"It is our Ji family that is not destined to be with the Prince."
Wei Hong shook his head: "My lord, please don't say that. It's my bad luck that I couldn't marry such a wonderful woman as Yun Shu."
When Ji Huai'an mentioned his dignified and virtuous daughter, a look of sorrow appeared on his face.
It's rare that the King of Qin and Yun Shu are mutually in love, and they are also a perfect match in terms of looks and talent. Who would have thought...
What he didn't expect was that when the Prince of Qin returned to the capital, His Majesty would suddenly bestow a marriage upon him and Miss Yao. As a result, he had to give up his idea of marrying his other daughter to the Prince of Qin.
The two chatted for a while longer before Wei Hong got up to take his leave. Ji Huai'an usually invited him to stay for a meal, but this time he knew it wasn't appropriate and that Wei Hong wouldn't agree even if he stayed, so he simply didn't ask and had someone see him out.
Led by a servant of the Ji family, Wei Hong walked outside, but encountered a woman along the way.
The woman stood under the tree, her posture upright, her neck slender, wearing an emerald green dress and soft, crab-shell blue boots. At first glance, she looked almost exactly like the deceased Ji Yunshu, and even her face after turning her head was seven or eight parts similar.
Ji Huai'an only had two daughters. Ji Yunshu died, leaving only Ji Yunwan, who is standing here now.
She walked over accompanied by a maid, bowed gracefully to Wei Hong, and said with a smile, "I knew I would be able to wait for Your Highness here."
Ji Huai'an met Wei Hong in the front yard. The young ladies in the inner courtyard would not "pass by" this place from afar, so she did not explain that it was just a coincidence, but frankly admitted that she was waiting for him here.
Wei Hong looked away as she turned around and remained standing still.
"What brings you here, Miss Second?"
Ji Yunwan shook her head: "It's nothing, I just came to see the Prince. In the past, whenever the Prince returned to the capital, he would come to our residence to see my sister within a few days. This time he has not come for a long time, and I guess... you probably won't come again in the future, so I came to see you on behalf of my sister."
When Ji Yunshu was mentioned, Wei Hong's cold expression softened slightly.
Ji Yunwan lowered her eyes and continued, "If my sister were still alive, she would definitely come to see the prince."
Wei Hong shook his head: "If she were alive, I would have come long ago and gone to see her. Why would I keep her waiting?"
In the past, every time Wei Hong returned to Beijing, he said he was coming to visit Ji Huai'an, but in reality, he was just using this as an excuse to see Ji Yunshu.
But now, we can never see them again.
After saying that, he stopped talking about the topic and said, "Does Miss have anything else? If not, I'll take my leave."
Upon hearing this, Ji Yunwan stepped back to the side of the road and curtsied.
"No, I'm just fulfilling my sister's wish. I hope that Your Highness will be safe and healthy in the future, and that everything will go smoothly for you. That way, my sister can rest in peace in the afterlife."
Wei Hong remained silent for a moment, nodded slightly, and walked away.
Ji Yunwan stared at his back for a long time without moving, until the figure completely disappeared before she murmured softly.
"He stopped calling me 'Second Sister' and didn't prepare any gifts for me..."
Seeing that her face was pale, Panxiang quickly said, "His Highness is doing this for the sake of our Ji family and for the good of you, Second Miss. Didn't you say before that after the arranged marriage incident, he would probably sever ties with our Ji family?"
Now that you've figured this out, you should be mentally prepared.
Even so, seeing his cold and indifferent demeanor, like that of a stranger, still made Ji Yunwan feel stifled.
She turned around and walked back with Panxiang. After walking a few steps, they encountered a servant coming towards them.
The servant, sent by Ji Huai'an, hurriedly walked up to them, glanced at the two of them, and then quickly lowered his head.
"Second Miss, Master requests your presence."
His breathing was uneven as he spoke, and there was a thin layer of sweat on his forehead, indicating that he had arrived in a hurry.
Ji Yunwan nodded without speaking and walked towards Ji Huai'an's study, with Pan Xiang following closely behind, looking nervous.
What should we do? It must be that the young lady's visit to the prince has been discovered!
She told the young lady it was unreasonable and advised her not to come, but the young lady wouldn't listen and insisted on coming! Now look what's happened, she'll be punished too!
Sure enough, as soon as Ji Yunwan entered the room, a teacup was smashed at her feet.
Ji Huai'an was already furious when he heard that she had gone to see the King of Qin on her own initiative. Now that he saw that she had dressed up as her sister, he was even more enraged. He had never scolded his daughter before, and he started cursing before the door was even closed, spitting out words.
"Why did you go to see the King of Qin? And dressed up as your sister! What do you want? To become his concubine? You've completely disgraced the Ji family!"
