Chapter 7             Loss or Not

The Eastern Palace was not far from the Yile Hall, and Le Zhi knew that Huo Du had no intention of using the sedan chair, so she knew that he was going to walk over.

At dusk, the lights on both sides of the palace road were lit.

The two walked side by side with a group of servants following behind them who was just a few steps away from them. Huo Du was leaning on the cane, but his back was straight, and he walked leisurely. Le Zhi stood beside him and held one of his hands. Neither of them spoke until they saw Huo Xu’s figure appearing not far away.

Huo Xu was wearing a cyan round neck suit and a padded cotton cloak today. There was also a little girl who was jumping beside him, “Brother Ah Xu, you agreed to ask for the peace charm for me!”

The little girl was wearing a bright yellow palace dress, and her silver bell-like voice was particularly clear in the quiet palace road. Huo Xu apparently saw them too, stopped unconsciously, and his eyes could not help looking at Le Zhi.

Huo Du felt a burst of joy in his heart after seeing this. He looked sideways and wanted to see Le Zhi’s expression at this time. Would she be surprised, sad, or angry?

Unfortunately, none of them.

She did not even look at the two people in the distance. She just looked at him with a smile on her face and stuffed the handwarmer in her hand into his hand, slightly annoyed, “I told Your Highness to wear a big cloak before going out, but Your Highness refused to listen. Is it freezing now?”

Huo Du’s face changed slightly.

 Cold? This cold is nothing.

After a moment of trance, the person in the distance had come to the front of them. Huo Xu and the little girl beside him all saluted respectfully.

“Greets Imperial Brother and Sister-In-Law.”

“Pay respects to His Highness Taizi and Taizifei.”

Huo Du smiled lightly and said, “Forego the formalities”. Le Zhi only nodded slightly, and the two continued to walk forward.

Looking at the back of the two leaving, Huo Xu had a strange feeling in his heart, and suddenly he even felt that the two walking together were very harmonious and… well matched.

I must be overthinking it.

It is impossible for Zhizhi to like such a gloomy person. She must be just pretending.

“Brother Ah Xu, Brother Ah Xu…”

The person beside him tugged at the corner of his clothes. Huo Xu withdrew his gaze and suppressed the irritability in his heart. Then only did he take out the peace charm from his sleeve and handed it to her with a smile. A smile instantly appeared on the little girl’s face.

In the Yile Hall, there was a lot of laughter. It was not until the eunuch shouted, “Emperor and Empress arrived,” that the hall became quiet.

Emperor and Empress Qi sat down in the middle of the hall with a smile at the corners of their eyes, “Although today is a palace banquet, it is also a family banquet, so there is no need to hold back.”

This was the second time Le Zhi had seen Emperor Qi. She knelt in front of Emperor Qi the last time Huo Xu took her into the palace and Emperor Qi said while looking down at her, “It is common to have casualties when two countries are at war. It was unwise for your Imperial Father and Imperial Mother to choose to kill themselves. I think you are a smart child and should not do anything stupid.”

Then he said that she would be bestowed to Taizi as his first wife, and the two countries would get married on a beautiful day. They became a family from then on.

However, she knew very well that even if she was locked up in the post station, she had more or less heard how the country Qi brutally destroyed the country Li which aroused the anger of the neighboring countries. Thus, Emperor Qi’s move was just to quell the anger of the neighboring countries.

Huo Changyun, Emperor Qi was born with a majestic appearance. Even though he was no longer young, it was not difficult to see the heroic and fierceness on his face.

As early as when he first ascended the throne and held the power of the emperor, he had a passion for a punitive expedition to the east and wars in the west.

He launched a war twelve years ago against the countries Jiang, Wu, and Ning with the strength of the whole country which forced the three countries to resist together and was finally defeated. When the country was almost destroyed, Le Zhi’s father, the young Emperor Li came forward to mediate and persuaded the three countries to stop the war. But the three countries had lingering fears, so how could they agree to let it go easily?

After the discussion, they finally decided on a way that could appease everyone which was to let Huo Changyun’s son enter the country Li as a hostage to restrain his behavior. Therefore, the six-year-old Huo Xu came to the country Li like this.

