“By the way, speaking of your half-sister, she’s quite a nice girl. She kept me company and talked to me the whole time she was at the Li residence. It’s just that her social status is a bit low. What are your parents planning to do with her now? If she doesn’t have a suitable match yet, I can help inquire…”
Hua Qianqian finally found a topic to interrupt her future mother-in-law’s free-flowing speech and hurriedly said, “Auntie, you don’t need to worry about Yaoyao. She already has a husband and is doing very well now. Thank you for your concern.”
Upon hearing this, Mother Li reluctantly shut her mouth and turned to focus on discussing marriage-related matters with Father Li.
Hua Qianqian breathed a sigh of relief, while sincerely admiring her future mother-in-law’s nagging ability and Hua Yaoyao’s patience! Then she became deeply worried about her own clearly foreseeable future; with her mother-in-law nagging like this, it seemed she would never have a peaceful day!
Thousands of miles away, in Yandu, Si Yiyuan and Hua Yaoyao’s peaceful life, which had only lasted a few days, was disrupted again. They received an urgent summons from the Empress Dowager early in the morning, and the two even ate breakfast on the way!
Upon their first meeting, they were met with a stern question from the Empress Dowager: “What exactly are those rumors?” The two exchanged a bewildered glance, and Si Yiyuan asked, “Mother, what rumors?”
Seeing their blank expressions, the Empress Dowager couldn’t help but get angry: “Rumors are flying everywhere outside, saying that Yaoyao is a woman abandoned by her husband and that Prince Yu is going to marry a woman who has been abandoned as a princess. It’s spread all over Yandu, and you all know nothing about it?”
“Those senior officials and important ministers are submitting memorials every day to oppose your marriage, and Prime Minister Liu is even more shameless! He comes to me every day crying and demanding an explanation! He said that if you had taken a fancy to a girl from another good family, he would accept it, but you would rather marry a divorced woman than marry his youngest daughter. Where does that leave his daughter’s face?”
Si Yiyuan was furious upon hearing this: “Where did this rumor come from? It’s utter slander!”
Hua Yaoyao almost spat out a mouthful of blood. Were all old men in ancient times so shameless? Crying? Excellent! But speaking of abandoned wives, she suddenly remembered something and gently tugged at Si Yiyuan’s sleeve: “Could it be about the marriage proposal?”
Si Yiyuan was taken aback. After thinking it over, he realized that this was indeed the only thing that could easily cause a misunderstanding: “Could it be that someone who knew you was present that day?” Then he thought again: “But you had just arrived in Yandu that day—how could anyone know you?”
Hua Yaoyao also had no clue, but apart from that day, she had never appeared on the street so conspicuously again. It couldn’t be that she was recognized when she went out for a walk with Si Yiyuan on a normal day, could it? That doesn’t make sense either. When she was in Dayu, she rarely left the house, so who would know her!
The Empress Dowager was confused by their guessing games and kept asking, “What marriage proposal?”
Um… Hua Yaoyao felt a little guilty. If she said in front of her mother-in-law that she had once planned to abandon her son and find someone else, would she be thrown out?
Turning to look at Si Yiyuan, her husband was quite generous, recounting the whole story from beginning to end, and finally said, “Perhaps someone saw me and Yaoyao in Dayu. At that time, I was wearing Li Hao’s mask, which naturally caused misunderstandings.”
The Empress Dowager initially scolded, “Nonsense!” But when she heard that Hua Yaoyao had actually come to Dayan to choose a husband after learning the truth, she couldn’t help but burst out laughing. Not only did her anger disappear without a trace, but she also laughed so hard that she slapped the corner of the table and almost laughed until tears streamed down her face!
Si Yiyuan was exasperated by his mother’s teasing: “Is it so funny that your son almost lost his wife?”
The Empress Dowager laughed and said intermittently, “Who told you to run back without explaining anything? It’s a good thing that Yaoyao is loyal and brave, and she wasn’t scared at all even when Li Hao scared her like that. Otherwise, where would you have a wife? She would have disappeared long ago!”
Si Yiyuan rolled his eyes: “Don’t forget why I came back. How could I dare tell my wife!”
The Empress Dowager retorted confidently, “I said I was sick, but I never said I wanted you to come back for a blind date! Why don’t you dare say that?”
“…” In the first round, Prince Yu suffered a crushing defeat!
Hua Yaoyao watched the mother and son bicker, silently smiling. Ever since she learned that the Empress Dowager was also a time traveler, she had become much less wary of her.
In addition, their casual conversations over the past few days showed that the Empress Dowager’s cheerful personality meshed perfectly with Hua Yaoyao’s. The two were also from the same time-traveling background, so they had plenty in common. Furthermore, with Si Yiyuan as a connection, their relationship had grown increasingly harmonious.
After a burst of laughter, the topic returned to the main point. “Now those senior officials and important ministers are holding onto the fact that Yaoyao is an abandoned woman and won’t let go. They say that although you have no political duties, you are still the face of the royal family. Marrying an abandoned woman is a great disgrace to the royal family, and so on. This has forced the Ministry of Rites to even stop the wedding preparations!” The Empress Dowager looked helpless as she talked about these troublesome matters.
Si Yiyuan curled his lip in disdain: “Don’t those old guys have anything better to do all day? They even interfere with my marriage! Why didn’t anyone interfere when they got married!”
