Reborn as Powerful Minister's Beloved-Chapter 738 - 661: One More Update

Zheng Nianru clasped Zheng Boding’s hand, smiled gently, and tried to soothe his emotions.

Prince Duan’s emotions were not so easily soothed. Flinging off Prince Duan’s hand, he instantly regretted it when he realized that Nianru had just mentioned she was pregnant.

"What, what does he really want to do?" Prince Duan asked irritably, "There are plenty of women in the world, yet he insists on harming you. I thought at first that..."

Zheng Nianru smiled at his words.

"Yes, it was he who harmed me, but now, with your people around, he probably can’t do so anymore," Zheng Nianru continued along Prince Duan’s line of thought, "I was thinking, to exchange this child for peace in Nanzheng."

Zheng Nianru would often ponder over this issue when she sat daydreaming.

Although she was also a descendant of the Nanzheng Imperial Clan, her obsession with royal bloodline was not deep; even in her previous life, when her child had taken that position, Zheng Nianru did not feel much solace in being a descendent of the Nanzheng Imperial Clan.

Instead, she felt that Ju Nanyi was more suited to that position, strategizing behind the scenes, turning situations around. Initially, she even wondered why such a far-sighted person as Ju Nanyi would make such a decision.

In her past life, she had not understood, but in this life, she was beginning to get a vague idea.

Her father, Zheng Congyuan, and even those aristocratic gentry clans that had once received the favor of the Nanzheng Imperial Clan, all held such obsessions.

Back then, what kind of decision had they reached to collectively place the child in that position? Thinking back now, although the aristocratic gentry clans had retreated into seclusion, their interests were complex and intertwined, and many gentry families had matrimonial alliances with the Nanzheng Imperial Clan, forming a web of relationships that was too entangled to sever.

Ju Nanyi must have foreseen this point long ago.

And this was also why Zheng Nianru decided to keep this child.

If the master of fate had already set the course, then the only thing she could do was to negotiate the best possible benefits for herself on this predetermined route. And she and Zheng Congyuan, this minor figure who was excluded by fate, could they perhaps quietly change the outcome of their past lives?

When she first woke up, Zheng Nianru felt that leaving Zheng Congyuan in this life was the right choice. But Zheng Nianru discovered she could not do so at all; once she entertained the thought, she felt that being reborn had no meaning at all, and she loathed even herself for living.

So, later, she figured it out. Since Heaven had given her another chance, why not take a gamble and perhaps achieve a different result?

If Zheng Congyuan could not accept such an arrangement, just as in her past life when he could not accept going against ancestral teachings, then everything was indeed destined.

"His intentions are written all over his face," Zheng Nianru said with a slight smile as she approached Zheng Congyuan, "to give up everything now in exchange for him. How wonderful it would have been if the person saying this were Zheng Congyuan."

Prince Duan was startled at her words, and the rebuke he wanted to utter was swallowed back.

"That’s somewhat honorable of him," Prince Duan murmured to himself, but the next moment he realized that it was somewhat inappropriate to say this now.

"Nianru, I didn’t mean it that way, what are you planning to do?" Prince Duan asked. The situation was clearly not good, especially since Zheng Congyuan was getting better.

"Father, the decision is not mine," Zheng Nianru looked up at Prince Duan and said with a slight smile. With her traditionally not so clever mind, she couldn’t think comprehensively; nowadays, Prince Duan was confused too, so facing either Ju Nanyi or Zheng Congyuan, either man was considered a genius by her father.

Prince Duan’s nose tingled, and he nodded, fully aware if not for his incompetence, if he had realized sooner...

"Nianru..." Prince Duan began, but the next moment his gaze became vacant as he looked towards Nianru.

"Nianru, have you come back? Have you eaten?" Prince Duan asked.

Zheng Nianru nodded, her gaze tenderly set on her father in front of her. Compared to her past life, perhaps the often confused father in this life was better somehow, at least she was unsure if the road ahead would make him as anxious and afraid as in her past life.

"Why don’t you come back to eat?" Prince Duan scolded, pretending to be angry.

"Yes, next time your daughter will come back to eat."

"That’s right, oh yes, Housekeeper He, Housekeeper He..." Housekeeper He came in, bewildered.

"Who are you? Where is Housekeeper He?" Housekeeper He stood there, not knowing how to respond as Prince had forgotten who he was within a matter of days.