Volume 6, Chapter 7: Where is the Good Life? (1/2)

Volume 6, Chapter 7: Where is the Good Life?¹

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In the second year of Longsheng, Qing was su’an and was conferred a raphy of the Marquis of Cheng</eht still glowed, Lu Yun grew anxious froh and felt a vibration fro inside Just as Lu Yun was beco elated, he heard the surprised voice of a woman say, “General Duan, it is indeed you!” Then Lu Yun sensed someone walk onto the platforured there were two people coe to weep

Lu Yun heard thetime Xiao daren, I trust you have been well since last we met”

Lu Yun was shocked Only now did he realize that the woman was the Princess of Qi, Lin Bi As for Xiao daren, wasn’t he that Supervisor Xiao as part of the Princess’s entourage? Frouards to the Prince of Jia, Lu Yun had heard that Supervisor Xiao hailed from Northern Han and had accompanied the Princess into the Prince of Qi’s household Reportedly, even though he had impressive martial arts, Supervisor Xiao usually didn’t concern himself with matters of the household nor did he appear in public

Lin Bi sighed and replied, “I knew that you would be like this even before I ca to continue to resist until complete defeat and death?”

“In reality, everyone knew for a long ti could not hope to hold out,” said Duan Wudi coldly “When His Royal Majesty decided to surrender, his actions helped the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians As subjects, we h everyone has obtained high posts and wealth in the blink of the eye, forgetting those people of Qinzhou who sacrificed themselves for the country, this is norotten old elory of a princess”

Lin Bi did not speak, just heaving a deep sigh filled with one too far Do you not understand Her Royal Highness’s painstaking efforts? If the Princess did not lory and splendor? All of us who surrendered would also live life on tenterhooks The Princess only married without hesitation on behalf of the people and ancestral te’s dying words to consider How can you be so rude?”

Duan Wudi raised his voice and said in irony and mockery, “Is that so? When I went to Qinzhou to pay ated a the populace: ‘The foreneral gazes fro’”

The platforh Lu Yun could sense the tension in the air above Its stifling nature nearly made it i feelings On one hand, he sensed that this General Duan was not so, strong and decisive At the sa was not as horrible as General Duan wasfor following develop the lauished in an instant The river was ihted, Lu Yun stopped eavesdropping Instead, he dove into the water and swam upstream In a few moments, after he had left the platfor back, Lu Yun could see that there were three people standing atop the platforht yellow cape lined with fur—while her eyes were filled with loomy Supervisor Xiao Opposite the two of the a scholarly appearance, his face h this ht body seemed like a pine or poplar tree The cold fury on his face and his overpowering aura made it impossible to think that he had spoken in such a tender and forgivingabout this With time short, he spared no effort as he continued to swim upstream

Atop the platform, Lin Bi calmed down In a tranquil and coht to criticize h it isn’t necessary However, as you were one of Tingfei’s trusted lieutenants while he was alive, I will trust you as one of my own That is why I do not wish to keep you in the dark You are correct I, Lin Bi, have indeed accepted a compromise to marry the enemy who killed my fiancé It is iretted my decision At the ti, I could have committed suicide to join my fiancé or could have vowed never to marry I believe that no one would try to compel me to marry However, I wasn’t alone I was the Princess of Northern Han, coeneral of Daizhou It would have been a small matter if I had died, but the result would have been that the en and Northern Han would have continued unabated without hope of resolution Do you want to see the populace of Northern Han once again suffer the discrimination and humiliations of the early years of the Eastern Jin Dynasty? You do not understand why Tingfei affianced me that day on the battlefield It wasn’t that he looked down upon me, Lin Bi, that I would be unable to enjoy happiness after his death and needed to entrust me to someone else in order to be reassured Rather, he knew that Northern Han was on the verge of collapse The only way to protect the land and the populace was to surrender He had probably foreseen that Great Yong wished to force our surrender and that His Royal Majesty would ultimately do so That’s why he leftthat I do not abandon fei’s wish”

Duan Wudi furiously said, “I don’t believe it! I don’t believe that General Long would do such a thing! What letter did he leave for you? Leta brief smile, Lin Bi took out a yellowed pouch embroidered with mandarin ducks from her bosom Upon it remained unfaded bloodstains She handed the pouch to Duan Wudi

Duan Wudi’s hands shook as he accepted the pouch He ell aware that this pouch was a token of love given by a woiven hio, she had thrown the token into the fire to be destroyed These pouches would frequently contain a tuft of fine black hair to denote the woman’s wish to always be by their beloved’s side

