The drunken Lady Xu had much to say, so much that it made Zhou Zihong anxious.
“If you don’t agree to divorce, I’ll go to the officials and have them decide.”
“But you’ll probably agree. After all, you don’t like me anyway. You just need a woman to sleep with, so anyone would do.”
Zhou Zihong’s face turned ashen. “What do you mean ‘anyone would do’?”
Back then, if she hadn’t loved him so passionately, how would he have agreed to keep someone by his side? Now she was saying such things to him.
Lady Xu tilted her head in confusion. “Why are you angry? You should be happy that I’m leaving you. Finally, no one will be jealous or control how you show favor to the City Lord.”
“Ming Yi gave me my career and my current position. How could I turn my back on her now? Even if it’s just to repay her kindness, the gift I gave her today was too meager.”
Lady Xu shook her head. “You know, what I care about isn’t the gift, nor is it you talking to her.”
It was his undying heart, always looking towards Ming Yi, always unwilling to live a normal married life with her.
Seven years without a child, she had been cursed behind her back countless times. She could ignore that, but she didn’t like that he didn’t care.
Marriage was like a business deal. Both parties invest something and then rely on love to tolerate the losses and manage it together.
But Zhou Zihong treated her like an inn. She invested alone and relied on her love alone to tolerate everything.
It was only natural that it couldn’t be maintained.
“You just want a child, right?” He lowered his eyes. “I can give you one.”
Lady Xu laughed, her eyes reddened by alcohol. “Is that so? Now you want to give me one?”
“Too bad, I don’t want one anymore.”
She stood up unsteadily and patted Zhang Tai’s arm. “Miss, we get along well. Shall we continue our chat tonight?”
Zhang Tai had been listening to their conversation and felt much sympathy for Lady Xu. Hearing this, she immediately nodded. “My guest house is right next to yours and Lord Zhou’s. You can come over to talk.”
Zhou Zihong tried to support her, but she avoided him.
He was also annoyed and said with lowered eyes, “If I wasn’t afraid of your family coming to blame me, I wouldn’t even bother with you.”
Lady Xu sneered and left with Zhang Tai.
As they walked back to the guest house, Zhang Tai had just begun to praise her: “Madam was so brave and straightforward earlier, it was truly satisfying…”
Then she saw the person beside her crouch down, sit on the doorstep, and burst into tears.
Zhang Tai panicked, quickly took out a handkerchief to wipe her tears, and helped her to sit on the soft couch. Lady Xu cried while mumbling about her years of love and grievances.
She truly liked Zhou Zihong, so having to let him go was particularly heartbreaking.
But she was clear that she had to let go. No inn could keep losing money forever without going bankrupt.
The crying in the palace gradually subsided. The moon hung high, and tomorrow would be another sunny day.
Ming Yi supported Ji Bozai as they walked along the palace corridor. The night breeze sobered Ji Bozai up.
He anxiously grabbed Ming Yi’s hand and looked around, and his eyes filled with overwhelming disappointment. “I just had a dream.”
“Oh?” Ming Yi asked seriously, “What did you dream about?”
“I dreamed that we were at a banquet, and you agreed to marry me.” Ji Bozai was extremely dejected. “It felt so real, how could it be a dream?”
Buxiu, standing nearby, couldn’t help but laugh.
Ji Bozai glared at him. “Why are you here?”
Buxiu bowed. “In response to Your Majesty, Miss Ming’s birthday banquet just ended. This servant is here to attend to Your Majesty’s return to the palace.”
Oh, the birthday banquet.
Wait, banquet?
Ji Bozai suddenly realized and excitedly grabbed Ming Yi’s shoulders. “It wasn’t a dream earlier? You did agree, didn’t you?!”
Ming Yi raised an eyebrow. “Your Majesty is drunk.”
“I’m not! I remember you said ‘I do’!”
“I said ‘Alright’,” she corrected him.
Ji Bozai’s breath caught.
She did agree.
After a moment of stillness, his blood began to flow rapidly. He beamed with joy, circled her twice, then asked in disbelief, “How did I propose? What did I say? Why can’t I remember anything?”
Ming Yi raised an eyebrow. “Then Your Majesty should think carefully. If you can’t remember, I might not step out of the bridal sedan.”
“No, don’t say that. I’ll think about it. I’ll think as soon as I get back.” He followed her, still reeking of alcohol and stumbling, but overjoyed beyond measure.
“I’ve already thought it through. Our wedding will be the grandest in all of Qingyun. I’ll hang red silk all over Yunhai, and wear the finest wedding clothes. After the wedding, you’ll be the Empress, but still the Lord of Chaoyang City. You’ll be free to come and go, everything will be the same as before!”
The only difference was that he could have her again, could fall asleep looking at her face, could see her as soon as he opened his eyes, and could walk hand in hand with her anywhere. Even after a thousand or ten thousand years, everyone would know that Ming Yi was Ji Bozai’s wife, belonging to him alone.
Ji Bozai pulled her close and kissed her lips fiercely.
Ming Yi was caught off guard. She only resisted briefly before giving in.
She had never seen him so happy before. All etiquette and rules were thrown far away. After kissing her, he even picked her up and spun her around twice.
Her skirt fluttered, and the joyous atmosphere spread from the palace walls to the entire palace.
The next day at court, Ji Bozai had a headache from his hangover.
But this didn’t affect his enthusiasm for handling state affairs.
“Minister He’s words are reasonable. The court indeed shouldn’t interfere too much with folk marriage customs. As long as they don’t violate existing laws, how they marry is up to them,” he said loudly. “Just like how I’m about to marry City Lord Ming. It’s only natural for a man and woman to marry.”
“Prime Minister Xu’s memorial is approved. There were no natural disasters this year, so we can restore normal taxation to enrich the national treasury,” he smiled. “It will also add to the joy of my and City Lord Ming’s wedding.”
“The Ministry of Rites’ request is not approved. We’ll be busy with my and City Lord Ming’s wedding later, how could there be so many holidays to take?”
“Speaking of my and City Lord Ming’s wedding—”
After the court session, Song Lanzhi’s head was still buzzing. She couldn’t remember what important matters were discussed that day. All she could hear echoing in her ears were phrases like “my and City Lord Ming’s wedding,” “I’m about to marry City Lord Ming,” and “City Lord Ming agreed to marry me,” these words expressing the same idea over and over again.
She asked Luo Jiaoyang, “Has His Majesty always talked this much during court sessions?”
Luo Jiaoyang shook his head. “Never seen it before.”
Not just in court, even in the reply memorials the officials received later, they were all written with phrases like “Approved (I’m getting married),” “Not allowed (I’m going to marry City Lord Ming),” “Nonsense (Reading this waste of words, I’d rather focus on preparing for the wedding with City Lord Ming),” and so on.
Si Tuling received a memorial and expressionlessly threw it into the fire basin.