TMBM Chapter 124: Acknowledgment
September 27, 2022mich
Bisha’s face changed, and he reassured Yaoying: “Princess need not be afraid. Haidu Aling is alone and does not dare to act recklessly.”
After saying that, he turned and quickly left.
Yaoying calmed herself down and took refuge in the hidden room on the second floor as she waited for news.
Not long after, the guards returned and told Yaoying that Haidu Aling was now in the royal palace.
He did not flee last night after his defeat but found a place to rest and recuperate for the night. This morning, he appeared, swaggering through the relay station’s door, saying that he had met bandits on his way back to the Northern Rong. All his personal soldiers had died, so he asked the Royal Court to send him horses and rations and for some people to escort him back to their encampment.
Xie Chong rubbed his fist: “This man is truly daring. Is he not afraid that we will murder him?”
Yaoying frowned.
Haidu Aling was full of courage—this was to retreat as an advance. He had no personal guards left; afraid that Sultan Gu would hunt him down, he simply used his identity as an envoy to ask the Royal Court to send him back to the Northern Rong. In this way, he will not be afraid that the Royal Court will secretly kill him. He also made an alibi for his intrusion into the royal palace last night.
As expected, the guards came to pass on the message that Haidu Aling was an emissary of the Northern Rong, so the court ministers did not want to cause trouble and had prepared horses for him.
The guard said: “Princess, Prince Haidu Aling said he wanted to see you before he left and say a few words. General Ashina said that you can go or not.”
Xie Chong and the others jumped to their feet, their faces turning red: “In his dreams!”
Yaoying pondered for a moment and stood up.
Let’s meet. Haidu Aling could not do anything to her now. She wanted to know Haidu Aling’s true purpose.
Haidu Aling changed his attire: his braided hair draped over his shoulders, he was in a colorful brocade one-shouldered brocade robe, leaning against a pillar in the corridor. His long legs were slightly bent, his shoulder and back muscles gnarled.
The ministers stood to the side, watching, while the Royal Court guards, headed by Bisha, stood in confrontation with Haidu Aling, swords flashing, the number of long spears like a forest.
The entire courtyard’s attention, however, aggregated on Haidu Aling alone.
When he saw Yaoying, the corners of his mouth hooked and he walked towards her: “Princess truly has good ability and good means. The high and mighty Buddha’s son broke the rules for you, and now even Sultan Gu himself has come to your rescue.”
Yaoying looked as usual: “This is what the prince wants to say to me?”
Haidu Aling’s light golden eyes fixedly looked at her face. Gorgeous and touching, charming appearance and snowy skin, brilliant like spring flowers when smiling. When the ends of her bright and slender eyes slightly curved, she unconsciously exuded a breathtaking sort of allure. Yet, only to him were they cold as ice and frost. In front of him, never did they show their delicate and lovely side.
“I don’t understand.” His eyes narrowed slightly, “I am the strongest and bravest warrior in the Northern Rong. Why do you reject me again and again?”
In the Northern Rong, the most beautiful woman belonged to the strongest man, so why was Princess Wenzhaoge unwilling to submit to him?
Haidu Aling snickered.
“Last night, Sultan Gu, that ugly monster, came to save you. You clung to him, clung so tightly… Don’t tell me I am inferior to an ugly monster?”
Yaoying said lightly: “A person’s beauty is not in their looks. General Su fought for his people, guarded this region peacefully, his rewards and punishments fair. Just and selfless, I admire the general. Although a man like the prince is handsome and romantic, in my opinion, you are just ordinary.”
Haidu Aling grinned, his gaze gloomy: “My adoptive father liked a woman back then, and went to ask for a marriage. The chief of that tribe looked down on my adoptive father and rejected my adoptive father. My adoptive father was not discouraged, and a month later, led a sneak attack on that tribe, killed all the men of the tribe, and in front of the woman, killed her father and eight brothers.
“That woman was my adoptive mother. She married my adoptive father and gave birth to ten children for my adoptive father. She adores my adoptive father; my adoptive father is her everything.”
In the Northern Rong, a man who wanted to marry a woman should do whatever it took: eliminating all those who stood in his way, even if those people were the woman’s own brothers.
The women of the Northern Rong were only subservient to valiant men. They were born to be possessed by men with open legs and to bear children for them.
“The most beautiful woman in this world should belong to me.” A light golden light shone in Haidu Aling’s eyes, “Princess, you cannot escape me.”
He did not care if Li Yaoying belonged to Tumoroga or to Sultan Gu at present, or if both were ministers under her skirt1. The Northern Rong men didn’t care about women’s chastity. They plundered the land, conquered tribes, and possessed beautiful women.
Princess Wenzhao does not belong to him now, but sooner or later, she would fall into his hands.
Yaoying did not say a word. Beside her, Bisha’s face changed, rushing over with his sword raised.
Suddenly, a cold fishy breeze swept past. A black shadow fell from the sky, a pair of black sharp claws narrowing in straight towards Haidu Aling’s face.
Haidu Aling was caught off guard. He subconsciously raised his arm in front to block the blow but was still a step too slow. The iron hook-like hawk claws grazed his face, blood immediately dripping from the cut.
Two cold clear cries sounded. A huge goshawk swept past the crowd, spread its wings, and flew high into the sky.
The crowd was stunned.
A few guards reacted with excitement: “That’s the king’s eagle!”
Before the words finished leaving their mouths, the courtyard door opened and several monks and blue-clad soldiers dressed in vestments walked in, led by none other than Tumoroga’s personal guard, Yuan Jue.
He stood in front of the road, looked at the angry-looking Haidu Aling, and said clearly, “Princess Wenzhao is the king’s Mordenga Maiden, and is under the king’s protection. We ask the prince to pay attention to his words, and if he offends again, the prince will not be let off easily!”
The courtyard abruptly went quiet, absolute silence descending. Even a pin drop could be heard.
Everyone forgot to breathe and stared in shock.
Bisha’s face was full of disbelief, his face deathly pale.
Yaoying was also stunned for a moment.
Last night, Sultan Gu said these words to Haidu Aling in order to force Haidu Aling back. There was no one else present at that time, and these words would not spread out.
Now that Yuan Jue said this in public, furthermore, to Haidu Aling, the emissary of the Northern Rong. Was it not tantamount to acknowledging her identity?
She said that she was willing to follow the example of the Mordenga Maiden, which was nothing. The world would only think that she loved Tumoroga to the point of obsession.
The meaning of this statement was different when Tumoroga himself admitted it in public!
All the blood in Yaoying’s body went cold, her brain beginning to buzz.
A strange and heavy silence descended. Haidu Aling, a Northern Rong man, was the first to react. Pupils shrinking, he looked at Yaoying and sneered: ” Princess has good means!”
After throwing those words down, he walked off without acknowledging anyone else.
At this time, no one cared what Haidu Aling said.
Everyone in the courtyard, ministers, guards, attendants, monks, Bisha… They all craned their necks to look at Yaoying, their movements stiff, horror in their eyes.
Hundreds of gazes all rained over her in an instant, knife-life, with a whoosh of cold chilly wind, rendering Yaoying dizzy.
She forced, with difficulty, to steady herself and looked over towards Yuan Jue.
Yuan Jue looked at her and said word by word, “From today onward, the princess will move into the Buddhist temple to live and practice Buddhism with the monks in the temple.”
Yaoying’s heart shook, feeling that the sights falling on her body had turned into a tangible knife, cutting her raw.