C224 (1/2)

It was night, and it was as cold as water.

The palace lights were lit in the imperial city. The Consort of De stood in the sleeping quarters and poked at the coals in the stove. The room suddenly became hot. Consort De put down the fire pincers in her hands and slowly looked at the person sitting on the bed. ”Your Majesty should drink less wine. Imperial Physician said that His Majesty's health isn't fully recovered yet. It's better that we don't drink any more wine.”

After drinking the last mouthful, the emperor couldn't help but cough a few times before putting down the wine in his hand. ”Nothing.”

”Today, you saw that Miss Ye. What do you think?” The emperor looked at Consort De and played with a string of jade in his hand.

Consort De sighed and sat down. ”You're quite considerate.”

These four words immediately made the emperor understand thoroughly. He chuckled and said, ”She's not willing even if you want to?”

Consort De looked at the emperor with a helpless look in her eyes. ”A marriage is a major event for a girl like me. Furthermore, no one is willing to have their daughter be their concubine. In the end, they can't compare to their main wife. ”

”But I see that Little Fourteenth likes her. Jinju is a nice girl, and she'll keep me company if she's smart.” Other than having a poor family background, there was nothing else that was inappropriate about it. I've chatted with her for a while today, so I think I should be able to figure out what's going on. ” Consort De spoke again, hinting quietly.

Looking at the emperor, Consort De reminded him, ”That year, His Majesty even saw this child before.”

The emperor had already thought of this earlier on. He folded the pearl in his hand and said, ”Yes, I still remember that little girl back then. She's pretty smart.”

But after so many years, who knew what she had become?

He had lived for almost a lifetime. The first half of his life had not gone particularly smoothly, but he had managed to smoothly walk on. He originally thought that in his later years, his country would be at peace and that he would be able to continue living a peaceful life. Who knows he is not old yet, this court just one thing after another.

His good sons were using all sorts of methods to strengthen their position and form alliances in the imperial court, whether it was in the open or in the dark. The women in his imperial palace were carrying him and the people in the imperial court, and were sending reports to the outside of the palace.

It's great now, even Ning Yunyun was involved.

He really did have a bunch of good sons.

The emperor's expression was stern as he stopped what he was doing. ”Forget it, since you think this child is not bad, then just let Little Fourteen be. Whether he wants to marry someone as his principal wife or as his secondary concubine, that's up to him. ”

At the very least, marrying a member of the Ye Clan was better than marrying a member of the Yu Clan.

After saying this, the emperor got up and prepared to leave, as if he had come here just to ask Consort De about this matter. Consort De looked at the back view of the emperor and thought back to what he had said just now. The corners of her lips curled up without a change in her expression.

In the imperial study, Ning Yunxiao had already been waiting for some time. The emperor slowly returned from Consort De's and began to chat with Ning Yunyin about the family matters between father and son.

”How long has it been since we talked like this?”

Ning Yunyin's expression was indifferent. ”I can't remember.”

All these years, the Emperor had treated Ning Yunzhi well, but it was nothing more than guilt. That part made Ning Yunyin feel like he was redeeming himself, so much so that it made him uncomfortable. Outsiders only knew that the emperor liked the Fourteenth Prince, but they didn't know why.

Ning Yunyin understood best.

After he left the palace, he had spent less time outside, and had less contact with the Emperor. In fact, the Emperor's words and his heart, in Ning Yunyin's eyes, were nothing more than the Emperor drinking by himself and talking by himself.

Ning Yunyin didn't say much. She only listened to the Emperor's tirade after he had been drunk. It seemed that he had changed into a completely different person after he had been drunk. Become irritable, become fragile, become unreasonable. He mumbled some useless words in front of himself, like how much he regretted it, and how much he missed her.

After a long time, the emperor could see that this child didn't have any heart at all.

He looked at Ning Yunxiao with a smile, and couldn't help but pour himself another cup of wine. He looked at Ning Yunyin and said, ”To be honest, you already understand what happened that year, right?”

He understood that it wasn't because he couldn't make it in time, but because he chose to evade.

He clearly had the chance to rush over and save the woman from those people, but he did not.

However, all these years Ning Yunyun had been with him, he had never seen a single trace of hatred on his face. He could no longer clearly see his son, whether he was pretending to be too good or if he really did not know anything.