Union

Chapter 201 200 won the bet

Upon hearing Chen Yanzhou's words, Yunying suddenly came to her senses.

Her words just now were simply a heartfelt expression of her feelings.

But she is now in the feudal dynasty of Great Xia, a dynasty under the rule of an emperor.

Her criticism of the legal system was tantamount to criticizing imperial power, and if she were to be sued by someone with ulterior motives, it could very well implicate her family.

Yunying's mind raced, and she quickly replied, "I won't say it again, and I will definitely be more careful with my words in the future."

Seeing that she seemed frightened, Chen Yanzhou immediately regretted that his words had been a bit harsh.

He wanted to comfort her, to say, "You don't need to be so timid. If you want to talk about it in the future, just say it to him."

But he was also worried that if she talked too much, she might slip up in front of outsiders and end up in jail.

After much thought, Chen Yanzhou finally said, "If you are really interested, you can read 'Criminal Law' later. This book is very interesting. Although it is about law, it is not as obscure and difficult to understand as the formal laws. The explanations in this book are also quite interesting, and it also includes many cases for discussion. It is a good book to pass the time in your spare time."

Yunying: "..."

So, you top scholars just spend your time studying?
She is not.

She has many ways to pass the time: shopping, listening to music, dressing up, and gossiping with her girlfriends.

These activities can both kill time and bring joy to the mind and body. How could she be so depressed as to read those boring law books?

This topic was successfully skipped.

Yunying and Chen Yanzhou walked towards a lake.

There is a large meadow next to the lake.

Now the grass is lush and the birds are singing, bees are dancing and butterflies are busy. The willows sway on the bank, their branches unfurling green leaves, dancing leisurely in the breeze.

The weather was fine and the temperature was just right. Yunying and Chen Yanzhou sat down on the shore, feeling refreshed and relaxed.

Suddenly, Yunying thought of Qiu Ning.

Qiu Ning's indenture was in Lin Shuqing's hands. With the downfall of the Chang'an Marquis's Mansion, all the property belonging to the Chang'an Marquis's Mansion, including Lin Shuqing's dowry, was confiscated.

Is Qiu Ning's indenture still in the yamen?
Yunying grabbed Chen Yanzhou's hand and asked him about the indenture.

To everyone's surprise, Chen Yanzhou pulled out a piece of paper from his sleeve as if by magic.

Yunying sensed something and looked up at Chen Yanzhou. She then quickly opened the indenture in her hand.

To her surprise, the name on it was indeed Qiu Ning's, but this was no longer a contract of servitude, but a household registration for a law-abiding citizen.

Chen Yanzhou coughed lightly and said, "I know you care about Qiu Ning, so I've been keeping an eye on this matter. The other day, all the maids and servants in the Chang'an Marquis's mansion were sold by the yamen, so I had someone buy back Qiu Ning's indenture."

He had originally intended to give her the household registration yesterday, but with so many people watching, they never had a chance to speak alone. So he kept the registration, planning to give it to her in person today as a surprise.

Seeing her so happy that tears were almost welling up in her eyes, Chen Yanzhou felt both pleased and wistful: Qiu Ning held too much weight in her heart. This wouldn't do; she should only have him in her heart.

Chen Yanzhou sighed softly, "I really wish time could fast forward so I could marry you as soon as possible."

You've only just gotten engaged, and you already want to get married? What kind of dream are you having?
Yunying carefully put Qiu Ning's household registration documents into her purse, resting her chin on her hand and smiling at Chen Yanzhou.

Although Yunying had thought about such a wonderful thing before, she would never let Chen Yanzhou know. At this moment, she spoke to Chen Yanzhou with righteous indignation, saying, "We're only engaged, how can we get married right away? Besides, the wedding date hasn't even been set yet."

Chen Yanzhou sighed, "I was willing to make it, but unfortunately my father-in-law didn't give me the chance to say it."

Yunying plucked a blade of grass and threw it at him, "What are you calling father-in-law? We're not even married yet."

"If I don't call you father-in-law, what should I call you? Should I call you Uncle? That would be too formal."

Yunying laughed in anger, "If you're so capable, why don't you call him that in front of my father?"

Chen Yanzhou hurriedly waved his hand, "Please spare me, I really wouldn't dare."

