Chapter 42. Marriage?
Arc 2 : Historical Power Conspiracy Nightmare
Since Cheng Yu left, Du Yan has been claiming to be ill and has not been out for several months.
Regarding the escape of the Cheng Kingdom hostage, Du Yan successfully made King Yuan believe that it was all caused by Lady Hui and Yuan Jue’s reckless behavior. However, King Yuan did not demote them to commoners in the end but only imprisoned them in the palace, which shows that King Yuan still has some sincerity towards Lady Hui.
He is holding back now because the alliance between Jiang and Cheng these two Kingdom is quite threatening, and the generals guarding the border are indispensable. When the border is stabilized, Du Yan, who is involved in this matter, may be pulled out as a scapegoat.
Du Yan would not give King Yuan this opportunity. Now that the situation is stable, he will naturally go out of the palace for a walk. Otherwise, when Cheng Yu’s secret envoy arrives in the capital, it will be difficult to contact him.
So, he chose a good day to go out and see if he could catch a big fish. The only variable was that Yuan Ning followed him out. She was worried about her Ah Jie’s body, which had just recovered, so she volunteered to follow.
(*Ah Jie= endearing way of addressing older sister)
Du Yan, who brought this caretaker with him, naturally didn’t think that this cute and delicate Meimei could take care of him, but it was nice to have someone to chat with when he went out to relieve his boredom.
(*Meimei= Younger sister)
Du Yan and Yuan Ning sat on the top floor of the restaurant and saw the scene of singing and dancing below. It had been a long time since they had seen such a bustling crowd, and it was somewhat novel after a long absence.
Yuan Ning saw Du Yan was watching intently, so she said: “Ah Jie, you haven’t been out for a while. Not long ago, the streets were deserted, and every household had their doors and windows closed, fearing that Jiang and Cheng, two Kingdoms, would attack the capital in the blink of an eye.”
Du Yan said: “Some time ago, it happened to be when grandfather was about to return to the capital from the frontier, right?”
“Yes.” Yuan Ning nodded: “Yu GongZi, no, now we should respectfully call him King Cheng. King Cheng is too unkind. After he ascended the throne, he announced to the world that he was bullied in the Yuan Kingdom, even though Ah Jie treated him so well.”
Du Yan looked at her in disbelief: “How do you know that I’m good to him?”
“Ah Jie, you just like to say one thing and mean another.”
Yuan Ning looked over unconvinced, and then counted on her fingers: “Yuan Jue is not allowed to bully King Cheng, take King Cheng to the academy, take him to practice martial arts, take him to eat, drink and have fun in the capital…”
After saying a few things, Yuan Ning almost felt that she didn’t have enough fingers to use: “Sometimes I feel jealous. Ah Jie cares about him more than me.”
“……” Du Yan didn’t know how to refute for a moment. The political schemes and shocking secrets hidden here could not be told to the simple Yuan Ning now.
He was silent for a moment, then managed to say: “I just use Cheng Yu as a servant. He does things that I like, so I got used to keeping him around.”
Seeing that Yuan Ning was still not convinced, Du Yan decided to give her a good life lesson. After all, the two Kingdoms would eventually go to war.
To the Yuan Kingdom’s people, Cheng Yu is an enemy.
“When he was in the Yuan Kingdom, he had no worries about food and clothing, but there is a saying that a gentleman can be killed but not humiliated.” Du Yan said, “After Cheng Yu ascended the throne, he recalled the things that happened back then. The King of a Kingdom did everything like a slave, so he felt that he had been bullied and humiliated.”
“Taking all these into account, it is not unreasonable for him to tear up the alliance after returning to his Kingdom and instead form an alliance with Jiang Kingdom.”
Yuan Ning nodded at first, but then felt something was wrong: “But I think King Cheng was willing to do those things for Ah Jie. When I heard that Yu GongZi ascended the throne, I always thought he would prepare a betrothal gift to ask for Ah Jie’s hand in marriage!”
