MLIAM Chapter 19

Chapter 19: False Old Flame – It’s probably because I’m better looking than you, right?

Jiangning stepped past the guards and the prison warden, walking straight into the prison.

The Censorate can come and go as they please? This Princess Jiangning…

Yu Shuli pursed his lips, looking at Wei Yan, his face not very pleasant.

“What’s wrong?” Wei Yan took his hand, asking carefully.

“If you’re with me, what about Jiangning?” Yu Shuli looked away, speaking in a deliberately annoying way: “Wei Yan, I didn’t ask about your past because you and I are brothers, and it’s a bit presumptuous to pry into a brother’s love life, but now it’s different…” His small face suddenly became a little serious, and he even shook off Wei Yan’s hand, “Anyway, you solve it yourself.”

Chen Li was a carefree person. Seeing the graceful woman approaching, he whistled, revealing a gossipy expression, and laughed: “There’s this twist too? A love triangle?”

Wei Yan chuckled.

He looked at Yu Shuli: “You’ve misunderstood. There’s nothing between Jiangning and me.”

Yu Shuli widened his eyes: “Don’t lie to my face. She told me herself, how could it be fake?”

Wei Yan frowned: “What did she say?”

“Said she was your old flame or something, that you were star-crossed lovers, forced to separate, things like that…”

Wei Yan was shocked: “When?”

Yu Shuli recalled: “It should have been around Tianyuan twelve.”

Wei Yan’s face turned cold.

Tianyuan twelve was the year he came of age.

“The day of my coming-of-age ceremony, you suddenly disappeared… was it because of her?”

Yu Shuli nodded.

Wei Yan’s tone was firm: “I never had any personal relationship with her. I don’t like her at all.”

But Yu Shuli was too lazy to pursue the matter. Men were, after all, inherently full of lies.

“Well, anyway, she’s here. Ask her yourself. I want to sleep, don’t bother me.” Yu Shuli didn’t have much goodwill towards the gracefully walking, exquisitely made-up Jiangning. He moved his body away, stacked the straw on the ground, and directly curled up in the corner to sleep.

Seeing that he was going straight to sleep, Wei Yan could only stop himself from saying more.

Unfortunately, Jiangning was completely clueless. Seeing Wei Yan, her face lit up with joy. She trotted over and stopped at the bars. “Brother Xianqing, are you alright?”

Chen Li next door shuddered with goosebumps. He simply stopped watching the show and lay down on the straw pile opposite Yu Shuli, going to meet the Duke of Zhou as well.

A sour snort also came from the corner.

Wei Yan: …

He looked at Jiangning, his already cold eyes becoming even deeper, showing no kindness at all: “What is Princess Jiangning doing in prison?”

Jiangning’s body trembled, instantly changing from joy to tears: “Brother Xianqing, I’m worried about you.”

“Princess, please be careful with your words. This Prime Minister has no connection with the Princess.”

Jiangning widened her eyes, tears flowing like a waterfall, a perfect picture of a weeping beauty: “Brother Xianqing, how can you say that?”

“Yeah, Brother Xianqing, how can you treat our Princess like this?” Yu Shuli rolled over in the corner, also chiming in mockingly.

A hint of a smile spread across Wei Yan’s lips as he responded to him: “How is that related to me?”

Jiangning hadn’t noticed that there was another person in the corner. Hearing this, she trembled and asked hesitantly: “Who… who is there?”

In the corner, Yu Shuli was dark and blurry, making it impossible to make out his appearance. He curled up his body, his voice sinister: “It’s a vengeful ghost… I like to claim the lives of those who love to lie… especially those who are beautiful and love to lie…”

Jiangning hiccuped with a sob, taking two steps back abruptly.

Wei Yan suddenly laughed. He curved his eyes and turned his head: “Weren’t you going to sleep?” Cutting in like that wasn’t Yu Shuli’s style.

Yu Shuli “hmph”-ed, disdaining: “You’re too noisy, I can’t sleep.”

Wei Yan simply walked over: “I’ll cover your ears for you. You sleep.”

Yu Shuli pushed him away, his face blushing slightly: “I don’t want to.”

