After the door closed, Cheng Yuanjing’s hand movement wasn’t changed. With strong strokes, a line of characters appeared on the paper.

How could Cheng Yuanjing not consider the things Liu Yi worried about? The Emperor lived under the control of Yang family’s brother and sister during all his life. Even for the Empress, he had to marry Yang family’s daughter and gave birth to a pair of children. The Emperor relied on and feared the Yang family, so he put all his hope on Cheng Yuanjing. According to the Emperor’s thought, Cheng Yuanjing’s future wife, even if she wasn’t the daughter of an important minister, must be from an influential one. In any case, the Yichun Marquis manor wasn’t even in the scope of consideration.

But so what? The position and power that belonged to him, Cheng Yuanjing would take it by himself. He had the final say in choosing his own crown princess.

Before, he had not realized what he actually wanted. Until today, when he saw how Cheng Yujin bade him farewell so easily, and how she began to talk happily about her and her future husband, Cheng Yuanjing finally understood what kind of answer he actually wanted to hear.

He was not her uncle, nor was she his junior. What he wanted was for Cheng Yujin to see him as a man. He wanted her to give him an embroidery, make him pastries, and came to meet him—as a man.

Cheng Yuanjing had witnessed how Cheng Yujin very attentively cared for other men. Truly tasteless. Lin Qingyuan’s martial and literary skills weren’t as good as him. Her cousin brother was nothing more than a half-grown child. Why did Cheng Yujin so obsessed with them? Upon this inexplicable feeling, he deliberately revealed his identity. Later, Cheng Yujin’s attitude towards him indeed changed. Unfortunately, she still didn’t see him as a man.

Since she knew his identity, Cheng Yujin always regarded him as a symbol, a tool that could promote her future husband and son’s position. Sometimes Cheng Yuanjing wanted to knock open Cheng Yujin’s head and take a look. Since she wanted to marry a wealthy and powerful husband, how could she put her sight on Xu Zhixian and Lin Qingyuan? As a crown prince, he had no shortage of money, property, power, and status. Moreover, he also currently occupied the identity of the Cheng family’s ninth son, which enabled her to get closer with him easily. Such conveniences, such good conditions, yet Cheng Yujin didn’t use it and still dared to talk about her future husband in front of him.

For Cheng Yuanjing, Cheng Yujin was an oddity, truly the only one. The more he got closer to her, the more joyful and possessive Cheng Yuanjing became, and the more he couldn’t bear to hear about another man from her mouth.

Of course he knew the difficulty he would meet if he insisted on marrying Cheng Yujin. His road to reclaiming his identity and status would be much more difficult. For one, marrying Cheng Yujin wouldn’t gain him any help from the Yichun Marquis manor. On the contrary, it would smear his reputation because of their original uncle and niece relationship.

For him, an already precarious crown prince, it was tantamount to seeking a dead end.

But so what? He had long known how difficult and dangerous this road was. Precisely because his future was difficult that this little happiness became even more valuable. He had to overcome too many hurdles, but too few things could make him happy.

After fate toyed with his life, Cheng Yujin was one of the few joys he encountered. Over the years, he lived solely on numerous calculations and plans, but only Cheng Yujin was what he really wanted.

After Cheng Yuanjing realized his own feeling, he finally found the source of the irritability that plagued him for a long time. Anyway, Cheng Yujin couldn’t marry during this one-year period. He had enough time to make plans. If he managed to gain a firm foothold one year later, it wouldn’t be difficult to marry a crown princess of his choosing. But if he failed…then getting married would be out of the question either.

Therefore, the only thing Cheng Yuanjing needed to be wary of was Cheng Yujin herself. Thinking of this, Cheng Yuanjing couldn’t help rubbing his forehead. This ‘niece’ of his was truly restless. He didn’t worry that Cheng family would mess with Cheng Yujin’s marriage; he was worried that Cheng Yujin would marry herself off.

The next day, he called Lin Qingyuan and gave him a few words.

Since the day Cheng Yuanjing gave his one-third share of public property to Cheng Yujin, Qingfu Junzhu and Ruan-shi had a total fallout. Both sides wanted to take advantage, and both sides thought the other was detestable. Now that Cheng Yumo was about to marry, the matter of her dowry added confusion to the chaos.

Ruan-shi originally wanted to take some of Cheng Yujin’s dowry for Cheng Yumo. When Qingfu Junzhu knew it, she was too lazy to interfere. Anyway, it wasn’t her own money, why did she need to meddle? But there was no way she would allow Ruan-shi to swallow one-third of the manor’s public property. Old Master Cheng was dead, so the Marquis title should be Cheng Yuanxian’s. Before, the public property was owned by the whole family, so it didn’t matter if it was hollowed out. But now, it was all Qingfu’s! How could Qingfu Junzhu tolerate this matter? New and old resentments were pulled out, and she immediately quarreled with Ruan-shi.

Yichun marquis manor has been especially lively these few days. Cheng Yujin threw a piece of bait, and then she, the original centerpiece, got out of the way and sipped a delicious tea while watching the show leisurely.

A few days before the wedding, Lian Qiao quietly said to Cheng Yujin: “Eldest Miss, I heard that the Eldest Madam refused to use the public property to give second Miss a dowry. Second Madam was very angry and cried in front of the Old Madam all day long. I heard she is also crying until night today, complaining that the two young masters are studying at school, their expenses are high, and that the first branch is deliberately destroying the two young masters’ future. When Second Madam was crying, she didn’t avoid people or dismissed servants. Many servants know about this. Second Miss is very distressed, so she gives the two thousand taels from her dowry to Second Madam to subsidize the family.”

Hearing this, Cheng Yujin laughed. She shook her head and sighed sincerely: “How stupid. Not many are as stupid as her. The second half of a woman’s life relies heavily on her dowry. Hers is originally okay, but she takes the initiative to give two thousand taels for her family.”

In fact, Cheng Yujin could vaguely guess Cheng Yumo’s mind. It was nothing more than relying on the thought that her relationship with Huo Changyuan was very good. After getting married, her husband would provide for her, and since her parents and younger brothers loved her, they would definitely repay her kindness multifold in the future.

Cheng Yujin had nothing to say about this. After all, it was someone else’s business. There was no need for her to be concerned. She could only wish the best for Cheng Yumo. It would be good if Huo Changyuan really took Cheng Yumo’s side when his wife had a conflict with his mother. It would be good if Cheng Yumo never ran into a household account deficit. And it would be good if Cheng Yumo’s two younger brothers really paid her sister’s kindness after they became successful in the future.

After all, Huo family spent a lot of money on the betrothal gifts, but Cheng Yumo only brought back a little dowry. Any family would be dissatisfied, and Huo Xue-shi, this kind of stubborn and demanding mother-in-law, was particularly so.

In the blink of an eye, it was the day of Cheng Yumo’s wedding. As the only sister, Cheng Yujin must go to the new bride’s courtyard to accompany the dress up. Today, she wore a red-lined gown with a white base.

When Cheng Yujin stepped into the courtyard decorated in bright red, she was momentarily in a daze. At this moment, Cheng Yujin seemed to be in her previous life. She was still Cheng Yujin from her previous life, and this was her own wedding. She wore bright red and was about to marry her fiance, Huo Changyuan, whom she rescued in the snowy mountain.

Translator’s note:

Thursday’s regular release.

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