Chapter 813: Loving You in My Own Way
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Mingzhu sent Fu Lin away, “There have been too many things happening these past two days, and the family must be short of manpower. You should go back and seize the opportunity to gain some experience.”
Fu Lin blushed even more, “Aunt, you heard about what happened before, right? Uncle said I lack experience, that I can’t handle even such small matters, so how can I manage the Fu family in the future? I’ve taken it to heart, I won’t let you down.”
After Fu Lin left, not long after, Donghui came in to report, “Princess Consort Cui is here. He requests an audience with His Highness.”
Yuwen Chu hadn’t slept much since returning home, and now they wanted to wake him up? Mingzhu frowned, hesitated for a moment, but decided to go see Princess Consort Cui herself.
Princess Consort Cui was restless. When he saw Mingzhu coming, he suddenly stood up and looked around behind her. Not seeing Yuwen Chu, his expression changed, and he trembled as he spoke softly, “His Highness won’t see me?”
Mingzhu shook her head. “His Highness was busy all night before finally getting some sleep. Does Uncle have urgent matters?”
This question seemed to be asked knowingly, but Princess Consort Cui couldn’t care less. After hesitating for a moment, he got up and knelt down before Mingzhu. “It’s my fault. The roster I gave to the Wangfei last time was fake.”
The roster indeed had problems. Mingzhu helped Princess Consort Cui up and said, “Take your time.”
Princess Consort Cui’s eyes were dull. “My unfilial son just told me yesterday that he had once helped deliver another roster through the doctor’s hands to Marquis Huaiyin. The one I brought over was fake.”
Upon receiving the news and considering the recent turmoil, he knew that Longsheng Great Eldest Princess was causing trouble again. He immediately went to see Longsheng Great Eldest Princess for inquiries, but she showed no remorse. The two ended up fighting, accidentally knocking over a candlestick and igniting the curtains, which caused the fire.
Princess Consort Cui covered his eyes. “I can’t let that vile woman roam free anymore. My Cui family is not worth mourning. Her actions have caused harm to the country and the people, and her crimes are unforgivable. I’ve also brought my unfilial son here to be dealt with by His Highness. However, that vile woman is the former emperor’s personally appointed Grand Princess and is pretending to be insane. I can’t simply bring her out. So, I came to ask for a word from the Regent.”
At this point, the situation had escalated to the point where Mingzhu had to wake up Yuwen Chu. Yuwen Chu was already awake, lying on the bed in a daze. When he saw her, he waved at her and smiled, “I told you to accompany me nicely, but you wouldn’t listen. What did you go do?”
Mingzhu had someone bring in hot water and food for him. “Princess Consort Cui is here. He said the roster he brought that day was fake, and the real one is in Fu Mingcheng’s hands. He brought the Third Master here for Your Highness to deal with, and he also wants to request a decree to punish Longsheng Great Eldest Princess.”
Yuwen Chu sneered, “I knew it. Considering the grudges between the Great Empress Dowager and Longsheng before, she actually tolerated Longsheng’s act of pretending to be insane until now. It turns out they had colluded long ago.” He remembered what Zheng Momo had told him and looked at Mingzhu. “Do you know what Zheng Momo said to me before she died?”
Mingzhu was a little nervous. “What did she say?”
Yuwen Chu took her hand and rubbed it gently. “It’s nothing. She just told me that everything was done by her. She did it because you had told her the contents of the roster and complained about it. In order to vent her anger for you and to secure favor, she used Fu Zhan to do these things.”
“I didn’t.” Mingzhu hurriedly defended herself. “I knew the importance of it. If I had casually told her the contents of the roster, I wouldn’t have personally delivered it to you in the palace overnight.”
“What are you worried about? If I didn’t trust you, I wouldn’t have told you. Moreover, you’re really confused now. Since the roster delivered to us was fake and the real one is in Fu Mingcheng’s hands, it means this whole thing was a trap from start to finish. It not only tarnishes our reputation but also tries to drive a wedge between us.” Yuwen Chu saw Mingzhu’s anxious face turning red and couldn’t help but smile. “Mingzhu, shall we set some ground rules?”
Mingzhu asked, “What are they?”
“First, no matter how big the matter is, you and I must not speculate behind each other’s backs or believe what others say. We must talk things out face to face. Can you do that?”
“I can.”
“Second, you must trust and support me.”
“Yes.”
“Third, I will trust and support you.”
Upon hearing this, Mingzhu couldn’t help but look at Yuwen Chu. He smiled at her and said, “I know what you’re thinking and why you’ve been living your days like a battlefield recently. Actually, you don’t have to be so busy. I’ll take care of you for the rest of my life and won’t let you suffer.”
Taking care of her for a lifetime was indeed an easy promise to fulfill. There weren’t many mouths to feed in the Regent’s Mansion. But if it was just about eating, dressing, and sleeping, she was capable of taking care of herself. As for feeling wronged, it depended on how one thought about it. Perhaps she felt very wronged, but he didn’t think there was anything to feel wronged about.
Just like that day when he refused to see her but saw Ji Hui instead, or like last night when he clearly had decided not to let anyone in to search but frightened her in every way, making her panic and search frantically in the room. Although Donghui hinted that the walls have ears, maybe he didn’t want any information leaked out, so he could catch them off guard and turn the tables. She knew she was at fault, but even if he had hinted at her even a little bit, she wouldn’t have felt so uncomfortable.
She also knew that he was in a bad mood at the time, irritable, and couldn’t take care of everything. But she still felt wronged and sad. It was even more distressing than how the Great Empress Dowager treated her. This was probably because he had spoiled her too much before, taking care of every detail for her. Suddenly, she couldn’t bear it when he treated her like this.
She didn’t want to live like this for the rest of her life, with her eyes only on him. If he smiled at her, she would feel happy and relieved, but if he ignored her or neglected her, she would feel uncomfortable and feel like she couldn’t go on living. Wouldn’t he get tired of her eventually? She had suffered from this in her past life, and she didn’t want to suffer like this again in this life.
She loved him, but she didn’t want to love him in such a passive way. She wanted to love him in her own way, at her own pace. Mingzhu smiled at Yuwen Chu. “Taking care of each other for a lifetime is easy, but enduring hardships together for a lifetime is difficult. Your Highness is so busy, I don’t want to idle around. As long as you still trust me, I will continue to help you as much as I can. If you don’t trust me anymore, I’ll continue to do my own thing. I don’t want people to only remember me for being arrogant, jealous, and beautiful, with nothing else worth mentioning.”
Mingzhu’s words were very tactful, but Yuwen Chu understood her meaning. He pondered for a moment and laughed, “Okay, it’s meaningless to say nice things but not do them. You can do it your way.”
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