The accompanying old eunuch Feng Yao served tea, then retreated to one side to attend with lowered brows and submissive demeanor.

Murong Yu looked at Bai Qingyan with her spirited masculine bearing and said with a smile: “This time, I was able to extend my life thanks to Miss Bai’s help.”

“Emperor Yan is too kind…” Bai Qingyan lifted her teacup and took a sip before asking, “I wonder what matter Emperor Yan wishes to discuss by requesting this meeting?”

“Miss Bai claimed illness to the outside world, yet still came to see me… this shows you don’t treat me as an outsider. If Miss Bai doesn’t mind… You could call me Brother Yu, and I would presume… to treat Miss Bai as my own younger sister, calling you A’Yan. Would that be acceptable?”

When Murong Yu spoke to Bai Qingyan, he didn’t use “zhen” but “wo” (I), showing he didn’t want Bai Qingyan to treat him as a foreign emperor.

Seeing Bai Qingyan’s slight confusion, Murong Yu smiled and said: “I have a younger brother by the same mother, named Yan… I call him A’Yan. Since I regard Miss Bai as a younger sister, I’d like to call you A’Yan as well. Is there anything improper about this?”

Bai Qingyan didn’t act coy or put on airs, shaking her head: “Brother Yu specially sent Yue Shi to invite me here, so there must be other matters. Please speak freely, Brother Yu.”

“Indeed, there is a matter for coming to see A’Yan!” Murong Yu’s expression carried extremely faint amusement, displaying the bearing of a refined gentleman. “My physical condition surely cannot be hidden from A’Yan – my life is nearly at an end. Great Yan… I have one son, Murong Li, who is precocious but insufficient to shoulder Great Yan’s burden. Therefore… I wish to pass the throne to my younger brother Murong Yan, and I hope A’Yan… would not refuse to marry my foolish younger brother and become Yan’s Empress.”

Speaking thus, Murong Yu straightened his back and bowed with clasped hands toward Bai Qingyan.

With their mother long gone, as the elder brother, he was like a father. Murong Yu wanted to settle A’Yan’s lifelong marriage before his departure.

Moreover, Murong Yu firmly believed that only with Murong Yan ascending the throne could Great Yan be unified under heaven, fulfilling their mother’s dying wish and bringing peaceful times to all people.

Murong Yu had learned that during Jin’s imperial examination fraud case, someone had deliberately guided Jin’s scholars to call Bai Qingyan a traitor. When Bai Qingyan’s teacher, the venerable Master Guan Yongchong, personally defended Bai Qingyan before scholars across the realm, he had quoted her words about battlefields: “White bones pile into mountains exposed in wilderness, graves everywhere with nowhere to bury, thousand acres of fertile land with no one to plow, ten thousand li of corpses where birds dare not fly.”

She had said she would exhaust all her remaining life’s abilities, sacrifice herself, to return to the people peaceful mountains and rivers with clear seas and rivers.

Such breadth of mind, such aspirations, were identical to his younger brother Murong Yan’s.

Life’s greatest fortune was finding love and finding a kindred spirit.

Bai Qingyan was younger brother A’Yan’s kindred spirit, and even more so his beloved. Therefore… this trip was one Murong Yu had to make.

“I won’t hide it from Brother Yu – Murong Yan and I have already pledged ourselves to each other, but not for now,” Bai Qingyan didn’t conceal anything from Murong Yu, speaking frankly. “I wish for Murong Yan and me to each pursue our path, each relying on our abilities to see who… can claim the Central Plains.”

Murong Yu looked completely stunned. He hadn’t expected Bai Qingyan to harbor intentions of claiming the Central Plains – her ambitions… were so vast.

