"Don't worry, I can protect myself, and I can protect you too."
He gently stroked her lower abdomen as he spoke, saying, "This will also protect our child in the future."
Yao Youqing blushed slightly and muttered, "It's as if it already exists."
Wei Hong chuckled softly as he buried his face in her neck.
"There will be one eventually. When I have a daughter, I wonder if she'll be born with a fragrant scent like you..."
Yao Youqing laughed and backed away: "What if I give birth to a fragrant son?"
Wei Hong frowned, thought about the question very seriously, and finally shook his head.
"No, my son would rather it smell bad."
Yao Youqing chuckled: "Just like you, Your Highness?"
Chapter 69 A Chance Encounter
"How do I smell bad? Smell me, smell me!"
As Wei Hong spoke, he leaned closer, and the two of them started playfully bickering.
Yao Youqing laughed for a while, then pushed him away and asked, "Your Highness, do you think I should tell Father about His Majesty's peeping at the letters?"
Wei Hong put his arm around her waist and said, "Don't you want to tell him?"
“It’s not that I don’t want to,” Yao Youqing sighed, somewhat helplessly, “It’s just that His Majesty is Father’s student, and Father has always valued and trusted him very much. If he knew that His Majesty had done such a thing, he would definitely be heartbroken.”
“But if I don’t tell him… I’m afraid he’ll blindly trust His Majesty and be completely unguarded against him.”
Wei Hong raised an eyebrow: "Are you afraid that His Majesty will harm your father?"
"I wouldn't say that..."
Yao Youqing murmured.
"I just feel that while we shouldn't have the heart to harm others, we should be wary of them. Since His Majesty is quite different from what my father and I used to think, then... then we shouldn't treat him with the same mindset as before. Otherwise, what if we accidentally offend him one day without even realizing it?"
She thought that the gentle and approachable Crown Prince was not the Crown Prince she had imagined, and her father thought that the student who respected teachers and cared about the world was not the student he had imagined.
Whether he was like this before or only became like this after ascending the throne, it is no longer appropriate for them to treat him as they used to.
Especially Father...
"I've at least married into Shangchuan, which is far from the capital. I probably won't have any dealings with His Majesty in my life."
“But Father is different… Even though he resigned from his official post, he still lives in the capital, right under His Majesty’s nose. Even though he doesn’t have to attend court now, he must still have some connection with His Majesty.”
"People often say that serving a ruler is like serving a tiger. My father is upright and honest, and I'm afraid he'll suffer..."
Wei Hong chuckled and handed her the pen.
"Haven't you already made a decision? Write it down."
For Yao Youqing, nothing was more important than Yao Yuzhi's safety. Rather than hiding it from him to avoid hurting him, she was definitely more concerned about his well-being.
Yao Youqing looked at the brush dipped in ink, nodded and took it, carefully considering how to tell her father about the matter in the most tactful way possible, so that he would know the truth without being too heartbroken.
As she finished writing, something suddenly occurred to her, and she said to Wei Hong, "Your Highness, why don't I persuade my father to move out of the capital?"
Even if we can't move to Kamikawa, it would be better if it were somewhere far from the capital.
Wei Hong smiled and shook his head: "Impossible. Even if your father were willing, His Majesty would not agree."
"Why?"
Yao Youqing was puzzled.
“Father has already resigned from his official post. Even if he still holds the title of Grand Tutor, it would be inconvenient for him to come to Shangchuan. Can’t he leave the capital?”
Wei Hong: "...No, because he is your father, and you married me."
Wei Hong had no relatives or friends in the capital and was completely unattached.
His only connection to the capital now is that his father-in-law is there.
Although this father-in-law had a grudge against him, in many people's eyes it was as good as nothing, but it was better than nothing.
Moreover, he might not necessarily show goodwill to Yao Yuzhi because of Yao Youqing, but Yao Yuzhi, as a father, is very likely to bow down to him for her daughter's sake, which is a normal person's thought.
Given Wei Chi's deep fear of him, how could he possibly let Yao Yuzhi leave, even if it was just to leave the capital?
Otherwise, once he loses control of Yao Yuzhi, he will worry that Yao Yuzhi will switch sides to his son-in-law's camp and become his right-hand woman.
Yao Youqing suddenly realized, and nodded dejectedly: "I understand."
...
When the letter was sent to the capital, Yao Yuzhi immediately sensed something was amiss when she saw that the messenger was not a servant of the Yao family but one of Wei Hong's men.
He glanced warily at the messenger, thinking that Wei Hong had written something again to deliberately provoke him.
Only after the letter was opened did they realize that Wei Chi's interception of the letter had been discovered.
"The prince said that since these are family letters, there is no reason for them to be shown to outsiders. Therefore, we will be the ones to deliver your letters from now on. If you have any replies, you can just have us take them back directly."
"Also, if you wish, we will leave two people here, so that you will have someone you can trust when you want to send a letter."
