Chapter 471 - I offer you my heart (2)

When it was time for dinner, Ning Mingjie led her out of the tent. They were going to eat dinner with a group of military officers that had gathered over a boiling pot/fire

“Aren’t you the commander?” Pengxin leaned close to him. She felt a bit afraid because there were so many people nearby. “Why don’t you eat alone?”

“When the army is outside, why would there be special exceptions?” Ning Mingjie got her portion of the food. “Besides, it’s more lively when there’s more people.”

Pengxin wanted to say, lively your ass. How can she eat when everyone was looking at her with ill-intentioned gazes?

However, out of habit, she still thanked Ning Mingjie when he hand her a bowl. She still had a princess’s good manners.

Ning Mingjie glanced at her and slightly raised his eyebrows.

—

What would Yuzhen do after they found out their princess had been kidnapped? Her king father only wished for her to be safe and sound and sent over ambassadors for peace talks. Once the talks began, it lasted for several days and there was an armistice.

Every day, Pengxin closely followed Ning Mingjie. She watched him practice martial arts, read war reports, and write.

The words that he wrote were especially beautiful. Pengxin only knew how to fight, so she admired his calligraphy skills a lot.

However, her martial art skills weren’t as good Ning Mingjie’s either. When he was practicing martial arts, she said that she wanted a rematch to get over her previous humiliating defeat, but she ended up losing miserably.

Ning Mingjie said, “A woman shouldn’t try to fight and kill. It’s better if she’s gentle and educated.”

Pengxin pouted. If she was gentle and educated, what would she do if someone bullied her?

—

Once the peace talks were concluded, an ambassador came to bring her back to Yuzhen. On the way out, Pengxin turned her head back to look several times, but Ning Mingjie wasn’t here to send her off. Furious, she rushed back to his tent. He was still looking at his reports.

“I’m going home,” she said.

“This one respectfully bids Your Highness farewell.” Ning Mingjie put down the report and looked at her.

Pengxin was almost angered to death. “Can’t you make an attempt to keep me here longer?”

“Why would I keep you?” Ning Mingjie didn’t understand. “Your Highness, you belong to Yuzhen.”

Pengxin clenched her jaw. She stood in the same spot for a long time thinking before she finally asked, “Where’s my sword?”

Ning Mingjie was frozen in surprise for a moment. He had forgotten to give her back her sword. He took out the sword that he had hidden under his desk. “Your Highness, please excuse my actions. Please don’t take offense.”

Pengyue took the sword from him and immediately swung the sword into his desk. Extremely angry, she asked, “Ning Mingjie, I want to stay here. Can I?”

What?

Ning Mingjie blankly stared at her. Yuzhen had paid a heavy price to ransom this princess. And now, this foolish girl was saying she wanted to stay here?

“I want to stay here.” Pengxin seemed as if she had made a resolute decision. Her cheeks were a bit flushed. She pulled the sword out of the desk and rested it on her shoulder. “Wait here.”

After going outside and one-sidedly whispering to the ambassador for a period of time, Pengxin waved her hand, and the ambassador boarded the carriage by himself. She completely disregarded the ambassador’s shocked gaze and went back into the tent. She excitedly said, “Ning Mingjie, let’s fight again. If I lose, I’ll marry you!”

Shocked, Ning Mingjie dropped the brush he was holding, and it landed on the ground. His brow was furrowed as he looked at her excited appearance. He was considered what effect this would have on his clan and country.

It was rumored that women from Yuzhen were somewhat foolish. As soon as they saw a man that caught their interest, they would relentless pursue their love interests without any second thoughts, that was why Pengyue’s ending had been so miserable. Clearly, Princess Pengxin was also one of those fools. Just because she liked him, she wanted to marry him and didn’t even consider how this would affect Yuzhen.

Ning Mingjie lowered his eyes. He didn’t throw the match and easily won.

—

Soon after, a letter from Yuzhen’s king arrived. It said that as long as he was willing to marry Pengxin, Yuzhen would be willing to cooperate in all aspects.

After reading the letter, Ning Mingjie looked at Pengxin as he said, “This one has a concubine as well as a child. Your Highness, if you marry me, it won’t be as wonderful as what you’re imagining.”

Pengxin’s expression stiffened. “You have a concubine and a child?”

“En.” The child that he had with Luoqi was already four-year-old.

Pengxin’s face was deathly pale. She floated out of the tent like a ghost.

Ning Mingjie thought that she probably wouldn’t be able to accept this. However, an hour later, she floated back in. Pouting and looking very wronged, she said, “What should I do... I still want to marry you...”

Ning Mingjie couldn’t refrain from laughing.

Once Pengxin was secretly brought to the capital, this engagement would be cemented. He was just waiting for the final part of Ning Yuxuan’s plan to be concluded. After that, he would return to the capital and get married.

—

Sangyu was pregnant again, and Ning Yuxuan took advantage of this opportunity to meet up with him by saying he was taking her on sightseeing trip. Ning Mingjie also took Pengxin west to meet them partway.

When he was almost about to meet Sangyu again, Ning Mingjie felt especially nervous, so much so that he couldn’t even sleep. He climbed onto the roof and looked at the moon.

“What’s wrong with him?” Pengxin couldn’t resist asking Ning Mingjie’s personal servant, Changshan.

Changshan was someone that knew everything. Being forced at sword point by the princess, he told a partial truth, “My master is going to meet someone important tomorrow. It’s not unusual that he can’t sleep well.”

“Why is that person important?” Pengxin narrowed her eyes. Intuition told her that the other party was a woman.

Changshan halting answered, “My master’s study used to be filled with paintings of that woman. Later, they were all taken down. In the end, they were two people that could never be together. Your Highness, you don’t need to brood over this.”

It really was a woman. Pengxin harrumphed. She tossed away her sword and picked up a wine jar, then she climbed onto the roof to keep Ning Mingjie company.

“You’re not sleeping?” Ning Mingjie turned his head to the side to glance at her.

“En.”Pengxin felt gloomy. Holding the wine jar, she took a sip and lightly said, “I’ll stay here and keep you company for a bit.”

Ning Mingjie nodded and sank back into his thoughts. Pengxin looked at him from her peripheral vision. This man truly looked very good. But, the sight of him illuminated by the fallen moonlight looked extremely lonely and desolate.

How hard would she have to work to step into this person’s heart? Pengxin thought; would it work if I raise my martial art skills by one level?

Translator Ramblings: I wish Pengxin had given up on Ning Mingjie when he said that he already had a son. What happen to feeling guilty about taking away part of her father’s affection and time from her half-sister? Is there any difference between her and Wen Wan? I think it’s worse because she’s from a country where monogamy is the norm and at least there was no child involved at that time of Wen Wan’s marriage to Ning Yuxuan.

It’s been over year since I read this story, so I don’t remember the story that well. I’m curious how the author is going to resolve Pengxin and Mingjie’s story. I think Pengxin is delusion in her belief that Mingjie is someone that needs to be saved from his loneliness. We can see that Mingjie is already doing the same thing to Pengxin that Ning Yuxuan did with Wen Wan to “tame” her.

What do you guys think?