Chapter 144: You Actually Believe Such Nonsense? (Part Two)

Wu Qinglin frowned, and before he could speak, Wu Qingyu began to draw in breath continuously. "Tsk... Is he actually going to play for real?"

Wu Qinglin looked at him in incomprehension, casting an inquiring glance his way.

Coming back to his senses, Wu Qingyu first waved his hand to dismiss Mushong. "You may step down first."

"Yes!" Mushong bowed and withdrew.

Wu Qinglin motioned for Wu Qingyu to enter the inner room, where they sat down on the couch, and asked in a deep voice, "Do you know something? What on earth is going on?"

Thinking of what had happened yesterday and combining it with today's events, Wu Qingyu felt a rather absurd sense of irony.

He had always thought that Xiao Yue was just toying with Wu Tan...

With a rather peculiar expression, he pondered for a moment before saying to Wu Qinglin, "Eldest Brother, when you came to find me yesterday, was it because of Prince Sheng's visit?"

Wu Qinglin nodded. "Wu Tan was throwing a temper tantrum, and the maids in her room only knew that she had scolded Prince Sheng."

Xiao Yue's desire to marry Wu Tan was a momentous affair not only for the Wu family, but for the entire Great Yin dynasty.

Without concealing anything, Wu Qingyu recounted everything he had overheard through the door crack the day before to Wu Qinglin. In the end, however, he still found the whole matter utterly lacking in credibility. "I kept thinking he was just fooling around with Wu Tan, but I never expected him to be a man of his word and actually submit a memorial relinquishing his military power? Is he really that willing to let go?"

Wu Qinglin's heart was not without shock and astonishment. At this moment, beneath his solemn expression, his mood appeared rather poor as he let out a cold, derisive scoff. "Such nonsense is fine for fooling Wu Tan, but you actually believe it?"

"Huh?" Wu Qingyu widened his eyes in suspicion. "He has publicly petitioned to resign and handed over the military tally; how can this possibly be a trick?"

Wu Qinglin glanced at him, then stood up and walked over to the nearby window.

Extremely curious about his words, Wu Qingyu immediately stood up and followed him.

However, sensing that Wu Qinglin's mood seemed somewhat sour, he did not press further with questions, simply waiting quietly.

After a moment, with a deep and distant gaze fixed on the drifting clouds across the sky outside the window, Wu Qinglin sighed. "The military is different from the imperial court. Soldiers are hot-blooded and value loyalty above all else. In the army, someone who has risen to positions like Father and Prince Sheng wields enough prestige alone to command all three armies, depending entirely on whether he has the will to do so. Therefore, the so-called military tally—when the ruler and his subjects are in harmony—is a justified safeguard. But if Prince Sheng truly harbored rebellious intentions—given his military achievements and the bonds forged through sharing life and death with the soldiers in the northern border army over the past eight years—mobilizing the northern garrison would just be a matter of a single word from him."

Wu Qingyu was struck dumb.

For more than a decade, he had lived amidst the brocade and splendor of the imperial capital, riding fine horses and wearing bright garments, living life to the fullest. Although he knew the military was ruthless and forged in blood, he lacked personal experience and insight, and thus had never even considered this level of implication.

Of course—

He had never even dared to think in this direction.

After all, such matters were far too grave; if word were to reach the Emperor's ears, it could easily invite a fatal disaster.

The reason Wu Qinglin was willing to speak to him in private was because they were family and treated each other as true brothers, which was why he spoke without reservation.

"Eldest Brother..." Yet Wu Qinglin's words seemed to be hinting at something. Feeling a surge of tension, Wu Qingyu could not help but swallow hard.

Wu Qinglin gave a bitter laugh and said, "Otherwise, why do you think His Majesty is so wary of our Marquis Dingyuan's Manor? And why bother trying to draw us in through a marriage alliance? The saying 'when a general is away from home, he need not obey imperial edicts' is not unfounded. Once things in the army reach a certain juncture, they cannot be suppressed simply by a military tally."

Wu Qingyu was suddenly seized by a lingering fear. "Then Prince Sheng..."

Wu Qinglin sighed. "Although this matter is not as simple as it appears on the surface, judging by the mere fact that he is willing to surrender his military command—I actually believe that his actions today are solely directed at Wu Tan. He has approached Wu Tan behind the scenes several times before, and judging by his behavior, there is currently no sign of any ulterior motives toward our Marquis Dingyuan's Manor. Wu Tan is deeply suspicious, constantly evading him and refusing to yield. Resorting to such a desperate measure probably means he was truly driven to his wits' end."

Wu Qingyu was no longer concerned with this at all. Just thinking about what Wu Qinglin had just said made his heart palpitate with fear, and he probed tentatively, "Eldest Brother, do you think Prince Sheng could truly rely on his personal prestige alone to return to the northern border army one day?"

