Reunion
...
“Your mother once said that if she gave birth to a daughter, she would marry her to me.” He fastened the jade pendant for her again. “She also said that I am good-looking and you would definitely like me.”
"You..." Xu Qingyao had never seen anyone so shameless before.
But the system is still causing trouble:
[Yes, host. He is indeed handsome.]
Xu Qingyao: Shut up!!! Am I blind? Don't I know he's good-looking?
Who says you have to marry someone just because they're good-looking?
She now understood that her mother, who was renowned in business, was unreliable in everything else.
The profession of matchmaker, in particular, is the most unreliable.
And this broken system, it just releases tasks whenever it wants, what's wrong with that? Now there are KPIs again?
“In our Central Plains, we value a good match in marriage,” Xu Qingyao earnestly advised. “Our social statuses are not equal, and there will be no good outcome if we are together.”
"Forced love is never sweet..."
"Oh? Is that so?" Songtsen Yunlie forcefully pulled her into his arms. "Then I shall taste whether this forced melon is sweet or not."
Xu Qingyao pushed him away, "Haha, Prince, there's an old saying, 'Plant melons and beans around Qingming Festival,' but I'm afraid there won't be any melons to pick this season."
"What does this have to do with our marriage?" Songzan Yunlie took a few steps back as Xu Qingyao pushed him. "Miss Xu, just be a good bride. I will ask the high priest to choose an auspicious date."
*
Priest Tower.
The high priest, who had been in seclusion for twenty years, surprisingly lit the eternal lamp today.
The high priest lifted his withered fingers from the tortoise shell, the cracks forming eerie lotus patterns.
“Three days from now, Sirius will be in conjunction with the moon,” he said hoarsely. “If you miss this day, you’ll have to wait another twenty years.”
Songtsen Gampo stared at the divination results and suddenly chuckled: "Just enough time to prepare a wedding that all of Tibet will remember."
"Are you sure you want to do this?" A glint of light flashed in the high priest's cloudy eyes.
"She should have been my queen, shouldn't she?"
Songtsen Yunlie interrupted him, his eyes filled with determination.
***
Three days later, the evidence against the second prince, Mukun, was fully exposed.
Yuwen Heng stood outside the dungeon, coldly looking at Mu Kun, who was chained up: "You think you can sit on the throne by colluding with the Turks?"
Mu Kun roared, "What right do you have to lock me up?! I am a prince!"
“Based on this.” Yuwen Heng tossed out a secret letter, which was written by Mu Kun himself, promising to cede Bailong Salt Lake after the matter was accomplished.
Meanwhile, inside the royal palace of Gaochang.
"Father, the alliance between the Western Turks and Tibet is now a done deal." Yuwen Heng knelt on one knee and presented the secret report. "If we do not strike first, we will surely suffer the consequences."
The King of Gaochang pondered for a moment: "What do you want?"
"We'll feign an alliance with the Western Turks, using the White Dragon Salt Lake as bait to lure them into our trap." Yuwen Heng looked up, his eyes flashing with sharpness. "Once they and the Tibetans are both weakened, we'll reap the benefits."
The King of Gaochang finally nodded: "Granted."
**
As night deepened, Xiao Zhouyan, his face veiled and dressed as a Turkic general, led three thousand private soldiers who originally belonged to Mu Kun, approaching the border of Tibet.
"Remember, from this moment on, you are the vanguard of the Western Turks," he ordered coldly. "Target—the Tibetan capital."
A lieutenant asked in a low voice, "General, are we really going to attack?"
Xiao Zhouyan's lips curled slightly: "Attack? No, what we need to do is let Tibet fall into chaos on its own."
In the distance, the Tibetan beacon towers are already faintly visible.
This game has only just begun.
***
Red silk banners fluttered in the sky above the Tibetan royal palace.
Xu Qingyao was dressed in a magnificent wedding gown, with a phoenix embroidered in gold thread spreading its wings as if about to take flight. However, her wrists were bound by black iron chains, which made a cold sound with every step she took.
Songtsen Yunlie stood in the center of the wedding hall, a smile playing on his lips, seemingly oblivious to the coldness in her eyes.
"First bow to the snow-capped mountain—" the master of ceremonies chanted.
Xu Qingyao was forced to bend over, but in the instant she lowered her head, she flicked her fingertip, and a colorless pill rolled into her sleeve.
