Li Yue was now already a bit dazed. Was he going to marry A’Fu?
But why was it that he was going to get married, yet he himself did not know!
What kind of world was this!
Did his father have some problem in his brain!
Meng Fu raised her head, looking at that round moon in the night sky, completely not noticing the abnormality of Li Yue beside her. She said slowly: “I thought about it, pretending to be sick should be the best method. I’m just afraid that His Majesty would insist on pushing through this marriage, and at that time would send the imperial physicians from the palace to check the illness, then I would pretend not to be well. However, I recently read two medical books, and after eating mutually restraining medicinal materials, large patches of red spots would appear on the face, and it would take a very long time to heal.”
The royal family valued face very much, and certainly would not allow her to marry the Third Prince like that. And the Third Prince this year should already be eighteen years old. Since the Emperor had settled this marriage so quickly, it should also be because he was anxious. Most likely, he would not delay for her another year or half a year.
The moon quietly hid half of its face behind the clouds, the sky becoming even a bit darker.
Meng Fu asked Li Yue: “If it really came to that time, would Third Brother dislike me?”
Li Yue lifted his hand, but did not know what he lifted his hand for. He licked his lips, seeming a little difficult to speak. He said: “No, that, A’Fu—”
“Hmm?” Meng Fu turned her head to look at him, seeing him looking so cramped and uneasy, smiled and asked him, “What is it? Third Brother, could it be you would really dislike me?”
The lifted hand finally found its use; Li Yue somewhat guiltily touched his nose, and asked her: “Have I still not told you my name?”
Meng Fu nodded, said: “You haven’t said, is Third Brother going to tell me now?”
Li Yue gave an “Mm” sound, he lowered his hand, lifted his head, and solemnly said to Meng Fu: “My surname is Li, single given name—”
He paused for a moment, then said: “Single given name, the character Yue (钺).”
“Li Yue?” Meng Fu called out this name, then she slightly knitted her brows; this name seemed to be a little bit familiar.
She took a step back, carefully examining the Li Yue before her.
Li Yue knew in his heart that this matter was his fault; although he felt very awkward, he still honestly stood in place, allowing Meng Fu to scrutinize.
The moon came out from the clouds, the silver-white flowing light falling all over him.
Today he was no different from usual; on the outside he only wore a black long robe, the robe’s style was simple, without any fancy patterns, and he had a wooden hairpin pinned into his hair.
Li Yue?
“Which Yue?” Meng Fu asked him.
Li Yue answered: “The Yue from ‘knife, saw, axe, yue’.” [Note: “刀锯斧钺” (dāo, jù, fǔ, yuè) – traditional weapons of punishment/execution; “钺” (yue) refers to a large ceremonial axe historically associated with authority and punishment.]
It really was that Yue character.
The evening breeze slowly blew by, the leaves overhead rustling, as if whispering words they could not understand.
Meng Fu, while scrutinizing the Li Yue before her, was also recalling their first meeting in the eleventh year of Wenkang. After a long while, the evening wind stopped, and the courtyard fell into silent stillness.
Meng Fu finally opened her mouth; she asked Li Yue: “Third Brother, you wouldn’t be about to tell me, you are the Third Prince of the present Emperor, right?”
Li Yue gave a dry laugh and said to Meng Fu: “If His Majesty doesn’t again bring back from among the common people some illegitimate son older than me, then I indeed am the Third Prince of the present Emperor.”
Meng Fu still felt she could not believe it; everything happening before her eyes felt like a dream, a dream she would not even dare to imagine so big.
Third Brother turned out to be the Emperor’s son.
Li Yue was completely different from the princes and grandsons of emperors in her impressions.
He did not care about all those rules, nor did he put on airs. He came and went freely, unrestrained and at ease. She thought he should be a swordsman who roamed the world with a sword, someone whom no one under heaven could make bow his head.
However, thinking of how in the past Meng Yanxing would always complain that the Third Prince was lawless, without rules, Meng Fu couldn’t help but press her lips together and silently laugh a little.
