The Eldest Daughter Is Beautiful and Saucy
Chapter 679: Confidential
Chapter 679: Heartfelt Talk
“It goes without saying that Wei is not adjacent to our Jin. Even if it occupies Yan, it doesn’t matter as long as it doesn’t exceed the adjacent area of Jin and Yan! And Daliang…is adjacent to the entire northern part of our Jin. When our Jin destroyed Shu and seized this tiny land, it was able to avoid being locked down by Daliang and gain access to the sea! But if Daliang occupies Dayan again, even though our territories are not adjacent to each other, it is legitimate to station troops there, which means that our Jin will also be constrained by Daliang in the west!”
The prince stood up and walked to the map. He was shocked when he saw the map and said hurriedly, “Go… send someone to invite the Minister of War over! Quan Yu, go and invite Mr. Ren… and Mr. Qin over now!”
When Mr. Fang heard the three words “Mr. Qin”, his fingers moved!
When Qin Shangzhi arrived, he heard that Wei and Daliang were planning to attack Yan State, and he strongly agreed with the prince’s idea of sending troops.
That afternoon, the Crown Prince and the Minister of War Shen Jingzhong went to the palace to see the emperor. In the evening, the emperor’s decree came down, sending Liu Rushi to Daliang immediately to ask for land, and ordered Liu Hong to lead 20,000 soldiers from the Anping camp to Chunmu Mountain early the next morning to rescue the emperor. If Daliang refused to hand over the land, Liu Rushi would deliver a declaration of war.
Bai Qingyan was quite surprised when he got the news.
She lowered her eyes and stared at the chessboard in front of her, her fingers stroking the red jade chess pieces. The emperor’s attitude in asking for land this time was unusually tough. It should be because he took into account that if Daliang captured the city of Dayan, it would form a pincer attack on Jin from the west and north, swallowing up Shu, which Jin had conquered with great difficulty, and locking Jin up… without any outlet to the sea.
At the beginning, my grandfather insisted on destroying Shu, even if it would make other countries dissatisfied, just to prevent anyone from blocking Jin’s access to the sea.
Even if the prince asked Bai Qingyan to offer advice this time, Bai Qingyan would never let Daliang seize an inch of Dayan’s land considering the overall situation of Jin State.
“Elder sister, elder sister!” Bai Jinzhi hurriedly ran in from outside Qinghui Courtyard, and her voice was heard before she arrived.
Bai Qingyan turned his head and looked out the window where the sun was shining. He saw Bai Jinzhi running to the corridor, picking up the curtain and coming in. He walked around the screen and passed through the drapes, stepped quickly onto the step, and sat down next to the soft couch by the window: “Mr. Xiao is here again… He said he was here to say goodbye! From the look of Second Aunt, she won’t let Mr. Xiao come to see Eldest Sister. Eldest Sister… If you want to see him, I’ll go talk to Second Aunt right away!”
Since something happened in Dayan, Xiao Rongyan naturally had to leave. It was hard for him to find time in his busy schedule to say goodbye to her.
Thinking of the words Xiao Rongyan left on the bird’s leg, Bai Qingyan pursed her lips and said, “Please ask Mr. Xiao to come over and tell him… I have something to ask you.”
Bai Jinzhi smiled, stood up and bowed to Bai Qingyan: “Don’t worry, elder sister, I will definitely bring Mr. Xiao to you!”
After saying that, Bai Jinzhi ran out again like a gust of wind.
Bai Qingyan’s ears turned red, and he cleared his throat. He said to Chuntao, “Put away the chessboard. When Mr. Xiao comes, let him sit outside the screen.”
“Yes!” Chuntao responded.
Bai Jinzhi fulfilled his mission and brought Xiao Rongyan here.
Because Bai Qingyan was an unmarried girl, Bai Jinzhi didn’t want to stay here and disturb her elder sister and Mr. Xiao from talking privately, but if she really went out… she was worried that her elder sister’s reputation would be damaged, so she could only stand on this side of the screen with Bai Qingyan, looking at Xiao Rongyan on the other side through the gauze screen.
