“Mister Xiao is quite a person of character, with a refined and magnanimous temperament… When I was still a prince, I had good relations with Mr. Xiao. Though this person has the status of a merchant, he carries no trace of vulgar mercantile air, but rather the elegant bearing of a scholarly gentleman! The Bai family currently has no male heirs, and if Mister Xiao truly has feelings for General Bai and is willing to marry into the family… aside from his status being somewhat lowly, I think he would be a good match!” the Crown Prince spoke leisurely.

If he could get Xiao Rongyan to marry into the Bai family because of Bai Qingyan, it wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing for him.

This way, he wouldn’t need to worry about Bai Qingyan marrying out, and Xiao Rongyan was on good terms with him. His scholarship and bearing were both first-rate, and if he could remain in Jin, he would be Jin’s wealthiest merchant…

The Crown Prince recalled Xiao Rongyan’s lavish spending habits in the capital city, throwing around thousands of gold pieces, and narrowed his eyes slightly.

The Bai family had already attached itself to him. If Xiao Rongyan married into the Bai family, he would surely hope for his smooth ascension to the supreme throne… Seeking the merit of following the dragon, he would certainly become his money purse. If he had matters requiring arrangements, it would be much more convenient.

Bai Qingyan frowned, as if speaking of the most difficult matter to the Crown Prince, her face showing embarrassment: “Your Highness, no matter how good Mister Xiao is, there is no fate between him and me, after all… I have difficulty bearing children.”

“Matters of fate are hard to say…” The Crown Prince still hadn’t abandoned his calculations and smiled as he finished speaking to Bai Qingyan, then said to Xiao Ruojiang, “Be more cautious in your future actions. This matter happened to fall into my hands – if it reached the Emperor’s ears, do you know… what great trouble it would cause for your eldest miss?”

Xiao Ruojiang hurriedly kowtowed: “Your Highness, the Crown Prince’s lesson is correct. This commoner will certainly follow Your Highness’s teachings in the future, being cautious in all matters and not causing trouble for the eldest miss!”

“Go!” the Crown Prince said to Xiao Ruojiang.

Xiao Ruojiang hurriedly kowtowed and withdrew.

The Crown Prince looked at Bai Qingyan standing to one side: “This matter isn’t because I don’t trust you…”

“I understand. If the Crown Prince didn’t consider me one of his people, how would he have summoned me and my milk brother together, and how would he have scolded my milk brother on my behalf? The Crown Prince’s kindness… I understand it in my heart!”

The Crown Prince nodded, his brows and eyes full of smiles: “General Bai should also go rest. Tomorrow, we must escort the Western Liang’s Flame King Li Zhijie and the Western Liang Princess back to the capital together. This journey still requires maintaining vigilance, not giving the Western Liang with their hidden malice any opportunity.”

“Yes!”

Bai Qingyan came out from the main tent, bid farewell to Old Fang with cupped hands, and turned to see Bai Jinzhi and Xiao Ruojiang still waiting at the entrance.

On the way back to the camp tent, Xiao Ruojiang lowered his voice: “Eldest miss, this time using Mister Xiao as a shield, given that Mister Xiao’s relationship with His Highness the Crown Prince, Seventh Young Master’s matter, is afraid that…”

“Don’t worry, Xiao Rongyan won’t speak of it.”

Xiao Rongyan had sent people to deliver horses and letters without concealing his tracks, presumably because he wasn’t afraid of the Crown Prince knowing.

Her wariness of Jin’s imperial family was something Xiao Rongyan understood clearly, and she also clearly understood Xiao Rongyan’s special identity. Both had secrets known by the other, so naturally, both needed to cover for each other.

Nanyan’s capital city, Kuangping.

Emperor Murong Pei of Nanyan held the imperial seal in his arms, watching the Mystic Bird Azure Banner symbolizing Great Yan’s legitimacy approaching from far to near, and the carriage of Great Yan’s Emperor Mingde with sixteen jet-black steeds, arriving with great momentum in the brilliant morning light.

Murong Pei’s hands trembled as he held the imperial seal, leading Nanyan’s imperial family and court ministers to kneel before the palace gates, raising the imperial seal high above his head.

Years ago, when Empress Ji died and Great Yan fell into internal chaos, Murong Pei had seized the opportunity to steal the imperial seal and flee back to Great Yan’s old capital, Kuangping, overthrowing Empress Ji’s new policies and restoring the old governance, gaining the support of Great Yan’s old aristocratic families. From then on, he established Nanyan as a separate nation with the Tianqu River as the border with Great Yan.