Even as a prince, it seemed that there was no one who could really make him lower his head.
Before, Meng Fu had actually also suspected whether he might be one of the sons of nobility who had followed the Third Prince to the Northern Frontier.
It was just that in the sixth month of the previous year, Li Yue had returned to the imperial capital once, and at that time the Third Prince had not returned from the Northern Frontier.
Thus, Meng Fu had dispelled that suspicion.
Meng Fu directly voiced her doubt to Li Yue.
In the summers of the Northern Frontier, there had always been not much warfare; other military affairs could also be handled by Tang Mingqi and the others.
Li Yue could completely and openly return to the capital.
It was just that he was too lazy to listen to the Emperor’s nagging, so every time the Emperor wrote a letter urging him to return, he would say he was very busy and had no time.
“I came back secretly that time,” Li Yue said.
“Come back for what? Did something happen in the palace?” Meng Fu thought for a bit.
Consort Hui had conceived the Ninth Prince in that year.
Could it be he had come back to visit Consort Hui?
But that was not right either—Consort Hui had only been diagnosed as pregnant in autumn. The timing didn’t match.
Li Yue laughed and said: “Did you forget? That year when I left, you fell ill. I was not at ease about you, so I wanted to come back and see how you were doing.”
After he came back and saw that Meng Fu was all right, he put down the worry in his heart, and hurriedly returned again to the Northern Frontier.
Meng Fu followed Li Yue and also laughed; so at that time he had gone back and forth between the capital and the Northern Frontier, merely to come see her.
Then when she and Consort Hui asked him if he had a girl he liked, how could he swear so firmly that he did not?
Meng Fu suppressed the corners of her mouth, and puzzledly asked again:.”Did His Majesty really not hint to you even a little about your marriage?”
Li Yue frowned and said: “He only said that I had reached the age to marry, and wanted to arrange a marriage for me. When I heard that, I told him not to meddle. I didn’t expect that he—”
Li Yue’s voice gradually trailed off.
Although it was a good thing for him, his father’s way of doing things truly made it hard for him to feel any gratitude.
Luckily, by chance, it turned out to be the girl he liked.
But if it had been someone else?
Would he still have to endure it?
He now truly felt that the Emperor’s brain had a bit of a problem.
He sighed, and tactfully said: “He’s old already. Should let the imperial physicians properly treat him.”
Meng Fu: “…”
She truly couldn’t see where Li Yue had been tactful.
“Does His Majesty not intend to tell you about this matter?” Meng Fu found this a little funny.
The Emperor wanted to bestow a marriage between her and Li Yue, yet did not even inform Li Yue ahead of time.
“Probably wanted to wait until the imperial edict for bestowing marriage was issued before telling me.”
The Emperor wasn’t doing this for the first time; it was just that in the past, when Li Yue disobeyed imperial edicts, he simply disobeyed.
This time if he disobeyed, he might even implicate the girl’s side.
If it hadn’t been for the fact that he knew the one he was to marry was Meng Fu, this matter would have truly been troublesome.
“Wouldn’t His Majesty feel guilty?” Meng Fu asked.
To the Emperor, she was only Meng Yanxing’s daughter; the Emperor would surely know how little Li Yue and Meng Yanxing thought of each other.
Li Yue sneered and said: “How much is his guilt worth? Turn around and he forgets it already, even feeling pleased with himself that he made such a wise decision.”
Meng Fu pulled up his hand, and said to him: “You can make it worth more! If I’m not wrong, His Majesty probably won’t directly issue the marriage edict. He would most likely trick you into agreeing to this marriage first. You can take the opportunity to ask him for some benefits—”
Li Yue actually couldn’t think of anything he particularly wanted, but seeing Meng Fu’s serious look as she schemed for him, his heart couldn’t help but feel delighted.
After Meng Fu finished speaking, she lifted her head and saw Li Yue staring at her in a daze.
She reached out and poked him lightly in the chest, helplessly asking him: “Third Brother, did you hear everything?”
