Chapter 169: Zhuge Xiaoyu’s Determination
Tian Long Palace Imperial Study Room.
“Your Majesty, will the Ye Family agree? Indeed this situation was greatly difficult for the Ye Family. This is not just an ordinary marriage for a peace treaty, after all the Ye Family and Gale Nation are… Ai!” the old man secretly hidden in the dark sighed as he remarked.
“He will definitely agree or else he would not be Ye Nu.” Long Yin put both hands at his back, with full confidence he stood there. The whole day today, he was waiting for Ye Nu to come here of his own accord.
“My opinion is similar to Your Majesty. The Ye Family is loyal and brave, highly respected, greatly admired!” another old man exclaimed.
Hasty footsteps approached as a palace eunuch ran inside, knelt down and said, “Your Majesty, Old General Ye requested to see you.”
The old men suddenly went silent, Long Yin was not surprised and nodded his head, “Let him in.”
After a while, Ye Nu entered and saluted, “Your humble servant is here to see Your Majesty.”
“Old General Ye don’t be too polite.” Long Yin turned his eyes, then lightly sighed and said, “Old General Ye, although you are old, I refuse to see you retire. For the overall survey of the Tian Long Nation, the only one person that I trust the most is you alone.”
“Your Majesty, you overpraise me. There are a lot of capable persons and distinguished officers in Tian Long Nation, I am only performing my own task, I really don’t deserve such praise.” Ye Nu said humbly.
“Hehehehe…” Long Yin simply laughed, and gladly said, “If all the officials in the imperial court are of the same mind as you, Tian Long would surely prosper. Old General Ye, presumably you already know of the incident during last night’s banquet that right now, our Tian Long is facing its most difficult situation ever since we founded this nation. Although I am extremely afraid that the nation will be destroyed under my regime, I certainly wouldn’t make things difficult for your Ye Family, you have already done so many things for our Tian Long Nation, I really couldn’t…”
“Please forgive me for interrupting,” Ye Nu uttered, “Your Majesty, you definitely must not say that. You are the sovereign ruler of Tian Long, your heart must be connected to the Tian Long territory and the common people. How can you abandon the nation’s safety because of my Ye Family? I, Ye Nu, am extremely grateful for your Majesty’s grace, but you must not think that way again.”
“But…”
“Please don’t worry, Your Majesty, my granddaughter has already agreed to marry into the Gale Nation. Within five years, we certainly don’t need to worry anymore. But after five years, if we will really be enveloped in the flames of war, even if I am already close to seventy years of age, I will certainly put on my armor and go into the battle, killing them all until there is nothing left.” As Ye Nu’s voice echoed, a domineering air of anger unconsciously emitted. Such loftiness was unlike any other top rank masters, it came from being used to occupying the leading position, with countless bloodstains that had accumulated to form the majestic and boundless pressure, making those three protectors hidden in the dark full of praise towards his actions.
Long Yin did not express any joy or looked free of worries, instead he shook his head and sighed, “Old General Ye, it must really be difficult on your Ye Family. Your family is really worthy to be called my Tian Long Nation’s protector god. Whether man or woman, all of them have wholehearted loyalty. This being the case, I will proclaim an imperial decree to accept Ye Shuiyao as my adopted daughter, granting her the title of Princess Yao Feng. After a month, she will marry into the Gale Nation. Within this one month, I will investigate to verify whether Feng Ling is telling the truth. If within a month the Gale Nation’s troops don’t make a moves under his persuasion, then… But otherwise, I will immediately cancel this imperial decree.”
Ye Nu lowered his head and his voice went deeper, “All of them is to be decided by Your Majesty… You humble servant is a little bit tired, so I shall take my leave now.”
“You go ahead.” Long Yin faintly sighed and nodding his head.
After Ye Nu left, Long Yin expressionlessly stood there for quite a long while. Inside his mind, he said to himself, ‘Such a loyal and righteous family, would they really revolt against me one day? Am I really wrong… No, Ye Nu was wrong in one statement, I am not only the Emperor, but a member of the Long Family. I certainly must not allow my Long Family to be pushed down. Even with the slightest possibility, I won’t allow it to happen.’
