Happy reading~

Chapter 124: This Princess is an Honest Person

All around were the sounds of blades clas.h.i.+ng. Fresh blood streamed as swords cut through flesh and countless people gave their last cries in agony. Ning Shu clenched her teeth. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the Tartar horses trample over the corpses of Great Yong soldiers.

Indescribable sorrow and hatred arose in Ning Shu's heart and she rushed towards the oncoming stream of Tartars, sending her whip flying towards their faces. The barbs caught on their skin and even ripped some of their eyes out.

"Forward, forward…" Finally, the sound of distant horse hooves came. The long awaited rescue group had finally arrived.

A Great Yong general came leading troops. When he saw all the corpses on the ground, he immediately shouted, "Prepare for battle!"

He Lianying hadn't brought a lot of soldiers. When he saw the newcomers, he briefly glanced towards Ning Shu who was so covered with blood that only her bright eyes were visible, then said to his troops, "Return."

The Tartars quickly moved back behind He Lianying and stood confronting the soldiers of Great Yong.

Ning Shu wiped at the blood on her face. Even her nose was filled with the heavy, disgusting stench of blood.

She didn't dare to be careless and keep her eyes on He Lianying. Her hand was trembling slightly as she gripped her whip. He Lianying smiled towards Ning Shu nonchalantly. Although he was clearly injured, the only visible indication of it was that his face was slightly pale. Other than that, he didn't seem to be in pain at all.

He sure was fierce. He was so harsh even towards himself.

He Lianying pointed towards the captured Tartars and said lightly, "Release our North Mongolian warriors."

Ning Shu was provoked to laughter. Didn't he know the situation he was in? She couldn't help but ask, "What if this princess refuses? What does it matter if the soldiers of your North Mongolia are strong? Our Great Yong will just use ten lives to exchange for the life of one of you Tartars. If ten won't work, then we'll use a hundred."

He Lianying's pupils dilated for a moment, then he burst out laughing. During this time as he had been watching Ning Shu, his gaze had been becoming brighter and brighter. In the end, he laughed. This laugh actually contained a tone of appreciation. He Lianying rubbed his lip with his finger.

"Who would have imagined that a person with unyielding character like this existed in a flouris.h.i.+ng place where people lived in drunken stupor? Not even the border generals of Great Yong dare to speak to this prince this way. Jiahui, you shouldn't have been born in Great Yong. You're a woman that should be galloping through the plains."

Ning Shu simply sneered. For the sake of not marrying you, she'd pay any price.

Currently, Ning Shu wasn't sure if she would be able to complete this task. When it came to a collision between nations, individuals were truly too insignificant. However, no matter what, she must help the original host get free from this man.

From the looks of it, the power of the storyline was just too strong. Although she had managed to get out of the peace marriage, this man, He Lianying, ended up fixating on her.

Men were all sc.u.m that only wanted things they couldn't have. When he had married the original host, he had treated her inhumanely. Now he actually wanted her to leave with him? That was practically throwing Great Yong, throwing Li Wen's face on the ground and stomping on it.

It was likely that He Lianying was doing this to attack Great Yong's morale. Just imagine it. If your country's princess ran off with the enemy's prince and it was even right after a humiliating peace marriage had been proposed. It'd be a huge joke.

Her name would go down in infamy.

Ning Shu sneered, "Your North Mongolia is a place where monarchs don't act befitting of their status and subjects have no sense of propriety: a place that lacks the three principles and five virtues. How could a c.r.a.ppy place like that be fit for this incorruptible princess to stay in? He Lianying, whatever hole you rolled out from, just roll back in there. Scram!"

>The three principles are the ruler guides the subjects, the father guides the son, and the husband guides the wife. The five virtues of Confucianism are benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and fidelity.

He Lianying's face turned increasingly pale and when he heard what Ning Shu said at the end, he was so angry he coughed up blood. Of course, how could a person as shameless as He Lianying be angered to the point of coughing blood? It was the poison taking effect.

"You really did use poison." He Lianying wiped at the black blood at the corner of his mouth.

Ning Shu spread out her hands and shrugged innocently. "This princess is an honest person and never lies."

He Lianying fixed his gaze on Ning Shu's face and examined it inch by inch. In the end, he gave a hearty laugh. "Princess Jiahui, be prepared. This prince will not stop until this prince obtains you!"

"This princess is really scared ah." Ning Shu patted her chest. "This princess just likes the way you look when you're driven crazy by frustration but still not able to obtain this princess."

"Let's go…" He Lianying coughed up another mouthful of blood as he commanded the North Mongolian soldiers to retreat.

Happy reading~

Chapter 125: People That Thought Themselves to be Men

He Lianying turned his horse around and prepared to leave, giving up on the captured Tartars. Ning Shu laughed coldly. Did you think that you were free to come and go as you please on the soil of Great Yong?

She grabbed her bow and arrow, and with a pull, drew the bow into the shape of a full moon. The tip of the arrow gleamed with cold light as it pointed towards He Lianying's back.

She released the bowstring, and the arrow flew straight towards He Lianying. However, he immediately dropped down flat on top of his horse and the arrow flew past above him to pierce into the tree trunk ahead.

