Han Ziqing was such a proud, such a coldly aloof person!
In this life, even counting her past life, when had she ever lowered her voice to apologize to anyone, when had she ever taken the initiative to please anyone?
And yet, she was also someone who could hold her own dignity and still know when to set it aside.
She spoke with easy grace, “Haonan, once we get the marshal’s order, we’ll set off together. The camp’s affairs can be left to General Dugu. Let’s go.”
Her smile was radiant, sincere, without any pretense or reluctance.
Watching Ziqing’s smile, Yelu Qianqian couldn’t help feeling admiration well up inside her—really, it wasn’t so much that she liked Ziqing as that she admired her.
This woman had more bearing than any woman, even any man, she had ever met!
Ziqing had already spoken up—what about Situ Haonan!
Yelu Qianqian glanced toward Haonan, but he seemed to have no intention of responding. Her face immediately darkened. Situ Haonan, oh Situ Haonan, couldn’t he show a bit of a man’s magnanimity, a bit of a man’s bearing!
Yelu Qianqian’s face had darkened, yet Situ Haonan still said nothing, coldly staring at Ziqing.
Under his hostile scrutiny, Ziqing remained calm as ever, her faint smile sincere. She didn’t avoid Situ Haonan’s gaze—instead she met it head-on.
Silence fell, a silence so complete that even each other’s breathing could be heard. Yelu Qianqian couldn’t help clenching her small hands, growing tense!
Situ Haonan, hurry up and say something!
What did he mean by staring at Ziqing so coldly!
What exactly would it take for him to let this go!
Finally, in the tension and silence, Yelu Qianqian couldn’t hold back any longer and suddenly burst out angrily, “Forget it, why don’t the two of you just go have it out! Fight it out properly, and whoever wins or loses, live or die, bear no more grudges, and let bygones be bygones!”
Who would have thought that the moment she finished speaking, Situ Haonan actually spoke up, “This young master has no such leisure and whimsy. Nangong City’s grudge will be settled by Nangong City’s own people. Sister-in-law, this little brother advises you to be careful!”
The moment these words left his mouth, Yelu Qianqian was stunned. What did he mean?
Sister-in-law? Little brother?
Terms of endearment, yet used between the two of them, they sounded strangely distant and unfamiliar.
And yet, the corners of Ziqing’s lips curved upward, her smile growing even more radiant, genuinely happy from the bottom of her heart!
Situ Haonan was finally willing to speak to her!
Sister-in-law and little brother—these were forms of address from long, long ago. In front of Jun Beiyue, this fellow would sometimes joke around like this.
“Good, thank you for the reminder. I’ll be careful,” Ziqing replied with a smile, secretly heaving a sigh of relief inside.
She had known it—she had ample reason to believe she wasn’t someone who killed the master of Nangong City without regard for right and wrong, and Situ Haonan wasn’t someone who couldn’t tell right from wrong either, nor was he a stubborn, unreasonable person.
She understood Situ Haonan’s anger and grief, and she was gratified by his rationality.
Although Situ Haonan turned his head away again the moment he finished speaking, acting sulky, Ziqing thought this was a good sign, an excellent sign!
Last night she had kept turning over Jun Beiyue’s warning in the letter, telling her to be careful of Haonan!
Jun Beiyue certainly knew that Haonan was no match for her—Ziqing understood clearly that Jun Beiyue meant she should be wary of this fellow playing dirty tricks!
But Situ Haonan hadn’t!
From the moment they met, there had been shouting and arguing, and after the arguing, he’d sulked like that—and looking at him now, Ziqing simply didn’t believe this fellow would resort to underhanded schemes!
If he’d wanted to, he would have done it long ago, wouldn’t he?
Besides, Situ Haonan wasn’t that kind of person.
Though it was just one sentence, it was enough.
Seeing that Yelu Qianqian had recovered and was cheerfully about to speak again, Ziqing shot her a look signaling her to stay quiet—this was enough for now.
