That summer, the emperor’s youngest brother, King Huai, married the second daughter of Duke Shou An. This was naturally a huge event in the capital, and was even handled by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince himself.

There were few people in Shou An Manor, so Liu Zhenqing naturally invited a bunch of his friends to help out, waiting for this uncle to come pick up his bride.

Huo Feihan and Liu Zhenqing were standing at the door when Li Xingruo exited the auntie’s room.

Liu Zhenqing stepped forward and asked: “How is she?”

“Fine, it’s just morning sickness. It won’t affect anything.” Li Xingruo said disdainfully, “Can’t you look at the situation and come to that conclusion yourself? If Master knew of this, he would definitely punish you.”

“Women are more accurate at diagnosing women, ah,” Liu Zhenqing said innocently.

“I heard that after your aunt marries King Huai, she’ll go to Nanfeng City, which is near the Western Shu Kingdom,” Huo Feihan said.

Liu Zhenqing nodded and said: “Yes. This is a good ending.”

The old emperor’s health was getting worse, and the crown prince had already been allowed to take up governance of the country. If the old emperor hadn’t been reluctant to give up the power in his hands, he could have become Taishang Huang, a retired, living emperor who gave the throne to his son. But the court had already accomplished a smooth transition, and the three kings basically knew there was no hope for them.

King Huai was the first to withdraw, and asked for an Imperial decree of marriage. 

Liu Zhenqing guessed it had something to do with him getting his aunt pregnant out of wedlock.

Outsiders didn’t know the inside story, and Huo Feihan and Li Xingruo had only found out about it shortly before.

The girl from Shou An manor had initially claimed that she was in ill health and needed to recuperate, and stayed at home. Residents of the capital nearly forgot about this person, but when King Huai suddenly requested a marriage, everyone suddenly remembered that Liu Zhenqing had an aunt.

In the entire manor, only the duke and Liu Zhenqing knew the entire story.

His aunt was not recuperating from illness, but had a secret private life with King Huai. The old duke said that if she followed him in his plot to seize the throne, she would no longer be his daughter, so their relationship was not made public. It wasn’t until King Huai had completely given up his ambition that the old duke gave the nod and agreed to their marriage.

So after the marriage, King Huai would take his aunt away from the capital and go to the southernmost fiefdom, where they would spend the rest of their lives in peace while guarding Great Zhou. This also prevented outsiders from discovering that she had become pregnant before marriage.

Very soon, the wedding procession arrived. As Liu Zhenqing carefully carried his aunt out of the house, he could sense that she was tense.

He naturally understood why, and whispered: “Auntie, it’s okay. If Shimei says it’s fine, then it’s fine. She’s not a half-baked doctor like your nephew, hahaha.”

She was obviously amused, but as the two exited the duke’s manor, his aunt’s tears still wet Liu Zhenqing’s collar.

“Xiting, I’ll leave Grandpa in your care,” said his aunt. Her voice was choked with tears.

“Don’t worry, Auntie. Grandpa has a sharp tongue but a soft heart. When my future cousin is born, I’ll bring Grandpa to visit you.”

His auntie breathed a sigh of relief and said: “Okay. I also hope that by then, you’ll bring along your future spouse.”

“Hahaha, of course, of course.”

When handing her over to King Huai, Liu Zhenqing called him “Uncle” with a smile.

King Huai was naturally not fond of the brat in front of him. He had been deceived by him many times in their secret past confrontations. 

At that time, King Huai couldn’t help but think that if this kid were willing to assist him, he would definitely be the one sitting on the throne. But he would not use his beloved spouse to curry favor with someone. Now that the situation was hopeless, he just let it go.

But he was still extremely unsure, so he took advantage of their close proximity and the noise around them to whisper: “Since you can call me ‘uncle,’ why didn’t you help me before?”

He should know that if King Huai took the throne, his status would be higher than what it was now.

Liu Zhenqing smiled and said: “Naturally, I did what was best for the common people of the world.”

King Huai gave him a doubtful look.

“The world needs stability, and Great Zhou needs a benevolent ruler.”

King Huai got the gist of it. He was a war hawk. Before seizing the throne, he had been thinking about how to quickly expand his territory once he was in power, as well as which countries to attack. He longed for the prosperity and greatness of ages past, and wanted to take back all of the territories that used to belong to their Great Zhou, but the current Great Zhou could not support his ideals.

King Huai dully withdrew his gaze. Nowadays, what he cared about the most was the person in the carriage behind him.

Liu Zhenqing and the others followed the wedding procession as it set off. Since it was the crown prince who organized the events, the two didn’t have separate banquets but instead gathered in the same place. 

Li Xingruo was not willing to get into the carriage with the ladies. They would definitely urge her to have children, but she didn’t want a baby for the time being and didn’t want her peace and quiet to be disturbed. However, even though she was already married, she was advised by the older women around her to behave herself a little. No woman should ride a horse on such an occasion. 

But in the next second, Huo Feihan and Liu Zhenqing arrived on horseback to find her.

