Chapter 126
He was a young man about twenty years old. He was handsome and well-dressed, but he had an air that made him look quite sluggish. After he came out of the room, he leaned on the door frame like he had no bones. He looked a little tired and squinted at the maids.
“Greetings, Master Lin!” Jin Ling and the two maids of the mansion of Duke of Yan State immediately saluted respectfully.
This young man was Lin Fang, chief of the guards and the most trusted person around Yan Huaijing. Lin Fang came from an aristocratic family of Yan State. He was also Yan Huaijing’s cousin. People in the mansion of Duke of Yan State all respectfully addressed him as Master Lin.
Jin Ling had not seen him in any of the carriages before, but she was sure that Lin Fang was protecting Yan Huaijing secretly.
Although Shufei didn’t know who the person in front of them was for a while, she also curtsied to Master Lin with the other maids.
“You go to the wing room and wait in it. Master is in the room now.” Lin Fang pointed to the wing room on one side, directly driving the maids away.
“Yes.” Jin Ling and Shufei exchanged glances and retreated without daring to say anything.
Seeing the several maids going away, Lin Fang’s eyes turned around and he smilingly looked into the room. He spoke toward the inner room with deep meaning, “Master, I’m going to come in!”
Hearing that there was no sound in the inner room, he lifted his foot and was about to go inside. However, as soon as the curtain of the inner room was lifted, a teacup came flying straight to his face. He quickly raised his hand to grab it. However, the force with which the teacup was thrown was quite skillful, and the moment his hand touched the teacup, it broke into pieces.
Fortunately, he responded quickly. Otherwise, his hand would be stabbed by broken porcelain.
“Come in if you want to.” The voice sounded as gentle as that person’s usual tone, without any trace of anger. But facing the pile of broken porcelain on the ground, anyone would feel a sudden tremor in his heart.
“Master, I’d better stay outside. It’s a nice day outside.” Lin Fang’s face was serious. He turned around without any hesitation, but he was secretly regretting in his heart. The master personally sent medicine to a woman. This was something that couldn’t happen in a thousand years. Alas, why didn’t the master allow him to watch on the side!
It’s really depressing to think about it.
In the room, Wei Yuewu woke up in a daze and looked at the extremely handsome face and the pair of eyes that shined like stars in front of her. The person was looking at her gently. His lips were dark red, his nose was high and his smile was warm and gentle, just like a fairy who had descended from the heavens.
For a moment, Wei Yuewu didn’t know what had happened. She just looked at him in a daze, with a kind of cute ignorance that she had never shown before.
“Wu’er, you woke up?” The voice was as gentle as jade and carried a bit of smile. A slender hand extended to wipe her forehead. Her high fever was slowly diminishing, but her forehead was still a bit too hot.
“Your Heir-apparent, how come I am here?” Touched by his hand, Wei Yuewu immediately felt as if she had been scalded. As for the intimate term “Wu’er” with which she was addressed, she directly chose to ignore it.
Wei Yuewu tried to turn her head and look around. Besides she herself, there was only Yan Huaijing in the room. The two maids of hers were not there.
Yan Huaijing reached out and pushed a small and exquisite brocade box on the table to Wei Yuewu. With a shake of his wide sleeve, he said meaningfully, “I fed you only half of the pill to control your injury. There is still the other half of the pill. I believe you will know when it is the best time to take it.”
“Thank you very much, Your Heir-apparent.” Wei Yuewu tried to sit up with the support of her arms, but she was stopped by Yan Huaijing.
“Does it hurt?” He pressed his finger on the wound of Wei Yuewu without exerting any strength, and his smile was as light as ever.
“It hurts, it hurts very much!” Wei Yuewu nodded honestly, not daring to make the slightest movement. That slender and almost perfect finger was pressed on her wound, and she could feel the increasing strength, which caused her to frown involuntarily due to the pain.