He wouldn't dare if his father were around, since his father would clean up the mess afterwards. Even if his uncle had a temper, he'd only vent it on his father. But if his father wasn't around, he was afraid of completely offending his uncle, which would lower his standing...

Chen Yanzhou now wished he could flatter everyone in the Duke of Xuan's mansion, making them overjoyed, so that he could perhaps marry a wife sooner.

But he was always the one being flattered; when had he ever flattered anyone?

Oh, yes, he did try to please Yunying. Whether openly or secretly, he fawned over her more than once.

But pleasing your wife is one thing, pleasing others is another.

Chen Yanzhou had no experience, so he planned to go back and ask his older brother for advice.

Then he brought up the fact that he was going to Jinzhou the day after tomorrow.

This was truly unexpected for Yunying, and she was caught completely off guard.

"Why so fast?"

Chen Yanzhou could see her reluctance, and his heart was filled with tenderness. He held Yunying's hand and said, "It's not too fast. The position of prefect of Jinzhou was vacated before the New Year, and the prefect is handling many official duties by himself."

The prefect of Jinzhou was also quite old, much older than Prefect Zhang. As people age, their energy declines. Coupled with the many tasks that came with the new year, the old prefect successfully fell ill from exhaustion.

Jinzhou urgently needs a top official to go there and take charge of the overall situation.

The position of Prefect of Jinzhou is undoubtedly a lucrative one. Although His Majesty has appointed Chen Yanzhou as the Prefect of Jinzhou, everything is still uncertain until he takes the seal of office.

Just in case, he should go and take up his post as soon as possible.

The thought of going to Jinzhou and being separated from Yunying made it difficult for Chen Yanzhou to smile.

On the contrary, Yunying turned around and comforted him.

“Go ahead and go. There’s a canal that goes directly from the capital to Jinzhou. If the wind is favorable, it will only take seven or eight days. My maternal grandfather’s family lives in Jinzhou. I can visit him often in the future.”

Chen Yanzhou naturally understood the implied meaning of these words, and he couldn't help but chuckle.

That's what he meant.

But he couldn't bring himself to say it.

He was worried that if his uncle found out it was his idea, he would try to hold Yunying back.

But when Yunying said it herself, things were different. Even though Uncle Shi knew that Yunying was going to visit him, he had no choice but to compromise because of Yunying's feelings.

So Chen Yanzhou kept pestering Yunying to agree to stay in Jinzhou for at least two months a year. He got Yunying to agree to write to him every few days and make him clothes and shoes every season.

Only after he had worn Yunying down to the point that she agreed to all his requests did Chen Yanzhou finally lean over and kiss her, completely satisfied.

Yunying: "...Why, why are you kissing me?"

His eyes had been filled with such lust just now, as if he would immediately take her on the spot if she didn't agree to his demands. But she had already agreed, how could he possibly...?

Yun Ying stammered, her face flushed crimson. Chen Yanzhou, on the other hand, was overjoyed and greedily devoured her fragrant lips.

Why can't we kiss?
They are a proper engaged couple. Let alone kissing, let alone doing anything more... well, of course, they can't do anything too outrageous, but just kissing and holding hands is fine.

The atmosphere between the two masters was very affectionate, and as a subordinate, I was well aware of the situation and knew better than to disturb them.

Accompanying Chen Yanzhou were Sui Yu and Mo Xue, who were familiar with their master's character and knew how much he cherished and loved Yun Ying.

In addition, their second master was very sensible, so even though the two of them were getting a little close, neither of them thought of disturbing them.

In contrast, consider the head maid who came out with Yunying today.

This maid was named Qingchou. She was originally a second-class maid in the old lady's courtyard. After Yunying returned to the Duke of Xuan's mansion, the old lady promoted Qingchou to first-class and gave her, along with another maid named Hongyu, to Yunying.

Today, Qingchou accompanied Yunying out.

Qingchou is steady, meticulous, and knows how to conduct herself.

She knew that with mutual affection, the young lady and the second young master of the Rongguo Duke's mansion would inevitably act somewhat inappropriately. And as it turned out, she wasn't just being paranoid; there was indeed some unusual movement inside the carriage as it left the city gates.

She wanted to make a commotion to stop the girl, but she was worried that the girl would be too shy and embarrassed afterward.

While she hesitated, she was thrown onto the horse of the guard named Mo Xue. After that, the horse galloped away, and she had no chance to "meddle" in other people's business.

