Chapter 124 I Like You

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  As the gaze fell on the newlyweds Long Shuyuan and Gu Qingyao, Ming Emperor was about to praise them when he inadvertently saw Murong Shi and Gu Qingyao's maid Qingjin standing behind them. A hint of surprise flashed across Ming Emperor's eyes as he instantly thought of the reason for Qingjin's appearance here.

  Looking at Qingjin who was lowering her head without any presence, Ming Emperor's gaze swept over Long Han Yuan, Long Shu Yuan, Murong Shi and Gu Qingyao, with a faint frown, the rare paternal pride disappeared in an instant. He retracted his words of praise for his son and new daughter-in-law, and instead admonished: "Han Yuan, Shu Yuan, you two are among my more satisfactory sons. Now that you both have your own estates outside the palace and are married, I hope you can get along with your other imperial brother, and in the future, work hard for the court, and for me."

  "Yes, Your Majesty!" Long Han Yuan and Long Shu Yuan replied in unison.

  "All right, you're here to pay your respects today, so I won't keep you any longer. I'm sure the Empress Dowager is already waiting for you, go to her palace!" Hearing Long Han-yuan and Long Shu-yuan's simultaneous response, Ming Emperor nodded and waved his hand at them.

  "Junior minister (daughter-in-law) requests to withdraw!"

  Long Han-yuan and Long Shu-yuan took Murong-shi, Gu Qing-ya, and Qing-jin out of the Jinghe Palace. Long Han-yuan and Long Shu-yuan left temporarily for official business, while Qing-jin followed Murong-shi and Gu Qing-ya to pay respects at the Empress Dowager's chambers.

  After thanking Empress Dowager, Qingjin followed Murong and Gu Qingyao to the palace of the empress. The empress was Long Hanshan's foster mother, although Long Hanshan was not registered under the empress's name, but because Long Hanshan had stayed in the empress's bedroom for a few years, the empress was considered Long Hanshan's foster mother to some extent. Of course, even if the empress did not raise Long Hanshan, all of Ming Emperor's sons who were not born by the empress would also have to call her "Mother Empress" in terms of etiquette.

  Because Long Han had been raised by the Empress Dowager for several years, Murong initially married to Long Han. After learning about this matter, when she came to pay respects to the Empress Dowager, she unconsciously treated her as her real mother-in-law.

  When Murong brought Qingjin and Qingyao into the empress's palace, the crown prince's consort happened to be with the crown prince's secondary consort in front of the empress. The three of them bowed to the empress and the crown prince's consort after asking for permission. The empress and the crown prince's consort warmly chatted with Murong Si and Gu Qingyao about some everyday things, leaving Qingjin alone on one side. Fortunately, Qingjin didn't mind much and quietly listened to Murong's conversation with Gu Qingyao, the empress, and the crown prince's consort.

  Just as Qingjin was getting bored, Long Han and Long Shuyuan walked in from outside the palace. After paying their respects to the empress, they chatted with her for a bit before Long Shuyuan bid farewell to the empress and took Qingyu to pay his respects to his mother, the empress smiled and had someone escort Long Shuyuan and Gu Qingyu out of the palace, then kept Long Han and Murong Shi in her palace for dinner, Long Han nodded in agreement.

  Wait until the meal is ready. The prince also walked in from outside, saluted the empress, and then chatted with Long Han for a few words before everyone sat down to eat.

  After dinner in the Queen's Palace, Qing Jin followed Murong Shi and Long Han Yan out of the palace. Long Han Yan rode a horse as usual, while Qing Jin and Murong Shi took a carriage back to the Jing Wang Fu.

  Qing Jin bid farewell to Long Han Yuan and Murong Shi, returning to her own Liu Yun Institute after entering the Jing Wang Fu. Long Han Yuan followed Murong Shi to the main hall.

  The main room of Murong's residence

  Murong handed a cup of tea to Long HanYuan, who was sitting at the top, and said hesitantly: "I just hinted for you to follow me here because when I left the empress dowager's palace, she told someone to tell me something. She said that now that you have been in power for a year, there are only two women with status in the mansion, myself and newly arrived Concubine Gu. The empress dowager thinks it's a bit thin, meaning she wants to grant you another concubine, I don't know what your thoughts are?"

  Long Han heard Murong's words and looked at Murong with an expressionless face.

  Murong saw Long Han's expressionless face and felt both joy that Long Han was unmoved by the Empress' offer to make him a concubine, and concern that Long Han had different feelings for Gu Qingjin, hoping to advance another concubine to compete with Gu for favor, and her heart was filled with conflicting emotions.

  "Who is the candidate?" Just as Murong thought about these things, Long Han's cold and clear voice came over.

  Upon hearing Long Hanyuan's voice, Murong Shi put aside the contradictions in her heart and spoke to him: "The empress dowager mentioned two candidates, both of whom have very good family backgrounds. One is Yun Doujun's daughter, Yun Qiongsnow, and the other is Liu Langzhong's daughter, Liu Wenting. I think Yun Doujun's daughter, Yun Qiongsnow, is more suitable, but I don't know what your thoughts are on this matter?"

  Long Han heard Murong's words and remained silent for a moment before nodding his head: "I understand." Then he stood up and walked out.

  As soon as Long HanYuan finished speaking, he stood up and walked out. Murong couldn't quite understand what Long HanYuan meant by that - was it agreement or something else? Thinking that if this was indeed an agreement, then Gu QingJin wouldn't be all that important in his heart either, she felt a mix of relief and bitterness.

