Old Lady Qiao felt sad when she heard this.

Empress Qiao’s words were telling her own life story!

At that time, Li Yuan’s biological father came to ask for marriage to Qiao’s legitimate daughter. One was from an aristocratic family, and the other was from a scholarly and famous family. The Qiao and Li families were well-matched in marriage.

What was hateful was that the bastard Li Yuan was not satisfied with marrying a virtuous wife, so he secretly lived with the Meng family’s daughter. He married the Meng family’s daughter as a concubine who gave birth to his eldest son. The legitimate son was born two years late.

Li Yuan only cared about Concubine Meng mother and son, and his wife had been neglected all year round. Except for the first and fifteenth day of the lunar month, most of the rest of the time he stayed in Meng’s courtyard. Although no one bothered her intentionally, her daughter never had a comfortable life.

Later, the eccentric mother-in-law, Madam Zhao, made her niece come in and become a concubine.

A concubine was a concubine. Which imperial family had such a noble concubine? The cost of food and clothing was not much different from that of the main wife. As a mother-in-law, she was lukewarm towards her legitimate daughter-in-law and kept Qin with her all day long.

And Su Shi. With a low and humble status, she also entered the Li family’s inner house with her charming appearance. Li Yuan would go to Su’s house once or twice a month more than he would go to his wife’s yard.

Su also gave birth to two sons.

When she thought of this, Old Lady Qiao became extremely angry for her daughter.

However, now that her son-in-law had become the emperor, Old Lady Qiao could no longer complain as before. She could only advise: “His Royal Highness the Second Prince has grown up and is about to get married and have children. So Empress, just relax and wait for the Emperor to have his legitimate grandson”.

Her husband was unreliable, so she relied on her son for safety.

Empress Qiao nodded slightly and said softly: “King Xingyang has made great achievements in battle. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is the best military general in the Wei Dynasty. The reputation of the Xingyang army for its bravery is known to everyone. It is also a good thing for Ah Jing to have such a Yue^[1]in-law’s family.”

Words cannot be said directly even in private.

Old Lady Qiao said meaningfully: “There is your father and King Xingyang in the court, so the Empress just needs to be at ease.”

No one could take away what belonged to the Second Prince.

…

The time before getting married passed by in a flash.

In a blink of an eye, it was already the fifth day of the second lunar month. The big day of getting married was tomorrow. On this night, Lu Mingfang and his wife and Lu Minghua both returned to their parents’ homes.

Lu Minghua was extremely careful in her words and deeds, touching her flat belly from time to time.

Zhou Li was even more happy.

Everyone will know the clues as soon as they take a look.

Lu Lin smiled and asked, “Is there any happy event?”

Lu Minghua was too embarrassed to open his mouth. Zhou Li said with a smile: “There is indeed a happy event to tell my father-in-law. Minghua is pregnant.”

Lu Minghua was pregnant only two months after his marriage. Mr. Zhou and Mrs. Zhou were so happy that they couldn’t open their mouths from ear to ear. Zhou Li was even more happy. He got married later than others, and he was nineteen after the Chinese New Year. It was really not too early to become a father at this age.

Lu Lin was very happy when he heard the good news: “Okay, okay, it is indeed a great event.”

Several siblings congratulated Lu Minghua one after another.

Lu Minghua’s cheeks were slightly red and he said softly: “The doctor told me to take good care of the fetus in the first three months. However, for such a big event as the fourth sister’s wedding, I have to go back home anyway.”

Zhou Li also smiled and said: “I think I will also stay with Minghua at her parents’ house for a few days. It won’t be too late for us to go back after the fourth sister comes home.”

As a father-in-law, he is naturally happy to see his son-in-law’s attentiveness.

Lu Lin’s face was full of smiles, and his eyes subconsciously glanced at his daughter-in-law Shen Lan. Speaking of which, it has been four months since Shen Lan got married, but there was still no good news…

Lu Fei coughed and said, “Don’t worry, adoptive father. I will definitely report the good news to my adoptive father in less than half a year.”

