The Duke"s Heir scowled at his sister as soon as he heard that. And was glad that they were still hidden away inside her personal travel carriage. He did not expect her to lose her temper over their stepmother like that. Not when she was already neck deep in trouble herself! Shouldn"t she be more worried about how she was going to get herself out of this mess? Rather than stirring up more trouble?So he decided to stamp on her immediately. It was time that she learned not to keep throwing unnecessary obstacles into his plans.
"No. You will not."
The surprise on her face reminded him that she was his sister. And that he had never kicked up a fuss with her in the past. Well, that would have to change now.
"The situation with the Barbarians in the Western Forest is a little unusual now, and I shall have to spend a good amount of time there, to make sure that nothing goes wrong. On top of that, the King isn"t feeling very well lately, so the Royal Princes are all anxious at the moment.
"Do you really think that your husband will have any time to worry about you? At a time like this? He will be far too busy gathering up medicinal herbs and all sorts of curatives, to present them up to the Royal Court," Li Changtian told her in a stern voice.
"Then ..."
The Ducal Heir nodded at her, when her pout returned to her lips. It was clear that she had gotten the message. The only problem with that was, was she going to listen to him?
Well, that was something for her to worry about. He had not been lying about the Western Forest Barbarians. He had to keep his attention on dealing with that problem, and continue his support for the Third Royal Prince.
Given the King"s recent illness, he should be reminded by his closest advisors to declare one of his sons his successor, shouldn"t he? And apart from the Third Royal Prince, there were only two more suitable candidates for the position of the Crown Prince.
And neither of them had any supporters who were a match for the Third Prince"s people. Especially in the field of medicine. So Li Changtian had no doubt that the Third Royal Prince, Zhuo Linggu, would be quick to show his filial piety, and offer up his precious medicinal pills in hopes of curing the King of his indisposition.
That should be sufficient to secure him the King"s, and the Royal Court"s, favour.
And make them more disposed towards him. Perhaps that would be sufficient to push Zhuo Linggu"s Royal Father to make that final push, and declare him the Crown Prince?
Of course, that was only what Li Changtian was hoping for. And, he reminded himself, it would not do for his sister to screw things up for the Third Royal Prince with her petulant behavior. If she did, he would simply have to push everything on her husband"s family, and pretend that he knew nothing about the matter.
After all, he would stuck fighting off the Barbarians in the Western Forest, wouldn"t he? So how could he partic.i.p.ate in any disgraceful antics that she might get up to, back in the Capital?
Still, he could not help but give her a reminder:
"Basically, I will not be around to support you. And your husband would be far too busy to do anything either. So whatever you are likely to go through this next half year to three seasons, you shall simply have to bear with it. Everyone is stuck with their own duties and responsibilities for a good while, and no one can spare the time for your petty quarrels."
He glared at her sternly as he said that, and he could see how her shoulders drooped and the tears started to fill up in the corners of her eyes. Li Changtian almost gave out an exasperated sigh the moment that he saw the last. Was that all that she knew to do? Women were said to be made out of water, but did she really have to show everyone that every time that she was balked? Was she expecting him to change the current situation, just for her sake? Was that even possible?
But the Ducal Heir was made of sterner material, and he continued to glare at his older sister despite the stream of tears that flowed down her cheeks. And maintained his cold expression until a good while later. Long enough for Li Xiuxian to realize that her tears was not having any effect on him at all.
Only then did she dab at her cheeks with a silken handkerchief, and bite back her sullen lips. "Very well then. I shall not make trouble for you. Or for my husband. At least, not while the King is still ill," she promised.
"But once you are done with that idiotic Barbarian Invasion, you must help me deal with that insulting fellow! I cannot just let him get away with his boorish behavior!"
The First Ducal Prince stopped himself from rolling his eyes at her when he heard that. It took him a good bit of his self-control to do that too. Did she really believe that he had the time, or the inclination, to spend his energy on dealing with a simple martial pract.i.tioner? Especially when he was already tied up with his brother?
If he took steps against the fellow, what sort of message would that send to the people who were monitoring the situation in Yanyun City? What would his father and Lady Xie Nianxue think?
So he simply nodded at his older sister, in an effort to console her. And hopefully, to keep her from coming up with any foolish plans of her own. That would be a disaster, even if it would not touch him directly.
"Very well. But it shall be at least a good half-year or one year later, before I can take any action directly. And that is provided that nothing exceptional takes place within that period of time. If nothing has changed by the time that I am done with the tasks that I have been given, I shall look into this Qin Feng fellow. And see what I can do to pay him back for what he has done to you?
"Is that sufficient to content you?"
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