Chapter 41 Sister, you mustn't keep this child! ...
Yunzhu hasn't seen her family for three years.
When her brother dragged her all the way to a small alley near the city gate, her face was filled with indescribable joy.
When Mu Chenxiao saw her, he wasn't exactly surprised.
Because Yunzhu is completely different from what she was three years ago. She no longer has a beautiful face, fair skin, or even a slender figure. Her belly is protruding, and her face is only slightly paler than Wutan's. If it weren't for her still bright eyes and the fact that Ayan was with her, he would never have recognized his younger sister.
Besides... Yunzhu, wasn't Yunzhu dead? His sister perished in the fire, and her body has already been buried in the mausoleum, hasn't it?
Mu Chenxiao scrutinized the person before him repeatedly, confirming that she was indeed his sister. His face was filled with astonishment and fear.
"Yunzhu, you're not dead?" These were the first words he spoke after the siblings were reunited.
Yunzhu hadn't seen her family for three years. She had so much to say and wanted to confide in her brother, but upon hearing his words, tears that she hadn't shed in a long time welled up in her eyes again.
“…Brother.” Yunzhu nodded, tears welling in her eyes, and said with a mix of grievance and honesty, “I’m not dead, I’m alive and well!”
This is unbelievable! Mu Chenxiao gripped Yunzhu's arm tightly, scrutinizing her thoroughly from head to toe before asking, "What happened to you? How did you end up like this? Why did the Huan Prince's Mansion say you were dead? The news of your death has already reached the Western Regions!"
Yunzhu had a premonition that if she saw her family again, she would inevitably have to tell them about her experiences in the Huan Prince's mansion over the years.
She could wait until she returned to the grasslands, back to the royal tent, and talk to them slowly, but this was on the streets of Liangzhou City, and it all happened so suddenly.
Seeing that Yunzhu was unsure how to begin, Ayan, who had been holding back for a while, quickly stepped forward and began to recount her experiences in the Huanwang Mansion over the years on behalf of her princess.
"Your Highness, you may not know this, but our princess has not received a single good thing in the Huan Prince's mansion all these years. On the contrary, she has suffered countless grievances. Now, the Huan Prince's mansion wants to become emperor, so they want to kill our princess. We escaped on our own!"
Three years of experience cannot be explained in a short time, but Ayan was indignant and told everything that needed to be told. In just a few words, she was enough for Mu Chenxiao to know his sister's situation in recent years.
His eyes widened in anger: "How dare they treat you like this?"
"yes!"
Ayan was never afraid of making things worse, and wanted to add fuel to the fire by accusing Huanwang's mansion of all its evil deeds, but Yunzhu stopped her.
After calming down, Yunzhu realized that while she had significant problems, her brother, who was standing in front of her today, clearly also had a host of issues.
Back when Yunzhu was still at home, she always liked to disguise herself and sneak into the towns of the Central Plains with her older brothers and sisters. But that was when she was a child. Now, the Western Regions were trying to harass the borders of the Central Plains, and relations between the two countries were on the verge of collapse. Yunzhu didn't know why her brother would still disguise himself and go into the city at this time.
Thinking this, she asked directly, "Why did you appear in Liangzhou today, brother? I've been in the city these past few days and I've heard that the Western Regions have been harassing the people of Liangzhou. Is that true, brother? If so, what is Father planning?"
"..."
Yunzhu's question hit the nail on the head, and Mu Chenxiao's arrogant demeanor from moments before immediately diminished by more than half.
He lowered his eyes guiltily, glancing at Yunzhu with his dark pupils before quickly looking away. Without answering, he asked, "Were you queuing to leave the city just now? Sister, do you intend to return to the grasslands today?"
"Your Highness, you mustn't beat around the bush!"
"What, what, him?"
The group had been speaking in the Western Regions language, but Yunzhu, in her haste, suddenly uttered a Central Plains idiom that Mu Chenxiao couldn't understand, leaving him completely bewildered.
Yunzhu could only repeat the sentence in the Western Regions language.
"Oh..." Mu Chenxiao suddenly realized. His tanned skin shone darkly in the corner of the street, and Yunzhu laughed heartily with her white teeth, "Little sister, you are really amazing. After so many years in the Central Plains, you have become so fluent in the Central Plains dialect!"
Seeing that he was trying to evade her question again, Yunzhu glared at her brother and said, "Brother, are you going to tell the truth or not? If not, Ayan and I will go back to queue up. Anyway, when I return to the grassland, Father will tell me the truth!"
"Hey, you can't go back to the grasslands!"
Yunzhu turned around, pretending to leave, but Mu Chenxiao immediately suppressed his smile and stopped Yunzhu's wrist again.
Yunzhu turned around and saw that Mu Chenxiao's face was full of hesitation. He seemed to have something to say to her, but didn't know how to start.
"Is my brother afraid that I can't handle it?" Yunzhu finally asked. "Brother, just tell me. There is nothing I can't handle now."
From the moment she learned that Xiao Mingzhang was also plotting to kill her, Yunzhu thought that there was nothing she could not bear.
What could be more terrifying than your own spouse plotting against you for your life?
It's gone, it's all gone.
Yunzhu stared intently at Mu Chenxiao. Seeing his hesitation, she finally let out a long breath as if she had made up her mind and said, "Since you have already heard about our harassment of the Central Plains border, you must have guessed that Father wants to use your situation to start another war with the Central Plains and seize some cities."
Yunzhu frowned, puzzled, and asked, "Why? Brother, didn't we sign a ceasefire agreement with the Central Plains?"