  At this time, Murong was thinking about these things when Long Han stopped at the door and said with his back to Murong: "...I'll give you an answer later." After finishing speaking, he turned around and left without looking back.

  Upon hearing Long Han's words, a look of delight appeared in Murong's eyes, but after a moment, she thought of something and the delighted expression faded away, her face turning awkward.

  The queen mother stood beside, looking at the words that came out of the king's mouth. The joyful expression on Wang Fei's face had also been happy for Murong Shi, but when she saw that Murong Shi's joy had not yet appeared, it turned gloomy and stepped forward to ask Murong Shi: "Your Majesty, you didn't hurry to bring in a new concubine, shouldn't you be happy?"

  "Go and keep an eye on him, see if I'll go over there." Murong didn't respond to Le Jiaojiao's words, but instead instructed her.

  Ler's mother suddenly understood Murong's meaning, and after understanding the implication of Murong's words, Ler's mother immediately replied to Murong: "I'll have someone keep an eye on it." After finishing speaking, she left from in front of Murong.

  The weather was fine in the afternoon, but near dusk, the sky began to darken and rumbled from time to time, and it started raining heavily after a while.

  Cloudy Temple

  Qing Jin was originally leaning against the window reading a novel, saw the sky starting to rain, put down the novel in her hand, walked out of the house and stood under the eaves watching the rain.

  Raindrops hit the leaves and flowers of the trees planted in Liuyun Yard, splashing small water droplets, making the flowers more charming and the grass fresh and tender. The air is filled with the fragrance of mud and grass, and everything looks more vibrant and full of life in the rain.

  Qing Jin suddenly felt a spark of interest, she stretched out her hand into the rain, watching as the rainwater wet her hand, and chuckled to herself.

  Yuanyang walked over from the other side, saw Qingjin stretching her hand into the rain, and her clothes were also splashed with a lot of rainwater. Subconsciously wanting to stop her, but thinking that she hadn't seen Qingjin so happy for a long time, in the end, she didn't say anything. She quietly walked to Qingjin's side and said: "Master, you should stand under the eaves more, look, your clothes are almost all wet from the rain, if you catch a cold it won't be good."

  "I'm not that fragile, I'm not made of paper, and it's not winter now. Even if I get splashed, it doesn't matter, I can just change into a new set of clothes. It's rare for me to be in a good mood today, so don't ruin it for me, Yuanyang!"

  "As long as Master is happy, then I'll let you play for a while longer today. I'll go find some clothes for you to change into, and once you're done playing, hurry up and put them on." With that, she turned around and headed towards Qingjin's room.

  "No need, I haven't had enough fun yet. Don't go find clothes for now, you come and play with me too. Come on, stretch out your hand." Qingjin pulled Ruyi over, speaking to her with a hint of invitation.

  "The slave will find the clothes and then play with you...". Seeing Qing Jin's high spirits, Yuanyang didn't want to dampen her enthusiasm, but still insisted on finding the clothes first.

  "Yuanyang, you're really... But don't worry, there's no need to rush and find it now. First, let's have some fun together, after we're done, I'll go take a bath, and you'll have plenty of time to help me find a replacement outfit." Qingjin spoke again to Yuanyang.

  Yuan Yang heard Qing Jin's words and no longer insisted on going to find clothes for Qing Jin immediately. Instead, she opened her mouth with some helplessness towards Qing Jin: "Okay, Master, you're in such a good mood, Yuan Yang will accompany you to play for a while." As she spoke, she stretched out her hand into the rain curtain.

  Seeing Yuanyang also stretch her hand into the rain, Qingjin's eyes flashed with a hint of cleverness, and she lightly flicked her wet hand in front of Yuanyang, splashing water on Yuanyang's face.

  The mandarin duck was suddenly splashed by Qingjin's hand, which was wet with rainwater, and it let out a startled quack. After reacting, it mimicked Qingjin's action, splashing its own water-soaked hand back at her. The two of them took turns splashing each other, their laughter ringing out clearly in the rain, creating a warm and cozy scene.

  After a while, Yuanyang saw that Qingjin's clothes had been splashed with rainwater and stopped first, facing Qingjin and saying: "Master, let's stop playing, your clothes are all wet, I'll have someone prepare hot water for you, hurry up and take a bath!"

  Qing Jin stopped when she heard Yuanyang's words, stretched her waist, put her hands in the rain, and looked at the rain curtain to open her mouth: "It's been a long time since I've felt so happy, I really like the feeling of raining, it seems that the air is particularly fresh."

  She smiled sideways with a hint of shyness.

  At that moment, a gentle breeze passed by, and the smiling girl stood under the eaves, her slender jade hands in the rain, her wide sleeves embroidered with beautiful pearls and flowers fluttering in the wind, her hair lightly swaying, turning back to smile, a hundred charms were born.

  That bright smile faded away cleanly when she saw that person, dressed in black, tall and slender, standing under the rain curtain.

  Long Han walked into the Flowing Cloud Temple, separated by the rain curtain, just in time to see Qing Jin's bright and beautiful smile. In that instant, something was born from his heart, and he suddenly thought of many years ago, that woman who came to the Banruo Temple in a sorry state, with eyes that couldn't hide her fear, but smiled brightly and said four words: I like you!