"Of course, if you don't want to, then that's fine."
Wei Hong wanted to keep people here for two reasons: firstly, to facilitate correspondence between Yao Youqing and Yao Yuzhi, and secondly, to intimidate Wei Chi, letting him know that his spies had been discovered and that keeping an eye on the Yao family was pointless.
However, to Yao Yuzhi, the people who stayed in the mansion were probably no different from the people who stayed with Wei Chi; he would think they were all spies.
Yao Yuzhi did think so, but she opened her mouth to refuse without saying it directly, and hesitated for a moment.
"You can go out now, I need to think about it."
Although he didn't like having Wei Hong's people around him in the mansion, the temptation of being able to communicate freely with his daughter was very strong for him.
Shangchuan is too far away from here, and as a civil official, he doesn't have any servants with outstanding martial arts skills. If he really wants to contact his daughter, it's difficult for him to even send a message.
The man didn't rush for a response, respectfully acknowledged it, and withdrew.
After the door closed, Butler Chang said, "Master, it seems that the Prince deliberately wrote that letter to anger His Majesty last time."
Previously, Yao Yuzhi thought that the letter was written by Wei Hong to anger him, but today she realized that the boy had already discovered that His Majesty had intercepted the letter on the way, so he wrote that letter on purpose to let him see it.
"I think he's really... bored out of his mind!"
Yao Yuzhi said.
What good would writing such a letter do except provoke His Majesty?
What good would it do for a mere vassal king to anger His Majesty?
"The prince just wanted to vent his anger," Butler Chang said with a smile. "That's exactly the kind of thing he would do."
The King of Qin was arrogant and unruly; who in Daliang did not know this?
To expect him to know that his wife's letters had been intercepted and then silently endure it as if nothing had happened is truly a fantasy.
Yao Yuzhi snorted coldly and opened the letter to see what her daughter had written to him.
Because he already knew that Wei Chi had sent people to monitor him, and even knew that Wei Chi had once wanted to kill Yao Youqing, he was not very disappointed.
Or perhaps he had already been disappointed and was now completely unfazed; he wouldn't be surprised if Wei Chi did something else.
His daughter's carefully crafted words of comfort and reassurance throughout the letter brought him comfort, and his eyes welled up with tears.
"My Ning'er is still so considerate and sensible..."
Butler Chang sighed softly and handed over a handkerchief.
"Then shall you tell Miss about the pills?"
Yao Yuzhi stared at the letter for a long time, remaining silent, before finally shaking her head.
"I was in the capital, and she was afraid I would be in danger, so she had to warn me."
“But she is in Shangchuan, far from the emperor’s reach. As long as the Prince of Qin doesn’t make things difficult for her, His Majesty shouldn’t even think about making things difficult for her.”
"Since that's the case... let's not cause her any more trouble."
What's done is done. What difference would it make if she found out now?
What else can we do besides resent His Majesty's ruthlessness and lament Ling Shuang's death?
Especially since Ling Shuang practically died in her place, she must be incredibly heartbroken and devastated if she finds out.
Butler Chang nodded and then looked outside the door.
"Then...should the prince's men be left behind?"
If they don't stay, they'll be watched by His Majesty; if they stay, they'll be watched by the Prince.
Even if the prince said these people were only there to make it easier to deliver messages, it's obvious that they would still tell the prince what happened at the Yao residence.
Upon hearing this, Yao Yuzhi fell silent again, remaining silent for even longer than before. After a long while, she mumbled an "Mmm" and reluctantly said, "Stay."
Butler Chang actually thought it was better to stay, and he breathed a sigh of relief when he agreed.
"The prince is at least half family, which is better than..."
Before she could finish speaking, Yao Yuzhi jumped up and interrupted her with a glare.
"What family? Who's family with him? I'm doing this all for Ning'er!"
Steward Chang quickly corrected himself: "Yes, yes, this old servant misspoke. I meant... at least the prince's men can guarantee that the letter will be delivered to the princess smoothly. In the future, if you want to write something to the princess, you won't have to be so cautious and hesitant."
Yao Yuzhi then sat back down, snorted, and picked up her pen to reply.
In the palace, Wei Chi was not surprised to learn that the messenger from Shangchuan had been changed this time.
After all, Wei Hong had already discovered it last time, and it was impossible to let him continue to intercept Yao Youqing's family letters.
But to his surprise, Wei Hong had left two servants at the Yao family's residence.
"It seems that the Prince of Qin discovered that we had planted spies in the Yao residence. He used the excuse of making it easier to send letters to keep them there. As a result, not only will we not be able to see the letters that Lord Yao sends to Shangchuan in the future, but we will also have difficulty knowing what is happening in the Yao residence."
Liu Fu bowed and said.
Wei Hong's men will immediately identify their informants and either kick them out or find an excuse to eliminate them. Even if they know, there's nothing they can do.