Yan Huisheng was indeed too sharp.
If he hadn’t taken the initiative to ask, Su Rong naturally wouldn’t have actively spoken. But now that he had asked, and on top of that, was so accurate, she no longer hid it from him and shook her head, "He’s gone."
Although Yan Huisheng had expected it, he was still a little surprised, "You really broke off your engagement with Ye Guixue for Zhou Gu?"
Su Rong nodded, "It was because of him, but not entirely because of him."
Yan Huisheng looked at her, "How so?"
Su Rong stuck to her previous statement, "I underestimated myself and overestimated Zhou Gu. He can’t let go, and I can’t help but feel soft towards him. We can’t carry on like this, it won’t be good."
Yan Huisheng was so intelligent, that from just this sentence, he understood.
Seeing her calm, he asked, "What did Ye Guixue say?"
"I’ve been honest with him. He’s always been good to me. We have only exchanged tokens, not formal marriage papers, so when I returned his Tiger Talisman, he considered our engagement broken off." Su Rong said.
"Just like that?"
Su Rong nodded, "Even though I feel I’ve wronged him, because it was a treaty of interest, it was much simpler than when I ended my engagement with Zhou Gu, where I destroyed the marriage contract."
"Did Ye Guixue agree?"
Su Rong was silent for a moment, and then shook her head, "He didn’t really agree, but matters of the heart...", she paused, "I tried my best. To avoid making more mistakes and hurting him more in the future, it’s better to stop loss in time."
She had a clear understanding of herself, "I’m afraid I’d end up joining Zhou Gu in this madness and end up hurting both others and myself."
Yan Huisheng nodded in agreement, "If you used him to secure your status in Nanchu and then broke the engagement because of Zhou Gu, it would indeed be better to stop loss in time."
Su Rong tugged at the corner of her mouth, looking at Yan Huisheng, "So, now that I’ve lost the Tiger Talisman that commands a hundred thousand troops, I’ll have to rely on you, Your Highness, to capture Nanchu."
Yan Huisheng couldn’t help but chuckle, "Even though you’ve returned the Tiger Talisman, didn’t you promise Ye Guixue and Ye Xiang Residence something irresistible, to support you in a different way?"
Su Rong sighed, "Your Highness, why are you so clever?" She nodded, "I did make a promise, but I have nothing now, I’m afraid Ye Xiang might not take the bait and be unmoved."
"What did you promise?"
"After Dawei is equally divided between Nanchu and Daliang, Ye Guixue would become my Auxiliary Minister. Replacing the Nangong Family, the Ye Family would become the first great family in Nanchu."
Yan Huisheng raised his brows, "That’s quite a big temptation."
Su Rong shook her head, "Not really. Without the binding of a marital alliance, one would always feel uneasy. Ye Xiang might think it’s unbelievable and won’t agree. Besides, there’s no evidence, no treaty, so what would he base his trust in me on?"
Yan Huisheng nodded, "Indeed, without Ye Guixue, your path is not an easy one. Not only is the royal family of Nanchu and Nangong Family obstacles, but the Ye Xiang Residence may also become an obstacle. As can be foreseen, with many forces opposing you, returning to Nanchu would be as difficult as ascending to heaven."
He then lamented, "Making such a decision, you really are..."
"If it comes to it, I won’t go to Nanchu." Su Rong said, "If I really can’t make it without the backing of Ye Xiang Residence, then I will stay in Daliang, to help the Crown Prince. Perhaps we can still swallow Dawei and avenge my mother."
Yan Huisheng chuckled, "You are indeed free and easy, I’m afraid the King of Nanchu won’t agree."
Su Rong was absolutely unperturbed, "Then let my dear father try harder, he can’t put all his eggs in the basket of Ye Guixue and Ye Xiang Residence, can he?"
Thinking about it, Yan Huisheng agreed. The King of Nanchu had paved a smooth path for Su Rong, so how could he be a hundred percent sure that she would follow the path he laid out for her? Any situation could change.
He then said to Su Rong, "Whatever decision you make, I will support you. If you go back to Nanchu and need my troops, I will provide them to you."
That was precisely what Su Rong had been waiting to hear. She curved her lips into a slight smile, "Thank you, Your Highness. Now that you’ve said that, I can rest assured."
Even though she had ended her engagement with Ye Guixue, it did not mean she had given up on the throne of Nanchu. She still wanted to fight for it, unless there was no other choice, then she would let it go. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂
She remembered something and said to Yan Huisheng, "That young girl, Ya Qiuying, you’ve met her, haven’t you? Ye Guixue was worried about her being raised badly in the Duke’s residence because of the chaos there, so I promised to resolve his worries and asked you to place Ya Qiuying in the Eastern Palace for training. Now that I’ve ended my engagement with him, but have already given my word, I think I still should arrange this matter. He also agreed to it. I wonder if, for my sake, you could place that young girl in your Eastern Palace."
Yan Huisheng raised an eyebrow, "Now that you two have ended the engagement, if Ya Qiuying is placed in my Eastern Palace, she would be a major hostage. Can Ye Guixue really be so confident?"
Su Rong picked up her tea and took a sip, "I’m not so bad as to threaten him and the Ye Xiang Residence by using a young girl. That would be too disgraceful."
Yan Huisheng laughed, "True. If you were truly that utilitarian, you wouldn’t have given up Ye Guixue, a big tree, so easily."
Su Rong sighed, "Isn’t that the truth."
She never thought there would come a day when her moral character would prove to be quite up to scratch. She wasn’t completely heartless after all.
Yan Huisheng nodded, "Tell Ye Guixue that as long as he’s at ease, my Eastern Palace will welcome that little girl. However, it shouldn’t be too long. I don’t want to raise someone else’s child until they grow up."
Su Rong chuckled, speaking on Ye Guixue’s behalf, "Just one or two years, or at most three to five years. You can rest assured, Your Highness."
Little Chengzi accompanied Su Xingze for just a short while when someone came to deliver a message, saying that lunch was ready, and that the Crown Prince was inviting Su Xingze to the front hall for the meal.
As Su Xingze looked at the sky, he realized that it was still quite early and asked Little Chengzi, "Does the Eastern Palace usually serve the meal this early?"
Little Chengzi shook his head, "Today is about half an hour earlier than usual, most likely because the Crown Prince thought that Miss Su didn’t eat well at breakfast, so he ordered the kitchen to prepare lunch earlier. When Miss Su lived in the Eastern Palace previously, there were also times when meals were served early."
Su Xingze nodded, taking in the information.
After having lunch in the Eastern Palace, Yan Huisheng initially wanted to keep Su Rong and Su Xingze for a little while longer. But someone from the palace came to invite him, saying that the emperor had awoken and wanted to see him. Yan Huisheng had to let the two of them leave and he himself went to the Imperial Palace.
In the Imperial Palace, the emperor who had been unconscious for two days finally woke up.
The empress had been by the emperor’s side the whole time, not because the empress was particularly loving or loyal to the emperor, but rather, she was afraid that someone might take advantage of this opportunity to harm the emperor or do something else that could cause trouble for her son.
So, she has been keeping a close watch, hardly able to close her eyes and get a peaceful sleep.
When the emperor woke up, he found the empress sleeping from exhaustion by his bedside. He was stunned for a while, suddenly recalling when he first met the empress and the few years following their grand wedding. They were once in love and happy, but eventually, they gradually drifted apart, and their husband-wife relationship became distant and weak.
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