HMIME Chapter 61: I gave a very despicable answer

The saying goes, “Like mother, like son.” Bai Lu’s unreasonable temperament was inherited from Bai Lin. As her biological son, Bai Lu understood his mother’s temper too well. Bai Lin could only reason well when it came to hooking up with men. In other aspects, if she could reason well, pigs would fly, and Huskies would give stock lectures.

So these days, Bai Lu has been waiting anxiously for news. Since Bai Lin returned home from the palace, for some reason, Prime Minister Bai Weihai suddenly claimed to be ill and took leave, not showing up at court for several days.

Bai Lu was scared, fearing that if Bai Lin’s temper flared up, she might hit the old man.

So, anxiously waiting for five or six days, Bai Weihai finally appeared at court one morning.

Bai Lu specifically leaned against the door of the great hall, peering inside, using his eyes with a vision of 1.5, finally seeing that Bai Weihai was fine, his face not injured or swollen, only then did he relax a little.

As if nothing happened, after discussing state affairs with the courtiers, Chu Ya deliberately mentioned the matter of Bai Lu becoming the Empress.

He wanted to test how far Bai Lin had persuaded him. If Bai Weihai still fiercely opposed it, then he would have to use his own methods.

Unexpectedly, as soon as this was mentioned, Bai Weihai’s expression changed. His eyes showed a mix of emotions, his lips trembling. After a long silence, he sighed deeply, bowed to the Emperor, closed his eyes, and said, “It’s all up to Your Majesty’s decision.”

Why did the rigid and stubborn old man suddenly yield publicly? What secret means did his family’s precious daughter use? The reasons behind this bizarre event, was it the loss of morality or the distortion of humanity?

On this point, Chu Ya and Bai Lu had different views.

Chu Ya pondered, “Bai Weihai has always cherished his only daughter. Perhaps Auntie persuaded him and changed his mind.”

Sitting in a chair beside the dragon case, Bai Lu sweated profusely. “No, you don’t understand your mother-in-law. My mom would never reason with anyone. She must have taken advantage of the old man when nobody was looking!”

“…” Chu Ya didn’t comment on this. He felt Bai Lin was quite easygoing and treated him, her sudden son-in-law, well enough. She wouldn’t resort to violence, and moreover, Bai Weihai was just her nominal father.

Seemingly understanding Chu Ya’s thoughts, Bai Lu patted his shoulder, saying solemnly, “You don’t know the true face of my mom. She can do anything to ensure I marry a good man…”

Chu Ya: “?”

However, Bai Lu underestimated his mother’s methods and the extent of her rogue behavior. As the saying goes, if you have no shame, you are invincible. But Bai Lin wasn’t so crazy as to lay hands on an elderly person. She just employed some unsavory tactics.

Chu Ya sent Ling Feng to the Prime Minister’s residence to gather information, and soon discovered the truth.

It was said that since Miss Bai returned to the residence, she locked herself in her chamber, refusing to eat or drink, crying, making noise, and threatening to hang herself, demanding that Prime Minister agree to Emperor’s decision of crowning a male heir, or she would starve herself to death.

Of course, reliable sources revealed that during those days of fasting, Miss Bai was secretly provided food stolen from the kitchen by her personal maid.

But Bai Weihai was unaware that his precious daughter was fasting, which kept him busy and troubled. He quickly took sick leave, trying to persuade her at home. In the end, he had no choice but to agree to Bai Lin’s request and fulfill her wishes.

However, after Prime Minister relented, Bai Lin didn’t immediately enter the palace. She simply sent a maid over to convey a message, saying she wanted to stay in the Prime Minister’s residence and accompany him for a few days.

Bai Lu probably understood her intentions.

Actually, from the beginning, Bai Lin felt guilty about occupying the body of the Prime Minister’s daughter. Although Bai Lu advised her, saying she probably died of illness and she possessed her body, Bai Lin still felt uneasy.

So Bai Lin wanted to put on her daughter’s skin, accompany the Prime Minister, and enjoy the family happiness of having children.

