Chapter 23
(45) Going to War
When I woke up from my nap, I found that Wei Zhen was not there again.
"Where is Wei Zhen?" I half-sat up from the quilt on the bed.
Shui Ling hesitated for a moment and said, "The prince will leave for Baihua City the day after tomorrow to lead a large army into battle. He's probably making final preparations for departure."
I sat on the bed, looking at my hands.
I stretched out my hands, then clenched them, and stretched them out again.
Looking at the deep lines on my palms, a trace of pain slowly overflowed from the bottom of my heart.
"Princess, please don't worry too much about the young prince. He's been fighting on the battlefield since he was sixteen. During those years, he stationed troops near Diaoyucheng and Poyangcheng in the south for a full five years before finally conquering the easily defended and difficult-to-attack southern city. The young prince's title of King of Pingnan wasn't inherited from the old prince, but from his own impressive military achievements. He possesses a wealth of combat experience; the small, backward nomadic Sayas are no match for him."
"So Wei Zhen went to the battlefield at the age of sixteen?" I said to myself.
Wei Zhen had a very hideous scar on his body, just below his left chest.
It looked like a penetrating wound caused by a sharp weapon like a crossbow or arrow, but every time I asked Wei Zhen about it, he would just smile and say it was just an ordinary scrape.
"The young prince lived and ate with the ordinary soldiers in the team for more than five years, until we captured the entire southern city and recaptured Lier City, the Lier Pass that we had lost for twelve years."
I sat on the edge of the bed and listened to Shui Ling tell me many stories about Wei Zhen's past that I had never known before.
I used to only know that Wei Zhen's aunt, Wei Bai's sister, was the Queen Chunmin, the mother of the country.
I originally thought that Wei Zhen was just a fun-loving person who spent all day catching crickets, but it turns out that he has done so many things for the Canglan Kingdom.
After chatting for a while, Shui Ling's expression suddenly became a little gossipy.
"Little Princess, I'm going to tell you a big secret. You can't tell anyone else." Shui Ling said to me mysteriously.
As a veteran who has been in the world for a long time, as soon as I saw her gossipy look, I knew that she must have some shocking news to share with me.
Shui Ling leaned over and whispered in my ear, "Actually, the reason the old prince took Yunniang as his concubine wasn't because of her beauty."
I was shocked. “Why is that?”
"...Yunniang accidentally overheard a conversation between Cui Cui and the old prince, and presumably knew some secrets. Cui Cui wanted to kill Yunniang to keep the case a mystery, but the old prince felt that Yunniang, a weak woman alone in the underworld, was truly pitiful, yet she was willing to take such a risk to protect you, who had gotten into trouble at the time. In a moment of remorse, the old prince took her in, saving her from certain death."
Then, I had new doubts.
"That's not right. I didn't discover the little prince's big secret. Why did you capture me and force me to get married?"
Speaking of this, Shui Ling burst out laughing.
"Capturing you for marriage was purely accidental. Didn't you pretend to be a ghost and scare the young prince in the middle of the night, and that's why he captured you and forced you to marry?"
I stared at Shui Ling unkindly for a long time before saying, "Go on, what other gossip is there about me?"
Shui Ling was probably happy, and she chattered endlessly.
"There's so much gossip about you, I can't finish it in a day... But, Princess, you have to know that many people covet your position."
Shui Ling said to me seriously, "But the gossip about you isn't all scandalous or funny. There's also some positive news."
"What do you mean, there's only one good piece of gossip about me?" I was shocked.
Shui Ling nodded seriously immediately. "Really? There's actually a piece of positive gossip about you. Isn't that strange?"
I curled my lips at Shui Ling.
"Why are you surprised that there's only one?"
Shui Ling ignored my complaints and continued, "Before marrying you, many of the ladies in the boudoir had rumors that the young prince had a violent temper and was difficult to get along with. But after you came into the family, the young prince treated you very well. Plus, our young prince is a dashing and charming man, so I heard that many prominent families are now interested in marrying him."
