After dispatching several letters in a row, Su Rong felt thoroughly exhausted. She turned around and lay back in bed, letting out a long sigh of relief.
Zhou Gu watched her entertainingly, "Really? I never saw you this exhausted even during the war."
"It’s not the same." Su Rong mumbled, "I hate writing letters the most."
Zhou Gu leaned in, "Even hate to write for me."
He reached out to pinch her, recalling the days when he eagerly awaited her letters after returning to the capital from Jiangning County. When he eventually got one, it wasn’t even written by her but dictated to wet nurse Zhao. Subsequently, he felt restless every day and went to the Eastern Palace to confide in the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince suggested that he send letters to Jiangning County. Later, he received a hand-written letter from her encouraging him for the Imperial examination. Though just two sentences, he held it as a treasure.
Remembering it still irked him. He interrogated her, "When I went to the Eastern Palace to meet the Crown Prince, were you hiding there?"
"Yes, I was hiding in a hidden compartment in the Crown Prince’s study. I heard everything you and the Crown Prince talked about." Su Rong laughed, fleeing from his playful pinches.
"You’re heartless." Zhou Gu continued to pinch her. "How cruel of you, considering how much I missed you then!"
Seeing the revengeful look on his face, Su Rong noticed his light touches were more like tickling. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she dared not bring up her previous insistence on breaking their engagement, and coaxed him, "In the future, I’ll make sure to write you thick letters."
"I’d rather not be apart from you, so you won’t get a chance to write letters." Zhou Gu let go, after a long duration of pinching, his own fingers ached more but he was reluctant to hurt her. He grumbled, "I guess I’m under your thumb for the rest of my life."
Su Rong laughed, "Isn’t it the same for me? I’m under your thumb as well, right?"
Zhou Gu seemed pleased by her response, "As long as you realize that."
The pair continued their playful banter for a while, then laid together on the bed chatting idly.
By lunchtime, Cui Yanjin found out that his cousin and cousin’s wife had actually reconciled. The pair were chatting and laughing, especially his cousin, who was in a great mood. His brows were raised in delight, and the corners of his eyes crinkled with a smile, clearly revealing his high spirits.
Intrigued, Cui Yanjin signaled to Cui Xingzhi, "Cousin, did you see? Our cousin and his wife have made up."
Cui Xingzhi, who naturally noticed, brushed off his hand, "Behave yourself, there’s nothing extraordinary about it."
Cui Yanjin marveled, "Truly, every Jack has his Jill."
Three days later, the Crown Prince of Dawei, Yuan Zhao, received the letter sent by Yuan Chen through a carrier hawk. The letter succinctly described the process of this negotiation with Nanchu, then stated that he couldn’t make decisions on his own and asked his older brother for instructions.
Reading the letter, Yuan Zhao found out that Dawei need to cede seven cities, offer five-thousand top-quality horses, three hundred thousand tael of gold, blueprints of the crossbow, and send Yuan Chen as a hostage to Nanchu. These terms, although stringent, were not beyond acceptance for Dawei.
Su Rong had said if he gave Nangong Zheng to her, she would reduce the number of cities by three, cut hundred thousand tael of gold, and not demand Yuan Chen as hostage.
She had to admit, Su Rong was paying a hefty price for Nangong Zheng.
He held the letter in his hand, deeply silent.
A close advisor said, "Your Highness, Dawei can cede four cities, and offer five-thousand top quality horses, two-hundred-thousand tael of gold, along with the blueprints of the crossbow. I think we can agree to this."
Yuan Zhao turned his gaze sharply to his advisor, "You mean, let me disregard Nangong Zheng?"
The advisor bowed, "Your Highness, to exchange a man for three cities, along with a hundred-thousand tael of gold, and cancel the clause of having Second Prince as hostage, it...it’s a good deal."
Yuan Zhao frowned, "You think it’s a good deal, but why would Su Rong want to make this trade?"
The advisor mumbled, unable to reply.
