The Eldest Daughter Is Beautiful and Saucy
Chapter 509: Great power
Chapter 509: The Majesty of a Great Nation
Dong Changlan looked at Xiao Rongyan and was surprised that Xiao Rongyan would think of the trade. He smiled and shook his head, saying, “As Mr. Xiao said, my father once submitted a memorial to the court, but… His Majesty believed that if Jin State took the lead in proposing the trade, it would be bowing to the Rongdi, which would damage the prestige of Jin State. Moreover, he was afraid that the Rongdi spies would sneak in.”
Later, Dong Qingyue wanted to secretly send people to Rongdi to negotiate with them to make them bow their heads and ask for trade first, but he was persuaded by Dong Qingping, who was afraid that his brother would send people to Rongdi with good intentions but end up being charged with treason.
When Bai Jinzhi heard this, he couldn’t help but roll his eyes. The prestige of a great country… Doesn’t it hurt the prestige of a great country if the border residents suffer and are robbed every year?
Isn’t the prestige of a great country to prevent its people from suffering from war, from being plundered by other countries, and from going hungry?
If Bai Jinzhi were to say it, the emperor should be allowed to live in Dengzhou for a few years to experience the suffering of the border people. Then he would understand what the majesty of a great country is!
Xiao Rongyan nodded and said no more.
The maids who served meals in the Bai Mansion came in one after another, carrying black lacquered and gold-painted food boxes, and went up to the third floor to arrange them, then went down from another staircase.
After lunch was ready upstairs, Nanny Qin came down and invited everyone to go up to the third floor.
One of the dishes for lunch today was cooked by Dong Tingzhen herself, which was Dengzhou-style flatbread. Although the taste was a little worse than the one in Dengzhou, it was probably very thoughtful of Dong Tingzhen to let Dong taste the famous Dengzhou flatbread from her hometown.
“Our young lady got up before dawn to make this pancake. She made several pots, and this one tastes the most similar!” said Dong Tingzhen’s personal maid with a smile.
“Tingzhen is so thoughtful!” Mrs. Dong held Dong Tingzhen’s little hand.
There was still a screen between the seats for men and women. It seemed that Xiao Rongyan had started the trade today, and Dong Changlan had been discussing this matter with Xiao Rongyan during the whole meal. He humbly asked Xiao Rongyan what the scene of the Mengcheng trade was like.
Xiao Rongyan had been to Mengcheng and happened to be in Mengcheng during the Mengcheng Trade Days. He told Dong Changlan everything he had seen and heard without hiding anything.
Dong Changlan listened very carefully and seemed to be very interested in this trade.
The two talked at the table and then took their time off until dusk. The lights in the Bai Mansion were lit one by one. When Xiao Rongyan stood up to say goodbye, Dong Changlan was still reluctant to leave, so he accompanied Bai Qingyan to see Xiao Rongyan out the door.
Dong Changlan solemnly invited Xiao Rongyan outside the door: “Mr. Xiao, if you have time in the future, you must come to Dengzhou to have a look! Changlan is very interested in what Mr. Xiao said, and I think my father is the same!”
Xiao Rongyan bowed to Dong Changlan and said, “Dengzhou, Yan must go there! I will come to bother you then.”
As he watched Xiao Rongyan leave and walk back with Bai Qingyan, he said, “Cousin, I think this Mr. Xiao seems to be… interested in you.”
Dong Changlan hesitated for a moment, but couldn’t help but remind Bai Qingyan.
Dong Changlan was also a man, and he understood very well what the look in a man’s eyes when he looked at a woman meant. Although Mr. Xiao hid it very well, every time his cousin spoke, he would look at her, and his joy and smile could not be hidden or faked.
Bai Qingyan’s palms tightened and he glanced at Dong Changlan: “Why do you say that, Changlan?”
Dong Changlan thought that Bai Qingyan had no interest in Xiao Rongyan, so he pursed his lips and whispered, “Cousin, originally my grandmother and my father wanted you to marry Changyuan, so that you wouldn’t be bullied by your mother-in-law. But you don’t have any interest in Changyuan, and the Bai family needs you to support them, so grandmother and father won’t force it. But they don’t say it, but they are still worried about your lifelong event.”
Dong Changlan secretly glanced at Bai Qingyan who was walking back along the corridor with him. Seeing that Bai Qingyan showed no signs of being annoyed, he continued, “If you don’t mind Mr. Xiao’s background, you can consider letting him marry into the Bai family. Mr. Xiao has a broad mind and a unique vision. If he is sincere to my cousin, he would be a good match.”
Bai Qingyan pursed his lips without saying anything, tightened his hands behind his back slightly, half-closed his eyes, and said after a while: “Wait… after this chaotic world is over!”
How long do we have to wait for the chaos to end?
Dong Changlan had said what needed to be said, and he stopped trying to persuade her. Seeing that they were almost at the entrance of Junzixuan, Dong Changlan bowed to Bai Qingyan and said, “We will set off for Dengzhou early tomorrow morning. I will definitely tell my father everything my cousin said!”
Bai Qingyan nodded: “I have to go out of the city to suppress bandits tomorrow, so I will definitely not be able to take you there in time. Be careful on the road, and remember to send someone to send a letter to report safety when you arrive.”
“Don’t worry, cousin!” Dong Changlan was already eager to return home. He wanted to tell his father what his cousin said as soon as possible and prepare for the Rongdi autumn raid as soon as possible.
·
At night, Bai Qingyan quietly went to Dong’s Qinghe Courtyard without informing the maids.
Nanny Qin was guarding the door of the upper room with red eyes. She pointed inside the upper room and told Bai Qingyan that Dong was sad at the moment.
In previous years, Ayu was the one who came up with the most ideas on his mother’s birthday. I remember that two years ago, Ayu brought his brothers to perform lion dance in the yard early in the morning to celebrate for his mother.
The scene of seventeen handsome young men wearing lion dance costumes, kneeling on one knee with lion heads in their arms, congratulating Mrs. Dong for her good health is still vivid in my mind.
Ayu stood at the front, full of vigor and pride, holding a lion head in one hand, and his eyes were filled with the bright sunshine when he smiled.
But this year… none of the seventeen sons of the Bai family are here.
Early this morning, she remembered that when her father was still alive, every year on her mother’s birthday, her father would get up early and personally make longevity noodles for her mother, so she brought her sisters to the small kitchen of Qingheyuan to make some fun.
Bai Qingyan stood at the door of the upper room and faintly heard her mother’s extremely suppressed crying coming from inside the room. Her eyes were red and tears came silently. She tilted her head, frowned, and wiped away the tears without leaving a trace.
In fact, for my mother, the best birthday gift should be… the words from my father and Ayu, “Come home safely!”
She gritted her teeth. She couldn’t blame God for being unfair. God gave her the chance to come back and the chance to protect her mother and her aunts and sisters. She was grateful.
What she hated was herself, and the years she had wasted pampering herself.
“Madame Qin, I’d rather not go in…” Bai Qingyan’s voice was very dull, “Please take good care of mother.”
Nanny Qin had been with Dong for so many years, so she knew that Dong would definitely not want the young lady to see this. She nodded and said, “Don’t worry, young lady. I will take good care of you.”
·
The next day, before dawn, the sky above Shuoyang was full of shining stars and the moon was bright.
The high braziers erected around the training ground made the place as bright as day.
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