Li Rong's last words before she died were about Pei Wenxuan, the man who had lived as her husband for thirty years.
After she finished speaking, she lost consciousness. She thought that she was going to die. How could she endure such a potent poison with her body that had been ill for a long time?
Unexpectedly, she woke up again after an unknown period of time!
When she woke up, she was sleeping on a warm and soft bed. Warm sunlight shone into her bedchamber, and the orchid incense she loved the most when she was young was burning around her.
She opened her eyes in a daze and heard a familiar yet somewhat distant voice calling out, "Your Highness, you're awake?"
Li Rong heard the voice and turned her head. A gentle and gentle smiling face appeared in front of her. The face couldn't be considered beautiful, but it could be considered delicate and pretty. She looked to be about twenty-five or twenty-six years old. She was dignified and calm, reflecting a person in her memory.
She called out in disbelief, "Jing Lan?"
The other party smiled and reached out to help her up. She said softly, "It's already nine in the morning. His Majesty just left court and sent someone to inform me that lunch is to be served with Princess. This servant wanted to wake Princess up, but unexpectedly, Princess woke up."
Li Rong listened to Jing Lan's words and looked around. She was quite shocked.
She stood up with Jing Lan's movements. She washed her face and rinsed her mouth while looking around. After she finished washing her face, she finally confirmed that she was in Changle Palace.
Changle Palace was where she lived before she got married, and Jing Lan was her personal attendant. Jing Lan accompanied her from Changle Palace until she got married. Later on, she was promoted to the head of the Princess Residence.
When she was young, she didn't like Jing Lan very much. She thought that she was rigid and didn't speak pleasantly. Instead, she liked Jing Mei more. However, her Imperial Mother liked Jing Lan, so after the Princess Residence was built, Jing Lan became the head of the Princess Residence.
It wasn't until she was assassinated when Jing Lan blocked the sword for her and died in front of her that she understood that some people didn't need words to do things. It wasn't because she didn't have any merits.
Looking at the living Jing Lan and the old palace from when she was young, Li Rong composed herself and finally admitted that she seemed to be alive again.
Moreover, she was back to when she was young.
She needed to determine what time it was as soon as possible, but she didn't want others to notice. She washed her hands and thought about what Jing Lan said earlier. She asked, "Imperial Father summoned me for a meal..... Did you ask why?"
Although this Imperial Father of hers seemed to dote on her very much, he rarely invited her to eat. Every time she went, it would be a Hongmen Banquet. For example, when he arranged the marriage back then, he also asked her to eat first.
"Nubi doesn't know," Jing Lan said. But after thinking, she added, "But I heard that a few days ago, His Majesty had each family submit the portraits of marriageable youths."
. Oh, then it was indeed the meal for the betrothal.
Li Rong took the handkerchief from Jing Lan's hand. After wiping her hands, she raised her hand to let the attendants change her clothes. After she was dressed, she took a small golden fan from the side and stepped onto the sedan chair. She rode the sedan chair and rushed towards Taihe Palace Hall.
It was difficult to remember the past, but with the creaking of the sedan chair, it slowly became clear.
She remembered that before she was eighteen, she and her father, Li Ming, had a good relationship.
She was the eldest princess of the Imperial Palace and Li Ming's first child. Since she was young, Li Ming had been very good to her, even better than her younger brother, Li Chuan, who was the crown prince.
She cherished Li Ming's kindness. She didn't know where it came from when she was young, but she understood early on that if an Emperor was willing to be good to you, it was extremely rare and precious. Therefore, she did her best to please Li Ming.
In reality, she was naughty and mischievous, but because Li Ming often told her that women should be gentle and virtuous, she suppressed her temper and pretended to be a "gentle and virtuous" princess.
The better she pretended, the more Li Ming liked to praise her. He often said that she was the best of his many children. If she wasn't a girl, she would have been able to rule the country.
That year, whenever Li Ming praised her, she worked harder. Later, she understood what it meant to praise someone to death.
She had unconditional trust in Li Ming.
Normally, a princess would have a marriage at the age of fifteen. Then, they would naturally get married, leave the palace, be given a fief, and build a princess residence.
But when she was fifteen, Li Ming said that he didn't want his daughter to get married, so he let her stay for a few more years. She believed him.
She stayed until she was eighteen. Her mother began to fall ill, and Li Ming finally decided to arrange a marriage for her. He took out the portraits of four young masters for her to choose from. These young masters were all of noble status and had handsome faces. She picked left and right, and chose the most handsome one, Pei Wenxuan.
When she came back to investigate, she was shocked by Pei Wenxuan's background.
Pei Wenxuan looked like a good person.
He was handsome, had a gentle temperament, and was the eldest son of the first wife of the noble Pei family. He could even be compared to Huajing's number one noble, Su Yongqing.
But the problem was that he didn't have a father.
It was said that he was the top scholar in the high school when he was seventeen. Who knew that his father, Pei Lizhi, would suddenly die of illness. He was then chased back to his hometown in Jinling by his second uncle, Pei Lixian, in the name of mourning. Three years was neither long nor short. When he came back from mourning, everyone in the Pei family was his second uncle's people. He casually arranged for him to be an eighth-rank official in the Ministry of Justice. Anyone with eyes would know that Pei Wenxuan's life was not easy.
