[Alternate t.i.tle: Marquis Pingbei
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It was another new day, and the Xirong outside the city gate, after a night of renovations, were once again becoming active. They"re also quite arrogant, not having the slightest bit of worry towards the army of the Central Plains, as they set up camp in an area no less than ten li away. They likely know that these Central Plainsmen wouldn"t dare to act too rashly.
And that was true. Even Zhongli Luo"s father, Zhongli Qing, had never dealt with such a large-scale Xirong attack at the former Marquis Zhenguo"s side way back when, let alone the youths of today.
Zhongli Luo was dressed in battle armor as she went to check the situation over from a tower in the city gate. The soldiers who serve her are fortunate, as they knew that this Major General was fearsome and had cut down countless Xirong before, being even stronger than their mascot Grand Marshal Prince. Everyone felt a bit calmer when she was keeping watch and wouldn"t completely lose their spirits. Were that morale to dissipate, the city wouldn"t be far from falling, too.
The Xirong haven"t managed to beat their way in, yet they look just like they"re determined to do so and victory is right in their grasp.
These barbaric nomads have always been like this, forever pillaging and plundering as they fight. Such behavior is completely shameful yet very effective, as it provided ample food, treasures, and a heap of Han women for them to play around with.
Facing such bull-headed foes gives Zhongli Luo a ma.s.sive headache.
The last time the Xirong had gotten into the South was fifty years ago, and the citizens who had gone through it were now very old. That written history of blood and tears seeming so far away from everyone when, in reality, it was so very close, had every individual on edge. They wanted to flee before the Xirong broke in, but they can only think of doing so without actually being able to. The state is recruiting troops from everywhere, dispatching them squad by squad to the Northwestern battlefield.
While everyone else is panicking, Rong Jiahui appears to be inexplicably calm. All she did was sit around in her room all day, bored to death as she embroidered flowers. Today, it"s Chinese roses, and tomorrow, it"ll be peonies. By the time Zhongli Luo gets back, she"ll probably be able to open a store.
She also read a few books with all her idle time. The last time the Xirong went South is already considered an event from the previous Dynasty. The Emperor of that vanquished state was a major idiot and ill-suited for the position. Well… he wasn"t really stupid, he was just too hasty. He tried in vain to do things in his limited lifespan that would take hundreds of years to do properly, letting the people suffer unspeakable hardships, and in the end, he still earned a reputation for being ruthless, leading to the establishment of the current Dynasty. There was likely also some contribution from the mess the Xirong made.
There"s not a thing she can do regarding the war. Since she"s returned, she"s started to catch up with people. Yang Qianyu"s husband who only knew how to spew pretty words, the Blest Prince, had been dispatched to act as the Grand Marshal of the Realm [1] and boost morale in the Northwest. According to her words, after the Prince received the imperial order, his face went white with fright, and he wasn"t very quick on the road there.
However, the new Emperor understood that there"s currently no one in the court who is genuinely qualified for that position. At least this young uncle of his is – apart from being good-looking – outstandingly self-aware, obedient, and not likely to stir up trouble.
Rong Jiaze is right at the age of sixteen, and it"s right time for him to start yearning to go to the battlefield to chop off heads and sprinkle blood everywhere and thinking of rushing off to the frontlines all day long. The slap his dad gave him nearly called forth his death. Rong Chen had always believed that a daughter was a treasure to be held in the palm of one"s hand and cherished while a son was merely a tool to be used to carry on one"s family line, but that doesn"t mean that he doesn"t dote on that son at all. How could he allow him to go and throw his life away?
Jiaze tried to sneak out several times, and each time was successfully caught and brought back by his dad, who had experience from his daughter"s run-off. Then he was locked up.
The war in the Northwest continued on for more than two years, both sides persistently drawing it out just to see who would die first from using up resources. Fortunately, it ended with this Dynasty"s total victory, though both sides had countless deaths and injuries…
It was monsoon season again when everyone finally hoped they would return.
The Rong family went with the large procession headed by His Majesty to go and welcome the huge army that was returning in triumph.
