"Start a war?" Yuwen Sheng didn't lose his composure despite Zheng Quchi's audacious words. Instead, he seemed inclined to consider her suggestion: "How do you want to start a war?"
When Zheng Quchi mentioned this, he turned around and sat up straight: "In the past, Ye State always suffered the humiliation and oppression of other countries, but this time Ye State took the initiative to launch a war. You often wrote to me about border affairs, and Uncle Chang also analyzed it with me. Barbarian tribes often harass the border. The government troops stationed there and annihilated them. It's like trying to control a flood. If you don't build up the dikes, the flood will eventually break down."
"Yes, well said." He gazed at her with a smile.
Zheng Quchi was lost in his thoughts: "I think that instead of defending, we should take the initiative to attack. The barbarians are taking advantage of the weakness of our Ye Kingdom, just like the other six kingdoms. I think we should seize this opportunity to give the kingdoms of the Nine Provinces a stern warning! Those who invade our country will not be tolerated. Even if it means a desperate battle, we will show our national power."
She spoke with great enthusiasm and force, as if these words had been brewing in her heart for a long time and were finally being expressed. In the past, she pitied the discrimination her artisans faced everywhere, but after seeing more of the world, she lamented the decline and decadence of her country and pitied its people who were trapped in suffering and unable to save themselves...
She is not great; it can be said that Yuwen Sheng pushed her step by step to her current position and situation.
During these times, she often thinks back to the past, to those past events that he never revealed or explained.
She wondered when he started planning to have her for life.
He wanted her to stay with him, but she refused. So he used a country to "kidnap" her, so that she would face the war-torn Ye Kingdom with him. What did he do in private to achieve this?
Perhaps he gave her a choice at the beginning: to be an ordinary person, to have freedom and her own little world. Unfortunately, fate did not give her a choice. No matter which way she went, she would be pushed in front of him and fall into his "palm".
She struggled with the idea of divorce, which she had once clung to. She thought that without him, she could grow wings and soar through the vast sky, but he proved her wrong.
He took her away in an absolutely profound and ruthless way, while also showing her the brutal reality of the world.
When she was lost and helpless, he delivered the "spear" and "shield" to her by leaving, so that even though she lost his protection, she also had weapons and a shield.
At this moment, she finally transformed from the one being protected into the protector.
Her former sense of walking on thin ice has transformed into unwavering determination. She has gained strength, confidence, and a sense of self... Yes, at this moment, she is truly herself.
Why did she have such different attitudes when facing Yuwen Sheng and Yuan Xingzhou?
They were both powerful figures she once looked up to, but the former made her meekly and desperately want to run away, while the latter could talk and laugh with her and treat her as an equal. In fact, the people hadn't changed; neither of them were kind. It was only she who had changed.
She was no longer like a drifting leaf blown by the wind, nor a rootless duckweed floating on the water. She gradually took root in this land and established an inseparable connection with the people around her. At this point, she finally understood the value and meaning of her existence.
Therefore, even when she learned that Yuan Xingzhou was Yuwen Sheng in disguise, her first reaction was confusion and bewilderment, rather than resentment at being deceived or anger at being fooled. Of course, she would still be angry afterward, but it was precisely because of her growth, strength and gains during this period that she developed a stable and strong inner self.
Only by having many people can one be tolerant of sharp injustices. Having lived a chaotic life and constantly in crisis, she would only confront things head-on with sharp thorns.
She calmly considered whether she deserved everything she had experienced, whether her journey had been good or bad, worthwhile or unjust... Finally, when she saw a whole and peaceful version of herself, she knew that she had not lived in vain.
For years, he refused to go back, instead seemingly stationed on the frontier, fighting year after year without regard for his own life, bearing numerous wounds, and living a life of hardship and exile as if punishing himself.
She has always been focused on her career, working tirelessly day and night.
They were far apart and never had time for each other, only exchanging a letter occasionally, yet their relationship had a strange tacit understanding.
He was waiting for her, she knew it.
She refused to yield to his waiting and refused to compromise.
But once her initial anger dissipated with time, she began to care about the passage of time. When she heard that he had almost died on the battlefield, she knew... she wouldn't last much longer.
"You really want me to die on the battlefield and become a widow?" he mocked.
Zheng Quchi rolled her eyes at him: "What nonsense are you talking about? My husband died a long time ago. I am a widow."
Seeing the inexplicable anger rising in her eyes, Yuwen Sheng stopped teasing her about it: "Are you serious?"
Of course I'm serious.
She wanted to bring him and the soldiers who had been fighting hard on the border for years home, so she took this battle very seriously.
"Yes, we all understand the principle of making an example of someone to scare others. We must use strong and iron-fisted methods to break other people's preconceived notions about Ye Kingdom. It's like hitting a stone with a chicken egg. Everyone will think that the chicken egg will break, but we will hit the stone with the chicken egg, and it will be the stone that breaks!"
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