The seductive princess is no longer being pursued; the aloof prime minister is facing a crematorium.

Chapter 50 Because Your Majesty is fond of Lord Pei~
The ambergris incense smoke from the incense burner in the imperial study swirled several times above.

The rain washes away the spring dust.

Jiang Jinshuang yawned listlessly and shrank her neck.

Although spring has brought much warmth, she was still recovering from her injury and was feeling a bit chilly.

Today she was wearing a fox fur cloak, and at the moment she was idly fiddling with the ribbons hanging from the cloak, twirling them around her fingertips.

The study was extremely quiet; if you held your breath, you could even hear the sound of the emperor's brush gliding across the paper as he reviewed memorials.

Jiang Biechen sat upright, and upon hearing His Majesty's question, he lowered his eyes and moved his eyelids.

for a long time.

“This is naturally a good thing,” Jiang Biechen said respectfully to Jiang Huayan. “Lord Pei and Miss Xia are in love and have long harbored feelings for each other. Since you have such thoughts, why doesn’t Father Emperor grant us this wish and issue an imperial decree to bestow a marriage upon you?”

Upon hearing this, Jiang Jinshuang tugged at the fur on her fox fur coat and remained silent.

Jiang Huayan paused his writing for a moment.

He slightly raised his eyes, first glancing at Jiang Biechen, then his gaze fell on the idle Jiang Jinshuang.

Lowering his gaze again, Jiang Huayan's voice softened slightly as he calmly reviewed the memorials: "Shuang'er, what do you think?"

Jiang Jinshuang stopped what she was doing and turned to look at the man in front of the desk.

After three years apart, her father's temples had turned gray and deep wrinkles had appeared on his forehead.

However, his eyes and brows remained as sharp and intelligent as ever, revealing no emotion.

Jiang Jinshuang smiled slightly: "Your subject thinks this is inappropriate."

The act of reviewing the memorials finally stopped.

Jiang Huayan put the brush aside and finally looked up at her.

Her voice softened slightly: "Oh? Why?"

Facing the probing gaze of the Heavenly Emperor, Jiang Jinshuang smiled and said, "Because I secretly like Lord Pei, I naturally don't want Lord Pei to marry other women."

After a pause, Jiang Jinshuang said, "Your Majesty knows that you care for your subjects, but if Your Majesty were to bestow a marriage upon the two of them, I would be unhappy."

As she spoke, Jiang Jinshuang wrinkled her nose in a serious manner, pretending to be annoyed.

Sitting to the side, Jiang Biechen frowned slightly and looked at Jiang Jinshuang: "Shuang'er, don't be rude."

“Brother, I’m just telling the truth,” Jiang Jinshuang blinked, looking completely innocent. “Father loves me so much, he certainly wouldn’t want to see me heartbroken.”

"Shuang'er—"

"it is good."

Before Jiang Biechen could reprimand Jiang Jinshuang again, the man in front of the desk laughed twice, his gaze softening slightly as he looked at Jiang Jinshuang.

"Since Shuang'er loves Minister Pei so much, then I will refuse Lord Xia's marriage proposal on your behalf."

Jiang Jinshuang smiled obediently: "Thank you for your kindness, Father Emperor."

"But Shuang'er, I can only refuse this marriage on your behalf. If you love Pei Du, you must work hard for it yourself."

The implication was that he would not arrange a marriage between her and Pei Du, nor would he try to bring the two of them together.

"My son understands."

In an instant, the atmosphere in the originally cold and desolate imperial study became somewhat warmer.

The eunuch Kang, who had been standing by in fear, breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the current situation.

Jiang Biechen looked at Jiang Jinshuang beside him with a complicated expression, his brows furrowed.

The matter of the arranged marriage seemed to have been swept under the rug. Jiang Huayan seemed to have just remembered something and asked, "Is your wound any better?"

"Your Majesty, the imperial physician said that his life is no longer in danger, but because of the severity of his injuries, he will need to rest for a long time."

The emperor, standing before his desk, nodded slightly, his tone growing somber: "For a princess's residence to be subjected to such an assassination attempt is truly outrageous!"

Jiang Jinshuang followed up: "It's alright for me to suffer some injuries, but I'm worried that the assassin was so audacious that there might be spies from other countries in the capital."

The man on the main seat snorted coldly, exuding an overwhelming aura of power: "I'd like to see who dares to act so recklessly and lawlessly!"

With that, Jiang Huayan coldly looked at Jiang Biechen: "Biechen, I'm giving you five days. You will lead the Dali Temple to investigate this matter thoroughly. Do you have any objections?"