I had new doubts.
"But I am still the princess here. I don't think I will die anytime soon." I said, scratching my head.
Shui Ling covered her mouth and smiled.
"Everyone in the world knows that you like the young marquis. The young prince married you just to make him angry. After a while, when the young prince has had enough of making trouble, he will probably send you back to Baihua City. By then, the young prince will definitely marry another noble and beautiful woman from the boudoir as his official wife..."
(46) Wei Zhen
I sat blankly on the bed, staring at the intricate embroidery of auspicious dragons and phoenixes on the satin quilt.
"Everyone in the world knows that you like the young marquis. The young prince married you just to make him angry. After a while, when the young prince has had enough of making trouble, he will probably send you back to Baihua City. By then, the young prince will definitely marry another beautiful woman from a high-class family as his official wife..."
I thought about what Shui Ling had just said to me and became even angrier. I threw off the quilt, got out of bed, put on my coat, and rushed to Feiyu Hall where Wei Zhen lived.
As soon as I entered the door, I slapped Wei Zhen hard.
Wei Zhen stood there in a daze. For a moment, the room became eerily quiet.
The servants fled the room quietly and in a panic.
"Are you sick, Shang Shisan?"
Wei Zhen was slapped by me unexpectedly and seemed a little angry.
"Wow, wow, wow." When I heard Wei Zhen's words, I became impatient with me and even angrier. I squatted on the ground and started crying.
Wei Zhen watched me cry for a while before she came up to me and said patiently, "What's wrong with you, Thirteen? Are you still mad at my mom for beating you?"
I looked up and wiped the tears from my face with the back of my hand.
"They all said..." I said breathlessly, "They all said that sooner or later you would divorce me and marry another beautiful woman from a wealthy family, and that our relationship doesn't count."
After hearing what I said, Wei Zhen grinned, revealing a row of big white teeth and laughed.
"Who is it, so perceptive, able to reveal the secret in one sentence?" Wei Zhen walked up to me happily, pinching her waist, and gently touched the little me who was squatting on the ground and curled up in a ball with her foot.
"My lady, you finally realize your current situation."
When I heard what he said, I cried even harder.
"Wei Zhen, you bastard, you deserve to be struck to death by lightning, woo woo."
The more I cursed, the angrier I got, and the angrier I got, the more I cursed.
I stood up crying and took the case file on Wei Zhen's desk and asked him to handle it.
He threw all the pens, ink, paper and inkstone on Wei Zhen's desk at Wei Zhen.
Then I tried to overturn Wei Zhen's desk, but unfortunately, I couldn't lift the thick marble slab covering the sandalwood board.
I searched for a long time and finally saw the chair where Wei Zhen was sitting, panting.
I took a big step and rushed to the chair, picked it up and held it above my head, shouting: "I want to die with you, you bastard! I will beat you to death!"
Then I rushed towards Wei Zhen with the chair in my hand. In an instant, a tense atmosphere formed between Wei Zhen and me in the room.
Wei Zhen was running in front, and I was chasing him from behind holding a chair.
However, the only thing that ruined the tense atmosphere was that Wei Zhen was laughing wildly while running.
How exaggerated is his smile?
Even moving became difficult for him. He staggered and dodged my pursuit in the house with unstable breathing.
I chased him for a long time but couldn't catch up with him.
Wei Zhen was jumping up and down like a monkey. Every time I thought I had him in a desperate situation, he would always jump from one place to another.
I couldn't catch him at all.
Also, as time went on, my arms got so sore.
I put the chair on the ground with difficulty and clumsiness, holding my waist and breathing heavily.
"You, you, you, you just wait for me, Wei Zhen, sooner or later, I will kill you."
I felt that my breathing became very difficult, so I simply lay down on the ground and breathed heavily in an attempt to quickly recover my strength.
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