The Condition Is to Marry You (Part Three)
Yao Lan was young, but her slap was not lacking in strength, “Impudence! You dare to look directly at the princess!”
The soldiers from the Gu family’s army that were accompanying the carriage rushed forward and pointed their swords at the impudent soldier.
The latter wet himself in terror and kneeled for forgiveness, “Princess, spare me. Princess, spare me! This subordinate won’t dare to do it again. This subordinate is His Majesty’s personal guard. I beg princess to spare this subordinate’s life on His Majesty’s account!”
Yao Lan coldly snorted, “If you’re His Majesty’s personal guard, you should know just how much His Majesty dotes on our princess, yet you dare to offend her? Breaking the law despite knowing it is even worse!”
The soldier kowtowed repeatedly in fear, and Yao Lan looked at Yu Fu. The corners of the latter’s lips slightly curled up.
“You may rise. If you want this princess to not blame you, it’s quite easy. This princess is kind-hearted and gentle, and I absolutely despise seeing women and children get bullied. Get up and ask my guards. Would they raise their hands and beat women and children?”
The soldiers from the Gu family’s army loudly replied: “Good men should fight on the battlefield. What skill is shown from bullying women and children!”
Their clear response left the others feeling ashamed. The ones who had been referring to themselves as His Majesty’s personal guards were instantly left too afraid to speak.
Standing before the almost-mythical Gu family’s army, they felt as if they were not strong enough.
The secondary consort, Lu shi, tightly held the child and blankly looked at yu Fu. It was only now that she realized that Princess ZhenJiang had come to support them.
It had already been two months since the fall of the eldest prince’s manor. Even her maiden family, the Lu family, was unable to do anything, as nobody dared to offend the new ruler and help them.
Who knew that the one to help them would be Princess ZhenJiang.
The kneeling soldier immediately understood Yu Fu’s intention, “This subordinate thanks princess for the teaching. This subordinate will definitely learn well from princess’ personal guards and will never dare to bully women and children ever again!”
Saying this, he waved behind him, “It’s snowing. Quickly bring Her Highnesses and the young imperial grandson in to keep them out of the snow!”
His subordinates respectfully invited Lu shi back inside, and the concubines helped support the injured concubine back into the courtyard. Before the gate was closed, Lu shi glanced at Yu Fu one last time.
It was a look of gratitude, and Yu Fu nodded to her to reassure her.
She then smiled and said: “You can get up. I have something to say to him. In the end, we are still brother and sister, so I should send him off. Don’t you think so too?”
The soldier stood up and agreed with everything the beauty said, “Yes, yes, yes, it should be done. Princess, please go ahead. Just don’t delay the execution that is to occur at noon.”
Yao Lan pulled out a pouch of silver and gave a silver ingot to the soldier. Yu Fu nodded, “Don’t worry, this place is close to the food market. It definitely won’t cause you any trouble.”
She walked toward the prison carriage. The heavy snow fell on the carriage. Since the carriage did not have a roof, the snow landed directly on the eldest prince.
He shuddered involuntarily.
Seeing Yu Fu walk over, he was barely able to support his own body but still tried to kowtow to Yu Fu.
“Brother YiZhao, there has never been a need for such grand gestures before. Can we keep things as they were before?”
The eldest prince looked up at Yu Fu in a daze. The year had ended, and the girl was now fourteen. Coming of age, she had become even more beautiful.
With her smiling eyes and charming dimples, anyone who saw her would like her.
It was no wonder someone as emotionless as Ning ChengZhi would like Yu Fu, sending her all manners of precious gifts.
His voice was choked up, “Sister Yu Fu, thank you for today. With the state that I have fallen to, nobody dares to intervene, so I will thank you for saving my child’s life.”
Yu Fu removed a jade pendant from her waist, “There’s no need for thanks. This is all that I can do. Wasn’t the jade pendant that you gave me back then priceless? Let’s treat today as me paying you back.”
The eldest prince smiled bitterly.
