Chapter 45: Chapter 45: The Servant’s Lost Seed

Gu Xinglang’s expression didn’t waver after Jing Mo called him blindly devoted. In a cold voice, he said, “It’s been 17 years since Gu Li defected to Zhuri Country, but he’s never led troops since then. You’re all just treating him as a pet dog.”

“Pet dog?” Jing Mo found it hilarious. “Gu Li is respected in our nation as the Defender Duke and has an imperial post. His whole family enjoys an extravagant lifestyle. Does that count as Zhuri raising a pet dog in your eyes?”

Gu Xinglang replied, “Only by treating a surrendered general well will one gain more generals in his place. However, not everyone in the world is willing to betray their country and forsake their ancestors like Gu Li.”

“Royal Son-in-Law,” Jing Mo said, “If His Seventh Highness returns with me to Zhuri, Princess Linglong can come along.”

Gu Xinglang knitted his brows. “What do you mean?”

“Empress Jiang has already passed away,” Jing Mo said. “Your Fengtian is under a monopoly by the Zhao Clan and your family has lost its military power. How are you supposed to protect Princess Linglong and her brother? If you return with me to Zhuri, I’ll promise you riches and honor as well as guarantee a post for you to command troops.”

Gu Xinglang was so furious that he laughed. “Eldest imperial prince wants me to bring along the princess to betray our country? She’s the eldest princess of the official wife of our dynasty. Does eldest imperial prince believe she’ll turn her back on her nation and her father?”

“What couldn’t one do for the sake of survival if they have no one else to rely on?” Jing Mo challenged. “Even if the princess doesn’t betray him, her imperial father’s already turned his back on her and her brother. General Gu, in my eyes, your Gu Clan brothers are far superior to some powerless imperial siblings.”

Gu Xinglang finally understood. The prince hostage was only a pretext, because what Zhuri really wanted was the allegiance of their Gu Clan.

“It’s a pity that Royal Son-in-Law is still injured at present,” Jing Mo raised his wine goblet at Gu Xinglang with a smile. “Otherwise, I’d be keen to toast the celebrated Third Young General.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

There was a goblet before Gu Xinglang as well, but it had no wine. He looked at at the empty cup before a thought suddenly flashed in his mind. Since he wants to make the Gu Clan surrender, why summon Yu Linglong as well? The princess might be circumstantial, but which dynasty has ever beget a princess who betrays the country with the royal son-in-law? “Just what were your motives for calling the princess here?” Gu Xinglang asked sternly.

Jing Mo sipped a mouthful of delicious wine as he smiled at Gu Xinglang. “Naturally, to fete her at a feast.”

He bought Qingyu, then flaunted her in front of Yu Linglong. Just then, Qingyu went out to wait on the princess as well. Gu Xinglang connected all the dots and understood everything. As long as Yu Linglong was unwilling to be his wife, His Majesty would be infuriated and the Gu Clan would lose all sanctuary in Fengtian. Gu Xinglang pushed against the table as he tried to rise, but the acute pain in his ankles made him freeze in place.

“Your family has been defending Wangxiang Pass (望乡关) for years,” Jing Mo remarked languidly. “Its terrain is steep and arduous. If not for that defensive fort, Fengtian would have long vanished from this world.”

Wangxiang Pass was Fengtiang’s northern defense against Zhuri as well as its first defensive measure against White Tiger Nation in the northwest, making it Fengtian’s most important pass. Gu Xinglang gritted his teeth. “You want our Gu Clan to offer Wangxiang Pass as tribute? Eldest imperial prince, haven’t you forgotten that we’re not the ones guarding it anymore?”

“But the replacements are old subordinates of your Gu Clan.”

“They’re my grandfather’s subordinates. Do you think they’ll betray the country?”

“As long as we have a map of the fort’s defenses, who cares how steep Wangxiang Pass’s terrain may be?”

Gu Xinglang broke into a cold laugh. “Eldest imperial prince took all these pains for the sake of a single map?”

Jing Mo said, “A single map is capable of saving tens of thousands–nay, even hundreds of thousands of soldier’s lives. Naturally, I would work a little harder.”

Gu Xinglang fell silent a long time. Finally, he retorted, “I will explain to the princess that the other girl is just a servant.”

