Chapter 78 (Second Update): No non-human race becomes the crown prince...
The peace talks between Xiao Mingzhang and the Western Regions finally came to an end.
The Western Regions signed an agreement that they would not wage war against the Central Plains for ten years. In addition, to make up for the losses caused by this rash war against the Central Plains, the Western Regions also wrote in the agreement that they would compensate Liangzhou with a grassland. If the Western Regions could survive the winter, they would offer thousands of cattle, sheep and foals to the Central Plains in the spring of the following year.
On the day the agreement was signed, Yunzhu stayed at home and went to [the place].
Ah Yan, on the other hand, wanted to see Mu Chenxiao's antics, so she set off furtively early that morning.
On the city wall, she saw Mu Chenxiao leading his men to negotiate peace. Compared to three years ago, the man was still as burly as ever, without any loss of strength. However, his face was solemn, and his deep-set eyes suggested that he hadn't been sleeping well these past few days.
Indeed, after three years of stalemate and war, they have gained no advantage whatsoever, and now they have to come to sue for peace in person. Even the most dashing and confident person would find it hard to hold their head high.
Moreover, this is for someone like Mu Chenxiao, a pride of the grasslands.
When Ayan saw him meet and shake hands with Xiao Mingzhang, and after the two signed the peace agreement, she clearly heard Mu Chenxiao ask again, "How is Yunzhu now?"
Although he was not in the Central Plains, Mu Chenxiao was always well-informed about things happening on the borders of the Central Plains.
It turns out that the Crown Princess of the Huan Prince's Mansion did not die. She lived in seclusion in a small town near Liangzhou and gave birth to a child with the Crown Prince of Huan. Xiao Mingzhang did not want to hide this matter, so it was no longer a secret in the border region.
Yunzhu… Mu Chenxiao naturally remembered this younger sister. Several years ago, they met in Liangzhou, and he prevented her from returning home.
He thought she would definitely appear during today's negotiations with the Central Plains, whether to ridicule him or to see him, a relative, one last time. But to his surprise, he never saw her.
However, this is indeed her personality; once she sets her mind on something, she will go all the way down that path and never look back.
Mu Chenxiao awaited Xiao Mingzhang's reply. Whatever the answer, he thought he would accept it gladly.
But Xiao Mingzhang looked at him in surprise, and after a moment, asked, "Do you really care about her?"
"If you really cared about her, she would never have the chance to come back to me now."
"..."
Mu Chenxiao remained silent. His pride as a man, which refused to admit defeat, made him feel that he had to say something to Xiao Mingzhang.
But what should we say?
His mouth was open, and only a handful of strong, cold wind from Liangzhou rushed into his throat.
On that day, Xiao Mingzhang returned to the commander's mansion, where Yunzhu was leaning against the window reading a book.
The weather in Liangzhou was getting colder day by day. Today was the day to sign a ceasefire agreement with the Western Regions. She didn't want to go out, so she could only stay at home and read books.
When Xiao Mingzhang entered the room and saw her, he didn't dare to disturb her.
Only when Yunzhu looked up and noticed his presence did his brows relax instantly, the tension dissipating like sand passing through his palm, settling on the ground and disappearing without a trace.
He asked Yunzhu, "What are you looking at?"
Yunzhu closed the book and revealed its title to him—a book that Xiao Mingzhang had previously suggested she read. Earlier, in Hanze Town, Xiao Mingzhang had used a fever as an excuse to stay overnight at Yunzhu's house. The next day, he left several books in Yunzhu's study that he recommended she read.
Upon seeing the book title, Xiao Mingzhang was immediately pleased and asked, "Which page are you on? Do you need me to explain it to you?"
"No need." Yunzhu was no longer the Western Region princess who couldn't even recognize all the characters. In the three years since she left the palace, she had read many books and learned more characters. Her Central Plains dialect was no different from that of an ordinary person. Even the most demanding person would not be able to find any fault with her Central Plains dialect.
Xiao Mingzhang could only stand awkwardly to the side.