Jiahui was safely stationed at the entrance to the city as she breathed a sigh of relief.
Having not seen her for two years, Zhongli Luo had gotten a little thinner and a lot tanner. Jiahui is far away, yet could still catch a glimpse of her, and Zhongli Luo was also very quick to capture her own figure. She smiles at her, the sight of which warms Jiahui"s heart.
The Blest Prince hadn"t expected that the Emperor would come to welcome them in person, and he quickly got down from his carriage. He barely had the time to say “Your Majesty”, and didn"t get to kneel down, as the young Emperor had stopped him.
“Imperial Uncle! Please accept your nephew"s salute.”
After that, the Emperor"s knees bent as he really did plan to keel. The Blest Prince wouldn"t dare to accept this. He was a feeble scholar, but some strength came out of nowhere from within him as he firmly propped his stronger and taller nephew up.
Following the two"s exchanging of a few polite words, Blest Prince Xiao Ding very honestly brought up the subject of Zhongli Luo, who was standing behind him.
The Prince turned around to look at her as he spoke. “Your Majesty, this great victory was all due to the brilliant command of General Zhongli. This servant wouldn"t dare to take the credit for himself.”
Of course he wouldn"t steal credit. It would affect his pride as a literati. On the battlefield, he didn"t do anything outside of what he was told to do for fear of doing something wrong. There"s that thousand-year-old joke about Zhao Kuo being an armchair general; as for him, he didn"t even have an armchair, and wouldn"t dare to give arbitrary orders.
The Emperor had matured a lot in these two years. There was no change in his appearance, but he was devoid of that look he had like he was a duck being forced to perch in a tree. “Don"t be modest, Uncle,” he said with a smile, “Everyone in the land admires your ability to strategize.”
At that, he looked at Zhongli Luo. “General Zhongli, is it?”
“I don"t deserve such praise.”
Taking in her appearance, the Emperor had a random feeling that he seemed to have spoken with her before. Pondering this, he suddenly said, “We seem to remember… that General Zhongli had a tiny wish?”
Zhongli Luo startled, her face going uncontrollably red after she thought of what he was talking about. She hadn"t expected that the extremely busy Emperor would remember such a thing…
Upon seeing this only twenty or so, brilliantly talented young General turn red in the face, the Emperor can"t help but laugh. He had been childish at that time; his father"s neck was broken and he was overworked, yet this person could still bashfully ask to be granted a marriage, hence why he said what he did.
“Back then, we were younger and less sensible, and made a joke with you. Please don"t blame us, General,” said the Emperor.
A joke? He made the entire Rong Estate be so cheerless for such a long time, and now he"s saying that it was just a joke?
“I wouldn"t dare to,” she replied.
“That"s good.”
She had waited for such a long for something she didn"t need to wait for and now she feels stupid. This Emperor is truly worthy of being the Retired one"s son, each of them having their own defects. What was he playing around with her for?
Though there"s probably only one death-seeking person in the world like Mu Qian, the Emperor was obviously terrified by his dad"s devastation via a broken neck. During the celebration feast, he had two personal Imperial Guards stationed on either side of him so not a single strand of hair on his head could even be injured. With that worry away, the mood was harmonious and warm.
In Court the next day, the Emperor"s decree on everyone"s conferred t.i.tle came down. Among them was Zhongli Luo, who obtained the t.i.tle of Marquis Pingbei [2].
Jiahui couldn"t believe the news when she heard it. Marquis Dingyuan [3] had somehow become Marquis Pingbei! On that matter, before she died in her last life, there was nothing about the Xirong infiltrating the South. It"s all changed so much, and here it"s changing again. This is really starting to be commonplace.
Yet she had no time to be happy for Zhongli Luo, as she was summoned to the palace by Her Majesty the Empress.
She"s the same age as Her Majesty, but they"d never met in the past. She didn"t understand the intentions behind the Empress"s summons for a while, but if Her Majesty wants to see her, how could she refuse? She has no choice but to obediently go and have audience with her.
