Chapter 454: Will You Marry Me?
How is that possible? How could he come to propose when he has not had the answer to her question? She thought he had decided to not give up everything he had in the Capital, so she never mentioned anything that happened that day. Why did he suddenly propose marriage?
Pei s.h.i.+ smiled and said, “It’s not considered a marriage proposal just yet. Lingzhi coming to probe your father… Isn’t that because Tang Zhen entrusted him with the matter?”
Ye Zhen frowned lightly. She felt Tang Zhen was not the kind of person who would come to propose marriage without even asking her first. So, does that mean this has something to do with Lu Lingzhi? Is he in a hurry to marry me off?
“Grandmother knows you’re back today and she has been asking for your presence since early in the morning. You go and greet her now,” she said with a smile, not noticing the look on her daughter’s face as she led her to the upper hall.
“Mother, have you all agreed?” Ye Zhen asked in a whisper as she took her hand into her own.
Pei s.h.i.+ nodded. “Mother has inquired about all the eligible young men in the capital, and no one is more suitable than Tang Zhen. Could it be that you don’t like him?”
“I’d like to see Tang Zhen first,” Ye Zhen said.
“Very well!” Pei s.h.i.+ smiled and nodded in agreement. However, in her heart, she believed that her daughter must also like him and only needed to talk to him because she wanted to be more sure of the marquis’s mind.
The pair of mother and daughter then fell silent as they went to Old Madam Lu’s courtyard to greet her. There was a spell of intimacy between grandparents and grandchildren, however, owing to the fact that there were others in the room, the matriarch did not mention anything about Tang Zhen. In any case, she only needed to see the barest hint of Pei s.h.i.+ nodding her head to her to know the outcome.
The next day, Ye Zhen did not go to the palace, instead, she was going to see Tang Zhen. Just before she left the door of the Lu Family, Old Madam Lu also received an order from the empress dowager to enter the palace to pay respect to her.
Meanwhile, learning that Ye Zhen wanted to see him, Tang Zhen did not go to the palace. And as soon as the time came, he immediately went to the appointed location to wait for her. Not long after, he saw a carriage bearing Lu Family’s crest slowly approach and come to a stop nearby.
“Yaoyao.” Seeing his sweetheart standing in front of him, Tang Zhen felt a burst of joy and smiled.
“Brother Tang.” Her sleeves moved as she curtsied. “Please forgive me for inviting you over so abruptly.”
Tang Zhen hurriedly waved his hand and said, “Yaoyao, what does this little thing matter? Is there anything I can do for you?”
“I hear you’re going to the Lu Family to propose?” She was not shy and nervous. Instead, she looked straight at Tang Zhen, eyes calm.
“Yaoyao….” He didn’t expect that she would ask about this matter. He glanced at her cautiously and saw that her eyes were bright and clear, as calm as water. There was no joy nor shyness in them. Although there was a trace of doubt on her beautiful, elegant, and pure face, it was not the kind of bashfulness he had expected. “Do you not like it?”
She spoke, voice low, “It’s not a question whether I like it or not, Brother Tang. You know what the problem is.”
“The matter between you and the emperor?” he asked with a bitter smile as he gazed down at her.
“Brother Tang….” Her face changed slightly. What did he know?
Tang Zhen smiled self-deprecatingly and said, “That day in the hunting grounds, the emperor did not even care about his life when he jumped in to save you. I have already been able to come to my own conclusion.”
“It’s impossible between His Majesty and me,” she said, shaking her head gently. “If I were to say that if I get married, I want to leave this place in the future….”
“As long as I am willing to give up everything and leave the capital with you, you will marry me?” he asked, taking her hand into his, looking straight at her.
She looked back into his eyes seriously and said, “Brother Tang, what exactly do you like about me? If, in the future, you find that I’m not the girl you want, will you and I still be husband and wife at that time?”
He looked at her in shock. “Yaoyao, what are you talking about? My heart and eyes are full of you now. How can you not be the girl I want?”
“There are many things in this world that cannot be explained,” she said, smiling. “Brother Tang, you are a good man, so before you marry me, you better think clearly if… you are really willing to give up everything for me.”
“Yaoyao, do you want to leave the capital because of His Majesty?” he asked in a low voice. He knew that she didn’t have him in her heart, but he still…he couldn’t give up.
“Yes and also no,” she said faintly. “Since you know that His Majesty and I… then, why do you still want to take me as your wife?”
Tang Zhen looked at her determinedly. “I always have to give it a try. I don’t want to live in regret all my life.”
“You’re lying!” Ye Zhen snorted coldly. “It was my eldest brother who asked you to propose, didn’t he?”