"Second visit to the sacred lake—"
She looked up at the sky. The once clear sky was suddenly filled with heavy snow.
"Auspicious signs from heaven! This is a blessing from the gods!" The guests exclaimed in amazement, reaching out to catch the glistening snowflakes.
Songtsen Gampo also looked up, and snowflakes fell into his palm, melting into a pool of water shimmering with blue light.
His pupils constricted sharply: "Something's not right!"
"Three bows—"
The official's voice abruptly stopped.
The entire wedding hall fell into a deathly silence.
Snowflakes fell on everyone, turning into invisible mist that seeped into their seven orifices.
The guests, who were cheering just a moment ago, suddenly froze on the spot, their eyes glazed over. Some suddenly knelt down and wept bitterly, some drew their knives and slashed wildly, and some laughed maniacally, as if they had seen what they had sought all their lives.
Songtsen Yunlie suddenly gripped Xu Qingyao's wrist tightly: "What did you do?!"
"Ask me?" Xu Qingyao chuckled, her red lips like blood. "You might as well ask yourself what you want to do."
She had taken the antidote the night before and was now perfectly lucid.
But the world before Songtsen Gampo's eyes began to distort.
He saw himself standing atop a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, Xu Qingyao's dagger piercing his heart, and her gaze as cold as the wind atop a snow-capped mountain.
“However…what you do is not important to me,” her voice seemed both near and far, “but I hate it when people take advantage of me, especially under the guise of loving me.”
Songtsen Gampo gritted his teeth, biting his tongue hard to stay awake through the pain. He ripped the chains off her wrists and pulled her in front of him: "The antidote!"
Xu Qingyao smiled.
“There is no antidote,” she said softly. “This hallucination will last for a whole day.”
"And you will watch your ambition crumble bit by bit."
She pushed him away effortlessly and forced him to swallow the pill in her hand.
"You want to marry me? Then keep dreaming."
[Host, take this opportunity and leave quickly.]
The system reminded her.
Songtsen Yunlie's consciousness gradually dissipated, and he finally watched the red figure disappear from his sight.
*
She had already abandoned her elaborate wedding dress halfway through the journey.
Following the system's guidance, Xu Qingyao avoided the patrolling guards and escaped through a small gate in the most secluded northwest corner of the palace.
The wind was biting cold, and her breath condensed into frost in the night.
"How is the system currently?"
[Host, be careful! Songtsen Lobsang is behind you!]
As soon as the system finished speaking, a low laugh came from behind Xu Qingyao.
“Miss Xu, running away from a wedding is not a good habit.”
Xu Qingyao froze, then slowly turned around.
Songtsen Lobsang leaned lazily against the palace wall, toying with a dagger in his hand; the blade gleamed coldly in the moonlight.
“You’re not…” Her pupils contracted slightly.
How did he end up here?
"My elder brother didn't want me to interfere with his good deed, so he sent me to guard the city." Songtsen Losang approached slowly. "Unfortunately... how could a younger brother miss his elder brother's wedding?"
His boots crunched softly as they rolled over the snow.
"So I hid in the shadows, and unexpectedly, I witnessed a good show," he tilted his head, a hint of excitement flashing in his eyes, "and then, I waited here in advance."
Xu Qingyao's fingers subtly gripped the silver needle hidden in her sleeve: "How did you know I would take this path?"
Songtsen Lobsang laughed, like a child who had just pulled off a prank.
“Because I discovered this secret passage.” He raised his hand and pointed to the high walls of the palace. “When I was a child, I was always locked in a side hall and nobody paid any attention to me. Later, I found this place, sneaked out, and could play in the market all day long.”
Xu Qingyao's fingertips gripped the silver needle hidden in her sleeve, and she said coldly, "You want to stop me?"
"Stop you?" Songtsen Losang shook his head. "No, I just want to invite you to visit somewhere else."
“My informant has found out that you are the newlywed wife of Xiao Zhouyan, the Great General of Zhenyuan of the Great Zhou Dynasty.”
He chuckled, “If we hand you over to the Western Turks, they can use you to threaten Xiao Zhouyan. And I… can also gain the support of the Western Turks and become the new Zanpu of Tibet.”
With a flash of light, he suddenly attacked her!
Xu Qingyao's heart sank, and just as she was about to fight to the death, suddenly—
"Clang—!"
The ear-piercing sound of metal clashing echoed through the night sky as Songtsen Losang's knife was steadily parried by a jet-black longsword.
