Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Just as Qi Qingyao was done washing up and was about to head to the dining hall for breakfast, Zhu Shen called her to the front hall, his expression serious. Bewildered, she knelt down and accepted the offered edict.
Qi Qingyao remained kneeling in confusion as the old man who brought her the edict took his leave.
Li Ruoxuan rushed over from the courtyard. He saw Qi Qingyao kneeling there and took the imperial edict from her hand with a somber expression.
After looking through it, he frowned and threw the edict directly onto the ground.
He then pulled Qi Qingyao from the ground.
He settled her down into a chair at one side and handed her a cup of herbal tea. Qi Qingyao drank the cup of tea like a walking corpse as she slowly regained her senses. Her fingers were trembling slightly. She put down the cup and looked up blankly, asking,
“I… have been bestowed a marriage?”
Her mind was still buzzing till now, the old man’s sharp voice still echoing in her mind.
Li Ruoxuan sat down beside her and nodded. “You have.”
Somewhat perplexed, Qi Qingyao asked, “But why bestow me a marriage out of nowhere?”
Li Ruoxuan contemplated for a moment. A layer of frost coated his gaze as he took the responsibility upon himself. “It is probably because of me.”
Qi Qingyao, “Huh?”
Li Ruoxuan gestured at the house.
Then, he said in a low voice,
“You are staying here with me, and you’re getting too close to the State Preceptor.” This was the first point.
“Not to mention, I proclaimed that I liked you yesterday in the palace when I was trying to save you. Your daughter worships me as a teacher and the little empress knows this.” This was the second point.
“Think about it. You are so close to Si Jin, and both Si Jin and I are grand masters.”
“You have a relationship with two of the three grand masters of the entirety of Northern Liang. And a rather close relationship at that. If you were the empress, what would you think?” This was the third point.
“This decision to bestow marriage is part of the empress’s schemes.”
…
Qi Qingyao was stunned, “…” The words ‘the empress’s schemes’ echoed in her head.
Li Ruoxuan said with a somber expression, “It’s all my fault, I was careless in the palace yesterday. My abrupt statement, be it a confession or just a compliment, shouldn’t have been said.”
He had somehow forgotten to consider the overall situation back then. Fearing that Jiang Yeqian would have really strangled her, his mouth had acted faster than his mind and he immediately said those words but had momentarily forgotten his standing as a grand master… He had crossed a certain boundary and it made the little empress nervous.
Li Ruoxuan suddenly thought of something.
“You mustn’t let the little empress find out that Jiang Yeqian had confessed to you yesterday night.”
Qi Qingyao, “Ah.”
Li Ruoxuan said profoundly, “You will no doubt be executed the moment she finds out.”
Qi Qingyao, “…”
Seeing her saying nothing, Li Ruoxuan felt slightly annoyed. “Have you gone stupid from shock?”
Qi Qingyao shook her head as if nothing happened.
“No.”
“I just suddenly feel that, while I do respect the little empress, a little widow like me has become a great threat in her eyes.”
This was something she had not expected at all.
She…
Was she so important?
Important enough that she was viewed as a threat by the little empress?
Li Ruoxuan said carelessly, “The previous intelligence report on you indicated that you were a useless good-for-nothing, but then you gained intelligence and were able to design buildings and bargain with Lu Yan. You won a house from a man as smart as him. You even found a young grand master! Not to mention, no one has found anything out about where the young grand master is from. As the saying goes, a man’s fortune is his own ruin.”
Qi Qingyao did not have much of a large reaction when she heard this. She just asked faintly, “So, what’ll happen now? Do I listen to her obediently so as to not make her feel threatened and marry…”
Wait, marry who?