“Miss is in the room…” Zhu Yu answered immediately. Even though she was slow on the uptake, she could sense right away that the Dowager Duchess was displeased. Hurriedly, she added, “I’ll call Miss to come out right away.”
As she spoke, she hastily ran into the small medicinal room.
In less than a moment, she rushed out with an expression of panic on her face, holding a sheet of paper in one hand.
“Oh no, Dowager Duchess, Miss is gone…”
The Dowager Duchess’ expression changed. Suppressing her anger, she demanded, “What do you mean Miss is gone?”
Trembling, Zhu Yu came forward and handed the sheet of paper to the Dowager Duchess.
The minute the Dowager Duchess took the sheet of paper and ran her eye over it, she almost lost control of her expression. Clenching her teeth, she bellowed in a rage, “Damn you, Long Yang!”
He had the nerve to secretly spirit Weiwei away—this was going too far, way too far.
Long Yang had just been in the Palace, but it had only taken him a short while to arrive at the Grand Duke Mansion before the Dowager Duchess. Not only that, he had even taken Weiwei away with him.
He had accomplished this with such ease; clearly, this was not the first time he had barged into Weiwei’s maiden room!
The Dowager Duchess’ face turned livid with rage.
Zhu Yu’s face turned pale with fright when she heard what the Dowager Duchess said. Had the elderly woman become addled because of her anger, directly calling out the Emperor’s name?
Zhu Yu’s gaze then fell upon the piece of paper the Dowager Duchess was still holding. All things considered, however, His Majesty was also at fault—how could he take Miss away just like that, without a word of warning?
No, wait a minute—when did His Majesty even arrive? Why had Zhu Yu not been aware of it?
The Dowager Duchess reread the message on the paper and instantly felt a headache coming on.
There were only a few words scrawled onto the sheet, but they were written with strong, vigorous strokes in bold cursive calligraphy. The characters themselves were dominant and arresting, the Emperor’s august presence manifesting itself through the words and right in one’s face: ‘I’ve taken Weiwei with me’.
Did the Emperor think that the Dowager Duchess would have no misgivings after he had laid his cards out on the table for her?
Now that his Majesty done this, where did that leave Weiwei—no, where did that leave the Grand Duke Family?
The Dowager Duchess vented her anger by crumpling the paper into a ball. She was about to forcefully hurl it on the ground when something occurred to her. Hurriedly, she unfolded the paper and smoothed it out.
Having realized what she was doing, Dowager Duchess still seethed with anger at herself.
Why had she never before realized how detestable the Emperor was?
The Dowager Duchess rubbed her forehead. This was utterly infuriating!
At that very same moment, the look on Lu Hetian’s face was equally unhappy. He and Ji Qingyuan were staring at each other, speechless.
Why had His Majesty suddenly bestowed a marriage upon Ji Xiu for no reason?
There had been absolutely no warning of this at all.
When Lu Hetian came by, officials from the Ministry of Rites had just left, and he had bumped into them outside the mansion.
Right now, Lu Hetian did not even need to say anything.
What more was there to say?
His Majesty had bestowed a marriage upon Ji Xiu. If Lu Hetian persisted in bringing up the matter of a marriage proposal, would that not place Weiwei in an extremely awkward position?
When Ji Qingyuan saw Lu Hetian, he immediately understood the purpose of Lu Hetian’s visit, even without the latter having opened his mouth.
Ji Qingyuan sighed in regret.
Weiwei was such a good girl. Too bad their Ji Xiu was not fated to be so blessed.
Ji Xiu stood off to the side; his expression betrayed no trace of pleasure at all.
It was not that he absolutely had to marry Lu Liangwei and nobody else; it was just that he had already developed a bit of interest in her. Who would have thought that before things could blossom any further, he would have immediately lost his chance?
He felt slightly depressed about this.
At the thought of having to marry the young mistress of the Guo family, whom he had never met, his expression darkened even further.
From an outsider’s point of view, His Majesty bestowing a marriage upon someone might appear to be a sign of the Emperor’s favor and a matter of great glory. However, only those personally involved in such a situation could truly understand how it felt. To be suddenly thrown together like that with a woman one had never met before—that something extremely upsetting.
Given that things had already come to this, there was nothing much left for Lu Hetian to say. He cupped his hands together and congratulated Ji Qingyuan and his son. “It’s a great blessing to have a marriage bestowed upon your family by His Majesty. Ji Xiu is truly lucky.”
Ji Qingyuan pulled himself together and tried to be cheerful. “Brother Lu, you’re too kind.”
Lu Hetian said nothing more. He patted Ji Xiu on the shoulder and turned to leave.
Ji Qingyuan sighed and said to his son, “Well, that’s that. Let’s go back in.”
…
Lu Liangwei took stock of her surroundings and realized this was the little courtyard she had been to the last time.