But this has already happened once before, and now that second master is trying to disrespect the young lady again...

Qingchou was about to call out "Miss" when Suiyu smiled and tugged at her sleeve, urging her to quickly take out the tea and snacks from the carriage.

They've been out of the city for a while now, and Miss Yunying must be hungry. They need to get everything ready quickly; they can't let her go hungry. Qingchou's plan has failed once again.

……

In the late afternoon, the carriage began its return journey.

On the way back, to prevent anyone from making any further advances, Yunying called Qingchou into the carriage to serve her.

Qingchou also felt that she was not doing a good job as a maid, so she stuck to the girl closely and did not give her any chance to be alone again.

Seeing this, Chen Yanzhou naturally felt it was a pity.

But today was indeed a bit too much. If he were given another chance, Yunying's mouth would definitely swell up, and then his good deeds would be exposed to the elders.

Chen Yanzhou wanted to meet Yunying again the next day, so he naturally didn't dare to leave too many marks on her. He could only sigh in regret.

The carriage rumbled to the city gate.

As luck would have it, they encountered Xiahou Yi, who had just returned from the outskirts of town, just as they entered the city.

Sui Yu knocked on the side of the carriage and said to the two masters inside, "The Crown Prince of Zhaoyang has come and wants to speak with the Second Master."

Upon hearing this, Yun Ying looked at Chen Yanzhou with surprise, "What do you two have to say to each other?"

The Prince Zhaoyang's Mansion had previously persuaded Princess Huiyang to propose marriage to the Duke Xuan's Mansion. However, before the very next day, that very evening, after consulting with the Duke Xuan and Gu Wangchen, the old lady sent a reply to Princess Huiyang through her personal maid. She stated that Yunying and Xiahou Yi were not suitable and hoped that the heir apparent of the Xiahou family would find another suitable match.

It was only after the Prince of Zhaoyang's residence was explicitly rejected that the Duke of Rong and Lady Feng finally came to visit.

Logically, Xiahou Yi might have come to her because he had lost face, but Xiahou Yi went directly to Chen Yanzhou.

Does he feel he has lost and wants to fight the ultimate winner?
All of the above are just Yunying's wild thoughts.

In fact, Xiahou Yi's expression was indeed unfriendly when he saw Chen Yanzhou, but it wasn't to the point of confrontation. When the two looked at each other, Xiahou Yi even nodded to Chen Yanzhou.

Then, like spies making a rendezvous, the two exchanged a few words that Yunying couldn't understand.

Xiahou Yi: "I remember you still owe me something."

Chen Yanzhou said, "I would never forget. I will have someone deliver it to your residence shortly."

Xiahou Yi gave a light "heh," and said, "I'm not going back to the manor today. Have someone deliver the account books to this address." He then gave an address.

After Chen Yanzhou nodded and said, "I've got it," Xiahou Yi nodded politely to Yunying in the carriage, then, without further hesitation, spurred his horse past them and went straight into the city.

After Xiahou Yi left, the sounds of people and carriages gradually subsided. Yun Ying then leaned over and asked Chen Yanzhou, "What account books were you two talking about? When did you two become so close?"

It shouldn't be like that.

Sui Yu and the others must have already informed Chen Yanzhou about the danger she encountered on her way back to Beijing.

Chen Yanzhou cherishes her so much, there's no reason why he wouldn't hold a grudge if Xiahou Yi almost caused her to become someone else's victim.

In her imagination, after this incident, the atmosphere between the two should be tense and ready to explode at any moment.

Judging from the atmosphere between the two, although it wasn't exactly amicable, it certainly wasn't to the point of a full-blown fight.

This is not right!

Could it be that they had a good relationship before?
If that were the case, then when Sui Yu and the others mentioned Xiahou Yi, their tone shouldn't have been so guarded and distant.

But if they had no prior relationship, how do you explain their current amicable relationship?
Yunying was completely baffled.

Her curiosity was piqued, so she moved even closer to Chen Yanzhou, "Tell me, when did you two start hooking up?"

At that moment, Qingchou coughed lightly, and Yunying remembered that there was not only her and Chen Yanzhou in the carriage, but also an informant.

Yunying quickly sat up straight and moved further away from Chen Yanzhou.

But when Qingchou wasn't paying attention, she glared at Chen Yanzhou fiercely again, "You better tell me the truth."

