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“Yan Yujin!”
At the sound of that commanding voice Yan Yujin curled up into his best tortoise impression, while his father looked to the door with a faint smile.
Xia Dong marched into the room without announcing herself. She went straight to where Yan Yujin was kneeling and seized his ear, pulling him ungracefully into a standing position. Her eyes flashed.
“What did you do to Duchess Nihuang?”
“Dong- jie! ” Yan Yujin whined, trying to wriggle free from her grasp. “I didn’t do anything to her. I only joked that maybe we should get married, and she agreed!”
Xia Dong pulled him closer. “You haven’t violated her have you? If her brother finds out-”
Yan Yujin’s eyes widened. “What? No, of course not!”
“Then why would she agree to marry you if she's not pregnant?”
“Didn’t you ask her that?”
Xia Dong narrowed her eyes in challenge, and Yan Yujin stared back, very much emulating a kicked puppy. Finally she released his ear and he stepped away, rubbing it vigorously and scowling in her direction.
“Nihuang has always resisted marriage. Nobody has been good enough for her since Xiao-Shu. He owned every piece of her heart and now he’s…” she turned her face away. It had been three years since they had lost Lin Shu for a second time, and Mu Nihuang had been dressed in mourning white ever since.
“She is thirty this year,” Yan Que chimed in calmly. “A woman as intelligent as her will know that time is running out, should she ever wish to have children. And my son, while five years her junior, is without a doubt the most suitable match for her.”
Xiao Dong pursed her lips, clearly not able to disagree openly with the Marquis. She looked back towards Yan Yujin. “But you are still young, would you not prefer to wait and see if you can marry for love?”
A knife pierced through Yan Yujin’s heart. There had only ever been one woman he had loved, but she was now buried beneath the ground. He was still plagued almost every night by the memory of holding her body in his shaking arms, unable to do anything as the scarlet blood flowed from her abdomen and her life slipped away. She should never have gone to war. He would have stopped her if he could, but she would not hear of it. Just as Mu Nihuang’s heart belonged to Lin Shu, Gong Yu’s heart had belonged to Mei Changsu, and she would have followed him wherever he went.
Whether he married for love or convenience, Yan Yujin would still spend his life being second best to that man. But he was not bitter about it - in fact it was one of his most admirable qualities that he could always see the positive in everything, and would always do his best to turn a bad situation into a good one. He had made the decision to do his best to fill that hole in Mu Nihuang’s heart, and once he committed, nothing would pull him back from his word.
“Dong-jie, I will treat her well and ensure her safety as any husband should for their wife.”
Xia Dong snorted and looked sideways at him. “I’m not worried about that . She can look after herself. In fact it’s your own safety you should be more concerned about. I’m only concerned for her heart.”
“I will care for that too. I may not be Lin Shu-gege, but perhaps she can still learn to love me…" Yan Yujin sighed, and then his face broke into a mischievous smile. “Besides, you can’t deny that we will have the most beautiful children in all of Da Liang!”
Xia Dong hit him.