Xie Xuanchen made a special trip and changed into his court outfit before he attended the morning court to ‘wake up’ the group of nerds. Mu Mingtang sent him out early in the morning before she waited in the palace. At noon, the servants sent word that the Prince had returned.
Mu Mingtang greeted him immediately. Xie Xuanchen came striding from the outside and the servant holding the umbrella for him couldn’t catch up with him even though he was already scampering hastily. In just a moment, a layer of falling snow had accumulated on Xie Xuanchen’s shoulders.
Mu Mingtang sighed slightly, knowing that the morning court might not have gone well that morning.
Xie Xuanchen saw Mu Mingtang standing at the door before he walked up the steps quickly and stopped her from wanting to come out, “It’s cold outside and you haven’t changed your clothes, what are you doing out there?”
Xie Xuanchen pulled Mu Mingtang into the palace and the servants in the Yulin Palace immediately stepped forward to help the pair remove their cloaks or change their clothes. Mu Mingtang didn’t go out, so she continued wearing her homely clothes. On the other hand, some parts of Xie Xuanchen’s court outfit had gotten wet and had to be changed.
After Xie Xuanchen was dressed in normal clothing again, Mu Mingtang sent the servants away and walked to the Xici Hall with some hot soup. She set down the soup on the table, raised her eyes and saw Xie Xuanchen staring at the ground, deep in thought.
Mu Mingtang lifted the lid and slowly stirred the soup that was meant to warm them up. The hot steam blurred her eyebrows and eyes, “Are you still thinking about the things that are happening out there?”
Xie Xuanchen snorted and his tone was full of sarcasm, “A bunch of idiots, they are; why did I ever think that they would do something useful?”
Mu Mingtang raised her eyebrows and said nothing. She took a sip and found that the temperature of the soup was cool enough before she placed the bowl beside his hand.
“What’s the matter? What did they say today?”
Xie Xuanchen couldn’t help sighing, “They said that there is a contract and since they just signed it, they will not go back on their promises. Even if Beirong were to truly break the contract, they wouldn’t do it in only half a year. If the Ye Dynasty deploys troops now, we will be considered tricksters. Not to mention by then, we’d be provoking disputes between the two countries, fall into the public eye and bring disgrace towards our entire country.”
Mu Mingtang didn’t quite believe this. The Mu family was a family of merchants. When she was a child, Father Mu had told her that there were no true brothers in the business world, so it wasn’t wrong to be wary of every party— friend or foe. Businessmen valued credibility the most, but as long as the interests were large enough, there would be long-term partners who turned against each other every year.
Not to mention that these were two big countries that had many conflicts between them, going as far as to consider each other old enemies in the past. Pinning one’s hopes on a contract was to make a gamble with all of one’s wealth and the bet was placed on Beirong’s conscience.
Naturally, Xie Xuanchen couldn’t rest assured.
However, this kind of thing was not something he could change simply with willpower. The Sixteen Prefectures were majestically occupied by Beirond and over the years, all literati were really greedy for a better quality of life and remained afraid of death. Did no one else other than Xie Xuanchen bear any desire to reclaim their homeland? Was it because the soldiers of the Ye Dynasty were weak and were without a General or a leader?
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