Chapter 88: Shocking Changes Yun Yang ate Xue Yu's cooking for the first time. It was bland...
It was the first time that Yun Yang ate the meal cooked by Xue Yu.
Bland thin noodles in clear soup, sprinkled with scallions.
The servant girl in the original camp was saved from death in the raid because Xue Yu had driven her to the mine early in the morning.
The old women felt a surge of guilt when they saw the high-ranking official from the capital busying around in the simple kitchen. They did rough work like picking vegetables and making fire every day, but why did it feel so uncomfortable to see this noble young man doing these things?
Yun Yang took a bite and frowned.
"Not tasty?" he said.
"...You can actually cook?" Yun Yang ate in small bites, chuckling.
"Yes. I didn't have the time before, but now I have nothing to do and I have the energy, so why not make it?" Xue Yu said, and then asked persistently, "Is it not tasty? What's missing?"
All I can do now is stay in this mine and do daily checks with my subordinates, which doesn't take up too much time.
When the noodles were put into the water and the hot water was emitting white steam, Xue Yu suddenly understood his father's casual and unruly nature.
There is more than one way to live life.
Yun Yang was considering how to tell him that people don't have to be omnipotent.
Seeing his expression gradually getting colder under her hesitant gaze, she covered her mouth and laughed.
"I won't do it next time." Xue Yu gritted his teeth.
Yunyang looked at him and smiled. The hearty love at night and the plain face in the morning were all him. She loved him so much.
After eating a few bites of food, Xue Yu asked the cook to come up and re-arrange the dishes with a cold face.
Yun Yang finished her meal with a smile on her face, and took his hand to go for a walk to help digest the food.
The mine was deep and dark inside, like the night. However, the two of them were not aware of the oppressiveness of the sky. There was an unspeakable deep affection flowing between their eyebrows. They walked in the silent alley. There were piles of mined iron ore on both sides. After some shoveling and sweeping, the dirty and muddy ground was almost flat.
Xue Yu held her hand and stroked the thin calluses on her palms, which were caused by martial artists holding weapons.
Thinking of her beautiful spear skills yesterday, he seemed to have seen something similar when he became a disciple of Jiange. Every move was definitely not like what was taught by mediocre warriors.
"Yangyang, tell me, who taught you kung fu?" Xue Yu asked as they walked.
"My little master." Yun Yang's tone was very natural, and one could hear the closeness and pride he felt for his little master. "How is it? My little master's teaching is good, right?"
"Where did your young master learn from?" Xue Yu asked, "Is he employed permanently, or..."
"He..." Yun Yang hesitated, thought for a moment and said, "No, the little master took refuge in my house one day. He had no parents and was looking for a job. My father originally wanted him to be a farmhand, but later, seeing that he was quite skilled, he made him a security guard. After that, I don't know how it happened, but he started teaching my sister and me kung fu."
"Isn't he very old?" Xue Yu asked.
"Not that old, right? He's about the same age as you. I started learning from my young master when I was ten, and he was probably only eighteen back then." Yun Yang said, "My young master is very good to me and my sister. He guards the house, chops wood, fetches water, and does all kinds of work. He's a very down-to-earth person, and my father always praises him."
Xue Yu nodded thoughtfully after hearing Yun Yang's description and asked, "What did my father-in-law praise him for?"
Yun Yang gave him a rather strange look, "Father-in-law? You call him that so easily..."
It seems that it is not impossible to call.
Xue Yu smiled faintly, stopped beside a stone bench and sat down, then hugged her and held her in his arms, "Can't you call me father-in-law? Yangyang will marry me sooner or later, is Yangyang still thinking about him?"
Yun Yang nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck, the steady beat of his heart in her ears. His voice was gentle yet tinged with a hint of unease. She thought of the words he'd said last night, as he'd held her, that he'd go mad if she left him. Her heart softened. He was handsome, upright, held a high position, came from a good family, and was… strong. She could still vividly remember the foreign sensation of that thing pushing its way into her last night. She herself seemed so alienated at that moment…
Although Yun Yang didn't feel that she had to marry a man after sleeping with him, she did seem to like him more and more, and marrying him would be a good idea.
"Okay then," Yun Yang said, "but it's hard to explain to mother and sister. Although you and sister haven't gotten married, you've always been engaged. So, are you and me violating moral principles and disregarding human ethics?"
“…”Xue Yu.
"Does it count?" she asked, looking at him.
Xue Yu sighed, looking at the dark outline of the iron ore. He pondered for a moment, then looked at her with burning eyes. His clear and deep voice had a sense of restrained aggression. "That depends on what you think. If you think so, are you still willing to be with me and risk being called a person who violates moral principles and disregards human ethics?"
