He didn't believe a single word that came out of Murong Yu's mouth anymore. Li Mingwei only felt regretful for not having seen his despicable character earlier and being so determined to marry him.
This time, her tears were genuine, but her words were still insincere, "Yulang, just fulfill my wish."
Murong Yu let her go, his eyes flushed red as he gazed at her. It was a long while before he nodded, "Weiwei, I'm sorry to you..."
"No, it is I who should apologize to you!"
Murong Yu held Li Mingwei's hands to his chest again and swore, "In this life, this is the only time I have wronged you. After she gives birth, I will bring the child to your side to raise, and arrange for her to remarry or move to another residence."
Li Mingwei sneered inwardly, though her expression seemed to relax.
Murong Yu carefully asked, "What about your maternal grandfather?"
"I will handle it," Li Mingwei stood up and called Aixiu to prepare to return to the Li Residence.
She held Murong Yu's hand in return, "Don't worry, maternal grandfather dotes on me the most."
Murong Yu smiled. That's exactly why I'm worried.
When Li Mingwei stepped into her maternal grandfather's study, Aixiu closed the door behind her. She knelt down with a thud and kowtowed three times to her maternal grandfather.
Li Yi turned around and looked at his granddaughter kneeling on the ground. His eyes were full of distress. He had told her earlier that Murong Yu was no good man, but the child just wouldn't listen. Now she must have suffered losses.
When Li Mingwei saw her maternal grandfather's expression, she knew her mother had told him about the matter. She lowered her head, feeling somewhat ashamed.
"What do you plan to do?"
Li Mingwei had already made up her mind. She looked at her maternal grandfather firmly, "I want to divorce Murong Yu."
These days, she had barely slept. It had been three years. She had been wrong for three years and could not make another mistake. She was only nineteen and still had so many years left in her life. Cutting losses in time was the best option.
Without any hesitation, Li Yi went to the bookcase and took out a small box and handed it to her.
When Murong Yu saw his wife return home looking exhausted, he felt somewhat uneasy. Seeing her slightly red eyes, he asked gently, "Your maternal grandfather doesn't agree?"
"Mm, maternal grandfather is worried..."
Murong Yu looked somewhat disappointed as he lowered his head despondently, "After so many years, no matter what I do, your maternal grandfather still doesn't like me."
Aixiu, who stood behind her young lady, rolled her eyes. Why doesn't he like you? Don't you know in your heart?
"Aixiu, prepare the brush and ink!"
Li Mingwei said loudly. She patted Murong Yu's shoulder, "I will definitely get maternal grandfather to agree. I won't let you lose your heirs."
Murong Yu... He already had an heir.
Right in front of Murong Yu, Li Mingwei wrote a letter of divorce. She stated that if her family did not agree to this matter, she would not have the face to see Murong Yu again and could only become a nun.
Murong Yu looked at her somewhat moved and collected the letter. He gently persuaded, "Don't talk to your maternal grandfather like this. What will I do if you become a nun?"
Li Mingwei was too lazy to bother with him. She snatched the letter back and stuffed it into the envelope. Murong Yu did not try to stop her again and watched as she handed the letter to Aixiu.
She called two senior maidservants from the Prince Residence, "Go and prepare. I'm going to the temple to pay respects to Buddha immediately."
"This..." The two maidservants looked at the Prince and responded, "Yes."
"Aixiu, once I leave today, you should..." She looked out the window at the sun, "Nevermind, I won't make it to the temple today. I'll stay at most at the station outside the city. Go arrange it and ask them to prepare. First thing tomorrow morning, personally deliver this letter to maternal grandfather."
Aixiu complied and took back the letter to arrange everything.
Watching all this, Murong Yu felt somewhat uneasy for some reason. He went out to find the maidservants who had accompanied Li Mingwei back to the Li Residence and asked about the situation today.
The maidservants were stopped outside and did not notice anything unusual.
"Aixiu closed the door to the room, so we could no longer see. We only saw the Princess come out crying."
Murong Yu absentmindedly tapped on the railing with his long fingers as he went over everything that had happened these past few days. He didn't notice anything wrong.
"Alright, go down and prepare. Keep an eye on the Princess."
"Yes, Prince."
The maidservant withdrew. Li Mingwei's convoy left the residence.
The next dawn, Murong Yu saw Li Yi among the crowd heading to court. His eyelid twitched as the uneasy feeling instantly overwhelmed him. Wasn't he retired from court already?
He hurriedly made his way through the crowd to greet Li Yi, wanting to find out the inside story, "Greetings maternal grandfather, father-in-law."
Li Mingwei's father, Zhang Dezhi, barely glanced at him as he supported his father-in-law onwards into the main hall.
As soon as the Previous Emperor heard Li Yi had come, he immediately went up to the main hall to welcome him, "Someone invite my teacher to take a seat."
Li Yi saluted, "Thank you, Your Majesty, but this old man is still hale and healthy. There is no need."
"I see teacher is still very spirited and increasingly vibrant in old age." The Previous Emperor smiled and got straight to the point, "I wonder why teacher has come today?"
Li Yi handed the small box he held to his son-in-law. Zhang Dezhi opened it and took out the imperial edict inside. Everyone raised their eyebrows in surprise.
This was an imperial edict left to Li Yi by the Previous Emperor. They wondered what he intended to do by taking it out today.
The Current Emperor was also nervous. He had a eunuch take the imperial edict, "Teacher, what is the meaning of this?"
Li Yi shook his head without answering him. Instead, he directly said, "Your Majesty, make the announcement."
The old eunuch was startled. He looked towards the Emperor who gestured for him to proceed. Still anxious, the eunuch opened the imperial edict. The contents made him look towards Murong Yu in surprise.
As he read the imperial edict out loud word for word, Murong Yu's expression grew uglier.
"Your subject Li Mingwei hereby requests divorce from her husband. May my former husband regain his folding fan and crown ribbons after our separation. May you marry the daughter of a thousand gold and attain great success in life. May you be surrounded by intimate friends and resolve all grievances and grudges in the future. Please do not hate each other. A farewell leads to relief for both, and happiness abounds..."
It was a divorce letter written by Li Mingwei herself.
Their marriage had been personally arranged by the Previous Emperor. Now it would also end by the Previous Emperor's blank imperial edict, and no one dared object.
Murong Yu's face turned ghastly pale, "Maternal grandfather, father-in-law, this is..."
Zhang Dezhi stopped him, "Prince Regent, you and my daughter have already divorced. There is no need to address us that way."
"Father-in-law!"
Li Yi nodded towards the Emperor from afar and swept his eyes past the court officials, "This is the Previous Emperor's dying wish. Does anyone object?"
The officials knelt down together, "Your subjects will obey the Previous Emperor's dying wish!"
Li Yi's eyes fell on Murong Yu. His expression was cold. Murong Yu clenched his fists tightly and cursed Li Mingwei in his heart. She had actually schemed against him.
After this matter, the court session ended not long after. The Emperor gave Murong Yu a severe reprimand and questioned how he had offended the Li family.
Murong Yu could not explain. Just yesterday, he and Li Mingwei had still been fine. In a daze, he returned to the Prince Residence. Aixiu was leading the Li family servants to move things out while many people watched outside the residence.
He was furious, "What are you doing!"
