Chapter 91 - Lu Chen Ruined Their Engagement
Chapter 91: Lu Chen Ruined Their Engagement
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor:
Henyee Translations
Lu Chen hugged Qiao Jinniang in his arms, wiped her tears with his hands, and said,
“Jin’er, why can’t you trust me?
“My father and mother will not force me to marry a concubine. If they do, I would rather not be the Crown Prince.”
Qiao Jinniang looked up at Lu Chen. “Didn’t you say earlier that giving up the crown for a woman was just the stuff of fiction?”
At this time, there were more and more people on the street.
Seeing that it was not far from Tasty Pavilion here, Lu Chen brought Qiao Jinniang to Tasty Pavilion.
They entered a room.
Lu Chen ordered the secret guards to guard outside and then said to Qiao Jinniang, “Jin’er, although everyone says that there is no kinship in the royal family, my father is just an ordinary father in my eyes just like your parents to you.
“Will your parents force you to do something you don’t like?”
Qiao Jinniang shook her head. Neither her foster parents nor her biological parents had ever forced her.
Lu Chen said, “If one day, my father forces me to take a concubine, I will definitely be greatly disappointed in him.
“At that time, it would still be impossible for me to give up the throne. After all, no matter which of my brothers becomes the emperor, he won’t spare my life.
“But even if I have to force my father to abdicate to me, I will not violate my oath.”
Qiao Jinniang quickly covered Lu Chen’s mouth. “Don’t say these ridiculous words to me! I don’t want to die!”
It turned out this was what he meant.
Lu Chen smiled and said, “Then why didn’t you fear death when you offended me earlier?”
Qiao Jinniang snorted softly. “Who said I wasn’t afraid? That day in the East Palace, you made me kneel for a full half an hour, and my knees were bruised.”
Lu Chen smiled. “Not that long, okay? I only counted to thirty.”
Qiao Jinniang snorted. “But you still made me kneel. Forget it. There are river lanterns for sale. I’ll get even with you later. Let’s float some river lanterns first…”
There was a river in front of Tasty Pavilion, and it was already full of river lanterns.
‘When the two reached the upper reaches of the moat, a bridge large enough to accommodate hundreds of people was full of men and women, and there were hawkers on both sides under the bridge.
Qiao Jinniang bought a sky lantern from a hawker and wrote her wish on the lantern.
Lu Chen craned his neck to look. “What did you write?”
Qiao Jinniang covered the written words. “No peeping. The wish will not come true if you know it.”
Lu Chen also bought a lantern from the hawker and wrote down his wish too.
Qiao Jinniang took a look and frowned.
She shouldn’t have made that wish! She wrote that she wished she and Lu Chen could live happily forever.
But he wrote “May Datang be prosperous and the people of Datang be at peace”!
Seeing Qiao Jinniang unhappy, Lu Chen said, “Is my wish not good?”
“Good, it’s very good.”
Qiao Jinniang gritted her teeth and blacked out the wish she had just written, and wrote another one. “May everyone in the world be at peace!”
Lu Chen prayed only for the people of Datang, while she wished everyone in the world would be at peace, which showed that she was broader-minded than him.
The sky lanterns were released one after another and the sky with the bright moon was decorated by spots of light.
Inan instant, the entire Chang’an was as bright as day. Looking at the scene, Qiao Jinniang thought to herself that she would never forget this scene in her life.
Ina gaily-painted boat on the moat, Li Yun looked at the Crown Prince and Jinniang who were talking and laughing in the distance, and his head hurt slightly.
‘The new champion of the Imperial Examination called Li Yun a few times. “Brother Li, what are you looking at?”
Today, some examinees that had passed the Imperial Examination were invited to write poems and draw paintings on the gaily-painted boat.
Li Yun replied, “Nothing.”
Qiao Jinniang and Lu Chen were a perfect match, and when the two of them were walking on the street, they attracted a lot of attention.
Qiao Jinniang looked quite at ease in front of Lu Chen and looked completely different from when she was with him.
Although Li Yun’s heart ached, he knew he was not qualified to be jealous.
He would never have a chance to own Qiao Jinniang.
If his father hadn’t known the relationship between Qiao Jinniang and the Crown Prince, there might still be a chance.