Seeing that Wei Yan was directly ignoring her and turning to flirt with Yu Shuli, Jiangning’s tears flowed almost endlessly, her cries hoarse: “Brother Xianqing, let me get you out first, okay? Don’t mix with any strange people…”

“Princess, this isn’t a place for you.” After saying this, Wei Yan sat down next to Yu Shuli, pushing him: “Move over a bit, I want to sleep too.” He simply made the “mixing with strange people” thing that Jiangning said a reality.

Jiangning widened her eyes, even forgetting her fake crying.

Wei Yan dug some dry grass from under Yu Shuli and put it under himself, then nudged Yu Shuli further inside: “Move over a bit, I’m a little cold.”

Yu Shuli was squeezed by his long legs, finally getting up in exasperation. His small face was finally revealed. “Wei Yan! Are you a scoundrel? I said I didn’t want to pay attention to you!”

Jiangning finally saw Yu Shuli’s face under the candlelight.

Her face turned pale: “How… how is it you?”

Yu Shuli hated Wei Yan’s bad luck, so he simply pushed him inside, burying him in the pile of dry grass. Seeing him struggling to get up, he smiled and looked over with narrowed eyes: “Princess Jiangning, long time no see.”

Wei Yan allowed Yu Shuli to move him, even raising half his face and hooking his fingers on the hem of his clothes, casually twirling it around, looking extremely intimate.

“You… why are you also in prison?” Jiangning didn’t understand why Yu Shuli and Wei Yan could end up together.

Yu Shuli raised an eyebrow. It seemed Jiangning didn’t know about their “glorious deeds”?

He poked the culprit next to him: “Well, thanks to him.”

Wei Yan grabbed his restless hand, looked up at Jiangning: “Princess, you should keep your distance from this Prime Minister in the future. Now that I am engaged, it’s best not to create unnecessary misunderstandings.”

Jiangning couldn’t hide the sob in her voice: “Brother Xianqing, how could you agree to marry? Why do you want to be with him?”

Yu Shuli yawned, not wanting to waste any more words with her: “It’s probably because I’m better looking than you, right?”

He pushed Wei Yan’s hand away and pulled out all the straw he had been lying on, spreading it to the side, staying far away from Wei Yan: “I’m really sleepy. You two chat, I’m going to sleep.”

How could Jiangning have ever suffered this kind of treatment?

From childhood to adulthood, she had been pampered. From the Emperor to the servants, everyone praised her beauty as heavenly. When had she ever been insulted for her appearance? She was so angry that she couldn’t maintain her facade.

Her face darkened, and she slapped the bars: “Yu Shuli, come out. We need to talk.”

Yu Shuli’s intention wasn’t really to insult her appearance. He was just really sleepy, and he also inherently disliked women who were full of lies and schemes, so he deliberately provoked her to anger.

Seeing that Jiangning was still going to make trouble, he waved his hand: “No talk.”

“You… how dare you be so disrespectful to me! I’ll go back and have my father cut off your head!” She was a little hysterical.

Yu Shuli didn’t react much, covering his ears and continuing to sleep.

Wei Yan got up from the empty ground, glanced at the fully wrapped-up Yu Shuli who was asleep, and sighed inwardly.

It seemed that he was really angry, otherwise he wouldn’t even take care of him, a sick person.

Wei Yan walked to the bars: “Princess, be careful with your words and actions. Even His Majesty cannot kill people at will. What right does the Marquis of Xunyang have to go over the Censorate and kill people at will?”

Seeing that Wei Yan was finally paying attention to her, Jiangning was overjoyed: “Brother Xianqing, I’ll have someone let you out.” She quickly waved to her subordinates to come and open the prison door.

But her subordinates looked hesitant, not daring to come over.

Jiangning was about to get angry at her subordinates when Wei Yan interrupted: “Did the Princess not understand what this Prime Minister said? Very well… this Prime Minister will ask again. Who gave the Marquis of Xunyang the power to do whatever he wants under the Son of Heaven’s feet?”

Jiangning understood this time. Her body trembled, and her fingers subconsciously moved away from the bars, muttering: “Brother Xianqing, what… do you mean?”

“Jiangning, you are a smart person. You can’t not understand what the crime of privately breaking into a prison is. Does the power in the hands of the Marquis of Xunyang really cover the sky?” Wei Yan said: “Moreover, since the Marquis of Xunyang didn’t allow you to contact me back then, he certainly won’t now.”

He decisively concluded: “You came here on your own.”

