Quick Transmigration: Crazy About the Villain, Begging for Love - Chapter 14

Li Qing prepared to get off the bed to leave, but Feng Yanzhou hurriedly grabbed his wrist. “Where are you going?”

“Back to the Prime Minister’s residence to see my mother.”

“You’re abandoning me again!” Feng Yanzhou shouted, his tone thick with grievance.

Li Qing turned his head and glared at him, his voice even louder than Feng Yanzhou’s. “What are you roaring about? Can’t you just follow me? Are your legs broken? Do you need me to carry you?”

Feng Yanzhou was stunned by the outburst. After a moment of daze, he climbed out of bed, put on his shoes, and held onto Li Qing’s sleeve, asking like a bashful young bride: “Will Mother like me? Will she agree to us being together? What should I say when I meet her?”

Li Qing gave a wicked smile. “Tell her that you’re the bottom!”

Feng Yanzhou nodded obediently. “Okay.”

If that would make his future mother-in-law accept him, he didn’t mind. It didn’t matter if what he said didn’t match the actual situation.

Li Qing: “…” He had forgotten that Feng Yanzhou’s skin was thicker than a city wall.

Feng Yanzhou wrapped his arms around Li Qing’s waist and used qinggong (lightfoot skills) to slowly make their way toward the Prime Minister’s residence. Qingqing is still sick; I have to go slower.

Prime Minister’s Residence, Backyard.

He Yunyun was telling Ying Yi about Li Qing being taken away, while Ying Yi cast a sharp look at Ying Eleven.

Ying Eleven looked silently at the sky. “…” I messed up. I’ll go kneel on the washboard when we get back.

Consort Xian, He Zhangying, stood to the side, asking worriedly: “Is the person who took Qing’er… terrifying?”

Ying Er shook his head. “Your Highness, rest assured. His Majesty will not harm the Sixth Prince. As for when he will return, it is uncertain.”

Ying Eleven leaned over to whisper in Ying Yi’s ear: “Given His Majesty’s temper, the Sixth Prince might be unable to move for several days. It’s lucky you have high-level martial arts; you don’t have to worry about that.”

Ying Yi pinched his waist fiercely. “Then you don’t have to torment me to death either!”

“Cousin!” He Yunyun spotted the two figures on the roof.

Feng Yanzhou held Li Qing and descended slowly. He Zhangying watched her son with emotion, stepping forward quickly to greet him. “Qing’er!”

Li Qing pushed Feng Yanzhou away, ignoring his accusatory gaze, and stepped forward to support He Zhangying’s wrist. “Mother, be careful. Don’t trip.”

On one side, the mother and son hugged and wept, entering the room to catch up. On the other side, Ying Eleven stuck to Ying Yi, complaining: “His Majesty isn’t very capable, coming back so soon.”

“Who are you saying isn’t capable?”

Ying Eleven was terrified and stood straight, turning his head awkwardly. “Your Majesty ah, no… I am not capable, I am not capable. I didn’t mean you.”

Feng Yanzhou gave him a cold look. These two were flirting right under his nose all day long. If not for the fact that he was in a good mood after finally winning his beauty’s heart today, he would have definitely sent one to the Northern Frontier and the other to the Southern Territories!

Ying Yi quickly knelt to beg for mercy. “Your Majesty, please forgive us. Eleven is just prone to running his mouth; it is my fault for not teaching him better. I am willing to be punished in his stead.”

“No, no, no… Your Majesty, his body hasn’t fully recovered yet! Just punish me!” Ying Eleven knelt as well, tugging at Ying Yi’s sleeve. You blockhead, what does this have to do with you?

“Enough. I am not in the mood to punish anyone. The two of you go stand by the wall and stop being an eyesore.”

Ying Eleven grinned. “Thank you, Your Majesty.” He stood up and pulled Ying Yi to the corner to “face the wall and reflect on their sins.”

Feng Yanzhou stood at the doorway, keeping guard for Li Qing and his future mother-in-law. Ying Er went back to the small kitchen to cook; the others weren’t hungry, but he was starving. He Yunyun went to help him, taking the opportunity to ask about the situation in the palace.