If this wasn’t a dream world with an ancient background, Du Yan really wanted to give Yuan Ning a black question mark emoticon.
He suddenly understood why Yuan Ning was trapped in such a miserable situation because of Cheng Yu in the original plot of the movie. It was really too simple. It’s simply like walking into the wrong film set. The heroine of a romance drama running into a historical power conspiracy movie is simply seeking her own death.
Yuan Ning saw Du Yan looking at her with an indescribable expression and realized something was wrong: “Did I say something wrong?”
Du Yan pinched his brows and said: “Let’s not talk about the fact that the king will definitely not agree to the marriage proposal. Precisely Cheng Yu, will he try to make things difficult for himself by marrying the person who had bullied him for ten years, or to take revenge in such a low-class method?”
“……” Yuan Ning fell silent. Although she knew that what her Ah Jie said made a lot of sense, she also felt that her perception was not wrong.
Yuan Ning watched her Ah Jie’s eyes always filled with nostalgia when she mentioned King Cheng, and became more and more certain of one fact. Although her Ah Jie was exceptionally intelligent, she seemed to be very slow when it came to matters of the heart.
Seeing Yuan Ning in a thoughtful state, Du Yan felt that the purpose of his words had been achieved, so he said no more.
He waved his hand and asked Xiao Man to ask the waiter to bring more tea.
A moment later, the waiter came upstairs with tea, and when he reached the window, he accidentally slipped.
The tray fell to the ground, but fortunately, it was still a few steps away from Du Yan and Yuan Ning, so the splashed tea did not affect them.
“Please forgive me, benefactor. I will clean it up right away.” The waiter bowed repeatedly.
Although Du Yan was rude and domineering in the palace, in fact, those who were bullied were all children of nobles. When he was out, he rarely made things difficult for the common people.
Seeing this, Du Yan just waved his hand slightly, signaling him to clean up quickly.
Not long after the waiter finished cleaning up and left, the restaurant manager also came up.
The manager held a stack of pastries in his hands and said apologetically: “Benefactors, I am really sorry for what happened just now. This table is all on me today. These pastries are our newly developed signature pastries, and I will give them to you as compensation.”
Du Yan looked at the plate of pastries and frowned slightly: “It’s okay, put the pastries down.”
The manager put down the pastries, bowed, and left.
Yuan Ning saw that the pastry was exquisitely made and was very happy to see it. She reached out to pick up the most unique one above. Unexpectedly, as soon as her fingers touched the pastry, someone snatched it away.
Du Yan pinched the pastry and smiled at her: “I like this one especially, Ning’er, try the others.”
Yuan Ning didn’t care, wrinkled her nose, and went to get another one.
Du Yan put the pastry into his mouth and tasted it carefully. As expected, he found something strange. He picked up the teacup and covered his mouth with his sleeve, pretending to drink tea, but in fact, he secretly spat the foreign object in his mouth into his palm.
When the manager put down the pastries just now, Du Yan found something strange because he had eaten the pastry with the unique shape before. It was made for him by Cheng Yu when he was still in the palace. The mold for making the pastry was also made by Cheng Yu himself, and it was unique.
After returning to the palace, Du Yan took out the thing that had been hidden in his palm. It was a slender jade tube only as thick as a little finger, just the right size to be hidden in the pastry.
Du Yan took out the paper from the jade tube, and the content on it was exactly the same as he guessed.
“Tomorrow at noon, we will meet at Tianyi Pavilion in Jucai Building.”
The next day, Du Yan arrived as promised.
Jucai Building is actually Cheng Yu’s business. He did not even try to hide it from Du Yan and told him everything at the very beginning. Du Yan just thought that he was seeking his protection to avoid the trouble that would come after the matter was leaked.
Tianyi Pavilion is Du Yan’s exclusive room every time he comes to Jucai Building. The interior is decorated according to Du Yan’s preferences.
“You guys go out, I want to be alone for a while.” Du Yan asked the people following him to wait at the door.