He could only return home every five days. Naturally, it was not as good as Zhou Li and Lu Minghua who spent time together day and night.

Shen Lan blushed with embarrassment and pinched Lu Fei quietly.

Lu Fei was thick-skinned and his expression remained unchanged. He just stretched out his hand to hold Shen Lan’s hand. In front of everyone, he showed off his affection.

Lu Mingyu had a faint smile at the corner of her mouth, and her demeanor was calm, without a trace of shyness. She joined the others in jesting about her brother-in-law and sister-in-law. Lu Fei replied with a smile, “The Second Prince is not so young either; he’s seventeen this year. When you get married, it’s better to have good news early too.”

As soon as the words were spoken, they were met with a glare from Shen Lan. “Until the day you’re married, you’re still a young lady. Why are you saying these things in front of Xiaoyu?” she scolded.

Actually, Xiaoyu wasn’t shy at all, okay! She was sitting there with a charming smile, even more composed and graceful than him!

Lu Fei muttered in his heart, admitted his mistake honestly, and apologized: “Yes, yes, I, as the elder brother, speak freely, and the fourth sister has a lot of people, so don’t be as knowledgeable as me.”

Lu Mingyu smiled and teased: “The second brother has also learned to be duplicitous. In fact, I was thinking in my heart, what you said is absolutely correct, but I still have to apologize, is there any justice?”

Lu Fei touched his nose: “Fourth sister still understands me.”

Everyone laughed.

…

After the family banquet was over, Lu Lin called his daughter into the study and gave a private seal to Lu Mingyu: “Take half of the family’s soldiers with you. Lu Yi will also go with you to the Second Prince’s Mansion. If anything happens in the future, you just tell Lu Yi to do it.”

“This private seal can mobilize all the Lu family secret guards, the total number is about two thousand. However, they cannot be used easily on ordinary days.”

In the newly established Great Wei dynasty, many customs followed those of the previous dynasty. As a military officer, depending on their rank, they could maintain a certain number of personal guards. However, there were strict regulations regarding the quantity.

For example, King Xingyang, the Marquis of Guangping, and the Marquis of Puyang could only have five hundred soldiers.

In fact, as a military general, how can he not maintain private soldiers?

These two thousand secret guards were the “family wealth” that Lu Lin had secretly accumulated over the past ten years. Compared with the farm shops on the surface, this was the real “family business” of the Lu family.

His daughter cannot go into battle and lead the troops. The 50,000 Xingyang army will be commanded by Lu Fei in the future. Lu Lin gave all the two thousand private soldiers and secret guards to Lu Mingyu.

This scene was almost the same as in the previous life.

In her previous life, on the night before her wedding, Lu Lin gave her this private seal. These two thousand private soldiers of the Lu family all fell into the hands of Li Hao after she got married.

Thinking of old things, Lu Mingyu felt sour in her heart.

Lu Mingyu, who loved Li Hao wholeheartedly in her previous life, was really blind.

“Dad, I don’t want this private seal.” Lu Mingyu whispered: “Dad will go into battle to lead troops in the future. It is always good to have more men. I will marry as the daughter-in-law of the Royal family, so there is no need for so many private soldiers.”

Lu Lin said: “You are wrong to think so. It is precisely because you are marrying a prince and becoming a prince’s consort that you need more manpower.”

“Xiaoyu, in the future, your father will lead troops to fight. I don’t know how long I will be away. What if you face something? I can’t come back in time to support you. Your father gave you these two thousand private soldiers, if anyone dares to bully you in the future, you don’t have to be polite.”

Lu Lin restrained his smile, his voice low and serious, “Even if it means getting into a colossal mess, your safety comes first. Xiaoyu, in your father’s heart, nothing is more important than your well-being.”

(End of this chapter)