The Gilded Cage - Chapter 116

Lantern-Watching – It’s Best to Ask the Crown Prince’s Consort to Step Down (1)

The two who came were Zhao Yue and Xiao Yu, and the place where they were hiding was only ten feet away from Guo’er, but the sky was dark, and the shadows of the trees were obscured, hardly letting in any light. Her shadow was completely fitted to the trunk of the tree, so they didn’t notice anything.

“Your Highness is meeting with Yu Niang today, so have you thought about it?”

Zhao Yue wasn’t one for small talk and spoke directly.

Xiao Yu’s cold face, with hands behind his back, only took a quick glance at her and then averted his eyes, as if he did not want to look at her at all, “I can agree to your request.”

Zhao Yue hid her lips and smiled lightly, as if she had already expected it, “That’s good, indeed. No one will refuse a thing that kills two birds with one stone. Since Your Highness has agreed, Yu Niang will go back and order someone to tell the news to her brother.”

“Wait, I haven’t finished.” Xiao Yu stopped her in a deep voice, and the hand behind his back was quietly clenched.

“Your Majesty, please speak.”

“I promise to take you as my wife, but the matter must be arranged by my men, and you must not take the initiative. I will immediately mobilize my troops after the completion of the matter, so that your brother can be prepared as soon as possible, and I will not interfere with the matter of supplies.”

He discussed it with Xu Rong. Time waited for no one. The Zhao family was already in danger and must be used before they lost the Bozhou army. As for the supply wagons and provisions, they were not his expertise, and he did not want to spend such a great effort to manage them. The huge army of Bozhou, a whole hundred thousand people, the daily supplies was a huge amount of money.

Zhao Yue naturally understood his meaning, her heart coldly mocked him but replied flowingly on the surface, “Naturally, my Zhao family in Bozhou over years of operation cannot be child’s play. Your Highness only needs to ask for help, and Yu Niang’s elder brother will take care of the rest.”

Xiao Yu nodded, pursed his lips, and said the last bit, “One more thing, even if I marry you in the future, you and your brother cannot touch A’Ning one bit.”

Zhao Yue froze, glanced at him with slight surprise, then smiled, “There is no need for Your Highness to order this matter. Personage Chu has nothing to do with me and has no clan support behind her, my Zhao family will not put her in their eyes at all.”

“That’s best.” Xiao Yu’s eyes did not loosen, still firmly staring at her.

Zhao Yue was annoyed by his suspicious eyes and could not help but sneer, “I heard that His Highness has a deep love for his consort and loves her like a treasure.

The hand Xiao Yu was clutching was squeezed tighter, and he was about to explode, but he read the pros and cons of the matter in his heart, then calmed down a little and sneered, “Lady Zhao is just as shameless as the rumors say. She only killed her ex-husband and then is eager to climb into someone else’s bed.”

Zhao Yue laughed unconcernedly, “It seems that Yuniang and Your Highness are on the same path. In that case, Yuniang will order someone to go south tonight and deliver the news to her brother.”

When she said that, she bowed, and when she turned to leave, she intentionally walked in a swaying style, even with a vague provocation, which made Xiao Yu’s face look gloomy to the extreme. He stood alone against the wind for a moment before turning to leave.

In the darkness, Guo’er was still holding the coarse tree trunk, not even noticing that her palm had been cut by the bark of the tree because it was too tightly holding on, until a finch suddenly flew up among the branches and chirped, waking her up.

She jumped off the stone, but accidentally tilted to the side. She looked around, then reluctantly stood up and ran in a random direction she didn’t know, clutching the hem of her skirt until she bumped into a familiar embrace.

“What’s wrong with the little lady?” asked the maid who had come back with a palanquin to fetch Guo’er.

Guo’er didn’t respond, instead bursting into tears and sobbing inconsolably.

Although she was young, and knew little of the secrets of the nobles of Changan, she recognized those two people. Even if she did not understand what the Crown Prince meant by “transfer troops” and so on, she understood the meaning of “take you as a wife” – he already had a wife, and yet he wanted to marry again!

The maid had no choice but to carry her to the carriage and go back to her residence before rushing to inform Duke Lu and his wife.

……

In the light by Ange Stage, Xiao Kezhi walked into the crowd with the disguised Chu Ning, slowly and stately between the beautiful and bright lanterns of all colors.

All the people in the crowd could not help but stop and look at the two of them in disbelief.

It’s not surprising that the young emperor was here, but what was surprising was the woman beside him who wore a mask and disguised her real face!

The woman was dressed in a beautiful dress. The waist was closed, showing a soft and undulating body, a small part of the exposed neck, and even the cuffs of the two delicate hands are white as jade, delicate and flawless. People could see that it should be a young and beautiful woman, but her face was covered, which led to more curious speculation and discussion.

“This! How come there is another woman beside His Majesty? I don’t know if it’s the same as the previous two?”

“I don’t think so. The first two times, one was a woman from a noble family, and the other one was heard to be a servant girl of the Imperial court, but this one today – looking at her clothes, she looks like a dancer from the Department of Education?”

“Yes, these days, indeed, I heard that the Emperor brought musicians back night back to Feishuang Hall!”

“Hey, His Majesty has really… unpredictable preferences!”

……

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