On Our Wedding Night, I Discovered the Crown Prince's Hidden Illness-Chapter 280 - : The Rice is Already Cooked
Chapter 280 -280: The Rice is Already Cooked
Leng Yu Yan looked puzzled. “Is it really about opening up and continuing as friends?”
“Indeed,” Ji Qingyu smiled gently, like a touch of warmth in an autumn day.
Seeing that she was not persuaded, he hastily added, “We’ll be the kind of close friends who share drinks and endless conversations!”
Observing his sincere expression, Leng Yu Yan thought for a moment and remembered how at the beginning of the year, when she had just returned to the capital, he had helped her obtain the topographical map from the Ministry of War, and her heart softened.
Drinking a glass or two won’t lead to intoxication, clearer discussions would bring more friends rather than foes.
She then gave a faint smile and nodded. “That sounds good.”
Ji Qingyu put the two bottles of wine back into the saddlebag and said with a smile, “Shall we then ride slowly on our way?”
“Alright,” Leng Yu Yan mounted her horse.
Ji Qingyu also got on his horse and the two rode side by side at a leisurely pace.
Under the afterglow of the setting sun, the surrounding scenery was coated with a warm light.
Even though they rode in silence and exchanged no words, Ji Qingyu’s lips slightly curled.
It had been a long time since they had been alone together like this.
Upon their arrival at the tavern, the shopkeeper greeted Leng Yu Yan with a smile not easy to interpret and bowed exaggeratedly, “This humble one greets the Commandery Princess!”
Leng Yu Yan looked at Ji Qingyu, who smiled and said, “The identity of the Commandery Princess is well known to everyone at this tavern.”
After a pause, Ji Qingyu instructed the shopkeeper, “Old Ji, bring all the specialties of the tavern to the private room.”
“Right away, right away!” the shopkeeper cheerfully agreed and turned to instruct the staff to get busy.
Meanwhile, at the Eastern Palace.
The Hidden Guard reported, “Your Highness, the Commandery Princess left the Imperial College today and did not return to Prince Zhenbei Mansion but followed Prince Qing instead.”
Hearing this, Ye Yiheng frowned. “Ji Qingyu?”
The Hidden Guard replied, “Exactly. I saw from afar that Prince Qing was carrying two bottles of wine, seemingly inviting the princess to drink with him.”
Ye Yiheng felt a surge of anger. Was she really deceived by Ji Qingyu with just two bottles of wine?
Thinking of her poor tolerance for alcohol, he felt unexpectedly irritable.
This woman was truly a handful!
He had warned her numerous times. If a man invites her to drink, his intentions are never good!
Back at the tavern.
After Ji Qingyu and Leng Yu Yan reached the private room on the second floor, it was not long before the food was served and two bottles of orange wine were opened.
Ji Qingyu stood up to pour wine into the cup before her and then filled his own.
Looking at the full table of dishes, Leng Yu Yan slowly began, “Qingyu, if you have something to say, please just say it.”
Hearing her call him “Qingyu,” Ji Qingyu’s face smiled warmly, but his heart ached slightly.
“Ah Yan, I want to know where I fall short compared to Ye Yiheng.”
“Do you want the truth?”
“Of course, the truth!”
“The Crown Prince and you are two different individuals. In many respects, he is less capable than you. For instance, his cold disease is more severe than yours, and he is nearly blind…”
“But you chose him!” Ji Qingyu was about to get agitated but forced himself to remain calm, pinching his thigh, smiled again and asked, “Ah Yan, why did you choose him?”
“I choose him?” Leng Yu Yan murmured to herself again.
Ji Qingyu chuckled lightly, “That day, in front of the Emperor and me, didn’t you both express mutual affection? Could it be false?”
His gaze was always sharp; Leng Yu Yan responded with a faint smile, “Matters of the heart are just so unreasonable, perhaps because I spent too much time living in the Eastern Palace and developed feelings inexplicably.”
Seeing her evasive eyes, Ji Qingyu pinched his fists, holding back the urge to grasp her wrist and asked in a deep voice, “Is he coercing you?”
“No.”
“Ah Yan, look at me and tell the truth!” Ji Qingyu stared at her intensely, “Did he kiss you?”
Leng Yu Yan shook her head blankly—aside from biting her neck, the madman had never actually kissed her. Even when she took the initiative, he pushed her away; how could he possibly kiss her?
Ji Qingyu laughed self-deprecatingly; he had seen it with his own eyes the day before in her courtyard!
“Then how do you explain the red marks on your neck before? Ah Yan, if I did the same, would you choose me then?”
Leng Yu Yan tapped the table lightly, “Ji Qingyu, what are you talking about? If you continue like this, we needn’t drink anymore today.”
Upon hearing this, Ji Qingyu tilted his head back and gulped down the wine in his cup.
The usually sweet orange wine tasted bitter now, yet, he still maintained a gentle smile on his face.
“You see, you’re angry, aren’t you? Didn’t we agree to speak plainly?”
After speaking, he clenched the cup so tightly his knuckles turned white. There he was, Ji Qingyu, the notorious little tyrant of the capital, restraining himself over and over, liking a woman. The blind man had done what he didn’t dare to.
It didn’t seem like his style at all!
Leng Yu Yan picked up her wine cup and took a tiny sip, speaking softly, “Honestly, being with you, the you from the past, I felt relaxed, without needing to guard against anything. You had your secrets, I had mine; Li Yu, Li Yu, that was the best way for us to be together.”
“In front of the Crown Prince, I inexplicably feel fear and panic, I always wanted to escape from him.”
Yet, for some reason, whenever she was away from him, every time it was quiet at night, she would think of him. Even if she didn’t want to, in dreams, she would meet him, and they would crazily entangle with each other.
It was like a spell—the more she fled, the more she couldn’t escape. Conversely, she even approached him proactively.
She didn’t voice these latter thoughts.
Ji Qingyu said, “Now, even if you want to escape, you can’t, is it because of your identity?”
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Leng Yu Yan smiled faintly, neither confirming nor denying.
After pacing his thoughts for a long time, he asked, “Ah Yan, what if you abandon the Prince Zhenbei Mansion and I give up my Commandery Prince position, forsake our parents, and roam the world together?”
She shook her head, “There is no such ‘what if.’ You are the little tyrant, who could capriciously leave your parents as before. I’m different; it took me a lot to finally have a family, I barely have time to cherish it, how could I abandon it?”
Ji Qingyu sighed, “Then, can we still be friends?”
She took a large gulp of wine, coughed once, laughed—the laughter making her eyes sparkle, “I always thought I was great friends with you. In life’s solitude, having a friend with whom one can speak freely regardless of status, now that is a wonderful thing. But, Qingyu, I didn’t expect…”
Ji Qingyu forced a smile, “If only we could turn back time and return to when Li Yu and Li Yu were just pure friends!”
Ah Yan, do you know why I took the name Li Yu? It was to get close to you.
In the mountain inn, you healed my arm and even lent me Silver Coin. At that time, I fell for you!
If affection had a sequence, Ah Yan, I loved you long before the blind man did!
The blind man must have forced himself on her, and she had no choice but to choose him.
If he had been more intimately close to her, would she have chosen him then?
Thinking this, Ji Qingyu picked up the wine jug and subtly pressed a button on the bottom, quickly dissolving the sedative into the wine.
As long as she drank the orange wine mixed with the sedative, she would fall asleep. Knowing she had medical skills, he specifically chose an odorless and tasteless sedative.
Once they had laid together, she could only marry him!
