My husband, who abandoned his father and kept his son, actually wants me to be his concubine.

Chapter 96 I've liked you since I was thirteen
Emperor Huiyuan and Rong Yi returned to Shou Kang Palace.

Consort Xian looked at Emperor Huiyuan and said, "Your Majesty, Yongjia's pregnancy has not been easy. She has suffered too much in the past six years. Now that she is pregnant, I hope Your Majesty will grant Yongjia's wish."

Consort Rong, holding Zhang'er, walked to Emperor Huiyuan's side and said with a light smile, "Your Majesty has been a grandfather so many times, but you have never been a maternal grandfather. Now that you are about to become a maternal grandfather, it is truly a cause for celebration. Our little Zhang'er will also have a younger brother or sister."

Little Zhang'er smiled in the arms of Consort Rong.

Emperor Huiyuan said slowly, "Since Yongjia is pregnant, this marriage should be arranged sooner rather than later. Mother, I will summon the Grand Astrologer tomorrow to set a date for the wedding."

Upon hearing this, Consort Xian knelt before Emperor Huiyuan and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty."

Lu Jinshi quickly knelt down as well, saying, "Thank you, Your Majesty."

The Empress Dowager smiled and said, "There are so many happy events in the royal family this year. I am glad to see Yongjia pregnant in my lifetime. It is a great relief that I have no regrets. My only concern now is that you have not yet been established as the crown prince."

Emperor Huiyuan said slowly, "Empress Dowager, I have already made a decision on the heir apparent. Previously, Yi'er was too young to enter the court, but now that he is married, I will gradually allow him to enter the court after the autumn examination."

The Empress Dowager didn't say much, "It's best for you to make the decisions regarding the affairs of the previous dynasty, but... you must not be biased, as it concerns the fate of the Great Sheng dynasty."

"I would never joke about the fate of the nation. I will not disturb you any longer, Mother. I will take my leave now."

Lu Jinshi also bid farewell to Rong Yi and left Shou Kang Palace.

Lu Jinshi took Zhang'er from Consort Rong and walked back to Yu Liu Palace with Rong Yi.

After walking for a while, Lu Jinshi, seeing that there was no one else around, whispered to Rong Yi, "Judging from the Empress Dowager's words, she prefers Prince Jin as the crown prince?"

Rong Yi said, "This is not surprising. Prince Jin was raised by my grandmother, and he is seven or eight years older than me. He has been in the court for five or six years and has never made any mistakes. He also has prestige among the civil officials in the court. Naturally, my grandmother prefers Prince Jin as the crown prince."

Lu Jinshi said, "Don't you resent the Empress Dowager's favoritism?"

Rong Yi smiled and said, "If my grandmother were truly biased towards Prince Jin, she wouldn't have betrothed you to me. My grandmother has never seen what I look like when I enter the court, so she naturally chooses the safest option. As long as my achievements in the court are greater than those of my brother Prince Jin, my grandmother will treat me fairly."

Lu Jinshi smiled faintly: "Then when you enter the court in the future, you must work hard to catch up with the Prince of Jin in the past five years."

"Mm," Rong Yi replied.
-
Inside Princess Yongjia's residence.

It was getting dark.

Yongjia had just woken up from her afternoon nap. Perhaps she was pregnant, but she had been extremely sleepy and gluttonous these past few days.

Jixiang walked over to Yongjia and said, "Your Highness, Prince Lu has been waiting outside since this afternoon. He wants to see you and can't be driven away no matter what we do. He's in the reception room right now."

Yongjia said slowly, "Let Lu Xiao in."

Princess Yongjia had just finished washing and dressing, and had her hair styled, when a figure rushed in and pulled her into an embrace. "Lu... um..."

Before Princess Yongjia could call out Lu Xiao's name, Lu Xiao kissed her red lips.

After a long, long time, Lu Xiao finally released Princess Yongjia and questioned her, "Why did you ask me to leave you after you found out you were pregnant with my child?"

Princess Yongjia looked into Lu Xiao's eyes and said, "How do you know the child in my womb is yours? What if it's Yuan Jie's?"

“That good-for-nothing doesn’t have that kind of ability.” Lu Xiao pulled Princess Yongjia into his arms and kissed her cheek. “The child in your womb is definitely mine!”

Princess Yongjia smiled faintly and said, "Judging by the timeline, it is indeed your child."

Lu Xiao looked at Princess Yongjia and said, "You know you are carrying my child, so why did you drive me away? You made me suffer for nothing these past few days. Look at me, I haven't eaten or drunk anything these past few days, and I've lost weight."

Princess Yongjia touched Lu Xiao's angular face and whispered, "Lu Xiao, I'm afraid our marriage won't work out."

After all, given our respective positions... that's why I was thinking of getting rid of you, but I never expected you to go on a hunger strike because of it. We haven't known each other for very long, and I never imagined you would be so deeply in love..."

“Who said it hasn’t been long?” Lu Xiao said. “I liked you when I was thirteen and just beginning to experience love. Do you think that if I didn’t have you in my heart, I wouldn’t have been able to push away a drunk person like you? How could I have willingly obeyed your orders and become your male concubine when you were drunk and confused?”

Princess Yongjia thought about it carefully and realized that Lu Xiao would not listen to her unreasonable orders. Even if she was a princess, she could not force the prince of the royal palace to be her male concubine.

However, Princess Yongjia never expected that Lu Xiao would say he had liked her since he was thirteen.

How could you have liked me when you were thirteen?

Lu Xiao said, "You must have forgotten that year when we went hunting, Yuan Jie, driven by his competitive spirit, led Yuan Fei and the others to hunt a bear, leaving you alone in the hunting grounds where ferocious beasts roam..."

Princess Yongjia listened to Lu Xiaozhi's words and said, "I seem to remember now. That day I encountered Da Hu. You shot an arrow and drove Da Hu away, but you also fell into a cave in the cliff because of it, and you were covered in injuries..."

Lu Xiao said, "Yes, you came down into the cave to help me heal my wounds. It rained heavily that day, and we took shelter from the rain in the cave. You were afraid I would be cold, so you wrapped your cloak around me... I liked you from that day on, but I was too young at the time and was too embarrassed to tell anyone my feelings. But I didn't expect that not long after, I would see you again at your wedding banquet."

Looking into Princess Yongjia's eyes, Lu Xiao said, "Throughout these days, I have never forgotten the little things you did for me in the cave, how we huddled together under the cloak to keep warm..."

Princess Yongjia blushed and said, "You grew up with Xiao Qi since you were little. Back then, I treated you like Xiao Qi, like my own younger brother..."

Yongjia only remembered that he was so eager to save her that day. After all, he was the young master of the Prince An's mansion. It would be bad if he died while saving her. Who knew that Lu Xiao had such different intentions back then?

Lu Xiao whispered in Princess Yongjia's ear, "I'm not your biological brother. I only regretted that I was too young to compete with Yuan Jie for you. Later, when I got a little older, I also knew that I couldn't compete with Yuan Jie for you. I never expected that when I rushed back to see my cousin, I would find you drunk. At that time, I didn't care whether you were married or not, or whether you would regret it after sobering up. I only knew that you were willing to let me fulfill my dream."

Princess Yongjia blushed even more.

Lu Xiao put his arm around Princess Yongjia and sat her on the edge of the bed: "I shouldn't have been too young to fight for you back then. On the day of the hunt, Yuan Jie was too competitive and left you alone in the dangerous hunting grounds. It's clear he's not a reliable husband. If I had said I wanted to marry you then, our children would probably be old enough to go to the academy by now..."