Chapter 401
“I don’t know either. Anyway, Father Emperor agreed, and I don’t understand why. Marquis Hua Yang is now considered to be in his prime. Moreover, he doesn’t even have a son. It’s impossible for him to…” Wen Tianyao paused at this point, but Third Prince understood his meaning perfectly.
As members of the royal family, they understood the consequences of a subordinate whose achievements were so great that he intimidated the Emperor.
There were two powerful officials in the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang who held important positions in the administrative and military divisions. Their strength and power had long surpassed that of ordinary aristocratic families. The Emperor wouldn’t be able to trust them to such an extent if it weren’t for the fact that Wei Luowen did not have a son.
He had two daughters, but they wouldn’t be much of a threat to the authority, so no matter how one looked at it, Marquis Hua Yang would not betray the Emperor.
“Does anyone know about this? How about Yan Huaijing? Does he know this?” The Third Prince’s eyes flashed as he asked.
“No, this matter has not been spread out yet. After the New Year, Wei Ziyang will return to the border and Wei Luowen will stay here in the capital on the grounds of recovering from his old injuries. When Wei Ziyang has a firm foothold over there, the imperial decree will be announced,” Wen Tianyao said.
“Eldest Brother, Yan Huaijing probably takes a fancy to Sixth Young Lady of the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang,” the Third Prince raised his eyes and said with a serious face.
No matter what, he would not let Wei Yuewu go to the State of Yan. She was not familiar with that place and the people there. If she went there, she would not live for long. He did not want this to happen.
Sometimes, even he felt conflicted about the reason behind this. That weak young woman was actually not that important to him!
“Wei Yuewu’s portrait will definitely not be included in the portraits that we send to Yan Huaijing.” Wen Tianyao nodded at this point as he had made up his mind. Perhaps, he could do something on his side. Yan Huaijing was not a pushover, and Father Emperor still had the intention to marry a princess off to him.
The sunlight streamed in through the window and shone on his handsome face which was extremely similar to the Third Prince’s. Anyone who looked at them would know that they were brothers, and they were close-knit.
The stark similarities between them even surpassed that of the Second Prince and the Fourth Prince. However, as a matter of fact, Wen Tianyao and the Fourth Prince shared a closer bond by blood.
“Father, this bookshelf is also broken!” Wei Yuewu bit her lips and pointed to the bookshelf that was placed on the side. A trace of cold anger flashed through her eyes. These people had gone too far.
Someone deliberately knocked off a corner of the bookshelf. She deduced that there should have been a small piece of gold there.
When she came last time, everything here showed the sign of decay but had not been artificially destroyed. But this time, she came in again and found that everything was out of place. The big items remained untouched, but the valuable golden corners and such had been pried open and taken away. Did the people who did this think that no one would come into her mother’s courtyard?
Wei Luowen was so angry that his face turned red. He pressed his finger on the bookshelf and said, “Someone, check and find out who destroyed it.”
“Yes,” a lad servant answered and ran out.
“Father, do they abandon and neglect this place because you don’t value it? Is that why they tried to cover this place up and bury everything? If so, please hand over Mother’s courtyard to me. I’ll stay and restore everything here,” Wei Yuewu said with a faint look.
Her butterfly-like long eyelashes fluttered twice as she spoke with a bit of loneliness and determination.
With the instigation of those with malicious intentions, her mother’s existence and belongings had been forgotten and abandoned. It might have started because of Concubine Dong and Madam Dowager, but who would have dared to be so bold if her father hadn’t remained silent on this issue.
Her remarks tugged at Wei Luowen’s heartstrings, and he felt an enormous heartache as if someone had stabbed his heart directly. He didn’t answer her immediately. Instead, he quietly looked at her. She was just a small baby back then, and they thought that she wouldn’t survive. But here she was, firm and strong, and she was even determined to protect her mother.
His heart ached upon seeing this. There were some things that were out of his control. Actually, he was not a good husband for Rui’er and a good father for Yuewu.
“It won’t happen again,” Wei Luowen said with certainty.
He would not allow anyone to destroy Rui’er’s courtyard again. Everything here belonged to Rui’er, and it was once his most beautiful memory. If he represented darkness, Rui’er was the ray of sunlight that shone in his heart. However, in the end, Rui’er did not forgive him!
Did she choose not to forgive him even when she died?
“Father, what if Grandmother has other reasons to interfere in the future?” Wei Yuewu raised her head and looked at Wei Luowen. She needed a clear answer from him. Today, if she hadn’t manipulated the situation, would her father have watched them burning and sealing her mother’s courtyard?
She tried to understand his reasons, but from the bottom of her heart, she could not accept his performance!
“No matter what the reason is, I will not let anyone lay their hands on your mother’s courtyard!” Wei Luowen paused for a moment before giving this answer, and she could see the determination in his eyes. He didn’t say it in the spur of the moment, but he had considered it carefully. It was also the question that he had been thinking about recently.
