Li Shimin gritted his teeth and knelt down, “Your son and the Princess truly love each other. Please grant us your blessing, Father!”

Li Yuan stared at him with an ashen face and shouted, “Preposterous! Get up!”

Li Shimin did not rise as commanded, instead saying, “If Father does not agree, your son will remain kneeling here!”

Hearing this, Li Yuan’s expression grew even uglier, “Are you threatening me?”

Li Shimin quickly said, “Your son wouldn’t dare. It’s just that your son… promised the Princess that he would never fail her in this lifetime. Please grant us your blessing, Father!”

Li Yuan stared at him for a moment, then said coldly, “You won’t fail Princess Jinyang, but what about Xuanba? He was your blood brother and was closest to you when alive. Do you want him to die with his eyes open in resentment?”

“Your son believes Xuanba would…” Before he could finish, Li Yuan quickly cut him off, “He will not forgive!”

Li Yuan took a breath and said, “Except for this woman, you may marry anyone you wish.”

“Your son only wishes to marry Princess Jinyang. Please grant your blessing, Father!” His words caused Li Yuan’s barely suppressed anger to flare up again as he said sternly, “Impossible!”

After a moment of silence, Li Yuan supported himself on the desk and rose to walk before Li Shimin, who remained kneeling, “Shimin, among all the children, you are the one who requires the least worry from me and helps me the most. It can be said that taking Chang’an was half your accomplishment. I have always been proud of you, yet now you kneel here for a woman. Tell me yourself, is this appropriate?”

Li Shimin said hoarsely, “Your son knows his error, but your son promised Princess Jinyang that he would never fail her in this lifetime. Please grant your blessing, Father!”

Seeing that after all his words, Li Shimin still insisted on marrying Yunyi, Li Yuan’s anger flared as he forcefully swept his sleeves, “This matter is absolutely impossible!”

Li Shimin said nothing more and simply knelt quietly. Seeing his stubborn refusal to rise, layers of anger surged in Li Yuan’s heart. Just as he was about to explode, Li Jiancheng entered. Seeing the scene in the room, he was stunned for a moment and asked in surprise, “What’s happening here?”

“Ask him yourself!” Throwing out these words, Li Yuan stormed out angrily. Li Jiancheng looked at Li Shimin, who was still kneeling on the ground, and asked puzzledly, “What happened to make Father so angry?”

After hearing Li Shimin explain the whole story, he sighed, “I see, no wonder.” After a pause, he continued, “Since Father disagrees, this matter… let it go.”

Li Shimin shook his head to indicate his position, “Big Brother, go attend to your own affairs. Don’t worry about me.”

Li Jiancheng stared at him for a while, then said, “Shimin, tell Big Brother honestly – do you truly like Princess Jinyang so much?”

The clear crackling sound of burning charcoal broke the silence in the room. Li Shimin listened to the howling, bitter north wind outside the window and said, “She and I have already missed each other once. I don’t want to miss a second time, and I don’t want to regret today’s events when I’m old and decrepit in the future.”

Li Jiancheng crouched down and patted his shoulder, “Big Brother understands. Don’t worry, Big Brother will help you persuade Father together, or we’ll get Yuanji to help persuade him too. We’ll surely make Father relent.”

His words were like a lamp in the dark night, bringing a glimmer of hope to Li Shimin’s heart, “Big Brother, you’re willing to help me?”

Li Jiancheng smiled, “You’ve called me Big Brother for over twenty years – how could I not help you? Besides, I still owe you one, don’t I?”

Li Shimin knew he was referring to the Liu Wen incident and shook his head, “I’ve already forgotten about that.”

“But I’ve always remembered it.” Li Jiancheng said, “If you hadn’t scolded me awake, I still wouldn’t know how wrong and absurd my mistakes were.” After a brief pause, he stood up, “Well then, you wait here for now. I’ll go persuade Father for you.”

“Thank you, Big Brother.” Faced with Li Shimin’s gratitude, Li Jiancheng smiled and walked out. He asked the servants waiting outside and learned that Li Yuan had gone to the stables. When he was almost at the stables, he saw Li Yuan riding away and quickly had someone bring his mount to follow behind Li Yuan. One after the other, they left the city.

Arriving outside the city, Li Yuan spurred his horse, which had originally been trotting at a gentle pace, to immediately quicken its speed like a shooting star chasing the moon. Li Jiancheng followed closely behind. They galloped for nearly half an hour before Li Yuan finally pulled on the reins and slowed down.

Li Jiancheng rode his horse to Li Yuan’s side and smiled, “After galloping for so long, is Father feeling somewhat better?”

Li Yuan said with a gloomy expression, “Whether I feel better or not doesn’t depend on how long I’ve galloped, but on your second brother.” He then added, “Did he tell you?”

Li Jiancheng nodded, “Second Brother is still young and inevitably gets his head turned by love. Why must Father be so angry?”

Li Yuan said coldly, “Even if he told me today that he wanted to marry a beggar or even a prostitute, I wouldn’t be so angry. But it’s precisely Princess Jinyang – he’s simply gone mad, not thinking about how Xuanba died.” He then said to Li Jiancheng, “You’ve always gotten along well with Shimin. You should counsel him properly.”

Li Jiancheng smiled bitterly, “Actually, when I was in the study earlier, I already tried to persuade Shimin, but unfortunately his attitude was resolute and he refused to budge!”

This statement undoubtedly made Li Yuan even more annoyed as he said hatefully, “In any case, he shouldn’t expect me to approve this marriage. Without parental consent, let’s see how he gets married.”

“I’m afraid Shimin won’t give up. When I left, he was still kneeling in the study.”

Li Yuan’s expression froze momentarily, then he said, “If he likes kneeling so much, let him kneel. I want to see how long he can keep it up.”

Li Jiancheng dismounted and took Li Yuan’s horse reins, “Father, why don’t you just grant Shimin his wish?”

His words made Li Yuan frown deeply, “How have you become so confused too? Have you also forgotten Xuanba’s death?”

“Your son naturally remembers, but your son understands Shimin’s feelings for Princess Jinyang better than Father does. Back then…” Li Jiancheng’s hesitant manner displeased Li Yuan, who urged, “If you have something to say, say it. What’s with all this stammering?”

Li Jiancheng acknowledged and said, “There’s something your son has never told Father. Back then… the reason Princess Jinyang was able to escape from Honghua Prefecture wasn’t due to good luck, but because someone deliberately let her go.”

Li Yuan’s face darkened like an approaching storm, “Was it Shimin?”

“Correct.” Li Jiancheng sighed, “Think about it – we sent so many people into the mountains to search. How could we have found nothing at all? It was Shimin who couldn’t bear to kill her and secretly let her escape, only telling Father that we failed to capture her!”

“He… he…” Li Yuan trembled with rage, unable to speak for a long while. Seeing this, Li Jiancheng quickly said, “Father, please calm your anger and don’t harm your health!”