After a long moment, Murong Yu spoke: “The path A’Yan wishes to walk will be even more difficult than A’Yan’s. First… this Jin realm still bears the Lin surname. Second… A’Yan is a woman. Of course… your foolish elder brother has no intention of looking down on women. My mother, Empress Ji, was a woman, and Great Yan grew strong under my mother’s hands. But this world… lacks fairness toward women. Like Western Liang… if, when the Western Liang Emperor was assassinated, he had left behind a son, there would have been no chaos in Yunjing. A prince could have naturally inherited the throne, but… that Western Liang Empress, how difficult it was for her to ascend to the emperor’s position.”

“Difficulty doesn’t mean impossibility. What in this world isn’t difficult? Is unifying the realm difficult? Yes, it’s difficult! But someone must do it!” Bai Qingyan’s expression was clear and bright, her gaze resolute. She knew clearly what lay ahead on her path, yet still intended to forge ahead fearlessly.

Murong Yu hadn’t seen such a woman in a very long time. Such an expression… he had once seen in his mother’s eyes when he was young.

But later, as Father gradually regained his clarity, Mother became that gentle, compliant woman, thinking that when Father fully recovered, she could hand over the heavy burden on her shoulders to him.

Murong Yu had been frequently reminiscing about his mother during this period. He had always thought… A’Yan’s infatuation with Bai Qingyan was because Bai Qingyan was someone with great ambitions like Mother and similar personality.

But now, looking at Bai Qingyan before him, he realized… Bai Qingyan was different from his mother.

If it had been his mother, she would probably have already agreed to marry A’Yan and work together with A’Yan to complete this great undertaking of unifying the realm.

But… Bai Qingyan was very clear about what she wanted and seemed unlikely to be burdened by emotions.

“If you married A’Yan and you two worked hand in hand, what worry would there be about not achieving great things?” Murong Yu asked Bai Qingyan with a smile. “Moreover… if in the end you obtain Jin and all other states are destroyed, leaving only Jin and Great Yan standing against each other, surely you and A’Yan wouldn’t fight? Wouldn’t make the people of this realm suffer warfare because both you and A’Yan desire unification?”

Emperor Yan’s words struck at the heart of the matter.

After all, whether it was the Bai family or Great Yan, unifying the realm… was all for bringing eternal peace to the common people.

But if only Jin and Yan remained, would they still burden the people with warfare?

“Brother Yu speaks with such confidence. Last year Great Yan was still confined to a corner, having just recovered South Yan, yet now you’re already thinking of dominating the realm,” Bai Qingyan spoke mildly without any condescending intent, yet still caused the great eunuch Feng Yao beside Murong Yu to raise his eyes toward her.

Murong Yu only smiled faintly.

“Has Brother Yu ever considered asking Murong Yan this question?” Bai Qingyan calmly lifted her teacup. “I think not. In Brother Yu’s eyes, this is an enormous dilemma. Whether it’s me or Murong Yan, our desire to unify the realm is for peace. If only two countries remain… should we cease war and merge into one Kingdom, or continue fighting? If we continue fighting, it would not only harm the bond between Murong Yan and me, but also harm the people of the realm. If we merge into one Kingdom, who should be the emperor? Could the other person willingly accept it?”

“Brother Yu claims not to look down on women, but today… Whether speaking of Jin’s Lin surname or questioning about unification causing people to suffer warfare, all carry the intent to persuade me to submit to Yan, to use the words ‘loyalty and righteousness’ to pressure me into submission. Brother Yu wants me to conquer the realm for Yan… isn’t that so?”

Bai Qingyan’s voice was steady, neither angry nor annoyed: “If this were Murong Yan, he would never come to ask me this! Because Murong Yan truly doesn’t look down on women. He and I are mutually devoted, we regard each other as friends, and also as formidable opponents worthy of competing against! My Bai clan has assisted the Lin clan for hundreds of years. If the Lin rulers are virtuous, my Bai family will serve as loyal ministers. If the ruler is unworthy… with my Bai family’s deep kindness toward the people and our ambition to claim the realm, why couldn’t we replace them?”