Free Web NovelChapter 223: Chapter 223: A Match Made in Heaven, a Dagger for Self-Defense
Qingyun was already up from the wedding bed. She sat before the bronze mirror while a Maid behind her carefully removed her pearl coronet.
Seeing Ji Qingwu enter, her red lips curled up. "It’s one thing for you not to help me with my hair, Fifth Cousin, but to leave right after the ceremony?"
Ji Qingwu stood by the bronze mirror and said, "The ceremony is over. Surely Your Highness doesn’t expect me to stay and watch you and the Prince Consort in your bridal chamber?"
The blush on Princess Qingyun’s face deepened. "Fifth Cousin, how can you even joke about something like that?"
’I’ve seen so many women for infertility issues before,’ Ji Qingwu thought. ’It often wasn’t a physical problem at all. They simply didn’t know how to perform the act, or couldn’t find the right... spot.’
From a physician’s perspective, she offered a friendly reminder. "This is no joke. Your Highness has looked at the marriage manuals, I assume?"
Princess Qingyun reacted with the shyness of any new bride, muttering, "Why are you nagging me just like the Empress today, Fifth Cousin?"
Ji Qingwu said, "Fine, I won’t say another word. I’ll be on my way."
"Hey, don’t go!" Princess Qingyun called her back. "I have something I want to tell you."
Ji Qingwu glanced around at the room, filled with festive red and the light of dragon and phoenix wedding candles.
She said, "Must we talk on Your Highness’s wedding night? I wouldn’t dare waste such precious time."
Princess Qingyun waved her hand, dismissing the Maid who was doing her hair. Only then did she say, "I saw you sighing while you looked at the Prince Consort and me earlier, Fifth Cousin."
’The Princess had time to notice me while they were drinking the ceremonial wine?’ Ji Qingwu wondered. ’Is she overthinking things again?’
Ji Qingwu quickly said, "That’s not what I..."
"I know."
Princess Qingyun took off the headdress herself, and her head instantly felt much lighter.
She continued, "Fifth Cousin, you weren’t sighing because of the Prince Consort. You were sighing because you feel it’s a pity for me, weren’t you?"
Ji Qingwu swallowed the explanation she was about to give. "As long as you know."
"I’m truly happy today," Princess Qingyun said, her face alight with a blissful smile.
"I am happy to marry the Prince Consort, but I’m even happier that there’s someone who genuinely cares for me."
Ji Qingwu was infected by her joy and couldn’t help but smile as well.
"It’s just that... Your Highness clearly could have found a better man to spend your life with."
Princess Qingyun looked at Ji Qingwu strangely through the bronze mirror.
"Fifth Cousin, you’re so naive."
Ji Qingwu retorted, "And isn’t Your Highness the naive one, casting everything aside for the sake of love?"
Qingyun removed her earrings and said, "The easiest thing to spoil in this world is emotion. The one thing that never changes is power."
Ji Qingwu looked at her beautiful reflection in the mirror, so radiant in the prime of her life. "The Prince Consort is only after power. He doesn’t truly love you. And that’s alright with you?"
Princess Qingyun took off her forehead ornament. "It doesn’t matter who the Prince Consort has in his heart. As long as he’s willing to play the part for a lifetime, I’ll play along with him."
"He wants a path to power, so I’ll give it to him. But as for what I want... as long as he plays along and gives it to me, whether he’s sincere or not is enough."
Ji Qingwu left the bridal chamber and walked down the long corridor back to the main hall, Qingyun’s words still echoing in her mind.
Qingyun was willing to be deceived, as long as the man was willing to keep up the deception. For as long as she was a princess, Li Chengxun would have to humor her for a lifetime.
She had once thought Qingyun was so infatuated with Li Chengxun that she had lost all reason. But now, it seemed Qingyun knew exactly what she wanted and what she could afford to give up.
’How can one ever have the best of both worlds...?’
Ji Qingwu stood dazed in the corridor, unable to stop herself from wondering what it was that *she* wanted more...
