Chapter 12

Li Mu’s current mood was like suddenly receiving a call from her parents while walking down the street, telling her she actually had a fiancé—absurd, terrifying, and confusing.

A decree? Betrothal?

Whose decree? Who’s betrothed to whom?

She? To King Yan?

Who could tell her what had happened?

“Little Five?”

Li Mu’s pale face scared Li Zhi. The old madam quickly pulled her into her arms, patting her back to comfort her. Even her heavily pregnant sister-in-law, Miss Wu, stood up from her chair with the help of a maid, her face full of concern.

The atmosphere in the room was gloomy, and the maids and nannies kept their eyes down, not daring to make a sound. The old madam thought for a moment and gently coaxed her. She didn’t dare to mention King Yan’s character, only saying that King Yan had been a young general in the army at the age of thirteen or fourteen, with a noble bearing. Moreover, King Yan’s residence was a prestigious household, and his mother was Grand Princess Zhaoming, the emperor’s sister. With such strong backing, no one would dare to laugh at her in the future.

Although Li Mu was still very confused, she mentally rejected the idea of “going out to socialize.”

Finally, they told Li Mu about the marriage decree. Although she could understand, her reaction wasn’t as intense as expected, and they felt somewhat relieved. However, they still worried about her future, fearing that marrying King Yan, a powerful and ruthless figure, would be difficult for her.

The old madam and the others talked a lot about the person Li Mu was to marry. They believed the problem wasn’t the marriage decree itself but the person she was to marry, who was not a suitable match.

However, to Li Mu, the fact that her marriage partner was King Yan was far less shocking than the fact that she was being forced into marriage.

In fact, she felt somewhat relieved it was King Yan—though she knew this thought was morally questionable—because the book clearly stated that King Yan would die in December this year. Even if they married, their marriage would end this winter. Otherwise, Li Mu would have considered finding a well to jump into.

Wait, this winter…

Li Mu opened her mouth and slowly asked, “When?”

Her voice was even hoarser than before. Li Zhi, who was prone to crying, immediately knew that Li Mu wasn’t as calm as she appeared. Her eyes reddened, and she quickly turned away to wipe her eyes, not wanting to affect Li Mu’s emotions.

Her sister-in-law told Li Mu, “The wedding is set for July 22.”

Her birthday was July 8, so July 22 was the fourteenth day after her birthday.

From July 22 to December – Four months, less than a school term. She had survived the hell of her senior year in high school, so she could endure this.

Wait, there were only two months left until July 22. Was it really that rushed?

Li Mu didn’t know how this marriage came about, nor did she understand the emperor’s urgency.

Fortunately, it was an imperial marriage decree, so most of the items were prepared by the palace. The entire process was arranged according to the ceremonial standards for a prince’s marriage, sparing the Li family from too much trouble.

Madam Qian subjected Li Mu to intensive education. Earlier, because they hadn’t told her about the marriage decree, Madam Qian would have the nanny take Li Mu to another place to learn bookkeeping before the palace servants arrived to deliver items, fearing that revealing the truth too soon would cause Li Mu to lose composure in front of them. Now that the matter was out in the open, Madam Qian no longer sent her away, and the palace’s female officials began teaching Li Mu the proper etiquette.

Amid these layers of rules, Li Mu deeply experienced the suffocation of feudal society. Her rational side told her that even if she didn’t like it, she had to learn. She needed to live well, avoid making a fool of herself at the wedding, and not be caught off guard when court etiquette was required, giving others a reason to criticize her.

Her emotional side, however, kept repeating the same phrase—To hell with these rules!

The conflict between her rational and emotional sides made her learning process difficult. The palace’s female officials weren’t surprised by this, considering the future consort of King Yan was known to be a fool. They were already relieved that she didn’t cry or make a fuss.

During the day, Li Mu was dragged into intensive training, and at night, she lay in bed with her eyes wide open, unable to sleep.

Knowing that King Yan wouldn’t live past this year was one thing; fearing the wedding ceremony and the unknown life after marriage was another. She often thought that if the wedding date could be postponed, it would be better. If it were set for next year, she wouldn’t even have to leave the house. Occasionally, when insomnia drove her to the brink of moral collapse, she would think that even December would be fine—she could become a widow right after getting married.

But there were advantages to the rushed wedding date. For example, she could justifiably decline all invitations. Since she started pretending to be foolish in March last year, the Li family has received very few invitations for Li Mu. Even when they did, the old madam would decline on her behalf, preventing people from inviting her just to mock her and avoiding any potential dangers outside.

Even for family-hosted banquets and gatherings, Li Mu didn’t have to make a special appearance. She only needed to stay by the old madam’s side as a silent mascot. After the imperial marriage decree, the number of invitations for Li Mu suddenly increased, many from prestigious families that the Li family couldn’t afford to offend.

At this time, they could decline the invitations by citing “being too busy preparing for the wedding.”

The most invitations were for the Qixi Festival on July 7, followed by Li Mu’s birthday on July 8.

Just seeing the invitations flying into the Li residence like snowflakes made Li Mu want to die. After declining them one by one, her dissatisfaction with the rushed wedding date diminished significantly.

Li Mu’s birthday before and after transmigrating was the same, both on the eighth day of the seventh lunar month. She received many gifts on her birthday, including a gold hairpin with filigree and inlaid with precious stones from Madam Qian’s family.