He Lianying looked at the arrow on the tree trunk, then couldn't stop himself from turning back to glance at Ning Shu. She was sitting up tall on her horse and her cold gaze was filled with murderous intent.

Ning Shu was a little disappointed to have failed to kill He Lianying. As they say, scourges live past a thousand.

>There's a Chinese saying that basically says good people die young, bad people live past one thousand.

It really would have been unrealistic for He Lianying to die so easily. The original host and He Lianying were probably destined to be involved with each other since in their last lifetime, they had even gotten married. How could the ties of destiny possibly be broken that easily?

Ning Shu stopped thinking about it and turned around to say coldly, "Clean up the battlefield and record the names of all the soldiers that died in battle. Evaluate their merit and reward them accordingly. Give their families three times the compensation."

Ning Shu looked towards the corpses on the ground. Some had been trampled beyond recognition by the horses, and some bodies had even been split in two, exposing the entrails which were still warm.

The dusty soil was dyed by blood and turned into clumps of black as the blood dried. The stench of blood hovering over this battlefield was so heavy it caused people to feel dizzy.

War was cruel. The corners of Ning Shu's eyes felt a bit hot. She smiled coldly as she looked towards the general who had arrived so late. When he noticed Ning Shu's gaze, he stiffened and immediately s.h.i.+fted his gaze away. Following that, he cupped his fist towards Ning Shu in salute and asked, "Princess, what about these Tartars?"

"The heads of Tartars can be exchanged for military merits." That general's gaze was glowing as he looked at the Tartars.

He had come late and he still wanted to s.n.a.t.c.h credit? Ning Shu was currently very annoyed with the generals of Great Yong. It was no wonder the Tartars were able to do as they please on the nation's soil. If they had so much energy to scheme, why didn't they use it to fight the Tartars?

Ning Shu looked at him coldly and said, "This princess will cripple whomever that dares to touch these Tartars. So, you want merit?"

"This general doesn't dare." That general hastily lowered his head. Ning Shu was not just a princess, she was also the left vanguard so her status was higher than his even in military rank. Discontent and unhappiness born of having to lower his head to a woman emerged in his heart.

However, Ning Shu didn't care what these people thought and shouted, "Return to camp."

The woman Ning Shu had rescued, Cai Sang, followed after Ning Shu on horseback, her eyes s.h.i.+ning brightly.

When they got back to camp, Ning Shu had the soldiers bring the twenty Tartars to the stage in the middle of the campgrounds.

The Tartars had probably gotten too used to doing as they pleased at the borders of Great Yong since even though they were scared to face the soldiers below, they were still confident that the people of Great Yong wouldn't dare to kill them. Thus, they even looked towards the soldiers with provocative expressions.

Ning Shu headed inside the main tent and knelt down on one knee to salute Shen Feng. Following that, she reported the situation, including the fact that the military officer was slow in coming, showing that he didn't care about the lives of his comrades.

That officer's expression immediately darkened and he glared at Ning Shu angrily. Ning Shu just gave a cold laugh and rubbed the whip at her waist in response.

How were they supposed to fight with such complete lack of unity? Power must be pulled together and unified, but it was inevitable for there to be some mice s.h.i.+t mixed in. Ning Shu felt that she had to establish her prestige in order to stop these people that thought themselves to be men from looking down on her just because she was a woman.

She'd kill the chicken to warn the monkey, with the chicken being those Tartars.

Ning Shu ignored that officer's blame-filled glare and walked onto the stage, declaring coldly, "The Tartars have harmed our siblings, kill! The Tartars have trampled our land, kill…"

"Kill, kill…"

All the soldiers below lifted their spears as they chanted, scaring the Tartars on the stage pale. When they saw Ning Shu walk over with whip in hand, they were immediately scared out of their wits and started talking rapidly in their native language.

#comment:

About He Lianying… It has to be kept in mind that he's a product of his time. In that era, a lot of people's lives are trampled like gra.s.s. He killed, Ning Shu killed, our unreadable Emperor killed all his siblings except for Princess Jiahui. Due to his personality and the mindset he was raised with, in the original storyline, he didn't uphold the duties of a husband and allowed the Tartars to abuse Princess Jiahui however they wanted. As some commenters pointed out, it was because Princess Jiahui at that time was a disgrace. In this version of the 'story' though, it has to be acknowledged that he's good male lead material. If this was a typical story and he got together with Ning Shu, he definitely wouldn't treat her like he did Princess Jiahui because she obtained his 'admiration and appreciation.'

In real life, I judge people more by what they do rather than what they say or think, because in the end, it's the actions that impact the world and other people. The problem with that is, going by actions, in this world, He Lianying hadn't yet abused Princess Jiahui, and probably would not abuse Ning Shu if she married him, so he shouldn't be 'guilty' for what he might do in reaction to a different set of environmental factors. However, Ning Shu is going around punis.h.i.+ng people for what they did 'originally' before she came into the picture… So, it's really hard to judge.

Based on feeling alone though, without thinking that much about the rest of the picture, I prefer He Lianying as a male lead over Duan Xinghui, just because his interactions with Ning Shu are more fun. And I agree with Ning Shu, I love the way he's driven crazy but still can't obtain her the most~ XD