Chapter 184: The Marriage Proposal
Chapter 184: The Marriage Proposal
Meng Qianqian was startled. "What are they betting on? Who's doing the betting—"
Before she could finish her sentence, she suddenly felt a large hand pressing against her waist.
He leaned down, and a gentle kiss landed on the corner of her lips.
Meng Qianqian's eyes widened in an instant.
Her breath caught, and the surroundings fell silent, leaving only the sound of her pounding heart.
His palm was scorching, and the heat penetrated through her thin summer dress, landing firmly on her chilled skin.
She dared not move, standing there in a daze, her mind going blank.
It wasn't until the sound of Jinwu Guard patrols reached her from not too far away that Meng Qianqian snapped out of her trance. Flustered, she took a step back and fled, her face flushed.
Upon returning to the inner hall, her little heart was still pounding, and her cheeks and lips were burning hot.
"Really, why are they making such a bet?"
"And don't they understand? Doesn't Lu Yuan understand? How could he...do this to me at a time like this?"
That night, Han Ci was on duty. After patrolling the Zhuang He Pavilion, he delivered an oral message to Lu Yuan, who was temporarily staying in Tahe Hall.
"Little Jiu asked me to tell the Grand Commander that she's angry."
Lu Yuan frowned. "A man kissed a woman, but the woman is angry. Why is that?"
Han Ci said, "She said she came into contact with a plague patient, and the Grand Commander's actions might have exposed him to infection! Hey, wait, Grand Commander, what did you just say? Who kissed whom?"
"Nothing."
Lu Yuan walked out expressionlessly.
Han Ci reached out, "Grand Commander."
"Don't call me."
Bang! Lu Yuan bumped his head on a pillar, seeing stars.
Han Ci said, "The newly repaired pillar, you didn't let me remind you about it."
---
Back in the inner hall, Meng Qianqian realized that in her haste to escape, she had forgotten the Retired Emperor's congee.
The Retired Emperor looked at her flushed face with amusement. "It seems like you've succeeded."
Meng Qianqian muttered softly, "Even you are a mischievous old man?"
Once the congee left her hands, it couldn't be served to the Retired Emperor again. So, Meng Qianqian decided to make a new batch.
Halfway through cooking, she suddenly turned around, and her heart skipped a beat as she saw a sinister figure standing at the door.
She almost grabbed the butcher's knife, but Wanping Princess spoke calmly, "This princess is hungry too."
Meng Qianqian calmly covered the butcher's knife with firewood and said, "Ten taels of silver for a bowl."
She thought Wanping Princess would explode right there, but instead, the princess threw a purse at her, saying, "Two bowls."
One bowl was for her lady-in-waiting.
Meng Qianqian opened the purse and was surprised to find two large gold ingots inside!
"Deliver it to the princess's chamber."
"If you want to eat, you have to..."
Wanping Princess tossed another gold ingot to her.
Meng Qianqian said, "I'll deliver it to the princess as soon as it's ready."
There's no point in missing out on a good opportunity.
After the congee was ready, Meng Qianqian took out a food box and filled it with four bowls of congee. Two bowls were for Wanping Princess, and the other two were for the Retired Emperor and herself.
After being teased by Lu Yuan, she was hungry too.
The Retired Emperor sat on the bed eating his congee, while Meng Qianqian sat on a meditation cushion not far away, eating her congee and glancing at the Retired Emperor from time to time.
The Retired Emperor smiled. "Little girl, you have something you want to ask me, don't you?"
Meng Qianqian blinked. "It's a rather big matter."
The Retired Emperor said, "Go ahead and ask. You are pardoned."
Meng Qianqian thought for a moment. "I'll ask after you finish eating."
"It seems like a significant matter." The Retired Emperor smiled and finished his bowl of congee. "Can you ask now?"
Meng Qianqian put down her bowl and spoon and sat up straight. "What I want to ask about is the Chu family's case.
The Retired Emperor's expression momentarily paused, but only for a brief moment.
"What you truly want to ask is whether I have any involvement in the Chu family's case, isn't it?"
Meng Qianqian put down her bowl and spoon, turned to face the Retired Emperor, and knelt, "Please forgive me, Your Majesty."
The Retired Emperor said, "It's not surprising that you, as one of the Twelve Guards, would investigate the Chu family's case. Tell me, what have you found out?"
Meng Qianqian replied honestly, "Currently, I've only seen the autopsy report of the Chu Great General, and there are many doubts. However, the court has already closed the case, insisting that Chu Lady was the one who killed him."
The Retired Emperor nodded, "You think the court's conclusion was too hasty, and there must be a powerful figure behind the scenes who stopped the investigation. You're right, that person is me."
Meng Qianqian was shocked, "You?"
After these days of interaction, she had almost ruled out the Retired Emperor as a suspect, but now he was telling her that he was the one who closed the case?
The Retired Emperor closed his eyes, "I ordered the case to be closed, but the Chu Royal Family... they were not killed by me."
As he mentioned the Chu Royal Family, a trace of uncontrollable sorrow flashed across his face.
Suddenly, Meng Qianqian felt like the case was heading in a direction she had never considered.
The Retired Emperor sighed, "Chu Wang is my son. His mother was accustomed to the freedom of the borderlands and refused to return to the palace with me. She also didn't want her son to be entangled in the never-ending power struggles of the royal family."
Meng Qianqian asked, "Did Chu Wang know his true identity?"
The Retired Emperor shook his head, "He didn't know. I could only wait for him to come to the capital for his annual report, so I could meet him."
So, Chu Wang was the Retired Emperor's son, and Chu Great General was his grandson. Even if the Twelve Guards only took orders from Chu Great General, the Retired Emperor had no need to worry.
The Retired Emperor spoke painfully, "But his identity... was discovered by the Crown Prince."
"Was it the Crown Prince who destroyed the Chu family?" Meng Qianqian frowned, "So you hastily closed the case."
The Retired Emperor felt ashamed, "At that time, the Great Zhou was in a precarious situation, unable to withstand the scandal and turmoil within the royal family. Moreover, the border had just lost the Chu family, and the Twelve Guards were leaderless. If they found out that the Crown Prince was the murderer, I feared they would join forces with Northern Liang, which would be detrimental to the Great Zhou."
From the Retired Emperor's perspective, it was possible that the Twelve Guards, who were only loyal to Chu Great General, would indeed take such action.
The Retired Emperor sighed, "Later, the Crown Prince fell ill. Every night, he was awakened by nightmares, claiming that his brother had come to seek revenge..."
Did the Crown Prince fall ill like this? Meng Qianqian fell silent.
The Retired Emperor's eyes turned red, and his throat ached intensely, "The most painful thing in the world is for a parent to lose their child. I lost two sons... I lost my daughter-in-law, my granddaughter-in-law, and my grandson..."
Meng Qianqian never imagined that the truth would be like this.
Did Lu Yuan also know, which was why he stopped her from investigating further?
As she processed the truth, she thought of something else and asked the Retired Emperor, "Does the Chu family have someone named Xiao Jiu?"
The Retired Emperor replied, "No, Chu Wang only had one son. Although Chu Great General was married, he was still young and busy with battles, and he never had any children."
So, she wasn't the daughter of the Chu family?
But what about those memories?
How did she know so much about the Twelve Guards and the Chu family?
It seemed she needed to ask Chenlong.
Only Chenlong knew who she really was.
(End of Chapter)
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