Wu Qinglin curled the corners of his lips, though no smile reached his eyes. "Such matters are not as simple as casually speaking of them. Aside from hot-blooded loyalty and conventional morality, it requires the alignment of the right time, advantageous terrain, and harmonious human factors. Just like when Prince Sheng returned to the capital—even though His Majesty was deeply wary of him from the bottom of his heart, he never dared to proactively bring up taking back his military command. Prince Sheng defended the northern border for all these years with monumental contributions, and he has only just returned to the capital after being severely injured and forced back. If His Majesty were to immediately strip him of his power, it would be equivalent to handing Prince Sheng a fault of injustice on a silver platter. And right now, the same applies to Prince Sheng. Today, he voluntarily relinquished his power. In this matter, His Majesty committed no wrong. If they remain mutually at peace, then in a few years, as new generals taking over his position gradually win prestige and firmly establish themselves in the northern border army, Prince Sheng will slowly be forgotten and edged out. However, if His Majesty or the Crown Prince loses their composure and attempts to further suppress him at this moment—then, as I just said, the actual military power of the northern border still rests in Prince Sheng's hands, leaving him with leeway and opportunity."

Of course, given Wu Qinglin's understanding of Xiao Yue, he suspected that even if Xiao Yue were to leave the northern border for ten or eight years, everything there would still remain under his control. Wu Qinglin simply refused to believe that upon returning to the capital, Xiao Yue would leave himself without a fallback plan or fail to arrange his trusted aides within the army to secure his influence.

He believed that Xiao Yue had taken a fancy to Wu Tan, but to say that Xiao Yue was a lovesick fool who would throw caution to the wind for a woman?

How was that even possible?

Wu Qinglin was even certain—

The very fact that he was willing to surrender his military command so readily today proved precisely that everything in the northern border was entirely under his control.

Xiao Yue was not the type of person to act impulsively without regard for the consequences!

However, now without the military tally in hand, and with this military power surrendered of his own accord, Xiao Yue had handed the Emperor a massive bargain today. Originally, even if they were to stall over this military tally—

If he truly harbored ambitions of usurpation, as long as he forced the Emperor and the Crown Prince to actively strip him of power, he could have won himself a completely justified moral high ground.

And now, he had given up that opportunity.

If the Emperor and the Crown Prince ceased to make things difficult for him, and if he did not want to bear the crime of treason, he might truly be stuck bearing the empty title of a prince, trapped in the capital forever...

Did he do all this just to make Wu Tan stop guarding against his intentions to approach her?

Although Wu Qinglin cherished his younger sister, he understood Wu Tan's personality and temper far too well—

His sister bore no resemblance whatsoever to a refined young lady of a noble house. While she did possess a certain degree of naive candor and cuteness, what man on earth would actually become so hopelessly devoted to her to this extent?

It was like a joke!

Wu Qingyu shared the same misgivings. "Anyway, when you boil it all down, he did all this for the sake of that crazy girl in our family? But why didn't you mention this to me before? And now that things have reached this point—do we still need to send a letter to inform Father? Previously, if Prince Sheng wanted to marry a daughter of our family, the Emperor could still use the wariness of an alliance between two military households as an excuse to hint that Father shouldn't agree. Now that Prince Sheng is no longer the commander of the northern border, it seems even Father has nothing more to say, right?"

When a man has handed his military power back to you, and now simply wants to take a wife, are you still going to stall and refuse him? Such a harsh reputation of being overly fastidious was certainly something the Emperor could not afford to bear.

Wu Qinglin turned to look at him with a helpless expression. "Indeed! Even His Majesty the Emperor can no longer interfere; what more can we say?"

One had to admit that Xiao Yue's tactic was truly ruthless.

Wu Qingyu smacked his lips. "Then I suppose before Prince Sheng officially comes to propose marriage, there's no need to specially inform Father, sparing him the grief upon finding out."

Although Xiao Yue no longer commanded troops, given Wu Xun's upright and blunt temperament, he would likely still feel uncomfortable knowing that Xiao Yue had set his sights on his daughter.

Now that Xiao Yue had staked everything and clearly had no intention of letting the matter rest, they might as well spare Wu Xun the aggravation, lest they end up glaring at each other and starting a fight before even becoming in-laws...

Wu Qinglin hadn't really wanted Wu Xun to know about or get involved in Wu Tan's affairs in the first place. Wu Qingyu's words fell right in with his own thoughts, and he immediately went with the flow and nodded. "Let's leave it as it is for now. Tan'er is still young, and I see no immediate plans for Prince Sheng to marry right away anyway. We can talk about it after some time passes; who knows what changes might occur in the meantime."

"Right! Well, if there's nothing else, I'm heading off!" Wu Qingyu shrugged, turning to walk out, though the more he thought about the matter, the more incredible it felt. "That Prince Sheng looks perfectly normal..." He didn't seem to have any peculiar fetishes, so why was he so desperately determined to lock horns with Wu Tan?

The news that Prince Sheng—who had served in the military for eight years and commanded the northern border army for a full five years—had suddenly submitted a memorial to surrender his military command and requested to retire to civilian life was earth-shattering throughout the capital. After the morning court session, it caused an uproar, and by midday, it had spread through every street and alley, becoming the newest topic of gossip for people over their tea and leisure.