Grand Princess Zhaoming, hearing from Lin Qiwu that Li Mu was always practicing calligraphy, sent her a gold-inlaid jade paperweight. Along with it came a white jade lotus leaf water dropper from Gu Chi and a carved red tea flower-patterned brush from Lin Qiwu.

At King Yan’s residence, Steward Wu had already reminded Lin Que that Li Mu’s birthday was on the eighth day of the seventh lunar month. Since the Princess’s residence had prepared gifts, they couldn’t be left out.

Lin Que had no idea what gift would suit his fiancée, so he let Steward Wu handle it. He only glanced briefly at the gift list, and on the day Steward Wu went to deliver the gifts, he went to the garden and cut a few lotus flowers from the pond to include.

At the Li residence, Madam Qian exchanged pleasantries with Steward Wu while Li Mu stood stiffly in the background. Her gaze swept over the pile of gifts and finally settled on the vibrant lotus flowers and leaves. She stared at them for a long time and noticed that one of them seemed to be a twin lotus.

Wow, even before transmigrating, she had only seen twin lotuses in photos. This was her first time seeing one in person.

Steward Wu noticed what Li Mu was looking at and smiled broadly. When he returned, he happily told Lin Que that Li Mu liked the bouquet of lotus flowers.

“I didn’t mention that you, Your Highness, cut the lotus flowers, but Miss Li just liked them and kept looking at them.”

Lin Que was amused by Steward Wu’s eagerness for them to be a loving couple. “There’s no need for that. Even if she didn’t like them, I wouldn’t force her.”

Although Lin Que’s words were meant to be generous, Steward Wu felt a bit worried: What kind of husband doesn’t care about his wife’s preferences? It was clear that Lin Que hadn’t yet taken her to heart.

Compared to the lively gift-giving, Li Mu’s birthday banquet was much simpler. It was not a grand affair, and only family members were present, emphasizing stability.

On the sixteenth day of the seventh month, Lin Qiwu, who didn’t have to attend classes, came to play at the Li residence. Since learning that Li Mu would become her sister-in-law, she clung to Li Mu even more than before. Madam Qian would let Li Mu go to see her whenever Lin Qiwu visited.

Lin Qiwu was still inseparable from Li Yunxi, and the two girls stayed with Li Mu until evening, not wanting to leave.

An exhausted Li Mu started to zone out and returned to her senses when she heard Lin Qiwu asking if she could stay at the Li residence for a few days.

Li Yunxi: “You don’t want to go home?”

Looking distressed, Lin Qiwu said, “I don’t want to go back, not now, not ever.”

Li Mu looked at Lin Qiwu, who quickly explained, “It’s not that home is bad, but someone I dislike has returned.”

“Who?” Li Yunxi asked.

Lin Qiwu gritted her teeth: “Lin Yan’an, my brother’s adopted son. My brother is unhappy that he hasn’t returned home for a long time, so he deliberately didn’t have his room prepared. He’s currently staying at the Princess’s residence.”

Li Yunxi didn’t understand and looked at both Li Mu and Lin Qiwu: “Isn’t your brother King Yan? His adopted son?”

Lin Qiwu nodded: “Yes, he’s two years older than me and has to call me aunt, but he’s very cunning. So I want to stay here for a few days until he returns to King Yan’s residence.”

The two girls discussed whether Lin Qiwu could stay and planned to ask the adults, not mentioning King Yan’s adopted son again.

Meanwhile, Li Mu remembered this character from the book and felt a silent dread.

King Yan’s adopted son, the biggest antagonist in the later part of “Drunken Phoenix.” As mentioned before, the book had three main factions, including a puppet male protagonist, and everyone except the foolish emperor had countless schemes.

Lin Yan’an alone had more than his share of schemes.

After Li Zhi killed Gu Chi, Lin Yan’an shot arrows in the dark, nearly killing Li Zhi.

He was a ruthless character who could overturn the entire game in the later part of the novel. The author seemed unsure how to have the protagonist eliminate him, so they wrote that he, feeling life was meaningless after his family died, chose a path that would inevitably lead to his death but cause many problems for the protagonist. His death was abrupt and didn’t match the strength and intelligence he had shown earlier. The troubles he left behind, such as rebellions in various places, were glossed over by the author, who simply mentioned that a few years later, the rebellions were quelled. The country was peaceful again—the book ended by summarizing the male and female protagonists’ efforts and achievements. It was the biggest flaw in the entire book, and Li Mu had read this ending chapter before her car accident.

Lin Qiwu said Lin Yan’an was two years older than her. Lin Qiwu hadn’t had her birthday yet this year and was ten years old, so Lin Yan’an was… twelve years old.

Hmm… a twelve-year-old antagonist.

Li Mu pulled herself together.

Lin Qiwu stayed at the Li residence for a few days and was taken back by Qiu Zhu on the twentieth day of the seventh month.

During this time, Li Mu’s insomnia worsened. She couldn’t sleep even with a near-lethal dose of calming incense. Every time she closed her eyes, her mind was filled with the wedding process. The thought of going through the entire process under everyone’s gaze made her nervous and scared. She barely ate, and when she did, she often threw up. She visibly lost a lot of weight, causing the old madam and others to worry.

Fortunately, Li Mu made it to the wedding day. When she was dragged out of bed, she was still breathing.