Earlier, Feng Yuheng had received Yao Shu’s secret letter and naturally understood what this person referred to about working together, but with Xuan Tiange present, how was she supposed to talk about this trade? Even though she could tell that Xuan Tiange and this person might know each other before this and were acquainted with each other to some extent, this did not mean she was willing to use Xuan Tiange’s whole life of happiness as an exchange, even if it was in exchange for nullifying the danger to the Emperor, even if it was in exchange for Da Shun empire’s tomorrow, she was unwilling.

  “There’s no rush.” She smiled blandly, “I am just a woman, the Gu Shu ruler negotiating and working together, it should be discussed with my Ninth Prince. Currently, he has not returned from morning court, why not wait for a while? It is not too late to discuss after he returns. But I am very curious, how did Monarch and our Princess Wuyang meet? From what I see, it does not seem that both of you met each other on the way?”


  Xuan Tiange was in a hurry to explain: “We met on the way, he stood at the second floor of the teahouse and hit my driver with date seeds, he even hit me.” Saying this, she held out her hand which had been hit to Feng Yuheng to see, but the moment she held it out, she also remembered the scene of being gently massaged by that person in the tea house, blushing on reflex and quickly retracted her hand.

  But the Gu Shu ruler laughed loudly instead, seeing the spoiled expression on Xuan Tiange’s face. He told Feng Yuheng: “In the past, Her Highness the Princess went to Da Mo to attend Princess’ and the Ninth Prince’s wedding, This Monarch just happened to get heavily injured that time and it was Her Highness the Princess who rescued This Monarch. Coming to Da Shun now, it was also to thank Her Highness the Princess directly.”


  Feng Yuheng looked at the pair with a smile, suddenly feeling that if this marriage was set, for Xuan Tiange to marry this ruler, it was not that bad. This man was handsome! And he had exotic features, coming from her heart, Xuan Tiange’s appearance was not better than him. Her urge for gossip rose, and she asked: “What’s your name? Which year in your twenties are you in now?” How did this seem like a conversation between Da Shun’s Princess Yu and the Gu Shu ruler, her tone was not formal at all, it was just like a chat between normal people.

  Hearing Feng Yuheng suddenly ask this, Xuan Tiange was dazed.

  But that Gu Shu ruler was not stunned, he could even understand the meaning of Feng Yuheng’s words. After all, having to marry a woman, it was normal to first have a greater understanding of the man’s situation. Therefore, he started to introduce himself: “This Monarch’s name is Fan Tianli, twenty six years old this year, I rose to the top of Gu Shu a few months ago and have not appointed an Empress yet. There are only three beautiful woman in the harem, these are concubines in my palace from before, I do not have any children currently. It’s just that Gu Shu has a rule, if one wants to be a ruler, then his first child needs to come from the official Empress and will be appointed as crown prince in the future, this is to avoid battle for the throne later on.”


  “Oh.” Feng Yuheng nodded, saying again: “But you are not the first child of the previous Gu Shu ruler, yet you obtained the throne, how do you explain this?”


  “Because the crown prince passed away from illness many years ago, and the official Empress had hurt her body after giving birth of the crown prince and was unable to produce any more children, that was why Gu Shu ended up having a battle for the crown. Obtaining serious injuries earlier, which was the time Her Highness the Princess rescued me, it was an accident due to the fight for the throne.”


  “But you still succeeded in the end, so everything was worth it, right?” Feng Yuheng looked at him with a smile, yet shook her head slowly again, saying: “It’s a pity, still having three beautiful women in the harem. Just based on this point, I feel that it is not appropriate!”


  Fan Tianli frowned, “A ruler having more than one woman is normal, even in my palace in the past, I had three concubines in my palace, and that is the lowest number amongst my brothers. Princess can say it is not appropriate?”


  Feng Yuheng spread out her hands, “Da Shun’s Ninth Prince is also a prince, he is also royalty, but before his marriage, he did not have any concubines in his palace at all.”