He had considered having his younger daughter marry the King of Qin in place of his elder daughter, thus continuing the marriage alliance with the King of Qin, but only if the King of Qin was unmarried and had no queen!
Now that the late emperor has already arranged a marriage for the Prince of Qin and chosen a princess, how could the Ji family, a family of officials and scholars for generations, allow their daughter to become someone's concubine?
Ji Yunwan glanced at the cups and saucers at her feet and said to the trembling maid standing behind her, "Panxiang, go out and close the door."
Panxiang looked up, glanced at her, then at Ji Huai'an. Seeing that the master was only glaring angrily at the second young lady and did not object, she quickly nodded like a chicken pecking at rice, and hurriedly retreated, closing the door behind her.
The door closed, separating the father and daughter from each other. Only then did she lean against the door, pat her chest with lingering fear, and let out a long breath.
...
The King of Qin was to leave the capital the next day. That night, the Yao residence was devoid of any festive atmosphere for a daughter's wedding, only filled with the sorrow of parting.
Yao Yuzhi forced a smile and ate dinner with his daughter before going back to his room to rest. However, he couldn't fall asleep until late at night.
He had imagined countless times what it would be like to send his daughter off to her wedding, but none of them were like this.
The butler came in again. He thought he was here to persuade him to rest again, and was about to tell him not to worry about him when he saw the butler walk up to him quickly and whisper something in his ear.
Yao Yuzhi was startled and sat up abruptly in bed, frantically searching for her clothes and shoes.
While getting dressed, he was afraid of keeping the person waiting, so he shuffled his shoes and hastily threw on his clothes before heading out. He straightened himself as he walked, with the butler carrying a lantern in front of him. He followed closely behind and walked all the way to the front yard, where he saw a person standing in the shadows under the eaves.
The man was wearing a cloak and a hood that almost completely covered his face. He only took off the hood and revealed his face when he saw the man approaching.
Yao Yuzhi had tidied herself up the whole way, but when she arrived here, her hair was still a little messy, unlike her usual neat and meticulous combing.
But he couldn't care less about that now. He strode up to the man, lifted his robe, and was about to kneel down when he called out, "Your Majesty."
Before he could even kneel down, Wei Chi had already stepped out of the shadows and reached out to help him up: "Grand Tutor, there's no need for such formalities."
Yao Yuzhi was supported by him and was unable to kneel down. After a slight pause, she raised her head.
"His Majesty's visit so late at night, I was unaware..."
“Grand Tutor,” Wei Chi interrupted, “you know what I want to do, and I know it’s against reason, but… after today, I may never see her again, so… even though I know it’s inappropriate, I still came. I hope the Grand Tutor will grant my request.”
He then bowed and gave a salute to Yao Yuzhi.
Yao Yuzhi naturally knew what he wanted to do, but now that his daughter had been betrothed to the Prince of Qin, although he was not satisfied with the marriage and did not like the Prince of Qin as his son-in-law, he had no reason to let his daughter associate with His Majesty behind the Prince of Qin's back.
Moreover, His Majesty did not say a word when the late Emperor bestowed the marriage upon him that day, which clearly indicates that he knew about it beforehand.
Knowing this, yet not having informed him beforehand or spoken up to stop him, Yao Yuzhi felt somewhat displeased.
Wei Chi seemed to know what he was thinking and said, "Is the Grand Tutor blaming me for not speaking up for Sister Yao that day? To be honest, I only learned about this the day before my fourteenth uncle came to the capital. When I first heard it, I was no less shocked than the Grand Tutor. In my haste, I even contradicted my late father."
"As a result, my late father was furious, accusing me of only caring about personal feelings and not considering the overall situation of the court. He even imprisoned me until the next day when I attended court. I wanted to send someone to deliver a message to the Grand Tutor, but I was powerless to do anything about it..."
Although Wei Feng's reign was short, Yao Yuzhi knew him quite well.
Emperor Gaozong was long-lived and had many sons. Wei Feng had eight or nine older brothers, three of whom were legitimate sons and all of them were quite talented.
One of them died at the age of eight, while the other two were successively made crown princes, but neither of them lived to see Emperor Gaozong's death.
Wei Feng was not the son of Emperor Gaozong's first wife, but the son of his second wife. He was made crown prince after the three legitimate sons born to Empress Yuan had all passed away. At that time, he was already over thirty years old, and Emperor Gaozong was over sixty.
At the time, many people in the court were secretly discussing whether the Crown Prince could outlive Emperor Gaozong, since Gaozong seemed to be in good health. He had even fathered the Prince of Qin at the age of fifty-four and doted on this youngest son. He personally taught him music, chess, calligraphy, painting, horsemanship, archery, and martial arts. A few days ago, he had even left everyone behind and secretly taken the prince out of the palace to swim in the river several times in the winter. When they returned, nothing happened to them, but the palace servants were quite frightened.
