The Favored Heiress
Chapter 506: Apologizing to Elders, with a Lower Attitude

Chapter 506: Chapter 506: Apologizing to Elders, with a Lower Attitude

In front of the door, Old Master Zong stood with his hands clasped behind his back as he sent them off to the car, clad in an old man’s attire that made him look quite amiable.

As the car drove away, Zong Zhan leaned against the door frame, eyeing his father’s Old Imperial Capital cloth shoes, "So this means... you’ve forgiven Xiao Yue?"

The smile on Zong Hesong’s face became stern, and he glanced back, "If you kneel for three hours like she did, I might forgive you too."

Zong Zhan looked solemnly at his father, touching his nose, "Why are you angry with me? When Xiao Yue was getting married, you agreed to it yourself."

"How can you even say that?" Zong Hesong raised his leg as if he wanted to kick him, "If it weren’t for you helping her make a fake hospital pregnancy certificate, I would have never agreed to that marriage!"

Zong Zhan looked down at his fingertips, with a barely suppressed laugh, "Oh come on, I wonder who has been fussing about wanting to hold a great-grandchild in the past month.

Your behavior now is nothing but a fit of pique. Instead of being angry with Xiao Yue, you should encourage Li Jun to put in some effort and quickly give you a little great-grandson."

Having his thoughts so mercilessly exposed by his own son, Zong Hesong snorted, turned his back and walked around the screen wall, scoffing, "I hear things have been rather peaceful at the Military Department lately. I’ll talk to Elder Duan in a couple of days. We need to organize some mock combat for you, so your blade doesn’t rust from disuse."

Zong Zhan: "..."

...

At Emperor View Villa, Mr. and Mrs. Li sat bewildered on the couch, watching the limping Li Jun slowly approach and belatedly asked, "Eldest, what happened to your leg?"

Hearing this, Zong Yue’s head dropped, and her eyes reddened.

Li Jun let out a soft sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose, "It’s nothing. Just twisted it a bit earlier."

"Big brother, why don’t you go upstairs and rest for a while," said Li Qiao, which seemed rather abrupt under the circumstances.

Li Jun pressed his lips together, nodded without saying much, and slowly climbed the stairs.

Zong Yue also hurriedly said goodbye and scurried after him.

The few people left in the living room all turned to look at Li Qiao, with Duan Shuyuan rubbing her forehead in a daze, "Qiaoqiao, what happened to your big brother?"

Li Qiao leaned back on the couch, looking languid as she replied, "Nothing much. Just a twisted ankle."

Mr. and Mrs. Li: "..."

Of course, Li Jun had not just twisted his ankle.

Let’s rewind a few hours. He had followed Zong Yue to Old Master Zong’s room.

As they had expected, Old Master Zong didn’t see anyone.

Both of them stood outside the room and spoke lots of soft words, but there was never a response from within.

Earlier, Zong Zhan had taken Li Qiao out of the reception hall, essentially to take her to the east wing.

And he had explained to her the ins and outs of this arranged marriage.

So, when Li Qiao stood in the courtyard of the east wing, her words were simple, "Big brother, when apologizing to your elders, you need to be humble."

She deliberately emphasized the word ’humble,’ confident that her big brother would understand.

Zong Yue had lied, but she was now married to his big brother.

Regardless of right or wrong, both Li Jun and the Li family had to shoulder that responsibility for her.

Therefore, amid Zong Yue’s cries of alarm, Li Jun knelt down sternly on the stone pavement of the courtyard.

At that moment, Zong Yue was shocked; she almost knelt down alongside him without hesitation.

After all, Old Master Zong’s status allowed such an act of kneeling in apology.

But Li Jun wouldn’t allow it, forcibly pushing her away and insisting she just stand behind him.

Li Qiao, witnessing this scene, stuffed her hands into her pockets, turned around, and headed back the way she came.

Zong Zhan was indeed very surprised and asked her as they walked, "You just let your elder brother kneel, aren’t you afraid of demeaning his status?"

Li Qiao looked ahead, walking leisurely, "After getting married, Old Master Zong is his grandfather too. Kneeling to one’s own elder, how would that be demeaning?"

What she said made sense, but Zong Zhan was still shaken by the solidarity and kinship of the Li family.

Later, Li Qiao said to Zong Zhan, "In terms of social status, the Li family has indeed married above its station. Old Master Zong is just worried that sister-in-law would be at a disadvantage in our family.

If it’s convenient, please relay a message to him for me, that we, as Li family members, would rather put ourselves through hardship than let Zong Yue, who has married far away to the South Sea, suffer any."

...

In the upstairs bedroom, Zong Yue was applying an ice pack to Li Jun’s knee for a cold compress.

She was born in a military family and had undergone the most rigorous training and testing, by nature she was not a girl prone to tears, yet in front of Li Jun, she couldn’t help but choke up.

At this moment, Li Jun leaned back against the headboard, closed his eyes slightly, and his brow furrowed in discomfort.

"Does it still hurt?" Zong Yue picked up the ice pack to look at his swollen knee, her expression full of sympathy as she looked at the man, her heart feeling both sour and swollen.

Li Jun lifted the corners of his eyes slightly to look at her, and his frown deepened, "Why the tears?"

Zong Yue pursed her lips, her voice muffled, "You were too impulsive today. To kneel just like that, aren’t you afraid it was all in vain?"

Fortunately, grandpa had forgiven them in the end, otherwise... she didn’t know how she would face the Li family members in the future.

It was a bitter fruit she had caused, yet in the end, it was Li Jun who had to clean up the mess for her.

She felt particularly upset about it.

Listening to her complaints, Li Jun sighed deeply, "Didn’t the thing you were worried about not happen after all? Problems have to be solved, kneeling was just a last resort.

Since he’s willing to forgive, that means he’s no longer angry. Don’t think too much about it, it’s all in the past."

The way men think is always straightforward when it comes to solving problems.

His words were faultless, yet Zong Yue felt no warmth from them.

Because he did this merely to resolve the knot in his grandfather’s heart.

He considered it his responsibility, his duty.

"All right, don’t be downhearted, I’m tired, just lie with me for a while." Li Jun took the ice pack from Zong Yue’s hand and, pulling her hand, discovered her fingertips were ice-cold.

He frowned, warming them in his palm, and let her lie beside him, quietly enjoying the tranquility before night fell.

It had been less than a week since Li Jun and she married, but he unexpectedly really liked holding her as they slept.

He liked the clean, fresh scent of her body, especially the way she would unconsciously snuggle into his embrace in her sleep, which left him feeling satisfied when he awoke from a midnight dream.

...

The next day, Sunday, was the Li Jun and his wife’s post-wedding banquet.

The banquet was set at the Imperial Capital’s official mansions in the suburbs of the Capital, surrounded by mountains and corridors, with carved beams and painted rafters, all exuding a classic and elegant charm. Before ten o’clock in the morning, the place was already fully seated.

Although it was a post-wedding banquet, the Zong family didn’t skimp.

Not only did they book the entire Hua Mansion, but the guests they invited were by no means inferior to the display the Li family had put on at that time.

For this wedding banquet, Li Jun and Zong Yue did not wear a suit and wedding dress, but chose traditional Chinese wedding attire, the Dragon and Phoenix Gown.

In the wedding hall that could also accommodate hundreds of tables, there were exquisite wooden carved chandeliers overhead, and the hall was filled with square tables and Taishi Chairs.

At this moment, Li Qiao was leisurely strolling along the mountain corridor with Li San walking steadily by her side. Just after they passed the flower pond, he looked ahead and suddenly narrowed his eyes, "Isn’t that... Second Young Master Bo?"