Yunzhu was reading a book, so he sat down beside her to keep her company.
From the day Ayan caught the two of them in a room, Yunzhu and Xiao Mingzhang seemed to have no reason to hide their relationship anymore. This made things much easier for Xiao Mingzhang, who would come to Yunzhu's courtyard every day after finishing his work and never return to his own main house.
Yunzhu had tried to get rid of him a few times, but he was like a leech; once he stuck to her, it was very difficult to get rid of him. After trying to get rid of him a few times and seeing that she couldn't, Yunzhu stopped trying.
The one who was most troubled by this matter was Ayan.
She already disliked Xiao Mingzhang, and recently he has been frequently coming into her house, and on many occasions, he has even ordered servants to bring his things to this courtyard. Isn't this just taking advantage of her?
For several days in a row, Ayan didn't give Xiao Mingzhang a kind look.
Mu Zhaozhi, on the other hand, went from being puzzled to accepting Xiao Mingzhang's frequent visits to their courtyard in just one day.
That morning, she was sitting in the courtyard when she saw Xiao Mingzhang come out of Yunzhu's room again. Being a child, she asked Xiao Mingzhang, "Why did you come out of Mother's room? Don't you have your own room?"
Xiao Mingzhang solemnly told his daughter, "Because your father is trying hard to get your mother's forgiveness. If you want your mother to forgive you, your father has to go to your mother's place every day to atone for his sins."
It turns out he was atoning for his sins.
Mu Zhaozhi readily accepted the fact that Xiao Mingzhang needed to frequently visit their courtyard.
Yunzhu and Ayan were naturally unaware of the twists and turns involved. Each of them harbored their own secrets, and they lived together in the courtyard for several days until this day, after signing the cessation of hostilities agreement, Xiao Mingzhang was to go home.
Xiao Mingzhang sat on one side of the desk until Yunzhu finished reading her book, and it was almost dark when he asked, "Have you started packing your luggage today? If there's too much to bring, just don't bring anything. Anyway, you won't lack anything when you get to Jinling."
Nanjing.
Xiao Mingzhang is now making no attempt to conceal the fact that he will bring Yunzhu and Azhi back to Jinling.
Yunzhu put down the book in her hand and looked at him briefly.
A few days ago, when she and Ayan pressed Xiao Mingzhang for answers, she learned that Xiao Mingzhang had already tacitly agreed that they would go back to Jinling with him.
But does she really want to go back?
Has she really made up her mind to go back?
Yunzhu's inner scales convinced herself and Ayan, but she has yet to put them into action.
Seeing that Yunzhu remained silent, Xiao Mingzhang knew that she had not yet made a complete decision.
Every time Xiao Mingzhang returned to Yunzhu's room these past few days, he would subconsciously look around the room. Nothing in the room, no matter how it was furnished or arranged, had been touched in the past few days.
Outside the small courtyard, many of the accompanying guards and servants had already begun packing their belongings for their return home.
Xiao Mingzhang didn't believe Yunzhu was unaware of these things, so the only explanation was that she hadn't made a decision yet, which was why she was hesitant to take action.
Sure enough, after a few moments of silence, Yunzhu asked, "Xiao Mingzhang, have I completely agreed to go back to Jinling with you?"
Xiao Mingzhang softened his stance, leaned down in front of Yunzhu, and asked, "If we don't go back to Jinling, where do you and Azhi want to go? Once we return to Jinling and settle everything, we'll go with you, okay?"
Despite the seemingly good solution, Yunzhu was still dissatisfied: "Why do Azhi and I need you to accompany us? According to you, once you return to Jinling and eliminate the old guard left by the He family, Azhi and I will no longer be in any danger. We can go wherever we want. Do we still need your company?"
"How could I not need it!" Even though he knew it was a joke, Xiao Mingzhang still played along with Yunzhu and became nervous.
After a few days of rest, his face, which had become too thin from the injury, finally regained its handsome appearance.
