Rebirth of the Firstborn Daughter: Life is like a Dream

As early as when His Majesty asked him to go to Xuanmu Mansion, Li Yuyan had guessed that the task of opening up river transportation would fall on him, and the journey to Baiyue was already in his mind.

"There's no rush for this matter." His Majesty looked at the young minister he had promoted with satisfaction. He liked Li Yuyan, who was calm and steady but smart. At least he had never let him down in his many attempts. "Have you heard from others about the envoy sent by Rongdi to propose marriage?"

Li Yuyan heaved a sigh of relief when he didn't expect His Majesty to bring up this matter. "I have heard a little bit about it."

"What do you think?" His Majesty asked calmly.

Li Yuyan paused, looked at His Majesty carefully, and then slowly opened his mouth, "I think that the Rongdi people's behavior is unusual."

His Majesty lowered his head, not knowing what he was looking at, and asked in a very cold voice, "Huh? I heard from others that Mingyue was in Guanzhuang some time ago for a man named Guan Hualang. Do you know about this?"

"Princess Mingyue and my cousin met in the capital. The princess just went to Guanzhuang to play for a few days. I have heard about it." Li Yuyan replied, without a trace of shock on his face.

"Is it as simple as just playing for a few days?" His Majesty asked with a slight smile.

"It's that simple." Li Yuyan replied calmly.

His Majesty smiled and said, "You said that the Rongdi people's behavior was unusual. What was unusual about it?"

"The Rongdi people have repeatedly invaded our border areas and secretly forged weapons. They are ambitious and suddenly came to our Tang Dynasty to propose marriage. I find this unusual and I am afraid there is another conspiracy." Li Yuyan looked at his majesty and expressed his confusion.

He felt... this old guy next to him might know everything, and it was just natural for him to have a real fight with the Rongdi people.

His Majesty said calmly, "What tricks do the Rongdi people have? Isn't it just to find a righteous reason to confront the Tang Dynasty? If Mingyue had something happen on the way, he, the Rongdi prince, would have a lot of reasons to ask the Tang Dynasty to compensate them. If the demands are not met, he would send troops to earn some face for himself. Apart from those purposes, what else can they do?"

As expected, the old guy knew everything. There must be a traitor in Rongdi who was dispatched by Your Majesty.

"Your Majesty is wise and powerful." Therefore, even though she knew that the Rongdi people had ulterior motives, she still nodded and agreed to the proposal. Did he want to take advantage of Mingyue?

In fact, Your Majesty himself would also like to defeat the Rongdi people and make them weak.

The soldiers of the Tang Dynasty had not been to a real war for a long time.

"Okay, you can go back and have a good rest for a few days." His Majesty raised his hand and let Li Yuyan go back.

Li Yuyan bowed and left the Ganlu Hall.

……

When Li Yuyan appeared at the gate, he happened to see his family's carriage parked nearby. He walked over and the servant immediately came over, "Sir, the young mistress is already in the carriage."

Wei Bingyan went into the palace with him, but only so that she could meet Mingyue when she went to pay her respects to the Empress Dowager.

But based on what he just heard from His Majesty, he was afraid that even if Mingyue was unwilling, there was no room for reversal. No matter how much the Empress Dowager cared about Mingyue, she would have some priorities compared to His Majesty and the Tang Dynasty.

"How is it? What did His Majesty say?" Seeing Li Yuyan, Wei Bingyan asked in a quick voice with a slight breath.

Li Yuyan signaled the servant to drive the car skillfully, and said softly to Wei Bingyan: "Your Majesty knows everything, much more than we know."

Wei Bingyan's face was filled with joy, but then her expression changed immediately. "Your Majesty knows... why did he issue an edict? Doesn't he know that Mingyue may never come back after she leaves?"

"He knows." It's nothing more than sacrificing Mingyue to achieve his goal, it's that simple.

"Then what should I do?" Wei Bingyan felt a sour taste in her mouth, and Mingyue's lonely and desperate face just now appeared inadvertently in her mind.

Li Yuyan squeezed her hand tightly. "Aren't you going to look for Princess Mingyue? What did she say?"

What else could she say? Of course, she was determined to get married. She didn't want to drag down Guan Hualang or Guan Zhuang, so she smiled and said that she had put everything aside.

Wei Bingyan expressed her thoughts with Mingyue, "...she is now completely hopeless. Even if she knows that marrying to Rongdi is a dead end, I'm afraid she won't change her mind."

Li Yuyan sighed, "Let's go back and talk to Guan Hualang. Maybe the situation isn't as bad as we think."

It can only be like this. The edict has been issued, and unless they have extraordinary abilities, there is no way for them to change anything.

After returning to the Li family, Li Yuyan told Guan Hualang what the emperor meant. Guan Hualang remained silent for a long time, then turned around and looked directly at Wei Bingyan, and asked intently, "Then...what did she say?"

Anyone could hear the loneliness and sadness in Guan Hualang's voice. Wei Bingyan didn't know how to tell him that Mingyue had given up.

