Gu Xin nodded: "Yes, I was saying my family used to be quite poor. But my mother and I, along with my sisters and me, found ways to earn money ourselves. Now we've barely escaped poverty. Your Highness, I don't like gold and silver jewelry, I want warhorses! Your Highness just said that if I win, I can name my price. I still want warhorses. Your Highness lost twenty-one to me, so how about we round it up to a whole number? You can give me another two hundred and seventy-nine, making it three hundred, okay?"
Princess Xingnan: "!"
Gu Xin said sincerely, "To show my sincerity, I'm giving Princess and Prince ten sets of toiletries each, enough to last for more than a year!"
"Ahem!" The emperor almost burst out laughing. He coughed twice. "Gu Xin, you're being presumptuous! Xingnan Kingdom has no shortage of gold, silver, jewels, and jade. Sending ten sets? You really have the nerve to say that!"
"Your Majesty!" Empress Xue spoke up, "Gu Xin is young and doesn't understand Xingnan. Please don't be too harsh on the young girl. I believe these ten sets should be given. Xingnan, like Da Zhou, is a land of etiquette, valuing reciprocity. Princess Xingnan, being a princess, would not take advantage of a subject's daughter from Da Zhou. Right, Your Highness?"
"Yes!" Princess Xingnan gritted her teeth, "I'll buy it!"
Gu Xin: "...Oh, yes, Your Highness. Your Highness, when are you free? My mother and I will bring you samples. Once you place your order, we'll have them brought over from Qingzhou. The toothpaste, shampoo, and soap in the toiletries set come in many different scents."
Princess Xingnan: "No need, I'll come find you then!"
Prince Xingnan stood up: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty the Empress, we accept our sister's defeat. However, as Your Majesty the Empress said, this is indeed not Xingnan's forte. Comparing what we are not good at with what the Great Zhou is good at, we accept our defeat wholeheartedly. But we also hope to compete with what we are good at against what the Great Zhou is not good at, so that it will be fair!"
The emperor glanced at him: "You want to have a duel with Gu Xin?"
That look in his eyes was full of disgust, an undisguised disgust.
Prince Xingnan: "...Your Majesty has misunderstood. If I were to compete, it would be against the princes of the Great Zhou. However, I see that the princes are still quite young, so even if I won, it would be an unfair victory. How about letting my sister compete against the noble ladies of the Great Zhou?"
The noble ladies of the Great Zhou Dynasty trembled with fear, while Princess Jinghe rubbed her hands together, eager for a fight.
Gu Hui understood now; that was why the brother and sister had been looking at her earlier!
Gu Hui rotated her wrist. She was wearing a sandbag today. She was about to ask, "Should I take the sandbag off?"
Princess Xingnan chimed in, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty the Empress, I won't look for anyone else. I'll just look for the Gu family's daughter. Isn't there a saying that goes, 'If you fall down, you get up from there'? I fell down with the Gu family's daughter, and I want to get up from there."
General Peng had taken a liking to Gu Xin after the song, and now he was furious: "Don't think you can bully people just because you're a princess! Our little girl is a few years younger than you! Her family used to be poor, and she probably didn't even have enough to eat. You want to fight with people? Why don't you challenge my Peng family's daughter to a duel?"
Princess Xingnan: "General Peng, I did want to challenge your Peng family's daughter to a martial arts duel, but she didn't come! Besides, I didn't say I was going to fight Gu Xin, I was going to fight Sister Gu Xin! She looks about eighteen, right? She's about my age, so I'm not bullying her!"
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