Punishment from the heavens… Thinking of the terrible scenario that day, his entire body violently trembled for a while. That terrible scenario had brought him a lot of nightmares, but to his knowledge, what happened within these few days had eased the tension for a short moment. He preferred to believe it as the punishment from the heavens, instead of someone with a great strength who was hiding in the dark and observed his every move to prepare to take his life at any moment. So, although he still had that intention in mind, he would no longer plot against the younger generation of the Ye Family. He could only wait for the most favorable opportunity to come.
“Relay my orders, summon the Crown Prince Feng to come and meet me.”
Long Yin did not wait long before Feng Ling entered with graceful elegance and behind him, Feng Chaoyang still followed like a shadow. Ever since they found out that he was Feng Chaoyang, nobody inside the palace dared to request him to put down his blade. All the way through, gazes were not focused on Feng Ling, but instead the eyes were fixed on Feng Chaoyang. The looks were forty percent admiration, sixty percent fear.
“Your Majesty the Emperor, what can Feng Ling do for you this time?” Feng Ling was refined and courteous. In the Tian Long Nation, aside from his rudeness last night in the banquet, he had been gentle and polite since the beginning, making it impossible to be rude to him.
“Old General Ye just met me a while ago, he said that his granddaughter has agreed to marriage with Crown Prince Feng. With such character and position like Crown Prince Feng, it easily attract women.” Long Yin smiled.
“Is this true?” Feng Ling upon hearing these words, was overwhelmed with excitement and his face exposed an unconcealable happiness. But immediately he shook his head and mockingly laughed at himself, “Your Majesty you must have regarded it as something funny that although Feng Ling has met this woman just once, I am already deeply in love. Suddenly hearing this news, I couldn't contain my own emotions, I’m really immature.”
Long Yin laughed out loud and said, “Hahahaha, Crown Prince Feng you are wrong this time, as the saying goes, seductive wise and virtuous women, noblemen have the intention to chase after them. Crown Prince Feng, you are just in the stage of being young, distinguished and accomplished, one can easily see that you are a person of great passion, how could you become a person unworthy of respect? But…” his voice suddenly changed and his smile disappeared, with a serious face he said, “Forgive me for being blunt, but now that Crown Prince Feng you have made a one sided plan, I will certainly place limits on my words. I have already commanded someone to verify the situation. I will only clearly declare to the entire nation after a month that I will make the daughter of Ye Family, Ye Shuiyao, marry you Feng Ling.”
Feng Ling said without hesitation, “If Your Majesty deems this action to be necessary, Feng Ling will certainly not object to it. If in case Feng Ling isn’t able to attain it, then Your Majesty, you may rip up your imperial edict. But, it doesn’t necessary have to be a month, Feng Ling can’t wait a month, how about twenty days? Twenty days will be sufficient for Your Majesty to investigate everything, it will also be enough for Feng Ling to prove my sincerity and make necessary preparations.”
Long Yin muttered to himself irresolutely for a moment, then nodded his head.
“Since that is the case, Feng Ling will now travel day and night to return to the Gale Nation, to prevent my father from displacing the troops in advance.” Feng Ling saluted, then impatiently asked to be excused.
Just like what Feng Ling had mentioned as soon as he left, he packed up his things at once then left the imperial palace and even excused the Emperor from sending him off. He took his journey through the western path as Feng Ling’s mind was still full of Ye Shuiyao’s proud and aloof cold figure. For a few days, it bothered his heart and was impossible to get rid of it.
“Elder, what I am doing right now, is it right or wrong? My father is forty-six this year, after another five years, he will reach the reasonable age. He had already mentioned before, that based on our Gale Nation’s military strength, to truly unite the entire world, it will at least take ten years, or even twenty years. Because of my selfish desires, I have extended it for another five years and spoiled this absolutely great opportunity. It can be considered as completely ignoring my father’s whole life, because of one woman…” He agonizingly shook his head, “If it was before, I would certainly not do such thing, but now I still don’t feel any regret for doing it. As it turns out, this is the magical power of love, by chance it appeared in a flash, yet it brought such huge change and turmoil.”
