Chapter 551

Chapter 551 – Yaoyao Cannot Marry His Majesty

Seeing her most beloved eldest grandson come in, the smile in Old Madam Lu’s eyes became even more pronounced. After all that had happened in recent times, nothing made her happier than the fact that the poison in her eldest grandson’s body had been purged completely, now he would not be tormented every few days. How she had wanted to trade places with her dear grandson, she just could not see him suffer like that.

“Grandmother, Third Uncle.” Lu Lingzhi walked in with a smile on his face, as gentle as a jade, he no longer looked as disheveled as when he was poisoned.

Old Madam Lu waved her hand towards him and said, “Sit down and talk, your third uncle has just learned of the news of Yaoyao, she should be back in a few days.”

“Just now I was speaking to Tang Zhen, and I came to talk to you precisely about this matter, unexpectedly you have learned the good news,” Lu Lingzhi said with a smile.

“It’s good that your sister is coming back, but—” she exchanged a glance with her son before continuing, “Lingzhi, you’re not all that young now, it’s time to settle down*.”

(* as in marriage)

The Lu family had been through a lot in these past few months. So Old Madam Lu felt that a happy occasion would lift the glum air that was shrouding her family.

Old Madam Lu felt that there were a lot of things going on in the Lu family recently. If only something good could happen, to make everyone happy for a while then she wouldn’t worry about anything other than the issue of Lu Lingzhi’s marriage. She wasn’t worried about her grandson’s ability to find a wife, but she wanted him to marry a girl from an influential family. However, she had doubts as to whether the eligible daughters of these noble families in the capital would want to marry him. She didn’t want him to marry a merchant’s daughter; in her eyes, that was beneath him.

The gentle smile on Lu Lingzhi’s face froze slightly. “Grandmother, I don’t want to get married yet.”

“You don’t want to get married yet? Then when do you want to get married?” Old Madam Lu asked with a frown. She wished to hug her great-grandson, how could he not get married? “When you joined the emperor on his war expeditions, I didn’t say anything, after all, you were doing it for our family. But now that the world is peaceful, and you are even a marquis, how can you still refuse to marry?”

“That’s right ah, Old Madam is right. Lingzhi, if you don’t like the girls our family selects for you, then what (kind of girl) do you like? As long as the family background was clean, Mother would not object,” Lu Shiming added.

I want to marry Yaoyao, would you agree?

Lu Lingzhi smiled faintly. “Grandmother, don’t worry. I have my own plans for marriage. I’m sure I can bring you a satisfactory granddaughter-in-law in the future.”

“Seeing you put it this way, it seems like you have someone in your heart,” Lu Shiming remarked with a smile.

“Lingzhi, is what your Third Uncle said true?” Old Madam Lu’s eyes lit up. If he had a sweetheart, it was really a good thing.

Lu Lingzhi smiled and lowered his head, but his face betrayed a hue of red. Old Madam Lu and Lu Shiming couldn’t help but rejoice. It seemed that they had guessed right.

“Grandmother, I still have something to discuss with Third Uncle,” Lu Lingzhi said with a smile.

“Then go on… quickly. I still have to go to Hu Guo Temple with your Third Aunt to make offerings.” Old Madam Lu waved her hand. All she prayed for was her precious grandson’s well-being. Now, not only was he cured of the poison, but Yaoyao was also coming back. She had to visit and make the offerings.

Lu Shiming bowed with a smile and took Lu Lingzhi to his study.

♚

“Do you want to discuss the court affairs? You don’t need to worry about anything. Before, you were relieved of your job and just wanted to get well. Now that you are well, the emperor will certainly value you as much as before,” Lu Shiming said.

“Third Uncle, I didn’t want to discuss these matters with you,” Lu Lingzhi said softly, nothing was as important as what he wanted now. “I want to talk to you about Yaoyao.”

Lu Shiming was taken aback for a moment. “What happened to Yaoyao?” he asked.

“When Yaoyao comes back to the capital this time, does Third Uncle really want her to marry the emperor?” Lu Lingzhi asked in a low voice.

