Chapter 44
Yaoying calmly said: “Can Zhu Luyun wait? Can His Majesty wait? And how long can Chief Yelu wait?”
The wedding date was getting closer and closer. She had sent people to inquire, and Zhu Luyun’s face was washed in tears all day long. How could Li Xuanzhen allow Zhu Luyun to continue being afraid all the time?
“Moreover, even if Wei Ming could think up a way to force me to agree, how could he guarantee that I would do it willingly?”
Yaoying said meaningfully, “If I had an accident, if I happeend to ruin my face, or if I unfortunately died…. As long as there is a small mistake, all of Wei Ming’s schemes and tricks are useless. You have no way to force me. In the entire Great Wei, only I can replace Princess Fukang.”
Li Xuanzhen’s face was gloomy.
Yaoying was worried about Li Zhongqian’s safety and did not want to drag things on with Li Xuanzhen, so she stood up and brushed the sleeves of her dress: “Your Highness the Crown Prince, please send the flying cavalry immediately. So long as my elder brother returns to the capital safely, I will keep my promise and marry. I am a person of my word and will not go back on it.
“I will only wait for half an incense stick1. After half an incense stick, if the flying cavalry doesn’t move, no matter how Wei Ming pressures me, I won’t marry even if I die.”
Li Xuanzhen’s thick eyebrows furrowed.
Yaoying did not say anything else to urge him. Standing aside, she waited for him to make a decision.
A short while later, she suddenly clutched her stomach tightly. She looked in pain, staggering two steps as blood spilled from her lips.
Li Xuanzhen was startled and tugged Yaoying’s arm, forcing her to lift her head: “What’s wrong with you?”
Yaoying’s face was pale and her body was trembling. Sweat soaked through layers of clothes, and there were even beads of sweat at her temples. Under the soft light coming from the lantern, her whole body looked like it was pulled out of water.
Li Xuanzhen half-embraced her, feeling that her soft body was rapidly becoming cold and without a trace of heat.
“Are you sick?”
A thin sheen of sweat appeared on the tip of his nose. He was slightly at a loss and gently patted Yaoying’s face.
Yaoying’s limbs were weak and soft. Leaning against him, she raised her hand to wipe away the blood on her lips and slowly raised her face.
Li Xuanzhen looked down at her.
Yaoying’s lips were reddened, and there wasn’t a trace of color on her face, but a smile gradually surfaced on her lips. While trembling lightly from pain, she said, “You agreed.”
Li Xuanzhen froze.
Yaoying was trembling, but on her gaunt and thin face full of sweat, with her teeth involuntarily chattering, was the most brilliant look that had appeared in the past few days.
“Li Xuanzhen, you’ve agreed to the deal.”
She could feel that she had once again changed Li Zhongqian’s destiny of dying in battle, so she was punished once again.
Elder brother was saved.
….
When Zheng Biyu saw Li Yaoying again, she was lying in Li Xuanzhen’s arms, breathless, her face slightly ashen.
“How did it become like this in the blink of an eye?”
Zheng Biyu looked at her husband with a stern look akin to a knife blade, “Did you hurt qiniang?”
Li Xuanzhen shook his head and put Yaoying down: “I didn’t hurt her. She suddenly coughed up blood for no reason.”
Zheng Biyu hurried Li Xuanzhen out and repeatedly asked for a doctor to come and treat Yaoying.
Li Xuanzhen turned to leave when he felt a tug on his sleeve.
He turned around.
Yaoying clutched his sleeve tightly, so hard her fingers were white. Lying on the edge of the bed, she weakly said, “Flying…. Flying cavalry….”
Li Xuanzhen looked at her, drawing back his sleeve expressionlessly.
“I’ve already had the flying cavalry depart.”
Yaoying slowly closed her eyes.
The doctor arrived shortly with a medicine box. He could not figure out what was wrong, and could only prescribe Yaoying medicine first to soothe her nerves.
Zheng Biyu was so anxious, afraid that something bad would happen to Yaoying, so she personally watched over her.
The next morning, Yaoying woke up from her deep sleep and struggled to get up from bed despite the doctor’s resistance.
She could not stay in the Eastern Palace for much longer.
Zheng Biyu had already learned of the deal between Yaoying and Li Xuanzhen. With a deep sigh, she helped her up, “Qiniang, have you really thought it through?”
Last night, Wei Ming and Li Xuanzhen had an argument.
Wei Ming did not want to save Li Zhongqian, but Li Xuanzhen insisted on saving him, and the two had argued until midnight.
Nevertheless, a servant from the princess’s residence was elated, hurrying back to the princess’s residence that very night to report the news. This morning, the palace attendants serving there came to deliver the news that Zhu Luyun was willing to eat.
Yaoying’s face was still as pale as snow, smiling with bitterness as she said: “Sister-in-law, under an overturned nest, how could there be an unharmed egg2? If my elder brother was truly killed in the river valley, my aniang and I will have no one to rely on. I will be meat on the chopping block. At that point, I won’t have anything to trade with.”
When the whole Xie clan died in the war, Noble Consort Xie lost her support, so the three mother and children could only be taken advantage of.
In order to protect her and aniang, Li Zhongqian abandoned literature for martial arts and followed Li De to fight in the wars on all sides, deterring those with evil intentions with his brutal and fierce reputation on the battlefield.
In the midst of chaos, Li Zhongqian gave her and Noble Consort Xie confidence.
Without her elder brother, she could either meekly marry in replacement or resist until she died.
Since the ending was the same either way, she might as well take the lead in this deal and exchange herself for Li Zhongqian’s safety.
As long as she could save her elder brother, Yaoying could sacrifice anything.
Zheng Biyu released a sigh and sent her out of the inner courtyard.
Li Xuanzhen was just returning from the princess’s residence, still in yesterday’s clothes, his expression neither good nor bad.
He looked at Yaoying and frowned lightly, “You’re sick. Why are you out of bed and walking around?”
Yaoying’s face was turning pale and she smiled weakly, “Eldest brother need not worry. As long as my elder brother is safe, I will keep my promise and complete the engagement between Great Wei and the Yelu tribe. Even if I’m going to die of illness, I will still last through until the day of the wedding banquet.”
Li Xuanzhen’s face was slightly sullen.
Yaoying slowed down, lifting her eyes up to look into Li Xuanzhen’s phoenix eyes that resembled Li Zhongqian’s.
“Li Xuanzhen, I bowed my head to you, made a deal with you, and kneeled to you, not because I felt that my aniang was guilty and that we owed you something, but only because that is the law of the jungle and I was forced to do so.
“I never thought it was my aniang who forced Empress Tang to die. The tragedy between them was an unfortunate and unexpected mistake made that could not be helped in the middle of a world in chaos. Second brother was even more innocent. He never hurt either of you. Only because he was my aniang’s son, because he threatened your position, you regarded him as a thorn in your side, and His Majesty took his anger out on him.”
Li Xuanzhen did not make a sound, watching Yaoying weakly get farther and farther away, the frail figure disappearing into the depths of the forest’s shade.
….
Yaoying used all her strength to walk out of the courtyard.
Xie Qing stepped forward quickly and helped her get into the carriage.
“Your Highness, back to the wangfu?”
Yaoying shook her head and spoke in a voice as delicate as silk: “No, let’s go into the palace.”
She was about to marry far away to the grasslands.
This departure would probably be a forever farewell.
Before leaving, some old scores and old debts had to be settled one by one.
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1 An incense stick is 30 minutes. Half an incense stick is 15 minutes.
2 The idiom is ‘there is no unharmed egg under an overturned nest’ which means that when a person suffers from disaster, others involved are not spared.