With her noble status, was there anything that Yu Fu could want but not have? A measly jade trinket from the imperial family was likely nothing to her.
This was just an excuse for her to help and allow him to leave with a little less to worry about.
When a person was about to die, they became more eloquent. Suddenly, the eldest prince really wanted to say a few words to her, “I killed my father and ruler. Do you not hate me? For me to have fallen to my current situation is fitting for my crime. Did you know? Since the hunting ground, I have often had nightmares. In those nightmares, I saw father Emperor come to take my life.”
He looked toward the red gates of the eldest prince’s manor and said with a frown, “Today, I will finally be free, but for them… I fear that they will have to endure more hardships.”
Yu Fu said: “The late emperor treated me very well. Naturally, I did not want to part with him, but I also know that you cannot bear all of the guilt for the assassination of the ruler. Back then, you also treated me very well and treated the people of Marquis Gu’s Manor very well.”
“That was fake! I only treated you well to gain the support of Marquis Gu’s Manor!”
The eldest prince spoke earnestly from the bottom of his heart. With how wretched he had been, he would rather see Yu Fu leave in disgust than stand here and help him, which was making him feel even more embarrassed.
Yu Fu smiled, “Good treatment is good treatment, what does it matter if it was real or fake? I know that you wanted to gain the head general’s support, but you truly did take very good care of me. Do you still remember? When aunty wanted to cause me trouble, it was fortunate that you sent someone with a report to relieve me of my crisis.”
The eldest prince remembered that after that tensions between Yu Fu and madam Su were eased, and he could not help but laugh, “Only you could remember something so trivial. Yu Fu, if there is a next life, I wish to earnestly treat you well.”
He had never been this honest and certain as he was right now. Yu Fu smiled at him, “There will be. In your next life, you and I might be true brother and sister. You can treat me well for my entire life, alright?”
The eldest prince wiped away the tears under his eyes and looked at the soldier standing guard nearby. Following this, he moved closer to Yu Fu.
He was almost pressing his entire face against the prisoner transport carriage, as he lowered his voice, “Yu Fu, I don’t know if someone who is as vile as me will have another life. If there is, I will definitely take very good care of you, but right now, I have something more important to tell you.”
Yu Fu also leaned closer, allowing the eldest prince to speak a little easier, “What is it?”
“Ning ChengZhi, that idiot, has absolute faith in Yin Shuo. The other members of court also have faith in Yin Shuo, but you absolutely must understand that Yin Shuo is not a good person! He used my attempted poisoning of father Emperor to threaten me. With that, I had no choice but to go through with it! If I did not do it, he would have revealed it, and I would have been in the exact same situation!”
After the eldest prince finished speaking, he saw that Yu Fu did not look particularly surprised.
“Don’t worry. We already know about this. Unfortunately, none of the evidence pointed at Yin Shuo. We already knew about the poisoning from the very beginning. We were the ones who asked master to pretend not to care about the political situation to hide it.”
The eldest prince smiled bitterly and said: “You already knew. You already knew yet did not tell father Emperor. It turns out that Ning ChengZhi isn’t the only stupid one. I’m also very stupid. I actually believed Yin Shuo’s incitement and feared that you would tell father Emperor about it. Father Emperor, I’m sorry!”
He was practically shouting toward the sky. The surrounding soldiers looked at him and watched the eldest son of the imperial family in his final moments.
Yu Fu looked around then said to him: “If you have anything else to say, say it now. I can only send you off up to here. You need to walk the rest of the way on your own.”
The eldest prince slowly fell silent, “There’s nothing else. Just be careful of Yin Shuo. All of us have fallen for his scheme and have all been under his control. At first, I thought that he was turning on me when the facts of the case were starting to come to light, but thinking on it now, all of this seems to have been his plan from the very start.”
Yu Fu furrowed her brow, “You mean to say that he always intended for the second prince to ascend the throne but deliberately pretended to help you?”