“Since it hurts, why didn’t you act carefully?” In the end, Yan Huaijing’s hand didn’t press down on her again. His long and narrow eyes twinkled with traces of deep seclusion, which, combined with his gentle unworldly look, made him look a bit more weird.
“I’ll be careful next time. This was an accident!” Attracted by his aura, Wei Yuewu blinked her eyes fearfully. Although she didn’t know what he meant, she still replied obediently. This heir-apparent was not as gentle as he looked on the surface, and he was extremely scheming and difficult to deal with.
It was really an accident, but it was also her fault. She had underestimated Wei Qiufu’s cruelty too much. She thought Wei Qiufu was just an unmarried girl who remained in her boudoir without much interaction with the outside world. Even if she tried to scheme against her, it wasn’t a big deal. However, she didn’t expect that Wei Qiufu wanted to take her life and conspired to land her in a deadly situation that was flawlessly carried out.
Wei Qiufu wasn’t simple, but what really made Wei Yuewu afraid was the fact that the assassination was far beyond the limits and control of Wei Qiufu, an unmarried young lady.
“I remember the last time I told you about the qin.” Yan Huaijing seemed to be satisfied with the answer of Wei Yuewu. He took his hand from her shoulder and said with smiling eyes.
“I took the qin with me.” Wei Yuewu thought for a while and said. Since she knew she was going to deal with Wei Qiufu up in the mountain, how could she not be well prepared?
Suddenly she seemed to think of something and raised her head to look at Yan Huaijing who was still smiling. She asked in surprise, “Did the assassination have something to do with her?”
“The selection of the Crown Princess is about to start. Previously, the candidate from the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang was Second Miss Wei, but now…” Yan Huaijing leaned on the back of the chair with a lazy smile.
“Previously, only Wei Yan and Wei Qiufu were the legitimate daughters of the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang who were considered as candidates. If only one of them could be recommended, then it must be Wei Yan. In all aspects, Wei Yan was more suitable than Wei Qiufu. But now Wei Yan has no hope at all, so Wei Qiufu and I share the chance of being named as the candidate.”
Wei Yuewu uttered those words in time to resonate with what was on Yan Huaijing’s mind, and a trace of coldness flashed in her eyes. So, this should be one of the important reasons why Wei Qiufu was in such a hurry to deal with her.
There were fixed rules concerning the selection of the Crown Princess. Each eligible aristocratic family was allowed to recommend only one young lady as its candidate for the Crown Princess. Since the three branches of the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang still lived in the same mansion, the three branches could only be counted as one family, and were therefore allowed to recommend only one legitimate daughter to participate in the selection. This was just the reason why Yang Yurou could be provoked by Wei Yuewu into testifying against her elder sister Yang Yuyan.
Prince Wen Tianyao’s position was very stable, which meant that the Crown Princess wouldn’t have to endure many twists and turns in the future before becoming an empress, a position second only to the emperor.
Yan Huaijing stood up, his slim body straight like a willow. He looked at the Wei Yuewu who was lying on the bed and said with a deep voice, “Fourth Miss Wei once advised the Madame Dowager to take you back to the capital.”
The heart of Wei Yuewu beat violently a few times, her eyes widened and she looked at Yan Huaijing.
“So, you have guessed correctly. Your Fourth Elder Sister also played a role in the previous unsuccessful assassination of you done by Mo Huating.”
Wei Yuewu suddenly raised her head and looked at Yan Huaijing’s deep, clear and penetrating eyes, “Wei Qiufu advised the Madame Dowager to take me back to the capital because she knew that Wei Yan and Mo Huating would not tolerate my existence!”
After Wei Yuewu finished those words, her face became serious. If that was the case, Wei Qiufu was much more complicated than she had expected. She was so good at calculating that she even clearly knew what steps Mo Huating was going to take. The meaning of this was not just as simple as what could be seen on the surface.
“Your Heir-apparent, I…” After a long while, Wei Yuewu remembered that Yan Huaijing was in the room. Her eyes fell on the face of the person in front of her. Yan Huaijing curled his lips and his eyes fell on the shoulder of Wei Yuewu. Then, he said slowly, ” I believe you won’t be injured so miserably again in the following days!”
