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She and He Hongwen had known each other long ago, and her grandma had longed for uniting the two families with marriage. Ever since Old Madam Sheng had come back to the capital from Youyang, she had compared He Hongwen"s morality and talent with other young boys. After her careful comparison, she had only thought highly of He Hongwen. Meanwhile, He family had also consented to this marriage. As a result, Old Madam Sheng then had planned to arrange the engagement between Minglan and He Hongwen. However, in the end of the autumn of that year, "Shen Chen Mutiny" had happened. After that, the situation in the capital city had been critical. Tons of people had died in that year. So the marriage between Minglan and He Hongwen had been delayed.

Afterwards, First Old Madam had been seriously ill and Old Madam Sheng had visited her in Youyang, which made Minglan"s marriage be held up again. After that, Minglan had also gone to Youyang. As she had planned to come back to the capital city after First Lady"s funeral, "Jing Tan Mutiny" had happened. The chaos which had caused by war had brought disaster to the land of thousands of miles as well as several commanderies of armies. At last, Minglan had only got back to the capital city until May in the second year of Chongde.

No one expected that the soon as Minglan had gone back, she had run into the things with Cao Jinxiu. Old Madam Sheng had been extremely angry about that. Then the marriage had been put off again. After all those complications which had lasted for almost half a year, Gu Tingye had shown up to be the new obstacle of Minglan and He Hongwen"s marriage.

Sometimes Minglan felt it was all destiny. However, sometimes she still believed that the reason why they couldn"t be together was only because He Hongwen had been so indecisive that he hadn"t proposed the marriage earlier. Otherwise, Gu Tingye wouldn"t even have the chance to plot all those schemes. Maybe the affection she and He Hongwen had had with each other was already drained while they had weighed the advantages and disadvantages during their quarrels.

Thinking of that, Minglan felt a bit depressed—— Wait, she suddenly felt something was not right. Then she raised up her head to look at the man in front of her, saying with suspicion, “Why do you know all the details about He family? Have… you… done something to He family to cause that? Cao family… Ah!”

There was one thing that haunted Minglan from long time ago. However, she never thought deeply. Liang Prefecture was in the north-east. It would take four or five months for even the military messenger who rode the fastest horse to get there. As for Cao family which had so many members and so little money, it would take them twice the time to get back to the capital city. However, the fact was that Cao family had managed to arrive in the capital within a year. So it must be…

Gu Tingye didn"t deny at all. He said calmly, “You are right. The water transport gang had gone down the river. I told the Shi brothers to transport Cao family to the capital city by ship.”

Minglan even didn"t have the strength to get angry. She only looked at him with her mouth open. Gu Tingye then asked her with his eyebrows wrinkled, “Do you want Cao family to stir up troubles after you and He Hongwen get engaged or even get married?!” He spoke without any guilty, “It"s better that you can find out about that early. You have to thank me for this.”

Minglan fell to the chair disappointedly with her mind in a complete turmoil. She looked out of the window, then she looked back to Gu Tingye, saying in a trance, “Thank you.”

Gu Tingye replied with a smile, “You are welcome.”

Minglan didn"t like those make-up powders and had only applied some balm on her face since her skin was already bright enough. When the winter sunlight reached into the hall, her face looked so delicate like a white paper as if it couldn"t bear a single touch. A few streaks of hair were hanging down loosely by the sides of her temples, which made her look as pretty as the flower bud.

And those eyes, those eyes. Gu Tingye looked at her silently. He had fallen in love with those eyes from long time ago. Those dark eyes were just like a quiet spring, but also had fantastic flames jumping out from the inside. The fire seemed to be her anger or her disappointment which entangled with each other. He was shocked by those mysterious eyes. And after that, he was completely intoxicated.

Millions of thoughts filled in Minglan"s mind. After pondering for a long while, she realized that the past was the past, she should focus more on what was happening next. So she corrected her att.i.tude and turned around to smile at Gu Tingye, saying, “Thanks for your appreciation, General Gu. But… maybe I should tell you this first, I"m not going to be a good wife. I"m a disobedient and rebellious woman who has so many different defaults. I suggest you to think twice before making this decision.”

Gu Tingye laughed and said, “What"s done is done. Now everyone knew the marriage agreement between our families. Your sister could still marry Scholar Wen. What about you? Don"t tell me that you can put up with marrying in He family!”