The eldest prince sneered, “Aside from this, I can’t think of any other explanation. Think about it. Yin Shuo is someone capable of marrying DanYang for the sake of power. How could he possibly treat DanYang well and not want to get revenge after she humiliated him? This is not at all like Yin Shuo. He knew that once I ascended the throne, I would not have tolerated him. Only that idiot, Ning ChengZhi, would think that being connected by marriage would placate Yin Shuo. Sooner or later, Eastern Ling will fall to ruin at Yin Shuo’s hands!”
Yu Fu let out a long sigh, “Alright, I will tell the head general and eldest brother about what you said. Brother YiZhao, may we meet again in the next life.”
The prison transport carriage left two deep tracks in the snow. Without anyone noticing, a thick layer of snow had accumulated.
Yu Fu stood in front of the eldest prince’s manor and watched the eldest prince’s carriage depart. Yao Lan supported her from the side and quietly said: “Young miss, why bother speaking nicely to those rude guards? You are a princess. Wouldn’t it be fine to just order them to treat the members of the eldest prince’s manor well?”
Yu Fu did not look at her, “It’s up to the owner to punish their dogs. Right now, that person would be the second prince. How could I possibly act so domineering? I also want to teach them a lesson, but teaching them a lesson would be bad for the eldest prince’s family. You also saw how affectionate those women were, and that child was innocent. If the soldiers were punished, those women would be the ones to suffer from them venting their frustration.”
Yao Lan draped a white fox fur cloak on her, and Yu Fu let out a sigh, “His Majesty favors and trusts Prime Minister Yin. It’s highly likely that he will discard the cabinet and rely entirely on the prime minister. Marquis Gu’s Manor does not occupy as high of a position with His Majesty as it did with the late emperor. We cannot be willful and cause trouble for head general.”
“Yes, I will remember this. It’s fortunate that the soldier was only given a slap earlier…”
Just as master and servant were about to return to their carriage, they suddenly heard the eldest prince shout at the top of his lungs from the distance, “You must be wary of him! His condition for working with me was to marry you. You must be careful!”
Yu Fu was stunned, her raised foot freezing in midair.
The Condition Is to Marry You (Part Three)
Yao Lan was young, but her slap was not lacking in strength, “Impudence! You dare to look directly at the princess!”
The soldiers from the Gu family’s army that were accompanying the carriage rushed forward and pointed their swords at the impudent soldier.
The latter wet himself in terror and kneeled for forgiveness, “Princess, spare me. Princess, spare me! This subordinate won’t dare to do it again. This subordinate is His Majesty’s personal guard. I beg princess to spare this subordinate’s life on His Majesty’s account!”
Yao Lan coldly snorted, “If you’re His Majesty’s personal guard, you should know just how much His Majesty dotes on our princess, yet you dare to offend her? Breaking the law despite knowing it is even worse!”
The soldier kowtowed repeatedly in fear, and Yao Lan looked at Yu Fu. The corners of the latter’s lips slightly curled up.
“You may rise. If you want this princess to not blame you, it’s quite easy. This princess is kind-hearted and gentle, and I absolutely despise seeing women and children get bullied. Get up and ask my guards. Would they raise their hands and beat women and children?”
The soldiers from the Gu family’s army loudly replied: “Good men should fight on the battlefield. What skill is shown from bullying women and children!”
Their clear response left the others feeling ashamed. The ones who had been referring to themselves as His Majesty’s personal guards were instantly left too afraid to speak.
Standing before the almost-mythical Gu family’s army, they felt as if they were not strong enough.
The secondary consort, Lu shi, tightly held the child and blankly looked at yu Fu. It was only now that she realized that Princess ZhenJiang had come to support them.
It had already been two months since the fall of the eldest prince’s manor. Even her maiden family, the Lu family, was unable to do anything, as nobody dared to offend the new ruler and help them.
Who knew that the one to help them would be Princess ZhenJiang.
The kneeling soldier immediately understood Yu Fu’s intention, “This subordinate thanks princess for the teaching. This subordinate will definitely learn well from princess’ personal guards and will never dare to bully women and children ever again!”
