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"...What?" Nani? He really was "betrothing" her?! She wasn't someone a man could entrust his whole life to, you know. "Can't we... not progress quite so fast? You just lost your memories not long ago. Let's take it slow and adapt to each other first, wouldn't that be better?"

"...Huh?" He pouted with dissatisfaction. "I'm the one who lost my memories, so why is it you who needs to adapt?"

"...Because before you lost your memories, you would never passionately and boldly flirt with others, nor would you casually betroth yourself to just any random stray cat or dog like some cheap piece of garbage, okay?"

"Why still don't you believe me? Silly, I already told you, I won't mind that you're poor."

"...Wuwuwu!" He really placed unconditional trust in her, swallowing all those tall tales hook, line, and sinker. Poverty wasn't even the main point here, okay?

"So, don't mind that I don't remember the past, and don't get angry and leave me behind, okay? I'll work hard to remember. What you like, what you hate, what you want, and how things are at home—I'll try my best to think of it all."

"...The boiling-water temperature in his gaze, those deeply affectionate words..." She was almost buckling under the pressure! What past was there... between the two of them? Aside from yesterday's entanglements, they weren't even acquaintances who nodded in greeting.

He had simply had everything overwritten by yesterday's memories, not realizing he had gotten the wrong person and transferred all his lingering affection for Miss Liu entirely onto her...

Miss Liu... That was the woman he cared about most and wanted to protect above all. Could he really have forgotten even her? Even if he forgot, such a profound and tangled affection would surely leave an imprint deep in his heart.

She had to think of a way to make him realize who the person he truly liked was!

"What? Li Chenjing broke his brain?"

Inside the Long Residence of an elder and veteran official of three reigns, Longyang's soaring voice rang out.

Li Chenjing, his archenemy Lord Longyang, had broken his brain? Ha? Hahahahahaha! This piece of heavenly good news was enough to dispel his morning crankiness.

"The dignified Chief Counselor broke his brain? Hahahahaha! Brother, hurry and tell me, what does it look like when our dashing Lord Li breaks his brain? Is he out of his wits, drooling, wetting the bed, spilling food all over the floor when he eats, and picking things up off the ground to eat?"

"Xiaojing lost his memories, he didn't become a fool, okay?" Long Ang shook his head, showing his disdain for his own younger brother's uncharitable and petty curses. Still... amnesia... what a brilliant, cunning trick. With a mere "bang," he instantly blew away tens of thousands of threads of worry, letting his troubles vanish like smoke. It truly made people green with envy and jealousy.

Could it be—that this was all part of his scheme? He was dumping a whole pile of messy business from the Six Ministries and work he didn't want to do onto a few poor suckers like them, while also avoiding having to wait on that substandard piece of work on the throne.

"Brother, you don't need to help him cover it up. What's the difference between not remembering things and breaking your brain?" Nodding slightly, Longyang answered his own question with disdain. "No difference, they're both good for nothing!"

Good for nothing... He also wanted to become good for nothing, so he could sit next to Xiaojing, drool a little, and watch the sunset.

Completely oblivious to his older brother's flowing train of thought, Longyang was full of soaring ambition as he clenched his fists. "Brother, this is a great opportunity for us! Since he broke his brain, he can't possibly keep holding the position of Chief Counselor, right? We'll memorialize the Holy Emperor and have him replaced!"

"Replaced? By whom?" Relieve Xiaojing of his post and put someone else up there? Whose child was unlucky enough to be that person? Long Ang chuckled, lightly blowing on his teacup as he prepared to take a sip.

"Of course it has to be someone from our Long Household!"

"Pfft!" Was this unlucky child the two of them?

"Brother, watch yourself. The Minister of Rites isn't like my barbarian vanguard unit; all ritual statutes and systems come from you. How can you carelessly spit turbid waste? If the emperor's lackeys see you, they'll definitely seize your handle and drag you down."

"Your Lordship can't possibly be that idle, right? Do I even lose the freedom to spit out a bit of tea in my own home?"

"That guy is craftier than a fox. He keeps trying to find ways to get dirt on us, everyday taking a little notebook to secretly record the faults of the Six Ministries. On the surface, he smiles and smiles like he's playing with a cat, but underneath he's full of bad water. Whoever goes against his wishes turns right around and finds a pretext in his little ledger to give them a hard time."

Their Holy Emperor's petty habit of holding grudges was indeed deeply rooted in people's hearts.

Raising a soft handkerchief to gently wipe his mouth, Long Ang calmed his breathing and fixed his gaze on his younger brother, a trace of elusive probing in his eyes. "What? Does Xiaoyang want to sit in that position?"

"Me?" Thinking of that position—the one closest to the current Son of Heaven—he frowned and waved a hand. "Who would want to sit next to a cat slave? But we can't always let that fellow surnamed Li have all the advantages either! Father is always at odds with Chancellor Li in the imperial court, and our Long Household can't keep being pressed down beneath them forever!"

The Long and Li households were prominent aristocratic clans whose powers and influences kept each other in check within the court. Cultivating two major clans was originally the art of statecraft practiced by successive emperors; the more these two clans balanced and pulled against each other, the more advantageous it was for the royal family. However, the current Holy Emperor did not inherit the throne from his father; instead, when the late emperor died without sons, he was chosen from among the sons of princes with fiefs outside the capital to succeed to the throne. The one who helped him ascend was Chancellor Li. The Holy Emperor had ascended the throne at a tender age, facing sudden upheaval all around him, and had hurried alone to an unfamiliar capital to take the throne, practically raised single-handedly by Chancellor Li. Consequently—the balance in the court tilted, and the situation where the Long Household played second fiddle to the Li Household had persisted unchanged for several years.

The title of "number two" in the court clung to their Long Household like a ghost.

"Number two in the court"—it sounded glamorous enough, but behind the scenes—who didn't secretly mock their Long Household for being the most "dim-witted" in the court, hopelessly foolish to the core!

It was precisely this foolish title that completely drove their old man mad. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth and never having suffered such indignity, he completely cracked.

He built his residence a little larger than the Li Household's, bought furnishings a little trendier than the Li Household's, had court robes a little stiffer than the fellow surnamed Li's, and even attracted more palace maids peeping at him than the fellow surnamed Li! In short, he had to compete with the fellow surnamed Li in everything, down to getting his wife pregnant a little earlier than the fellow surnamed Li, and having more sons than the fellow surnamed Li!

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Historical Romance

Woman Dressed as a Man