When the four-year-old Le Zhi saw Huo Xu, her imperial father held her on his lap and said to her in a warm voice, “This is brother Huo Xu from the country Qi. This brother has left his hometown to come here. Zhizhi has to be nice to him, oh.”

The little girl blinked ignorantly and nodded happily.

Her imperial father, her imperial mother, her imperial elder brother, and imperial elder sister sincerely regarded Huo Xu as a family, and she also regarded him as her own elder brother since childhood.

Who knew that it actually took twelve years to raise a living thankless wretch.

“It’s a pity that Your Majesty and I are not here for Du’er’s wedding.” Empress Qi was dressed in a phoenix robe, elegant and noble. “Come, have a drink with Imperial Mother.”

After Huo Du raised his cup, he put the cup back on the table and did not drink.

“You see, I’m so happy until confused that I forget that Du’er never drinks.” Empress Qi laughed.

Le Zhi drank up the wine and looked at the person beside him.

Never drinks?

No wonder he did not smell alcohol on his wedding night. He did not even drink a cup of nuptial wine with her. However, this was not a wishful marriage, so it was normal not to drink a cup of nuptial wine.

At this moment, Huo Du also glanced sideways at her, and immediately pushed the wine cup in front of him towards her.

This was to let her drink for him…

Le Zhi smiled, picked up the wine cup, and drank up the wine.

This scene fell in the eyes of Empress Qi. She was very happy that this girl was still aware of current affairs!

As long as she did not pester her Xu’er, it was all right to keep her alive.

Huo Du looked at Le Zhi’s blushing cheeks, smiled as he approached her ear, and teased softly, “This loneliness’s Taizifei is pretty good in drinking.”

Huo Xu, who was sitting on the opposite side, felt his heart was like being twisted by a knife when he saw the two being intimate, but he could not show it on his face.

“Your Majesty, now Du’er is married. Shouldn’t Xu’er’s marriage be decided as well?”

When Empress Qi said this, her tone was full of tenderness and did not have any hypocrisy when she spoke to Huo Du just now.

Because this Empress Qi was the successor.

Huo Du’s birth mother died early, and the current Empress Qi was nothing more than a guifei* back then, so it was Huo Xu rather than Huo Du, who went to the country Li as a hostage. However, the time has changed, and now Huo Xu had also changed from a concubine-born son to the second son of the first wife.

(guifei* – highest-ranking imperial concubine)

“Exactly!” Emperor Qi was in high spirits today, so he drank a few more cups. “Those good things should be in pairs! Shen Qingyan, the daughter of the prime minister is gentle and graceful. Today, I will make the decision to bestow a marriage to the third prince, Huo Xu. What does the prime minister think?”

Hearing this, Prime Minister Shen Huai quickly got up and knelt down with a smile to thank him.

Huo Xu suppressed the reluctance in his eyes that moment and thanked Shen Qingyan beside him. Shen Qingyan’s face was full of joy and looked at Huo Xu who was beside her with a deep longing in her eyes.

Le Zhi sneered in her heart.

Emperor Qi bestowed the marriage of the prime minister’s daughter to Huo Xu but stuffed a subjugated princess who had nothing at all to Huo Du. This was clearly biased.

After the palace banquet was over, Huo Du dismissed his servants and walked slowly to the Eastern Palace under the winter moonlight with Le Zhi. Le Zhi naturally took his arm and walked beside him.

“Le Zhi.” Huo Du smiled softly, “Your childhood sweetheart is going to marry someone else. How do you feel?”

Le Zhi was slightly startled as she did not expect him to ask so directly.

“Does Your Highness believe when I said I don’t feel anything?” Le Zhi smiled, knowing that Huo Du probably would not believe what she said. In fact, she really did not feel anything in her heart.

“Believe, ah.”

“Then may I ask Your Highness a question?”

“Just ask.” Huo Du seemed to be in a good mood tonight.

“That Miss Shen has a noble status, and her natal family she relies on is the honor of the prime minister. But I have nothing now and can’t give Your Highness any support.” Maybe after drinking two cups of strong wine, Le Zhi felt that she had a lot of courage. “Does Your Highness feel that it’s a loss in marrying me?”

The author has something to say:

Du: Very profitable, thank you.