Lian Erye in the Red Mansion

Early in the morning, the fourth prince rode straight into the eldest princess's residence.

After wandering around for a long time, they found their elder sister in the back garden.

"Sister, this place is so much bigger than my palace! I've been here so many times, and I still can't quite remember the way!"

Panting heavily, the fourth prince walked into the pavilion and plopped down opposite Princess Zhaoyang. He turned over a teacup, poured himself a cup of tea, and gulped it down.

After finishing his tea, he looked up and saw his elder sister still silently reading, ignoring him completely. He shamelessly asked, "What are you reading, elder sister?"

"Zizhi Tongjian"

"..."

"Sister, can't you even blink before you lie? The book you're writing clearly says 'The Rise of Eastern Mongolia,' do you really think I can't read?"

Princess Zhaoyang finally looked up and gave the Fourth Prince an approving look, seemingly pleased that her silly younger brother had become smarter.

This immediately made the fourth prince's face fall, and he didn't know whether he should be happy or not.

"Sister, aren't you going to ask me why I came to see you?"

"What do you want from me?"

"I've invited many members of the imperial family and noble families to ride out of the city today. Would you like to come with us, Your Majesty?"

"I'm not going."

"..."

The refusal was so decisive that it made the Fourth Prince lose face.

"Are you really not going?"

"I'm not going."

"Come on, come on. It's been so long since you went out of the city with us. The weather is so nice today, I came here early this morning to invite you."

The fourth prince stood up, walked over, grabbed Princess Zhaoyang's arm, and tried to pull her away.

She muttered to herself, "What's the point of staying cooped up at home all day? Back in the day, you, my royal sister, loved going out of the city to play, riding horses and shooting arrows. There were so many of us who couldn't compare to you."

Moreover, everyone who went today is a young and promising talent, and many of them admire the Imperial Sister very much…”

The fourth prince was quite strong. Without Princess Zhaoyang putting up a serious resistance, he easily pulled her up and they were about to leave the central courtyard.

Upon seeing this, the female official standing in the pavilion quickly reminded the Fourth Prince: "Your Highness, please be careful, the princess is pregnant."

The female official, fearing that the fourth prince might recklessly injure Princess Zhaoyang, offered this explanation in a moment of panic.

Princess Zhaoyang glanced at her but did not reprimand her.

Anyway, this matter can't be kept from those who are interested, especially since it involves her own younger brother.

But the fourth prince was stunned. He grabbed his elder sister's forearm and said blankly, "Pregnant?"

Princess Zhaoyang did not answer her, but simply withdrew her hand, turned around, and returned to the pavilion.

Upon seeing Princess Zhaoyang's tacit agreement, the Fourth Prince flew into a rage and roared at her, "Which bastard did this?!"

Princess Zhaoyang frowned, her stern gaze immediately shooting towards the Fourth Prince, causing him to instinctively shrink back.

At this moment, a maid came to report: "Princess, the Marquis's carriage has arrived."

Princess Zhaoyang nodded, just as the Fourth Prince exclaimed, "Lord Marquis? Which Lord Marquis? Jia Lian? Was it him who did it?"

Princess Zhaoyang wanted to reprimand him, but seeing the Fourth Prince's agitated expression, almost jumping up and down, she knew that his behavior was probably due to his concern for her, so she said gently, "Go out of the city with them and have some fun. I have important business to attend to in the palace today."

"Bullshit! Jia Lian, you bastard Jia Lian, I won't let you get away with this!"

Before the fourth prince finished speaking, he had already rushed outside, clearly heading to cause trouble for someone.

Outside the Princess's residence.

Jia Lian and Princess Zhaoyang had arranged to go to the palace today to ask Emperor Ningkang for a marriage decree, so they arrived here early to wait.

He wasn't surprised to see the Fourth Prince come out of the mansion; he had already seen the Fourth Prince's entourage outside.

Therefore, he dismounted and greeted the prince with a smile, "How have you been, Prince Xiao?"

"Okay, I'm perfectly fine."

The fourth prince walked over quietly, without making a sound, and suddenly threw a punch at Jia Lian's face.

Fortunately, Jia Lian reacted quickly, grabbing the opponent's wrist and pressing it down just as the fist was about to reach his eyes.

"What does Your Highness mean by this?"

The fourth prince remained silent, one hand restrained, and without a word, delivered another backhand punch.

As Jia Lian recalled the Fourth Prince leaving Princess Zhaoyang's residence, he seemed to understand something, but his hands did not stop moving.

He restrained one of the fourth prince's arms with one hand and pinned him down on the fourth prince's back.

The guards of the Fourth Prince, who were not far away, were stunned and hurriedly said, "Marquis Zhenyuan, stop immediately! You mustn't be disrespectful to the Prince..."

Because the Fourth Prince was much younger and smaller than Jia Lian, his hands were now bound by Jia Lian, making him appear completely captured.

Some of the Fourth Prince's guards almost couldn't resist drawing their swords to save him, but they refrained because of the good relationship between the Fourth Prince and Jia Lian.

