MLIAM Chapter 82

Chapter 82 Smashing the Wedding Banquet: We…are arch-enemies, not lovers…

Prince Zhao Yong appeared at the wedding banquet in white, looking more like he was attending a funeral than celebrating a wedding.

Everyone was stunned, and the entire scene fell silent.

Wei Yan turned his head with a gloomy expression, his eyes meeting Zhao Yong’s, who was standing outside the main hall. Beside Zhao Yong stood a woman wearing a bamboo hat.

“Did I come at a bad time?” Zhao Yong smiled lightly, ignoring Wei Yan’s gaze and instead carefully scrutinizing Yu Shuli’s face, a dark current surging in his eyes. “Does the Duke of Zhenguo not come out to greet me? Even if I’ve been deposed, I was still once the Crown Prince.”

The guests around, witnessing this disturbance, immediately understood what was happening. The former Crown Prince was here to steal the bridegroom!

They had heard rumors before that the Crown Prince and Prime Minister Wei had argued and fought fiercely on a pleasure boat out of jealousy, but they thought it was just gossip. Now, seeing this, they realized it was probably true.

The Crown Prince’s downfall might even have been orchestrated by the all-powerful Prime Minister Wei.

The guests stole glances at the Emperor, each maintaining an attitude of indifference anddaring not to speak out until the Emperor showed his stance.

Only Wei Yan’s grandmother and Madam Wu, along with Yu Shuli’s side, the old General and his wife, had extremely ugly expressions.

Wu Peng, sitting outside eating at the banquet, naturally saw the scene of the Crown Prince barging in. He approached with a wine cup in hand, gloating, thinking there was bound to be a good show to watch. Whether the Crown Prince was humiliated or his cousin was abused, he wanted to witness it all.

Liu Yunhui and the others also crowded around, filling the outer aisle.

The Emperor raised his head in a daze and asked Gonggong Li, who was standing below, “Who is that person dressed in plain white? How can they have so little awareness?”

Seeing Wei Yan’s expression, Gonggong Li’s forehead naturally dripped with sweat.

He didn’t expect the little eunuchs outside to fail to stop the person. After letting out a long sigh, knowing that Wei Yan would definitely settle accounts and fly into a rage, he quickly leaned in and told the Emperor with embellishments, also revealing the Crown Prince’s feelings for Yu Shuli.

Previously, Emperor Zhao Wu thought Zhao Yong and Wei Yan’s dispute on the pleasure boat was just a minor squabble, but if Zhao Yong truly had feelings for Yu Shuli, that was absolutely not allowed. No matter how much an Emperor allowed his son to fool around, he would never agree to him actually falling in love with a man.

Hearing this, the Emperor’s expression changed. “This beast!”

“Guards! Get him out of here! We can’t let him ruin the Prime Minister’s wedding banquet!” The Emperor waved his hand to give the order, and the guards outside dared to come in to stop the Prince.

But after giving the order, he stopped paying attention to the wedding banquet and slowly leaned back in his chair, breathing heavily for a while. Finally, inexplicably, he began to doze off.

Yu Shuli was holding the red ribbon in his hand, his knuckles turning white.

He raised his eyes to look at Zhao Yong, a sneer on his face. “Your Highness, I didn’t expect your congratulatory gift to be disrupting the wedding… I was expecting it for so long, but now… I’m truly disappointed.”

“Is that so? Then the next person will definitely not disappoint you and will even give you a ‘pleasant’ surprise!” The Prince turned his head and looked at the woman beside him, dressed in coarse linen clothes and wearing a bamboo hat. “Are you mute now? Weren’t you quite eloquent before? If I wasn’t thinking of seeking justice for you, I wouldn’t have come here to suffer this bad luck!”

The woman trembled and hesitantly removed her bamboo hat, revealing a pale face.

Wei Yan paused, recognized the person, and his entire face radiated endless coldness.

The people around began to whisper softly.

“She’s quite pretty…”

“Do you think one of these two has a mistress hidden outside? And the Prince saw her…”

“That would be a big mess. No matter whose mistress she is, the other won’t be easy to deal with. Can this wedding banquet still go on?”

Yu Shuli followed their gaze and his expression turned somewhat surprised. “Second Sister? What are you doing here?”

He paused, and seeing the plain clothes on Yu Miaomiao, he asked with some confusion, “Why are you dressed like this? Didn’t my mother tell you to dress festively?”

Everyone who heard the word “Second Sister” was stunned.

“So she’s a member of the Duke of Zhenguo’s family? Gave me a fright, I thought someone was here to cause trouble…”

“You know, looking at this girl’s demeanor and dress, she doesn’t seem like she’s here to share in the joy…”

“Hey, don’t you know about that incident that happened at the autumn hunt? I heard that the main character was this Duke of Zhenguo’s second sister, who became mentally disabled back then!”

