Chapter 41: An Imperial Edict Arrives
Sun Jiaojiao was amused. Elope? Did she hear him right?
"You? Want to elope with me? To where? Are you going to support me from now on?" Sun Jiaojiao teased Xiao Er.
An immature elopement was like an underage child running away from home. A guard with Xiao Er's status, who didn't even have a few taels of silver to his name, how could he elope?
Besides, she had finally transmigrated here. She was going to give up the good life of a Young Miss to elope with a guard and become a commoner's wife?
A beautiful love would be defeated by a cruel reality.
Even the most beautiful woman would one day grow old and ugly.
Just because Sun Jiaojiao had slept with Xiao Er didn't mean her brain was addled by lust and she was going to give up everything for him, becoming a love-struck silly girl.
But Xiao Er just had to look at Sun Jiaojiao with deep affection and say, "To my hometown. There are mountains and water, and my family still has a few acres of land. It will definitely be enough for me to support Young Miss."
The great countryside? Then Sun Jiaojiao was even less likely to go.
She shook her head and said righteously, "Are you stupid? If we disappear together, you think my father wouldn't think to check your hometown?"
"Then we won't go back to my hometown. We'll roam the world."
"Don't even think about it. 'Under all heaven, there is no land that is not the king's.' Wherever we flee, as long as my father wants to find me, he will." Sun Jiaojiao waved her hand dismissively.
"But," Xiao Er grew anxious, "if Young Miss doesn't leave, what if the Master forces you to marry someone else in the future?"
He wasn't afraid of anything else. He was only afraid that because Sun Jiaojiao had lost her virginity, Minister Sun would just find some random man and marry her off...
Sun Jiaojiao burst out laughing. "I'm already the woman whose engagement to the Crown Prince was annulled. Who would dare to marry me?"
She could live this free and easy life for at least another year.
Xiao Er looked like he wanted to say something, but he held it back.
Just as Sun Jiaojiao was comforting Xiao Er, someone in the courtyard outside suddenly shouted in a high-pitched voice, "An imperial edict arrives!" Then there was a bunch of chatter that Sun Jiaojiao didn't understand. But she understood the last sentence: "Sun Jiaojiao of the Minister's Residence, receive the edict."
Sun Jiaojiao was stunned.
An imperial edict for her? What the hell?
Yu'er rushed in with a group of new maidservants, anxiously helping Sun Jiaojiao comb her hair and change her clothes. Xiao Er, his elopement having failed, could only quietly slip out amidst the chaos.
Sun Jiaojiao came out, dressed grandly, to receive the edict. Minister Sun had already been politely receiving the eunuch who was delivering the edict, seating him in the main hall and serving him tea and silver.
The moment the eunuch saw Sun Jiaojiao, he beamed and congratulated her. "Congratulations, Young Miss Sun."
Then, he put on a serious face, arranged his robes, and had Sun Jiaojiao kneel to receive the edict. It was Sun Jiaojiao's first time receiving an edict, and she didn't quite understand it. Anyway, it was a bunch of convoluted words, not quite like what she'd seen on TV, but she got the gist. It was basically praising her, then saying she and the Crown Prince were a match made in heaven, the most suitable candidate for Crown Princess. The Emperor was very pleased with her. He was bestowing this marriage.
To put it bluntly, it was as if the Emperor had completely forgotten about the previous bestowment and annulment. He was bestowing the marriage all over again.
Never mind Sun Jiaojiao, who was dizzy from listening; even Minister Sun was dizzy.
What kind of game was this now?
After the eunuch had delivered the edict and left with his reward money, Sun Jiaojiao and her cheap father stared at each other in dismay.
"Father, what do we do?" Sun Jiaojiao was baffled.
"All of you, leave." Minister Sun gave a look, and all the servants withdrew.
Once the hall was cleared, Minister Sun frowned and said, "The Crown Prince is a man of deep thoughts. Could it be... he wants to marry you and take you home to slowly humiliate you?"
Only after he said it did he feel it was inappropriate.
His daughter was a girl, after all. It was better not to say such things to scare her.
"This won't do. Today, Father will take this dragon-patterned handkerchief and the jade pendant and go to the Emperor to demand an explanation, even if it means tearing off all pretenses! An imperial prince forcibly seizing a commoner girl... he should be punished the same as a commoner. At worst, I will give up this official's hat!"
Unexpectedly, Sun Jiaojiao waved her hand, unconcerned. "It's not that serious. Daughter and the Crown Prince got along... all right last night."
She was more inclined to believe that His Highness the Crown Prince had developed feelings after their 'shot' and wanted to marry her so he could take her home and slowly 'shoot' her some more.
Actually, being the Crown Princess... wasn't impossible. She just cared a lot about one question.
"Father, His Highness the Crown Prince... apart from me, his fiancée, does he have any other women? I mean... like, concubines, or mistresses, or bed-warming maidservants..."
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