“May the princess believe your explanations,” Jing Mo replied calmly.

—

“Leave a heir?” Yu Xiaoxiao echoed.

Currently, Yu Xiaoxiao had finished her business in the bathroom and was standing in one of the walkways below the building. She had just listened to Qingyu’s tear-filled laments and now glanced towards Xiao Zhuang and Xiao Wei. Are her words trustworthy?

It was impossible for the two shadow guards to pretend they didn’t exist now. Both of them nodded their heads. They couldn’t help the royal son-in-law hide the affair when their princess could find out the truth with a single question back home.

Qingyu wept, “This was done by this servant willingly. Back then, Old Madam and third young master had no idea that Your Royal Highness was willing to marry below your station. This servant’s status is cheap and low, so I was willing to be sold off as well. As long as third young master lives well, it doesn’t matter what happens to me.”

Between the two shadow guards, Xiao Zhuang was younger than Xiao Wei by two years. However, he had a shrewder grasp of human nature and grew gloomy at Qingyu’s words. She sounds pitiful, but she’s actually saying her feelings for Gu Xinglang were true, and that the Gu Clan sold her off to garner better relations with the princess. In other words, she’s accusing the Gu Clan for being covetous of imperial power and riches while ensuring a harmonious marriage.

Xiao Zhuang couldn’t tell the subtleties in Qingyu’s speech, so he only said impatiently, “You’re already Zhuri’s eldest imperial prince’s servant. Why are you still telling Her Royal Highness these things?”

Qingyu knelt in front of Yu Xiaoxiao and broke into muffled sobs that sounded absolutely pathetic.

Xiao Wei told Yu Xiaoxiao, “Princess, let’s go back to the banquet hall. Royal Son-in-Law is all alone there.”

Yu Xiaoxiao had yet to express her views on the matter when Qingyu started kowtowing on the ground. She next took out a piece of rolled-up paper in her sleeve and presented it to the princess. Without much thought, Yu Xiaoxiao took the paper and unrolled it. What greeted her was a whole mess of words that annoyed her. Don’t you know I’m illiterate? Can’t you just tell me if you have something to say?

Qingyu had a faceful of tears when she saw Yu Xiaoxiao’s expression shift, but inside her heart was singing. Jing Mo had given her this paper, which detailed a prescription for nursing a woman’s health after miscarriage. As Princess Linglong knew medicine and even had good medical skills, there was no way she wouldn’t draw conclusions. She would immediately think that Qingyu had a miscarriage and that the baby belonged to Gu Xinglang. For the sake of riches and glory, he was even willing to cast away his own unborn child. How could he possibly be worthy of love after that?

Yu Xiaoxiao crumpled up the paper in her hands. Since youth, Princes Linglong had been personally instructed in reading and writing from Empress Jiang herself, so he had to put up a knowledgeable front even if she couldn’t read. “What do you want to say to me?” she asked Qingyu with a wooden expression.

Qingyu gave a start. That’s not the reaction I expected.

Xiao Zhuang asked, “Princess, what did she let you see?”

Yu Xiaoxiao hastily tossed the ball of paper to him. “Have a look.”

Xiao Zhuang and Xiao Wei lowered their heads and smoothed out the paper for review. They could tell it was a prescription, but neither one understood medicine well enough to know its purpose.

“You see what this is?” Yu Xiaoxiao asked the duo.

Xiao Wei said, “It’s a prescription. Princess, what illness is this for?”

Chinese medicine, then. Even if Yu Xiaoxiao could read, she wouldn’t know. Dropping her head, she looked at Qingyu again and asked, “Are you sick?”

Qingyu had a frail build to begin with, so she looked sickly in Yu Xiaoxiao’s eyes even when she was actually healthy. Thus, the princess could only assume she’d fallen ill.

Eyes dripping with tears, Qingyu said, “This servant has been taking this prescription for days already.”

“What are you sick with?” Xiao Zhuang asked.

In a low voice, Qingyu murmured, “This servant has lost a seed.”1

The original Chinese is 小产 xiaochan, which of course is “miscarriage,” but it’s supposed to be an archaic term that Yu Xiaoxiao won’t understand, so I took some, erm, creative liberties.