“What incident?”

“Hey!” That person lowered his voice: “The gang rape case.”

The crowd was horrified, and their expressions turned into a mixture of curious scrutiny and faint sympathy towards the woman.

“It was quite a commotion back then. Wasn’t it first said that Yu Shuli’s second uncle stabbed their family in the back? Falsely accusing the old General of corruption and bribery, but then he himself was arrested for accepting bribes. That was quite something. After all, who would frame their own brother?”

“In my opinion, the old General has been extremely benevolent, bringing this silly girl from the Emperor and raising her on the estate for so many years withoutdisliking her. He’s probably planning to take care of her until she dies.”

“Then why did His Highness the Prince bring her here today? Just to liven up the wedding banquet and give her a boost?”

“Even if she’s given a boost, she’s still mentally disabled, right? It’s such a pity, she’s a good girl and quite pretty. If she wasn’t stupid, she could be my third concubine…”

“Wake up! Stop dreaming! Look how strict the old General’s family is! Yourotten eggplant, you want his niece? A toad wanting to eat swan meat!”

That person spat. “To hell with swan meat! Just a worn-out shoe that someone else has worn!”

With a loud “snap,” the old General broke the chair beneath him and walked over with the crossbeam in hand. “Let me see which bastard is spreading rumors about my niece?!”

That person stiffened his neck. “What? A bitch ridden by thousands of men! Am I wrong?! Who in the capital didn’t know back then?”

“Don’t say it…” A faint, soft voice sounded, and the woman’s eyes trembled. She shivered, shrinking her head anddaring not to look at people.

That person seemed not to hear. “Your Yu family has good family education, allowing a good virgin girl to meet a strange man at night! And get pregnant by another man!”

With a “bang,” the man who spoke was picked up by the old General, who stuffed a piece of wood into his mouth. “Since you speak so filthy, just shut up.”

Yu Shuli walked over, his expression complicated. “What…are you talking about?”

The Prince smiled triumphantly. “I heard that the Duke of Zhenguo has amnesia? I’m helping the Duke of Zhenguo remember the past. You should thank me.”

Wei Yan stepped forward to Yu Shuli, facing the Prince, who was constantly provoking, his expression turned iron-green.

“Zhao Yong, do you want to die?” This voice seemed to come from hell, extremely cold.

The guests, hearing Wei Yan’s words, tacitlyshrank back.

Logically… the deposed Crown Prince certainly didn’t have the status of the current Prime Minister. However, he was still the Emperor’s own son, and anyone who saw the Crown Prince would still call him “Your Highness.”

Who would have thought that Wei Yan wouldn’t even pretend to be polite and directly revealed his murderous intent.

Seeing this, it was clear that he was furious.

The crowd held their breath to see the expression of the Emperor, but he was leaning on the dragon chair, asleep.

Gonggong Li wiped the Emperor’s sweat with a handkerchief and gave a silent gesture to the crowd. Then, he called several palace servants to help him up.

“Third Prince” laughed lightly and stood up. “Since Father is sleepy, I will send Father back to the Palace.”

“There’s no need to trouble Your Highness…” Gonggong Li quickly bowed and greeted him with a smiling face. “Our Consort Xian wants to personally pick him up. She can’t bear to be separated from our Emperor even for a moment.”

“Consort Xian?” Wanyan Jun smiled meaningfully. “Interesting.”

He waved his hand. “Then this prince will escort him for a while. After Father gets into the carriage, I will come back.”

The Second Prince chuckled. “Third Brother is truly filial. If that’s the case, then I, as the elder brother, have no choice but to go along.” He suddenly stood up and made a gesture. “Let’s go.”

“Third Prince” gritted his teeth. “Brother, please.”

The two of them left in such a “harmonious” manner, and the people in charge of the entire hall had all left.

Zhao Yong was even more emboldened. He glanced at Yu Miaomiao and kicked her. “Worthless thing, speak up!”

Yu Miaomiaoshrunk back in fear, her voice like a mosquito’s hum. “I…I am Yu Miaomiao…” She said a few words, then clutched her bamboo hat, looking so aggrieved that she wanted to put it back on.

The Prince kicked her again. “Didn’t you eat?!”

This wedding banquet was ultimatelysmashed.

After the Emperor and the Second and Third Princes left, Yu Shuli grabbed the wooden strip his father had been using and smashed it at Zhao Yong. “Let go of my Second Sister.”

Zhao Yong couldn’t avoid it and was hit on the bridge of his nose, immediately smelling blood in his nose. He knew he had been hit hard enough to bleed.

“Let her go.” Yu Shuli said. “If you have any grievances, come at me. Why make things difficult for a girl?”