“This… Lingzhi, what exactly do you want to say?” Lu Shiming was a little confused, if the emperor wanted to marry Yaoyao, could he defy the decree?

Lu Lingzhi sat down in front of Lu Shiming and said, “Third Uncle, you weren’t in the capital for a long time, so you aren’t aware of the emperor’s past, especially his grievances with the Ye family—”

“What does this have to do with Yaoyao?” Lu Shiming said suspiciously, “Yaoyao’s surname is Lu, not Ye.”

“Third Uncle, please hear me out,” Lu Lingzhi said.

Lu Shiming frowned and nodded lightly. “Go on.”

“When the emperor was still Qin Wang*, he was not favored in the palace. At that time, Ye Yisong was the most trusted minister of the late emperor**. He controlled the government, got rid of dissidents, and cultivated the crown prince into his own puppet. Also, under his recommendation, Qin Wang was thrown into a military camp when he was a child. Although it was said that this was done to train him, in fact, it was just Ye Yisong’s means of destroying him. Fortunately, Qin Wang not only survived but also became a skilled martial artist.

“It just so happened that the border was in turmoil and the young Qin Wang wanted to recommend himself for the expedition. But, afraid that the young prince would gain military power, Ye Yisong deliberately turned him down on the pretext of a shortage of provisions and obstructed his expedition.

“However, with the war being imminent, most of the ministers stood by Qin Wang’s side. Seeing he could not stop the man, Ye Yisong married his niece to him. Just that, Qin Wang’s first wife and the crown prince had known each other for long and perhaps even fell in love with each other. Whatever the case, her relationship with the crown prince was much deeper than that with her husband.

“She was Ye Yisong’s chess piece by Qin Wang’s side and also the crown prince’s eyes to contend with Qin Wang. This is why Qin Wang hates her to the core, so much so that in the two years that they were married, he did not go to see her even once. He didn’t even know what she looked like until now. She is dead but is still the emperor’s taboo, and no one dares to mention her before him.” Lu Lingzhi thought back to how Ye Zhen looked in the Qin Mansion… the anticipation in her eyes, the loneliness… In the end, it had all turned into despair and resentment.

(*Prince of the first rank. Although wang means king; since we have an emperor we can say he is a prince or duke. Hence, Ye Zhen is Wang Fei.

**MRZ’s father)

“This… What do Ye Yisong’s actions have to do with Qin Wangfei?” Lu Shiming felt that Qin Wangfei was very pitiful. She was a weak and lonely woman. While she could certainly not control the affairs of the imperial court, she could not salvage her own marriage. She was a poor and pitiful soul who had ended by being a pawn in the hands of others.

Lu Lingzhi nodded as he said, “It has nothing to do with Qin Wangfei, but the emperor just hates her, maybe because her surname is Ye.”

“Lingzhi, all this… what does it have to do with Yaoyao?” Lu Shiming asked. He wanted to know why his nephew was filling him in with the emperor’s past.

“Yaoythere are

ao… looks exactly like Qin Wangfei,” Lu Lingzhi glanced at his uncle and said in a low voice.

Lu Shiming was astonished. “What did you say?”

“Qin Wangfei stopped socializing since she married Qin Wang. Few know what she looked like, the emperor has never even seen her, so he doesn’t know that Yaoyao looks similar to Ye Zhen. Now he is attracted to Yaoyao’s youth and beauty… if, one day, someone manages to expose this fact to him, how similar the two girls are… he will certainly disdain her. Third Uncle, do you want to see Yaoyao end up like Qin Wangfei, cast aside and cursed with the misfortune of loneliness and an empty boudoir*?” Lu Lingzhi asked in a deep voice.

(*红颜薄命 hóng yán bó mìng- beautiful women suffer unhappy fates (idiom))

“No!” Lu Shiming exclaimed. As he thought of the fate of Qin Wangfei, how would he be willing to let his daughter suffer the same?

But… how could my Yaoyao look exactly like Ye Zhen? Could it be that she has something to do with the Ye family?

At that, Lu Lingzhi breathed a sigh of relief inwardly. He had finally convinced his third uncle.