In the dim light, his eyes were cold yet tender, and a look of uneasiness flashed across his handsome face for a fleeting moment. He then gently coaxed the naive woman in his arms, "I'm just asking casually. You can tell the truth, Yangyang."
Should she abandon him and marry someone else? Or should she resolutely plunge into the bottomless abyss with him?
When she left Xue's house in a hurry, she didn't know that he was not her brother-in-law.
She came to see him, tormented by longing and worry, unable to sleep at night. She even decided that if he died, she would not live either.
Yun Yang thought for a moment and said softly, "I like you because you are Xue Yu. It has nothing to do with whether you are my brother-in-law or not."
His brows relaxed, his thin lips curled up, and he kissed her on the cheek.
"Bad girl, they say the censors are good at debate, but I think they're even worse than Yangyang." He took a deep breath beside her neck, with a smile on his face, and said softly, "Do you like your husband? Just say you do."
The word "husband" made Yun Yang blush instantly. She pushed him with her fingertips, "Xue Lingjun, you, you are so shameless..."
Yun Yang couldn't say the four words "I like my husband" here, but later when they changed places, he forced her to say it many times.
"Yangyang." Xue Yu called her and asked, "Why didn't I meet your young master when I went to Youzhou with you before? When can you take me to meet him?"
"I don't know where he went. There was a flood in Youzhou before. It might be an accident." Yun Yang lowered his head.
Dad, mother, sister, aunt, and little master are all gone.
Xue Yu lowered his eyes and looked at her. The fearless little girl hung her head, her thin shoulders trembling slightly, and she curled up in his arms like a small child.
He hugged her tighter, "I'll be there for you from now on."
"Yeah." She responded and rubbed his neck, "Xue Lingjun..."
"Um?"
"I like you holding me."
At night, he still held her in his arms while sleeping.
Yun Yang had a new toy, which was as smooth and beautiful as a jade halberd or jade bi, and shone with water. She pinched it curiously and found two blue veins on the shaft, but they were not as hideous as those in the painting.
If touched, it would tremble and release water. Her smile was innocent and uninhibited.
Xue Yu turned over and pressed on him.
*
At midnight, the night sky was pitch black, without a single star, and from time to time, muffled thunder could be heard rolling over the dense forest.
Outside the Changting Pavilion in Shuzhou City, soldiers in iron armor stood solemnly like a forest.
The battle flags were flying, the eldest prince's eyes were as clear as a square, and his long sword was pointing directly in the direction of Shangjing. The shouts of the soldiers shook the sky.
"The Crown Prince is plotting treason, colluding with the enemy, and disrupting our dynasty! Today, will you, my soldiers, join me in uniting with the King of Shu and purging his vassal state?"
"When I ascend the throne, it will be your turn to be promoted!"
The crowd of soldiers shouted in unison, "Purge the emperor's side! Purge the emperor's side!"
Under the cover of night, dense groups of soldiers rushed towards Shuzhou City like a tide. The walls of Shuzhou City were brightly lit and people were moving around. The city gates were wide open, but there was no sound of war drums.
The manifesto against Shu written by the prince himself was thrown into the mud, and the bright yellow silk had been trampled into tatters.
The next day, Xue Yu received news that the eldest prince had brought reinforcements to Shu, intending to collude with the rebels of the former Shu dynasty in an attempt to overthrow the country.
"As expected, ambition and desire for the throne cannot be extinguished by a single war." Xue Yu said calmly, collecting the chess pieces from the sand table. His voice turned stern. "Under the banner of purging the imperial court, they are colluding with the rebels of the previous dynasty. They truly have no regard for their ancestors."
Yun Yang raised her head and slowly tightened her fingers around the hem of her skirt.
Xue Yu never avoided her in anything. In the past few days, she had learned that there were less than 500 soldiers and guards in the mine. The amount of food and grass was large, enough for them to survive for quite some time. However, if they were kept in the damp and dark cave for a long time, even covered with oilcloth, the food and grass would not last long and would become moldy and rotten.
Not only was the food completely wasted, but given Xue Yu's personality, he would never sit in this mine and wait to die.
But what should we do?
The Shu rebels numbered in the tens of thousands, and the five battalions the Crown Prince had brought from the capital numbered tens of thousands. They only had five hundred men, no match for a mantis trying to stop a chariot. The Crown Prince would undoubtedly have learned of the mines there when he went to Shuzhou City. By then, I'm afraid...
"It's good to be alive." Lord Wen sneered, "The emperor raised a good son, but he asked me to borrow troops and then turned around to attack me!"
