Marrying the Crown Prince

The wedding of the Sixth Princess Li Zixiao and Yang Yu'an, the youngest son of the Duke of Zhenguo, was quite ordinary. The dowry stretched for miles? No, it was a dowry of 128 palanquins, which was as proper as could be. The guests were numerous and the wedding was extremely lively? No, with the Crown Prince, the princes, and Wei Yi, who was attending the ceremony on behalf of Emperor Chenze, the entire wedding was extremely proper.

Did someone force you to drink?

It really happened. The Third Prince, Li Ziqi, forced the groom to drink. He made sure to drink one cup himself after making the groom drink three cups. In the end, the groom remained calm and continued to chat and laugh, while the Third Prince passed out drunk at the table.

I must commend the royal family members for their impeccable image; even when drunk, they maintain their exceptional demeanor and do not act out.

In any case, the princess and the young master's wedding came to a perfect end under strange circumstances, becoming just another insignificant princess marriage over the long years.

What is most talked about is that after the princess returned home for the third day, Emperor Chenze issued an imperial edict, which roughly stated that Yang Yu'an should take a large amount of grain to the Northern Region in half a month.

As for the sixth princess, Li Zixiao, she also went to the northern region with the army.

When winter comes in the north, the Moro people, lacking food, will come to the northern region to burn, kill, and plunder, and there have even been massacres of entire cities. Therefore, as winter approaches, the imperial court sends food and clothing to the frontier, hoping that the abundant supplies will allow the soldiers stationed on the frontier to suffer less and have more energy to defend their homeland.

Therefore, what was shocking about Emperor Chenze's imperial edict was not the delivery of grain to the Northern Region, but the selection of Yang Yu'an as the official in charge of delivering the grain.

It should be noted that military officers must leave their families behind when they are away from home, and Yang Yu'an and the wife of the Duke of Zhenguo were the family members sent to the capital by the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion.

To put it nicely, it was the emperor's compassion in helping the frontier general take care of his wife and raise his son; to put it bluntly, it was keeping him in the capital as a hostage.

Now, not only are they releasing a hostage, but they're also taking a princess with them. What does this mean?

Emperor Chenze remarked that these civil officials must be eating too much and having nothing to do all day.

As the emperor, he naturally knew that the youngest son of the Duke of Zhenguo was not a spoiled brat in the capital, but a majestic young general on the frontier.

It would be such a waste to keep someone like that in the capital.

Didn't those old fogies say they were afraid the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion would rebel? Now I'm sacrificing one of my daughters for two reasons. First, to give the civil officials in the capital a guarantee—the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion now has a princess in charge, and the princess is our inside man, so there's no need to worry about such nonsense as the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion rebelling. Second, to tell the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, I've given you the princess, and I trust you, my dear minister, so you must not betray my trust.

Of course, Yang Yu'an was not the only hostage who left the capital this time; Chu Xuan was also able to leave the capital.

The road to the Northwest was partly the same as the road to the Northern Region, so Chu Xuan followed the Zhenguo Duke's large entourage with the provisions for the Northwest.

As for how Chu Xuan left the capital, she naturally had to thank His Highness the Crown Prince.

That day, when Chu Xuan agreed to help Li Ziyan explain their relationship to Zhou Zhou, her condition was that she wanted to return to the border.

She was a girl who grew up on the frontier, a wild grass that grew most freely on the grasslands, and not suited to stay in the capital as a delicate flower.

Li Ziyan hesitated to help Chu Xuan leave the capital. After all, his elderly mother would feel empty and lonely if she left, but it would be unfair to keep Chu Xuan trapped like this.

Never mind, I'll just spend more time with my mother then.

With that thought in mind, he went to the Imperial Study.

As for the Du family, they also got busy after learning that Emperor Chenze was going to send grain supplies north.

Most caravans that wanted to head north would struggle with the long journey and numerous bandits. Now, with the army leading the way and the caravans following behind, which bandit would dare to come?

However, Madam Du herself did not own a merchant caravan. Her busyness was because the Du family's merchant caravan was about to depart from the capital, and as a daughter of the Du family, she was often given money by the Du family, so she definitely had to take care of this matter.

In other words, not many people cared about the princess's marriage; but the matter of transporting grain to the frontier caused quite a stir in the capital for more than half a month.

Half a month later, the army set off, and Kyoto seemed to be half empty, with shops and other places becoming much quieter.

Now, Li Zixiao has been in the Northern Region for about half a month, hasn't he?

Zhou Zhou rubbed his temples, forcing himself to come back to his senses, and looked at the two people beside him.

"What are you talking about?" she blinked innocently.

Sizhu was quick-witted and told Zhou Zhou directly, "Jufang and I were talking about the fox fur coat that Miss is wearing. It's really beautiful, with shiny and smooth fur. It's probably a rare treasure."

"This fox fur coat is indeed very warm." Zhou Zhou's expression remained unchanged, but deep down she was a little shy for a moment—this fox fur coat was a gift from Li Ziyan.

After the wedding date was set, Zhou Zhou rarely went out, so Li Ziyan hadn't been able to "bump into" his sweetheart for over a month.

So he went straight to the Yongjing Marquis's residence. With the Crown Prince at their doorstep, how could the Yongjing Marquis's residence dare not welcome him?

So, after paying his respects to the old Marquis and the old lady, Li Ziyan had to go and visit Zhou Laowu and Madam Du as well.

This was the first time Zhou Laowu had privately met with his future son-in-law. Normally, he should have acted like a father-in-law to let his son-in-law know that it wouldn't be so easy for him to marry his daughter!

But the reality is that this future son-in-law is His Highness the Crown Prince. Zhou Laowu can only follow Li Ziyan around, bowing and scraping, saying things like "Yes, yes, yes," "Not bad, not bad," and "Your Highness is right."

Finally, after overcoming numerous difficulties, Li Ziyan managed to meet Zhou Zhou, though of course he didn't openly summon Zhou Zhou to greet him.

Du looked at the Crown Prince, who had been keeping Zhou Laowu company for so long and talking for so long, yet his expression remained calm and his tone gentle; then she looked at Zhou Laowu, who was already drenched in sweat and sweating profusely.

Du: "..."

Who is actually whose father-in-law?

As for Zhou Laowu, he was screaming inwardly: What's wrong with His Highness the Crown Prince? What happened? Why did he suddenly contact me and talk to me for so long?

Fortunately, Madam Du was unaware of what Zhou Laowu was thinking, otherwise she would have laughed her head off.

I've been saying this for a long time: is it possible that His Highness the Crown Prince isn't here to see you, but rather to see your daughter?

Fortunately, Zhou Laowu wasn't the only one present; the shrewd Du Shi was also there, so she understood Li Ziyan's unspoken message.

His Highness the Crown Prince has a request, and this request is not excessive, so it should naturally be granted.

The fact that she agreed so easily made Du feel very uncomfortable. So she pretended not to understand and sat there like a spectator. As for the actors, they were naturally Zhou Laowu and Li Ziyan.

However, we can't tease him for too long, or His Highness the Crown Prince will get angry.