  Fan Tianli showed a troubled smile, “If Princess Yu is to make that comparison, that one this point, This Monarch does lose to His Highness Prince Yu. It is just unknown that if His Highness Prince Yu inherits the rule in the future, can the harem still be maintained with just Princess Yu alone living there?”


  “What are both of you talking about?” Xuan Tiange was more puzzled listening to this, why was the topic of the number of wives brought up suddenly? How many women the Gu Shu ruler had, how was that Feng Yuheng’s business?

  “We are talking about a very serious matter.” Fan Tianli told Xuan Tiange, “Princess Yu seemed to be unsatisfied with the fact that This Monarch’s harem still has three beautiful women, but that is a small matter, as long as the deed is done, those three women will be handled by the person who will be Empress. Keeping or killing, or banishing them to the cold palace, this will be decided by one world from the Empress. Princess Yu, what do you think?”


  Feng Yuheng thought about it, there was something like that, so she nodded, “That’s true, if she cannot even handle that small matter, her Empress seat will not be stable. But in the end, this is a matter for the future, what I want to hear now is what are the exchange conditions of Gu Shu’s ruler?”


  Fan Tianli did not put up any airs or exaggerate. He looked at Feng Yuheng and said the words very seriously, “A Gu duel.”


  “Gu duel?” The two spoke at the same time to express their confusion, Feng Yuheng asked again: “How do you explain this?”


  Fan Tianli said: “Not hiding anything from both of you, as a subordinate nation of Da Shun, Gu Shu would naturally want to know more about Da Shun. We cannot know nothing about the main nation, that would be too passive. In addition, This Monarch is a new ruler, my inner energy had suffered huge damage from the battle for the throne and am even more anxious to obtain Da Shun’s protection. It’s just that the journey between Da Shun and Gu Shu is long, when we received those information and sent it back to Gu Shu, that information might already be outdated.” His tone contained some frustration but was also very stern. He was talking about gathering information about the other country, but this was no longer a secret between countries and was almost something which was done in the open, they were just waiting to see who could expose the other country’s scouts. “The temperament of Da Shun’s Emperor changed greatly, and it was said that he only believes the words of that Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu and the Eighth Prince. And Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu’s birth family of Liu had very close relations to a thousand year Gu technique family in Gu Shu. Just based on this, it is not difficult to guess the secret behind the vast change in the temperament of Da Shun’s Emperor.”


  His words caused Feng Yuheng and Xuan Tiange to fall silent. At this time, Xuan Tiange no longer suspected this person’s identity as Gu Shu’s ruler, but she did not trust that person, she only trusted Feng Yuheng. Feng Yuheng had not misjudged people before, if she said it was so, then it must be so. Though she did not understand the matter of being concerned about how many concubines he had in his harem, but when the Emperor was mentioned, she was really concerned.

  “You meant that the Gu Clan close to Liu family, you have the power to crackdown on them?” Xuan Tiange asked him, “Helping Uncle Emperor come to his senses, helping my Ninth Brother and Sister-in-law drag that Old Eighth down, as Gu Shu’s ruler, what is your purpose for doing all this?”


  In the end, she was still Da Shun’s princess, Xuan Tiange usually had a very casual attitude, but she was able to analyse that there was something off about this situation. There was no such thing as love without reason in this world, no one would treat you well without any reason on a normal basis. Once the other party threw you a very good benefit as a temptation, the first thing to consider was what the other party hoped to obtain through these actions.

  She looked at Fan Tianli and suddenly thought of something: “Da Shun conquered some cities when attacking Gu Shu, you came here to discuss conditions, could your purpose be to get those few city oases back? Those are cities Da Shun’s soldiers conquered with their flesh and blood, and you Gu Shu people had an alliance with Old Eighth before that. If you’re using this matter to exchange for the cities, you are mistaken. No matter who inherits the throne in Da Shun, that person will be Uncle Emperor’s son, and if Gu Shu wants to take back those cities, then send out troops to take them back if you have the ability, do not use such methods. Especially with you, the ruler, coming over personally to talk about this, this is a huge joke.”


