Chapter 62: Being Caught Unawares by Sudden Changes
If they paid attention, all the people present could hear the wrath in Jun Wuhen’s words.
Looking at Luoyan who had no fear, they all had their own thoughts.
Luoyan directly looked at Jun Wuhen in the eyes without a streak of cowardice: “If I won the game, I hope that Lord Chengxi can grant the marriage to me and General Ye Zhaojue!”
After listening to Luoyan’s words, the Royal Garden was silent for a while. Jun Wuhen tried hard to resist the anger. He did not expect Luoyan to not know good from bad. When he gave her a step, she actually didn’t care about it at all.
He thought that Luoyan would become his own concubine, but he did not expect that Luoyan’s heart has already belonged to someone. If it were someone else, he could approve them, but this person was Ye Zhaojue.
How could Jun Wuhen make a decision? Since Ye Zhaojue has already held the military power, if Luoyan married to Ye Zhaojue, they would pose a huge threat to him.
But he never allowed potential dangers emerge!
Looking at Jun Wuhen’s unpredictable expression, Luoyan also knew Jun Wuhen’s thoughts, while she was going to marry Ye Zhaojue, she couldn’t have no preparation!
“Presumably, Lord Chengxi still doesn’t know. In our Mobei, there is a rule that if a woman in Mobei is taken away by someone, she will follow that man in the rest of her life.” Looking at Jun Wuhen who was deep in thought, Luoyan slowly said.
“And when I was fighting with General Ye, I was taken away by him. This is the truth that all people of Mobei know. My imperial father also let me come here because of this. In addition to Ye Zhaojue, I, Luoyan, will not marry someone else!” Luoyan’s voice was powerful and rousing which was echoing in the Royal Garden.
As for what kinds of effect these words would cause, Luoyan didn’t care. She only cared about Ye Zhaojue who she has long admired.
Bai Aoxue looked at Luoyan who stared at her uncle with sparkling eyes. Her uncle was shocked by the words of Luoyan at the same time. His innumerable feelings were beyond words.
But Bai Aoxue knew that he actually had feelings for Luoyan. It was just that he didn’t realize it. After all, he had battles against Luoyan for several times. Besides, no one would dislike a lady like Luoyan.
How could Jun Wuhen who sat on the throne not understand the meaning of Luoyan? If it weren’t because of Ye Zhaojue, perhaps Luoyan would not come to Chengxi in her entire life.
If he insisted on granting marriage, he could only choose Ye Zhaojue, because in addition to Ye Zhaojue, Luoyan wouldn’t accept other people. If he firmly made a tough decision, Mobei that just made overtures for peace would definitely regret.
This wasn’t what Jun Wuhen wanted to see. However, once he thought that Luoyan would marry Ye Zhaojue, he refused to resign himself to defeat!
“Princess Luoyan, words must be done. You can rest assured that if you can win this game, I will definitely grant you a marriage, but if you lose…” Jun Wuhen looked Luoyan in pensiveness.
Luoyan understood what Jun Wuhen meant without saying it. She faintly nodded: “If I lose, I will never get married in my life. I am going to profess to Buddhism and live on a vegetarian from then on!”
When Luoyan said that, the crowd was turbulent. No one had thought that Luoyan was such an uncalculating and sentimental woman, while they also had to admire her decisiveness.
After Jun Wuhen listened to Luoyan’s words, he was a little relieved, but he wouldn’t believe that Luoyan wouldn’t get married if she lost. He had ways to let Luoyan surrender to him!
Besides, since the ladies of Chengxi were so outstanding, he was not worried that Luoyan would win.
Thinking of this, Jun Wuhen was also relaxed and then swept those girls present. This time, there were some daughters of officials and also those of merchants. Jun Wuhen, who was confident, faintly smiled.
“Princess Luoyan, you don’t have to do that. If you lose, I can also grant you a marriage.” Jun Wuhen pretended to care about her.
Luoyan looked at Jun Wuhen’s hypocritical appearance coldly and said: “Thank you for your concern, but the children of Mobei shouldn’t go back their words. I appreciate your kindness, but I must decline your offer, Lord Chengxi!”
Hearing Luoyan’s words, Jun Wuhen no longer said more. He nodded and said: “Well, I won’t force you, Princess Luoyan. Now, the competition officially starts. You are free to show your talents.” Jun Wuhen said with great interest.
When his words fell, all the women were excited and couldn’t wait to show their talents and skills.
“Cangsheng, you go to count them one by one in order.” Looking at those excited women downstairs, Jun Wuhen faintly commanded.
But his eyes were looking at Bai Aoxue who was unmoved.
Cangsheng replied after hearing Jun Wuhen’s order: “Yes, I’m going to do it!”
At this time, Qi Liange, who had been neglected, said: “It is not appropriate if no one remarks on this talent competition. I have a suggestion here and I hope that Your Majesty could hear.”
“Please say it, Prince Peerless.” Jun Wuhen agreed since he didn’t care about the advice of Qi Liange at all.
“In order to be fair, after the talent competition, everyone in the room has the right to choose his or her favorite. In the end, the lady who gets most supporters wins. Do you agree with me, Lord Chengxi?” Qi Liange said with a faint smile.
When those people present listened to the idea of Qi Liange, they all nodded and praised, thinking that Qi Liange’s idea was great.
Jun Wuhen also approved when he saw many people agree with him. Those people present were all his officials anyway. He was not afraid of any accidents.
