EBE Chapter 511 Joy of Life 67
Chapter 511 Joy of Life 67
"Li Hongcheng took advantage of Fan Xian's absence from the capital to force Fan Ruoruo into marriage in this way. When Fan Xian returns, it will likely cause another uproar."
"Fan Xian... Fan Xian."
Li Chengze sat up, propping his elbows on the low table. He increasingly felt that the world was a meticulously crafted picture book, and Fan Xian was the absolute protagonist of this story.
Since Fan Xian arrived in the capital, everything that has happened has been inextricably linked to him.
The trajectory of everything seemed to be guided by an invisible hand, ultimately pointing towards Fan Xian.
Even Li Chengze himself couldn't avoid getting involved with Fan Xian.
He was initially searching for the author of "Dream of the Red Chamber," but it turned out to be Fan Xian;
The time traveler they desperately wanted to find was still Fan Xian;
They even wanted to find out that Ye Qingmei's son was also Fan Xian.
It's not that he wanted to target Fan Xian in everything he did, but rather that he discovered the easiest way to achieve his goal was to drag Fan Xian down with him.
Fan Xian is like the center of the world, with everyone and everything revolving around him.
Whether it's the struggle for power, the fate of a family, or personal emotional entanglements, nothing seems to escape his influence.
"Could it be... that this world really is just a storybook?" Li Chengze clicked his tongue, wondering to himself.
"If that's really the case, then this story is quite exciting."
"Power struggles, emotions, martial arts, from the emperor to ordinary people, and even visitors from other worlds."
Among them are cunning and shrewd individuals, exceptionally intelligent people, and also a mix of oddballs, idiots, and those obsessed with love.
Li Chengze then thought of Emperor Qing, Li Yunrui, and Li Chengqian, and immediately slapped his thigh.
Snapped--
That was so exciting! It was absolutely thrilling!
This spurred him to want to overturn the world and spread Confucianism to every corner.
Let the people of this world know what ethics and morality are! What loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, and righteousness are! What propriety, justice, integrity, and a sense of shame are!
Xie Bi'an looked at the person on the screen who had suddenly become agitated, and felt a little puzzled.
"..."
Li Chengze now felt full of energy and his spirits were exceptionally high. He rolled off the ground, put on his shoes, walked to his desk, picked up his pen, and wrote a two-foot-long plan.
Xie Bi'an: ...
Prince Jing acted swiftly. Less than two days later, news spread from the palace that Emperor Qing had bestowed Fan Ruoruo upon Li Hongcheng as a concubine, to be married immediately after Li Hongcheng's confinement ended.
Li Chengze was not surprised by this news.
With Prince Jing personally involved, how could things possibly fail?
However, the Fan family has fallen on hard times, and Fan Jian has been dismissed from his post. As the daughter of a disgraced official, Fan Ruoruo's status is now very sensitive.
If Emperor Qing had truly bestowed her upon Li Hongcheng as his principal wife, all members of the Li clan would likely have jointly submitted a petition accusing Emperor Qing of being unfair to his own brother and deliberately using this method to suppress Prince Jing.
Although Li Chengze understood Emperor Qing's actions, Li Hongcheng was very disappointed after receiving the decree, resenting his own powerlessness in not being able to give Fan Ruoruo the title she deserved, leaving his beloved only as a concubine in Prince Jing's residence.
However, the imperial decree had already been issued and there was no possibility of changing it. Li Hongcheng could only wait for the day of his wedding with immense self-blame and guilt.
At the same time, he secretly wondered how Fan Ruoruo would react upon receiving the imperial edict.
Unlike Li Hongcheng's feelings of self-blame and guilt, Li Chengze was more curious about Fan Xian's reaction if he knew that his sister was going to marry Li Hongcheng as a concubine.
The relationship between Fan Xian and Fan Ruoruo is extremely deep.
Even though Fan Ruoruo knew that her brother had died in Fan Xian's place, she still spoke up to defend Fan Xian and stood firmly in front of him.
Fan Xian also trusts and values Fan Ruoruo highly, and would never allow her to suffer the slightest grievance.
With the Eldest Princess and the Crown Prince setting such a high bar, Li Chengze suspected that the sibling relationship between the two was not entirely pure.
However, considering the world with strict moral values that Fan Xian lived in before he transmigrated, such a thing that violates human ethics should not have happened.
"Li Hongcheng keeps saying how much he likes Fan Ruoruo, but..."
Li Chengze flipped through the intelligence report in front of him and confirmed that Li Hongcheng had hired a courtesan named Yuan Meng at Zuixianju.
Li Hongcheng had initially planned to send Yuan Meng to Fan Sizhe's Baoyue Tower, but before he could even mention it to Fan Sizhe, the incident at Baoyue Tower came to light.
Li Hongcheng could use the excuse of gathering intelligence for Li Chengze to manage the entertainment venues in Kyoto, but this reason clearly doesn't hold water when it comes to Yuan Meng's matter.
Li Chengze shook his head, silently thinking: Li Hongcheng is really hypocritical.
Although Ye Dingzhi and Yi Wenjun, as well as Baili Dongjun and Yueyao, were not very clear-headed and often did things that were hard to understand, they were truly in love with each other.
And what about Lee Hong-sung?
Under the guise of protection, they forcibly took Fan Ruoruo's property.
Using the guise of love to satisfy one's own selfish desires.
From his self-righteous scheme to force Prince Jing to enter the palace to ask for marriage, to Emperor Qing's decree to grant the marriage, throughout the entire process, he never truly paid attention to Fan Ruoruo's feelings at this time, nor did he ever ask her if she was willing to marry him.
How is this behavior any different from that of those with ulterior motives in Kyoto?
Perhaps in Fan Ruoruo's mind, Li Hongcheng is such a treacherous person?
Li Chengze's plan was correct. When Fan Ruoruo heard the news of the imperial marriage decree from the palace, it was as if she had been struck by a heavy stick; the whole world spun around her, leaving her stunned in place.
This news was a bolt from the blue for her. It gave her no choice and didn't consider her feelings; it simply decided her future.
When she finally came to her senses, her first reaction was to go and discuss countermeasures with Fan Xian.
But when she arrived at Fan Xian's residence and saw the empty courtyard, she realized that her brother was currently on a diplomatic mission to Northern Qi and was not in the capital.
Having lost her most reliable support, Fan Ruoruo's panic was like that of a frightened deer running wildly under a bow and arrow. Her heart was pounding rapidly, and unease and anxiety instantly filled her heart.
Fan Ruoruo received education through letters from Fan Xian from a young age, which planted a seed in her heart that seemed weak but was actually strong and free.
Her thoughts transcended the constraints of her time, making her seem so unconventional compared to the women around her.
I remembered what my brother had once said: "You must take control of your own destiny, especially when it comes to marriage; you must never let others dictate your life."
Fan Ruoruo's gaze gradually hardened, as if she had broken some invisible shackles.
Her eyes shone brightly like stars in the night: "I don't want to marry Li Hongcheng, and I don't want to marry Li Hongcheng."