Huo Feihan immediately reached out to her. Li Xingruo’s lips curved into a smile, and under the disapproving looks of the crowd, Huo Feihan directly pulled her onto the horse so they could ride together.

Liu Zhenqing joked with a laugh: “Be careful the Huo family elders don’t see you.”

Just as Li Xingruo was about to retort, Huo Feihan chuckled: “It doesn’t matter. Ruoruo can do whatever she likes.”

Full of pride, Li Xingruo instantly raised her eyebrows at Liu Zhenqing and said sarcastically: “I see that you still ride crooked. Why don’t you take a carriage so that you don’t fall off?”

“Don’t insult me!” Liu Zhenqing scoffed. “My riding skills have improved a lot!”

But the slap in the face always arrived too quickly. When they were approaching the palace gates, it was so crowded with guests that his horse was startled. 

Liu Zhenqing couldn’t hold the horse back, and it reared up.

Huo Feihan saw this and was about to fly up and save him, but Li Xingruo stopped him.

Because Li Xingruo had already spotted the person jumping down from the palace.

It was Huo Fenglie, who had been called by Yuan Jue to accompany him and the crown prince.

In a flash, Huo Fenglie leaped high into the air and landed steadily beside Liu Zhenqing.

Before Liu Zhenqing could react, the reins in his hand were taken away.

A shout was heard, and along with the tightening of the reins, the horse’s entire front practically lifted up.

Liu Zhenqing slid backward and fell into the arms of the person behind him. That person had a strong chest, and even in this mid-air state, Liu Zhenqing felt as safe as if he was leaning against a solid wall.

The horse was tamed in a few moments, having caused almost no trouble to the surrounding area.

Liu Zhenqing pretended to be calm, but he was breathing rapidly. He heard a soft voice of comfort from behind: “Qing-ge, it’s okay.”

Huo Feihan rode up with Li Xingruo and said: “Is everything alright?”

Liu Zhenqing managed to calm himself: “Just a small problem.” Then he turned to look behind him in pleasant surprise: “All thanks to Er-gou.”

Standing beneath the sun, this youth had grown up a lot. The angles of his face had become more shapely, to the point that young girls would blush upon seeing him. But in Liu Zhenqing’s eyes, there wasn’t much difference.

Although Huo Fenglie had grown rapidly in recent years, he was still only as tall as his Qing-ge and was ten years younger than him, so he could barely hold him. Huo Fenglie lowered his arms, keeping one hand on the reins and the other arm around Liu Zhenqing’s slender waist.

But Liu Zhenqing didn’t notice anything wrong. After all, they were always close like this.

The palace steward came forward anxiously to express his concern, but Liu Zhenqing just smiled with a wave of his hand and let him go see to his work. Then the two people continued riding together with Huo Fenglie handling the horse. Liu Zhenqing was lazy, and just used Huo Fenglie as a pillow to recline against. As long as Er-gou was there, he didn’t need to worry.

When they arrived at the place where the horses were tied, Liu Zhenqing and Li Xingruo stopped bickering. Li Xingruo had mocked him for the situation just now, and Liu Zhenqing had turned around and said that she had a crow’s mouth. 

Huo Feihan lifted his wife down from the horse and tidied her dress. Huo Fenglie dismounted first and waited for Liu Zhenqing to come down, even supporting his waist with one hand so that he wouldn’t strain himself.

After everyone was on their feet, Liu Zhenqing was about to thank Huo Fenglie for showing up in time before he could embarrass himself – but he saw Huo Fenglie holding his hand, looking down with a solemn expression.

Because of the events just now, Liu Zhenqing had stark, painful-looking red marks on his hand.

Huo Fenglie turned and said to Li Xingruo: “Sister-in-law, do you have any ointment?”

Li Xingruo and Huo Fenglie were startled, thinking that he was injured. But when they stepped forward to take a look, Li Xingruo said speechlessly: “Something like this needs ointment? No use worrying about it. It’ll be gone in a quarter of a shichen.”

She then gave Liu Zhenqing a blank look.

When Liu Zhenqing finally reacted, he didn’t know what to say: “Why are you griping at me? I’m not the one who asked. Er-gou, do you think I’m made of porcelain?” 

Liu Zhenqing started to pull his hand back in amusement.

“But…..it should hurt.” Huo Fenglie frowned as if unwilling to let go, and sent him a conflicted look.

Li Xingruo immediately sent Huo Feihan a look. In the Huo family, from oldest to youngest, no one had enjoyed such attentive care from Huo Fenglie.

Although Huo Fenglie was still young, he had reached the age of first romance. And Liu Zhenqing hadn’t reacted yet despite Er-gou showing such care toward him?

But in the next second, Liu Zhenqing stretched his hand out to Huo Fenglie and said with a coaxing smile: “Then Er-gou should blow on it for me and Qing-ge won’t hurt anymore, hahaha.”

Seeing this person laugh so heartlessly, the two onlookers were speechless and sent Huo Fenglie looks of sympathy.

However, Huo Fenglie dithered for a moment before obediently blowing for Liu Zhenqing.

