CH 57

Yuan Ci Xian became apologetic, and couldn’t bear to drive Xu Shan away like this, so she hurriedly stopped him: “Where is it, Sir, since you’re here, please sit for a while. I definitely don’t mean to blame you. I just lament that Assistant Minister Lu and I are not destined together.”

Not destined together? Can she say something more auspicious!

Lu Shi Qing choked in his heart, and asked calmly, “Why County Princess said that?”

This was not the first time Yuan Ci Xian chatted about Lu Shi Qing with Xu Shan, there was nothing unnatural about it, and this time she was really worried, not talking nonsense like when she was pretending to be drunk last time.

She said seriously: “I’m not afraid making you laugh. I think I was abandoned by Assistant Minister Lu.”

“…” Honest to God, he doesn’t!

Lu Shi Qing seemed to think about it for a while, and then said: “As far as Xu knows, Assistant Minister Lu doesn’t seem to be the kind of person who easily change his mind or indecisive.”

Yuan Ci Xian looked uncomfortable: “But my father has already come to the capital. Why hasn’t he come to propose marriage? He must be afraid of my father and dare not come.”

“Assistant Minister Lu is probably not such a cowardly person.”

Yuan Ci Xian glanced at him with a strange expression: “Sir seems to admire him very much?”

Admire, of course he admire, he has admired himself for more than twenty years.

He said solemnly: “Xu is just telling the truth.”

“Okay.” Yuan Ci Xian sighed, “Actually, you can’t blame him. He’s even scare of dogs. My father must be scarier than dogs.”

Lu Shi Qing felt unspeakable bitterness inside, but he patiently said: “County Princess, don’t be discouraged, there may be some misunderstanding here. Listening to your words, it seems that Diannan Prince does not very approve of your marriage with Assistant Minister Lu. Since that the case, it’s difficult to ensure there’s no meaning of driving the wedge in the words.”

Yuan Ci Xian felt it was reasonable, and was encouraged by his words: “What Sir said is right, I shouldn’t listen to Father’s one-sided words, and I have to personally ask Assistant Minister Lu.” After she comforted herself, she continued, “Even if he really doesn’t want to marry me, I’ll just work harder…”

Lu Shi Qing originally wanted to guide her to the truth slowly, but he changed his mind when he heard the phrase “work harder”. In other words, if he pretended that he doesn’t want to marry her, maybe he could still be seduced by her a few more times?

He continued to encourage without battling an eyelid: “As long as you work hard you can ground iron pestle into a needle, it is right for the County Princess to think like this.”

Yuan Ci Xian pondered over it, then sighed: “Having said that, I have already done everything I can, and I’m really at my wit’s end now.” She propped her head, and after being silent for a while she asked, “Sir must be very good at reading people’s hearts, do you have a clever way to help me, and suggest me another strong measure?”

Lu Shi Qing seemed to suddenly smile: “The methods of winning people’s hearts are all ever-changing and invariable. In the final analysis, it’s just four words ‘cater to people’s preference’.”

Cater to people’s preference? Yuan Ci Xian went through these four words in her heart. She didn’t seem to have really started from here.

Lu Shi Qing saw that his words were not smooth, and was afraid that she would not understand, so he suggested: “County Princess might as well think about it, has Assistant Minister Lu exposed his preferences in front of you. In fact, as an ordinary young man…” He seemed a little embarrassed to say this, but he continued awkwardly, “Nine out of ten, they all have the same preference.”

Yuan Ci Xian heard it, thought about it in combination with his tone, and suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

Oh, Lu Shi Qing’s tent…

She asked a little embarrassedly: “Does Sir mean… that?”

Yes, that, that’s that.

Seeing that she seemed to be enlightened, Lu Shi Qing breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time, he felt guilty for ruining his teacher’s upright image. Not daring to look directly at Yuan Ci Xian, he turned his head and casually casted his eyes on the bookshelf in her room, and said with a lack of confidence: “Exactly.”

Yuan Ci Xian was taken aback when she saw this. What is Xu Shan doing looking at her bookshelf?

She followed his gaze, and saw him staring at a volume of poems, she suddenly felt ashamed. It turned out that the so-called “preference” in his mouth were poetry, but she misunderstood it and went all over the places, thinking of such a shameless thing.

Yuan Ci Xian lowered her head guiltily.

Lu Shi Qing turned around and saw that she had turned red like boiled shrimp, and the face behind the mask suddenly became a little excited.

