Free Web NovelChapter 166: Chapter 166: Profoundly Shaken, What is the Motive for a Forced Marriage?
Mrs. Qiao received the news from a subordinate sent by the Zhongwu Marquis Mansion.
The matter had not yet reached the pregnant Ji Qingrong; Lu Juan had secretly sent someone to inform them.
Mrs. Qiao said, "It was during this morning’s court session. Wei Ting requested a marriage from the Emperor, saying with his own mouth that he wants to marry you."
The astonishment in Ji Qingwu’s heart had not yet faded when another bolt from the blue struck.
Wei Ting had actually pleaded his case before the Emperor, in front of the entire court.
And what’s more, he did it right in front of Emperor Wu Su, claiming the child as his own.
Ji Qingwu was deeply shaken.
’For him to take the blame like that, right in front of the child’s real father... She had to wonder if Wei Ting had suffered some kind of trauma over the years that had left him mentally unwell.’
Yet, when she had seen him in the palace, he still had that same bright and noble appearance.
But now, his style had changed drastically, from steady and stable to something as dramatic as holding back thunder and splitting the moon.
Ji Qingwu’s dominant emotion regarding Wei Ting’s marriage proposal was still surprise.
In truth, what Wei Ting said didn’t matter. The key was the decision of the one who controlled the grand scheme of things.
Although Wei Ting had returned to Lin’an, he had been stationed at the border for many years. He held military authority over the two hundred thousand soldiers of the Northern Border and commanded immense prestige in the army.
She wondered how Emperor Wu Su would react to such a request from a powerful official. Would he agree?
Ji Qingwu composed herself and asked, "Mother, what was the Emperor’s reaction?"
Mrs. Qiao shook her head. "I heard the scene descended into chaos. The Emperor got a headache from all the bickering and dismissed the court early."
So nothing was decided yet. Ji Qingwu breathed a small sigh of relief.
Mrs. Qiao had been observing her reaction. She saw that her daughter, unlike what Wei Ting had claimed, was not single-mindedly intent on marrying him. Upon hearing of his proposal, the shock on her face outweighed any joy.
She asked, "What is really going on between you and Wei Ting? He said that you’ve always been in love with him."
Ji Qingwu hadn’t wanted to hide things from Mrs. Qiao, but the matter of the childbirth system was simply too bizarre to explain.
But once you tell one lie, you have to tell countless more to cover it up.
If she told the truth, Jiu Jiu and Yuan Heng’s parentage would inevitably be exposed. Besides, it wouldn’t be good for Mrs. Qiao to know the inside story.
’Why not just let the misunderstanding stand and let things pass?’ freewebnovёl.ƈom
Ji Qingwu said evasively, "Mother, that’s all in the past. Who hasn’t had... an ignorant phase of youthful infatuation?"
Mrs. Qiao frowned. "It’s not enough for you alone to say it’s in the past. Wei Ting even produced the letters you once wrote to him."
’He actually kept her "incriminating evidence"?’
The thought of those letters’ contents made Ji Qingwu touch her face in embarrassment.
To be honest, she had no experience in pursuing someone. In order to win over Wei Ting, she had specially sought out a few popular storybooks and copied the courtship methods within them exactly.
Who was it that said a woman pursuing a man is separated only by a thin veil of gauze?
Between her and him, it was clearly a sheet of sandpaper.
It had forcibly ground Ji Qingwu’s face thick, yet she still couldn’t break through.
Later, Ji Qingwu started devising her own traditional methods, coming up with old-fashioned sweet nothings about eternal vows and everlasting love.
Whatever she couldn’t bring herself to say, she wrote down on paper and conveyed through letters.
But after Wei Ting received them, he never gave any response. Even when he opened them in front of her, he would just offer a faint smile and leave it at that.
Ji Qingwu furrowed her brow. One of them was rather special. ’Surely Wei Ting didn’t produce *that* specific one?’ freeωebnovēl.c૦m
’It couldn’t be that much of a coincidence...’
That piece of Huanhua Paper had been given to her by someone else; Ji Qingwu certainly could not have come up with such "seduction tricks" on her own.
Besides the military doctors, there was another category of women in the military camp: Military Prostitutes.