Before coming here, Xiao Rongyan had never thought that he would be able to see Bai Qingyan again, and he was already overjoyed.
“I heard that Princess Zhenguo vomited blood yesterday. I wonder if she is feeling better now?” Seeing that Bai Qingyan’s personal maid Chuntao had already left, Xiao Rongyan looked towards Bai Jinzhi behind the screen.
Bai Jinzhi was sitting upright next to her elder sister having snacks.
Bai Qingyan also glanced at Bai Jinzhi and said, “Thank you for your concern, Mr. Xiao. I’m fine now. I heard that Mr. Xiao came here to say goodbye. I wonder… where is Mr. Xiao going?”
“Yan has some business in Daliang, and now the motherland wants to join forces with Daliang to attack the Kingdom of Yan, so… going to Daliang can also help to get some information for the motherland.” Xiao Rongyan said.
Bai Jinzhi ate a piece of dessert and choked. He pounded his chest with his fist, picked up the teacup and drank some tea to relieve the pain.
“Mr. Xiao didn’t hide it from me.” Bai Qingyan had a faint smile on his face.
Xiao Rongyan heard the smile in Bai Qingyan’s voice, and his mellow and deep voice was filled with a gentleness that he himself had not noticed: “Yan…opened his heart to the young lady.”
“Puff…” Bai Jinzhi couldn’t help but spit out a mouthful of tea and wiped her mouth with her sleeve. “Sister, I just didn’t expect Mr. Xiao…he…”
He talks so corny! There’s someone else here!
Bai Qingyan took out a handkerchief from his sleeve and handed it to Bai Jinzhi. Bai Jinzhi hurriedly took the handkerchief and wiped his mouth. He felt that the snack in his heart had not been swallowed yet, so he punched it again.
“Let’s go out and find some water to drink!” Bai Qingyan said.
Bai Jinzhi nodded, and came out of the upper room with a red face, clutching her eldest sister’s handkerchief.
Xiao Rongyan turned around and saw that the swaying curtain had stopped moving, so he spoke: “Yan…I’m sorry!”
After saying that, Xiao Rongyan walked around the screen and came towards Bai Qingyan.
Bai Qingyan, with a pale face, was sitting in front of the couch by the window in plain clothes. He looked more haggard than usual. His raven-feather black hair was tied up with the jade hairpin he had given him, and a white velvet blanket was draped over his legs.
At noon, fine golden light shone in through the window lattice and fell between her smiling eyebrows. Her skin was as white as ice, and her figure was as pure and beautiful as ice. She was so gorgeous and beautiful beyond words.
“What happened yesterday?” Xiao Rongyan ignored the rules and stepped forward to hold Bai Qingyan’s hand. Noticing the coldness of Bai Qingyan’s fingertips, he asked, “Did you use the medicine that Xiao A Li sent?”
“Don’t worry, the vomiting of blood yesterday was fake. It was for the sake of returning to Shuoyang safely! You are going to Daliang this time…be careful.” Bai Qingyan asked.
Xiao Rongyan nodded, lowered his eyes to look at Bai Qingyan’s hand, stroked her wrist bone, and said with worry: “Take good care of yourself. The first batch of food has arrived in Shuoyang. I will send people to deliver food later. But… can you really eat so much food? If not, I can…”
Before Xiao Rongyan could finish, Bai Qingyan interrupted him and said, “When the food arrives in Shuoyang, I will let Butler Hao negotiate with your people to settle the money. Don’t worry… Since I dare to ask for it, I can really swallow it.”
Xiao Rongyan always played his cards right, so of course he had food, but… later, when he failed to use this excuse to stop Jin from interfering with the Northern Rong and Dayan’s attack on the Southern Rong, Xiao Rongyan sent the food to Shuoyang as agreed.
Ever since Dayan conquered the lost territory of Southern Yan without bloodshed, Dayan… has no longer been short of food.
Bai Qingyan and Xiao Rongyan didn’t say anything else.
The two know each other, and understand that each has their own responsibilities and ambitions, and neither of them is someone who would be trapped by romantic relationships.