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It was the start of summer, and the lotus leaves in the pond were in full bloom.
Zheng Biyu was sitting in a cold and remote corridor to keep cool, listening to her maid’s report of the movements at the princess’s residence, and frowned: “The princess doesn’t want to marry again?”
The maid nodded and said, “His Highness the Crown Prince ordered the princess’s servants to be detained, torturing them to interrogate what kind of deal she had made with the Yelu tribe. They found the servant who encouraged the princess to have dealings with the Hu people was Grand Princess Yiqing’s loyal servant. He encouraged and coaxed the princess to incite the Yelu tribe in order to start a war, so that he could rescue Grand Princess Yiqing.”
”That loyal servant said that he originally wanted to help Princess Fukang take the position of Crown Princess….”
The maid paused.
Zheng Biyu calmly said: “Continue.”
The maid answered: “The servant said he wanted to use the relationship between Princess Fukang and His Highness the Crown Prince to influence the imperial court, but Princess Fukang was useless. He could only take a risk and encourage Princess Fukang to ally with the Hu people, deceiving her that he would help her to restore the country. When she married to the grassland, His Highness the Crown Prince would definitely send troops to rescue her, then he would have the opportunity to fish in troubled waters.”
”The princess learned the truth, locked herself in the room, and refused all water and rice.”
A touch of mockery flashed through Zheng Biyu’s eyes.
At first, she insisted on marrying. Now, knowing she was cheated, she didn’t want to marry anymore.
In her eyes, the important matter of diplomatic relations was equivalent to child’s play.
It was a pity that the Yelu tribe was so savage and calculating, not so easy to dismiss. Now that various parties and forces were involved, and even Southern Chu had come in to intervene, she regretted too late.
……
In the princess’s residence, Li Xuanzhen finished interrogating the Grand Princess Yiqing’s servant. His handsome face was covered with a layer of gloom.
The advisor asked, “Your Highness, what should be done with this lowly slave?”
Li Xuanzhen didn’t say a word and pulled out his sword.
With a flash of dazzling light, the servant instantly lost his voice.
The blood spurted out and wet the corner of Li Xuanzhen’s sleeve and his robe’s hem.
Several advisors in the room looked at each other, their faces full of surprise.
With a clang, Li Xuanzhen threw away his blood stained sword and went to find Zhu Luyun.
The guards broke open the door. Zhu Luyun was hugging her knees and hiding on the inner side of the bed, motionless, with a pale face.
Li Xuanzhen walked to the bedside, the blood from the hem of his clothes dripping onto the floor.
”You colluded with the Hu people?” His voice was surprisingly cold, “Yun niang, you are the princess of Great Wei, the direct bloodline of the Zhu clan, and you actually colluded with the Hu people?”
Zhu Luyun had lied to him; she had indeed made a deal with the Yelu tribe.
When the Zhu clan pledged their life to defend the Xiao Pass to prevent the powerful Hu tribe’s iron horsemen from going south, how many Zhu clan’s sons spilled their blood on Liupan Mountains?
She actually colluded with the Hu people!
Zhu Luyun trembled and lifted up her face: “I can sacrifice everything for the sake of restoring the country. Isn’t your Li family allying with the Hu people now? Why can’t I cooperate with the Hu people?”
Li Xuanzhen’s anger intensified: “You’re making an alliance? You’re plotting treason!”
She was stubborn, arrogant, extreme, and would do anything to get revenge. Even if one disregarded that, she shouldn’t have promised to give Helong1 to the Yelu tribe after restoring the country!
Zhu Luyun lips were white without a trace of blood: “Your father forced me! He sent his men to monitor me so I can’t take even a step out of Chang’an! Without cooperating with the Yelu tribe, I am basically unable to leave Chang’an!”
She gave a cold laugh.
”When my mother wanted to take me and escape to Quanzhou, it was your Li family that stopped my mother. Li Xuanzhen, I am not a princess of Great Wei, I am a prisoner of your Li family! I would rather cooperate with the Hu people than be imprisoned by your Li family for the rest of my life.”
Li Xuanzhen was silent for a moment, his phoenix eyes slightly lowered: “You also know that your mother wanted to escape to Quanzhou, wanting to go to the sea. Your mother is a woman. If she were not desperate, why would she want to go to sea alone?”
Zhu Luyun’s mother was a concubine of the palace, and knew better than anyone what would happen to the children of the previous emperor’s concubines if they fell into the hands of people with ill intentions.
How miserable were the deaths of the imperial concubines abandoned by the emperor in Chang’an?
The Li family saved her, raised her, gave her a place of shelter. Li De did exploit her, but also gave her the honor and glory of a princess, without ever having the intention to kill her.
Did she think that escaping from Chang’an would set her free?
What awaited her would only be a cruel and bloody massacre.
Zhu Luyun twisted her face away, her thin lips tensely pursed.
Exhaustion surfaced on Li Xuanzhen’s face. He massaged his temple and turned to leave.
When he reached the door, a suppressed sob came from behind him.
”Brother Changsheng….” Zhu Luyun turned her back to him and wiped the corners of her eyes, “I don’t really want to give the Xiao Pass to the Hu. I just want to leave Chang’an…”
Her alliance with the Yelu tribe was only a temporary measure. She wanted to leave the Li family, to save her aunt, to restore her country. When the attendant advised her to cooperate with the Hu, she agreed.
Li Xuanzhen was the son of her enemy and couldn’t marry her so why did it matter who she would marry?
She didn’t think that the servant had been deceiving her. The retainer’s allegiance was to the Grand Princess Yiqing. She was merely a pawn to the attendant.
Li Xuanzhen walked out without looking back.
In front of the door, Zhu Luyun’s maid fell at his feet and cried: “Your Highness, the princess has been tricked! You must save her! The princess is so noble and delicate, how can she be married off to the barbaric Hu tribe?”
Li Xuanzhen closed his eyes, shook off the maid, and walked away without a word.
The advisor hurriedly followed.
The master and servant returned to the Eastern Palace and had just stepped into the corridor when they heard the sound of an argument coming from the study.
Wei Ming was still discussing with the others about the candidate for the replacement.
Li Xuanzhen slowly strolled to the row of windows and watched through the gap.
There were five or six people in the room, all of whom were his trusted aides.
Qin Fei stood in the corner, persuading in a lowered voice, “Princess Fukang is of high status, and the Seventh Princess is also a golden branch and jade leaves. How can we make the Seventh Princess suffer on her behalf when Princess Fukang made a fool of herself?”
Wei Ming glared at him, hating that iron could not become steel, “The Seventh Princess is the Second Prince’s full-blooded younger sister!”
Qin Fei’s anger instantly turned timid.
Wei Ming raised his hand to signal, and a young chamberlain came forward with a lacquer tray. He first picked up a stack of blank papers and indicated Qin Fei and the others to pass them around.
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1 Helong is basically the all of the dark green area all the way to the left. A large and geographically important piece of land.