“The matters pertaining to your Feng Family isn’t related to me in any way.” Behind him Feng Chaoyang coldly remarked.
“But to be able to advise against my father’s wishes, I really need to depend upon you. Only you will be able to convince my father to retreat the army.” Feng Ling said apologetically, then he lifted his head, “Elder Feng, your father was just like me during those days, he also met a woman whom he had only seen once, yet almost made him fall deeply into her hands that that same afternoon, he summoned his people to go ahead and kill her.”
“......”
“Because his mind was focused on his realm, he didn’t allow any distractions. After that, he suffered painfully for seven days and also tormented himself for seven days. After seven days though, nothing could make him waver in his determination. And I am destined not to be able to do the same. Every person has their own demon in life, and my is the woman of the Ye Family, Ye Shuiyao. My father’s is the whole world, throughout his life he will strive hard for it, but my mind isn’t in the whole world. Yesterday, I realized what my heart really desired. Why can’t I be as strongly dedicated as my father? By hook or by crook, I will never give up. As for my father, he will die with some grievance if he isn’t able to dominate the whole world, but my heart tells me that, without this woman, I will surely regret it my whole life.”
The two figures had different lengths of shadows under the setting sun. One in front and the other behind as they disappeared into the distance.
He did not expect that this decision made by his own heart would make a huge change to the Gale Nation and the entire world.
Tian Long City, Zhuge Residence.
Zhuge Wuyi had received the news and all the way home he was sighing. He was Ye Wei’s best and closest friend, so he completely understood what he was feeling right now as well as realizing the same helpless situation that he was experiencing.
Returning to his home, the guards of the gate respectfully sent their regards, he voluntarily responded while his thoughts wandered as he entered. He could evidently feel that his home was abnormally different during these few days, simply too quiet. So quiet that he was not used to it. Normally, when he went home, the first thing that he would hear would be his daughter shouting and quarrelling.
This continued on for more than ten days. Zhuge Xiaoyu did not attend the imperial institute, everyday as she would lock herself inside her own room. During mealtimes she would let the maid bring the food inside and refused to see anyone. Zhuge Wuyi more or less knew what was going on, the abnormal behavior of his daughter happened when she came back from the Ye residence.
He shook his head and only sighed. Some things could not be forced. Although he loved his daughter dearly, he would not do anything that would make things difficult for the Ye Family. He could only hope that as time went, she would gradually forget all about him.
Thinking it through, he shifted his path and decided to go comfort his daughter. Compared to Ye Shuiyao, she only suffered an insignificant shock. At least she still has the opportunity to select other options.
Approaching Zhuge Xiaoyu’s bedroom door, he was about to knock when the door was suddenly pulled open, frightening Zhuge Wuyi. Zhuge Xiaoyu was just standing there in a valiant and formidable-looking position, her lips slightly stuck up, with an active gaze, her face was in great spirits and she distracted Zhuge Wuyi. No matter how hard he looked, she did not look like she had suffered any shock.
“Father, you are just in time.” Zhuge Xiaoyu pointed a hand at him, “Starting tomorrow, I will start afresh and attend school. Please help me put off my previous classes, I will attend the class for military strategy and tactics!”
“Military-military strategy and tactics?” Zhuge Wuyi almost thought that there must be something wrong with his ears. He opened his eyes wide and said, “Yu-er, do you have a fever? How can a girl like you attend military class? Don't tell me you are planning to go to the battlefield.”
“You are right, father! I want to become a hero, a hero greater than grandpa! There will come a day when he would kneel down before me and beg me to marry him… Also, father, in future please be home before 6 o’clock. Nno matter what, you should not have an excuse to come home late, or else… Humph! I want you to personally teach me. He dared to compare me to a flower vase, I will certainly make him realize my true strengths!”
When she finished shouting at the top of her lungs, the door closed loudly, leaving Zhuge Wuyi staring blankly at the closed door. For quite a long while he was not able to grasp her intentions.
Since she was eager to learn, then he would just let her be. Based on her nature, he supposed she would get tired of it after five or six days. As he thought about this, he shook his head as he left.
Translated by:
Fatty_Uncle
Edited by:
seriouspotato patrick_father_of_dragons