"What?"
Ling Ku, disregarding the bitterness of the medicine, quickly sat up. "Your young lady is choosing a husband?"
"General Ling, it's not my young lady who wants to choose a husband, it's the Empress Dowager who wants to choose a husband for my young lady." The maid smiled when she saw that the medicine bowl was empty. Great, she could go back to the palace to accompany her young lady.
"The Empress Dowager said that His Highness Prince Chen's full moon celebration will be a grand affair, and that talented young men from Dayu will be invited to the palace. She wants my young lady and Miss Sun to take this opportunity to carefully select their husbands."
"Your young lady agreed?" Ling Ku stammered, wondering if Miss Qin had really agreed.
"Of course." The maid rolled her eyes inwardly. "My young lady is of marriageable age, and the Empress Dowager cares about her. Naturally, she wants to find her a husband of similar age and with both talent and good looks. What reason does my young lady have to refuse?"
Ling Ku was speechless after being told off by the maid. He watched helplessly as the maid left, frozen in place like a stone statue.
Miss Qin...is looking for a husband...
We're doomed.
Half an hour later.
"General, the Marquis has arrived."
Ling Ku didn't hear his subordinate's words the first time, as he was immersed in his "grief" until his subordinate said it a second time, at which point Ling Ku finally realized what was happening.
"ah?"
"You seem distracted. What's got you so engrossed in something, Ling Ku?" Jiang He first examined Ling Ku's injuries, then casually found a chair and sat down. "Is it because of Miss Qin?"
"How did you know, Lord Marquis?!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Ling Ku covered his mouth with his hand. Oh no, he really had no sense of propriety when he spoke. How could he have blurted out what was on his mind?
"It's a well-known fact that Miss Qin admires you, and she has never intended to hide it from us." Jiang He's voice was calm and unhurried, yet it struck Ling Ku's heart with a heavy blow. "Because she was worried about you, she went to ask the Empress Dowager and Pei Zhi, and sent the Qin family's elite to protect you. To be honest, such a brave woman is rare."
Ling Ku lowered his head, unsure how to respond to Jiang He's words.
"I thought you might also be attracted to Miss Qin, but it seems I was wrong. Since you don't like Miss Qin, then it's time for her to find her own happiness."
"My lord, I..." Ling Ku's expression was extremely conflicted, his hands clenched into fists. "If I say that I'm just afraid of delaying Miss Qin, will you believe me?"
"Are you afraid of delaying Miss Qin?" Jiang He raised his eyebrows, revealing a disbelieving expression.
“Miss Qin is in the prime of her life, while I have been a bachelor for so many years. Besides, as a military officer, I don’t know when I will… How can I hold her back?” Ling Ku said with a touch of sadness. Only now did he understand that love is always about feeling indebted.
He always felt that being with Miss Qin would be a waste of her time.
“Ling Ku, have you ever thought that there might be another man in the world who loves Miss Qin more than you?” Jiang He stared intently at Ling Ku. “If you are sure that you will not let Miss Qin down and that you will treat her well with all your heart, then don’t be a coward.”
"My wife and I are living a very smooth life now."
Jiang He came here because he was worried that Ling Ku had missed the right person.
"I can."
Ling Ku pondered for a long time, almost considering all the possibilities of his death on the battlefield, before finally uttering those two words.
"If you can do it, don't miss it because you're afraid."
......
The Qin family.
"You've all heard about the Emperor's decree of Dayu." Madam Qin invited all the clan elders together and they stood in the courtyard outside the ancestral hall. Everyone was silent, listening attentively to Madam Qin's words.
"My suggestion is to submit to Da Yu."
Madam Qin's words made the already quiet atmosphere even more tense, "If we don't submit to Dayu, with the current strength of our Qin family, we are simply not enough to resist Dayu's attack. In that case, we might as well submit."
"But if we surrender, how will we face our ancestors a hundred years from now?"
An elder, leaning on his cane, spoke, his dragon-headed cane slamming heavily onto the ground, striking a chord in everyone's hearts.
"If we do not submit, our Qin family line will end, and how will we face our ancestors then?" Madam Qin's words were resolute. "Now that the patriarch is not waking up, my two children are in Dayu. They are the only two direct descendants of the Qin family. I'm making my point here today: I advocate submission!"
“I will take full responsibility, and I will personally apologize to my ancestors a hundred years from now.”
Hearing Madam Qin's words, the elders fell silent.
Which of them would want to push their children and grandchildren to their deaths? If they don't submit, it's death for them.
"Someone, bring me paper and pen. I want to write a letter to Da Yu myself."
That same day, the letter from Madam Qin agreeing to the surrender was sent out. At that moment, Madam Qin was completely exhausted and lay by the bedside of the Qin family patriarch, weeping softly.
“Master, I don’t know if this decision is right or wrong, but it’s our only way out. The Qin family needs someone to take responsibility and bear the blame.”
Although she was a woman, she was the wife of the Qin family, and she was entitled to bear this responsibility and this infamy.
"There will be no more wars in the future. Our children will be honored as princes and princesses. The Great Yu will protect us. The Emperor of Yu is so young, it's like he's the chosen one of Heaven. We can't go against him."
On this day, Madam Qin cried and spoke for a long time by the bedside of the Qin family patriarch, until she had cried all her tears before slowly getting up.
"lady."
"Keep a close eye on the Sun family's situation and report back immediately if there is any movement."
Once she steps out of this room, she becomes the shrewd and resourceful Madam Qin.
When news of the Qin family's surrender reached the Sun family, the head of the Sun family accidentally knocked over the inkstone on the table.
"Has the Qin family truly submitted?"
"It's true, it's true. I heard that Madam Qin overcame all objections and took on all the responsibility herself, and personally wrote the letter of surrender."
"Sir, then we..."
Madam Sun spoke up with concern, and the head of the Sun family looked as if he had aged decades in an instant, his expression turning ashen.
“We have no choice. The Qin family is forcing us to submit. Madam, from now on we will have to bow down to the Great Yu.”
"Master, as long as we are safe and sound, that's all that matters."
Yes, as long as everyone is safe and sound, that's all that matters.
He had seen clearly the fates of the Yun family, the Gong family, and the Pei family. Faced with the current state of Dayu, the only path left was submission.
Since that's the case, then submit.
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