"Master, you have married the rightful princess of the Great Jin Nation, yet why are you still not happy?" a Liaodan chief guard looked back at the horse carriage, decorated with bright vermilion silk, and asked in puzzlement.
Saknu, hearing the words, also glanced back at the festive carriage, raising the corners of his mouth to reveal a ruthless smile.
"Who said the king is not happy? The king is very happy indeed!"
The clopping of hooves stirred up clouds of dust as the line of Liaodan people put the inner and outer cities behind them, passed the moat, went straight onto the Imperial Street, and left through the Great Gate of the Capital. They headed north in an imposing procession.
Zhao Yang, dressed in a bright red wedding robe and holding a big red apple symbolizing peace and security in her hand, sat despondently in the carriage. The buzzing in her ears still echoed Saknu’s whisper when he helped her into the carriage.
"Your only usefulness in life is to atone for her!"
Those chilling words left her feeling as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over her from head to toe. She shivered, and the apple in her hand and the Ruyi on her knees instantly became a joke.
He laughed maliciously and left, but she was frightened by his words like a startled hare, sitting in the carriage trembling incessantly.
He wanted to take revenge on her for poisoning the woman he loved. To avenge this woman, he would cruelly torture her and hurt her, and that alone is the reason he let her live!
She had promised her imperial mother to survive well and to hold on until her uncle came to save her. But that man was so terrifying, she didn’t know if she could hold on? How could she survive? Or rather, how could she make him let her live until her uncle came?
The carriage rumbled on, leaving the capital behind and coming to the fields of the capital’s suburbs.
Green spread across the suburbs of the capital in May, with green mountains, trees, grasses, and sowing farmers in the fields. Little kids ran and played in the fields. The simple farmer’s wives watched their children while sitting at the edge of their fields mending shoe soles. The scene was heartwarmingly beautiful and admirable.
Zhao Yang stared out the window in a daze, admiring the warm and beautiful scene outside, and suddenly envied those farmers’ wives chatting in the fields.
Though they lead the simplest and most humble lives, they were happy.
They could laugh out loud and converse however and whenever they wanted; visit neighbors and relatives without hesitation; sit in the field mending shoe soles, talking freely...
While she, despite having good food and clothing, silver and gold, and being surrounded by a crowd of servants, had to be wary about being harmed by others from birth. Every day people warned her not to wander around randomly; not to talk randomly; not to eat things without precaution. This kind of life, though filled with delicacies and gold and silver every day, always required her to tread lightly, always on thin ice. The slightest mistake could be unforgivable. What joy could this kind of life bring? How could it be better than these carefree farmers’ wives?
She sighed despondently, and reluctantly took back her gaze, anxiously waiting for the upcoming bad fortune.
However, from morning until noon, and from noon until evening, she didn’t wait for anything to happen, including lunch and dinner.
Although starving, she didn’t dare complain, let alone send anyone to ask. She could only bear it quietly, thinking as long as she didn’t starve to death, it would be fine...
In the main camp of King Qin’s army in the outskirts of Qing County, north of the Jin Kingdom.
The Headword Camp had already steamed the rice, a white rice that the soldiers could only eat during the New Year. Reportedly, His Highness King Qin gave the order at noon, saying that he wanted to improve the soldiers’ meals tonight, and there would be meat, which delighted them all.