguo rubbed her temples, feeling somewhat tired. "If you don't marry her, how will you return to the frontier? Are you really going to spend your whole life as a troublemaker in the capital?"

“It’s not that it’s not good. Putting aside everything else, Kyoto has great food, drink, and clothes. The main thing is,” Yang Yu’an said casually, “that you have a great time.”

No matter how much trouble he causes or how much fun he plays, as long as he doesn't cause anyone to die, Emperor Chenze will forgive him.

Upon hearing his words, the Duchess of Dingguo pressed Yang Yu'an's back expressionlessly.

"hiss--"

Yang Yu'an gasped.

"It was not our intention to involve her in this political situation," the Duchess of Dingguo withdrew her hand, picked up a handkerchief, and carefully wiped her hands. "I don't care what you think in your heart at that time, but on the surface you must respect and protect her. Don't bring out those scoundrel concubines, or I will not forgive you!"

Yang Yu'an dropped his nonchalant attitude and said seriously, "Mother, I know."

What happened that day was indeed an accident. Jumping down to save people was truly an instinctive act. After the rescue, many thoughts flashed through his mind, but they ultimately coalesced into three words—"I'm sorry."

Three days later, the imperial edict bestowing the marriage upon the wife of the Duke of Dingguo was delivered to her. The edict was concise: the Sixth Princess, Li Zixiao, is to marry Yang Yu'an, the youngest son of the Duke of Dingguo.

Unlike the imperial decrees that granted marriage to Li Zichen and Wang Qingwu, this time the marriage decree also set the wedding date: October 19th of this year is an auspicious day suitable for marriage.

"Your Majesty, I accept your decree and express my gratitude. Long live the Emperor!" The Duchess of Dingguo bowed and presented the imperial edict with both hands.

The Duke of Dingguo's mansion was very satisfied with the result and accepted it gladly, but the Sixth Princess's side was different.

As for how Zhou Zhou knew, it was because she and Zhou Cheng'an ran into Liu Jingyuan and Zhao Yuehua on their way to visit the imperial palace after receiving an invitation from Consort Mei.

"The Imperial Concubine asked the two of us to come and talk to the Sixth Princess." Zhao Yuehua sighed, looking rather downcast.

“Hmm,” Zhou Zhou’s heart sank as well. After hesitating for a moment, he said, “Please pass on a message to the Sixth Princess and tell her that I will go to visit her when I have time.”

As the two groups parted ways, Liu Jingyuan gently patted Zhou Zhou's shoulder, seemingly to comfort her, and also to comfort herself.

Watching the two of them leave, Zhou Zhou turned to look at Zhou Cheng'an, who had been standing beside her. Seeing his worried gaze, the frustration in her heart dissipated considerably.

Her brows relaxed. "Brother, let's go."

"it is good."

The two of them arrived at Consort Mei's place, expecting to find only Consort Mei and her daughter Li Zixi, but Consort Shu was also there.

"Your humble servant greets Your Majesty, may the Consort Shu and the Consort Xian enjoy boundless blessings and peace." The two bowed respectfully.

"They're all good children, get up quickly, why are you doing all this curtsy?" Consort Shu beckoned her personal maid to come and help them up.

After seeing the two of them get up and sit properly in their chairs, Consort Shu said with a smile, "Sister Xianfei, you really are something. You're my little niece, and you didn't even tell me in advance that you were coming. I could have prepared a gift for my little niece."

"Oh dear," Consort Mei waved the handkerchief in her hand and teased, "Sister, with so many hairpins and ornaments in your hair, which one of them isn't a gift?"

"You want me to give you hairpins and bracelets? I won't." Consort Shu chuckled, took off the gold openwork mandarin duck and lotus leaf bracelet from her wrist, and gestured for Zhou Zhou to come forward.

Zhou Zhou looked flattered, but couldn't help but think to himself: Wasn't today supposed to be about bringing the Seventh Princess and my brother together?

On the feeling of going from being a bystander to becoming the melon itself.

Consort Shu took Zhou Zhou's hand, in a pleasant mood, "Look at this hand, the fingers are round and smooth, the five fingers are slender, you can tell at a glance that you are a lucky person."

After saying that, she put the bracelet on Zhou Zhou's wrist.

Zhou Zhou smiled gently and said softly, "It is my good fortune to be favored by Your Majesty."

Upon hearing this, Consort Shu laughed heartily, appearing to be in a very pleasant mood.

Zhou Zhou sat back down in her seat, and Li Zixi whispered information to her, "For some reason, Consort Shu has been coming to visit my mother a lot these past two days."

"Was the relationship between Consort Shu and my aunt not very good before?"

"She's not just like my mother, she's just average with everyone."

Zhou Zhou smiled with interest, becoming more certain of his guess—the Consort Xian had taken a liking to my brother, and the Consort Shu had taken a liking to me. The two hit it off immediately, but... the arena was all set up, so where was the Eighth Prince?

Just as I wished for, a palace servant came to report that the Eighth Prince had arrived.

"You just said that the Eighth Prince was too busy to pay attention to you, but look, he's come looking for you now!" Consort Mei teased Consort Shu with a smile.

At this point, Consort Mei's expression darkened, and she sighed mournfully, "The Eighth Prince is still the most filial. My... sigh..."

"What are you saying, Consort Xian? Who in the palace doesn't know that the Fifth Prince is the best and most filial son?" Consort Shu comforted her softly.

Soon, the Eighth Prince entered with... with His Highness the Crown Prince!

"Your subject greets Your Majesty the Consort and the Virtuous Consort." This was the voice of the Eighth Prince, Li Ziqi.

"Your Highness, Consort Shu, Your Highness, Consort Xian." These were the words spoken by His Highness Crown Prince Li Ziyan.

Zhou Zhou and Zhou Cheng'an stood up and said, "Greetings, Your Highness the Crown Prince and the Eighth Prince."

The two ladies looked at Li Ziyan with some shock, thinking to themselves: Why did he come here?

The carefree Li Zixi blurted out, "Brother Crown Prince, what brings you here?"

Li Ziqi smiled sheepishly and explained, "I just ran into my brother, the Crown Prince, at the door. He heard that I was coming to pay my respects to my two mothers, so he came along."

"Your Highness is too kind." Upon hearing Li Ziqi's words, Consort Mei quickly raised her smiling face and politely yet distantly poured Li Ziyan a cup of tea.