"Qingwu."
A drunken voice called out from the other end of the corridor.
Ji Qingwu immediately recognized Li Chengxun’s voice. She took several quick steps back, putting distance between them while scanning the area for anyone else.
"Qingwu, don’t be nervous."
Li Chengxun was swaying on his feet. He staggered forward a few steps, but when he saw her retreat with him, he stopped.
His voice drifted over on the wind.
"I don’t regret not choosing you back then."
Whether he could see her or not, Ji Qingwu nodded. "What a coincidence. Neither do I."
She didn’t want to get entangled with a drunkard and said bluntly, "Princess Qingyun is still waiting for you. You should return to your chambers, Prince Consort."
Li Chengxun was too drunk to stand steady, leaning against a nearby pillar for support.
He said with a sorrowful expression, "In my eyes, feelings don’t matter at all."
This was the only path to the main hall. Ji Qingwu was blocked from moving forward, and she looked back, searching for a place to hide.
Li Chengxun’s gaze was hazy as he said, "Feelings can’t save the lives that high officials treat as worthless, nor can they secure a future for a scholar from a humble background. They are the most useless things in the world."
Hearing the grief in his words, Ji Qingwu had to admit that, on some level, Princess Qingyun and Li Chengxun were a match made in heaven.
Suddenly, a figure shot out from the bushes behind Li Chengxun.
The person held a dagger that glinted coldly in the light, and they charged straight for him.
Ji Qingwu quickly hid herself behind a pillar.
’Who would try an assassination on the Princess’s wedding day?! The entire mansion is crawling with guards; they’ll be surrounded in moments. This person is an idiot.’
Sure enough, the commotion alerted the guards in the Princess Mansion.
Perhaps it was the assassin’s first attempt, because Li Chengxun easily disarmed them, snatching the dagger with a single hand.
He said to the guards behind him, "There’s no need to come over. She’s just here to deliver a wedding gift."
The assassin pulled down her mask, her voice a mixture of grief and indignation as she asked, "Have you forgotten everything you said?!"
The voice sounded even more familiar to Ji Qingwu. She peeked out cautiously and saw that it was none other than Mo Lingling.
With Ji Qingwu no longer in sight, Li Chengxun seemed to sober up a little.
He said sternly, "Lingling, this is not a place for you to be causing trouble."
He took the dagger in his hand and slid it back into the sheath at Mo Lingling’s waist.
"Leave now. If the Princess finds out about this later, you won’t leave with your life."
Mo Lingling looked at the dagger at her waist and drew it out again.
Her eyes locked onto his incomparably handsome face. "Do you still remember this dagger?"
Seeing her spout nonsense he didn’t understand, a look of impatience crossed Li Chengxun’s face.
"What on earth are you trying to say?"
Mo Lingling said sorrowfully, "You really don’t remember. You promised me you would clear my father’s name, with this as proof!"
Confusion appeared in Li Chengxun’s eyes. "When did I ever promise you that?"
Footsteps approached from behind and to Ji Qingwu’s right. Two Maids had come from the Princess’s bridal chamber, likely looking for the Prince Consort in the main hall.
’If Qingyun finds out Mo Lingling came to the Princess Mansion on the wedding day, forget clearing her father’s name—the two of them will be reunited in the underworld.’
Li Chengxun also saw the figures in the distance and turned to leave, but Mo Lingling grabbed his sleeve.
She said urgently, "You saved me from that den of bandits back then! You tossed me this dagger for self-defense, you..."
But Li Chengxun threw the dagger into the nearby man-made lake.
The dagger was made of Mystic Iron and sank straight to the bottom.
His tone was chilling as he said, "Mo Lingling, stop making up these stories to pester me! I won’t be so lenient next time."
With that, Li Chengxun, clad in his red wedding robe, left the corridor, leaving a devastated Mo Lingling standing frozen in place.
The clamor from the main hall suddenly fell silent.
