Mo Rongzhan’s clear and handsome face showed a faint smile, silently telling her that he had never let go nor said anything remotely resembling giving up. “Imperial Mother, Zhen wants Yaoyao. She can’t marry anyone else for the rest of her life.” His voice was deep and mellow, sounding very cold and resolute.
“Ajia does not approve!” Empress Dowager said angrily, “How can you make your younger sister an imperial concubine? Heaven and earth will not tolerate this!”
He said, “Zhen has never regarded Yaoyao as my younger sister. She is also not Zhen’s younger sister.”
Empress Dowager was furious. “You… What did you do to Yaoyao? She… don’t tell me she is….”
“Imperial Mother, you know Yaoyao. Even if she is unwilling to agree at first, she will compromise in the end.” The corners of Mo Rongzhan’s mouth curled up, suddenly missing the little girl’s exasperated appearance.
“You are forcing Yaoyao! Ajia will not agree!” she whispered, voice as still as death. It was one thing if they were in love with each other. However, if Yaoyao did not have that sort of intention for the emperor, could he still force her to enter the palace?
He said in a low voice, “Imperial Mother, Zhen will make Yaoyao agree. So, before she agrees, please do not bestow a marriage to her. Zhen will not permit her to marry anyone else.”
The mother looked deeply at her son and said, “You know that she looks the same as Ye Zhen, yet you are still attracted to her? Then why were you so indifferent to Ye Zhen in the first place?”
“How can Ye Zhen be compared with Yaoyao!” he exclaimed, anger seeping into his tone.
“Your Majesty, in the end, what do you actually want to do?” she asked as she took a deep breath, feeling helpless. “If this is only a momentary desire of yours~”
“Zhen is going to take Yaoyao as Zhen’s Empress!” Mo Rongzhan said with a deep and firm tone.
She looked at Mo Rongzhan in shock. And for a moment, she unexpectedly did not know what she should say.
Empress? She wondered, stupefied. She had been secretly keeping an eye on the daughters of famous families in the capital, wanting to find a suitable empress for the emperor, but she didn’t expect that the emperor had already had a candidate in mind. And that person was Yaoyao!
“Your Majesty, do you know what you are saying?” Empress Dowager asked, voice nary a whisper.
Mo Rongzhan only offered her a faint smile. “Zhen knows exactly what Zhen wants.”
“The Lu Family wants to marry off Yaoyao to Tang Zhen,” Empress Dowager said. If the Lu Family, in the beginning, intended to send her to the palace, then she would not have accepted her as a princess. Moreover, with Lu Wushuang being recently abandoned, the Lu Family should temporarily not wish to send another girl to the palace.
Mo Rongzhan’s face sank. “Zhen will not allow it. Yaoyao is already Zhen’s person.”
Empress Dowager’s face changed completely and she thundered. “Ah Zhan, what exactly did you do to Yaoyao?”
“What needs to be done and what should not be done has been done,” he said with a heavy face, but there was a suspicious blush creeping up his ear.
“You… you….” Empress Dowager was so angry that she didn’t know what to say, heart stifled with regret that she didn’t keep an eye on this reckless son of hers. It was no wonder that Yaoyao had not entered the palace today. It was likely that she was avoiding him.
Mo Rongzhan looked up at her with a bold and confident face. “Imperial Mother, please don’t bestow a marriage to Yaoyao. Although, even if you do, Zhen will still take her back.”
“Although you want to marry her, will Yaoyao even want to marry you? When Ajia listened to Old Madam Lu speak, Yaoyao didn’t seem to have any objection to marrying Tang Zhen,” she said angrily. She liked Yaoyao, so if she was willing to be with the emperor, then it was naturally good for her to be her daughter-in-law. However, what if she didn’t want that?
“She wants to marry Tang Zhen?” His voice was somewhat chilly like foreboding an imminent storm.
Empress Dowager only offered a harrumph as she said, “Ajia doesn’t know. Ask her yourself. As for this marriage matter… it is possible for Ajia to not bestow one to Yaoyao, however, you can’t stop others from proposing marriage to Yaoyao.”
A flash of cold light passed across Mo Rongzhan’s deep eyes as he said, “As long as Imperial Mother doesn’t bestow a marriage to Yaoyao. And even if she wants to bestow a marriage, the person she will be marrying will be Zhen.”
“How did Ajia never know that her son is such a thoughtless man!” Empress Dowager unhappily swatted Mo Rongzhan’s arm. “Ajia can’t believe that you kept it from her for so long. If Ajia had known earlier that you are unwilling to give up, at that time, she would certainly not confer Yaoyao as the imperial princess. But now that decision has hurt her instead!”
“Zhen had tried to prevent you at that time,” he said with a smile.
“You quickly get out of here. Ajia doesn’t want to see you for the next few days,” she said angrily.
How could she explain this to Old Madam Lu and the Lu Family? There needed to be a justification behind her sudden refusal to bestow a marriage between Yaoyao and Tang Zhen. She couldn’t, after all, tell them that the emperor disagrees with this match because he was thinking of marrying Yaoyao into the palace in the future, could she? It would definitely frighten the Lu Family if she were to be given this reason. What was more, it was very likely that Yaoyao didn’t want to marry the emperor. And she certainly couldn’t force Yaoyao by the same means as her thoughtless son, could she?
Ah, what a headache!