He had been wondering whether everything he had done was worth it or not…
“Thank you, Father!” Wei Yuewu’s eyes became teary with a bit of bitterness in her expression, but she didn’t shed tears. It was just a symbolic gesture to keep everything that her mother left behind. However, if Wei Luowen didn’t want to protect her mother’s legacy, she would.
“Father, how was your relationship with Mother at that time?” The question had been choking Wei Yuewu’s mind for some time. After much hesitation, she finally spilled it out and asked.
There were too many questions that she could not say just because she was his daughter. How could she ask her father this kind of question? But now, Wei Yuewu decided to ask nevertheless.
“Why do you ask that?” Wei Luowen was taken aback, but he asked softly.
“It seems as if someone deliberately tries to erase everything about Mother in this mansion. When I returned to the capital, I found that this courtyard was abandoned through and through. No one ever came here, not even the cleaner. Meanwhile, Concubine Dong’s courtyard was very clean and neat although she only returned once a year. But here, not even a maid came to sweep the floor or wipe the furniture. In fact, no one was assigned to keep this place tidy. It seems this place is redundant.”
Wei Yuewu glanced at the bookcase that had its gold corners missing, and her lips curled into a faint sneer.
“Is it because of Mother’s passing that no one cares about her belongings even though she was Marquise Hua Yang? Your indifference to this place gives others the courage to neglect this courtyard!” Wei Yuewu looked at the scenery in front of her in a daze.
However, Wei Luowen’s body shook violently. Because of his attitude, no one paid attention to Rui’er’s old courtyard. At the same time, Concubine Dong’s courtyard in the mansion remained clean and tidy although she was not in the mansion all year long. Did he unconsciously erase everything about Rui’er?
“I… No… Meeting your mother was the best moment in my life!” It was so difficult for Wei Luowen to say this out loud. It was as hard as if he was fighting enemies on the battlefield.
At first, he thought that he could say it more confidently, but now that he said these words, he actually felt that he was in the wrong. Looking at his daughter’s somewhat familiar face, he almost felt a sense of sorrow coming from the bottom of his heart!
If he were someone else, his encounter with Rui’er would have been much sweeter and more passionate. None of this would have happened. Rui’er would have not died with hatred, and he would have had his sunshine instead of sinking into eternal darkness…
“Father, were you by her side when Mother died?” Wei Yuewu walked to the bookcase, casually pulled out a drawer, and asked while flipping through some items inside.
Anyone could notice her indifference, and she didn’t care about the items at all.
“I was!” Wei Luowen’s heart trembled slightly.
“Didn’t she say anything? I don’t seem to be able to remember many things, and I don’t know what happened.” Wei Yuewu frowned slightly, and she touched her forehead. “There seems to be something there, but I can’t remember it!”
“Did you think of something?” Wei Luowen asked nervously.
“I didn’t, but my head hurts! Every time I try to think of something, my head hurts so much!” Wei Yuewu grunted in distress. Then, she turned and pulled out another drawer. “That’s why I can’t remember if Mother said anything to me or to you!”
“If you can’t remember, then don’t think about it. Your mother was concerned about you the most. She asked me to keep you safe and healthy, and to let you live a peaceful and carefree life,” Wei Luowen sighed. The woman he loved the most had closed her eyes forever in his arms.
At that moment, his world seemed to have collapsed…
For the first time, he wondered if everything he had done was really worth it!
“Oh, she wanted me to be safe and healthy, so that was why you sent me far away? Just to keep me safe? Then why did you take me back to the capital?” Wei Yuewu looked at Wei Luowen with her watery eyes, not avoiding him.
There was always something that one couldn’t avoid even if they wanted to.
Since she could not avoid it, Wei Yuewu felt that it was better to face it directly.
Escaping was not the best way to solve the problem.
“The marriage between you and Marquis Jing Yuan has been arranged a long time ago, and it was personally arranged by your mother. Since that was her intention, I just followed her arrangements. She wouldn’t harm you, and Mo Huating seemed like a good man back then,” Wei Luowen sighed. She was his daughter, so of course, he wouldn’t want to abandon her outside the capital.
Since the engagement had been decided by Rui’er and had been arranged long ago, he could not disobey her.
However, he never expected that Yuewu would almost die because of this. At the thought of this, he felt that he was incompetent as her father.
“Father, since you did everything according to Mother’s intentions, was the medicine in this bottle also your idea?” Wei Yuewu pulled out a bundle of threads from the drawer. The threads were tangled together into a bunch, but one could faintly see a medicine bottle inside.
Wei Yuewu pulled out a medicine bottle from the ball of thread and sniffed it. A trace of cold light flashed in her eyes, and she gripped the bottle so hard that her fingers turned white…
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