sjar Chapter 559 I'll marry them as long as they're willing.
Chapter 559 I'll marry them as long as they're willing.
In the shadows of the corner, Lin Jingchuan sat upright, holding a cup of tea that had long since gone cold, without uttering a word.
His handsome face remained expressionless, but a lingering weariness settled in his deep eyes.
Princess Yong's anger gradually shifted under her daughter's "comfort".
She looked at her overly outstanding son, and her anger flared even more.
"Jingchuan! Say something! Look at your sister, she knows how to think of you, but you, you've been like a gourd with its mouth sawed off the whole time!"
Lin Jingchuan finally made a move. He slowly put down his teacup, stood up, and bowed slightly to the old Princess Yong.
"Mother, I am tired and must take my leave now."
After saying that, he stopped looking at anyone and turned to walk towards his study.
"You!" The old Princess Yong was so angry that she almost smashed the teacup beside her again.
Lin Xingyao watched her brother's indifferent back, a stubborn glint in her eyes. She comforted her mother for a few moments, then lifted her skirt and quickly followed.
The study was brightly lit by candlelight.
Lin Jingchuan stood by the window, hands behind his back, without turning around.
"Get out." His voice was colder than the night outside the window.
Lin Xingyao seemed not to hear him. She walked behind him, her voice still gentle, "Brother, Mother is also worried about you. After all, your marriage is a top priority for the Prince's Mansion."
Lin Jingchuan slowly turned around, the candlelight making his facial features even more distinct, and illuminating the cold, lifeless pool in his eyes.
"In a few years, I will be thirty years old, and it will be only a matter of time before I get married."
His tone was so calm, as if he were talking about something that had nothing to do with him.
Lin Xingyao's fingers clenched slightly inside her sleeve, but her face still maintained that innocent and naive look.
She chuckled softly, "I know, I've been looking forward to my sister-in-law's arrival every day. But those ladies today are really not worthy of my brother. How can the heir apparent of our Prince Yong's mansion be so ordinary?"
"It doesn't matter." Lin Jingchuan's gaze fell on her face, his eyes so sharp that they seemed to pierce through all her pretenses. "Whether you're worthy or not, what does it matter?"
He suddenly twitched the corners of his mouth, revealing an almost cruel smile.
"I will marry them as long as they are willing to."
The smile on Lin Xingyao's face finally froze.
"Brother, you..."
"Didn't you think they weren't good enough for me?"
Lin Jingchuan took a step forward, his tall figure looming over him, bringing with him a suffocating sense of oppression.
"Then why don't I find you a marriage partner?"
He stared into her suddenly widened eyes and said, word by word, "How about we follow the example of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion and find you a son-in-law to come live with us?"
These two words exploded in Lin Xingyao's mind like a thunderclap.
Her face drained of color instantly, and she staggered back half a step, staring at him in disbelief.
"Brother, what...what did you say?"
"I said, I want you to get married too." There was no hint of a joke in Lin Jingchuan's tone, only cold determination. "You're not young anymore. What kind of image do you have with me all the time?"
"I've been married before, and I have a child. No one will want to marry me!" Lin Xingyao's carefully maintained facade of gentleness shattered completely at this moment. "I'm not going anywhere!"
Seeing her on the verge of collapse, Lin Jingchuan showed no emotion whatsoever; instead, his weariness only intensified.
He withdrew his gaze, his voice extremely low, "It's not up to you."
"So what if the young princess of the Yong Prince's mansion has been married before? So what if she has children? As long as you are willing to find a husband, someone will naturally come to your door."
He turned away, no longer looking at her, leaving her with only a cold, hard back view.
"Father, I will not tolerate this any longer."
Her brother's words, "It's not up to you," were like a death warrant, stuck to Lin Xingyao's soul.
She didn't know how she got back to the courtyard. She only felt the flickering lights of the lanterns under the eaves, and that every step she took felt like walking on cotton. She was in a daze, unable to control her own body.
The cold, resolute tone in the study shattered the last glimmer of hope in her heart.
Pushing open the door, the warm scent of charcoal fire wafted out, but it couldn't dispel the chill that seeped into her bones.
Under the lamp, a small figure was bent over the desk, holding a pen, carefully copying the calligraphy model stroke by stroke.
That was her son, Lin Jiayou, who was already eight years old.
Looking at her son's handsome and quiet profile, Lin Xingyao finally found an outlet for the resentment and hatred that had been building up inside her.
Wei Qiming!
It's all that damned Wei Qiming's fault!
If he hadn't used despicable means to ruin her innocence back then, how could she have given birth to this child, and how could there have been an insurmountable chasm between her and her brother!
Everything she had painstakingly built, all her carefulness, and all her hopes were rendered a colossal joke by the existence of this child.
Her heart felt as if it were being gripped tightly by an invisible hand, the pain almost suffocating her.
To make her give up completely, her brother said those things.
He would rather marry an ordinary woman he had no connection with than look at her again.
He used the same method he used to destroy his own marriage to sever all her hopes.
How cruel and resolute it was!
Lin Xingyao's body began to tremble uncontrollably.
She remembered her brother's last words.
Yes, Father. He knew she wasn't his biological daughter, yet he still bestowed upon her the honor of a princess.
This tolerance had already reached its limit.
If her father truly no longer tolerates her, then she and her child will have nowhere to stand in this vast royal palace, or even in the entire capital!
A bone-chilling fear instantly overwhelmed all love and resentment.
She cannot lose everything she has now! Absolutely not!
Lin Xingyao took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the turmoil in her heart, and put on a gentle smile again as she slowly walked to the desk.
"You'er, it's late, why are you still writing?"
Hearing the voice, Lin Jiayou looked up, revealing a delicate face that resembled hers, but with a more serene expression in his eyes.
"Mother, there is still one page of characters that the teacher taught me today that I haven't finished writing."
Lin Xingyao picked up the words he had written. The ink on the paper was neat and tidy. At such a young age, he already had a remarkable spirit.
A thought stirred in her heart, and she reached out to stroke her son's head. "Our You'er is so sensible."
She put down the paper, squatted down next to her son, looked him in the eye, and spoke in a very soft and gentle voice.
"You'er, your mother has something to ask you."
Lin Jiayou looked at her and nodded.
"Do you... want a father?" Lin Xingyao asked, her fingertips turning slightly cold.
Lin Jiayou paused for a moment, then shook his head and said softly, "You'er has her mother, that's enough."
“But your mother can’t protect you alone.” Lin Xingyao’s voice trembled slightly. “There are too many people and too much gossip in this palace. In the future, your mother will always be afraid that you will suffer grievances.”
She looked into her son's still-childish eyes and said, "Mother thinks I should find you another father. One like the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, someone willing to live in the Prince's mansion and be devoted to us, mother and son, from now on. What do you think?"
They are looking for a son-in-law to come to their home.
The way she uttered those four words carried a sense of despair, a desperate gamble.
Her brother used these four words to humiliate her, but she insisted on turning them into her only way to survive.
Lin Jiayou was stunned. He didn't seem to understand the complex meaning behind her words, but he could see the vulnerability in his mother's eyes.
He put down his pen, reached out his small hand, and gently touched Lin Xingyao's cool cheek.
"As long as Mother is no longer sad, You'er will listen to Mother."