Jiang Biechen bowed: "Your subject understands."

After giving his instructions, Jiang Huayan looked at Jiang Jinshuang, who was sitting a little further away.

He sighed, his voice softening slightly: "Since you're injured, take good care of yourself. I'll handle everything else." "Thank you for your understanding, Father."

After saying that, Jiang Huayan waved his hand at the two men: "I still have memorials to review, you may leave."

"My son, please retire."

Everything was proceeding according to Jiang Jinshuang's plan.

When Jiang Jinshuang and Jiang Biechen came out of the study, the weather was foggy and oppressive.

Jiang Biechen's expression was very unpleasant.

"It seems that no matter how much time passes, Shuang'er will never learn to be obedient and behave properly."

His voice was cold: "If Father hadn't been in a good mood today, Shuang'er would probably have had to return to her fiefdom ahead of schedule again."

Jiang Jinshuang stopped and looked at her elder brother with a smile.

"Does Your Majesty truly believe that Shuang'er is just lucky?"

Jiang Biechen narrowed his eyes: "Isn't that right? Lord Pei is now above ten thousand men, while the Xia family's foundation is not deep and their position in the court is only average. For Father Emperor, their marriage is the best way to restrain Pei Du."

Jiang Jinshuang raised an eyebrow and chuckled: "Your Majesty also knows that the Xia family has a weak foundation and low status, so what makes you think that Pei Du would look down on the Xia family?"

Jiang Biechen was taken aback, his tone slightly cold: "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that you and I can both see that now that Pei Du holds a very high position in the court, Father is somewhat wary of him."

“Your Majesty is right. Although Pei Du is a powerful minister, he is still from a humble background. As long as he marries into a family that will not help him in the court, we can restrain him.”

After a pause, Jiang Jinshuang continued, "But Your Majesty, ask yourself honestly, if you were in Pei Du's position and were given a lowly family like the Xia family, how would you feel? Wouldn't you feel resentful towards His Majesty, leading to a rift between the emperor and his ministers?"

Jiang Biechen frowned, seemingly realizing something belatedly: "So, Father Emperor thinks that arranging such a marriage for Pei Du will make him resentful and further alienate him?"

Jiang Jinshuang nodded.

Kings are inherently suspicious and extremely cunning.

Even knowing Pei Du as she did, she was certain he would never harbor any ill intentions, but the imperial family's suspicions were still inevitable.

Jiang Biechen looked at Jiang Jinshuang with a complicated expression, his tone somewhat stiff: "So, it was because you thought of this that you dared to ask Father to refuse this bestowed marriage?"

Jiang Jinshuang smiled and said, "Father wants to refuse this marriage, but he needs a legitimate reason."

She raised her eyebrows: "So, I'll be the bad guy."

The relationship between the emperor and his subjects must not be broken. Jiang Jinshuang's words in front of the emperor only gave the imperial family a legitimate reason to refuse the marriage bestowed by the Xia family.

If Xia Wenbin asks for the reason, His Majesty can say that Jiang Jinshuang is resentful and does not agree to the marriage.

If we insist on granting the marriage, Princess Zhaoming might do something heartless and cause a scene.

In this way, Xia Wenbin would naturally not resent His Majesty, but would only blame her.

—This can be considered as Jiang Jinshuang doing His Majesty a favor.

Therefore, in the subsequent conversation, His Majesty's attitude softened considerably, and he was willing to issue an edict to investigate the murderer for her.

Jiang Huayan was indeed a qualified ruler.

He puts a price tag on all his emotions and doesn't allow for the slightest mistake.

Jiang Jinshuang took a deep breath, smiled self-deprecatingly, and still looked at Jiang Biechen: "Brother, sometimes, I am really quite jealous of you."

Because of this incident, the Emperor decided from the beginning to make her the villain.

—The Emperor doesn’t care about her reputation as Princess Zhaoming, but the reputation of the Crown Prince cannot be damaged.

Therefore, only she could voice the reason for refusing the marriage.

Jiang Biechen frowned, and opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something.

But all the words were stuck in his throat, and he couldn't say anything.

Jiang Jinshuang smiled nonchalantly: "Royal brother, if you want to guess Father's thoughts, you can't just use your brain one step at a time."

Not far away, a woman dressed as a nanny walked up to the two of them and bowed to Jiang Biechen.

"Your Highness, the Empress Dowager knows you have arrived and says she wishes to see you."

He didn't even glance at Jiang Jinshuang once.

(End of this chapter)