Saying this, he waved behind him, “It’s snowing. Quickly bring Her Highnesses and the young imperial grandson in to keep them out of the snow!”
His subordinates respectfully invited Lu shi back inside, and the concubines helped support the injured concubine back into the courtyard. Before the gate was closed, Lu shi glanced at Yu Fu one last time.
It was a look of gratitude, and Yu Fu nodded to her to reassure her.
She then smiled and said: “You can get up. I have something to say to him. In the end, we are still brother and sister, so I should send him off. Don’t you think so too?”
The soldier stood up and agreed with everything the beauty said, “Yes, yes, yes, it should be done. Princess, please go ahead. Just don’t delay the execution that is to occur at noon.”
Yao Lan pulled out a pouch of silver and gave a silver ingot to the soldier. Yu Fu nodded, “Don’t worry, this place is close to the food market. It definitely won’t cause you any trouble.”
She walked toward the prison carriage. The heavy snow fell on the carriage. Since the carriage did not have a roof, the snow landed directly on the eldest prince.
He shuddered involuntarily.
Seeing Yu Fu walk over, he was barely able to support his own body but still tried to kowtow to Yu Fu.
“Brother YiZhao, there has never been a need for such grand gestures before. Can we keep things as they were before?”
The eldest prince looked up at Yu Fu in a daze. The year had ended, and the girl was now fourteen. Coming of age, she had become even more beautiful.
With her smiling eyes and charming dimples, anyone who saw her would like her.
It was no wonder someone as emotionless as Ning ChengZhi would like Yu Fu, sending her all manners of precious gifts.
His voice was choked up, “Sister Yu Fu, thank you for today. With the state that I have fallen to, nobody dares to intervene, so I will thank you for saving my child’s life.”
Yu Fu removed a jade pendant from her waist, “There’s no need for thanks. This is all that I can do. Wasn’t the jade pendant that you gave me back then priceless? Let’s treat today as me paying you back.”
The eldest prince smiled bitterly.
With her noble status, was there anything that Yu Fu could want but not have? A measly jade trinket from the imperial family was likely nothing to her.
This was just an excuse for her to help and allow him to leave with a little less to worry about.
When a person was about to die, they became more eloquent. Suddenly, the eldest prince really wanted to say a few words to her, “I killed my father and ruler. Do you not hate me? For me to have fallen to my current situation is fitting for my crime. Did you know? Since the hunting ground, I have often had nightmares. In those nightmares, I saw father Emperor come to take my life.”
He looked toward the red gates of the eldest prince’s manor and said with a frown, “Today, I will finally be free, but for them… I fear that they will have to endure more hardships.”
Yu Fu said: “The late emperor treated me very well. Naturally, I did not want to part with him, but I also know that you cannot bear all of the guilt for the assassination of the ruler. Back then, you also treated me very well and treated the people of Marquis Gu’s Manor very well.”
“That was fake! I only treated you well to gain the support of Marquis Gu’s Manor!”
The eldest prince spoke earnestly from the bottom of his heart. With how wretched he had been, he would rather see Yu Fu leave in disgust than stand here and help him, which was making him feel even more embarrassed.
Yu Fu smiled, “Good treatment is good treatment, what does it matter if it was real or fake? I know that you wanted to gain the head general’s support, but you truly did take very good care of me. Do you still remember? When aunty wanted to cause me trouble, it was fortunate that you sent someone with a report to relieve me of my crisis.”
The eldest prince remembered that after that tensions between Yu Fu and madam Su were eased, and he could not help but laugh, “Only you could remember something so trivial. Yu Fu, if there is a next life, I wish to earnestly treat you well.”
He had never been this honest and certain as he was right now. Yu Fu smiled at him, “There will be. In your next life, you and I might be true brother and sister. You can treat me well for my entire life, alright?”
The eldest prince wiped away the tears under his eyes and looked at the soldier standing guard nearby. Following this, he moved closer to Yu Fu.