“I heard it~” Li Yue, as if already seeing the scenes of Meng Fu planning for him after marrying him, could not resist stepping forward, cupping her face, and heavily kissing her on the forehead.
After he finished kissing, the kissed Meng Fu was stunned, and Li Yue himself was also stunned.
His entire face, in an instant, turned completely red.
Fortunately, the surrounding lights were dim, so it was not very obvious.
From the grass pile at the corner of the wall came a burst of rustling sounds, and immediately after, a little sound came from inside the house too—it should be that Qingping had woken up.
Li Yue came back to his senses and said to Meng Fu: “I’ll go first. You rest well. Wait for my news.”
After saying that, he turned around and was about to walk toward the west wall.
Meng Fu called to stop him in a low voice: “Wait a moment.”
Li Yue stopped his steps, turned his head and asked her: “A’Fu, is there still something?”
The tree shadows were mottled, white petals like snow had fallen all over the ground.
Meng Fu took a deep breath, suddenly stepped forward, tiptoed, and lightly dropped a kiss at the corner of Li Yue’s lips.
Then, ignoring the heart in her chest that was almost about to leap out, she pretended to be calm and said: “Alright, Third Brother, now you can go.”
This kiss, carrying a faint fragrant scent, seemed like a body-freezing talisman, directly making Li Yue dumbly stand where he was.
His brain was a blank, his heart pounding like a drum, not knowing what to do.
Until the creaking sound of a door opening rang out, only then did Li Yue react.
But by then it was too late to do anything else to Meng Fu.
He mouthed a sentence to Meng Fu: “Next time, I’ll return it to you,” then flew away.
Qingping was standing at the doorway; from afar, she saw a blurry figure flash past Meng Fu’s side.
She hurriedly ran over and asked: “Miss, why are you outside?”
Meng Fu said: “The room was too stuffy. I came out to cool off a bit.”
Qingping, while cautiously looking around, said to Meng Fu: “I think I just saw a man standing beside you.”
Meng Fu turned her head back and, without any guilty conscience, said to Qingping: “You saw wrong.”
Qingping rubbed her eyes hard.
Where in the courtyard was there still any man?
She didn’t think more about it, and responded with an “Oh”: “Then I must have seen wrong.”
A long gust of wind came, and the flowers on the entire tree fell fluttering down.
Time passed day by day.
Soon the imperial edict for bestowing marriage was about to be issued.
Yet the Emperor suddenly became hesitant.
The Third (Prince) had always not followed the usual way of doing things.
If he disregarded everything and made a scene on the spot, then not only would the marriage not be concluded, but they would even form a grudge.
That would not be good.
The Emperor worried about this until even his beard started falling off.
All day long, he pondered how to make this marriage go smoothly.
Pondering and pondering, he finally felt—this matter still had to start by fooling Li Yue first.
But how to fool him?
The Emperor decided to pretend to be sick.
He himself was already gravely ill, so wanting the Third to marry—wasn’t it only reasonable?
As a result, just as he lay on the bed and mentioned this matter, Li Yue said: “Erchen (your son subject) feels that at this time, it would be more useful if His Highness the Crown Prince were to get married, right?”
What he said was too reasonable.
For a moment, even the Emperor couldn’t think of any rebuttal.
The corner of his mouth twitched and he said: “You’re already so big, can’t you understand a little, be a bit filial, and listen to Zhen once?”
Li Yue, worried that something messy would happen, had especially found someone to privately inquire.
Indeed, the Emperor intended to bestow marriage between him and Meng Fu, and even the edict had already been written.
When his father did serious business, if he could be this fast, it wouldn’t be that nothing serious ever got done.
At this time, he was completely unaffected by the Emperor’s coercion.
He said: “Then Erchen wants the Northern Frontier’s military authority. Didn’t Imperial Father also not listen to Erchen?”
The Emperor said in a deep voice: “Zhen is the Emperor, is your father. What Zhen is willing to give you, naturally will give you. What Zhen does not wish to give, you also don’t need to think about.”
