“Creak…”
Ziqing slowly pushed the door open. In that instant, Chu Feiyan spun around at once inside the hall — but the moment she saw it was Ziqing, the delight on her face froze solid.
“What are you here for?” Chu Feiyan demanded sharply.
“To negotiate,” Ziqing said flatly, walking in with easy confidence.
“You? You must be joking!” Chu Feiyan laughed loudly, utterly unconvinced that Han Ziqing had come to negotiate. “Where’s Jun Beiyue?”
Ziqing ignored the question, saying with formal courtesy, “Princess Yao Han Ziqing, here under orders to accept Western Chu’s petition for peace on behalf of Da Zhou.”
With that, she took a seat off to the side, calmly regarding Chu Feiyan.
Chu Feiyan’s phoenix eyes went wide, and she snapped at once, furious, “Jun Beiyue sent you!”
“Please, have a seat, Princess Imperial,” Ziqing said, still courteous.
“Jun Beiyue sent you?” Chu Feiyan repeated, fury boiling over. She’d waited so patiently, waited specifically for Jun Beiyue — and instead, it was this woman who’d shown up!
What right did this woman have to keep her waiting so long?
“Indeed. May I ask how much sincerity the Princess Imperial has brought with her in seeking peace?” Ziqing asked flatly.
“Sincerity? Ask about your Da Zhou’s sincerity first! Han Ziqing, get out of my sight this instant. This princess has waited a full two hours here — waiting for Jun Beiyue, not you!” Chu Feiyan shouted furiously, pointing straight at the door.
Yet Ziqing remained perfectly unmoved, saying flatly, “Princess Imperial, this is a city my Da Zhou has conquered. You are the envoy who came seeking peace. If you haven’t brought sincerity with you, then please — see yourself out.”
Ziqing’s words were courteous enough, but the meaning was anything but — without sincerity, get lost.
Chu Feiyan looked utterly incredulous. “Han Ziqing, you’re telling this princess to leave? How dare you! Do you really think my Western Chu came here to beg for peace?”
“If not to sue for peace, then what exactly has the Princess Imperial been waiting two hours for?” Ziqing asked, deadly serious.
“This princess came to… to… to—” Chu Feiyan faltered, her fury unable to find words, her face flushing crimson.
Ziqing deliberately said nothing more, simply watching her with earnest attention.
“You! Han Ziqing, I don’t care about the details — get out of here right now, go fetch Jun Beiyue at once, or else… or else this princess will leave immediately, this princess won’t… won’t—”
Her furious tirade choked off again.
“The Princess Imperial won’t what?” Ziqing asked again, her expression earnest, harmless as a curious child.
“You!” Chu Feiyan choked on her own rage.
“So you’re not suing for peace, then?” Ziqing asked again.
“Slap!” Chu Feiyan brought her palm down hard on the table, as though it were Ziqing’s face she’d struck, nearly shattering the table in the process.
The negotiation hadn’t even begun, and already the Princess Imperial had worked herself into a fury. What was the point of that?
Ziqing didn’t even bother looking at her, lifting her teacup instead and sipping at leisure, thinking idly to herself — if Jun Beiyue had come in with her, what would this woman’s reaction have been then?
Seeing Ziqing so composed, so utterly unbothered, Chu Feiyan felt as though she might genuinely explode with rage. Had she not still retained a shred of self-control, she’d have already lunged across the table to tear Ziqing’s face apart.
She’d begged her father for two whole days before he’d agreed to let her come as the peace envoy — all for the chance to see Jun Beiyue face to face, to spend an hour or two alone with that man. And instead, after all her anticipation, waiting so long, the person she’d gotten was the very woman she despised most in the entire world! How could she not be furious?
“Han Ziqing, this is my final warning. If Da Zhou has no sincerity, sending a mere woman to negotiate, insulting my Western Chu this way — then don’t blame my Western Chu for reclaiming everything that belongs to us, whatever the cost!”
The moment she finished, Ziqing’s eyes lifted at once, taking on a more serious look.
Seeing this, Chu Feiyan finally steadied her breathing, raising a cold brow at her.
But to her surprise, Ziqing simply set down her teacup, said nothing, and made a gesture toward the door — an invitation to leave.