Yuan Zhao said, "That’s because, Su Rong thinks, a single Nangong Zheng, is worth her significant investment. The Nangong family and Su Rong have a deep-seated feud. If I were to hand over Nangong Zheng to Su Rong, it would be akin to sending him to death."
The advisor naturally understood this and turned to look at Yuan Zhao.
Yuan Zhao said, "I cannot bring myself to abandon those who are loyal and seek to serve me."
Then Yuan Zhao wrote a letter to Yuan Chen, agreeing to cede seven cities of Dawei under the conditions stated, but disagreed with sending Yuan Chen as a hostage. He was willing to offer an additional hundred-thousand tael of gold and asked Nanchu to give up Yuan Chen as a hostage.
After he sent the letter, it arrived in Yuan Chen’s hands three days later.
Yuan Chen sighed in relief, showing the letter to Nangong Zheng, "You see, my elder brother did not agree to exchange you."
Nangong Zheng muttered, "The Crown Prince is kind and just."
He represented the future of the Nangong family. Although the Nangong family had managed to retain half of their power and many young people were still alive, if he were to die, there would no hope left for the Nangong family. He was not being arrogant or looking down on others, it was the reality. Apart from him, no one else could shoulder the responsibility of the Nangong family.
Yuan Chen said, "My elder brother says he would swap me for two hundred-thousand tael of gold, I wonder if Nanchu would agree."
Nangong Zheng didn’t have an answer to that either, "Send a messenger with a letter! Tomorrow is the deadline for negotiation after seven days."
Yuan Chen nodded, called a messenger, and handed him the letter from Crown Prince Yuan Zhao. He instructed the messenger to deliver the letter, without opening, to Su Rong.
Su Rong soon got the letter delivered by the Dawei messenger. Seeing Yuan Zhao’s handwriting, she snorted, handing the letter over to Zhou Gu, "Yuan Zhao cares a lot about Nangong Zheng, he is not willing to give him to me."
Zhou Gu took the letter and read it, "Yuan Chen is slightly more valuable than two hundred-thousand tael of gold. Ask them for four hundred thousand, if Dawei agrees, we’ll agree to the negotiation."
After saying his piece, he turned to look at Su Rong, "I don’t want to dick around with them anymore. I want to go back and prepare for our wedding."
Su Rong laughed and nodded, "Okay."
She didn’t exactly want Yuan Chen to be a hostage either, and Daliang was also a factor. She did not believe that Daliang’s Yan Huisheng wouldn’t peel off a layer of Dawei’s skin.
Thus, Su Rong didn’t give the messenger a hard time and let him take the reply back.
After receiving the letter, Yuan Chen let out a huge sigh of relief. Not being a hostage was obviously the better outcome. But spending twenty hundred-thousand tael of gold to swap him was a considerable number though bearable; however, offering fifty hundred-thousand tael to Nanchu in total will be unbearable for Dawei.
He thought about writing to Yuan Zhao again, but was stopped by Nangong Zheng, "Agree to it."
Yuan Chen stared at Nangong Zheng, "Fifty hundred-thousand tael of gold is too much, and then there’s the issue with Daliang..."
"Right now, Nanchu is the biggest threat to Dawei." Nangong Zheng looked at him, "As long as Nanchu is satisfied, the negotiations with Daliang should not be very difficult. The Crown Prince has been waiting for the results of negotiations with Nanchu before progressing talks with Daliang."
Yuan Chen nodded at his words, "Alright!"
He immediately sent a messenger, once again delivering a letter to Su Rong, stating that Dawei had agreed to Nanchu’s conditions and asking if they could sign the treaty outside Xuzhou City the next day.
After receiving the letter from the messenger, Su Rong happily agreed.
Zhou Gu said to Su Rong, "Don’t go tomorrow. Brother Guixue and I will go to sign the treaty."
Su Rong looked at him.
Zhou Gu said, "It’s just an agreement, there’s no need for you to be there. We can handle it."
He would not give Yuan Chen and Nangong Zheng any chance to see Su Rong again.
Su Rong laughed, "Okay."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