  As Xuan Tiange spoke, she had a stern expression, this was already a conversation between Masters, the happy and playful atmosphere from before no longer existed.

  Seeing her like this, Fan Tianli suddenly imagined when this woman in front of him sat on the Empress seat in his Gu Shu, she would also use this cold expression to handle official matters. This would likely be a very awe-inspiring danger and was not something which the women in the borders of the small nation of Gu Shu can match up to. The aura of Da Shun’s princess was there, no one could ignore it.

  He suddenly smiled in satisfaction and even nodded, this had a deep meaning.

  Xuan Tiange did not understand what he meant, but Feng Yuheng had a rough idea, thinking emotionally, this marriage would likely happen, and based on the fact that Xuan Tiange did not show actual feelings of rejection towards him, there was some chance. It was just that, if this was purely about the affairs between a man and woman, she was happy to see Xuan Tiange steal the heart of the Gu Shu ruler, but right now, other factors were mixed in, and it was no longer that pure. Thinking about it, she was still a little resistant.

  “Your Highness the Princess has misunderstood, we Gu Shu does not want the cities.” Fan Tianli said. “The fight over the cities is still a battle of power. Da Shun had the ability to go deep into Do Mo and conquer Gu Shu’s cities, that is Da Shun’s might. Just like what Your Highness the Princess said, if This Monarch wished to take back the cities, troops will definitely be deployed, openly having a duel with Da Shun on the battlefield, and not using this kind of method. But This Monarch said before, as a new ruler, I do not favour starting wars, I want Gu Shu’s stable development, not the expansion of territory. The partnership with the Ninth Prince and his wife, what I wish is……”


  “I will speak with His Highness the Ninth Prince about this, if Gu Shu’s ruler has nothing else today, please go back first!” Feng Yuheng suddenly dismissed the guest at this moment, she said: “I will say that again, politics should be discussed between you men. In addition, we still have to first consider Monarch’s abilities so it will be easy to continue the discussion. Monarch, you can return first, and come during the Hai hour tomorrow, His Highness the Ninth Prince will give you a reply then.”


  (Translator’s note: Hai hour is 3pm to 5pm in UTC/GMT+8)

  Fan Tianli expressed his agreement to Feng Yuheng’s arrangement, it was an important matter after all and could not be decided by him saying a few sentences to a woman. Even if that woman was Princess Yu, it was still a little too sloppy.

  He stood up and bowed to Feng Yuheng. Feng Yuheng stood up and returned the bow, then heard Fan Tianli say: “Then This Monarch will leave, we will meet again tomorrow.” After saying this, he looked at Xuan Tiange again, asking: “Are we leaving together?”


  Xuan Tiange rolled her eyes, “No need, This Princess still wants to stay at Yu Palace for a few hours. Oh yes, remember to take back those things which you sent to Wen Xuan Palace, I will not want them.”


  “Is there a reason to take back what was already given?” Fan Tianli showed a troubled smile, “If Your Highness the Princess does not like them, just throw them away. When This Monarch returns, I will find some more unique things to send over.”


  “I will not accept anything!” Xuan Tiange glared at him, “Do you not understand? I don’t want your things, regardless of whether the things are good or bad. If you’re truly grateful, then just return me the twenty taels of sliver, at most add on the money spent to find a physician for you, I don’t need anything else. Understand? You can leave now!” She waved her hand in dismissal, her Princess airs rising again, “Hurry up and leave, quickly! This Princess is annoyed looking at you.”


  Fan Tianli bowed again, did not say anything else, leaving the main hall silently and was guided out of Yu Palace by the servants. And at this moment, Xuan Tiange said one sentence to Feng Yuheng, she said: “Ah-Heng, you don’t need to hide anything from me, I guessed what partnership that person is asking for……”