Chapter 463 – Pengxin (2)
“I had you come here because I wouldn’t feel comfortable if anyone else was entrusted with this. I need you to bring a person back to the capital. While you’re here, look at this letter from Yuzhen’s king.”
Ning Yuxuan was stunned, but his expression didn’t change. “Why would Yuzhen’s king write a letter to you?”
“Probably because I kidnapped a Yuzhen princess during the past half year,” Ning Mingjie answered with a serious face, “And, I can’t send her back.”
Ning Yuxuan didn’t know what he meant by not being able to send her back. But, at the mention of a Yuzhen princess, he was reminded of Pengyue. Yuzhen probably despised Great Song. Pengyue had been Yuzhen’s precious princess. Yuzhen had even lent her soldiers to help Zhao Li seize the throne.
It wasn’t possible for Great Song to lose against Yuzhen in battle. After all, they would win just from sheer number of soldiers. The military report from the borderlands had been falsified. Ning Mingjie had already accumulated 180,000 soldiers under his command during this time.
This was the last weapon they needed to turn Zhao Zhe into a puppet leader.
Ning Mingjie had already placed the letter on the table. Ning Yuxuan carefully opened it to read. He didn’t whether to laugh or cry after reading the contents.
Was Yuzhen a country that had lost its mind to love? In-laws were a more important connection than blood relatives. Yuzhen’s princess, Pengxin, had fallen in love with Ning Mingjie. And, Yuzhen’s king was actually willing to allow Ning Mingjie to set whatever conditions he wanted – such as borrowing soldiers or land, or even seceding part of the capital to him – as long Ning Mingjie was willing to marry Pengxin.
Was kind of nonsensical joke was this? If Ning Mingjie married Pengxin at this juncture, what excuse could they use to force the emperor to hand over his remaining military power to Ning Mingjie?
Ning Mingjie had truly gone to borderland to battle, but he had also used underhanded means to kidnap Yuzhen’s princess to force them to surrender. Yuzhen’s army had retreated a long distance, but he wasn’t able to return their princess back. Killing her would be a disaster, letting her stay… was also a disaster.
Pengxin was even more impressive than Pengyue. At the time, she had thrown a three-ring large sword into a table and demanded that Ning Mingjie marry her.
After having experienced two unhappy weddings, Ning Mingjie already thought poorly of marriage. However, winning the war was a higher priority, and it would be the best possible outcome if Yuzhen was willing to cooperate. At worst, he would just send the princess to his estate in the capital first, then he could sit down to have a proper discussion about cooperation with Yuzhen’s king.
If that was the result that he wanted, then he needed to find a person to bring the princess to the capital first. If something happened to her on the journey there, then Yuzhen would do all it could to settle this new score along with the one for Pengyue’s death. If she could be sent off to the capital successfully, then it would be easy to reach an agreement for the battlefield situation in the borderlands.
After Ning Yuxuan finished reading the letter, he stroked his chin and looked at Ning Mingjie from top to bottom for a long time before finally saying, “Older cousin, your face is truly very valuable.”
Ning Mingjie’s expression blackened.
Ning Yuxuan dryly coughed a few times and continued, “Alright then, give that person to me. Also, this long letter is an imperial edict. Look, it has Yuzhen’s emperor’s seal. You should take care when you put it away.”
The two of them knew what they each had to do afterwards. After they finished quietly discussing top-secret information, Ning Mingjie put on his hat to leave.
Before Ning Mingjie left, he turned his head and looked at Marquis Moyu as he asked, “Hey, I heard that Sangyu is pregnant again. Congratulations.”
Ning Yuxuan smiled and nodded. “She’s resting in the next room. Do you want to go see her?”
Ning Mingjie consider for a long time before chuckling and turning around. “No, no need.”
It would better to not see her.
The boat turned around and prepared to leave for the capital. Marquis Moyu had planned the timing of this trip perfectly. During the month he was gone, Zhao Zhe had flipped tablets for the women he would sleep with. Of the women chosen, four of them were women that Ning Yuxuan had sent into the palace.
When Xuwu had left with Haohao, he had given him four bottles of treasure. It was four types of herbs that when mixed together would become a slow-acting poison. A poison that couldn’t be detected by the imperial physicians was a rare treasure.
It could be considered not a waste.
When Ning Yuxuan returned to the capital, he would resume control over the important matters in the imperial court and act as a low-key, helpful official. While he waited for the emperor’s health to gradually deteriorate, he would control the overall situation. By the time the emperor finally died, there wouldn’t be any panic in the country. He would assist the neglected fourth prince in ruling the country while the fourth prince sat on the throne and played with a slingshot.
In other words, although he had to follow his clan’s law in not taking the throne for himself, he was allowed to take down the last remaining emperor that would have a grudge against him.
—
When Ji Man woke up, she saw a young woman sitting by her bed. She looked huffy, but also very happy.
When the young woman saw her opening her eyes, she curiously stared at her and asked, “My name is Pengxin. What’s your name?”
“My name is… Ji Man.” Ji Man was a bit muddled-headed from her sleep. She felt confused when she saw this vaguely familiar-looking person.
Marquis Moyu came inside with a bowl of soup. He swept his gaze over Pengxin, and she instinctively moved aside. For some unknown reason, she felt a bit fearful of him.
“The reason behind this trip was to come here to pick her up.” Ning Yuxuan gently sat down on the bed and fed the soup to Ji Man, spoonful by spoonful. “She’s Yuzhen’s princess.”
Ji Man choked on a mouthful of soup. She couldn’t resist looking at Pengxin.
No wonder this young woman had looked familiar. She did look a bit similar to Pengyue, but she seemed bolder than Pengyue.
Wait, pick up Yuzhen’s princess? Ji Man widened her eyes as she looked at Ning Yuxuan. “Is that battle with Yuzhen over?”
“It’s continuing,” Ning Yuxuan seriously replied, “The war will continue for one more month before it’s okay for it to end.”
Translator Ramblings: At first I was thinking, isn’t it weird that there are so many undetectable and incurable poisons? But, I think it makes sense that the known poisons outnumber the known antidotes. It’s much easier to figure out that something has a harmful effect, then to find a cure for it or to identify the exact poison, especially since they didn’t have any high-tech medical equipment back then.