"What a load of rubbish about a ceasefire agreement!" Mu Chenxiao's voice suddenly rose upon hearing these four words, but fearing that someone would notice, he quickly calmed down and continued to Yunzhu, "What's the use of signing a ceasefire agreement? Look at the kind of life you lived in the Central Plains. You were married there for only three years before you died. What good is the Central Plains? When I heard the news of your death, my father had already decided to go to war with the Central Plains. This time, we will not rest until we have taken several of their cities!"
"Father has gone mad!" Yunzhu exclaimed. "The Central Plains are currently suffering from a severe drought, and the people are experiencing famine and displacement. How can we expect them to survive if we start a war at this time?"
"It is precisely because of the famine in the Central Plains that we are able to take advantage of the situation and invade!"
Yunzhu stared in shock at her brother, astonished that his outburst was so completely contrary to her own thoughts.
After a moment, she realized that she and her brother were originally from the Western Regions. It was common for countries to fight over cities. Her brother's concern for the Western Regions was what they should do.
But...but...
Yunzhu had lived in the Central Plains for three years, where she had met all sorts of people and even visited Jizhou and Qingzhou to see firsthand the plight of the disaster victims. She knew she couldn't bring herself to disregard the safety of the people of the Central Plains.
Even though she had already concluded that there were no purely good people in the Central Plains, she still felt that the common people were innocent.
"Because my father plans to wage war against the Central Plains and wants to use my death as an excuse, I can't go back to the royal tent, right?" Yunzhu asked, after going around in circles, first about her return home.
“Sister…” Mu Chenxiao wanted to explain something to Yunzhu, but now it seemed that all explanations would be in vain.
Because they are indeed planning to use this as a pretext to start a war with the Central Plains, and his infiltration of Liangzhou City today was precisely to scout out the city's defenses.
If Yunzhu suddenly reappears on the grassland, then the reason for starting a war will certainly not be valid.
However, Yunzhu could also be used as an excuse to attack the Central Plains?
Amidst his inner turmoil, Mu Chenxiao suddenly realized that bringing Yunzhu home might not be such a bad idea. He could expose what the Huan Prince's mansion had done to her to the world, using it as a pretext to launch a campaign against the Central Plains. Furthermore, once the soldiers of the Western Regions learned of their princess's suffering in the Central Plains, their emotions would surely surge. Bringing Yunzhu home was clearly a far more beneficial thing than hiding her away!
From childhood to adulthood, Mu Chenxiao never hid his emotions in front of his younger sister. In fact, he never thought of hiding his emotions. Once he had this thought, he immediately showed his joy on his face, and his happiness was evident in his words.
“No, sister, I’ve thought of something. You can come home with me today!” Mu Chenxiao said decisively.
Yunzhu didn't understand how he could change his mind in the blink of an eye.
She wanted to ask why, but Mu Chenxiao, without giving her a chance to explain, pushed her towards the city gate again.
"Here's what we'll do: you and Ayan go out of the city first. Wait for me at the first teahouse to the west outside the city gate. We'll come out around dusk. If I haven't come out yet, someone will come to meet you..."
He had planned everything for Yunzhu, determined to get her out of the city first, regardless of her reaction.
Yunzhu was forced to move around again.
When she arrived, Mu Chenxiao had pulled her along like this. But back then, she was overjoyed to see her brother. Now, however, things were different. With Mu Chenxiao pulling and tugging at her like this, she began to feel unwell.
"No, brother, stop!" She braced herself against her back, determined not to let him do as he pleased this time. She gave Ayan a wink, which finally made Mu Chenxiao stop his actions.
Mu Chenxiao looked at Yunzhu with confusion, but as he followed Yunzhu and Ayan's actions, his gaze finally fell on the bulge in her lower abdomen.
His pupils suddenly contracted.
I was so busy talking to Yunzhu that I forgot she's heavily pregnant.
"Sister, is the child in your belly the child of the Prince Huan's heir?" Mu Chenxiao asked.
"..."
Yunzhu didn't speak, but noticing her brother's unfriendly gaze, she immediately took a step back behind Ayan.
"You want to keep this child?" Mu Chenxiao pressed forward and asked.
"..."
Yunzhu remained silent, but her wary expression spoke volumes.
"What are you after!" Mu Chenxiao couldn't hold back his anger and said sharply.
“This is also my child, brother. Why can’t I keep him?” Yunzhu asked directly.
"..." If you keep this child, how can you expect the soldiers to fight for you?
Mu Chenxiao's eyes widened, wanting to reprimand Yunzhu, but he couldn't bring himself to say such cruel words when facing his own sister's face.
He was both angry and anxious, and after pacing around in circles, he finally said to Yunzhu, "In short, sister, you can go back to the grasslands if you want, but you are not allowed to keep this child. Father and Mother will not allow you to keep him either!"
-----------------------
Author's note: Updated!
Sorry, things have been a bit chaotic lately, so I forgot to post this last night. I didn't originally intend to talk about it here, but I thought I'd explain anyway. I recently fell victim to a telecom scam, yes, that kind of scam… I thought I'd never encounter one, or that even if I did, I'd realize it. But I still got caught, so I'm now running to the police station, banks, and all sorts of other places every day. Even though I only lost 10,000 yuan, it's still a huge hassle. This is the first time in my life I've ever filed a police report (bitter smile). I'm cursing those despicable scammers here! [angry][angry][angry] I also want to warn everyone to be extremely careful; the methods they use are so numerous now that it's impossible to guard against them all.
This matter has been bothering me for a long time, but I'm finally almost done with it. I've seen everyone suggesting setting a specific update time, so I'll tentatively set it for midnight tonight. I'll try my best to update before midnight every day from now on, and if I really can't, I'll ask for leave. I hope everyone enjoys reading it. There will still be red envelopes in the comments section of this chapter!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