Sometimes not speaking is also a form of defense. Guan Hualang had nothing to say, so he forced a bright smile and said, "I'll go back to sleep first, and I'll talk to you when I wake up."

Li Yuyan knew that he liked to go to sleep no matter how sad he was, so he did not stop him.

"Will he really just watch Princess Mingyue marry into the Rongdi Kingdom?" Mrs. Li, who had never opened her mouth, asked with a frown. Although she really wanted to make a suggestion, such as kidnapping the bride or marrying on behalf of the bride, all of which were exciting plots she had seen on TV or in books before, but it was obviously not a good suggestion.

She was not noble enough to encourage her nephew to take risks for the sake of a princess, let alone the lives of hundreds of people.

"I feel that His Majesty may have a backup plan and may not really marry Mingyue to the Rongdi Kingdom." Li Yuyan said.

Mrs. Li sighed, "I hope so. Well, you two should go over and greet the old master and the old lady immediately, so as to avoid being criticized again."

Wei Bingyan and Li Yuyan stared at each other. They had forgotten that there was an elderly person in their family who was not easy to deal with.

At this time, the dark night had arrived. Li Yuyan and Wei Bingyan appeared in the Virtue Courtyard together. The exquisite plaque of the Virtue Courtyard was hung up by the old lady two months ago.

What was obviously beyond Wei Bingyan's expectations was that the old lady did not deliberately question them. Except for Shao Zhujing who occasionally glanced at Li Yuyan with sad and resentful eyes, the old lady never mentioned that Li Yuyan should marry a concubine, which made Wei Bingyan feel very happy.

"You must be tired after just coming back. Go back and have a rest. You don't have to stay here with us two old people." Old Master Li sent them back because he was actually afraid that his partner would not be able to help but bring it up again.

Old Mrs. Li was not happy at all, and she added a note asking them to go back and rest.

Wei Bingyan felt strange, but still bowed and left Deyuan with Li Yuyan. Li Yuyan did not accompany her back to the house, but went to meet Li Debing first.

Returning to her room, Wei Bingyan finally breathed a sigh of relief. She was simply too tired today.

Bai Binghui was helping Wei Bingyan take off her headdress when Anxiang walked in and happily bowed to Wei Bingyan respectfully, "Young Madam."

"Is everything alright at home?" Wei Bingyan did not take Anxiang with her to Guanzhuang because she wanted her to stay with her so that she would not be unaware of any incident that might happen.

An Xiang's expression slightly restrained, and she said softly, "Before the New Year holiday, the old lady rearranged the servants in the house to go on business trips, and still bought a few people in from outside. Fortunately, the lady left behind a capable nanny, otherwise the staff in the lady's courtyard and our courtyard would have been changed."

The Li family has always been managed by Mrs. Li. Now that Mrs. Li is away, the old lady naturally has to build up her own relationships.

"I seemed to see two little maids in the courtyard?" Wei Bingyan asked lightly.

"It was sent by the old lady. I arranged for her to be a maid cleaning the courtyard." Anxiang said. After that, she suddenly thought of something. Her eyes became a little heavy and she said carefully: "The old lady also arranged a maid for the young master's study."

Wei Bingyan secretly shuddered, and asked with a gloomy smile, "Oh? What's your name?"

Anxiang replied, "She is the maidservant beside the old lady, her name is Bichun."

Isn’t that the woman the old lady wanted to give to Li Yuyan before?

It was not the first time that the old lady wanted to arrange her own people to be around her son and grandson. It was impossible for Wei Bingyan to feel that trouble was caused in her heart just because of Bichun. She listened to Anxiang's description of the changes in the family in the past two months, smiled and said nothing else, and asked them to leave.

Li Yuyan came back not long after and had dinner with Wei Bingyan.

They didn't talk about Mingyue anymore. They just talked about family matters. Wei Bingyan asked him if he had ever been to her study.

"You've been in the big study room outside just now. How was it?" Li Yuyan knew that she wouldn't ask this for no reason, and looked at her with a confused look.

Wei Bingyan said with a smile: "The old lady asked Bichun to go to the study to serve you. Didn't she tell you?"

Li Yuyan's face stiffened slightly, and his head suddenly hurt. "What on earth is the old lady thinking? Is she going to use all the tricks she used against my father on me?"

"What are the tricks?" Wei Bingyan asked curiously. It was rare to see Li Yuyan looking worried.

"You are the only one who hasn't thought of what she can't do." Li Yuyan said. He saw the cunning and nonsense in her eyes and became angry. "Don't just want to laugh at me. The old lady will definitely not forget you completely."

Wei Bingyan smiled and said, "What does it have to do with me?"

Li Yuyan pinched her cheeks and said, "We should shoulder the difficulties together. Don't think I will let you go. Tell me, what should we do with Bichun? Should we send her back to Deyuan?"

"Wouldn't that be a slap in the old lady's face? Please don't do that." Wei Bingyan curled her lips, not agreeing with such a straightforward approach. Although she really wanted to do so and remind the old lady not to worry about it, she was her elder after all, so she had to show some mercy.