The reason Xiao Yue himself gave was that he had grown weary of the slaughter on the battlefield and wished to stay in the capital to live a few peaceful days. Meanwhile, those high-ranking officials of the first and second ranks who were privy to the inside story understood the situation instantly—

Just last day, Prince Sheng had visited the imperial villa wanting to marry Marquis Dingyuan's daughter. It seemed that now, he was willing to cast aside his military power just to win a wife...

No one had ever heard rumors that the Wu family's second young miss was a reincarnated vixen. How on earth did she pull this off? At such a tender age, how had she so utterly bewitched Prince Sheng—who otherwise didn't look like a lecherous scoundrel—that he was willing to give up his military power just to marry her?

Those high-ranking officials and their matriarchs who had never laid eyes on Wu Tan, or who had no particular impression of her, were endlessly curious about this second young miss of the Wu family. They longed to find an opportunity to meet her immediately and study the matter, but after inquiring about the guest lists for recent banquets hosted by various noble households—

The Wu family's second young miss had accidentally injured her leg and would likely be unable to leave the house for the next month or two.

Thus, the mystery remained unsolved.

Of course, those in the know were limited to the very top tier of the inner circle. As for others who heard that Prince Sheng would henceforth live a life of leisure in the capital, aristocrats with unmarried daughters of suitable age felt a surge of eager anticipation.

Previously, with Prince Sheng holding military power and high status, no one dared to approach him uninvited unless he took the initiative. Moreover, since no one knew when he might return to the northern border, daughters raised delicately in wealthy households were quite precious, and families generally reluctant to send them to the distant frontier where they might never see them again. But now? Although Prince Sheng's power was diminished, he was still the Emperor's own brother and a supreme member of the imperial clan.

Consequently, for a short period, the atmosphere among the capital's nobility was abuzz with excitement.

Back in the imperial palace, during the morning court session, Xiao Yun had heard Xiao Yue's memorial resigning from his military posts on the spot. Because he was far too shocked and taken aback, he hadn't processed the full implications right away.

After all, Xiao Yue's decision was far too abrupt, and like the Emperor, he hadn't quite recovered his wits yet.

Since Xiao Yue was handing over the military tally, the Emperor naturally had to offer some modest, superficial resistance and persuasion out of courtesy. But regardless of whether Xiao Yue was sincere or harboring ulterior motives with feigned intentions, getting him to voluntarily surrender his military power was an outcome the Emperor had desperately desired.

At any rate, the surface-level courtesy of persuasion had been fulfilled, and the rest could be set aside for later.

When the court session ended, the Emperor chose not to summon ministers to the imperial study that day, instead taking Tao Renzhi back to the inner palace.

"Didn't he make a trip to the imperial villa a few days ago? He returned the night before yesterday, didn't he?" Walking along the path, the Emperor asked thoughtfully, "Hasn't news from the imperial villa arrived yet? Could it be—"

Could Dowager Empress Zhou have said something to Xiao Yue?

"News from the villa arrived in the middle of last night. Your Majesty had just fallen asleep at that time, so this old slave dared not disturb you," Tao Renzhi hastily replied. "Prince Sheng stayed at the villa for three days, but Her Majesty the Dowager Empress did not see him. On the first day, she only sent Nanny Zhao to pass along a message telling His Highness to return to the capital. After that, even Nanny Zhao was not granted an audience again."

The Emperor had actually guessed early on that Dowager Empress Zhou was unlikely to see Xiao Yue. However, ever since Xiao Yue's return to the capital, he had been living in a state of constant vigilance; without confirming it once more, he truly could not set his mind at ease.

Hearing Tao Renzhi's words, he felt somewhat reassured, though pondering it from all angles, he still found it unbelievable. "Could it really be because of that little girl from the Wu family? I saw that girl in the Empress's palace just recently; she looks—she's fairly attractive, but she doesn't seem to possess any extraordinary qualities, does she?"

Tao Renzhi smiled. "Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, I suppose. The Wu family's second young lady is said to be quite spirited and domineering; perhaps His Highness simply prefers someone lively? In any case, this is all for the better for Your Majesty."

Tao Renzhi did not state it outright, but both master and servant knew very well that for many years, Xiao Yue had long been a lingering worry in the Emperor's heart.

Now that Xiao Yue had surrendered his military command, a massive stone had indeed been lifted from the Emperor's chest.

The Emperor smiled and did not refute this.

As the master and servant made their way toward the inner palace, the young Crown Prince Xiao Yun, having accompanied the Emperor out of the rear hall after the morning court, immediately took a detour to the front. Taking a shortcut, he blocked the path leading out of the palace after court and intercepted Xiao Yue.

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[Author's Notes]:
Both Eldest Brother and Second Brother are honest men and truly fail to see what charm younger sister Tan possesses that could make His Imperial Uncle fly into a rage for a beauty. So, Imperial Uncle, are you blind? -_-||