Five Years After My Death, the Mad Emperor Still Summons My Spirit

Jiang Yuchuan hadn’t intended to discuss Cai Jie with Ming Lingyi. But perhaps it was the sincerity in her eyes that made him, for some reason, start talking.

"Before, when I wanted to help you and went to the Xie Mansion to mediate, I never expected my uncle to completely disregard my standing. Instead, he almost made running your restaurant even more difficult. I still haven’t properly apologized to you for that."

Ming Lingyi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. "You still haven’t properly apologized? Lord Jiang, you’ve said this to me many times already. It had nothing to do with you, so don’t go blaming yourself for everything."

At this, Ming Lingyi’s voice paused. "Besides, Wangxian Building is gone from the West Market now, while Ming’s Restaurant is still standing in Huaided Fang."

Jiang Yuchuan nodded. "They got what they deserved."

’Jiang Yuchuan really is someone fit for the Ministry of Justice,’ Ming Lingyi thought. ’Just his willingness to place righteousness before family is a level of awareness I don’t think I could match.’

"Actually, the day I came to see you, there was something else I wanted to say, but I kept it from you," Jiang Yuchuan said.

He had been worried that Ming Lingyi would look down on him or hold it against him, so he never managed to confess that he once had a fiancée with whom he had broken off the engagement.

But now that he knew there was no longer any possibility for them, confessing didn’t feel like such a heavy burden. The worry was gone.

Ming Lingyi hadn’t expected a single remark to unearth such an unforeseen "secret."

"So, this Miss Cai Jie is the person your uncle specifically sent to the Capital City to control you?"

Jiang Yuchuan didn’t know how she had reached that conclusion. He couldn’t help but fall silent for a couple of seconds. "Is that what you think?"

Ming Lingyi clicked her tongue. "What other possibility is there? This Miss Cai, back home, she was the type who never stepped out of the house, wasn’t she?"

"Yes."

That was why he had been so determined to break off the engagement back then. Jiang Yuchuan was certain that Miss Cai was a good girl and would likely become a good wife and a supportive partner. But what he wanted wasn’t a puppet who just followed her family’s arrangements by the book.

He knew that most marriages in this world were ordained by parents and arranged by matchmakers. But he’d heard since childhood that his own parents hadn’t simply obeyed their elders, met through a matchmaking viewing, and married because they were deemed "suitable." Instead, his mother had been visiting a temple to pray and offer incense when she ran into deserters who had become bandits. His father happened to be traveling to the capital at the time and drew his sword to help—a classic tale of a hero saving a damsel that everyone praised.

If the "great hero" himself hadn’t ended up with a gash on his thigh that left him bedridden for over half a month, the story would have sounded even more legendary.

It was during that half-month of nursing his father that his mother had secretly developed feelings for him.

Perhaps it was because his parents’ meeting was like something out of a storybook—they fell in love before they married. Growing up, he had witnessed their deep affection for one another. Although they sometimes bickered over trivial matters, most of the time, their gazes were filled with love. This made it even harder for him to accept a marriage that had been arranged for him since childhood.

Jiang Yuchuan felt very sorry for the young lady of the Cai Family.

"A well-bred young lady like her, why would she suddenly come to Shangjing to find you?" Ming Lingyi analyzed. "She knows your families have already broken the engagement and that there’s nothing between you two. Wouldn’t this ruin her reputation? This action is clearly out of character for her. Someone or something must have pushed her to do this. If her family was in trouble, she wouldn’t seek help from someone so far away, especially a Lord Jiang who is a complete stranger to her now. So, if we rule out external events pushing Miss Cai to come to the capital, that only leaves someone forcing her to come find you."

Ming Lingyi was about to continue her analysis, but Jiang Yuchuan gave a bitter laugh and nodded in admission.

"Yes, Miss Ming, you guessed correctly. It was indeed my uncle who had her come to Shangjing to find me," Jiang Yuchuan said.