“Oh!” Zhao Yong touched the blood on the tip of his nose and smiled. “You really are deeply devoted to your siblings.”

“But whether others will treat you so sincerely is another matter.” He snatched the bamboo hat from Yu Miaomiao’s hand and threw it to Yu Shuli.

“Would you like to hear about the deeds of your good husband?”

Yu Miaomiao held the bamboo hat in her palm and frowned. “What you want to say can be said later. Can’t you see we are bowing to heaven and earth?”

Although the Emperor had left, so many ministers were watching. Even if Yu Shuli hated Zhao Yong to the bone, he didn’t want to be too undignified.

Getting married was important.

He had owed Wei Yan this wedding banquet for too long.

“I’m also afraid you’ll go astray.” Zhao Yong said. “Once you know the true face of your good husband, you’ll know how kind I am to you for specially coming to remind you of this. But you can still call off the wedding now.” He raised an eyebrow. “Anyway, you haven’t consummated the marriage yet.”

“Oh, of course, you are both men anyway, even if you have consummated, no one would find out. So I don’t really care.”

Wei Yan’s face was gloomy and he was about to step forward, but Yu Shuli stopped him. “Wei Yan, don’t be impulsive.”

Too many people were watching. To be unwilling to confront the accusation but instead hurriedly take action was a sign of guilt. Wei Yan already had many enemies, and causing more trouble would always invite criticism.

“If you brought my Second Sister here just to say bad things about Wei Yan, then I think you’ve miscalculated.” Yu Shuli beckoned to Yu Miaomiao. “Second Sister, come over here.”

Yu Miaomiao pursed her lips and lowered her eyes, not even bothering to acknowledge Yu Shuli.

Yu Shuli’s expression changed. “You…are you on his side?!”

Zhao Yong sneered. “So you’ve been wrong from the start. The one who wanted to file a complaint with the Emperor and ruin your wedding wasn’t me. It was your…Second Sister.”

Wei Yan gritted his teeth and squeezed out a few words from between his teeth. “Zhao Yong…do you think your little trick can ruin me?”

“Prime Minister Wei, what are you in a hurry for?” Zhao Yong pushed Yu Miaomiao forward. “Anyway, now that you’re not crazy, then tell us what exactly happened that day. So that…”

Zhao Yong’s gaze turned to Yu Shuli, meaningfully. “So that everyone can see clearly, this Prime Minister Wei…his beastly face.”

Yu Miaomiao looked at Wei Yan, but he ignored her directly.

Her eyes were filled with sorrow, as if she had finally mustered up the courage to take a step forward.

She took a deep breath and finally opened her mouth. “That year I was humiliated, and the person who started it all was Prime Minister Wei.”

The moment the words landed, the room fell silent.

Yu Shuli suddenly raised his head, his voicestagnant. “What…humiliated?”

Zhao Yong “ah”ed and laughed. “I forgot to give our poor, amnesiac Duke of Zhenguo some information.”

“Three years ago, Duke of Zhenguo, because youprivately left your post, which caused your second sister, Yu Miaomiao, to bea man from the outside Strong、rape and humiliate her while meeting her lover in the hunting grounds. I don’t know if you still have any memory of this?” Zhao Yong tapped his fingers on his arm. “I guess you don’t, after all…” He gave a gloating smile. “Thatman from the outside lover was Prime Minister Wei himself, so how could he personally tell you about the reason that caused you to break up for three years?”

Yu Shuli listened to every word, feeling his heart thumping as if it were about to jump out of his chest. “You…what did you say?!”

His head began to ache violently again, more violently than ever before.

Yu Shuli lowered his body and covered his head. “I…I don’t remember…” He suddenly raised his head and looked at Wei Yan. “In these three years, we weren’t secretly engaged, but arch-enemies?”

After a long silence, Wei Yanspeechless. “Ji’an, this matter is not like this, I will explain the details to you.”

Yu Shuli’s face was pale with pain, his voice cold. “Wei Yan, tell the truth.”

“We…are arch-enemies, not lovers, right?”

Facing Yu Shuli’s unfamiliar gaze, Wei Yan finally nodded with difficulty. “Yes.”

From the full of annoyance when facing Zhao Yong to the panic when facing Yu Shuli, it was only a moment’s work.

At this time, the matter of deceiving him into marriage was exposed, and Wei Yan seemed to fall into an ice cave.

He moved his arm stiffly, still wanting to take Yu Shuli’s hand. “Except for this matter, I guarantee that everything else I said is true!”

Yu Shuli avoided Wei Yan’s touch and no longer looked at him.

He turned his head and looked at his second sister, his expression calm. “Second Sister, speak.”

“If he has done anything wrong to you, I will avenge you on the spot.”