Yunzhu stared blankly at the handsome face in front of her, a look of horror on her face.
"..."
"Pfft..."
She finally couldn't help but laugh at Xiao Mingzhang's antics.
Her smile only emboldened Xiao Mingzhang. He pushed Yunzhu's legs apart, moved closer to her, and pressed on, asking, "Yunzhu, our family of three has finally reunited. You and the child need me, and I need you and the child too. Let's go back to Jinling together, okay? Once we're back in Jinling, everything will be arranged. I promise, wherever you want to go, I'll go with you. I'll never break my promise."
The promise seemed very tempting, but in Yunzhu's view, there were still too many issues that hadn't been clarified.
These were some issues she needed to resolve before going to Jinling.
Now that the conversation had come to this point, Yunzhu sat up straight and asked Xiao Mingzhang, "Xiao Mingzhang, let me ask you, how will you introduce Azhi and me when we return to Jinling?"
Xiao Mingzhang replied, "You are my rightful wife, my Crown Princess, and Azhi is my daughter, the eldest daughter of our Prince Huan's mansion, a proper young lady!"
That's a fairly normal answer.
Yunzhu asked again, "What if someone objects? What if your advisors say that my existence and the child's will only hinder your future, and that you must abandon us? After all, there has never been a crown princess from a foreign tribe in the Central Plains before, has there? If you want to be the crown prince, you can only choose between me and power."
“There has never been a crown princess from a foreign tribe in the Central Plains before. That was before. You can set a precedent for that.” Xiao Mingzhang answered Yunzhu’s second question without blinking.
Yunzhu had considered Xiao Mingzhang's answer, but every time she tried to imagine it, she could never capture the expression on Xiao Mingzhang's face when he said those words.
Now she had finally heard Xiao Mingzhang say those words. Her imagination was no longer just a castle in the air, but had truly come to her ears. For once, Yunzhu found Xiao Mingzhang's words to be pleasant to hear.
She asked Xiao Mingzhang three times: "What about your father and mother? How do you plan to get them to accept me and Azhi back, and ensure that they will not treat us the same as before?"
“Father and Mother do not necessarily have to change their views on you, but I will let them know that if they do not accept you, they will also lose me as their son.”
What Yunzhu considered the most difficult question to answer was actually the easiest for Xiao Mingzhang.
When Yunzhu heard him give such a vulgar and shameless answer so easily, she didn't know whether to be angry or amused.
She retorted to Xiao Mingzhang, "Xiao Mingzhang, don't you think you look like a complete scoundrel right now?"
“Yunzhu, sometimes when dealing with certain people, shameless tactics are more effective than normal tactics, aren’t they?” Xiao Mingzhang clearly didn’t think there was anything wrong with being called a shameless or petty person. He accepted the evaluation with a clear conscience and even tried to vindicate it.
So what if he's a rogue? So what if he's a villain? In his view, he's just like a gentleman or a master—these titles are simply ways to achieve success.
Yunzhu always knew that there was no room for debate between her and Xiao Mingzhang. Whenever she felt there was a problem, as long as she debated with Xiao Mingzhang, she would never win. So she deliberately skipped over the issue.
"How can you guarantee all of the above? How can you guarantee our safety after we go to Jinling?"
All the questions asked above were just prelude; this is what Yunzhu really wants to know.
She wanted a guarantee from Xiao Mingzhang, not just a verbal one, but a guarantee that could be actually implemented.
Xiao Mingzhang seemed to be waiting for Yunzhu's question as well.
After Yunzhu asked the question, he took something out of his sleeve without thinking and handed it to Yunzhu.
It was a very hard object, feeling like holding a piece of bronze. The moment Yunzhu received it, she couldn't help but look down to see what it was.
The moment she saw the object clearly, Yunzhu suddenly felt like she was holding a hot potato.
She immediately tried to return the items to Xiao Mingzhang, but he held her hand tightly, insisting that she keep them in her palm.
"This is the tiger tally of my army now," Xiao Mingzhang said succinctly, explaining the purpose of the item in his hand to Yunzhu.
