Chapter 4 "I Will Defy the Imperial Decree!"

With a swift movement, one hand caught two geese that were about to fall to the ground. The guard, Shan Yi, on horseback, raised the prey with one hand and looked excitedly behind him, "Your Highness, two geese with one arrow, what a good omen!"

Bai Lixun reined in his horse and stopped, looking around. He had a handsome and bright face, with dark eyebrows that flew straight up to his temples, and long, narrow eyes that were sharp, while the slightly curved corners of his eyes softened his overly sharp features. His eyes shone brightly when he looked around.

Seeing that no one followed, he gestured with his chin to Shanyi, indicating, "Take it back and hand it in."

Having said that, he was about to ride away. Shan Yi, with lightning speed, blocked Baili Xun's path, offering a pitiful, fawning smile: "Young Master, you can't leave! The Princess Consort instructed us to properly entertain the young Marquis; how can I manage alone..."

Baili Xunzhou was rather impatient: "Qingyi sent a message that the Alna tribe plans to launch a night attack on Xiahewan tonight. I don't have time to waste with that spoiled brat's nonsense. Hunting two live geese for him is already a favor to my mother."

He pulled on the reins and was about to leave when he heard the clattering of horses behind him, accompanied by the boastful voice of a young man drawing out a long tune: "From afar I saw an arrow pierce the clouds, shooting straight at two geese. Such archery skills are indeed those of Prince Baili!"

Baili Xunzhou rolled his eyes impatiently, lightly spurred his horse's belly, and was about to slip away in front of the newcomer when Shanyi, in a fit of treason, grabbed Baili Xunzhou's reins and sneered out a few words through gritted teeth: "Military pay, Your Highness, think about military pay!"

Young Marquis Chu Jingqi is the legitimate son of the Prince of Qin, the younger brother of the current emperor. The Prince of Qin also holds the position of Transport Commissioner of Shuobei Road, in charge of the military supplies for several armies in the northern frontier. He is a walking god of wealth, but he is also extremely stingy, scrutinizing every expense meticulously and slowly.

Now, the various tribes beyond the Great Wall, having endured a winter of depletion, are running low on food and supplies, and are frequently harassing border villages. Although their warhorses, having lost weight in the winter, are less mobile and their disturbances are limited to small groups, their increasingly frequent actions are severely disrupting people's livelihoods and affecting spring planting. The Prince of Dingbei, who commands hundreds of thousands of soldiers, is facing a critical shortage of military funds and urgently needs financial assistance.

The only breakthrough for this God of Wealth was his good-for-nothing eldest son, Chu Jingqi. Coincidentally, Chu Jingqi had recently taken a liking to hunting, and coincidentally, he came to Yunzhong County for a trip. So, the Prince of Dingbei hurriedly "sold" his own son to the young marquis as a companion on the trip.

If it weren't for the Princess's mediation, the Northern Frontier would have had another farce: "The Prince of Dingbei betrayed his own son to get back wages, and the Crown Prince, enraged, beat up his father."

There was nothing he could do; the finances were in their hands, and the young master, empty-handed, could only bow his head. Baili Xunzhou suppressed his impatience, grabbed the two geese from Shan Yi's hands, and threw them into Chu Jingqi's arms.

"It's just a minor skill for soldiers. If you like it, young marquis, I'll give it to you to play with."

The servants hurriedly helped Chu Jingqi hold the two live geese. Chu Jingqi didn't care about Baili Xunzhou's casual attitude at all. He looked at the two geese with great delight: "What a pair of strong and beautiful live geese! They would definitely amaze everyone if they were used as betrothal geese!"

Princess Qin is currently selecting a wife for Chu Jingqi, hoping that he will become more stable after marriage. She is being extremely careful in choosing her. Half of the candidates have already been selected, and there are still more than thirty young ladies waiting for Princess Qin to make the final decision.

The surrounding boys were all around the same age as Mu Shaoai, and upon hearing this, they all congratulated Chu Jingqi, wishing him to win the heart of his beloved soon.

