After entering the book, the cold prince begs for favor

Chapter 440 Next Spring, the Child Will Come

Lu Jiangnian suddenly flipped her over and pinned her down. In the hazy moonlight, Yuan Wanru's bright eyes were filled with a joyful smile.

"How could I not know what you want?"

She reached out her finger and gently tapped his furrowed brow. "Look at how you've been scratching your head and struggling to speak the whole way here. It's like you have 'I want a child too' etched on your forehead."

Lu Jiangnian was stunned. Before his initial surprise could even begin, the teasing in her words ignited his embarrassment and anger. "You...you deliberately tricked me?!"

He realized that all his anxiety and disappointment upon learning her feelings stemmed from her "trouble theory," and he was both angry and anxious. He reached out to tickle her, "Yuan Wanru! You're so cunning! How could you be so mean?"

Yuan Wanru laughed and dodged, darting around in his arms like a nimble fish. She looked up at him and promised, word by word, with absolute clarity, "Okay, okay, I won't tease you anymore. I promise you."

"When spring comes next year, everything will have settled down, and all things will be revived..."

"Our child will come."

"Our child... will come next spring..."

Lu Jiangnian murmured and repeated, the immense joy of regaining what he had lost instantly overwhelming all his shame and anxiety!

He suddenly tightened his arms, locking the cunning yet adorable little woman in his embrace, and with a hint of "punishment," he lowered his head and silenced her smug giggle with a passionate, almost suffocating kiss.

The moonlight flowed quietly, gently enveloping their embracing figures.

All the testing, trepidation, and teasing have transformed into the unspoken sweetness of this moment.

The future unfolded slowly amidst Lu Jiangnian's wildly beating heart and Yuan Wanru's gentle return kiss.

-

Time flies, like sand slipping through your fingers. In the blink of an eye, they had been hiding in Dafeng Town for more than a month in peace and quiet.

But news from the capital, like an experienced horse that knows the way, always manages to cross mountains and rivers and reach Lu Jiangnian on time.

The words on the paper carry the weight of the dust and smoke of the capital.

The Emperor's favoritism towards the Fifth Prince has now reached the point of being completely undisguised.

There was an undercurrent of unrest in the court, with many ministers whispering among themselves: "Judging from this situation, the position of Crown Prince will probably be changed before the New Year."

The letters from Sun Huanzhi and the Crown Prince grew increasingly urgent, each word revealing their anxiety and urging him to return to the capital immediately to discuss countermeasures.

Yuan Wanru put down the letter and sighed softly. There was no complaint in that sigh, only a sense of cherishing this stolen moment and a hint of understanding that everything had settled down.

"Alright, our leisurely days are over. Let's pack up and head back tomorrow."

Being able to enjoy a carefree life for more than a month is already an unexpected joy.

Lu Jiangnian reached out and pulled her into his arms, his chin gently resting on the top of her head.

His embrace was warm and reassuring, his voice deep yet carrying a rock-solid certainty: "Okay, we'll head back tomorrow."

Dafeng Town is less than a day's journey from Beijing, making it easy to travel there spontaneously.

"Don't worry, my wife. We won't be staying too long this time."

After more than a month of carefree living, Lu Jiangnian's desire to leave the capital had never been so clear and firm.

He was never the kind of person who coveted wealth and status or was eager to pursue power.

Now, the Lu family's foundation is solid. The second brother, Jiang Xun, is a down-to-earth person. As long as he takes one step at a time, there will be no problem in protecting the family business and upholding the family's reputation.

The eldest son's several half-brothers are not mediocre. With a few years of hard work and honing their skills, they can make a name for themselves on their own, without needing their eldest brother to lead the way.

His world was not in this square capital city, nor in this treacherous court.

The world is vast, and there are so many local customs and traditions yet to be experienced, so many magnificent peaks yet to be climbed, and so many rivers, lakes, and seas yet to be sailed on.

He wanted to take her, just the two of them, or... their child, to see the snow in the north, the rain in the south, the desolate deserts of the west, and the boundless blue waves of the east sea.

Yuan Wanru raised her head and looked calmly at Lu Jiangnian: "When we made this plan, I thought... you would tell the Crown Prince."

Her voice was soft, tinged with a hint of doubt.

Upon hearing this, Lu Jiangnian's lips curled into a very faint smile, tinged with helplessness and understanding.

He didn't answer immediately, but lowered his head and gently placed a warm kiss on her soft lips, as if trying to dispel the heaviness brought by this topic.

"Silly woman,"

He stepped back slightly, his deep eyes fixed on her, a hint of mockery in them, yet all the more serious. "In your eyes, is your husband the kind of... naive and foolish person?"

Yuan Wanru didn't speak, but just looked at him quietly, waiting for him to continue.

Lu Jiangnian's smile faded, and his expression became serious: "This is a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of one's family. Once involved, one will be doomed forever. If I tell the Crown Prince now, he will naturally not hold it against me."

His analysis was calm and thorough: "Firstly, this matter is in his favor, as it can help him remove the biggest obstacle; secondly, he is still only the crown prince, and he hasn't even warmed his throne yet, so at least the sentiment hasn't completely cooled down yet."

He paused, lowering his voice even further, carrying a chilling sense of world-weariness: "But what about the future? My wife, have you thought about the future?"

"Once he actually sits on that throne, wielding the power of life and death, his heart warmed by the dragon throne, and watched and schemed against by countless eyes... who can guarantee he won't change?"

"Human hearts are fickle, especially the hearts of emperors. The emperors of yesteryear were not like this today."

"If one day, the Crown Prince becomes like today's emperor, and on that day he recalls this shocking 'secret,' and remembers how we used such methods to plot against the emperor's life..."

"At that time, what will we have to fight back? It would be like throwing an egg against a rock, courting our own destruction."

His gaze was sharp and clear: "I will not gamble the lives of hundreds of people in the entire Lu family on the ephemeral concept of 'loyalty' just to bet that the Crown Prince will not change in the future."

"I can't afford to gamble."

Yuan Wanru listened quietly, feeling a deep sense of comfort. Thankfully, he wasn't someone who acted on emotion.

He's right, absolutely right.

Back then, the imperial decree bestowing marriage upon Liang Yuhua was like a bucket of ice water poured over her.

After the anger comes a chilling cold.

An emperor who becomes suspicious of you and can interfere in your family affairs without warning has a mind as unpredictable as the weather in June.

Today they might send you a concubine to annoy you and test you, but tomorrow they might suddenly decide to give you poisoned wine and a white silk noose under any pretext.

Yuan Wanru was never one to sit idly by and wait for death, nor to entrust her life to the kindness of others.

Especially the emperor's benevolence?

That's the most unreliable thing in the world.

Tang Bo's affair was laid bare before her eyes, wasn't she clear enough about it?

The man on the dragon throne, his heart had long been hardened and coldened by power.