As Tang Zhuyun listened to her account, she really couldn't place him.
Six years ago, the original owner of her body hadn't yet come to the capital. Even if she had, she probably wouldn't have been interested in such things, unless the family had an exceptionally handsome and talented young man.
Still, something didn't seem right. Exile didn't mean a ban on correspondence, so why had there been no word from him all these years?
Could he have died?
Of course, she didn't dare say that. Instead, she asked tactfully, "Sister, has he never written to you?"
"No," Meng Yulan said. "He's a man of great restraint and pride. He must not want to burden me. But he's the only one in my heart. If I had to marry someone else, I'd rather die."
Ah, this was too hard. They were a pair of ill-fated mandarin ducks.
Tang Zhuyun was troubled. Meng Yulan wasn't like her: no matter how much trouble Tang Zhuyun stirred up, her father and brother would cover for her. At the slightest sign of trouble with Meng Yulan, the first people who wouldn't let her off would be her own family.
So she still had to start with the Prince of Jin.
But she had nothing left to hold over him. It was so troubling.
Meng Yulan gripped Tang Zhuyun's hand tightly. "His name is Jiang Beihan, the heir of the Marquis of Wuyang's household. When he returns to the capital, please tell him for me that he's the only one in my heart, little sister. Give him those letters of mine, so he'll know that Yulan is his in life and will be his ghost in death."
"Sister Meng, don't, don't," Tang Zhuyun said. "Things haven't come to that, really. Stay alive, no matter how hard it gets. Only then can you renew your bond with the one you love someday."
Once a person died, there really was nothing left!
Tang Zhuyun couldn't think of a solution for the moment. She gritted her teeth and said, "Sister Meng, the Prince of Jin brought me here. Why don't we ask him to come in and speak frankly? Tell him your heart belongs to someone else and ask him what to do."
Meng Yulan was startled. "How can we ask His Highness what to do about this? His Highness has done nothing wrong... In truth, my dying like this would already be very unfair to him. If word got out, I'm afraid he'd gain a reputation for bringing death to his wives as well."
Especially since she wanted to die, while Tang Zhuyun wanted to claim she had a serious illness.
With the two together, who would dare marry the Prince of Jin afterward?
"No," Tang Zhuyun said. "I don't think he's an unreasonable man. Let's be honest with him. Otherwise, if two women die, it won't be good for him either. Wouldn't it be better to settle this peacefully?"
Meng Yulan kept feeling that something about this wasn't quite right, but Tang Zhuyun had so taken her in that she couldn't find the words to object.
Tang Zhuyun invited the Prince of Jin inside.
Meng Yulan got out of bed and knelt on the floor.
Tang Zhuyun tried to pull her up, but she refused, only lowering her head as if awaiting the Prince of Jin's judgment.
The Prince of Jin didn't tell her to rise either. No matter how Tang Zhuyun winked and gestured at him, nearly giving herself cramps around the eyes, he pretended not to see.
"Speak," he said coldly.
Naturally, Meng Yulan couldn't tell him that her heart belonged to someone else. If word reached her father's ears, the matter would be hard to settle.
Tang Zhuyun couldn't hold back. "Your Highness, about the marriage..."
"Shut up. I wasn't asking you."
Tang Zhuyun: "..."
Damn man!
Meng Yulan kowtowed and spoke with difficulty. "My fine reputation has spread far and wide, but I don't live up to it. I'm not worthy of Your Highness."
Tang Zhuyun said, "Me neither!"
The Prince of Jin sneered. "So you know your reputation has spread far and wide!"
Those words, however, were directed at Tang Zhuyun.
Tang Zhuyun thought, Such a fine man, what a pity he had to grow a mouth.
The Prince of Jin said to Meng Yulan, "Since you're unwilling, go before the emperor and refuse the marriage."
Meng Yulan was at a loss for words.
Tang Zhuyun thought, If men and women were equal, of course she could go. But women are at a severe disadvantage now, and reality won't allow it!