His words made Minglan simmer with rage. With all those grievances welling up in her mind, she suddenly stood up and snorted, “Are you telling me marrying you is the best thing in this world for me?”

Gu Tingye also stood up immediately. As this tall st.u.r.dy man stepped forward, his shadow enveloped Minglan"s whole body. Minglan couldn"t help but take half a step back. Then, Gu Tingye laughed proudly while saying in a clear loud voice, “I can"t say that marrying me is the best thing in the world. But I can promise you that I won"t let you be wronged a bit after you marry me.”

Minglan was even more furious. She kept giving out sardonic grin, “General Gu, thanks for your consideration. I have been raised in a well-off family. When was I ever wronged? I don"t need anyone to save me from anything!”

Gu Tingye was not irritated at all. He only stared at Minglan with meaningful expression in his eyes, saying slowly, “No, you are lying. You have always been oppressed until now. You hate the stupid rules of defining who you are according to who your mother is! But you still have to obey everything! You are outstanding in every way, but you are too scared to expose your talent! That"s why you have chosen that ordinary He Hongwen as your husband!”

Minglan flew into a rage, not knowing that her eyes already turned red. She only snorted loudly and shouted, “Scared to expose my talent?! Everyone should get a clear understanding of his own fate. Do you know who doesn"t? Huh! The fourth son of the late emperor didn"t, and what did he get? A cup of poisonous wine! Also, the sixth son of the late emperor didn"t accept his destiny either. So he was relegated to low-grade imperial clan! And what about Jing Lord and Tan Lord? They have been beheaded!… Even men like you would end up like this, let alone a little girl like me! What can I do! How can I survive in this world if I do not resign myself to my own fate!”

She never liked embroidery. That thing only gave her tons of tiny wounds on the fingers. She didn"t like w.a.n.g shi, Concubine Lin or Molan. She hated to laugh while she was unhappy. She hated pretending to be obedient in front of the people she disliked. She also wanted to choose the new clothes and good stuff that she liked. She never wanted to play dumb while she felt aggrieved… She just had to pretend to like so many things that she disliked.

But she had no choice! She had to survive!

Having taken a step forward, Gu Tingye stood firmly and tried to put pressure on her, “That"s right! You are just too clear about everything! You are intelligent and tactful. You have insight into everything! That"s why you don"t dare to transgress the bounds! But I know that you have never really taken in those unfair treatments. You feel angry and reluctant to accept your fate. But you still cannot do anything about it. You are aggrieved and depressed. But you can only play the fool. You treat your own life perfunctorily and do anything with scrupulousness. You force yourself to be that perfect sixth lady of Sheng family!”

Minglan was trembling right now. She didn"t know if it was because of her anger or her scare. Her back was covered with cold sweats while her fingers inserted deeply into her palm. It was like her old scarred wound being ripped apart again. It turned out that the b.l.o.o.d.y injury had never really healed. She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry bitterly. However, everything she felt right now was blocked in her throat. She could only stand still in a dilemma, letting her eyes brim over with tears.

She had become a lady in ancient times for ten years. Her previous life was almost like a dream to her. She had played this role as Sheng Minglan and stayed in the character for so long that she had already forgotten how to cry genuinely and shout abuse with abandon. She had already forgotten that she was not Sheng Minglan. She was, Yao Yiyi.

Seeing Minglan"s face covering with tears, Gu Tingye also felt strangely bitter. He stepped forward again and bowed to Minglan with his fist in his other hand. Then he raised his head and said firmly with clear but raucous voice, “I have fancied you for a long time. Now I want you to be my wife. Give me your hand and we are to grow old together.”

Minglan saw Gu Tingye"s sincere face through her watery eyes. For the moment, she was even a bit panicky.

Gu Tingye stared at Minglan with his glowing and dazzling eyes which were full of antic.i.p.ation, “I won"t talk big by telling you that I can let you live like a G.o.ddess. But I can a.s.sure you that you will never be wronged as long as I am with you! You can have everything that I have!”

His words sounded extremely unswerving and powerful.

Minglan was stunned. She felt her face becoming cold unknowingly. When she touched her face, she only found tears there.

She was painful because she was always sober. She lived a miserable life because she was clever. Despair always stood in the end of hope. She didn"t dare to have any hope or antic.i.p.ation. So she chose to be a fool. The only thing she needed to do was stepping on the point of knife with shackles on her feet while smiling like a fool.

She hated ancient times!