It has been about ten days since the imperial edict was announced that day. This short half month can be regarded as the most embarrassing period in Xiao Nanhui's life.
Su Pingchuan, as the left general of Guangyao Camp, guards the west city gate. She usually leads a team of troops to patrol the important roads in the capital area. Xiao Nanhui, as the right general of Guangyao Camp, guards the east city gate. However, the imperial army camp is just outside the east city gate. In order to avoid a close combat with the unlucky Xu Shu, she can only hide ten miles away from the city gate and leave the patrol work to her subordinates.
But even so, every morning and evening when the city gates were opened and closed, she would inevitably see Su Pingchuan from afar. One of them was at the east end of Jiazi Avenue, and the other was at the west end. Even if they occasionally passed each other, they never spoke.
After a few days, her soldiers had defined her as a serious boss. She wanted to explain but it had little effect. She had no choice but to put on airs every day and felt exhausted when she returned home.
To make matters worse, just a few days after taking office, Quecheng welcomed an important convoy into the city, and both she and Su Pingchuan had to be on their guard.
This story begins when that damn emperor wants to choose a concubine.
The current Emperor of Tiancheng had been on the throne for nearly ten years, and had only once before arranged to recruit talented women from various regions to enter the imperial court, and that was shortly after his ascension. The Emperor seemed lukewarm about the matter of his offspring, and any ministers who worried about it would be accused of interfering with the succession. Over time, considering the Emperor was still young and strong and unlikely to die anytime soon, the issue was dropped.
After playing dumb for many years, the matter was brought up again recently due to the assassination of Prince Kang. Rumor has it that when Prince Kang was assassinated, no one inside or outside the palace survived, and most of his family, wife, and children were killed. Only one person escaped, and that person was Prince Kang's daughter, Cui Xingyao.
Cui Xingyao's biological mother is from the Yu family, her maternal grandfather is General Yu Jin, and her uncle is the current chief of the imperial clan, Yu Youwei. She had been living in Jizhou with her biological father, King Kang. A month ago, for some reason, she suddenly decided to visit her mother's family. Just as she left, King Kang was assassinated. Jizhou was in great change, and now the Cui family only has her as their only child.
At court, Yu Jin has long withdrawn from the political arena. While the Yu family appears prosperous, its influence is actually declining. Yu Youwei understands that Prince Kang's death was a seemingly disastrous move, but in reality, it holds a hidden opportunity. He knows that Cui Xingyao's identity makes her a pawn in the Emperor's quest to appease Jizhou. If the timing is right, the Emperor has no reason to refuse.
A few days after Prince Kang's head was sent to Quecheng, Yu Youwei gave a tearful speech in the court and then proposed sending the orphan girl to the palace.
As expected, the emperor remained silent on the matter. After all, not being rejected was already the greatest victory. Yu Youwei, having achieved his goal, fell silent, but the other powerful officials in Quecheng were restless. Who wouldn't want to send a few women to the emperor? Who knows, maybe one day they'll ascend to the throne and become a phoenix? Wouldn't that bring them all the benefits?
From then on, the daily court sessions became a stage for each family to recommend their good daughters. The emperor listened silently for a few days, and finally lost his temper. He said that now was the time when the whole country was preparing for war, and none of you were thinking about how to win the battle, but instead were thinking about putting people in my bed every day. Are you tired of living?
The ministers were panicked. At this time, Li Li from the Ministry of Rites appeared out of nowhere and tried to smooth things over. He said: It is the same whether you marry one person or ten people. It is better to start a new selection and recruit girls from good families to enter the palace. The Ministry of Rites will be responsible for everything and will not alarm the emperor. All the girls who should be selected must bring some money as a gift to show their sincerity in declaring war on the Tiancheng Dynasty.
The emperor seemed to be waiting for this suggestion, and finally nodded with satisfaction. The ministers felt that they had been fooled, but they were already on the tiger's back and could not turn back. They could only retreat dejectedly and go home to count their silver.
As a result, she ended up guarding the city gate all night today.
Why would a few young women need such a large number of guards? Isn't it because the beauties all came into the city on the silver mountain?
Humph, the emperor really has a good plan. It’s a pity that she is just a general without any troops and can’t even get the extra allowance for keeping watch at night.
After finally making it to daybreak, the last batch of female relatives heading into the city had already arrived. Xiao Nanhui, with dark circles under her eyes, returned to the Marquis' Mansion after completing the handover. As soon as she entered, Du Juan heard the noise and rushed over. She handed a letter to Xiao Nanhui, "Miss, you're back. This is the letter that just arrived. It says it's from Wancheng."
Xiao Nanhui took the letter and thought about it before realizing that the letter from Wancheng was most likely from Hao Bai, so he quickly opened it to read.
Hao Bai's handwriting was a dazzling flourish, the words and phrases incredibly complex and artificial. Xiao Nanhui struggled to decipher the meaning of the words for a long time before finally grasping them. It essentially said: He had arrived safely in Wancheng, and thanked her for lending him the flower. He would provide her with good food and drink soon, and bring it back when he visited Quecheng for his medical consultation next month. He then went on to say a bunch of longing words, and to someone unfamiliar with the situation, one would have thought they were old friends, lifelong companions.
At the very end, there was a line of small words at the bottom of the letter, which read: Brother Zhongli and Brother Yao may not be on the same path, so it would be better for us to forget each other.
The small characters were smeared and revised again and again, which showed the conflicted mood of the person who wrote them.
Xiao Nan returned to the room and was looking at the letter in confusion. Du Juan pretended to turn around and pick up the clutter at the door, occasionally looking back at them. After looking at it for a while, she finally couldn't help but say, "Whose letter is this? It took you so long to read it."
She quickly folded the letter and tucked it into her sleeve: "A friend in Wancheng."
Du Juan's curiosity was aroused, and she asked, "I didn't know you had a friend in Wancheng. I wonder if it's a boy or a girl?"
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
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