What Bad Intentions can the Yandere Crown Prince have?

Chapter 470 - 457: Liangzhou Continued—Tang Ziqian Side Story (Part 6)

Capital City, Duke Yan Mansion.Snow weighed heavy on the branches, the cold piercing to the bone.

The idle small courtyard was empty and desolate, cold and clear.

Some memories of this courtyard from that winter many years ago had blurred to the point where I couldn’t recall much.

Tang Ziqian stood at the gate for a long time, waiting for the smell of alcohol to dissipate before lowering his gaze and turning away without going in.

As he turned, he saw Tang Shigong quietly watching him from the corridor not far away.

"Father." Tang Ziqian stepped forward to greet him.

Tang Shigong uttered a soft "hmm" and said, "I heard from your mother you wish to get married?"

Tang Ziqian was slightly startled and nodded.

As the eldest son in the family, he was long past the age for marriage. Over the years, his mother’s hidden concerns deepened, so he took the initiative to mention it, asking her to find a suitable match for him.

"The match we’ve chosen for you is certainly no less illustrious than Duke Yan Mansion. The aim is to unite two families and manage a household," Tang Shigong paused, looking at him with calm and indifferent eyes, "it’s not something you can take lightly or treat perfunctorily."

Tang Ziqian suddenly felt embarrassed, "That is not my intention! The wife mother chooses for me, I will cherish!"

Tang Shigong laughed, "Not cherishing the one you like, but cherishing the one you don’t?"

Tang Ziqian’s heart felt as if it was pricked.

"Finding a woman you love to cherish is your own matter, don’t bring everything to trouble your mother;" Tang Shigong smiled, "Your marriage is not urgent. I don’t only have you as a son, should I fear Duke Yan Mansion will have no successors? Worse comes to worse, we can adopt one from Jiaojiao."

Tang Ziqian: ...

Tang Shigong took a few steps away, then turned back to advise, "Liangzhou is not at war, stay a few more days when you return—"

...

The original plan was to return after the Lantern Festival, but staying stretched into February.

Even in February, Liangzhou remained barren.

Tang Ziqian galloped into the city, stopping only at the gate of the Governor Mansion.

He exhaled a long breath from the horseback; only after the white mist dispersed did he dismount.

Just then, Ah Jin, having received news, hurriedly came out from the mansion: "Didn’t expect the young master to return so quickly!"

"It’s nothing!" Tang Ziqian handed his sword and whip to him and strode into the Governor Mansion.

For some reason, as soon as he entered the door, he felt an unusual coldness.

As if something was missing.

"While I was away, was everything in the mansion fine?" Tang Ziqian asked.

"All’s well—" Ah Jin reported every affair big and small in the jurisdiction over the past two months.

In fact, these matters had already been sent in letters to the Capital City, and Tang Ziqian was well aware.

He patiently listened for a while, then took advantage of a pause to ask, "And Miss Lu? Has she left yet?" He added, frowning slightly.

...

Lu Yuan hadn’t left.

Tang Ziqian stood on the edge of Xinyi Forest, seeing the white-clad girl still crouching in the flower field.

Exactly the same as the last time he saw her before leaving, yet somehow different.

For example, she didn’t immediately notice him as sharply as before.

For example, when she did notice him, her eyes didn’t light up as they used to.

"Tang Ziqian, you’re back!" she greeted with a smile, her voice still soft, but missing something.

Tang Ziqian strolled to her side and squatted down, casually pulling out a weed, asking, "When will these flowers bloom?"

"This autumn, they should bloom." Lu Yuan answered, her voice still softly.

Tang Ziqian was silent for a moment, then asked, "What medicine are these flowers used for? What do they cure?"

"They strengthen essence, vitalize five organs, smooth heart vessels, and calm the spirit."

"Sounds like quite a tonic."

"Yes."

Tang Ziqian was moved in his heart and asked, "When they grow, could you spare me some?"

Lu Yuan looked up at him, somewhat puzzled.

Tang Ziqian explained, "My mother is weak after childbirth; the doctor says her vitality is damaged," at this point, he paused imperceptibly, "I’m far away in Liangzhou, unable to attend to her daily. During holidays returning to the Capital, I wish to attend to her for a few more days. If I could find good medicine, even when I’m far away, I could be more at ease."

After speaking, Tang Ziqian glanced at her inquisitively.

Lu Yuan smiled with curved eyes, swinging her arm around: "All of them, I’ll give you!" Very magnanimous.

Tang Ziqian’s heart relaxed, and he laughed, "Give me all, won’t you need any yourself?"

"I took them when I was young, now I’m fine, don’t need them anymore."

"If you’re fine, why grow so many? And treasure them so?"

"Raised them from small, it’s a habit, and there’s nothing much to do in the mountains. When I came down, I didn’t have anything much to bring along, so I brought them," suddenly pausing, she seemed to think for a moment before continuing, "I want to find a place I like, plant them, and when they bloom, give them to someone I like."

This close distance, such straightforward feelings.

Tang Ziqian wanted to carelessly walk away as before, but in the end, he merely lowered his head to mask a light cough, a trace of inexplicable restlessness stirring in his heart.

"Tang Ziqian," Lu Yuan suddenly looked up at him, her expression unusually serious, "is Xin Yi really your concubine?"

This question, like the snow weighing on the branches on New Year’s Eve, pressed the faint restlessness in Tang Ziqian’s heart away without a trace.

He raised his eyes, looking at Lu Yuan with a half-smile: "Who told you this?"

He already had a guess while asking.

"Ah Jin said it." Lu Yuan seemed unaware of the need for caution, always answering truthfully whatever he asked.

"What else did he say?" Tang Ziqian asked mildly.

"He said you ordered him to assassinate the Prime Minister as revenge for Xin Yi."

"Anything else?"

Lu Yuan thought for a moment, then shook her head: "Nothing else."

Tang Ziqian nodded: "That’s quite a lot already."

Lu Yuan didn’t understand.

Tang Ziqian smirked slightly, "Do you know what crime it is to assassinate the Prime Minister?"

Lu Yuan didn’t know, but she knew it must be a grave crime, so she hurriedly asked, "Is someone after you? Did you leave any trace?"

Tang Ziqian remained silent, only looking at her with a faint smile.

Lu Yuan gradually understood, her face reddening with a touch of anger, "How could I betray you!" Her expression suddenly gleaming bright due to irritation.

Tang Ziqian chuckled lightly, "Xin Yi is not my concubine."

Her clear, bright eyes were instantly lit up, filled with light, even her tone lifted: "Then why did Ah Jin..."

"Xin Yi liked me, and I liked her too—" Tang Ziqian said in a low voice with a smile, "If she hadn’t died back then, I would have married her."

With that, his eyes were slightly moist, yet he felt relieved.

As if he’d completed something that had been delayed for a long time, or said a sentence that had paused for years.

That was what Xin Yi hadn’t finished saying back then, and also the response he hadn’t had time to utter back then, later buried deep in his heart, never brought up again.

He had never been good to her.

So poor that when she was gone, he had no face to mourn or to be affectionate, to admit he’d cared, to imagine a fleeting "if only."

"If she could have survived back then... I would have begged for her forgiveness, sworn to love and protect her forever, taken her back to Liangzhou, stationed troops by Qinghai Lake, herding horses in the King City Suburb..."