If Crown Prince Wei Feng also dies before Emperor Gaozong, then the next Crown Prince will undoubtedly be the Prince of Qin.
Because the Empress Dowager had already passed away by this time, and she had only one son, Wei Feng.
With no one in the harem and all the remaining princes being born out of wedlock, the Prince of Qin was exceptionally talented and the most favored. Who else but him could be the crown prince?
But to everyone's surprise, after Emperor Gaozong appointed Wei Feng as the crown prince, he reluctantly sent the eleven-year-old Prince of Qin to his fiefdom, allowing him to leave the palace and establish his own residence.
This startled those in the court who were already showing signs of forming factions. Those who had intended to ignore the crown prince and align themselves with the King of Qin also gave up their plans. A budding struggle for the throne vanished without a trace, and Wei Feng's position as crown prince was finally secured.
Despite Emperor Gaozong's best efforts to reassure him, Wei Feng remained cautious and apprehensive as crown prince. After finally ascending the throne, although he was open to advice, he was also somewhat autocratic in certain matters, such as his relentless pursuit of immortality and the recent bestowal of a marriage.
Since he brought it up in court without consulting Yao Yuzhi, he must have made up his mind and it was not to be changed. Even if Wei Chi raised objections in court, he could not change the outcome, and it would likely give Yao Youqing a pretext to criticize him.
Yao Yuzhi sighed, not wanting to speak ill of the late emperor, and shook her head, saying, "Regardless of what happened before, now that my daughter is engaged to the Prince of Qin, then..."
"Grand Tutor," Wei Chi interrupted again, "I only wish to say goodbye to Sister Yao, I have no other intentions. If you are worried, you can stay and watch over us. Please, let me see her!"
In the end, he no longer referred to himself as "朕" (Zhen, the imperial "I").
Yao Yuzhi looked troubled: "This...it's the middle of the night, and you've all already gotten engaged..."
"Please, Grand Tutor!"
As Wei Chi was speaking, he suddenly bent both knees and was about to kneel down, which startled Yao Yuzhi, who quickly reached out to support him.
"No, no, this is absolutely unacceptable, Your Majesty!"
Wei Chi, supporting his arm, said, "Before his father passed away, he betrothed Zhu to me as the Crown Princess. Originally, I should have welcomed Zhu into the harem long ago, but I... I didn't want Sister Yao to see me marry another woman, so..."
Therefore, even today, Zhu has not entered the palace, which has caused much controversy among the court officials.
Although there was a 27-day period of national mourning after the death of the late emperor, a country cannot be without a ruler for even a day. As the crown prince, Wei Chi ascended the throne the next day, only the enthronement ceremony was postponed.
Logically, when he ascended the throne, he could have brought Lady Zhu into the palace to help manage the affairs of the harem, as long as the ceremony for her investiture was postponed accordingly and no sexual relations were permitted during the period of national mourning.
However, he postponed the matter, as if he wanted to wait until the national mourning period was over before bringing Lady Zhu into the palace.
Yao Yuzhi hadn't thought much of it before, but after hearing him say this, she realized that he was doing it for his daughter.
But... Ning'er doesn't actually have any romantic feelings for His Majesty...
Yao Yuzhi looked at Wei Chi with a complicated expression, and after a long while, she nodded with difficulty.
"Then I would like to trouble Your Majesty to move to the front hall and wait a moment while I send someone to fetch my daughter."
...
Yao Youqing didn't sleep that night either. When she heard that Wei Chi was coming to visit, she was just as startled as Yao Yuzhi. After tidying herself up, she went to the front yard accompanied by Zhou's mother.
When she arrived at the room, a charcoal brazier was already burning, making it warm and cozy. Wei Chi was sitting in a chair, staring blankly at the crackling sparks in the brazier. Hearing her footsteps, he looked up, stood up, and called out, "Sister Yao..."
After that one sound, there was nothing more, as if he didn't know what to say, or as if all his words had been gathered into that one "Sister Yao".
Yao Youqing glanced at him, stepped forward and bowed: "Your Majesty."
Wei Chi chuckled, his voice bitter: "You used to call me Crown Prince Brother."
Yao Youqing lowered her eyes: "His Majesty is no longer the Crown Prince."
Wei Chi glanced down at his imperial robes, revealed after he removed his cloak, and laughed again: "Yes, I'm no longer the crown prince, yet I can't even protect the woman I love..."
This statement was quite inappropriate. Yao Yuzhi, who was standing outside the door, coughed lightly to make a noise and remind the people inside to pay attention.