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Chapter 105: Jiahui, You've Done Well

The little gray ball ran towards the box but Ning Shu hastily brushed it away. She picked a sweet potato up and broke it in half, then ate one half before handing the other half to Li Wen.

This gesture was to tell Li Wen that this thing was edible and not poisonous. Li Wen took the sweet potato. Its skin still had soot on it, so Li Wen copied what Ning Shu did and peeled the skin off before taking a bite.

The flavor was very sweet. Li Wen nodded, then asked, "What is this?"

Ning Shu saw that Li Wen seemed quite interested and said, "Imperial Older Brother, this sister-subject calls this sweet potato. It's the thing this sister-subject discovered last time this sister-subject went to Manor Garden."

"This sister-subject had people plant them and the output has reached a thousand catties," said Ning Shu. "This item can be used to allay hunger."

"Is that true?" Astonishment and excitement emerged on Li Wen's face. It was clear that he had realized the value of this item. "Are there still more of this in Manor Garden?"

"This sister-subject had ordered them to store them carefully. They're currently in Manor Garden's cellar," replied Ning Shu.

Li Wen nodded. "We will go with you to Manor Garden to take a look."

"Alright." It was expected that Li Wen would go examine for himself something that pertained to the general public's welfare.

Li Wen and Ning Shu rode on horseback to Manor Garden with a procession of troops behind them since it was a must to have people come along when the Emperor went out.

When they got to Manor Garden, Li Wen first went to see the potatoes, then he went to see the field where the potatoes had been planted and had people remeasure the field. The result came out the same.

A faint smile appeared on Li Wen's usually cold face. His eyes were very bright, and the gaze with with he looked at Ning Shu was also a little gentler as he said, "Jiahui, you've done well, very well."

Ning Shu simply replied with a smile, "Jiahui is happy to be able to help Imperial Older Brother. Jiahui knows that Imperial Older Brother's heart contains all of the country's citizens. This sister-subject is a member of the imperial family and lives on the support of the country's citizens, so it is only natural to labor for these citizens."

It can be said that all levels of aristocracy lived on the support of the common people, yet those aristocracy actually looked down on the commoners.

Li Wen evidently hadn't expected for Ning Shu to be able to think of something like this and remarked with gratification, "Jiahui has grown up and become sensible. You're no longer obsessed with those random baffling things."

A large sweatdrop appeared beside Ning Shu's head.

"I'll have to continue troubling you in the future in regards to these plants." There was a slight smile on Li Wen's face and he now treated Ning Shu very gently.

"The manager and tenant farmers in Manor Garden know how to deal with them. In reality, this was just an inadvertent discovery and doesn't count as much. However, it's great that it can help Your Majesty."

"Ah, that's right, how did you discover that this was edible?" asked Li Wen with his eyes narrowed. It caused Ning Shu's heart to skip a beat. There was no way she could say that she just knew, right?

"Speaking of which, it was all because of the little gray ball. When this sister-subject saw that little thing in the forest, it was hugging this thing, so this sister-subject tried it. The taste of it raw wasn't as good as when it was cooked." Ning Shu decisively pushed this matter onto the little gray ball since Li Wen knew of how much the little gray ball liked to eat.

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Chapter 106: Issue of the Peace Marriage

Li Wen nodded, then turned to head back towards the palace.

Only then did Ning Shu sigh in relief. She had finally managed to prove some of her value to Li Wen. This way, he would at least hesitate a little when the peace marriage was brought up, right?

Still, Ning Shu's heart remained heavy. Whether she would be able to complete the task or not would depend on how the marriage issue went.

In reality, she was already pretty much done with this task. Do not love Duan Xinghui? En, it's done. Make sure Duan Xinghui and Er Ya, this wretched couple, didn't have a good end? Alright, that one was also pretty much complete. If things kept developing in this direction, only more barriers would come between Er Ya and Duan Xinghui's feelings and cause them to become an unhappy couple.

In the original storyline, Er Ya only got Madame Duan's acceptance after she saved a marquess and was bestowed a high status. However, due to the fact that now there was Yuan Dong to meddle in Duan Residence's affairs, Er Ya couldn't even step out of the residence doors and had to stay in to learn etiquette every day.

Once Er Ya became bound by the rules of etiquette and started making every move according to the rules, would Duan Xinghui still like her? Hahaha…

As Ning Shu had expected, not long later the Huns delegation came to the capital. The one that came this time was King Han's second son, the second prince of the plains.

This was the person the original host had gotten married with. The second prince had heard about how the original host ruined her reputation trying to s.n.a.t.c.h a man so he had a very bad first impression of her. After they got married, he treated her inhumanely.

The place where the Huns lived was a place with no sense of propriety, justice, integrity, or honor. Women were treated as goods. Although the original host had become the second prince's wife, what destroyed the original host the most was that the second prince's brothers would share her and humiliate her.

It was practically a place where devils dwelled. The original host feared the second prince a lot. Ning Shu's body involuntarily started shaking the moment she heard the second prince's name in reflection of the original host's emotions.

Mixed in with the fear was hatred, but overall there was more fear. After being tormented so long, the original host came to react to the second prince like a mouse would react to the sight of a cat - she would feel as if death was imminent.

Ning Shu clenched her fist. No matter what she couldn't be married off. If she got married off, how was she supposed to help the original host counterattack? If she wanted to change the original host's fate, she had to change the outcome of this moment.

As in the original storyline, the Huns delegation proposed a peace marriage and demanded that the partner be Great Yong's only Princess Jiahui.

All the ministers said to marry Ning Shu off but Li Wen didn't say anything. He seemed to agree to this idea, but also didn't seem to. It made the Huns delegation a bit annoyed, but they didn't dare to be too impudent.

This was to be expected. After all, this was the great power of the storyline. Even though Ning Shu's reputation hadn't been stained, nor had she gotten involved in the scandal of a respectable princess trying to s.n.a.t.c.h a man from another woman, she still couldn't avoid the fate of being married off.

The cannon fodder supporting female leads were really pitiful ah. What should she do now? All she could do was not cry, stand up, and keep working hard. What made Ning Shu rather relieved was that Li Wen didn't immediately agree to the marriage. It was clear she had managed to make Li Wen value her a bit more with the sweet potatoes.

As expected, it was the right choice to focus on currying favor with Li Wen. Since she lived by the side of the Emperor who had ultimate control over the country, it was a must to be aware of the Emperor's thoughts. Evidently, she had made the right bet.

The delegation settled themselves down in the capital. What made Ning Shu speechless was the fact that the second prince actually came to the Princess Residence to visit her. Ning Shu only had one word to say: scram.

As expected, he really didn't know any etiquette. What would other people think if he visited her like this? They'd think that she was already involved with the second prince. f.u.c.k. This second prince was really treacherous and malicious.

Ning Shu didn't hesitate to think the worse of this second prince. In the original host's memory, this second prince was as ruthless and crafty as the wild wolves of the prairie. The way he tormented the original host was beyond the limit of what a human could endure.

Jiahui, who had been married over, was tormented to death in two years.

Ning Shu stayed in the residence and refused to go out. The second prince didn't get to see Princess Jiahui and could only return in disappointment. He had heard that Princess Jiahui was quite pretty.

#comment: Remember, this is a fictional depiction so it does not in any way reflect the actual Huns.