From childhood to adulthood, Chu Jingqi had never been the best in anything, always coming in last. Now, however, he was about to become the first person in the circle of spoiled rich kids to be formally married. He was quite proud of himself and couldn't help but seek some superiority from others. He raised his chin and asked Baili Xunzhou, "Young Master Baili will be coming of age soon, right? Has the princess chosen a wife for you?"

Bai Lixun was searching for prey, and since he couldn't escape, he wanted to quickly hunt more game to send the man away. Hearing this, he replied somewhat casually, "The war is not over yet, I don't have time."

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. Chu Jingqi sneered, "Do you really want to grow old alone? But it's true that your personality makes it hard to find a wife. Don't worry, I'll have my mother talk to your mother about her experiences, and she'll definitely find you someone with a similar temperament." He said, putting on an air of being an experienced person, "Even if this isn't urgent, we should start looking for a wife. A good wife won't just fall from the sky."

Baili Xunzhou ignored his words, aiming his arrow at a snow-white rabbit in the woods. His high ponytail fell slightly to the side, the arrow fletching perfectly level with the mole on his straight nose. His sharp gaze exuded a refined and elegant charm.

The rabbit in the forest twitched its ears, turned around to graze, and its snow-white furry rear end faced Baili Xunzhou. Baili Xunzhou slightly hooked his fingertips, aimed the arrow at the rabbit, and prepared to release the bow.

"Your Highness! Something has happened, Your Highness!"

Just then, a thunderous sound rang out, followed by the chaotic, deafening clatter of hooves, and a figure galloped in. The rabbit in the forest nimbly tucked its ears in, abandoned the delicious wild grass, and darted into the depths of the woods. A sharp arrow, whistling through the air, shot towards the rabbit, striking it precisely in the throat in its path.

The rabbit fell to the ground with a thud, and Shanyi hurriedly spurred his horse to retrieve the prey.

Baili Xunzhou lowered his bow and looked displeasedly toward the source of the sound. A servant dressed in the clothes of a servant of the Prince of Dingbei's mansion rode up on horseback, and when he was still a few meters away, he hurriedly jumped off his horse, almost falling over.

"What's with the panicked look? Is the palace on fire or is your butt on fire?" Baili Xunzhou glared at the servant.

The servant, panting and trembling with fear, pleaded, "Your Highness, please forgive me, but the matter is extremely urgent. The Princess ordered me to ride as fast as I could..."

"Get to the point."

"A messenger from the palace has come to announce that His Majesty has bestowed a marriage upon you and Princess Qingping."

The air fell silent. The servant blurted out the important matter and then lowered his head, not daring to move. Then he heard Baili Xunzhou spur his horse and gallop away, the dust he kicked up covering him.

Shan Yi, who had been listening to the whole story when he returned with his prey, glared at the sight and spurred his horse to catch up, once again covering the servant in dust.

As the sound of horses' hooves faded into the distance, the servant breathed a heavy sigh of relief, slumped to the ground with his face covered in dirt, and caught his breath.

Chu Jingqi was speechless for a long time, then angrily slammed his whip down: "How come he beat me again!"

The others whispered among themselves, puzzled: "Who is this Princess Qingping?"

Chu Jingqi then realized who had been betrothed to Baili Xunzhou. He had just seen Feng Mian at the palace banquet at the end of the year. In the winter in Shengjing, which was several times warmer than in the northern frontier, Feng Mian was wrapped in a thick fox fur cloak and sat next to the fire pit. She would cough whenever the wind blew in, looking sickly.

His Majesty has always doted on her, so why has he suddenly banished her to the northern frontier? Isn't this a death sentence for her?!

Even those in Shengjing who were ignorant of the mystical arts of fate were discussing this. Besides worrying that Feng Mian's frail body wouldn't be able to withstand the harsh climate of the Northern Frontier, what made people even more pitiful was that the heir of the Dingbei Prince's Mansion in the Northern Frontier was rumored to resemble Zhong Kui and be arrogant and domineering.

