Luo Yaqing's face flushed, and she looked at her father's expression and was hesitant to speak. This was already very obvious, but the girl's modesty still made her stammer and answer: "Daughter, daughter listens to father."
Luo Changqing's heart sank. He still didn't understand what the little girl meant by this. If his daughter had no interest in Zhou Wencun, she would definitely say, "My daughter is still young and wants to spend more time with her father. I don't want to consider marriage for the time being." But if she was interested in someone, she would shyly say, "Everything is up to my father."
Therefore, when Luo Changqing heard her words, he immediately realized that his daughter really had a crush on Zhou Wencun. He persuaded her with a headache:
"The Shunyi Palace has many people, many concubines, and two legitimate sons from the same mother. If you marry in, you will definitely suffer a lot... Daughter, listen to your father. Let's find a simpler family. Such a family respects the rules, and you can live more easily..."
"But father..." Luo Yaqing said indignantly, "The reason why there are so many illegitimate sons and daughters in the Shunyi Palace is because of the Shunyi Prince. What does it have to do with Mr. Zhou Er? He himself suffered from the pain of the disputes between wives and concubines in the harem, and between legitimate and illegitimate children. He has long been determined not to be as romantic and amorous as his father, but to be single-minded in love... How can we look at him with the eyes of his father?"
Luo Changqing listened to his daughter's defense of Zhou Wencun and knew that she was deeply in love with Zhou Wencun and it was impossible for her to look at the affairs of Shunyi Palace rationally.
But as a father, he couldn't watch his daughter fall into the quagmire of the palace and struggle, so he still tried his best to persuade her:
"Many of the things men say before marriage are unreliable. I am also a man, so I understand their bad habits better. When they say they want to be loyal to their wives, it may be true, but it is hard to say once they are married. Even if they don't take the initiative to look for other women, they can't stop other women from trying every means to get close to them. They can resist temptation once, but can they resist it twice, three times, or even ten or a hundred times?"
"Why not? Didn't you resist, father?" Luo Yaqing blurted out, "After you married mother, she was your only life. Even after mother passed away, you remained chaste. Now you have married a stepmother in name only and have never betrayed mother. Why don't you believe that Mr. Zhou Er can do the same for me?"
Luo Changqing felt a headache when he saw his daughter's indignant expression. He used to think that his daughter was smart and sensible at a young age and had never caused him any worries. She was a good daughter who required little worry.
But he never expected that she would become stubborn and rebellious about this marriage. Luo Changqing then felt the difficulty of having a disobedient child.
He sighed and said weakly, "Qing'er, although I am able to keep myself clean because I have a good relationship with your mother, the main reason is that I have spent all my energy and time on court affairs. I am exhausted from official duties, so how can I have the energy to spend on private affairs in the harem?"
"Father, you are lying! No matter how busy you are, can you be busier than His Majesty? His Majesty has time to favor his concubines, but you don't? It's just because you don't want to!" Luo Yaqing suddenly whispered such an outrageous remark.
"Shut up! Do you think you can talk about His Majesty's private affairs?" Luo Changqing interrupted Luo Yaqing's complaints and said with a sullen face, "Father doesn't want to break up you and Zhou Wencun, but Zhou Wencun is not as good as you think. You are too naive and simple. You don't know how good men are at disguising themselves."
When Luo Yaqing heard that her father still doubted the person she liked, her eyes suddenly turned red. She tried to hold back her tears and said sadly, "Father, why are you prejudiced against Mr. Zhou Er? I just want to find someone who shares the same feelings with me, just like father and mother, who only have each other and live in harmony. Don't you want to help me?"
Luo Changqing felt even worse when he saw his daughter questioning him like this, but in the end, his love for his daughter outweighed his negative views of Shunyi Palace, so he compromised:
"Forget it. Since you like that boy so much, I'll check him out. If he doesn't have any major character problems, I'll help you. But let me make it clear first. If I find out that he has major problems, I will definitely not agree to your marriage!"
After hearing what he said, Luo Yaqing burst into tears and laughed, "No! No! The Second Young Master is a man of high moral character and behaves in a thorough and proper manner. How could there be a problem? Thank you, father, for your help..."
She was already certain that Zhou Wencun was fine.
Luo Changqing sighed that his children were all debts, and sent people to investigate Zhou Wencun.
I don’t know if Zhou Wencun was too lucky, or because this was the critical moment of discussing marriage with Luo Yaqing, he deliberately restrained his words and actions and did not go to the alley to look for the widow of his classmate, so he actually avoided Luo Changqing's investigation.
The investigation results obtained by Luo Changqing showed that although Zhou Wencun had some minor flaws, such as being impulsive and having a bad temper, there were no major problems with his character and morals. He was talented and had an extraordinarily handsome appearance. If one put aside the chaotic fights in his family, he could barely be considered a "young talent."
Unfortunately, it was his father's terrible backyard that held him back, causing Luo Changqing to hesitate again and again.
After all, if Luo Yaqing married into the Shunyi Palace, she would have to spend most of her life in the backyard. If there were endless fighting and no peace in the backyard, she would not be able to stay out of it and would be involved involuntarily.
Don't say that it was a harem fight of the Shunyi King and had nothing to do with Zhou Wencun's wife. The women in the harem were all plotting and scheming to use everything they could. Luo Yaqing had a lot to offer, whether as Zhou Wencun's wife or as the daughter of Prime Minister Luo. How could those women let her go? It was impossible.
Luo Yaqing was different from those girls who grew up in the struggles between wives and concubines in the backyard. She had never experienced those chaotic situations. Her father's backyard was extremely quiet. When she was a child, there was only her mother, the only woman. Later, there was not even one woman left. Then he married a stepmother, who always avoided her as much as possible and would never deal with her unless necessary.
How can such a simple girl guard against the complicated woman who was raised like a Gu in the house fight? It would be strange if she didn't suffer a loss!
Although Luo Changqing's backyard is quiet, he knows how cruel the fighting in the backyard is, and life-and-death struggles are common.
Besides, it's not just a harem fight, there may also be a fight for the position of the crown prince. Zhou Wencun has an elder brother who has been named the crown prince, but is he really willing to give up the crown prince position to his elder brother and become a commoner of the royal family in the future? Not necessarily, he is an ambitious man.