The Cold Palace had burned down, interrupting the Emperor’s birthday banquet. But the Emperor no longer cared about Consort Xian, ordering the banquet to continue and leaving the charred corpses to be dealt with the next day.

He Zhangzhi had petitioned the Emperor to bury the “Consort Xian’s” body in the He family’s ancestral graveyard rather than the imperial tomb. Everyone knew the Prime Minister did not have a good relationship with his sister, so when he started putting on this show after her death, the court officials despised him, and the Emperor found it annoying. However, not wanting to slight the Prime Minister, the Emperor nodded in agreement.

He Zhangzhi had left the banquet early to take the body home, preventing anyone from inspecting it. Right now, he was setting up a mourning hall in the front courtyard. He Yunyun hadn’t left this small courtyard and truly hadn’t known.

“I should go take a look at the front courtyard.”

He Yunyun rushed out and found her father sitting under a parasol tree in the front yard, dazed. “Father, are you okay?”

He Zhangzhi seemed to have aged significantly overnight. “I have lived half my life and done many wrong things. To reach my goals, I have used any means necessary, leaving all my friends and family estranged. In the Emperor’s eyes, I am a sharp blade; in the eyes of the officials, I am a villain. She was one of the few relatives I had left in this world. I knew that body was fake, but when I saw it for the first time… my heart still palpitated. I was afraid, just in case it was real…”

He Yunyun sat beside him, her eyes full of worry, not knowing how to comfort him. After a long time, she finally said: “Father, ‘to know one’s mistakes and be able to correct them is the greatest virtue.’ You don’t have to be sad.”

He Zhangzhi smiled and shook his head. “From now on, I will remain that treacherous official, ruthless and cruel. If I fall, how will you get by at your in-laws’ house in the future?”

“Father…”

“Alright, I was just frightened by that scene and got a bit sentimental. You don’t need to worry; go back and rest.”

He Zhangzhi stood up and left, his back looking lonely…

Li Qing looked at the wrinkles at the corners of Consort Xian’s eyes and sighed slightly. “I’ve made you suffer during the time I was gone, Mother.”

He Zhangying held his hand, her eyes turning red. Her tone was gentle, laced with a faint sob. “I was in the palace, nowhere to go what suffering was there? It is you I pity, having traveled so far. You must have fallen ill a few more times, right?”

“Mother, rest assured. Feng Yanzhou has a doctor with excellent medical skills. My illness can be cured.”

He Zhangying looked up, surprised. “Really?”

“Naturally, it is true. Mother, come with me to live in the Ning Kingdom.”

“Go to the Ning Kingdom? But… the two of us, in a foreign land—how will we make a living?”

Li Qing did not answer immediately, but instead asked: “Could we do it here?”

He Zhangying lowered her eyes in disappointment. “I have failed my brother. He probably won’t take me in.”

“What exactly happened between Mother and Uncle?”

He Zhangying’s hand holding his trembled slightly, and tears fell onto the back of his hand. “Before I entered the palace, my brother loved someone; she was my close friend. She didn’t like my brother and married someone else, giving birth to a daughter. Later, her husband died in an accident. She had nowhere to go, and my brother wanted to marry her, but our parents opposed it, and the matter was delayed.

“That day, I went to the temple with her to burn incense and we encountered bandits. To protect me, she was kidnapped by them. I went home to seek help, but because I had been slashed, I lost consciousness from blood loss after telling my family about the bandits. When I woke up again, my brother was returning from outside the city, carrying her corpse…”

Li Qing pulled his mother into his arms. “There are no outsiders here; Mother, please, just cry as loudly as you want.”

“Wuwuwu… Qing’er, it’s my fault… wuwuwu… it’s my fault. Those people were targeting me. They didn’t want me to enter the palace; they were targeting me. She took the blow for me, wuwuwu-ah-ah…”

An hour later, Li Qing came out of the room. Feng Yanzhou stepped forward and took his hand. “How is Mother?”

“She has fallen asleep. Too many things happened today; she is a bit tired.”

Seeing that he was in low spirits, Feng Yanzhou wanted to coax him. “So, when will this ‘ugly bride’ see her mother-in-law?”

Li Qing: “…” You really are addicted to acting like a bashful bride!