My name is Chang An, your name is Gu Li

Chapter 172 Please give my body to her

"Take back your order?" Li Longji frowned and deliberately said, "But my reward is not good enough? Or do you think the position of founding county marquis is too low?"

"That's not the case." Chang An said.

"Why is that? Are you blaming me for treating Gu Sanniang badly? For not giving her a better reward?" Li Longji asked again.

“That’s not the case.”

"What I want is to ask Your Majesty to withdraw the marriage proposal." Chang An said directly.

When Li Longji heard this, his face turned dark and he said coldly: "Marquis Dingkang, do you know what you are talking about?"

"I know, but I have to say it." Chang An kept his voice unchanged.

Li Longji snorted coldly, then looked at Wang Wei and Gao Shi who were kneeling behind Chang An, and asked, "Cheng Wang Le, Chief Gao, why are you two here today?"

"Your Majesty, we came here today to make a joint appeal with Marquis Dingkang, hoping that Your Majesty would revoke your order." Wang Wei and Gao Shi said.

Li Longji was very dissatisfied at this time, and then he said: "What happened today! As soon as I said I would grant you a marriage, you all came to me and asked me to take back my decision."

"Is it that my daughter is not worthy of you, Chang Yonghe? Or do you simply look down on my daughter?"

Chang An faced Li Longji's anger and said, "Your Majesty, that is not the case."

"Then why don't you agree to my marriage?" Li Longji shouted.

"I only have my wife in my heart, and I have promised myself that I will never take another concubine in this lifetime," Chang An said.

"So what you mean is that even if it is my will, and I order you to marry my daughter, you are unwilling to do so?" Li Longji narrowed his eyes slightly, seeming to be angry.

"Your Majesty, that's right."

Just as Chang An finished speaking, an eunuch came in and said, "Your Majesty, Princess Yongmu is here."

"Announce!" Li Longji took a deep breath and watched the eunuch bring Li Ke'er in.

As soon as Li Ke'er entered the room, she saw Chang An kneeling on the ground, holding the imperial edict in his hand. She looked at Li Longji in confusion and greeted him:

"Father, what is this?"

Li Keer came to Li Ying's side, and Li Longji then said:

"Marquis Dingkang, now that my Princess Yongmu has arrived, tell her in person why you don't want to be the consort!"

Chang An raised his head slightly, put down the hand holding the imperial edict, and said, "I, your humble servant, dare to ask the princess, after I marry your Highness, if I get drunk one day and fall into the water, what will your Highness do?"

Li Ke'er thought for a moment and replied, "Of course I will order someone to rescue you."

Chang An smiled and said, "But my wife will never let me get drunk or go near the water."

Someone who really wants to protect you will not come to rescue you after you are in danger, but will take precautions before it happens.

"My wife once jumped into the water to save me at the end of winter in the first year of the lunar calendar. Later, she caught a fever and contracted lung disease. As a result, I can no longer marry a new woman."

"But I have conferred a title on her and gifted her with gold and silk. Can't I repay your kindness?" Li Longji asked again.

"How can I repay you for saving my life with money?" Chang An said, "I only know how to exchange one life for another. If it weren't for my wife, I wouldn't be here today. Therefore, everything I have belongs to my wife, and everything I do is for my wife."

"What a great thing! Everything you do is for her. Do you know that this is disobeying the imperial order and is a capital crime?" Li Longji shouted angrily, and his good mood for marrying his daughter off immediately disappeared.

"The guilty minister knows."

"Since you already know, why are you still disobeying the order? If you take the imperial edict home now, I can pretend that you have never been here today!"

Chang An said, "But I have no choice but to do this. My wife is my first wife. If I marry the princess now, I will be accused of being unjust and ungrateful."

Li Longji said, "If you agree, you will be my son-in-law and a member of the royal family. Who would dare to say bad things about you?"

"What's more, in the Tang Dynasty today, there are many cases of couples divorcing and remarrying. What's there to gossip about?"

"But I don't agree." Chang An said very firmly.

"Your Majesty, Marquis Dingkang and Gu Sanniang are in love with each other. This is a well-known fact in Chang'an City. Therefore, I, Yue, and Marquis Dingkang share the same wish and beg Your Majesty to revoke your order." Wang Wei said.

"I also implore Your Majesty to revoke your order." Gao Shi was tongue-tied, so he could only echo.

"How dare you!" Li Longji slammed the table and said, "Chang Yonghe! Do you really think I dare not kill you?"

"Disobeying my order is tantamount to treason, which is a capital crime. Do you believe that I can drag you out and behead you in public with just one order?"

Chang An still said calmly: "I believe it, so I beg Your Majesty to return my body to my wife."

Li Keer felt very uncomfortable when she heard this. Although it was just a marriage decision, she still felt uncomfortable hearing her "future fiancé" talking about another woman all the time.

At this time, Li Longji also understood Chang An's words: If he really wanted to kill him, it would mean that he would no longer belong to his beloved daughter, either in heart or body.