It didn’t really hurt, but it did tingle a bit when air was blown on it. Liu Zhenqing had originally wanted to embarrass the kid, and hadn’t expected him to actually take it seriously. All of a sudden, there was an unfamiliar feeling in Liu Zhenqing’s heart.

But this feeling soon vanished. Liu Zhenqing raised a hand and pinched Huo Fenglie’s increasingly straight and handsome nose, saying playfully: “Be good.”

Presently, the four of them went to watch the wedding ceremony.

“Sure enough, girls really do look good in red wedding dresses,” Liu Zhenqing said with a smile. Perhaps it was because they usually didn’t wear bright red, so when they put the dress on, they looked extremely stunning.

“En, Ruoruo was also very…..” 

Li Xingruo poked him before Huo Feihan could finish his words: “What do you mean, do I not look good now?”

Huo Feihan, a simple man, realized he’d said the wrong thing and quickly apologized.

Liu Zhenqing shook his head and laughed. Li Xingruo switched targets and said: “Yes, they look good. But don’t you look the best wearing one?”

Suddenly reminded of his dark history, Liu Zhenqing was about to retort when he heard Li Xingruo say to the dazed Huo Fenglie: “Right, Fenglie? Isn’t your Qing-ge the most beautiful in a red wedding dress?”

Liu Zhenqing immediately became interested and turned to look at Huo Fenglie, awaiting his answer.

Huo Fenglie came to his senses with a start. His cheeks reddened uncontrollably, and he immediately nodded twice in silence.

Liu Zhenqing laughed and put an arm around Huo Fenglie’s shoulders, saying: “Er-gou has good taste, but you can’t hold people up to your Qing-ge’s standards in the future. You’ll definitely never find my match in this lifetime.”

Li Xingruo immediately complained: “How do you have the face to say such things?”

“Am I wrong? I look better in women’s clothes than Song Xingmu.”

“But back then, you clearly told my brother to find someone who measures up to your standards,” Huo Feihan recalled.

Liu Zhenqing exclaimed: “Did I say that? Hahaha, I forgot.”

“Irresponsible.” Li Xingruo said to Huo Fenglie with a sly smile: “Fenglie, if you can’t find someone like that in the future, blame him and make him take responsibility.”

Huo Fenglie only felt more ill at ease when he heard this.

The thick-skinned Liu Zhenqing, on the other hand, said directly: “Okay, okay, okay, I’ll take responsibility.”

“How will you take responsibility? Marry Fenglie and become his wife?” Li Xingruo asked at once.

“I…..” Liu Zhenqing was stunned, and couldn’t react for a moment. As he was thinking of how to retort, the wedding ceremony ended.

When the banquet started, there was naturally no seat for Huo Fenglie at Huo Feihan and Liu Zhenqing’s table.

Huo Fenglie could only go back and accompany Yuan Jue. The young prince looked at the absent-minded Huo Fenglie and raised an eyebrow, saying: “I’ve found that wherever Laoshi is, your attention is always on him.”

Yuan Jue was a clever person, and had already noticed something.

Huo Fenglie didn’t deny it. He just said: “I’m usually at the East Palace now and don’t go to the Imperial Academy anymore. I rarely have time to see Qing-ge.”

Yuan Jue said with a smile: “You blame me? I was thinking of waiting for my father to ascend the throne, and then asking him to grant you a marriage!”

Yuan Jue didn’t think there was anything wrong with Huo Fenglie being in love with Liu Zhenqing, who was ten years older than him. Huo Fenglie had been by the side of this brilliant, handsome man day and night since childhood. How could his young heart not be moved? But Yuan Jue had heard that his teacher intended to marry a beautiful woman, and didn’t know if his good brother could accomplish his goal.

When he heard Yuan Jue’s proposal, Huo Fenglie shook his head: “Qing-ge says that if the two parties aren’t in love, an arranged marriage counts as buying and selling people. He doesn’t like it.”

Yuan Jue didn’t understand why he wouldn’t take the shortcut, but he was just watching the fun.

It was already dark when Yuan Jue was taken away and Huo Fenglie had time to look for Liu Zhenqing.

On the way, he met a young man who offered him a toast.

“Thank you for what happened in the palace the day before last!”

Huo Fenglie recalled that he was a relative of the commander of the Jinyiwei, and was currently a guard in the palace. “You’re welcome. It was my duty.”

“That little eunuch…..”

“I sent him to the Dongchang. He should be fine,” Huo Fenglie said.

Young He Lan breathed a sigh of relief. The two had just gotten to know each other, and although their personalities meshed well, they hadn’t spoken much. After saying a quick goodbye, Huo Fenglie went to the main hall, but he had lost track of Liu Zhenqing.

He looked around and spotted Huo Feihan and Li Xingruo conversing under a tree.

When he asked them about Liu Zhenqing, Huo Feihan finally recalled: “Oh, someone invited him to the Drunken Spring to watch the courtesans. He seems to have agreed…..”

Before Huo Feihan could finish speaking, Huo Fenglie used qinggong to fly away.

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