Duan Wudi opened the pouch and as expected he saw a tuft of hair within Then he sahite silk cloth Taking it out, he unfolded it Upon it was a letter written in blood with characters like reinforced steel,

<blockquote class="Quote">When iven his life for the country Although he dies without regrets, he worries still about the country of our Han² people With no heirs, I can only entrust this matter to my beloved Beloved must bear a heavy burden³ and must not sever the relationshi+p between lord and subject because of hate</blockquote>

Duan Wudi’s hands shook and the silk cloth fell to the ground Walking forward, Lin Bi picked it up Gazing upon the silk, sorrow flashed in her eyes as she said, “This letter written in blood was secretly handed to Xiao fei to be handed to me at the appropriate ti handed the letter to me At the time, I did not understand his intentions I only understood later when I learned that Tingfei had affianced fei had been deceived for so death He had foreseen what events would happen and understood the predica The only way to resolve this quandary was througha Princess of Northern Han and Maternal Uncle’s only pillar of support If I did notImperial Family, it would be impossible to eliminate the mutual hostility I do not knohether he was too heartless, having the heart to have me marry another for the sake of His Royal Majesty and the continuation of the Northern Han Royal line Thinking back now, Tingfei’s suicide that day was not because of his unwillingness to suffer the hu taken captive, but rather to display his complete loyalty H‑He actually knew that he had no recourse but to die”

“General,” cried Duan Wudi in sorrow, raising his head Then he asked, “Your Royal Highness, who else knows about this?”

Shaking her head, Lin Bi answered, “Thisand inally intended to burn this letter, but only kept it so that you could read it if you returned You are the only surviving fei’s four lieutenants If I cannot obtain your understanding, I will always be uneasy In the afterworld, Tingfei would not be able to rest easy either”

“Your Royal Highness suffered so and yet faced hness, please forgive me”

To his surprise, Lin Bi shook her head and replied, “No, you are right to criticize fei and Northern Han’s peace and tranquility If it weren’t for Li Xian’s wholehearted love, I would not have married him If I, Lin Bi, wanted to ’s Imperial Family Even if I wished to enter the Imperial Palace, I could easily become an Imperial Consort I only accepted Li Xian because he is a hero equal to Tingfei These years, I have not suffered, as Li Xian’s feelings for retted my decision”

If she had said this earlier, Duan Wudi would have sneered in response But now, Duan Wudi was coone conclusion that Lin Bi was to oodall thisfrom one of the lamps, Lin Bi fed the silk letter to the fire Afterwards, she said, “Wudi, withso, there’s no need to speak of it further With everything finally cal Efei and I have always esteemed your talent and character What harm is there to serve the court, such that you do not waste your life? In the past, Maternal Uncle treated you unjustly If you can be enfeoffed as a eneral,returned to his calm, a, “Wudi understands Princess’s deep affection However, Wudi has long become disheartened Besides, he has never wished for power, riches, or honor In his travels, Wudi has seen the country as prosperous and the people at peace and is quite satisfied Therefore, I’ committed suicide and died for the state, General Su died in the Yong capital, General Tan died upon the battlefield, while General shi+ was persecuted to death Of the forenerals of Qinzhou, only Wudi alone re to serve the E Wudi is alone without a care in the world, unlike Princess who bears the burden of ensuring the safety of thousands of people As such, Wudi is determined to return to Qinzhou to live in seclusion But this matter has not yet been formally approved by the Marquis of Chu Wudi hopes that Your Royal Highness can speak up on his behalf”

Lin Bi sighed softly Hearing such words uttered, she naturally knew that Duan Wudi’s intentions could not be altered In truth, she had no desire to prevent Duan Wudi fro Zhe would not allow hi Zhe was extraordinarily vicious to his eneive them any chance of survival If Duan Wudi were to seclude hi coer She did not know if Jiang Zhe would be willing to let Duan Wudi off If Duan Wudi were to return in ten years, such a headache probably wouldn’t exist However, Lin Bi knew the pain of being far fro’an, she still regularly iht Let alone the fact that Duan Wudi had traveled far out to sea

She ultiain and said, “I’ll speak to Marquis Jiang about your situation He should respectto seclude yourself?”

“There are too nize me in Qinzhou,” answered Wudi quietly “I do not wish to cause any problems Back when General Tan was buried in his hoood place At the ti this time, I met several of my former subordinates They have all returned to civilian life When I mentioned that I desired to settle down in General Tan’s homeland, they all set forth ahead ofthe land and sowing the fields”