This delicate, pampered young princess will probably have a hard time after marrying into the family.

The rumors circulating inside and outside the palace passed Feng Mian's ears, but she didn't take them to heart. With the day of her departure from the capital approaching, she was now busy taking stock of her dowry, keeping herself extremely busy.

Consort Rou spent a considerable sum, almost matching the dowry she had prepared for Chu Jinglian.

There was nothing she could do; after all, Emperor Jiayu himself knew who he had originally intended to marry his heir. Even if he was initially blinded by concern and clung to the idea of ​​fate as his only hope, once he calmed down, he might have noticed the subtle clues that Consort Rou had deliberately manipulated things. She could only swallow her heartache and consider it money spent to avoid further trouble.

Both Consort Rou and the Crown Prince added makeup to Feng Mian's outfit, and the women of the harem, in order to curry favor with Emperor Jiayu, would send some gifts as well.

To Feng Mian's surprise, many palace servants secretly left their small tokens of affection at the side gate of the Shuyue Palace.

At first, when Liu Ying went out, she didn't look where she was going and tripped over a porcelain jar. She pouted and complained that someone was throwing trash into the Shuyue Palace. But upon closer inspection, she realized that although the odds and ends were small, they were not trash at all.

The porcelain jar that tripped the fireflies contained a small dish of pickled cucumbers. In the past, when he was confined to his bedridden state and could only eat plain porridge, he needed a dish of pickled cucumbers to help him swallow. This was a specialty of Chef Zheng from the Imperial Kitchen, and this jar of pickled cucumbers was made by his apprentice.

When Chef Zheng's apprentice was twelve years old, he fell seriously ill and was on his last breath. Lacking money for treatment, he hid and burned some tree leaves as paper money for himself, which Feng Mian happened to witness. Feng Mian had him taken to the official pharmacy, and after he recovered, he sent him to Chef Zheng as an apprentice to make a living.

Feng Mian had long forgotten about it, but he still remembered. Hearing that Feng Mian was about to marry far away, he secretly picked out the best-looking porcelain jar from a vat of soy sauce and placed it at the side gate before dawn.

There was also the embroiderer who was almost beaten to death on the spot for embroidering the wrong pattern. Feng Mian only said one sentence for her and she remembered it. She embroidered a square handkerchief by hand and put it in the corner of the wall, where it was almost stepped on by Liu Ying.

They were of lowly status and wanted to do their best to repay the favor, but they were afraid that the noble princess would look down on such a small thing, so they only dared to send it secretly and then leave quietly.

The side gate of the Summer Moon Palace is like a vegetable garden that grows vegetables on its own. Every day when the gate is opened, a bunch of strange little objects pop out, which has become one of the greatest pleasures of Feng Mian these past few days.

The closer the day of departure from Beijing drew, the stronger the reluctance to leave became. After all, who knew when he would be able to return?

Feng Mian knew that the palace servants below him were even more bewildered than he was. For these people who had grown up in Shengjing, the Northern Frontier was unfamiliar not only with its climate and environment, but also with its people. The reputation of the Prince of Dingbei's heir was not good at all; who knew if he might draw his sword and attack someone in a fit of temper?

A sudden gust of wind blew through the air, and Feng Mian was afraid that the Dingbei King's family were madmen who would draw their swords at the slightest disagreement!

Feng Mian held a draft list of palace attendants in his hand, pondering that he should include more of those who were difficult to kill.

At that time, in the Dingbei Prince's Mansion, the Dingbei Prince's family, whom Feng Mian had been secretly criticizing for "drawing swords when things didn't go their way," gathered in the main hall.

With a furious glare, the Prince of Dingbei slammed his palm into a bamboo incense table, shattering it. His voice was deafening: "You unfilial son, what nonsense are you spouting?!"

Baili Xunzhou's expression turned cold: "I will defy the imperial decree!"

The Prince of Dingbei swiftly drew the precious sword hanging on the wall of the hall!

A note from the author:

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