Chapter 576: How Can This Be Acceptable!

Chapter 576: How Could This Be Acceptable!

Princess Qing'an barely glanced at the steps where she had fallen that day before her face flushed and her heart raced, leaving her rooted to the spot, unable to move.

"...Princess."

A voice came from behind, making Princess Qing'an jump.

She whipped her head around to see Yu Yongliu standing there, his face unreadable.

Princess Qing'an's mind blanked, leaving her speechless for a long while.

An awkward silence fell between them.

"...That day, I had too much to drink and acted out of line, offending you, Princess," Yu Yongliu said steadily. "Whatever punishment you give, I'll accept."

Princess Qing'an couldn't help but clench her fists, instinctively glaring at him as she retorted, "What do you mean by that?! I never blamed you—"

But before she could finish, her words faltered as she met Yu Yongliu's gaze, suddenly at a loss for words.

Blushing with embarrassment and irritation, she bit her lip and turned her head away.

Neither spoke for a moment.

Finally, Yu Yongliu said, "Your forgiveness shows your generosity."

This only irritated Princess Qing'an more.

Swallowing her pride, she mustered the courage to look at Yu Yongliu and demanded, "...And what if I do hold it against you?"

Yu Yongliu fell silent for a while before replying, "If the Princess does not disdain me, I'll do right by you."

Princess Qing'an's face burned.

Yet she pinched her hand to force herself to calm down quickly. "...No need. It was just a small accident. I wouldn't chase after the top scholar over such a trivial matter!"

Her tone was sharp, leaving Yu Yongliu momentarily speechless.

Princess Qing'an's heart raced, her young heart in chaos. One moment, she felt sheer delight just from Yu Yongliu standing there silently; the next, she thought him infuriating for doing nothing more than standing there.

Why couldn't he say something more?!

After a long wait, Yu Yongliu finally managed:

"...Since the Princess says so, I've spoken out of turn."

Yu Yongliu bowed deeply to Princess Qing'an once more. "Then I shall take my leave."

He retreated a few steps before turning to walk away.

Watching Yu Yongliu walk away, tears welled up in Princess Qing'an's eyes, and she felt heartbroken!

When the Ying Princess returned from Empress Nie's palace, she found her daughter red-eyed and visibly distressed.

Alarmed, the Ying Princess forgot they were in the palace and immediately embraced her. "Ningning, what's wrong?"

Tears welling in her eyes, Princess Qing'an shook her head without a word.

Beside herself with worry, the Ying Princess hurried her daughter back to their residence. Only after countless questions did she finally learn the full story from Princess Qing'an.

The Prince of Ying’s consort was utterly stunned, never expecting her daughter to be experiencing the first flutterings of love, caught in the throes of a maiden's heart!

The Prince of Ying’s consort sighed deeply, her heart aching: "My silly Ningning, if you like him, and he offered to do the honorable thing, why didn’t you just tell him to marry you then and there?"

Lady Qing’an replied plaintively, her voice trembling: "...Mother, I do adore him, but I have my pride too! I don’t want it to be under such circumstances, as if I were forcing him to marry me!"

Lady Qing’an’s nose was turning pink.

It broke the Prince of Ying’s consort’s heart to see her like this.

Lady Qing’an buried her face in her mother’s embrace, her voice thick with tears: "Mother, tell me, what was he really thinking? When I said he didn’t need to do the honorable thing, why did he just accept it like that? Couldn’t he have said more... or at least insisted a little longer?"

Seeing her daughter in such distress, the Prince of Ying’s consort felt equally pained.

She could only soothe her: "...Perhaps he knew the difference in rank between you two and feared you’d think he was just currying favor with nobility. And since you’d already refused, if he kept pushing to do the honorable thing, wouldn’t that make him seem like a persistent nuisance?"

Lady Qing’an asked hesitantly, in a small voice: "Is that really it?"

Unbeknownst to the Prince of Ying’s consort, by sheer coincidence, she had perfectly voiced Yu Yongliu’s own thoughts.

After much coaxing, the Prince of Ying’s consort finally managed to lift her daughter’s spirits before taking her leave.

Once she stepped out of Lady Qing’an’s courtyard with dignified composure, her expression immediately shifted to urgency as she hurried off to find the Prince of Ying.

"I’ve figured out why our daughter has been so distracted lately!" The Prince of Ying’s consort hastily relayed the situation to the Prince of Ying, who saw red upon hearing it: "I thought that Yu boy was decent—how dare he set his sights on my daughter! Trying to carry off the choicest bloom from my garden!"

Fuming, the Prince of Ying paced circles around the room!

The Prince of Ying’s consort chided him: "Be serious!... What do you think of that Yu boy?"

The Prince of Ying widened his eyes: "Are you actually considering giving our daughter to him?!"

"No, no, no! I refuse! That boy... that boy..."

The Prince of Ying rejected outright, scrambling to list Yu Yongliu’s flaws to support his stance. Yet after stammering "that boy" repeatedly, he couldn’t name a single shortcoming.

His face flushed with frustration, he finally blurted: "In any case, I won’t allow it!"

The Prince of Ying’s consort couldn’t help rolling her eyes: "If you refuse, are you just going to watch your daughter pine away? What kind of father are you?"

The Prince of Ying stewed for a long moment before growling: "I still won’t allow it!"

The Prince of Ying’s consort found his impotent rage somewhat amusing.

"Then tell me, why won’t you allow it?" she asked, settling herself comfortably. "Yu Yongliu is the newly crowned Six Honors Scholar, having achieved the rare feat of topping all six imperial examinations. Though the Yu family lacks deep roots, look at their sons—the eldest is the peerless General of the Western Garrison, and Yu Yongliu himself earned the six honors before even turning twenty. One excels in martial prowess, the other in scholarly achievement—the Yu family’s future is boundless. I’d wager that within a decade, they’ll become one of the capital’s most prominent families."

"Moreover, the Yu women are of impeccable reputation—they’re among the most reputable households in the capital," the Prince of Ying’s consort continued, ticking off the merits. "If our Qing’an were to marry Yu Yongliu, it would be marrying beneath her station. Given the Yu family’s time-honored integrity and the fact that she’d be marrying beneath her station, they’d undoubtedly treat her exceedingly well... And there’s the Lady of Blessed Peace—doesn’t Qing’an adore her too? There’d be no friction with female in-laws to worry about. Isn’t that ideal?"

Already inclined to support her daughter’s feelings, the Prince of Ying’s consort grew more convinced as she spoke that the Yu family was the perfect match. She even began mentally drafting a marriage trousseau.

The Prince of Ying worked his lips wordlessly for a long while. Truthfully, it wasn’t that he looked down on Yu Yongliu—he was simply sulking at the thought of his precious daughter being carried off by some... some upstart!

How could he possibly accept that?