Bai Lu didn’t urge her to return to the palace. He even secretly hoped she could stay a few more days at the Prime Minister’s residence, perhaps prompting the Prime Minister to remember his daughter was of marriageable age and hasten to arrange a marriage with a noble young man. Let her experience the feeling of being pressured to marry.

With the Prime Minister’s issue resolved, it was time to deal with another old minister.

That old minister was similar in age to Prime Minister Bai Weihai but was a military officer, titled as the General of Valiant Cavalry.

His reason for opposing the male heir was simple and crude: since ancient times, it has always been the rooster that crows in the morning and the hen that hatches the eggs. There has never been a hen crowing in the morning or a rooster hatching eggs.

Bai Lu listened and commented, “Your gender discrimination speech would be scolded for three days and three nights in modern times.”

The General of Valiant Cavalry was much more difficult to deal with than the Prime Minister. Bai Lu couldn’t beat him, and reasoning with him was futile. Moreover, he didn’t have the “family ties” like with the Prime Minister.

Unless Bai Lu could really give birth to a child, he couldn’t pass this barrier at all. So Bai Lu simply laid down his cards and completely left the difficult problem to Chu Ya to solve.

He estimated that even Chu Ya would need at least half a month to persuade the General of Valiant Cavalry. So he planned to enjoy his few days of unmarried life before the wedding, such as going out of the palace with Geng Qing.

But then, after three days, while Bai Lu was planning how to sneak into a brothel without being discovered by Chu Ya, Chu Ya brought back news: the General of Valiant Cavalry had also been persuaded.

Bai Lu was stunned. “How did this happen so quickly? Did you hit him?”

“…” Chu Ya looked at him helplessly. “Do you think everyone is like you, resorting to violence?”

Later, Chu Ya explained carefully to him, and Bai Lu finally understood. Chu Ya’s move was called “fighting fire with fire.”

It turned out that the General of Valiant Cavalry’s wife was a former servant. Many years ago, when the General of Valiant Cavalry was young and rebellious, he strongly resisted the arranged marriage arranged by his family, not only refusing to marry but also taking a servant girl from the household as his concubine.

Over time, what started as a rebellious act turned into genuine feelings for this lowly-born concubine.

Later, he fell seriously ill, and it was this servant girl who tirelessly took care of him, almost without sleeping at night. It was then that the General of Valiant Cavalry’s heart softened, and he promoted the servant girl to the position of his wife, and he never took any other concubines afterward.

Chu Ya seized this only soft spot of the General.

Although it was a bit unethical, it was well known that Chu Ya had never been ethical. He issued a decree in front of the civil and military officials, requiring the General of Valiant Cavalry to divorce his wife, on the grounds that the maid was of lowly birth and not a proper lady to match the great general.

The General of Valiant Cavalry panicked and pleaded that his faithful wife had been with him for decades, always behaving properly and never transgressing. How could he divorce her?

Chu Ya just smiled and said, “Since the General can intervene in my marriage matters, as the Emperor, I naturally have the right to be concerned about your family affairs. You say a man cannot become an Empress, then I say a maid cannot become a legal wife. What do you think?”

The General of Valiant Cavalry was defeated and didn’t dare to interfere with Chu Ya’s marriage matters anymore. Chu Ya also kindly revoked the decree afterward.

Bai Lu felt chills down his spine upon hearing this, unable to help rubbing his arms and muttering lowly, “You can’t provoke anyone, you’re too insidious. After we get married, you can’t deal with me like this!”

Chu Ya smiled and didn’t say anything.

Bai Lu became anxious. “Are you agreeing or not? Why do I feel like I’m not getting married but walking into a fire pit?”

Chu Ya kissed his face and vaguely replied, “Let’s see how you behave in the future.”

Bai Lu: “I’m getting more and more scared…”

The two most vehemently opposing old ministers in the court calmed down, and the other scattered voices of opposition soon disappeared. Chu Ya patiently waited for a few days and once again proposed making Bai Lu the Empress during the morning court, and no one dared to speak up anymore.

