"Businessmen are used to traveling around. For me, it doesn't matter where I go, I'm not afraid."
"But I can't bear to see you suffer." He didn't have much left to give her to begin with.
"How could I possibly let myself suffer?" Luo Cuiwei smiled dismissively. "Not only will I not let myself suffer, but I will also find ways to make sure you don't suffer either."
Yun Lie simply held her in silence, lost in thought.
Sensing the somewhat heavy atmosphere, Luo Cuiwei lightly laughed and said, "Don't argue with me easily in the future. I'm not someone you can provoke. If you push me too far, I will never back down."
"Thank you for your reminder, my dear consort." Yun Lie chuckled irritably.
After a moment, he seemed still a little uneasy, and he released her with trepidation, staring down at her abdomen.
"What are you doing?" Luo Cuiwei asked, looking down at him with a puzzled expression.
Yun Lie ignored her, instead extending his large hand and carefully placing it on her abdomen, his brows furrowed seriously as he earnestly gave her instructions—
"Remember, don't imitate your mother's nonsense. I am your father, not your uncle, understand?"
Luo Cuiwei was taken aback for a moment, then couldn't help but laugh and playfully punch him on the shoulder.
"What on earth is going on in your head? I'm not actually pregnant, why are we talking about this?"
This was the first time last night...
Thinking of last night, her cheeks flushed, and she wanted to leave.
But then Yun Lie smiled, stretched out his long arm, and trapped her between his embrace and the table.
"What are you trying to do now?" Luo Cuiwei blushed with alarm and took a step back hastily, her lower back pressing against the edge of the table.
It's over, there's no way out.
"Do what you're thinking right now," Yun Lie chuckled in a low voice, getting closer and closer to her.
"This...this is the study!" Luo Cuiwei's face flushed red, and she raised her hand to lightly touch his shoulder, stammering, "I didn't...I wasn't thinking anything."
With her pretty face growing increasingly red, she hurriedly withdrew one hand and pointed to her eyes, "Look, my gaze is sincere and open, I'm definitely not thinking anything improper."
“Okay, you didn’t expect this to be my fault,” Yun Lie said with a smile, holding her waist and back, gently but firmly pressing her against the table. “These days, my mind is full of all sorts of silly things.”
This is only the first day after the wedding. According to local customs, being "improper" is the proper way to conduct oneself.
****
When Luo Cuiwei and Yun Lie returned to the Luo family for their homecoming banquet, Luo Fengming, who had been away for half a year, also returned home.
He was so frustrated and devastated that he beat his chest and stamped his feet, feeling utterly hopeless about life, because he missed his elder sister's wedding.
However, after Luo Cuiwei led him to the study for a private talk for about half an hour, he seemed to have regained his vitality.
In the days that followed, Yun Lie and Luo Cuiwei were both very busy. They divided the work and used their respective strengths to make many preparations for their trip to Linchuan.
Yun Lie was busy going in and out of the inner city, while Luo Cuiwei secretly met with many people, avoiding being noticed.
On the ninth day of the seventh month, Emperor Xianlong issued an imperial edict, bestowing upon Linchuan and five surrounding cities the fiefdom of Prince Zhao. From that day forward, Prince Zhao Yunlie would personally oversee the affairs of the fiefdom, with Princess Luo Cuiwei serving as regent, holding half of a golden seal, and jointly commanding the entire fiefdom with Yunlie.
----2018/3/21 17:15:23|52609510----
Chapter 53
On the 23rd day of the seventh month of the 42nd year of Emperor Xianlong's reign, Emperor Xianlong hosted a luncheon at the Ganlu Hall to bid farewell to Prince Zhao and his wife as they departed for their fiefdom in Linchuan.
After the banquet, Yun Lie and Luo Cuiwei went together to the palace where Yun Lie's birth mother, Jiang Ronghua, lived to bid farewell.
When it came to her only child leaving for a distant place, Jiang Ronghua did not show any signs of worry or reluctance, but rather disappointment and anger.
"Is this Your Highness's choice? I thought Your Highness had spent these years training in Linchuan to become stronger and more powerful, but I never imagined that you would admit defeat so early and flee to the borderlands, where you would live a mediocre life!"
The way he said it was as if he practically had the words "useless" written all over his face.
Yun Lie remained unmoved by Jiang Ronghua's disappointment and anger.
Luo Cuiwei was greatly puzzled by Jiang Ronghua's idea, and felt sad and angry for Yun Lie.
There were some things she didn't understand before, but over the past few days, she has come to understand them all.
Emperor Xianlong had so many children that he himself couldn't tell who was who. There were more than just these five princes and princesses who had come of age, but only these five were granted official titles and fiefdoms, which shows that these five were the most outstanding among their peers.
Although to outsiders the five princes who established their own residences seemed to be evenly matched, and the vacant position of heir apparent was an equal opportunity for them, the reality was quite different.
The only reason the five can maintain a semblance of balance is because His Majesty is happy to see them check and balance each other, and the struggle for the throne has not yet reached the point of full confrontation.
After all, Princess Huanrong Yunxi, Prince An Yunhuan, and even Prince Gong Yunchi, who seems unassuming, all three of them have extremely powerful maternal families backing them.
Yun Lie and Yun Pei had no backing. If they hadn't chosen to join the army early on and risked their lives to earn military merits, they would probably have been relegated to obscurity and wouldn't have been able to truly contend with those three.
If those three are truly going all out in a do-or-die battle, they will inevitably concentrate their forces to take down Yun Lie and Yun Pei first, and then it will be the final showdown between the three of them.
Yun Lie's decision to go to Linchuan to assume his fiefdom at this time was the best and bravest choice he could make under his circumstances.
As the saying goes, "No one knows a child better than his mother," so why does Jiang Ronghua seem completely oblivious to Yun Lie's hardships, even accusing him of inaction and escapism?
In Luo Cuiwei's opinion, Yun Lie's ability to fight his way to becoming a king and establishing his own fiefdom is truly remarkable.
Just as Luo Cuiwei was about to speak up for Yun Lie, Yun Lie bowed to Jiang Ronghua without saying a word, took his leave, and then left with Luo Cuiwei.