He was almost pressing his entire face against the prisoner transport carriage, as he lowered his voice, “Yu Fu, I don’t know if someone who is as vile as me will have another life. If there is, I will definitely take very good care of you, but right now, I have something more important to tell you.”
Yu Fu also leaned closer, allowing the eldest prince to speak a little easier, “What is it?”
“Ning ChengZhi, that idiot, has absolute faith in Yin Shuo. The other members of court also have faith in Yin Shuo, but you absolutely must understand that Yin Shuo is not a good person! He used my attempted poisoning of father Emperor to threaten me. With that, I had no choice but to go through with it! If I did not do it, he would have revealed it, and I would have been in the exact same situation!”
After the eldest prince finished speaking, he saw that Yu Fu did not look particularly surprised.
“Don’t worry. We already know about this. Unfortunately, none of the evidence pointed at Yin Shuo. We already knew about the poisoning from the very beginning. We were the ones who asked master to pretend not to care about the political situation to hide it.”
The eldest prince smiled bitterly and said: “You already knew. You already knew yet did not tell father Emperor. It turns out that Ning ChengZhi isn’t the only stupid one. I’m also very stupid. I actually believed Yin Shuo’s incitement and feared that you would tell father Emperor about it. Father Emperor, I’m sorry!”
He was practically shouting toward the sky. The surrounding soldiers looked at him and watched the eldest son of the imperial family in his final moments.
Yu Fu looked around then said to him: “If you have anything else to say, say it now. I can only send you off up to here. You need to walk the rest of the way on your own.”
The eldest prince slowly fell silent, “There’s nothing else. Just be careful of Yin Shuo. All of us have fallen for his scheme and have all been under his control. At first, I thought that he was turning on me when the facts of the case were starting to come to light, but thinking on it now, all of this seems to have been his plan from the very start.”
Yu Fu furrowed her brow, “You mean to say that he always intended for the second prince to ascend the throne but deliberately pretended to help you?”
The eldest prince sneered, “Aside from this, I can’t think of any other explanation. Think about it. Yin Shuo is someone capable of marrying DanYang for the sake of power. How could he possibly treat DanYang well and not want to get revenge after she humiliated him? This is not at all like Yin Shuo. He knew that once I ascended the throne, I would not have tolerated him. Only that idiot, Ning ChengZhi, would think that being connected by marriage would placate Yin Shuo. Sooner or later, Eastern Ling will fall to ruin at Yin Shuo’s hands!”
Yu Fu let out a long sigh, “Alright, I will tell the head general and eldest brother about what you said. Brother YiZhao, may we meet again in the next life.”
The prison transport carriage left two deep tracks in the snow. Without anyone noticing, a thick layer of snow had accumulated.
Yu Fu stood in front of the eldest prince’s manor and watched the eldest prince’s carriage depart. Yao Lan supported her from the side and quietly said: “Young miss, why bother speaking nicely to those rude guards? You are a princess. Wouldn’t it be fine to just order them to treat the members of the eldest prince’s manor well?”
Yu Fu did not look at her, “It’s up to the owner to punish their dogs. Right now, that person would be the second prince. How could I possibly act so domineering? I also want to teach them a lesson, but teaching them a lesson would be bad for the eldest prince’s family. You also saw how affectionate those women were, and that child was innocent. If the soldiers were punished, those women would be the ones to suffer from them venting their frustration.”
Yao Lan draped a white fox fur cloak on her, and Yu Fu let out a sigh, “His Majesty favors and trusts Prime Minister Yin. It’s highly likely that he will discard the cabinet and rely entirely on the prime minister. Marquis Gu’s Manor does not occupy as high of a position with His Majesty as it did with the late emperor. We cannot be willful and cause trouble for head general.”
“Yes, I will remember this. It’s fortunate that the soldier was only given a slap earlier…”
Just as master and servant were about to return to their carriage, they suddenly heard the eldest prince shout at the top of his lungs from the distance, “You must be wary of him! His condition for working with me was to marry you. You must be careful!”
Yu Fu was stunned, her raised foot freezing in midair.
