I have suffered enough in my previous life, my cousin will never marry me

Chapter 17 She Plays Hard to Get

Empress Dowager Gu was startled. "What a trick of playing hard to get! Ji Yuan and the Emperor are two old foxes. I really underestimated them."

On the day of granting the marriage, the emperor showed great reluctance, but as soon as Ji Yuan entered the palace, he came to plead for mercy.

They are so impatient, it seems that they have planned this marriage a long time ago.

If the emperor wanted to keep this marriage at this time, he would be in a bit of a bad mood.

Seeing his aunt's face become gloomy and terrifying, Gu An hesitated and gradually realized that something was wrong.

Previously, he felt that Wanwan had been too well-behaved recently. She was even willing to accept the prince taking a concubine even though they were not married yet. He was afraid that it was true as his son said, that this girl had secretly joined forces with her father to plot against the Gu family.

Hesitantly turning his gaze to the Queen Mother, Gu An became troubled for a moment.

"Aunt, you must not fall into Ji Yuan's evil plan."

Seeing this, Gu Tingzhou pleaded urgently, "Please, Queen Mother, cancel this marriage immediately."

Empress Dowager Gu and Gu An looked at each other, both a little undecided. After thinking for a while, Empress Dowager Gu had no choice but to say, "Zhou Fuhai, let the emperor and Prime Minister Ji come in."

"Yes."

Zhou Fuhai responded and left, and soon led the emperor and Ji Yuan into the Cining Palace.

As soon as the two of them finished their greetings, Gu Tingzhou took the initiative to attack Ji Yuan in front of the emperor: "Prime Minister Ji, just give up this idea. Even if you invite His Majesty here today, I will never marry your daughter."

The emperor and Ji Yuan were both stunned when they heard this.

The emperor glanced at Ji Yuan with a gloating look, thinking that his presence was really unnecessary. He said nothing and sat down next to Empress Dowager Gu with great interest.

Upon seeing this, Chang looked at Ji Yuan coldly and hurriedly presented him with the letter of thanks from Zhan.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I have devoted my life to the imperial court, vowing to defend the northern defenses with my lifelong commitment. However, my heart is deeply concerned for my two nephews. Upon hearing the news of the Empress Dowager's arranged marriage, I fear that you and Your Majesty may be deceived by treacherous individuals. I am sending this expedited letter back to you, Your Majesty, for your review."

The emperor took the letter, glanced through it casually, and then handed it to Empress Dowager Gu. One could tell the intention of the letter without even reading it carefully: it was definitely to stop the marriage.

Seeing this, Chang said, "The Ye family is ultimately just a merchant family. Although Ji Ye is virtuous, she is incompetent in managing the household. She violates the virtues of a woman and wantonly sows discord between father and daughter. How can a daughter raised in such a family marry into the Duke's mansion?"

The emperor smiled slightly and looked at Queen Mother Gu: "What do you think, Queen Mother?"

Empress Dowager Gu had already had concerns, and now that she had a way out, she would not really let Ji Yuan succeed in his evil plan.

Glancing fiercely at Ji Yuan, she said coldly, "In the final analysis, it's all because of Ji Qing's misconduct, and Ji Ye is indeed a bit extreme. I only remember her generosity and righteousness back then, but I've overlooked the details."

The emperor took the opportunity to speak: "In that case, let's call off this marriage. What do you think, Mr. Ji?"

Everyone looked at Ji Yuan with disdain, expecting a heated argument with him, but Ji Yuan simply nodded and said, "I respectfully obey the orders of Your Majesty and the Queen Mother and accept the cancellation of the engagement."

Empress Dowager Gu and everyone else were stunned upon hearing this.

Gu Tingzhou looked at him in disbelief: "Prime Minister Ji, what tricks are you trying to play?"

This father and daughter have ulterior motives. Wanwan even accepted taking a concubine in order to force him to get married, so how could she accept a broken engagement so easily?

"Prime Minister Ji, it is indeed my son who has let Wanwan down. If you have any requests, please feel free to ask. After all, Wanwan is my wife's niece, and I will never refuse to make amends to Wanwan."

Gu An felt somewhat guilty and wanted to test what Ji Yuan was up to.

Ji Yuan sneered and rolled his eyes at the Gu brothers: "I don't ask for anything. My only request is that Duke Rong take good care of his two precious sons and not allow them to approach my daughter again."

Gu Tingzhou and Gu Tingchen looked at each other and became speechless.

This seems to be different from what they expected.

The emperor had already made plans in his mind and did not want Ji Yuan and his daughter to suffer humiliation in vain.

"Mr. Ji is magnanimous, but your daughter has suffered the loss in this matter. As elders, we must treat her equally."

The Emperor smiled and looked at Empress Dowager Gu. "I wish to confer the title of Princess of Tongyang on Miss Ye and adopt her as my adopted daughter. What do you think, Mother?"

The marriage she had arranged was messed up like this by her nephew. Empress Dowager Gu no longer had the face to refute.

Although she knew the emperor was disgusting her and the Gu family, she could only agree. "I heard that before coming to Lin'an, this girl took pity on the people of Tongyang who were affected by the disaster and sold her ancestral home to donate 500,000 taels of silver to the state government. Her compassion for the people is comparable to her mother's. The emperor's arrangement is very appropriate."

