Thirteenth Lady's Comback: Her Everyday Life as a Bystander-Chapter 329 - 9: Bound by Love (First Update)

After the Mid-Autumn Festival, Prince Ke announced the alliance edict decreed by Emperor Kangping, the fifth emperor of Great Chu, causing an uproar throughout the Northwest.

In the more than 150 years since the founding of Great Chu, the Tartars have unilaterally torn up peace treaties no less than ten times. Not to mention, the deep-seated hatred between the two nations has its roots in the previous dynasty.

Many commoners and even soldiers couldn’t understand why the current emperor wanted to assist the Tartar Prince.

Tartar internal strife? Let them be chaotic then; it would be better if they all perish.

Even ordinary people know that the right approach should be to take advantage of the Tartar’s internal turmoil and dispatch the army to destroy them.

At this time, Prince Ke stepped forward to speak, writing a straightforward and easy-to-understand notice which was printed and posted everywhere, earning him quite some prestige among the populace.

The content of the notice was roughly as follows:

First, the Eldest Prince of Tartar, who has just ascended to the throne, is guilty of numerous atrocities, including patricide and matricide. He even falsely accused Great Chu of murdering the Sixth Prince and is already leading an army of 100,000 in preparation to invade Great Chu.

Great Chu dispatching troops is to ensure that the flames of war do not reach inside the borders, sparing the civilians from suffering.

Second, the Sixth Prince of Tartar is already Prince Yong of Great Chu, and he recognizes the current emperor as his adoptive father. When Prince Yong inherits the position of Tartar Khan, Tartar will acknowledge Great Chu’s status as the Sovereign State.

As the Celestial Country, Great Chu should indeed have this kind of magnanimity.

For the common folk who are easy to deceive, whether or not Prince Yong becomes Tartar’s ruler or whether or not Great Chu is the Sovereign State is irrelevant. But if the flames of war don’t reach the Northwest, it’s undeniably a good thing.

Those with a bit more wisdom scoffed at the second point. In the Royal Family, even biological father and son or siblings could fight against each other, let alone an adopted son coming out of nowhere.

Wolves eat meat, dogs eat dung — this is an unchanging truth throughout the ages.

Right now, they dare to bet that this Prince Yong, who is ceding land and paying reparations, is merely yielding to the current circumstances.

Once his wings have hardened, surely he will tear a good piece of flesh from Great Chu.

Prince Ke and Prince Yong are certainly well aware of this public discussion, but when they meet, they pretend as if they don’t know anything about it.

Appearing to be as close as brothers, to the point that outsiders would think they were true siblings born of the same mother.

Since Governor Qin received the imperial edict, he naturally went ahead to mobilize troops and dispatch generals.

Tartar’s army of 100,000 has already gathered 50,000 at Mosen, and if they march swiftly, they are only about half a month’s journey from the important border town of Hami in Great Chu.

Hong Sheng, as the youngest General of the Fourth Rank, is about to accompany Governor Qin, which brought him back into the public eye after capturing the Sixth Prince of Tartar alive.

Regardless of what the Sixth Prince of Tartar feels, even within the Northwest Army, some people were already so sour that one could smell the scent of old Shanxi vinegar from afar.

Those who knew of Susu’s relationship with Mrs. Zhao said Hong Sheng got his position through connections, while those unaware said Hong Sheng had lucked out.

In reality, it was simply because Governor Qin felt that although Hong Sheng had married a wife who was "not so remarkable" (Susu: Heh...), he didn’t mess around with random concubines. He was someone who could get things done, deserving of cultivation.

Those saying Hong Sheng relied on connections naturally mentioned Mrs. Zhao ’s pillow talk.

Regarding this, Mrs. Zhao felt really wronged.

Having a husband whose thought process is bizarre, always talking at cross purposes — it was better not to say anything. If she really did whisper in his ear, who knows where Hong Sheng might be right now.

Susu and Hong Sheng pretended not to hear or see the sarcastic remarks and killing glares.

Since the night of August 15th when Hong Sheng chickened out, he felt ashamed to face his wife. It’s bearable during the day with people around, but come nighttime when it’s time to sleep, Hong Sheng just felt traumatized.

If little Hong Sheng didn’t still have the desire to greet Susu, he’d secretly go see the military doctor to have himself checked out.

Susu, seeing Hong Sheng curl up under the covers pretending to sleep as soon as it’s bedtime, couldn’t help but find it both amusing and exasperating.

Actually, Susu wasn’t so resistant to having a child now; after all, with Hong Sheng going off to war, she’d be left all alone at home. Having a child might give her something to focus on.

But whether it happens or not depends on fate. However, she couldn’t let Hong Sheng think that having a child is easy.

"Why, now of all times, do you want me to bear your child? What do you mean? Afraid I’ll run off while you’re at war?"

Hong Sheng pleaded repeatedly, "Dear wife, I was just momentarily possessed that day. Now I’m about to head off to war, and you’re not in the best of health. How could I dare let you get pregnant?

If we really want a child, it has to be after the war has subsided and when I can be home to take care of you. Otherwise, if I’m out there worrying about you and the child, I won’t be able to focus on the battle."

These words were true; Hong Sheng just didn’t share the darker thoughts he had.

That day, in just a split second, Hong Sheng suddenly thought if anything were to happen to him, given Susu’s beauty, she would have many suitors even as a widow.

If he really were to fall, with Susu becoming a widow, despite it breaking his heart, he couldn’t bear the thought of Susu living a lonely life and hoped someone would help take care of her in his stead.

Yet Hong Sheng selfishly didn’t want Susu to forget him. With a child tethering them, at least she’d remember the child’s father whenever she saw the child.

That’s why those words slipped out, and after saying them, Hong Sheng wished he could slap himself. He was too selfish.

Now, he dared not discuss these thoughts with Susu, fearing the look of disdain she might give him, scared of tarnishing the image he held in her mind.

But in truth, with Hong Sheng’s odd behavior over the past few days, Susu had already guessed the reason for his melancholy.

This guy just needed a good hurting.

Yet this time, Susu felt the fear of losing her emanating from the man beside her.

Susu reached out to embrace Hong Sheng, "Silly man, in this lifetime, I’ve decided on you."

After saying this, she didn’t care what expression Hong Sheng had, she just hugged him tightly, silently conveying the love in her heart.

With boundless affection, too much love; at times passionate like fire. Take some clay, mold a you and shape a me; shatter both with water, combine the pieces, mold another you, shape another me. My clay has you, your clay has me; in life we share one quilt, in death the same coffin.

It took quite a while for Hong Sheng to recover from the overwhelming joy of hearing Susu’s words. He spun Susu around lightly, like holding a child.

At this moment, no sweet nothings could he utter, only fiercely kissing his wife’s hair.

"Susu, believe me, it won’t be more than a few years before we return to the Capital."

So, he absolutely couldn’t die; he needed to reciprocate with the most precious things for the heart Susu entrusted to him.

Regarding returning to the Capital, Susu had different thoughts; she intended to wait until the current emperor passed away before returning to the Capital.

But this wasn’t the right moment to voice it and break the atmosphere.

In the past few days, she had already switched the birth control aroma pills with Fertility Incense. With less than a few days before Hong Sheng set out, she only hoped things would go as she wished!