Li Yun remembered when his father and Duke Anyuan saw the two in the Crown Prince’s study a few days ago
Qiao Jinniang didn’t see the three of them but the Crown Prince did. But he didn’t try to conceal anything. Instead, he admitted his real relationship with Qiao Jinniang.
Also, Li Yun knew that his literary talent was good, and he was confident he could pass the Imperial Examination.
After all, it was not easy to beat so many competitors to pass the Imperial Examination.
But Li Yun had never thought that he could make it to the top three.
Although he was first place in the provincial examination, there were more than 30 people like him in the whole country. And he guessed that his ranking should be about 20th.
This was already an excellent ranking.
Although many people performed poorly because of the stale food, he would rank at most in the top ten!
He had seen the articles of the first place and the second place winners of the Imperial Examination, which were both better than his, but instead he got first place?
His Royal Highness said that Qiao Jinniang was not worthy of him manipulating the imperial examination?
His Royal Highness must have deliberately placed him in first place.
But in the palace examination, His Royal Highness gave him a ranking that he deserved.
So Qiao Jinniang would mistakenly think that His Royal Highness manipulated the results of the palace exam.
Then he would have to explain to Qiao Jinniang for the Crown Prince, and Qiao Jinniang would definitely feel guilty because of this.
And on that day, they were invited to the study by the Crown Prince, so it was Lu Chen who wanted the three of them to be there.
Lu Chen arranged everything so that both the Duke and his father would know that Jinniang was his wife.
Lu Chen also pretended to be angry at Jinniang’s accusation.
In front of the Crown Prince’s anger, the Duke was very cautious and his father was timid. If the Crown Prince hadn’t acted angry, there would still be a slight possibility of him marrying Jinniang.
But seeing the Crown Prince so angry, his father would never dare to talk about the marriage again!
After figuring everything out, Li Yun had to say that the Crown Prince was really good at calculating.
And after everything that happened, his father and he still had to be very grateful to the Crown Prince.
‘With such a smart crown prince, the current prosperity in this country could definitely be continued!
However, he didn’t know if it was a blessing or curse for Jinniang to have such a husband.
Once the Crown Prince no longer loved her, what would happen to Jinniang?
No, he had to tell Qiao Jinniang about it lest she was kept in the dark.
When Li Yun was about to go over, he saw that Qiao Jinniang had hurriedly left the crowd.
“Miss, Miss, I finally found you. Something bad happened at Tasty Pavilion.”
Nuomi hurriedly ran over to Qiao Jinniang.
Qiao Jinniang let Nuomi take a break and said, “Calm down. Tell me slowly. What happened?”
She and Lu Chen had just come out of Tasty Pavilion, and Tasty Pavilion was about to close today. In such a short period of time, what could happen?
Nuomi said, “It was because of fresh meat mooncakes that a concubine of the eldest son of Earl Cheng’en and Mrs. Zheng quarreled.”
On the Mid-Autumn Festival, most nobles would hold a banquet at home after the palace banquet was over, which wouldn’t end until 1 am. Now there were still two hours until 1 am.
Therefore, Tasty Pavilion would sell fresh meat mooncakes late into the night. When Qiao Jinniang left Tasty Pavilion just now, she still saw a lot of people buying the fresh meat mooncakes.
Unexpectedly, someone would quarrel over mooncakes.
Qiao Jinniang said to Lu Chen, “Till go back and have a look. It’s getting late. You’d better go back to the East Palace first.”
Lu Chen followed Qiao Jinniang and said, “I told my father-in-law and mother-in-law that I would send you home. If I don’t send you back to the Duke Mansion, they won’t allow me to take you out next time.”
Qiao Jinniang snorted. “They’re not your father-in-law and mother-in-law!”
Lu Chen smiled. “It’s just a matter of time.”
‘When Qiao Jinniang arrived at Tasty Pavilion, she could hear the quarrel from far away.
“Open your dog’s eyes and take a look, this is the beloved concubine of Young Master Li who is His Majesty’s cousin. It’s a blessing for you that our madam came to eat your fresh meat mooncakes!”
Mrs. Zheng said, “So what? My niece is the concubine of Prince Mediocre!
“And this restaurant belongs to another niece of mine. I don’t care who you are… You have to give the mooncakes to me first!”