After a while, Du Yan saw that the situation was normal, so he stood up and walked to the decoration shelf in the room. He stretched out his hand and gently opened it, and a secret door appeared behind it, revealing the secret room behind the shelf.
Du Yan had expected that there was someone in the secret room. What he never expected was the identity of that person.
“Cheng Yu? Why is it you?”
Cheng Yu smiled slightly, walked forward and closed the door of the secret room: “Why can’t it be me?”
“As a King, you sneaked into the enemy’s capital. I don’t know whether to praise you for your courage or scold you for being reckless.”
“Sit down.” Cheng Yu led Du Yan to sit aside and then raised his hand to make tea for Du Yan.
Du Yan lowered his eyes and looked at the tea in front of him: “You are the King Cheng, so you don’t have to do things like serving tea and pouring water for me.”
Cheng Yu said: “Princess, you should just call me Cheng Yu. In front of you, I will always be just Cheng Yu.”
Du Yan raised his eyebrows slightly. Cheng Yu did not call himself “Gu” in front of him, but “I”. It seems that he is indeed broad-minded to be able to become a ruler, and he does not hold the past events to heart.
Du Yan did not bother to argue with him and said: “Cheng Yu, why did you come here?”
“Of course, it’s to show my sincerity. Princess was waiting for me, right?”
Du Yan always felt that what he said was strange: “That’s right, but you can just send a secret envoy, why take such a risk yourself.”
“You and I are about to conspire for big things, and time is running out. A mere secret envoy is not enough to show my sincerity.”
“Big things?” Du Yan said: “Let’s hear your guesses about my thoughts.”
Cheng Yu knew that Du Yan never liked beating around the bush, so he said bluntly: “Although the crisis of the Wu family has been temporarily resolved, King Yuan is a narrow-minded person, and one day he will take action against the Wu family. If the Wu family wants to protect itself, there are only two ways to go.”
“One is to support the son of the Queen from the Wu family to ascend the throne.” Cheng Yu paused: “Unfortunately, the Queen only gave birth to two daughters, so this path is not feasible. Princess, am I right?”
Du Yan did not comment: “Continue.”
Cheng Yu said: “Then there is only one other way, replace it. However, the change of royal power is not easy. Although the Wu family holds half of the military power of the Yuan Kingdom, it has no legitimate reason. Even if it replaces the Yuan Dynasty, it is somewhat unreasonable. At this time, some external forces need to intervene.”
Du Yan’s heart moved. Cheng Yu’s thoughts were exactly as he had predicted. Without knowing that he was a man, it was reasonable for Cheng Yu to make such a guess.
If both sides can form an alliance without exposing his identity for the time being, it would be the best strategy. After all, restoring one’s identity is of great importance, and the best time is after the situation in the Yuan Kingdom has been determined, not now.
Du Yan said: “Why should I believe you then? Even if the Wu family can change the name of this Kingdom to Wu, after all, the dynasty changes, and there will be unrest. Then, it will be time for you to take advantage of the situation and establish your own empire.”
Cheng Yu was not bothered by Du Yan’s suspicion: “I have a way to prove my sincerity.”
“What way?”
“I just said that I came here with sincerity.”
Cheng Yu took out a piece of jade pendant from his clothes, which was the same piece of jade that Du Yan used as a token in the beginning.
He placed the jade pendant on the table and pushed it towards Du Yan: “There was presented to me a papaya, and I returned for it a beautiful jade-gem. Not as a recompense for it, but that our friendship might be lasting (Book of poetry). Marriage as a promise, I would like to marry the princess of Yuan Kingdom, and there will be no war with Yuan Kingdom during Yu’s reign.”
“Marriage? You want to marry Yuan Ning?” Du Yan raised his voice slightly, struggling desperately.
Cheng Yu was slightly stunned and couldn’t help laughing. He covered his face and laughed for a while before raising his head: “Princess, why do you think so? From the beginning to the end, the only one I wanted to marry was you.”
“……”
As soon as these words came out, Du Yan heard them as if a bolt of lightning had struck him.
T/N:- See you next week.
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