Chapter 676

Chapter 37: The Final Chapter of the Three Young Ones

Niannian rubbed her nose and furrowed her fine brows.

Her body was perfectly healthy, so there was no way she could be falling ill.

Could it be that someone was secretly speaking ill of her right now?

She had barely finished the thought, before she caught sight of a servant hurrying over.

"This servant greets Princess Niannian."

The young servant bowed respectfully to Niannian, then turned to the Li Mingyue at her side and said, "Miss Li, Madam Li has sent word to ask you to return home at once."

"Mother is asking me to go back?" Li Mingyue was stunned at first, then a flicker of urgency crossed her face.

Could something have gone wrong in the residence?

"Did something happen to your uncle's family?" Niannian asked with a frown.

"How about I come with you?" Niannian was worried that the Li family was in trouble, and wanted to go along to see what was the matter.

"Cousin, there's no need. I'll head back first. Maybe Mother just misses me," Li Mingyue shook her head. Right now, she had no idea what was going on at home.

"Alright, go on back then. If anything comes up, send someone to let me know," Niannian said, figuring Li Mingyue probably wanted to have some private time with her family. Now that Li Zhiwei had returned to the capital, Li Mingyue was just a child who wanted to stay by her parents' side.

"How about I walk Mingyue back?" Kong Shuyin thought for a moment and asked.

"No, no, I can go back on my own," Li Mingyue waved her hands repeatedly, thinking to herself that she was just heading back to the Li family residence, no escort was needed.

No one in the capital would dare to cause her any trouble anyway.

After Li Mingyue arrived at the Li family residence, she was led straight to the Wen family's estate.

"Greetings, Mother. Greetings, Aunt. What is all this about?" Li Mingyue first bowed to the two women, then asked, looking thoroughly confused.

"Mingyue, tell me quickly, who was that girl you were with today?" Wen Yiheng at the side asked, his tone brimming with excitement.

Li Mingyue was utterly bewildered.

They rushed her back home in such a hurry just to ask her that?

"Mingyue, tell your aunt right now, who was that girl you were with today?" Cheng Qingli looked at Li Mingyue with obvious anticipation in her eyes.

The moment Cheng Qingli thought that the girl might be Niannian, she already started daydreaming about her son bringing Niannian home as his wife.

"Today I was with Sister Nian Nian and Sister Kong. I don't know who exactly you're asking about," Li Mingyue replied, glancing at Wen Yiheng with a strange look, wondering to herself if her cousin had hit his head and lost his senses.

"Surname Kong?" Cheng Qingli frowned. She had never heard that Prince An's residence was on close terms with any family surnamed Kong.

"Sister Kong came here to find Brother An'an. She's going to be his wife in the future," Li Mingyue explained quickly.

"Well, An'an is already going to have a wife soon," Cheng Qingli said, then shot her own son an exasperated side glance.

She thought to herself that her own son really was a hopeless case.

"Sister Kong is so amazing," Li Mingyue added, unable to hold back a giggle behind her handkerchief.

"Ugh, ​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​‍now I still can't figure out if this silly boy has taken a fancy to Niannian," Cheng Qingli said, sounding rather troubled.

"Cousin has a crush on Sister Nian Nian?" Li Mingyue's eyes went wide with shock the second she heard that. She remembered that the Third Prince had come with the Emperor and Empress that very day to formally propose a marriage, and even Prince An had turned the offer down.

With that thought, Li Mingyue circled Wen Yiheng once, then shook her head and said, "Cousin, you might as well give up. You don't even measure up to the Third Prince."

"Mingyue, how can you talk to me like that? I'm your own cousin! How can you always side with outsiders? What is it that I lack compared to the Third Prince?" Wen Yiheng said, sounding clearly aggrieved.

Deep down, he could admit that he might really not measure up to the Third Prince, but hearing those words coming from his little cousin, whom he had doted on since she was a child, still stung badly.

"You silly boy, how dare you talk back? Your skills just aren't as good as others', and you won't even let people say that out loud?" Cheng Qingli did not take her own son's side at all. It was an undeniable fact that the Third Prince was far more outstanding than her own son.

"Niannian, did you say the Third Prince has gone to Prince An's residence?" Cheng Qingli then turned to ask Niannian.

"Several guests came to Prince An's residence today. No one said outright that the Emperor was there, but the Third Prince was present, and he called the two elders 'Father' and 'Mother' — so that must have been the Emperor and Empress for sure. But even so, Prince An did not agree to let Sister Niannian marry the Third Prince," Li Mingyue did not hide anything from the others and told them the whole truth.

"Dear Mingyue, you are such close friends with Niannian, do you have any idea what kind of young man Niannian likes?"

Cheng Qingli took Li Mingyue's hand and asked her in a warm, affectionate tone.

She was thinking to herself: since family status clearly wasn't enough to win Prince An over, maybe Niannian would end up liking a guy with her son's personality type?

Cheng Qingli figured that since even the Third Prince's exalted status couldn't move Prince An, the only way left was to win Niannian's heart through genuine affection.