Even his status as the eldest son of the first wife would not allow him to live long.
This was equivalent to a poor noble family. She naturally wouldn't accept marrying such a person.
So she quickly inquired about the other three candidates.
These three candidates were Marquis Ning's heir, Lu Yu, Marshal Yang's second son, Yang Quan, and the new top scholar, Cui Yulang.
If she didn't ask, she wouldn't know. But once she did, she was shocked.
That Lu Yu was rumored to be mentally retarded. It was just that his mother had been hiding it from outsiders. When Marquis Ning passed away, his position as heir would be gone sooner or later.
That Yang Quan was a madman. He had been in the military camp since he was young. At the age of seven, he killed people with a knife. He had a violent temperament, and none of his maids survived.
As for Cui Yulang, he came from a humble family. Logically speaking, he didn't have any major shortcomings. However, the problem was that this person's greatest hobby in life was to go to brothels and write poems for the women there. He wasn't a bad person and could be considered to be carefree. However, what future did he have in the officialdom?
Out of the four people on her husband's list, there was not a single one that wasn't rotten on the inside. She didn't know how much effort her Imperial Father had put in to come up with this list of the worst husband candidates in the world.
After inquiring about the identities of the four candidates, her heart turned cold. That night, she went to find her Imperial Mother. She originally wanted to cancel her marriage with Pei Wenxuan. Who knew that the first sentence her Imperial Mother heard was to tell her, "You have to live with him."
Li Rong was stunned at that time. Then she heard her Imperial Mother calmly say, "Now that the Crown Prince is in the limelight in the imperial court, your Imperial Father is afraid. In addition, your maternal family is too powerful. If you marry someone with power and influence, I'm afraid your Imperial Father won't be able to hold back."
"So you have to marry him and live with him. When your younger brother ascends the throne, you will be the Princess Royal. At that time, if you want to divorce him, then divorce him. If you don't want to divorce him, and if you don't like it, you can keep a few male companions. It's not a big deal. "
Her Imperial Mother's words shocked Li Rong. Since she was young, this was the first time she heard someone tell her that it was not a big deal to keep a few male companions. Her Imperial Mother reached out her hand and gently placed it on her face. She gently said, "Son, in this world, all women suffer. The only way to not suffer is not to learn to be virtuous and virtuous, but to grasp power."
"You have to fight, snatch, and hold power in your hands. You can't expect your destiny to be given to you by others. Whether it's your father, husband, or brothers, you can't count on them."
"You're not young anymore." Her Imperial Mother's eyes were calm and bleak. "I won't be able to protect you for long. You've been smart since you were young. So what if he can't do it? You can do it. You don't want him as a person. You just want this marriage to help you avoid disaster. "
"If you don't marry, I'm afraid your Imperial Father won't tolerate you."
So she married him.
After marrying Pei Wenxuan, she had already made plans to abandon Pei Wenxuan, this good-for-nothing, and become the Princess Royal by herself. Who knew that after getting married, she would see this man who was rumored to be gentle, weak, and could be killed by his family at any time. Only then did she know what it meant to be a smiling tiger.
She had gained a good ally. They used each other, supported each other, and suspected each other. She became the Princess Royal, and he became the Prime Minister. Their marriage was the strongest contract, and it was their oath to form an alliance in the imperial court.
They cooperated well, and this cooperation made her somewhat happy. In the early days, she even thought that perhaps they could really be a couple, live together, have children, and grow old together.
Until one day, she suddenly realized that this person had another person in his heart.
In fact, this was not Pei Wenxuan's fault. Their marriage was originally involuntary. How could their hearts be forced to belong to each other?
She didn't really like Pei Wenxuan. She just had hope. When she found out, she was somewhat disappointed.
She had always been a proud person, and could not tolerate her marriage being impure in the slightest. If this was a marriage, then the two of them had to abide by the oath wholeheartedly. No one could have any other thoughts.
If they had other thoughts, then this marriage should not be a marriage, but a covenant.
So from that moment on, she became the Princess Royal, Li Rong, and Pei Wenxuan, in her heart, became the eternal Lord Pei.
The Lord Pei had his own white moonlight, and he carefully protected her for a lifetime.
She also found her own entertainment. She watched plays, listened to music, and enjoyed the world. Later, when the Su Family fell into trouble, she risked her life to rescue Su Yongqing, who she had admired in her youth, from prison. She placed him in the Princess Royal Residence, and she had the first and only "guest official" in everyone's eyes.
They each had their own lives. This marriage had nothing to do with romance. It was only a clean fight in the imperial court.
It started like this in the imperial court, and it ended in the imperial court.
Li Rong thought in a daze. The sedan chair landed on the ground, and she heard the voice of the Jing Lan outside: "Your Highness, we're here."
She held the golden fan and looked up at the plaque of Tai Qing Hall.
Now, everything had to start all over again …
She thought, this time, should I choose Pei Wenxuan?
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