In this world, few women wanted their crimson lips to be tasted by thousands. Most had been forced by circumstance into that fallen life.
Among them was a stunningly beautiful Hujie who had been sold by human traffickers. She fell gravely ill shortly after entering the camp, and Ji Qingwu had treated her.
This Hujie had a bold and open personality. She laughed at how clumsy Ji Qingwu’s methods of pursuing men were, saying that one had to be daring to show love. She also said that all men were hypocrites who acted proper but were all the same once you pushed them onto a bed.
She generously taught her many methods, which she divided into "civil" and "martial" plays.
And by "plays," she meant plays of seduction.
The "martial plays" were righteously rejected by Ji Qingwu, whose face turned redder than a bonfire and who still knew nothing of carnal pleasures.
Things like "Xi Shi Washing Silk" and "Bodhi Sitting Lotus"... though she did end up using them eventually, just not on Wei Ting.
As for the "civil plays," one method involved creating a heart shape on the stationery using an accumulation of bright red lipstick prints.
Ji Qingwu could barely accept this one. The Hujie personally guided her, but later grew impatient with her sluggishness and ended up stamping the lipstick prints on her behalf.
Thinking of this, Ji Qingwu blinked and asked, "Mother, do you know which letter Wei Ting produced?"
Mrs. Qiao met her gaze and said, "Xiao Wu, you really wrote him letters?!"
Ji Qingwu nodded honestly. "I did."
There was no denying it; the letters Wei Ting produced must have been the ones she wrote.
Receiving an affirmative answer, the wrinkles at the corners of Mrs. Qiao’s eyes deepened with worry. She let out a long sigh. It seemed Wei Ting was telling the truth.
Ji Qingwu added, "And more than one."
Mrs. Qiao’s sighing stopped, replaced by a sense of melancholy.
’So Xiao Wu and Wei Ting really did have such a history.’
Back when her youngest daughter had returned home, she had been so worried about reminding her of the painful memories of her time away that she hadn’t questioned her in detail, simply assuming Jiu Jiu’s father was some lowly foot soldier.
Mrs. Qiao had even thought, with some exaggeration, that as long as it wasn’t a member of the royal family, the Ji Family and the Qiao Family could protect Xiao Wu.
She had forgotten about Wei Ting, a powerful official who enjoyed the Emperor’s immense favor.
’If Xiao Wu were to marry into the Wei Family...’
The Wei Family was large and influential, with over a hundred members, and Madam Wei was not an easy person to get along with.
Even as a youth, Wei Ting had been an outstanding figure in the city; now, with military power, he was even more formidable. No matter how she looked at it, he wasn’t someone her pure and good-natured Xiao Wu could handle.
’If she really marries him, she’s bound to suffer grievances.’
Mrs. Qiao thought of the long-term consequences, and the furrow between her brows deepened.
Infected by her mother’s mood, Ji Qingwu also started to worry.
She wondered aloud, "But in the past, he never agreed to be with me, nor did he ever say he wanted to marry me. Why the sudden change in attitude now?"
The corner of Mrs. Qiao’s eye twitched, and she quickly turned her head away.
Looking at Ji Qingwu’s flower-like face and bright, watery eyes, she extended two fingers and poked her on the forehead, vexed that she had failed to live up to expectations.
"You actively pursued him and wrote him so many love letters, and you *still* couldn’t win him over back then?!"
Ji Qingwu fiddled with the corner of her sleeve, saying sheepishly, "I didn’t."
Mrs. Qiao finally understood why Xiao Wu had ended up wandering in a small town in Nanchu. It turned out she had run away with a child in her belly after suffering all sorts of grievances.
Instantly, her impression of Wei Ting worsened by several degrees.
Ji Qingwu pressed her lips together. Mother and daughter were each lost in their own thoughts.
’It wasn’t that she had no feelings for Wei Ting.’
’Her purpose in coming to the military camp hadn’t been pure; it was to survive.’
’She had treated Wei Ting as a blind date candidate screened for her by the system, single-mindedly striving towards the goal of them getting married, having children, and living happily ever after.’
’The only problem was, Wei Ting’s psychological defenses were too high.’