Since Mingyue was on such good terms with Niannian, her Ah Heng might even get the advantage of being close to her first, just by being around more often.

There would definitely be plenty of noble daughters in the capital who would be happy to marry the Third Prince anyway.

With that thought in mind, Cheng Qingli did not feel the slightest twinge of guilt about letting her son go after the woman her nephew had his eye on.

"Sister Niannian says she wants a peerless hero. And cousin... you don't really strike me as that type," Li Mingyue could not help but cover her mouth and giggle as she said that.

"Oh, that's easy to fix! Tomorrow, I'll just pack him up and send him straight to the military camp," Cheng Qingli said without even stopping to think it over.

If this had been any other day, Wen Yiheng would definitely have protested against this plan.

But now that he thought about that beautiful girl who loved heroes, he felt like he was putting in the effort to fight for his own happy ending.

The news of Xu Qingshi and Gu Nuonuo's betrothal quickly became the biggest sensation across the entire capital.

Prince An's residence sent a full six hundred sets of betrothal gifts to the Princess Chang's manor, showing extraordinary sincerity.

The Princess Chang's manor, in return, added another three hundred sets of dowry to the wedding. The wedding procession for Xu Qingshi and Gu Nuonuo, while not as jaw-droppingly grand as the one Li Zhiwei had been part of years ago, was still one of the most lavish and impressive scenes anyone in the capital had ever seen.

"Escort the bride to the bridal chamber —"

As the master of ceremonies called out the traditional line at the top of his voice, every member of the Prince An's household wore a bright, happy smile on their face.

Xu Heming looked at his son dressed in his vivid red wedding robes, and his mind drifted back to the day Xu Qingshi had brought Li Zhiwei home to Prince An's residence for the first time.

"My princess, do you ever regret marrying me?" Xu Heming looked at Li Zhiwei and asked softly.

"My lord, I am so grateful to you and to Qingshi, for changing the course of my life," Li Zhiwei said, as she thought of the tragic fate she had suffered in her past life.

All of that horror had been changed, all because of Xu Qingshi. She could not bear to imagine what would have happened if she had really been forced to marry into the Lin family. Even if she had tried her hardest to avoid disaster, she doubted she would have ever gotten free easily.

At the very least, back then, she could never have guaranteed the safety of her parents. And they would have never found out that her elder brother was still alive, ever.

Five years passed in the blink of an eye.

Over these five years, Xu Qingshi and Gu Nuonuo had welcomed a son and a daughter into their family, and the young couple lived a life so sweet it was as if they were steeped in honey.

An'an had married Kong Shuyin, and gone back to Deyang Manor with her, becoming the next Manor Lord candidate.

Pingping had wed a sweet, well-behaved young lady from the Qin clan in Jiangnan.

Even Xie Yanzhi had gotten to marry Li Mingyue as he had long wished.

All except Niannian.

"Ugh!" Li Zhiwei heaved another sigh as she looked at Shuang'er.

After all, An'an already had a child of his own, and Pingping's baby was about to be born any day now.

Only Niannian was left. They had arranged for her to meet quite a number of young gentlemen from noble and wealthy families, but either she did not take a fancy to them, or Xu Heming was not satisfied with them.

"Look at this, if our daughter does not get married soon, she will turn into an old maid in the capital!"

Li Zhiwei said, pointing at Xu Heming with a look of exasperation on her face.

"We can afford to support her for the rest of her life anyway," Xu Heming replied with a smile.

In his eyes, it did not matter at all whether his daughter married or not. Even if she chose to stay unmarried for her entire life, that was no problem at all, for he could give her the very best life possible.

Marriage was such a troublesome thing. What if she ended up with a difficult mother-in-law who would bully her?

"You are just spoiling her rotten!" Li Zhiwei was getting a headache over the whole matter, thinking to herself that if she had known things would turn out this way, she might as well have let Niannian marry the Third Prince.

Back in the capital, a grand procession of troops was returning in triumph.

Niannian was sitting in a teahouse with the pregnant Li Mingyue, watching the vast, mighty procession pass by.

"Niannian, why don't you take a good look? Is there any young man among them that catches your eye?" Li Mingyue teased her playfully.

"What is there to see?" Niannian said nonchalantly. After all, she had wealth, she had beauty, and she did not have to get married if she did not want to.

As for the matter of children, the Prince An's residence already had An'an's child, and Pingping's baby would be born very soon.

What did she have to worry about? If it really came down to it, she could just ask An'an or Pingping to have one more child, and adopt it as her own.

Down on the streets outside the teahouse, the crowd was roaring with cheers. A man clad in full armor could not suppress the smile on his face the entire time.

He had finally come back, and had become the "favorite child" that the girl he loved most had once spoken of.

What was more, he had heard that Niannian was still unmarried, which must mean she was waiting for him to return.

Thinking of that, the Third Prince was filled with overwhelming joy.

He silently repeated the words in his heart: Niannian, I have come back to marry you!