If she kept playing peacemaker, Situ Haonan would surely flare up again!
The clip-clop of hooves sounded as the group made their way toward Longxi City. General Dugu and several officers rode ahead on horseback, occasionally glancing back, the corners of his mouth curved in a smile, seemingly in good spirits.
Before long they arrived at the eastern gate of Longxi City, the very place where Wanyan Lie had raised the white flag of surrender.
Wanyan Lie, having received word early, was already standing atop the city gate, a white flag planted beside him!
This was the rule of war agreed upon by all the nations of the Longyuan continent—those who surrendered had to plant a white flag and hand over the marshal’s order.
In every great battle there was a commanding general, and that general held the marshal’s order. The defeated side had to hand this token over to the victorious nation, and the token would remain in the victor’s hands forever, commemorating that piece of history.
As for surrender, there were two methods.
The first was unconditional surrender—once surrendered unconditionally, there would be no negotiation. The defeated nation couldn’t even think of making demands, and its royal authority wouldn’t even be recognized.
The second was conditional surrender, which meant the defeated nation would be required to abide by certain terms!
The drafting and announcement of those terms would be the content of the peace conference!
Both the northern front and the western frontier here involved conditional surrender!
Peace negotiations were further divided into open and secret. In the earlier war in the Three Realms, the negotiation between Chu Feiyan and Ziqing had been a secret negotiation, generally a direct secret agreement between two nations!
But the one about to be convened in Akbachu City would be an open negotiation. Open negotiations had to be fair, follow principles beneficial to the great peace of Longyuan, have clear punishments and clear outcomes of victory and defeat, allow no underhanded seizure of advantage, and would have historians present to record everything!
It was precisely for this reason that Wanyan Lie and Minhan Mudeer had chosen to surrender, preserving their basic strength.
Watching the carriages below come to a stop one after another, a lazy, unrestrained smile rose at the corners of Wanyan Lie’s mouth. Today he had specially changed into palace attire, the splendid garments symbolizing his status as crown prince!
Although this war had drained all of Xiliang’s military strength, it hadn’t harmed a single inch of Xiliang’s own territory. One city lost—so what? His great Xiliang would surely rise again someday!
If he had to surrender, he’d surrender—he could afford to lose!
Today, there was one thing he had long anticipated, one thing he cared about most—Situ Haonan!
Even in defeat, he was going to use this opportunity to thoroughly humiliate Situ Haonan, otherwise he’d never be able to swallow this grievance!
The marshal’s order was in his hands—he could hand it to whomever he pleased. Let’s see if Situ Haonan could do anything about it!
If Situ Haonan thought he could keep his standing in the Xijing royal family, no way!
So what if he’d won? Akbachu City was full of wolves and tigers waiting for him!
Thinking of this, the malice at the corners of Wanyan Lie’s mouth deepened another few degrees. It was at this moment that Ziqing was getting down from the carriage!
Wanyan Lie watched coldly, but before long the smile at his lips froze—he saw Situ Haonan carrying a woman down from the carriage, her arms wrapped around his neck, laughing foolishly and happily. Who else could this woman be but Yelu Qianqian!
He hadn’t expected that shameless woman would come too!
Wanyan Lie’s fury ignited instantly. He pressed both hands against the stone wall, gave a muffled grunt, and with sudden force snapped a solid section of the sturdy wall clean off, sending broken stones tumbling down!
Such a commotion naturally drew Ziqing and the others’ attention. Ziqing merely glanced over, then stood aside without a word, expression unchanged!
Situ Haonan set Yelu Qianqian down, looked up, and said coldly, “Since the Xiliang commander has already surrendered, why not hurry out of the city and hand over the marshal’s order!”
Who would have thought that Wanyan Lie would still act as before, treating Situ Haonan’s words as if they were nothing, ignoring him entirely, instead smiling as he looked toward Ziqing and calling out loudly, “Consort of Prince Yao of Da Zhou, this crown prince has been waiting for you for a very long time!”