"Cough, cough." The Emperor sat on his bed and coughed.
"Sigh~ looks like I don't have time left."
He looks at his jade dragon seal.
'The 2nd prince has great ability in martial arts and is intelligent, but he's too greedy and selfish. He relies on schemes too much and will use whatever he can to get to his goals. The 3rd prince is strong as a general and is a adapt commander, but he won't win against the 2nd prince schemes. The 7th prince has kindness and compassion, tolerance, intelligence that match the 2nd prince, but even if there were better qualities, he is still blind. Many officials will be against the 7th prince and will use this weakness to control him. Furthermore, he doesn't have any forces in court besides Liao Ying who would support him.'
"Sigh, no matter how I look at it, I can't think of a perfect Crown Prince….But…."
He took out a royal scroll and dipped his brush with ink. The emperor then began to write. Once he finished writing he stamped it with his Jade Dragon Seal.
After a while, "Servants! Announce to the ministers that this Emperor has a special announcement!"
….
Meanwhile at the Liao family.
"Ling'er, go and talk with your mom, she misses you a lot. 7th prince, please."
Ling'er replied, "er…" She looked at Meng Yu and Mei'er.
"Hua'er can accompany me if you're worried." Meng Yu knew what she was thinking about and spoke.
Hua'er was Ling'er's maid and had accompanied her to Meng Yu's palace, but for several reasons, she wasn't around as much.
"Alright! Hua'er take care of Meng Yu!"
"Don't worry Miss, I'll take care of my lord!" Hua'er said excitedly. Mei'er could only scrunch up in dissatisfaction. She remember what the 2nd prince said.
[Mei'er, I won't kill you for now, because you can still be useful and bring information to me, but if they sleep again…I don't think that I need to finish my sentence, right? If they really do sleep together, just put this into his drink.(he handed her a white bottle that fit in the center of her palm.) As expected, I can't rest well if he lives…The only reason why I let him live for so long after the failed poisoning in the past, was that he could still have some value in the future, but now…]
Her eyes full of doubt held her hands tightly.
"Okay!" With Hua'er she wouldn't have to worry and rushed off to her mom. She also missed her a lot and wanted to talk to her.
Liao Ying gestured to Hua'er to help Meng Yu inside the hallway.
"Thank you father in law. Due to some problems, me and Ling'er couldn't visit your home. I didn't know what you liked, so I asked Ling'er and we got you some gifts. I hope you accept them."
"Hahaha, no problem! No problem! Since you gave me gifts, then I'll be shameless and accept them!"
Liao Ying smiled and looked at Meng Yu liking what he saw more and more. 'Although he's blind, he's really not simple. A tiger's cub is still a tiger! His aura is actually not worse than the other princes.'
"How is living with Ling'er going so far? I hope she didn't cause too much trouble for you." They sat down and had a cup of tea together.
"Father in law doesn't have to worry. I enjoy Ling'er's company by my side."
"Hahaha you don't have to lie to me! I know my daughter the best, I bet she was chasing you down, trying to sleep with you, right!?"
"Cough, cough." He almost choked on his tea. 'This is really…Like Father, like daughter.'
Meng Yu could only smile awkwardly in response.
'This is going to be rough…'
….
"Ling'er are you doing fine with the 7th prince?"
"Yeah! I also r-really like him." She blushes a little.
This reaction surprised Ling'er's mom as this was the first time that she had ever seen such a reaction.
"T-Then did you sleep together during the wedding?"
She knew that her daughter liked Meng Yu, but was still doubting whether they had already done the deed or not.
"No…" She got disappointed thinking about this. "But don't worry, I'll make sure to get pregnant as soon as possible so that you can have many grandchildren!" She said resolutely.
"Er…" Ling'er's mom didn't know whether to laugh or not at her daughter. 'Well, as long as they are happy…'
But then she thought of something strange.
"...Wait, so that means that the 7th prince didn't touch you?"
"Tch, stop speaking about it. Even when we slept side by side, he had a wall of pillows separating us. I wanted to tear it down and grab him, but I didn't want to force him."
The truth of the matter was that if Meng Yu was asleep, she would have taken those pillows and threw them away. Coming from a martial arts background, she could easily tell from the rhythm of breathing that he was awake. Of course, she would respect him and not do anything because they had an agreement, but she would've liked to hug him as they slept.
But before she could do anything, she fell asleep.
'The 7th prince is actually so eloquent, but on the other hand my daughter…' She couldn't help shaking her head.
…
"So there I was, a sharp stick on one hand and a sword in the other."
Liao Ying began retelling his stories with enthusiasm.
"As I was fighting for my life, I used the sword to block the incoming attack from the right and with a force stronger than a lion, I thrusted the stick in their ass! That's what they get for talking down on me. But I didn't stop there, I then kicked it right in and-"
He stopped when an old servant came.
"My Lord, someone from the palace is here."
'Thank god!'
As Meng Yu was listening to Liao Ying's war stories, he had wanted to stop him. But he wasn't used to such disrespectful acts, especially his father in law. It would make things incredibly awkward, so he chose to simply listen and nod his head from time to time.
"The palace? Why are they here?"
"They said that his Majesty has a special announcement!"
"Special announcement? Could it be…" There were only a few times that those words were used.
One was the time where Liao Ling and Meng Yu got engaged, another time was when there were enemies at the borders.
'There's no wedding, battle, or anything I could think of. His majesty is already so old, so….is it finally time?'
"Go to the palace!" Liao Ying said immediately.