“Han Ziqing, how dare you!” Chu Feiyan snapped, her fury mingled now with alarm. Given the current situation, Da Zhou didn’t hold a complete advantage either — if not for her father’s urgent need to find Chu Tiange, he’d never have agreed to sue for peace in the first place!
Da Zhou ought to know its own limits!
And yet Han Ziqing showed not the slightest hurry, actually telling her to leave!
“Princess Imperial, by your own words, sending a mere woman to negotiate shows no sincerity. Then what exactly are you, standing here yourself? Since there’s no sincerity on either side, why linger? Please, go,” Ziqing said, and actually rose as if to leave.
Only then did Chu Feiyan panic, blocking her path at once. “Han Ziqing, stand right there!”
If this negotiation collapsed under her watch, she’d have no answer to give when she returned home. Her father doted on her, even intended to pass the throne to her someday — but Chu Tiange was the one who could truly expand Western Chu’s borders.
If the effort to rescue him was delayed because of this, how much gossip would she have to endure? And if word of it reached her father’s ears, it would inevitably strain their relationship.
If Da Zhou’s terms proved too harsh, she’d at least have grounds to argue back — but right now, nothing had even been discussed yet!
“By the Princess Imperial’s own logic, without sincerity, there’s nothing to discuss. By the Princess Imperial’s own reasoning, Da Zhou has no sincerity, and Western Chu has even less. As Ziqing sees it, perhaps we should both simply return home and have our respective masters send someone else,” Ziqing said reasonably enough — but it was clearly a calculated trap. Western Chu was desperate to save Chu Tiange; how could they afford to waste any more time?
This was nothing short of setting Chu Feiyan up to fail!
Two consecutive uses of “by the Princess Imperial’s own words” left Chu Feiyan furious, yet unmistakably rattled. She explained hastily, “Princess Yao, when I said ‘a mere woman,’ I didn’t mean women in general. An envoy needs proper standing. I haven’t come today as a princess — I’ve come as a general of Western Chu. May I ask, Princess Yao, what standing do you have to stand here at all?”
With that, she promptly produced a military tally, a symbol of her rank.
“Does having standing mean we can negotiate, then?” Ziqing shot back.
“Yes!” Chu Feiyan scoffed coldly, eager to see just what standing this woman had beyond whatever title Jun Beiyue had granted her.
Ziqing didn’t answer right away, settling back into her seat with perfect composure, then slowly drew something from her sleeve, closed it in her palm, and raised her hand toward Chu Feiyan.
Chu Feiyan stepped back, suspicious. What was this woman up to?
Then, with a faint smile, Ziqing suddenly opened her fingers — and in that instant, Chu Feiyan looked as though she’d been struck by lightning, utterly stunned.
This object — she’d noticed it the very first time she’d ever laid eyes on Jun Beiyue. She’d had countless replicas secretly made over the years, wearing them in private when no one was around.
This was the very scorpion-shaped black ring Jun Beiyue always wore on his index finger! To see this object was as good as seeing Jun Beiyue himself!
Countless legends surrounded it across the entire continent of Longyuan, yet to this day no one truly knew its real purpose, and no one had ever been permitted to touch it themselves.
Seen up close like this, the scorpion-shaped ring seemed to shimmer faintly with a dark radiance no counterfeit could ever replicate.
Such a precious object — how could it possibly have ended up in Han Ziqing’s hands? How was she supposed to accept that?
“General of Western Chu — seeing this scorpion ring is as good as seeing Prince Yao himself. Do you believe Prince Yao has the standing to negotiate with you now?” Ziqing said, slowly closing her fist and putting the ring away.
This ring and that dagger — she really had thrown them off the city wall that day. But for some reason she couldn’t quite explain, deep in the middle of the night, she’d quietly gone back out with a lantern and retrieved them.
She supposed it was simply because she couldn’t sleep and had nothing better to do. Fortunately, they’d come in useful today.
Chu Feiyan’s chest tightened so much she couldn’t even speak, sinking heavily into her chair, her mind gone utterly blank with despair.
She had loved Jun Beiyue for so many years, had spent so many years gathering every scrap of information about him — and she thought, surely Han Ziqing herself had no idea just what it meant, in Jun Beiyue’s heart, for a woman to possess that ring.
…