However, after the entered the Empress"s quarters, she discovered that, aside from the Empress herself, there was another person at her side that wanted to see her. She merely snuck a peek at them only to jump in fright, her knees going weak, and she quickly knelt down. “This lowly woman"s surname is Rong, and she greets Your Majesty and the Queen Mother.”
The Empress took in her overcautious look and smiled. “Be at ease. Bai Zhi, get Young Miss Rong a seat.”
A palace maid next to Empress gave her affirmative. “Yes.”
Jiahui had just taken her seat, trembling all over, when the Emperor spoke up. “There is no need to be so polite, Young Miss Rong. On that matter, we might be the one to call you our elder cousin.”
Hearing that, Jiahui goes blank. Cousin? How on earth is she his cousin? When did she ever have such a lofty relative?
Her reaction came half a day later; this was probably due to her relationship with her aunt, except… in this world, only the sons and daughters of concubines that are recognized by the first-wife mother count as relatives. [4] How could a proper, first-wife born eldest son recognize his father"s concubine as a relative?
Even so, this Emperor is willing to acknowledge the relation, and she, the meager daughter of Marquis Zhenguo, can"t think of anything to say. The only thing she can do is recite that fundamentally useless phrase of ‘I wouldn"t dare".
“This lowly woman wouldn"t dare,” she says.
Upon hearing that phrase, the Emperor laughs once more.
“That Marquis Pingbei is also one who usually stops up his mouth with ‘I wouldn"t dare",” he says. “You two are the same on that point.”
Hearing the abrupt mention of Zhongli Luo has her even more confused about his intentions. Not only that, but His Majesty has been watching her this whole time, and his gaze makes her back p.r.i.c.kle with thorns.
“This is something we were wondering about before,” the Emperor continues, “this Marquis Pingbei"s intended woman… how must she look, to have him be so head over heels in love with her and refusing to marry any other woman? Now that we"ve seen you, cousin, we"re starting to understand a bit…”
Jiahui feels somewhat mystified. Her head hangs down, and she still can"t find any words to reply to to His Majesty calling her ‘cousin". She can"t help but make random guesses at what his ultimate meaning is.
The Empress saw this and smiled. “Your Majesty, do you not have any shame, talking to your cousin like this? Were you not just bringing us here to meet her, in any case? Did you actually want to get a look at her appearance and temperament to grant them their marriage? Now that you"ve seen them, and they"re both of top quality, are you still going to grant it or not?”
If the father-son pair were both the type to like girls who look like this, and also the type to like s.n.a.t.c.hing people from Generals, then she and the Empress Dowager would be really depressed.
The Emperor grasped her hand, smiling as he looked at her. “My love, to all that you"ve said just now, I"ll say that it has no meaning. We just wanted to keep teasing her.”
It"s hard to have a bit of fun as he likes when he"s preoccupied with government business all day long.
Jiahui startles. A long time later, she finally managed to react, and quickly knelt down with happy surprise. “This lowly woman thanks His Majesty for granting her marriage.”
She was clearly afraid that the other was the type to go back on his word.
What the Emperor says is law, and what"s been said cannot be taken back, so he naturally wouldn"t be able to go back on it. Jiahui successfully returned home in the end with an imperial edict.
After that, she finally realized that the Emperor calling her cousin was probably because of Zhongli Luo, and him wanting to rope her in.
How could she not see it? In her previous life, when she and Zhongli Luo didn"t have that level of relationship, wasn"t the Retired Emperor Whose Neck Wasn"t Broken wanting to marry her to his own younger cousin? It"s thanks to her early start, then, and a lesson learned from the mistake with Mu Qian, that no one dares to break up a pair of lovers again.
The translator says: *Emperor voice* haha it was just a prank bro
[1] lit. Grand Marshal of All the Land"s Troops. This is the highest military rank one can have.
[2] Means roughly ‘calmer of the North". So on the nose!
[3] Means roughly ‘order (in a) faraway (place)". So boring!
[4] In inner-court politics, concubines and their children have much fewer rights than a first-wife and her children. Often, these concubine-children must call the first-wife ‘Mother" (when she recognizes them as her own) and their own mother ‘Concubine (surname)" or some such.