“It’s different, Wei Yan…” Jiangning changed her address, a hint of shame on her face: “At that time… at that time, I was young, and I didn’t dare to resist my father… Now… Now I dare… Wei Yan… If you also have feelings for me, we can elope…”

Chen Li, who was listening to the drama on the side, joined in appropriately: “Elope, how romantic…”

“Shut up.” Wei Yan glared at Chen Li, then frowned and looked at Jiangning: “Princess, I don’t know what I did to make you have the illusion that I have feelings for you? Tell me, and we can resolve this misunderstanding.”

“That year at the Lantern Festival, you gave me a lantern…” Jiangning said aggrievedly: “I still keep that little rabbit lantern to this day…”

“That wasn’t for you.” Wei Yan sighed: “If the Princess isn’t afraid of losing face, then I’ll be blunt. That lantern was picked up by this official. Later, when His Highness the Crown Prince had an accident, I was in a hurry to save him, so I casually entrusted it to someone nearby. I didn’t even remember who you were at the time, and naturally, I couldn’t find the lantern back.”

Jiangning’s face was full of disbelief: “No… I don’t believe it. How could you pick up a lantern? Where can’t you buy a lantern? Do you need to pick it up? And you say you don’t remember me? How is that possible? My clothes weren’t those of an ordinary woman!”

Wei Yan’s tone was calm: “Why can’t I pick it up? My family couldn’t afford it, so I picked one up to make my mother happy, is that not allowed? In those years when I was short of money, I had no mind for romantic affairs. Every day I wanted to see a full granary of rice, and I never cared about what the noble ladies in the Capital City wore.”

Jiangning was a little incredulous. She never knew that Wei Yan had difficult times at home, and she was at a loss: “How… how could you not afford it…”

“You didn’t bother to understand the situation I was in at the time, and you just wanted to approach me based on this appearance? You’re really too naive.” Wei Yan sneered: “No wonder the Marquis of Xunyang wanted to solve the problems for you.”

“What’s wrong with my father?”

“Your father sent someone to kill him.” Yu Shuli also sat up at this time. He was annoyed by the noise. He brushed away the straw piled on his body. It was hard to say what he felt in his heart after hearing what Wei Yan had just said.

Anyway, he just felt…uncomfortable.

Yu Shuli thought, if he had been there at that time, he would definitely have personally sent a brand new lantern to Wei Yan.

He would never let him pick up what others didn’t want.

Wei Yan deserved the best.

“Kill… kill him?” Jiangning’s whole body trembled, almost unable to support herself. She leaned on the bars, not even caring about getting dirty: “When… when was it?”

“Tianyuan seven.”

Jiangning murmured: “Tianyuan seven… Tianyuan seven…” She suddenly widened her eyes, glaring at Yu Shuli: “So, when I said I was Wei Yan’s old flame, you were acting like that on purpose, right? You never believed me!” Who would believe that Wei Yan would love the daughter of someone who wanted to kill him?

Yu Shuli raised an eyebrow, admitting it.

He wasn’t stupid.

He could tell at a glance whether Wei Yan had been moved by a woman.

Jiangning…didn’t even count as a passerby in Wei Yan’s life.

Jiangning laughed mockingly, as if she had lost all her strength: “So… you must think I’m a joke, right? You must be very proud to make me lose face in front of the person I love.”

Yu Shuli shook his head: “I’m not proud, and I don’t think you’re a joke. Love is a precious feeling, and no one has the right to laugh at you.”

Jiangning felt a burst of sadness in her heart. Her fingers pressed against her face, suppressing her sobs.

“Jiangning, there’s nothing wrong with you liking someone, but you shouldn’t harm people so viciously.” Yu Shuli raised his head: “You thought you were eliminating a rival in love… but I… don’t even need to participate in the battle. You’ve already been eliminated in advance.”

Jiangning’s knuckles were tightly clenched together, gripping the bars, making them ache: “But… but you weren’t fooled, were you?”

There was a moment of confusion in Yu Shuli’s pupils. He was silent for a long time. “No, I was fooled.”

Wei Yan’s eyes had been fixed on Yu Shuli all along, and he had been silent for a long time. Hearing this, he also widened his eyes.

The heartbeats of everyone in the room quickened, and their breathing seemed to stop.

After a long time, Jiangning revealed a smile that was both crazy and satisfied, and slightly unwilling: “So… you still went to that place, didn’t you?”