The Empress Dowager rolled her eyes at him: “Who told you to act without considering the consequences! Now look what’s happened—you’re on the defensive in everything! Instead of complaining to me, you should hurry up and deal with those rumors! The sooner you resolve them, the sooner you can get married! Otherwise, once you have a child, are you going to make Yaoyao get pregnant first and then buy the ticket later?”
Hua Yaoyao paused, then finally couldn’t help but say, “Empress Dowager, I’m also getting on the train first and buying the ticket later…”
Empress Dowager: “…” But that’s true… In the second round, Hua Yaoyao wins!
Si Yiyuan was once again completely bewildered by their conversation. What were they talking about? Were they speaking in riddles? What did getting married have to do with getting on a train?
Hua Yaoyao, being kind-hearted, couldn’t bear to see her husband looking so ignorant, so she quietly whispered in his ear a little about modern knowledge on buying a ticket on the train.
Now that they knew there was a problem, they naturally had to get to the root of it and find a solution. As soon as Si Yiyuan left the palace, he immediately took action. While investigating the crowd that had watched the commotion at Ruihe Tower that day, he also had his men tell the clarification story in every teahouse and restaurant, reciting it like a tale.
Naturally, they couldn’t announce their full relationship to the world, but they shared most of it selectively—only keeping the substitute marriage a secret and using the clichéd hero-saves-the-damsel trope to gloss over their acquaintance.
In just a few days, the rumors completely flipped, and everyone in Yandu knew that Prince Yu had taken a liking to a loyal and affectionate girl!
When the young lady first met Prince Yu, she was unaware of his identity and did not discriminate based on wealth or poverty. Later, when she heard that the prince’s family had fallen on hard times, she was willing to share his joys and sorrows. Now that she was about to marry the prince, she did not publicize it at all. Such a good girl and the prince were a match made in heaven—a beautiful story!
As for the so-called abandoned wife, it was just a misunderstanding between the young couple! The girl thought the prince’s family had fallen on hard times and he was unwilling to wrong her, so she chased him from the far-off capital and staged a fake marriage proposal!
Who knows who was so wicked as to insist she was a discarded wife abandoned by her husband! Maybe they were just jealous of her transformation from sparrow to phoenix!
Meanwhile, the culprit was caught red-handed, proving the saying true: “You can guard against anything day or night, but it’s hard to guard against a thief within your own household.” The first person to spread the rumors was none other than the servant who had been gossiping about what his second brother had witnessed.
To be honest, he didn’t mean to slander Hua Yaoyao. He was just a low-ranking servant in the Prince’s mansion, and he usually associated with lower-ranking servants. These people would chat about trivial matters of high-ranking nobles to pass the time when they had nothing to do. They never expected to cause such a big problem!
When the man was brought to see Si Yiyuan, he nearly wet his pants in fright, begging for mercy and saying he didn’t mean it! Si Yiyuan was furious. He was just killing time by chewing his tongue, but this was going to ruin his wedding and his wife’s reputation. What a piece of trash!
Considering it was an unintentional mistake, he was given twenty lashes and thrown out of the palace, never to be heard from again! Only a certificate with his fingerprint on it was left, proving that what he said was all fabricated and just hearsay.
Afterwards, Si Yiyuan strode into the palace with the certificate, eager to see what those old guys would have to say now!
Unfortunately, Prince Yu was too naive. Those veteran officials had been men of their word their whole lives, and even the Emperor had to show them respect, let alone a leisurely prince like him! Although he no longer brought up the word “abandoned wife,” he instead said that Hua Yaoyao’s origins were unknown and her status was low, so she could not be a princess. If the prince really liked her, then he could reluctantly make her a secondary concubine!
Si Yiyuan was so angry he almost vomited blood! When he was getting married, the Ministry of Rites made a huge fuss preparing for the wedding for half a month, while these old guys stayed at home without saying a word! Now that some misunderstandings and rumors had arisen, they all got excited, nagging endlessly about ancestral laws and the dignity of the royal family!
Did he really think he didn’t know what they were thinking? He only heard some rumors a few days ago and rushed over to spout nonsense. Now that the truth was out, he was too proud to admit his mistake, so he was just saying random things to save face. But they were unwilling to admit their mistake. Why should his wife suffer?
So, Prince Yu, filled with rage, had a debate with the senior officials in court. No matter how many reasons those old men gave, Prince Yu remained unmoved, repeating only one sentence: “What does it have to do with you if a leisurely prince like me gets married?”
Finally, Si Yiyue couldn’t stand it any longer and stopped the pointless debate, concluding with, “Your words are reasonable. Yuan and Miss Hua are in love and were already married in Dayu. My mother and I were aware of this. They have only returned to hold a wedding ceremony. There is no need for you to interfere too much.”
In short, they’re already married. All your rambling is nonsense. Just give them a way out and get it over with! Don’t make things difficult for yourself!
Seeing that neither the Emperor nor the Empress Dowager objected, and considering that Si Yiyuan was merely a leisurely prince who did not participate in politics, it was indeed not worth their trouble to meddle in his marriage. In any case, the rumors had been dispelled, and whether Hua Yaoyao was an abandoned woman or not was none of their business anymore. Let him marry whoever he wanted!