The fourth prince was quite resolute, "You don't need to beg him, I don't believe it..."

The fourth prince struggled fiercely, looking like he was going to fight to the death. Jia Lian was afraid of twisting his ankle, but also worried that the fourth prince in this state would hurt himself.

Therefore, seizing the opportunity, he threw it aside, took a few steps back, and immediately cupped his hands, saying, "The so-called investigation without asking is a crime. If Your Highness intends to punish me, please explain the reason. At that time, I will surrender myself and ask Your Highness to punish me."

The Fourth Prince rubbed his aching wrist and looked at Jia Lian upon hearing this.

Perhaps because his two sneak attacks had failed and he had been captured by Jia Lian, he was too embarrassed to make another move.

But the anger in his heart was hard to quell, so he said in a sinister tone, "My lord, Marquis of Zhenyuan, you are truly something else. Back then, my imperial grandmother insisted on betrothing my elder sister to you, and you refused no matter what. Now, you, without a word, have taken my elder sister away..."

The fourth prince glanced at the guards and attendants beside him, but thankfully refrained from saying anything unpleasant.

However, Jia Lian knew perfectly well that the Fourth Prince was aware of Princess Zhaoyang's pregnancy. Putting himself in the Fourth Prince's shoes, if someone had secretly gotten his own sister pregnant, he would have been even angrier than the Fourth Prince.

Knowing he was in the wrong, Jia Lian frankly said, "This is indeed Jia Lian's fault, but I have decided to enter the palace today to ask His Majesty to betroth Princess Chang to Jia Lian."

If the Fourth Prince is still not satisfied, Jia Lian will allow the Prince to punish him without retaliating.

"Yeah?"

The fourth prince walked over, rubbing his hands together, and looked Jia Lian up and down, seemingly wondering where to start.

"stop!"

A delicate shout came from behind, and the Fourth Prince knew without turning around that it was his elder sister who had chased after him.

He felt wronged. What was going on? His elder sister was seriously siding with outsiders.

He thought that his elder sister was getting on in years, and it was no good for her to stay cooped up in the princess's residence all day. That's why he invited a group of noble sons and nobles to go on an outing outside the city.

Therefore, he made a special effort to inquire about such matters. He refused to invite anyone with a bad reputation or who was not good-looking, just in case his elder sister took a liking to one of them, so as to prevent her from being infatuated with Jia Lian.

Who knew that despite all the preparations she had made and her early morning visit to invite her, she wouldn't give her any face at all.

It's one thing if they don't give it to you, but what's infuriating is that the person was reading and drinking morning tea early in the morning, not out of boredom, but waiting for someone.

It's gotten even worse now.

She was so afraid of hitting her sweetheart that she rushed out to stop herself.

Hmph, they didn't even ask who bullied whom just now!

The more the fourth prince thought about it, the more uncomfortable he felt, and he even felt a little wronged.

Thinking of this, he really wanted to punch Jia Lian in his handsome face.

Jia Lian sensed the Fourth Prince's intention and quietly took a step back.

Princess Zhaoyang approached the two men, first checking on Jia Lian to make sure he was unharmed, before turning to the Fourth Prince and saying, "Didn't you say you had invited many noblemen's sons to go out for a stroll outside the city? Why haven't you gone yet?"

"I'm not in a hurry!"

The fourth prince sneered, then loudly addressed Princess Zhaoyang, "Elder sister, don't be fooled by him. He can't bear to part with his wife. It's not worth it for you. You'll only disgrace our imperial family, and Grandmother will be angry!"

Princess Zhaoyang did not want to say anything more to the Fourth Prince at this time, and only said: "You don't need to worry about my affairs. I will explain to the Empress Dowager myself."

"You, oh my god, you're making me so angry! I'm going to tell the Empress Dowager on you."

The fourth prince stomped his foot and turned around, intending to kick Jia Lian, but Jia Lian dodged it. He then ignored him, angrily walked away, and rode off.

Judging from the direction it was pointing, it was indeed the imperial palace.

Princess Zhaoyang glanced at him only once, then turned back to ask Jia Lian, "Are you alright?"

Jia Lian shook his head. "His Highness the Fourth Prince is only concerned about you and has no intention of hurting me."

Princess Zhaoyang smiled, a feeling of happiness welling up in her heart.

In this world, it is a very lucky thing to have a caring younger brother and a man you love by your side.

Jia Lian couldn't stand Princess Zhaoyang's smiles, because they made her even more radiant.

Suppressing the urge to pull her into his arms, Jia Lian smiled and said, "It's getting late, let's get in the carriage."

"Um."

Princess Zhaoyang nodded, naturally took Jia Lian's arm, got into the Jia family's carriage, and headed towards the palace.

In the Southern Study, Emperor Ningkang was practicing calligraphy as usual.

Upon hearing the eunuch announce that the Eldest Princess and the Marquis of Zhenyuan had come to pay their respects, he raised an eyebrow and asked, "Did they come together?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Emperor Ningkang fell silent. After a long while, he threw down his imperial brush and said coldly, "Let them in."

……()