“No!” Wei Yuewu assured once again. “Don’t worry, I will thoroughly investigate the matters concerning Mo Huating and the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang as soon as possible.”
“Then you have to do it as soon as possible. His Majesty has always wanted me to choose one of the two princesses and bring her back to the Yan State as my wife.” Yan Huaijing’s voice sounded clear and affectionate. He wore an elegant snow-white robe that made people feel he was a fairy only to be seen high in the heavens.
“Your Heir-apparent is going to ask to marry one of the princesses?” Wei Yuewu asked in surprise.
“Why, can’t I?” Yan Huaijing tightened his eyebrows and said in a noncommittal way.
“Of course you can. I just feel that the two princesses…” Wei Yuewu answered with a dry smile and paused. However, under the stare of Yan Huaijing’s aggressive eyes, she lowered her eyelashes and went on to say, “I’m afraid neither of the two princesses is a good match for Your Heir-apparent.”
If Yan Huaijing wanted to marry one of the princesses, he would have proposed to the emperor as soon as he entered the capital. It was the best time for him to propose because at that time, he was in the most dangerous situation. The State of Yan ignored the authority of the emperor and invaded a number of small dukedoms. The Duke of Yan not only annexed several of the small dukedoms, but also sent some of the chiefs appointed by the emperor to the capital as prisoners.
Back then, no one knew how the emperor would deal with Yan Huaijing. If the emperor decided to act tough, Yan Huaijing would become a hostage. Even Wei Yuewu, a naive unmarried young lady could sense the dangers that lurked. At that time, the situation was the most dangerous for Yan Huaijing.
Now the issue of offering captives had come to an end. The heirs of the four major kingdoms gathered here, accompanied by two princesses, the Crown Prince, and the Fourth Prince. It was a happy occasion from whichever aspect.
It could therefore be concluded that the emperor had decided to compromise and make a show of conciliation in dealing with these young heirs-apparent. In that case, a royal marriage was naturally the best solution.
“It doesn’t matter whether it is a good match or not. I can ask the His Majesty to give me some more daughters of the aristocratic families as my concubines.” It was dark outside, and lights had been lit in the room. However, the lights were dim. Under the light, Yan Huaijing’s usually noble eyebrows and eyes were full of charm that wasn’t seen in the past. It seemed that his entire temperament had changed in the dark.
Wei Yuewu’s heart suddenly throbbed violently, as if she was aware of something. Her fingers unconsciously bended, her long eyelashes fluttered twice to cover the tension in her eyes. For a moment, she didn’t know what to say.
Yan Huaijing didn’t speak, but he looked down at Wei Yuewu with a gentle smile on his lips. Then he stretched out his hand and gently wiped Wei Yuewu’s forehead, sensing the temperature of her forehead.
This kind of action was originally intimate and gentle, but now it was more like a signal of warning and declaration.
Then he put down his hand, as if he was amused by the stiff posture of Wei Yuewu, and then he turned around gracefully and walked away.
His clothes always looked larger than others. His gorgeous white robe was without a trace of dust. However, the bottoms of his collars and sleeves were embroidered with complicated patterns of light gold silk, which made his robe look extraordinarily refined. In addition, he had an extremely handsome and beautiful face that deceived the world in such a way that even those who were afraid of him couldn’t help but praise him for his unparalleled appearance and elegance in the world!
Wei Yuewu lay under the quilt with half of her small face exposed. She thoughtfully watched him walking away elegantly, and for a moment, she was lost in her thoughts!
When Jin Ling and the other maids entered the door, she saw that Wei Yuewu had woken up, and the fever on her forehead had almost subsided. She almost wept for joy. However, Jin Ling was rational and she wiped off her tears. Then, she said anxiously, “Miss, the Fourth Young Lady is about to break in to see you.”