"Your Highness," Tang Zhuyun said, swallowing under his icy gaze, "as the saying goes, a forcibly twisted melon isn't sweet..."
"Tang Zhuyun, do you think I've ever been a picky eater?"
Fuck, how can you say that? You're a prince of the blood, yet you're so hungry you'll eat anything.
"Thunder and lightning, rain and dew are all the emperor's grace," the Prince of Jin said coldly. "Whether it's sweet or not isn't for anyone to choose."
Meng Yulan's tears fell onto the floor tiles.
How could she not know that?
Just as Tang Zhuyun was cursing the Prince of Jin from head to toe in her mind, she heard him say, "You still have a year. If you want to refuse the marriage, you'll have to rely on your own abilities."
A year?
Tang Zhuyun and Meng Yulan both looked at the Prince of Jin in surprise.
The Prince of Jin turned his back on them and stood with his hands clasped behind him, his voice like shards of ice. "The emperor won't bestow a marriage before next May."
Tang Zhuyun asked, "Why?"
Why did she find that so hard to believe?
Meng Yulan, however, kowtowed in thanks. "Thank you, Your Highness."
With almost a year left, she had hope.
She had heard vague reports that there seemed to have been new developments in the case of the Marquis of Wuyang's household, and that the emperor's attitude had softened somewhat.
Being swallowed by darkness before dawn broke was the despair that hurt her most deeply.
"Before then, you two must either make the emperor change his mind yourselves or obediently marry into my household. If you dare do anything to damage its reputation, don't blame me for showing no mercy!" Every word the Prince of Jin spoke carried the weight of a thousand catties, sweeping toward them with ice and snow.
What a rotten man, what a lousy attitude. Who's afraid of whom?
If not for the fact that he had at least given them a one-year reprieve, Tang Zhuyun would have spat in his face.
Meng Yulan, however, sincerely thanked the Prince of Jin and bowed three more times.
There was still a year... She didn't expect to change anything, but she hoped the person she longed for could return to the capital.
Given more time, even if she died in the end, she could face death with greater composure and fewer regrets.
The Prince of Jin said, "Aren't you coming with me?"
Tang Zhuyun said, "Wait. After what happened today, I'm afraid Sister Meng will have a hard time. Let's first think of a way to help her through this."
The Prince of Jin said, "I told you to come!"
He was a man. A woman had been willing to hang herself rather than marry him; for him to have endured it until now and even offered a year's grace was already the utmost benevolence.
"Why so fierce?... Sister Meng," Tang Zhuyun said quickly, "how about this? Say that my reputation was bad and you didn't want to share a husband with me. But after meeting me today, you realized the rumors outside had been distorted as they spread, so you've come to terms with it. What do you think?"
The Prince of Jin sneered.
Meng Yulan said, "Go on, little sister. Don't make His Highness angry. I can explain away what I did myself. I won't drag you into it."
The Prince of Jin's reputation was even worse, so her unwillingness to marry him would probably be more convincing.
The Prince of Jin shot her a penetrating glance. Meng Yulan felt cold all over at once, as though he had seen through every secret in her heart.
The Prince of Jin was truly terrifying...
The Prince of Jin took Tang Zhuyun back.
Although Tang Zhuyun wasn't as panicked this time as she had been on the way there, she still sat perfectly still on the horse.
When the Prince of Jin went to lift her down, she was still stiff all over. He scolded her, "You're like a block of wood. Have you spent all your courage on defying me?"
"You only just realized?" Tang Zhuyun said irritably. The tops of her inner thighs hurt even more from the chafing.
In front of the Prince of Jin, she didn't bother maintaining her image. After all, the man had seen her in every embarrassing state. She walked like a waddling duck.
The Prince of Jin was speechless. "Put some ointment on when you get back."
Tang Zhuyun suddenly turned around. "Your Highness, since I helped you in the middle of the night, could you give me a pill?"
"What medicine?" Wasn't she a physician?