Chen Yanzhou laughed heartily, but while leading Yunying to a restaurant for a meal, he took the opportunity to tell Yunying about the precautions for dining in the kitchen. Chen Yanzhou also briefly mentioned his deal with Xiahou Yi.

His relationship with Xiahou Yi wasn't good, but it wasn't bad either.

In the arena of power, there are never permanent friends, nor permanent enemies.

He was like this with others, and even more so with Xiahou Yi.

For example, this time, when Prince Zhaoyang came to propose marriage to Yunying, it was all a deal between Chen Yanzhou and Xiahou Yi.

Let's start from the beginning.

Xiahou Yi served as the border patrol envoy and has been inspecting the four borders of the Great Xia for the past few years.

This routine task unexpectedly led him to discover something fishy.

It was because of this discovery that Xiahou Yi was repeatedly assassinated on his way back to the capital.

When they finally managed to return to the capital, the evidence they had prepared was almost entirely destroyed by the spies in the mansion.

As luck would have it, Chen Yanzhou "just happened" to find a well-hidden piece of evidence of selling ironware among the books his senior brother had given him earlier.

Considering the timing of Xiahou Yi's decision to return to the capital, the prefectures he had inspected, the recent imperial gazettes, and the information he had gathered, he could roughly guess who the problem lay with.

He found Xiahou Yi, tricked him, and things turned out exactly as he had predicted.

Chen Yanzhou used this evidence to persuade the Prince of Zhaoyang's Mansion to propose marriage to the Duke of Xuan's Mansion.

In other words, the Prince Zhaoyang's proposal was merely a smokescreen.

It was simply to bring Yunying's marriage into the open, so that no one in the Duke of Xuan's mansion could escape this issue any longer.

However, one thing was beyond Chen Yanzhou's expectations: he anticipated that once this matter was started, many people would be drawn to it, but His Majesty's request for the Fifth Prince to marry Yun Ying was something he had never thought of.

Fortunately, it was a false alarm. After weighing the pros and cons, Uncle Shi and the others ultimately chose him.

Otherwise, all his efforts might have been for the benefit of others.

……

Yunying was completely bewildered when she heard Chen Yanzhou's honest confession.

Although she knew she didn't have that much charm to make the young master Xiahou, whom she had only met twice, propose to her, she had initially suspected something was amiss. But she never imagined that Xiahou Yi was just a tool that Chen Yanzhou had brought in.

What is a "tool person"? It's someone you can use and then discard without any psychological burden.

But isn't he afraid that she might actually choose Xiahou Yi?

How could he guarantee that someone even better wouldn't emerge later, making his grandfather and father look at him differently?

If anything were to happen to any of the schemes and plots he's orchestrated, wouldn't he lose everything?

Upon hearing Yun Ying's question, Chen Yanzhou fell silent for a moment, a rare occurrence. "I have also regretted it, and I have also hesitated. But, Yingying, if I don't take this risky step, once I go to Jinzhou, we will be separated, and there will be even more variables then."

The spring imperial examinations for this year have begun in the last two days, and those who stand out in the spring examinations will participate in the palace examination.

The candidates in the palace examination were not just the learned young men from the capital. It was an arena for scholars from all over the Great Xia Dynasty, bringing together the most outstanding individuals in the entire country.

Many people try to find a son-in-law from among those who have passed the imperial examinations, because those who make it to the end are not fools.

If that person came from a better family, was more outstanding in appearance, and had a more reliable character, wouldn't they be a perfect candidate? Would they be fortunate enough to gain the favor of Uncle Shi and Duke Xuan?

If Uncle Shi and the others really intend to marry Yunying off to them, how can he stop them from thousands of miles away?

Perhaps by the time he hears the news, it will be too late.

Therefore, with only a slight chance of success, he ultimately took a risky step.

Saying he was only somewhat confident was an understatement.

Chen Yanzhou lowered his head and leaned close to Yun Ying, "The only thing I'm sure of doing all this is that you have me in your heart and will marry no one but me. I have a place in your heart, and that will allow me to remain undefeated in this game."

Chen Yanzhou said softly, "Yingying, I never gambled on other people's considerations and calculations. I only gambled on your heart that is biased towards me... As it turns out, I won the gamble."

Yunying remained silent for a long time, then suddenly smashed a teacup at Chen Yanzhou.

"Chen Yanzhou, you bastard."

(End of this chapter)