After dismissing the palace servants, Yun Lie stretched out his arms along the edge of the hot spring, submerging most of his body in the water, and closed his eyes in a daze.
Just as he was feeling agitated, he heard light, rustling footsteps approaching.
Yun Lie gave a cold snort, and with lightning speed pulled out the hairpin from his hair ornament, throwing it back towards the source of the sound.
He was already in a bad mood, so he didn't care who it was; he just wanted to strike first.
After a surprised and painful groan, the newcomer gritted his teeth and said, "Fifth brother, are you trying to kill your brother?"
Yun Lie lazily turned his head and saw Prince Gong, Yun Chi, clutching his shoulder and glaring at him in pain. He then gave a forced smile and said, "So it's my third brother. My apologies."
Serves you right, who told you to sneak around behind my back?
Fortunately, Yun Chi didn't hold it against him. He just stared at the tear on the shoulder of the robe as he took it off and said, "You have to pay me for a new robe."
"I have no money." Yun Lie didn't even glance at him, closing his eyes and shirking the debt.
A moment later, Yun Chi also went down into the hot spring and leaned against the pool wall alongside him.
"Are you unhappy?"
Prince Gong, Yun Chi, was born to the Empress and was the third among Emperor Xianlong's many children. Because his two elder brothers died young, he became the eldest among the current imperial heirs.
He neither led troops nor assisted in governance on the surface, and no one could explain why Emperor Xianlong allowed him to establish his own residence. In any case, amidst everyone's confusion, astonishment, and speculation, he became one of the five princes who established their own residences.
Yun Lie completely ignored his elder brother's kind concern, closing his eyes as if he were in deep meditation.
Instead of showing any anger at Yun Lie's silence, Yun Chi chuckled gently, "Even if you can't be a brotherly friend, you can at least pretend to be friendly, right?"
"No need," Yun Lie snorted arrogantly, finally opening his eyes. "I'm not planning to get anything from you, so why bother with all that pretense?"
The steaming mist in the hot spring pool couldn't conceal Yun Lie's open and arrogant demeanor.
"You've been like this since you were little, stubborn as an idiot, no wonder Father Emperor is always too lazy to pay attention to you." Yun Chi chuckled and scolded him, reaching out to pat his head.
Yun Lie turned his head and gave him a cold glance. Seeing him hurriedly withdraw his hand, he scoffed, "You talk as if that old...father Emperor cares about you a lot."
Perhaps because he was the eldest and the daughter of the Empress, Yun Chi was gentle, steady, and mature beyond his years. He was not one to flatter or fawn, and his treatment in front of Emperor Xianlong was not much better than that of Yun Lie.
Yun Chi was not angry at Yun Lie's retort, but simply asked with a gentle smile, "I heard that when you were at the hunting grounds, you asked your father to propose marriage on your behalf, but you were rejected?"
Yun Lie, feeling resentful for being stepped on, rolled his eyes, turned around, reached out and took a cup from the small table by the hot spring, and poured himself a cup of tea.
Yun Chi rudely snatched the teacup from his hand.
Yun Lie didn't say anything, he just pursed his lips and poured himself another cup.
He told the old man about this, and only a little over an hour has passed since then, yet Yun Chi knows everything.
There's no need to ask anything or go to great lengths to investigate; all we know is that the old man has Yun Chi's people around him.
"You're just sulking, not even thinking about why Father didn't grant your request." Yun Chi took a sip of early spring tea, his smile as pleasant as a spring breeze.
Yun Lie finally turned his head to look at him: "Why?"
“Because what you want is a ‘marriage proposal,’ not a ‘marriage decree,’” Yun Chi looked at his overly straightforward fifth brother, somewhat amused and exasperated. “If it were the latter, Father would have agreed immediately, given how happy he was today.”
According to the customs of Dajin, when it comes to marriage proposals, the proposed party has the right to choose to accept or reject. Even if the emperor himself intervenes, he must outwardly respect these customs. However, if a family is determined not to accept, they will be more resistant.
His Majesty the Emperor is the person in the whole world who cares most about his reputation!
"Oh." Yun Lie drank the hot tea in his cup in one gulp.
He knew, of course, that if he had just requested an imperial decree to grant him a marriage, the old man would have agreed; but he was unwilling.
"The imperial decree to grant marriage" means "must be obeyed." Luo Cuiwei is deeply in love with him and does not deserve such arrogant treatment.
Since she likes him so much, he should cherish her feelings.
"I guess it's the eldest daughter of the Luo family in Jingxi?" Yun Chi asked with a smile.
Since the spring hunt began, anyone with a modicum of sense has probably noticed that Yun Lie and the Luo family girl have been getting very close.
In addition, Yun Lie's unwavering insistence forced Yun Huan to reluctantly give up the Tang family and switch to the Luo family; Yun Chi was present when this happened and knew the inside story all too well.
Seeing Yun Lie purse his lips and remain silent, Yun Chi knew he had guessed correctly.
Although the Luo family in Jingxi were just merchants and commoners, the Yun royal family had precedents of marrying commoners. Yun Lie's interest in a girl from the Luo family was not a shocking thing.
only……
Yun Chi smiled, his eyes filled with inquiry and verification: "Have you thought it through? If you choose her, you know what you'll miss out on, right?"
With the position of heir apparent currently vacant, the five princes who have established their own residences are considered the closest to the throne.
Now, the five of them each have their own chips, and on the surface, they can be considered evenly matched. No one can guarantee that they can crush the other to the point of no return, so they can only secretly do some dirty tricks to sabotage the others.
None of the five are currently married, simply because the social standing they choose to marry will completely change the weight of their bargaining chips.
By choosing a merchant family with no background or influence in the imperial court right from the start, Yun Lie was essentially announcing his withdrawal from the competition.
“I didn’t miss anything,” Yun Lie chuckled lightly. “What you want, I may not care for.”
He wasn't really stupid. Yun Chi had always kept a distance from him in the past, but today he suddenly came over with great affection to have this "heart-to-heart talk with his brother." This was simply because he had realized that he had no intention of becoming the heir apparent, and that was why he had changed his attitude so much and become so friendly.
Whether the other party was sincere or not, Yun Lie didn't care.
For him, the concept of a "successor's position" was far less interesting than Luo Cuiwei.