Tiger tally.
How could Yunzhu not know about this?
The tiger tally, as the name suggests, is a bronze tiger-shaped object. In the Central Plains, armies mostly used tiger tallies as tokens of authority for issuing commands. This object was usually divided in two, one half held by the ruler and the other by the army commander. Any orders sent from afar required the tiger tally to be in hand and confirmed before the commander, thousands of miles away, could be certain of the message.
But... all she wanted was Xiao Mingzhang's assurance that he would hand over the Tiger Tally to her.
Yunzhu felt the shapes depicted on the bronze artifact in her hand, tilted her head, and stared in disbelief, waiting for Xiao Mingzhang to give a complete explanation.
She valued the tiger tally very much.
Xiao Mingzhang simply smiled, unconcerned: "Yunzhu, I've waited a long time for this day. I knew you wouldn't have been willing to come home with me until this point. This tiger tally can summon almost all the troops of the Huan Prince's Mansion. I received it from my father a year ago. Now I'm giving you half and keeping the other half for myself. Without a complete tiger tally, I will never be able to mobilize all the troops of the Huan Prince's Mansion again. Do you think this will guarantee your and the child's safety?"
"If you give me this, aren't you afraid I'll steal the other half of your tiger tally in the middle of the night and mobilize all your troops?"
"If you really do that, then all these troops will only be left to Azhi in the future. This might not be a bad thing. Maybe our Azhi will be successful and become the first female emperor of the dynasty!"
How did things escalate from the Tiger Tally to the Empress? Xiao Mingzhang's thinking was indeed unpredictable, beyond the reach of ordinary people. Before he could go any further, Yunzhu interrupted him.
"Stop!" she said sternly. "Xiao Mingzhang, listen carefully. I don't need my daughter to become empress, nor do I want her to get involved in the conflicts of your court. This tiger tally is of utmost importance. I'm only giving you one more chance. If you still insist on handing it over to me as a guarantee, I will accept it and only return it to you when you truly need it. If you regret it, you still have the chance to take it back now. Take it back and keep it safe, and exchange it for something else as a guarantee. I won't blame you."
Having gone through so much, Yunzhu was no longer the pretentious little princess of the grasslands. She gave Xiao Mingzhang one last chance. She thought that as long as Xiao Mingzhang confirmed that the tiger tally was to be given to her, she would accept it and then it would be difficult to return it to him.
She didn't pressure him, and even told him frankly that she wouldn't blame him if he took the item back.
But Xiao Mingzhang didn't even blink, and gripped the tiger tally in Yunzhu's hand even tighter.
"Yunzhu, this is something I'm determined to give you; there's nothing else that can replace it."
The army and power are the most irreplaceable things in the world. Even Xiao Mingzhang, who was the heir of the Huan Prince's mansion since childhood, only fully understood this truth after Yunzhu left.
He needed an army to resist his father, and Yunzhu needed the army to ensure her peace of mind.
Therefore, he will absolutely not take back this guarantee.
Xiao Mingzhang didn't feel he was giving Yunzhu too much. On the contrary, if he could, he would give her everything he had: the army, power, everything she wanted and didn't want. He... would give it all to her too.
Holding the tiger tally, Yunzhu had no choice but to accept Xiao Mingzhang's insistence. She lowered her head and put the exquisitely crafted tiger tally into her pocket.
Just when Yunzhu thought it was over and the object she had been holding for so long disappeared, she felt a sense of relief. But soon, something tightly wrapped around her palm again.
She looked up in surprise and saw that Xiao Mingzhang had changed from sitting face-to-face to squatting in front of her.
He held her hand in his, pressed the back of her hand to his lips, and looked up at her.
The wet sensation instantly traveled from the back of my hand to my entire body, and in a flash, my whole body felt as if it had been soaked in water.
In a daze, she heard Xiao Mingzhang ask, "Now that you've accepted that thing, can we consider setting off for Jinling together?"
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