zChapter 1138 - So, It Was A Secret Crush (1/2)
The Eunuch brought a piece of news to the Zong Sui Empress Chunyu Qing, Da Shun was leading troops towards the eastern border, the General preparing to war with Zong Sui was the Seventh Prince Xuan Tianhua.
This shocked Chunyu Qing greatly. Based on the information which the scout sent back earlier, the person leading the soldiers should be the Ninth Prince Xuan Tianming, right? Why was it changed to the Seventh Prince? Even though the Seventh Prince had once headed to the eastern border as a commander, but at that time, the two nations had not started fighting and the border was peaceful, he was only stationed at the large army to supervise their training, there was no need to be deployed to kill the enemy. Why was it so sudden this time?
Chunyu Qing was a little frantic, even though Zong Sui’s new Emperor Li Jian did not have much feelings for her, she was still Chunyu An’s daughter. Currently, Li Jian still needed to depend on Chunyu An military power, so for this impending battle, a lot of the soldier deployments were not hidden from her. So she knew, Zong Sui was not fully certain, but they did still have 80% confidence, especially that Duanmu Anguo, it seemed like he had some fallback plans which could help Zong Sui secure the victory, causing Li Jian to be filled with confidence about this.
Hearing that Zong Sui felt very certain about obtaining victory should be a good thing, but when Chunyu Qing heard that the person leading troops over from Da Shun was the Seventh Prince Xuan Tianhua, from her point of view, this good thing then turned into a bad thing.
Da Shun’s Seventh Prince Xuan Tianhua, gentle as jade, floating like a deity, it was not just the Da Shun’s citizens who heard so much about him, even within the territories of the four subordinate nations, there was no lack of Xuan Tianhua’s fans, especially in this Zong Sui. Because Zong Sui was very similar in topography and climate to Zong Sui, the appearance, demeanour, including the way they speak, was very compatible to Da Shun, this also caused the beauty standards of Zong Sui to come very close to that of Da Shun’s. Xuan Tianhua was very famous in Zong Sui, the bookstores in the various provinces of Zong Sui sold his portrait, many women treated Xuan Tianhua as a target of admiration, secretly asking their maid to buy the portrait, hiding this in their inner bedroom, facing this portrait every day, longing for a day where they could become a deity couple with this deity-like person.
Amongst them, this included the Third Miss of the General’s manor when she had not married yet, Chunyu Qing.
Chunyu Qing knew about Xuan Tianhua through Yu Qianyin. Talking about when looking at the whole of Zong Sui, the one who liked Xuan Tianhua the most, and also completely switched from a secret crush to an open display of affection and chased him so passionately, it was definitely the Zong Sui princess Li Yue who was named as Yu Qianyin. Chunyu Qing was the daughter of the old General, every time the imperial palace organised a banquet, or when there was a gathering of female friends, she would always encounter Yu Qianyin. Yu Qianyin would always talk about Xuan Tianhua, such that over time, she also strangely felt positive feelings for this person Xuan Tianhua.
It was not as if Chunyu Qing had never seen Xuan Tianhua’s portrait before, there were a few cheerful girls in the General’s manor, and they had taken the chance when they went out of the manor to restock supplies to buy Xuan Tianhua’s portrait, she took a few glances out of curiosity. At that time, she only felt that this man was like a deity in a painting, he was handsome, but the feeling of distance was too strong, not resembling a real person. She even bantered with the girls, saying that it was just a thing which the small merchants used to bluff others, it might have just been copied from some deity painting, how could there be someone who looked like this in the world.
But afterwards, Yu Qianyin went after Xuan Tianhua until she went to Da Shun, and came back covered in injuries, locked in the imperial palace by the previous Emperor and not allowed to go out. But the skills of Yu Qianyin in making skin were not an exaggeration. In order to stave off the thoughts in her mind, when she was recovering from her injuries in the imperial palace, she actually made a Xuan Tianhua human skin mask, and even looked for a servant to was said to be around Xuan Tianhua’s height to wear it all day, only for the sake of satisfying her eyes.
After seeing that palace servant who was wearing that mask, Chunyu Qing started having a secret crush on Xuan Tianhua. She thought emotionally at that time, so there was really someone that deity-like in the world, and since then, she was no longer able to put down that person who, she had never seen before.
A human skin mask entranced Chunyu Qing until she was head over heels, but Yu Qianyin was not satisfied with that mask she made, she told Chunyu Qing, the mask did not look like him, she was unable to create the romantic charm of Da Shun’s Seventh Prince at all, not even achieving 10% of it!
Then, Xuan Tianhua headed to Da Shun’s eastern border to supervise the military camp, that was the time Imperial Concubine Yun followed him out. Chunyu Qing heard about it, and secretly sneaked out from the General’s manor, crossing the border between two countries, infiltrating into the city of Fu province. It was that time when she finally saw Xuan Tianhua’s actual appearance, and from this, the roots of her emotions grew deeper and she was unable to pull herself out.
However, a person whom even a Zong Sui princess could not obtain, how can a General’s daughter like her hope to obtain him? Chunyu Qing knew that this secret crush was not going to be fulfilled in the end, crying bitterly in secret.
When she secretly left that time, the old General Chunyu found out and punished her by having her kneel in the manor’s Buddhist hall for one day and one night. After that, she married the Second Prince Li Jian, so for such thoughts in her heart, she had to bury them deeply, not allowing anyone to know this. It was such that even the personal maid who knew about it was secretly executed by the old General to help Chunyu Qing keep this secret.
Chunyu Qing thought about the past, it was as if the days when she admired Xuan Tianhua in the General’s manor was just yesterday. At that time, Zong Sui and Da Shun were still stable, the interactions between the two countries were also rare, everything was so good. But in the blink of an eye, the situation changed, the previous Emperor of Zong Sui passed away, her husband Li Jian ascended the throne, turning against Da Shun just like that. Currently, that Seventh Prince Xuan Tianhua even lead troops out for a conquest. Chunyu Qing’s heart was chaotic, she even imagined a scene of Xuan Tianhua dying in this battle.