Chapter 99 Wusun Wang
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Mingzhu didn’t expect Yuwen Chu to be so sharp, and was suddenly surprised. She hurriedly denied, “No. I just don’t like Yuwen You anymore.”
But Yuwen Chu seemed not to have heard her words and continued analyzing on his own, “Shen Ruilin is a straightforward gentleman, and he does have some feelings for you. But over the years, you have never looked at him seriously. Your families’ elders don’t get along, and they are not happy with this marriage. You suddenly changed your mind, even risking your reputation to actively pursue him, indicating that you noticed his feelings for you and wanted to force him to marry you in one fell swoop. It’s not because you can’t get married, and it’s not because you like him so much. You’re paying such a high price because you have ulterior motives and think it’s worth it. The Fu family has too little military power in their hands.”
Although Mingzhu had the courage to do such things, being accused by him of seducing Shen Ruilin to her face, and being caught by him initiating intimacy with Shen Ruilin, made her face burn with anger. Moreover, his analysis chilled her to the bone. “You know nothing, stop pretending to be smart! Didn’t you call me stupid? How could a fool like me think of these things?”
“Then is it because you like him too much?” Yuwen Chu suddenly grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him, and said in a deep voice, “In that case, I find it more convincing that you love and hate Old Nine. You used to like Old Nine so much, but you never did anything too outrageous. Now suddenly you’ve become so bold and unrestrained, all for the sake of profit. Are you trying to force the Shen and Fu families to stand on the same boat by marrying Shen Mingshan’s hundreds of thousands of border troops? Fu Mingzhu, what exactly are you trying to do?”
Mingzhu forcefully opened his hand, and said loudly, “Rude! Who allowed you to touch me?”
“You’re indeed very bold.” Yuwen Chu smirked, “Perhaps I should ask, what does the Fu family want to do? Manufacturing such powerful bed crossbows, showing favor to the Second Prince, wanting control over the Shen family’s military power, and meddling in the affairs of the Wusun and marriage alliances. Fu Mingzhu, do your father and brothers intend to rebel?”
He pressed on relentlessly, leaving Mingzhu breathless. She felt as if she had been stripped naked in front of him, with nowhere to hide. She almost wanted to jump out and escape, but the charge of treason was absolutely not something she could admit to.
She clenched her fists tightly and sneered at him with all her strength, “Your Highness really knows how to think. Why don’t you become a storyteller? If you were to tell stories, you would surely become famous. Rebellion? Food can be eaten indiscriminately, but words cannot be spoken indiscriminately. You should know this principle without me teaching you. Do you know what would happen if I went back today and told my father and brothers what you just said?!”
“Are you threatening me? You’re really arrogant. Only you dare to say such things to a prince of the current dynasty.” Yuwen Chu calmly looked at her for a while, then suddenly smiled, “Although I’m curious about what would happen, I don’t want to upset Prime Minister Fu. After all, I still have favors to ask of him. Just now, I was being impulsive. I was just joking with you, don’t mind. Let’s get back to the topic and talk about how I ended up here.”
“I don’t want to know now.” Mingzhu was defiant. Why should she let him lead the conversation wherever he wanted?
“But I want to say. Because tomorrow at the court meeting, the envoy from the Wusun will propose to the Emperor to marry Miss Mingzhu from the Fu family to Wusun Wang.” Yuwen Chu grinned at her, his smile extremely annoying.
“Who is he? He wants to marry me, so I have to marry him? You’re making up nonsense with some level of skill!” Mingzhu retorted without reservation, even though she knew it was entirely possible. “My surname is not Yuwen! It’s Fu! The world belongs to the Yuwen family, what does it have to do with me?”
“Don’t you think this reason is too far-fetched?” Yuwen Chu smirked even more wickedly. “As a member of the royal family, you receive the people’s worship on ordinary days. When the country needs it, you should willingly marry for the sake of the country and the people, without any hesitation. But if the other party is interested in someone else, can the Emperor still say that this person is not a Yuwen and is not worthy of marriage? It doesn’t matter that you’re not a Yuwen, you can still be titled a princess or a county princess. Or perhaps, they could even add a legitimate princess or county princess. The princesses have no complaints, and you, a daughter of a prime minister, dare to say you’re unwilling? Based on what? Based on the fact that the Great Empress Dowager and your father are high-ranking and favor you? What will the Great Empress Dowager and your father use to exert influence in the future? There is no honor in this world that can be enjoyed without cost!”
Mingzhu was infuriated by him, so she said, “I already know! Empress Dowager Min and the Emperor don’t like me, so as long as the envoy from the Wusun speaks up, they will agree. If someone asks how the envoy from the Wusun knows it’s me, they will say I’m disobedient, and I provoked the envoy from the Wusun at the palace banquet, so whatever happens is my own fault…”
Thinking of confronting Hei Mo alone before, she couldn’t help but feel terrified. “Who exactly is Hei Mo?”
Yuwen Chu looked at her approvingly and whispered, “Hei Mo is Wusun Wang.”
“But…” Mingzhu subconsciously swallowed a mouthful of saliva. “Isn’t that Kundu Wang, the younger brother of Wusun Wang? He’s already so old…” Thinking that many things in this world could be falsified, she added, “Don’t scare me. I’ve never heard of any monarch from any country impersonating someone else and personally risking their life to come to an enemy country.”
“That’s just because you don’t know. Hei Mo is the newly appointed Wusun Wang, very bold and capable. It’s not strange for him to appear here.” Yuwen Chu’s tone remained gentle, and his attitude was still good. “We are not enemies with the Wusun, on the contrary, we need the Wusun very much.” He dipped a bit of tea and drew on the table for Mingzhu to see. “Look, this is us, this is the Wusun, and this is the Xiongnu. If we form an alliance with the Wusun, dealing with the Xiongnu will be much easier.”
Mingzhu had seen the topographic maps in Fu Cong’s study and in Yuwen You’s study. With her photographic memory, she remembered the maps very clearly. She could tell that although Yuwen Chu only roughly drew the map to explain, the lines and proportions of the three countries were accurate to the smallest detail. This indicated that either he had the same photographic memory as her, or he had scrutinized this map countless times and knew it inside out.
Is he really just a wealthy and idle prince who doesn’t care about politics and only seeks his own safety? So adept at calculation, so cunning and crafty. Although today’s matter was orchestrated by Empress Dowager Min against herself, his timing is too coincidental. She knew the people sent by the Great Empress Dowager weren’t incompetent, otherwise they couldn’t have kept her safe all this time, yet they all disappeared when he showed up… Even if he wasn’t directly involved in this matter, he must have done something advantageous for himself.
Thinking up to this point, Mingzhu’s gaze towards Yuwen Chu became more guarded and suspicious.
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