Ming Lingyi’s expression said, ’I knew it.’

"Is there something he wants you to do?"

Jiang Yuchuan mentally calculated Miss Cai’s travel time. The journey from their hometown to Shangjing City would take at least ten days.

’He must have had a two-pronged plan ready back when I went to see him about Ming’s Restaurant.’

If he "disobeyed" and insisted on siding with an outsider like Ming Lingyi, then this Miss Cai probably wouldn’t have come looking for him, but would have gone straight to Ming’s Restaurant to find Ming Lingyi herself.

Although Jiang Yuchuan was reluctant to admit it, he knew in his heart that even without the Emperor, and even if Ming Lingyi’s identity wasn’t so perplexing, the moment his uncle arranged for the young lady of the Cai Family to come to the capital, there could never be anything between him and Mrs. Ming.

He knew Ming Lingyi wasn’t like the other young women in Shangjing City.

Even without proof, Jiang Yuchuan was certain that if Cai Jie showed up, Ming Lingyi wouldn’t despise her or take her anger out on her. On the contrary, she would take the initiative to help. But as for himself, the best possible outcome would be to just remain ordinary friends.

Jiang Yuchuan met Ming Lingyi’s exceptionally candid eyes. Although he had long anticipated this, he couldn’t help but feel a pang of bitterness in his heart.

He had known for a long time that he liked Mrs. Ming, but she didn’t have such deep feelings for him.

He had originally thought he would have plenty of time to get to know Miss Ming, just like his parents had. After all, feelings are nurtured through time spent together. A love that grows over time, flowing long and steady like a stream, was not a bad thing at all.

But both the Emperor’s appearance and his uncle’s latest move had come too suddenly, leaving him with a sense of defeat, as if his great undertaking had been cut short before it could even begin.

"Yes..." Jiang Yuchuan nodded. "My uncle probably wanted Miss Cai to come to Shangjing to find me and, at the same time, create distance between you and me, Miss Ming. It would be best if we stayed away from each other."

That must have been his eldest uncle’s plan. As long as a young lady from the Cai Family was there to interfere, the truth didn’t matter. He could always use a woman to ruin things between him and Ming Lingyi. Then, in the future, he wouldn’t help Ming’s Restaurant anymore.

After all, he would have no reason to.

However, his eldest uncle never expected that before the young lady of the Cai Family could even reach the Capital City, the Xie family would undergo such a drastic change.

"Now that Miss Cai is in Shangjing, my eldest uncle wants to use her to control me," Jiang Yuchuan said. "Yesterday, my uncle had a simple meal at my residence. He knows it was no accident that the Emperor acted as a reviewing teacher at the restaurant last time, and he wanted to pry some information out of me."

Unfortunately, even now, Jiang Yuchuan himself wasn’t entirely clear on what the relationship between Li Yun and Ming Lingyi truly was.

That night, he had seen the Emperor in a rage and had heard his earth-shattering declaration: "Coveting Our Empress is a crime punishable by death." But even after several days, Jiang Yuchuan still couldn’t figure out how the owner of Ming’s Restaurant had become the former Empress Hui Ming.

Since he couldn’t figure it out, Jiang Yuchuan was smart enough not to ask when he saw Ming Lingyi again.

"Don’t worry, I didn’t say much. Besides, I truly don’t know the nature of your relationship," Jiang Yuchuan said. "And then..."

As he said this, he recalled his uncle’s purpose for visiting him yesterday, and he couldn’t help but pause.

He averted his gaze from Ming Lingyi’s. "...He came to have me meet with the daughter of General Huaihua, Qin Shiqi, on the next rest day."

His uncle now held Cai Jie’s status over his head. As long as he didn’t obediently meet and marry the young lady of the Qin Family, then this Miss Cai would, in name, remain his fiancée.

If he were to obey, he could secure a rather good marriage.

At the very least, it would be a good match in terms of social standing.