This time, Great Yan’s fierce general Xie Xun had killed his way into Kuangping, eliminating all the old aristocratic families who had supported Murong Pei’s self-establishment as king, and the common people all clapped their hands in approval.

Xie Xun had single-handedly knocked open the main palace gates, bringing secret orders from Great Yan’s Ninth Prince Murong Yan, saying that Great Yan’s emperor would soon arrive at Kuangping. If Murong Pei didn’t want the imperial family’s blood to stain Kuangping city red, he should personally come out of the palace gates holding the imperial seal and kneel in welcome. In this way, he could preserve the safety of Murong Pei’s entire clan.

Murong Pei knew the general situation was lost. How could he let the still-young children accompany him to be buried in Kuangping? Moreover, since returning to Great Yan’s old capital to establish himself as king and restore the old governance, the old aristocratic families were happy, but it had caused public resentment to boil over. Which commoner didn’t curse him as a fatuous ruler behind his back?

Forget it! Forget it!

He was originally just a bastard son of Prince Su, and had been emperor for so many years, enjoying over ten years of worldly wealth and luxury, then over ten years as a puppet of the aristocratic families. As long as he could preserve his young sons’ lives, losing face was just losing face!

After all, he truly wasn’t the legitimate heir.

On the third day of the third month in the thirteenth year of Great Yan’s Mingde era, Nanyan’s Emperor Huiwen Murong Pei knelt outside the imperial palace of Great Yan’s old capital Kuangping, presented the imperial seal, and raised a memorial declaring surrender, ending Great Yan’s nineteen-year division.

On the same day, Nanyan’s Chancellor Lin Chongyi hanged himself to die for his Kingdom, and Murong Pei was enfeoffed as King of Mingdu, with his entire family relocated to the border city of Mingdu.

Inside Kuangping’s imperial palace.

Great Yan’s Emperor Mingde, accompanied by Xiao Rongyan and the old eunuch Feng Yao, walked slowly along the palace walls and corridors familiar from childhood, heading toward his mother’s former bedchamber, Lanfeng Pavilion, in Kuangping under the morning sun.

Feng Yao was an old man who had always served beside Empress Ji. Before Emperor Mingde Murong Yu and Xiao Rongyan arrived, Feng Yao had sent people to rearrange Lanfeng Pavilion according to his memories of how it used to be.

The lean and tall Emperor Mingde Murong Yu had just reached the entrance of Lanfeng Pavilion when he saw several crabapple petals blown by the wind onto the threshold. He bent down to pick them up, startling Feng Yao: “Your Majesty! Whatever you need to do, just give orders to this old slave!”

“I’m fine, Uncle Feng, don’t panic.”

Murong Yu extended his slender, well-defined fingers from his cloak, picked up a crabapple petal, slowly straightened up, and smiled as he looked at the crabapple tree in the courtyard, glowing golden in the morning sun.

“More than twenty years have passed, and that crabapple tree that Mother planted with her own hands has already grown into a towering tree.” Murong Yu’s deep eyes, identical to Xiao Rongyan’s, gazed at the crabapple tree with a warm, melting smile.

Emperor Mingde Murong Yu was only thirty-seven years old, in his prime, yet he appeared sickly and frail.

Murong Yu was a renowned beauty, his features identical to Empress Ji’s, more stunning and dazzling than a woman’s, making people afraid to look directly at him. If not for his tall, slender frame and the steady, dignified imperial aura about him, he would surely be mistaken for a frail beauty disguised as a man.

Xiao Rongyan stood beside Murong Yu, his pupils dark and deep, fingers in his sleeves caressing that jade cicada, speaking in measured tones: “I don’t remember much…”

When Empress Ji had moved the capital to the great capital city, Xiao Rongyan was only two years old, so naturally, he wouldn’t remember matters from the old imperial capital.

At this moment, Xiao Rongyan’s mind was entirely occupied with finding good physicians for Murong Yu.

This time, to reduce Great Yan’s losses, Xiao Rongyan had proposed the idea of having his elder brother secretly make the long journey to Kuangping. When the common people learned that Great Yan’s Emperor Mingde had personally come, they did indeed react as Xiao Rongyan had predicted, lining the streets in celebration, shouting their hopes that the legitimate Great Yan Emperor Mingde could restore Empress Ji’s new policies.