Author: Cherish the World | Original Source: SFACG |
Translator: raltzero | English Source: Re:Library |
I gave Bai Huang a look.
Her look was very earnest, earnest to the point where even I felt like all her previous words of displeasure was just for her to ask this one thing. I looked her in the eyes and replied with a smile:
“That will depend on whether one of your two older brothers is willing to withdraw.”
Bai Huang sighed and responded:
“It would be for the best if one of them was willing. If one of them was willing to withdraw, then why bother with the current situation.”
I curiously asked:
“Normally speaking, the Overlord of Yun Hai isn’t some muddled person. With his two sons in a state of mutual hostility, how come he’s still unconcerned? Must he see his closest kin slaughter each other? Can’t he just take advantage of the period of time before his cold-blood disease flares up and kills him to immediately establish a successor and properly plan for Yun Hai’s future?”
Bai Huang went silent for a moment before answering:
“He’s probably thinking of imitating other people’s method for raising gu or he’s unable to make a decision, so he’s leaving it up to the will of the heavens. Anyone with a discerning eye now can see that my second brother is the most suitable person to inherit the position of Overlord, but his cold-blood disease is even more severe than dad’s. Many people are saying that he might not even live to 35. Furthermore, my eldest brother hasn’t committed any mistakes and he’s a experienced and knowledgeable person, thus also suitable to inherit the position. Something even more important is that my eldest brother has a son while my second brother doesn’t.”
I couldn’t help but laugh upon hearing this:
“Bai Feng hasn’t even reached 20 years of age, has he? Anxious to get married? Don’t tell me he’s being nagged every day by distant relatives?”
Bai Huang disgruntledly said:
“For an Overlord’s son, there are many people out there willing to marry them at 13 or 14 years-old. It’s weird if he doesn’t have a wife or is getting married at 20 years-old, alright? If it weren’t for my brother……”
Bai Huang muttered a few words, but didn’t continue.
I casually finished for her:
“Isn’t it because there are too many able little misses secretly in love with him and afraid they would hurt all the other ladies’ feelings if they married him, so they left? As long as he’s still single, there will be a lot of girls staying by his side with expectation. This way, he’s able to keep connections around him, fancy that he’s able to think this up.”
Bai Huang looked at me with awe and a speechless expression.
Though she didn’t feel very comfortable at heart, she didn’t know how to retort. She opened her mouth, exasperatedly shook her head, and said:
“My brother stealthily told me that he’ll marry once he inherited the position. I think you’re being too biased against him, you never leave any face for him whenever bringing him up.”
After a moment of hesitation, Bai Huang told me:
“Li De, my second brother actually did want to save Moon at the time. But grandiosely spending 10,000 gold coins to purchase a male actor was impossible. In fact, he once had a discussion with the Overlord of Tian Cheng and the Overlord of Tian Cheng said that as long as he’s able to cede twenty cities in the eastern side of Yun Hai, it was possible to trade for Moon. You’ll understand once you think about it; this time you returned three cities and the people around your side have already made such a large reaction. My second brother isn’t even the Overlord of Yun Hai, so if he really did as such, would the people under him explode?”
I scratched my head in response:
“Bai Feng, I’ve never defined him as any bad person. He’s just overpraised and his outer image is a little too excessive. He has a noble side as well as an ordinary side; he has an outstanding, elegant, and generous side as well as a selfish side. However, he left me go in my time at Yun Hai and even sent you over to West-Resisting City, so it can be seen that he’s a good person in essence.”
Everyone says that a hypocrite is worse than a truly evil person, but I’ve always had this in mind: a hypocrite needs to do a lot of good things in order to maintain his image as a noble while a truly evil person has no other merits except for being convincing.
Bai Huang softly inquired:
“Then you’re still not saving him?”
I forced a smile with this as a reply:
“Big sis Bai Huang, you’re thinking a bit too highly of me. Who are you two older brothers? They’re people just a step away from being the Overlord of Yun Hai. Didn’t you also say this yourself? Of Eternal Heaven State’s thirty-six Overlords, the Overlord of Yun Hai ranks in the top ten. The internal struggle in such a territory is bound to be cruel. Even you, their closest relative, isn’t able to do even a bit about it, so what can I, a small small City Lord, do to help them?”
Bai Huang giggled and remarked:
“That’s true.”
I could see from her expression that she was still feeling a little distraught, making my chest tighten for some inexplicable reason, so I added:
“I think that thing you should do now is pray as much as possible, pray that your eldest brother is able to win.”
“Why?”
Bai Huang asked.
I answered:
“Because Bai Ye is eldest son from the first wife and that’s equal to being the crown prince of Yun Hai. Bai Feng belongs to the type of second prince with a strong network and is against the crown prince. When the crown prince and second prince strives for a throne, the crown prince will typically send other princes to far away regions when he wins while if the second prince wins, he will surely kill the crown prince; this is the way to appropriately inherit the throne.”
Bai Huang silently pondered over my words, no longer speaking.
I knew that she wasn’t in a good mood, but her current state was already no longer related to me. This sort of brothers-fighting-each-other business would be unpleasant for anybody to withstand. Like those several normally-unlike-people brothers of mine, if they were to fight, I reckon they’d still be fanning the flames, unlike Bai Huang, this little princess who’s been pampered and doted on for all her life, and perhaps has deep affection for everyone in her family.
Bai Huang said:
“Thank you, Li De. I won’t demand that bed quilt back from you, just treat it as me sending Fang Thirteen a present. My brother tried soliciting Fang Thirteen before but she didn’t come. It’s only to be expected for me, the younger sister, to give a greeting to her if I’m here.”
I disdainfully said:
“It’s as if I really wanted to take some small advantages, isn’t it just a bed quilt, I……”
As words were coming out of my mouth, I searched around my bosom and found that the familiar private stash had vanished from the face of the earth, my hand meeting a lump of air.
After I calmly thought it over for a bit, I gave Bai Huang an unperturbed look and said:
“I accept it, thank you for your present.”
Bai Huang hummed in approval, then sneered at me.
When I was leaving, I turned my head and told Bai Huang:
“As someone born in a monarch’s house, you must have the awareness of being one born in a monarch’s house.”
Bai Huang nodded, moved her arms, and continued patrolling the streets.
In contrast, I returned to my City Lord’s mansion and the moment I stepped foot inside, I discovered a familiar cloth bag on the table. Aleya was seated and happened to be gnawing on a field fruit. Upon seeing me return, she immediately stood up from her head and respectfully greeted:
“Young master.”
I took a quick look at the bag on the table and questioned:
“You bought?”
Aleya nodded in response:
“There’s still a lot of pay remaining from this month. I saw a fruit seller on the streets, so I bought it. Does young master want to try one?”
I caught the fruit Aleya had thrown over and sat in front of her to keep her company. The first taste upon biting into the fruit was still as sour as in the past, completely unsuited for being consumed in the City Lord’s mansion. Aleya was still very normal, eating fruit after fruit. She’s always been like this; apart from the times I personally cook food for her, she apparently has no sense of taste for anything else. Sweet, sour, bitter, spicy; she’ll down them all the same.
The frontline war temporarily didn’t need me to worry about as the outside changes still haven’t reached West-Resisting City.
Within this tranquil and peaceful atmosphere, I couldn’t help but think to myself: I wonder what Yaqi’an bought for Yama, I wonder what sort of face Yama is going to make upon receiving his little sister’s present.
Sigh……it would be great if such a life could continue on forever.