Xue Yu didn't mind his tone. He lowered his eyes to look at the huge map spread out before him, tapping his fingers slowly on the cold stone. His eyes shifted dramatically, and then, as if he had finally made up his mind, he pointed south. "Nanzhao. Nanzhao is very close to Shu. King Hui is stationed at the Nanzhao border. If we advance at full speed, we can reach it in five days at most. Now we have no choice but to march south and implore King Hui to lead his troops to break the enemy's formation."
Yun Yang's eyes lit up, and he was about to agree, but he found that the surroundings fell into deathly silence, and the people who came to discuss the matter looked at each other.
Xue Yu's cold gaze swept across the stunned faces, and he spoke calmly, "Prince Hui has 150,000 soldiers, all of whom are elite warriors who have fought in battles and slain many people. They are like tigers and wolves forged in the face of life and death. They are undoubtedly much more valiant than the Five Army Battalions maintained in the capital and the incompetent rebels of the previous dynasty."
After a few moments of silence, someone finally spoke with some deliberation, "A while ago, His Majesty suspected Prince Hui of treason... If Prince Hui harbors resentment and simply turns against those rebels, wouldn't Dazhao be plunged into complete disaster..."
"Prince Hui was ordered to guard the sixteen garrisons in the southern border. Leaving his post without permission is a serious crime tantamount to treason. How dare he send troops to interfere in the war in Shu without the emperor's order?"
"Prince Hui has 150,000 soldiers stationed in the southern border. Right next to them is the ambitious Nanzhao Kingdom. If Prince Hui brings his troops to support them, Nanzhao will seize the opportunity to cause chaos. We won't be able to take care of everything. What will we do?"
Yun Yang only then realized that although he had learned some common sense of officialdom in the Xue Mansion, he was now in a new place and the officialdom rules were no longer applicable on the battlefield.
For example, she thought that King Hui was a vassal king and the supreme commander of the southern border, and it was natural for him to send troops to support and suppress the rebels. However, she did not know that for a blood relative of the emperor like King Hui, guarding the border did not seek merit but only to avoid mistakes. In many cases, the emperor's suspicion was more terrifying than that of the foreign Manchus.
At this time, without any imperial order, he left his station and led his troops to meet a group of rebels. It is difficult to explain whether he was provoking a war or coming to help. Secondly, it is also a test of human nature.
Why didn't King Hui simply recruit the rebels in Shu and use them for his own purposes, then march north and declare himself emperor?
Men all understand these principles; once they hold official positions, they will subtly learn them in the daily grind of officialdom. But for women, their fathers and brothers simply expect them to be short-sighted, confined to their own little backyard and obedient. If they learn too much, their hearts will become wild, making them difficult to control or manipulate. If they use their political minds to fight in the backyard, the house will probably not be able to contain them.
Therefore, many times even the mistress of the house was not allowed to look through or inquire about what was happening in the man’s study.
These were things that Yun Yang would never be able to touch in her life, but at this moment, Xue Yu showed them to her without any hesitation. From the moment she was able to stand shoulder to shoulder with him on the battlefield, Xue Yu did not want her to just live under his wings.
When she was in the backyard of Xue's mansion, her brows were gloomy and she looked unhappy. Later, even her back could not stand straight.
Being docile and well-behaved was the least important thing to him in terms of his love for her. He hoped that she could live the way she should, rather than being the wife of the Xue family.
His father-in-law never disciplined her with worldly etiquette.
He wouldn't either.
He could give her more and deeper love and tolerance than her father-in-law could give her.
Xue Yu collected his thoughts and smiled faintly, "Then, according to you gentlemen, what should we do? Should we sit and wait for death, and be driven into that mountain stream filled with corpses, and become one of them? Or should we simply abandon our armor and surrender, and still have a chance of remaining intact?"
Everyone's expression changed slightly, and they relaxed a little.
Lord Wen said in embarrassment: "At present, asking King Hui to send troops is the only way, but will King Hui be willing to do so? This, this requires a lot of forgivingness. Before, our emperor even sent a military supervisor to investigate him..."
This military supervisor was Lu Jie.
Yun Yang lowered his eyes.
Lu Jie...
At that time, she was thinking only of leaving the Xue Mansion, leaving Xue Yu, and severing this illicit relationship. She was so confused that she treated marriage as a joke and agreed to marry Lu Jie.
Now, what happened to Lu Jie? She left a mess for the Xue family to clean up. It’s really shameful to think about it.
Xue Yu's gaze fell on Yun Yang's twisted hands, his eyes dimmed slightly, and an indescribable irritation rose in his heart.
She was already his, and she had said she loved him several times on the bed. Why did she lose her composure when Lu Jie was mentioned?
His chest felt tight and heavy, and he stood up suddenly. His voice was filled with impatience, and he said coldly, "Then you all just wait to die!"
After saying that, he turned away.
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