"Your Majesty, I have something else to say, but I don't know whether I should say it or not." Chang An spoke again at this time.

"speak."

Chang An slowly said, "In fact, whether it is the matter of evil money or the matter of smallpox, my original intention was never to get a reward, but for my wife."

Li Longji was stunned and said, "The matter of evil money and smallpox concerns the entire Tang Dynasty. Why do you say it's just for her?"

"Your Majesty is wise and you know that my wife is the daughter of a merchant. It is normal for her to be a little wealthy. When the people of the Tang Dynasty have money, they will naturally buy things, and my wife is no exception. I proposed a strategy to deal with bad money so that my wife can spend money with peace of mind and not be wronged."

"And smallpox is a highly contagious disease. Even if my wife lives in seclusion, there is no guarantee that she will not be infected with smallpox. Naturally, I thought of this method to protect my wife."

After listening to him, Li Longji asked again: "Then why did you tell me this method? You vaccinated yourself privately, and I don't know about it, right?"

"That being said, the Tang Dynasty is now in great prosperity, and I cannot bear to see such a great country fall to ruin because of smallpox. If this happens, my wife will still be affected."

Li Longji looked at Chang An in the audience and said, "That being said, you are defying the imperial decree, which is a capital crime."

"I am willing to accept death, but this matter has nothing to do with my wife, and she is still young and has a future. Please, Your Majesty, spare her life." After saying this, Chang An held the imperial edict in his hand, slowly bent down, and kowtowed.

Li Ying also stood in front of Chang An at this time and pleaded for him: "Father, Chang Yonghe is a man of love and righteousness, and has made great contributions to the Tang Dynasty. His merits and demerits offset each other, and his crime does not deserve death!"

"Your Majesty, Song Sansi and Su Shangshu are here to see you." An eunuch came to the door and said.

"Go ahead." Li Longji waved his hand. He knew without thinking that these two old guys must have come to plead for Chang An.

"Your Majesty, I, your humble servant, bow my head." As soon as Song Jing and Su Kang entered the hall, they bowed their heads and greeted him.

Li Longji leaned on the dragon throne and said, "You two are here to plead for Chang Yonghe, right?"

"That's right." Song Jing replied.

"But do you know what crime Chang Yonghe has committed now?" Li Longji asked back.

Song Jing saw Chang An kneeling here and the yellow silk book in his hand, and he knew what was going on. He replied: "This old minister knows that Yonghe was guilty of disobeying the imperial order."

"Then why do you come here to beg for mercy?"

"Your Majesty, Yonghe only refused to marry Princess Yongmu. He didn't really intend to resist your Majesty's order." Song Jing said.

"Isn't resisting the marriage I granted you considered as disobeying my will?" Li Longji said, "Is my daughter really no match for Gu Sanniang, who was born into a merchant family?"

Song Jing said, "Your Majesty, that's not the case. It's just that Yonghe has someone he loves. If he divorces her and marries the princess instead, he will lose his original intention of serving the country."

"What Yonghe did was only for his wife, Gu Sanniang. It was not for the reward from Your Majesty. If Your Majesty did not grant him the marriage, but instead removed him from all his current positions, he would be grateful."

"Your Majesty! Prince Qi requests an audience." Li Longji wanted to say something when another eunuch standing at the door spoke.

Li Longji frowned, not knowing why his brother wanted to see him, so he said, "Announce!"

Li Fan walked in at this time and saw Chang An who kept bowing. He was puzzled for a moment and then figured out why. He then bowed to Li Longji and said:

"I've met the emperor brother."

"My dear brother, why are you here today?" Li Longji asked.

"I came here today to plead for Lord Ji Kang." Li Fan said with a smile, "Could you please revoke your decision on Lord Ji Kang's marriage to Ke'er?"

Li Longji was completely upset this time, and even his favorite brother came to plead for Chang An. Then he heard King Qi say, "Although I stay at home every day, I have heard about Ji Kangbo's affairs."

"My brother should also know that when treating a wise minister, one must cater to his preferences. Ji Kangbo dotes on his wife as if she were his life. As long as anyone treats Gu Sanniang well, he is willing to repay them a hundredfold."

"Even if Your Majesty does not confer a title on him, just guarantee that he can live with Gu Sanniang. In the future, he will devote himself to Your Majesty and have no second thoughts. Only by solving his worries can he devote himself to Your Majesty."

Li Longji sighed, and then Li Keer stood up and said, "Father, I don't want to marry Ji Kangbo."

Li Longji was almost wavering at this time, waiting for someone to give him a way out, so he asked, "Why don't you want to?"

"My daughter doesn't like him," Li Ke'er said, "He only has Madam Gu in his heart. After entering the palace today, he kept talking about Madam Gu. Even if my daughter marries him, she will not be taken care of."

After hearing this, Li Longji took one last look at Chang An who was kneeling there motionless, and finally spoke:

"Take back the imperial edict from Marquis Dingkang and give it to the Secretariat to redraft. Let them proceed with granting the marriage."