Li Yue gave an “Oh,” but was not afraid at all, completely with the rogue look of “a dead pig is not afraid of boiling water.” [Note: Dead pig not afraid of boiling water (死猪不怕开水烫) — an idiom meaning being completely fearless even in the face of punishment.]
The Northern Frontier could not do without Li Yue.
He was also the Emperor’s own son, so naturally the Emperor could not do anything to him.
Actually, about the Northern Frontier’s military authority, the Emperor had discussed it with close ministers.
There was already a plan to hand it to Li Yue.
But he still wanted to take the opportunity to knock Li Yue down a peg, and send a few more supervisory generals over.
Now, however, the situation was completely grasped by Li Yue.
In any case, it would eventually be given to him.
Now, exchanging it for a marriage wasn’t bad either.
It could be considered as paving the road for the Crown Prince as well.
The Emperor sighed and said: “Fine, the matter of the Northern Frontier’s military authority, Zhen promises you. But your marriage must still be decided by Zhen.”
“No,” Li Yue refused.
The Emperor, at once, sat up from the bed.
He angrily said: “How can you still say no!”
“What else do you want?”
“My marriage, I want to decide for myself,” Li Yue said.
He wanted to decide for himself?
If he decided for himself, who knows if he might end up marrying some little cat or little dog.
Where would the royal family’s face be placed then?
The Emperor’s understanding of Li Yue was absolutely a bit deeper than others.
“This won’t do,” the Emperor immediately refused, “how about this, you are already of age, and also have military achievements. Actually, it’s time to confer a princedom upon you too. How about after you get married, Zhen will confer a princedom on you.”
Li Yue clicked his tongue and said: “Conferring a wangba is not necessary.” [Note: “Wangba” (王八) sounds like “turtle bastard” (王八) — a heavy insult in Chinese. Here it’s a pun because “封王” (to confer a prince title) was misheard as “封王八” (confer ‘turtle bastard’).]
From the time Li Yue came in, the Emperor had been struggling to stretch his face long, but after hearing what Li Yue said, he really couldn’t hold back and let out a “puchi” sound of laughter.
After laughing, he also felt it was inappropriate, and hurriedly gathered away the smile.
He emphasized, “It’s conferring a wang (prince)! Conferring a prince! Not conferring any wangba!”
Li Yue actually did not care much whether he was conferred a prince or not.
It’s just that being a prince was certainly better than being a bachelor prince.
The Emperor’s guilt was probably only worth this price.
He pondered for a moment, and finally loosened his mouth and said: “Then from now on, you must not meddle anymore in Erchen’s household affairs.”
“Alright, alright, alright.”
The Emperor nodded.
In the future even if told to meddle, he wouldn’t be willing to meddle.
The Emperor, afraid that Li Yue would regret it, as soon as he saw him nod, hurriedly had the eunuch beside him come out to read aloud the imperial edict he had already prepared.
Li Yue unwillingly knelt on the ground to receive the edict.
He followed Meng Fu’s instructions, trying as much as possible to act unhappy.
Only when he heard Meng Fu’s name, he really couldn’t control the corners of his mouth from lifting up.
Seeing him like this, the Emperor sitting on the bed couldn’t help but start to doubt.
He leaned his body forward, wanting to see more clearly: why did it feel like this Third looked quite happy?
Could it be he hadn’t heard clearly — that Meng Fu was the daughter of Meng Yanxing!
The daughter of Meng Yanxing!
When the eunuch finished reading the imperial edict, the curve of Li Yue’s mouth lifted even higher by another two points.
The Emperor’s brows tightly furrowed, his expression serious: Was it that he himself, being old, had poor eyesight, or was it that the Third had already been driven mad with anger?
It must be that he had been driven mad.
The Emperor reflected on himself a little— he indeed had done this thing not very honorably.
The Third probably never would have thought he would be made to marry Meng Yanxing’s daughter.
It was indeed a bit unfair to him.
He should make it up to him more.
The Emperor thought for a while, and decided to take out even more treasures from his private treasury to use as Li Yue’s bride price.
The Crown Prince would surely understand him!