The masked man landed steadily in front of Xu Qingyao. He was tall and straight, his sword gleaming coldly, revealing only a pair of stern, frosty eyes. His voice was deep and cold:
"Anyone who touches her shall die."
Songtsen Lobsang's expression changed drastically: "Xiao Zhouyan?!"
When Xu Qingyao came to her senses, a warm hand had already embraced her waist, and she was placed in a safe place.
"Stay away," he said in a low voice, his voice laced with suppressed anger.
Xu Qingyao immediately nodded obediently, grabbed his sleeve, and pretended to wipe away tears: "Husband, he bullied me..."
Xiao Zhouyan felt a throbbing vein on his forehead, feeling both distressed and amused, but now was not the time to settle scores. He turned his sword, pointing it directly at Songtsen Lobsang.
Songtsen Lobsang's face darkened: "Xiao Zhouyan? You actually dared to infiltrate the Tibetan capital?!"
Xiao Zhouyan was too lazy to waste words. His sword strikes were like a rainbow, each move deadly. Although Songtsen Lobsang was not weak in martial arts, he was no match for him. In just a few moves, his weapon was knocked away by a sword, and he staggered backward.
"Get out," Xiao Zhouyan said coldly.
"You...you think this is the end?" He grinned maliciously. "The Western Turkic army is already..."
“We’ve already fallen into an ambush,” Xiao Zhouyan interrupted coldly. “Your ally is now in dire straits.”
Songtsen Lobsang's pupils suddenly contracted.
Xiao Zhouyan stopped looking at him, turned around and walked towards Xu Qingyao, then picked her up in his arms.
"Go home," he whispered.
Xu Qingyao wrapped her arms around his neck, glanced back at Songtsen Losang kneeling in the snow, and whispered, "Not kill him?"
Xiao Zhouyan didn't stop walking: "Keeping him around will only make things more chaotic in Tibet."
She blinked, then suddenly smiled: "My husband is so clever."
The system followed suit: 【My husband is truly wise and intelligent!】
Xiao Zhouyan: "..."
*
Not far from their encampment, after confirming that the danger had passed, Xiao Zhouyan gently put her down, ripped off his face mask, and pretended to be angry as he looked at her.
She was blinking pitifully, her cheeks were thinner than before, and her once plump chin was now pointed.
Xiao Zhouyan's heart softened, and he swallowed back all the words of reprimand he had originally intended to say. In the end, he just sighed and reached out to pull her into his arms.
"You've lost weight," he whispered, his fingertips gently tracing her cheek.
Xu Qingyao leaned against him and muttered softly, "The food in Tibet isn't good..."
Xiao Zhouyan laughed in exasperation: "Just because of this?"
"Of course not!" she said, tilting her head back. "I just missed you."
Xiao Zhouyan: "..."
[Enough! Host! You never think before you speak, you just blurt things out.]
The system wished it could cover its non-existent ears.
Xu Qingyao: Hehe~ As long as I act good, I bet he won't get angry.
"You really miss me?" Xiao Zhouyan raised an eyebrow.
“It really is, even more real than a diamond!” Xu Qingyao nodded sincerely.
Suddenly, Xiao Zhouyan remembered that she had said the same thing with utmost sincerity the last time, and then she disappeared without a trace the next day.
His eyes darkened, his arm tightened suddenly, and with his other hand he held the back of her head and kissed her.
The kiss carried a punitive connotation, fierce and urgent, as if it would not stop until it had melded her into its very bones.
Caught off guard, Xu Qingyao's breath was instantly stolen, her lips filled with his domineering scent. She instinctively tried to push him away, but he grabbed her wrist and pinned it against the tree trunk behind her.
"Mmm... Xiao..." she mumbled a protest, but he took the opportunity to deepen the kiss.
Only when her legs gave way and she could no longer stand did Xiao Zhouyan step back slightly, his thumb brushing against her slightly swollen lips, his voice low and hoarse: "Still running?"
Xu Qingyao's cheeks flushed, her breath unsteady, yet she still stubbornly insisted, "I had my reasons..."
Xiao Zhouyan narrowed his eyes, then lowered his head and bit her lip again: "If you run away again, I'll lock you in the manor, and you won't be able to go anywhere."
Xu Qingyao blinked, then suddenly tiptoed closer to his ear and whispered, "..."
[Host! Be careful what you say! I'm still a child...]
The system is screaming.
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