Ji Yuan never thought that the emperor would protect him to this extent. With his daughter's status as a princess, it would be much easier for her to marry into the royal family.

"I thank Your Majesty and the Queen Mother for their grace." Ji Yuan knelt down excitedly and kowtowed heavily.

Seeing this situation, Jiang Yueling was frightened and her eyes were filled with deep hatred.

That bitch is really lucky. Even after her engagement was broken off, the emperor still awarded her the title of princess.

Sure enough, having a good father makes a difference.

But seeing the stunned expressions on Gu Tingzhou and Gu Tingchen's faces, she could only swallow her anger. After all, she would be the Crown Prince's wife in the Rongguo Mansion soon, and the Gu brothers would only be on her side in the future. Even if that bitch inherited the status of a princess, what difference would it make? It was just because the emperor took pity on her.

The engagement was called off as it was natural. Ji Yuan had no intention of staying any longer, so he said goodbye to the empress dowager and followed the emperor out of the Cining Palace with a contented look on his face.

Looking at Ji Yuan's carefree departure, Queen Mother Gu and the Gu family's father and son were stunned for a long time.

"It shouldn't be."

Empress Dowager Gu frowned, and after a long moment, she finally spoke: "If Ji Yuan had put so much thought into this marriage, and had begged the Emperor to come, he should have argued for it. Why did he give in so easily?"

Gu Tingchen looked at Gu Tingzhou, who was frowning, and deliberately reminded him, "Could it be that Wanwan wanted to cancel this marriage from the beginning?"

"impossible."

Gu Tingzhou shook his head with a determined look in his eyes: "How could she be willing to cancel this marriage? She must be playing hard to get because she's angry about Yue Ling. I'm going to find her and ask her clearly."

After saying that, he left Jiang Yueling behind and rushed out of the Cining Palace in anger without caring about anything.

"Young Master, wait for me."

Jiang Yueling became anxious and quickly chased after him.

Seeing the two of them disappear in the Cining Palace, Gu Tingchen smiled, his smile was extremely sinister.

"This bastard acts impulsively and recklessly. How can he be expected to shoulder the future burden of the Duke of Rong's Mansion?"

Queen Mother Gu, who had calmed down, had already realized that something was wrong and yelled at Gu An, "Go back and take good care of your useless son."

Gu An felt humiliated to see a good marriage being messed up like this. He immediately said, "I will definitely give the Queen Mother a satisfactory explanation."

After saying this, he glanced at Chang and Gu Tingchen with dissatisfaction, and left in a hurry.

After leaving the palace, Ji Yuan did not return home directly, but first rushed to the Yongning Palace.

He was originally worried that Fu Mingchi would not accept this marriage, so he did not dare to visit him these days. But now that he had the confidence, he felt much more energetic when he arrived at Prince Yongning's mansion.

It was afternoon, the warm spring sun shone on the ground, and the gentle breeze made the entire Yongning Palace immersed in a lazy atmosphere.

While the little troublemaker in the house was taking a nap, Fu Mingchi sat quietly in the study. He couldn't help but take out the blue handkerchief, raised his calm eyes, and that charming face inexplicably emerged in his mind.

"I wonder when it can be returned to its original owner?" He murmured silently in his heart.

"Your Highness."

There was a gentle knock on the door. Fu Mingchi quickly collected his thoughts and calmly hid the handkerchief in his sleeve.

Glancing at Yan Jin who had come in, he said two words lightly, "What's the matter?"

Yan Jin clasped his fists respectfully and bowed: "Prime Minister Ji is here to request an audience."

"Ji Yuan?"

Fu Mingchi's face darkened: "No."

Yan Jin suddenly showed his embarrassment: "The Prime Minister is here to discuss the marriage between our two families."

"Didn't I ask Butler Zhao to go to the Ji Mansion and cancel this marriage?"

Fu Mingchi had just finished speaking when he suddenly realized that Butler Zhao was probably following his mother's instructions and was playing a double game with him.

He had never wanted to make friends with the Ji family, and today news broke in the mansion that Ji Yuan had married his daughter twice, which made him even more disgusted with the Ji family. He just wanted to end this evil relationship of unknown origin as soon as possible.

"Well, since he's here, let him in."

After Fu Mingchi finished instructing Yan Jin, he made no move to greet the guest. He remained seated in his study until Ji Yuan entered. He casually held a scroll in his hand and said, "If it's for your daughter's affairs, my Lord Prime Minister, please don't speak."

Ji Yuan was stunned.

As the Prime Minister of the current dynasty, he never thought that he would be ignored by him like this. His high spirits were instantly dampened.

Thinking about the calculations in his mind, he had to force himself to swallow his anger. Ji Yuan said with a sincere face: "Your Highness, the Concubine Dowager intends to have you enter the court. Today, my daughter has been canonized as a princess by His Majesty. The marriage between our two families is a perfect match and will be of great benefit to Your Highness in taking control of Lin'an."

"Prime Minister Ji is a man of foresight. Unfortunately, I am too lazy to play ball. I have no intention of joining your scheme, let alone your daughter. Let us leave this matter at this juncture."

Fu Mingchi lost his patience and finally raised his eyes, glancing at him lightly: "Yan Jin, show him out."

Seeing his resolute expression with no room for negotiation, Ji Yuan's face was shrouded in gloom.

He sighed sadly, waved his wide sleeves, and walked out the door.

(End of this chapter)