Chu Ya didn’t make them too sad either, promising that after marriage, he would select at least three young children from the imperial family with close blood relations under the age of five to be raised and educated in the palace, ensuring the continuity of the imperial lineage.

After making this promise, the mood of the courtiers improved somewhat, and their attention turned to the young princes and princesses of the imperial family, secretly considering who had better qualifications.

Proper rewards and punishments, this was a management method that Chu Ya had mastered since he was a teenager.

In short, Chu Ya swiftly cleared all obstacles and paved the way for Bai Lu, beginning to prepare for the series of procedures for appointing an Empress.

In ancient times, even marrying a wife required three letters and six gifts, matchmakers’ words, and it was very troublesome, not to mention becoming the Empress. Bai Lu found all these rituals exhausting, so he simply ignored them.

“Just let me know when it’s time for the wedding night.”

After saying this, Bai Lu left these matters behind and went to enjoy himself.

Chu Ya couldn’t help but smile wryly. This was marriage, not a job interview. How could the bride wait for a notification to return?

However, he also knew that Bai Lu was impatient with these formalities, so he didn’t force him to stay and observe these cumbersome formalities. Fortunately, Bai Lin was very enthusiastic and came over to help. After all, she was marrying off her son, and she was more concerned than anyone else.

When the first light snow fell from the sky, it was their wedding day.

Bai Lu couldn’t remember the specifics of that day anymore, how he entered through the noon gate, how he received the imperial edict, how he went to the ancestral temple to worship his ancestors, all these memories were blurred.

But one thing he remembered very clearly was that whenever he stood with Chu Ya, the other party would tightly hold his hand, as if fulfilling the promise of holding hands and growing old together.

The snow in the sky was also falling very beautifully, the thin snowflakes were crystal clear, like a gift from heaven to this wedding.

After completing the exhausting rituals, when there were only the two of them left in the bedroom at night, Bai Lu finally heaved a sigh of relief, took off the cumbersome ceremonial attire, and changed into loose and comfortable clothing.

He didn’t feel any fluctuations in his heart now. As long as he could be with Chu Ya, he didn’t really care about the title of Empress. But judging from Chu Ya’s appearance, he seemed quite happy, staring at him intently all the time.

Sitting at the table, untangling his hair in front of the mirror, Bai Lu suddenly remembered something distant and turned to look at Chu Ya. “Actually, I’ve always wanted to ask, how were you so sure that Lin Xiao’an was me when we first met? Just because of that song?”

Chu Ya shook his head slowly. “Not just because of that, but also because I knew you would come.”

Bai Lu was taken aback. “Why?”

Chu Ya smiled. “As it’s our wedding night, I’ll tell you a secret. Actually, in my previous life, before I died, I heard a voice.”

“A voice?”

“Yes, that voice asked me in my mind, if there were another life, what would you want to do?”

Bai Lu widened his eyes slightly. “That’s impossible, are you trying to fool me? How could there be such a magical thing?”

Chu Ya just smiled without answering. Bai Lu couldn’t tell if he was teasing him or if he had truly heard such a divine revelation before his death. Bai Lu hesitated and asked, “So what did you reply at the time?”

Chu Ya smiled and looked deeply into Bai Lu’s eyes, softly saying, “I gave a very despicable answer. I said I want to have you forever.”

Author’s Note:

Ended it in a rush because I’ve been really busy lately, and also, the outline was written a long time ago, so I couldn’t remember many details, making it very difficult to write…

Don’t need to shower me with praises for the ending, just don’t beat me up (laughs).

When I have some free time later, I plan to start a story similar to an infinite flow, as I am more suitable for writing modern stories. Ancient-style writing is too exhausting (sobs).

T/N:  Not me low-key thinking he’d answer something like wanting power to protect Bai Lu lol. Anyways, Our story ends but I have written some spicy spin-off of Chu Ya and Bai Lu, which I will link here once I complete it.