In this way, time flew through performances of official ladies one after another.
Just when everyone felt bored, a beautiful figure appeared before everyone’s eyes.
Bai Aoxue looked at the woman in the center who was misty like the rain in the south of the Yangtze region. That dreamlike face made people feel unreal, and the tender green dress that she wore had a quite elegant flavor. Her smooth hair was arbitrarily braided on her shoulder, which made people show their tender love even more. The original cold expression was softened. No one had thought that Luoyan, who took off her armor and put on women’s clothes of Chengxi, could be so gentle and delicate.
And the men present were all stunned. Bai Aoxue knew that everything was going to be controlled by Luoyan now.
Holding a pipa in her hand, Luoyan seated on the chair that was prepared in advance. She faced Ye Zhaojue and then slowly played pipa.
The beautiful and gentle melody was so fascinating.
Lightly opening her rosy lips, Luoyan looked at Ye Zhaojue in obsession and began to sing.
What a beautiful night is this?
Drifting down midstream of the river.
What a graceful day is this?
Same Boat with the prince.
So grateful for the fondness
To meet with your gracious consent.
I’m thrilled and my heart beat like a hammer
To even get to see you, my dear Prince.
Trees live on mountains and branches live on trees
And there’s my heart live for you,
But you never know.
Luoyan sang very slowly, while she made everyone feel the love and sorrow in her heart. It was a kind of sadness that she liked a person while he didn’t pay attention to her.
Some of the official ladies even cried because of her song. Bai Aoxue was also moved when she listened to that song, while Ye Zhaojue’s shocked expression made Bai Aoxue set aside her feelings.
Presumably, uncle maybe understood Luoyan’s feelings towards him!
After Luoyan sang that song, thunderous applause sounded in unison, only Jun Wuhen who sat on the throne suddenly changed his face.
“The song of Princess Luoyan is really good!”
“I didn’t expect that Princess Luoyan would be so good at singing. Look at the appearance of Princess Luoyan now! Who can imagine that she is the woman who entered battle to fight the enemy?”
“It’s so melodic.”
The talking voices of people also annoyed Jun Wuhen, and he also knew that Luoyan really would rank the first.
But as soon as he thought that there were still a few people behind Luoyan, he continued to see the competition, making a last attempt to save the hopeless situation.
Bai Aoxue knew that Luoyan had a strong opponent—Su Mengrou.
Although Su Mengrou was badly behaved, the men of Chengxi all regarded her as a dream lover.
Just when Bai Aoxue was thinking, Su Mengrou appeared. This time, Su Mengrou played a guqin song called Courtship. Together with her pitiful appearance, she indeed was qualified to attract men.
Bai Aoxue did not want to see the performance of Su Mengrou, while she found that Su Mengrou frequently glanced at Jun Yeyan. She confirmed that she didn’t read the love in Su Mengrou’s eyes wrong.
This discovery shocked Bai Aoxue. Jun Yeyan still had admirers even he was described by people like that. It seemed that Jun Yeyan once let the cat out of the bag.
But Bai Aoxue didn’t like the way which Su Mengrou looked at Jun Yeyan. She was extremely unhappy about it.
There were few people clapping after Su Mengrou finished her performance.
At the end of this performance, Bai Aoxue knew that this talent competition had no suspense. Luoyan and Su Mengrou were all determined to win. Now everyone only waited for Cangsheng to count votes.
“Bravo! The performance is really wonderful. This is a real eye-opener!” However, only Jun Wuhen himself was clear about the anxiety in his mind.
“His Majesty, I venture to ask a question which could be solved by Miss Bai.” Su Mengrou walked out of the group being neither haughty nor humble and then saluted to Jun Wuhen.
Looking at Su Mengrou’s appearance, Jun Wuhen was obviously also very interested in Su Mengrou’s question: “What do you want to ask?”
Bai Aoxue heard that Su Mengrou mentioned her and then slightly narrowed her eyes. She waited to see what kind of tricks Su Mengrou wanted to play.
When Su Mengrou saw that Jun Wuhen agreed, she went to Bai Aoxue and then said with her head raising: “Miss Bai, why did everyone show their talents except you? Do you think it is right that you don’t respect His Majesty?”
When everyone listened to Su Mengrou’s words, they also found that all those unmarried women present performed only except Bai Aoxue.
After listening to Su Mengrou’s words, Bai Aoxue sneered: “You really pin a serious label on me. Miss Su wants that first place, while I don’t. Besides, I’m going to marry 5th prince. Is it appropriate if I go to compete talents with you? Miss Su, is this a flagrant provocation?”
In the last sentence Bai Aoxue made an unquestionable doubt, which made everyone feel that Su Mengrou was meant to provoke.
When Su Mengrou listened to Bai Aoxue’s words, her face went pale. She originally wanted to let Bai Aoxue be blamed, but she forgot the truth that Bai Aoxue was going to married Jun Yeyan.
Just when Su Mengrou couldn’t explain her intention anyway, Cangsheng almost finished counting votes. Jun Wuhen was concern about the result above everything. He must put an end to all unexpected results!
“Your Majesty, I’ve gotten the result. The winner is…” When Cangsheng was just about to announce the result and everyone was very much looking forward to it, there was a woman’s scream that broke the quiet atmosphere all of a sudden.
“Ah!”
Bai Aoxue turned her head and found that blackish blood was overflowing from the corner of Jun Yeyan’s mouth. He fell straightly to the ground!