She didn’t even blush when she kissed him, but now she looked like this, it seemed she was preparing to go to a higher realm.

He glanced at the bleak winter moon outside the window. Spring is probably coming early.

Lu Shi Qing restrained his footsteps that were about to fly, and bid farewell to Yuan Ci Xian, not wanting to play Xu Shan any more even for a moment. After he arrived at the private house in Yongxing Lane, and was about to return home from the secret road, he saw Cao An coming with a solemn expression. With a sigh of relief, he said: “Master, His Majesty urgently summoned you into the palace. If you don’t come back soon, this servant would go to Shengye Lane to find you.”

He restrained his joy, took off his mask and asked, “What’s the matter?”

Cao An shook his head: “This servant doesn’t know, but it’s not just you. All the important officials in the court have also been summoned to the palace.”

Lu Shi Qing frowned slightly: “After Diannan Prince?”

Cao An bowed his head slightly: “You mean?”

“Something happened in Diannan.” After he finished speaking, he walked quickly to the secret passage, and halfway he turned around and instructed, “You go back to the mansion and wait. If Yuan Ci Xian comes, don’t say that I was urgently summoned into the palace. Just tell that I go out.”

“Yes, Master.”

When Lu Shi Qing arrived at the Xuanzheng Hall, a crowd of people had already gathered inside, right in the middle Zhang Zhi Xian was arguing with several courtiers until their spits flying and their face turned red. Yuan Yi Zhi stood silently at the front, and further up, Emperor Huining obviously had lost his patience. When he saw him coming, he seemed to have a backbone to rely on, and he had no time to ask him why he was late, only quickly waved for him to come forward, and then called the eunuchs to show him the military report that was marked eight hundred miles urgent.

A group of courtiers turned their heads one after another. Yuan Yi Zhi turned slightly to the side and also glanced at him.

Lu Shi Qing stepped forward quickly, took the military report, read it silently at a glance, and presented it back with a calm expression.

According to the military report, two days ago, Nanzhao and Tubo had combined 150,000 soldiers and attacked Jiannan in three ways. One was breaking through the western border, two was breaking through the southern border, and three was cleverly avoiding Yaozhou and going northward, the army was pointing directly at Yizhou.

Emperor Huining knew that he was thinking about countermeasures, so he didn’t ask him first, but looked at Zhang Zhi Xian: “Has Supervisor Zhang and others discussed a countermeasure?”

Zhang Zhi Xian cupped his hands and said, “Your Majesty, this official and others have a doubt.” He looked Looking at Yuan Yi Zhi, “This official would like to ask Diannan Prince. Not to mention that there are tens of thousands of soldiers guarding the border, but Yaozhou is an important military area in Diannan, which has always been easy to defend and not easy to attack. Why can it be “cleverly” avoided by the rapid march?”

Yuan Yi Zhi looked at him and remained silent. But it was Emperor Huining’s face who turned unsightly, and he scolded: “Supervisor Zhang, what Zhen just asked seems to be a countermeasure?”

Zhang Zhi Xian nodded in fear, and dared not say any more.

Lu Shi Qing blinked lightly.

The answer to this question was simple. Because Emperor Huining was afraid of Yuan Yi Zhi, he secretly sent several confidant generals to Yaozhou to guard Diannan with him, on the surface as assistants, but actually as surveillance. But now, Yuan Yi Zhi had come to the capital and left Yaozhou. When the remaining generals saw the enemy coming, they naturally rushed to point fingers. As a result, a few idiots pointed the enemy into the hinterland of Jiannan.

Zhang Zhi Xian thought that this was the fault of Yuan Yi Zhi’s negligent arrangement, but he didn’t know that he was stepping on the emperor’s sore foot.

He hurriedly made amends and said: “Your Majesty, please calm down. This official and others have already discussed one or two countermeasures. This official thinks that Diannan Prince has been busy traveling north and is exhausted, and it’s not suitable to go south to face the battle. Your Majesty may appoint other princes or generals in the court to join forces with the local defenders to stop the enemy. As for the candidates, just now Minister Chen of Ministry of War just elected the second prince, and this official recommended Governor Wei.”

The debate quickly ensued.

“This official is in favor for the second prince to lead the army. The second prince has always been brave and good at fighting. In his early years, he joined forces with the Huihu to defeat the Turks. Although he has been placed under house arrest for half a year, why not let him atone for his crime with this achievement?”

“This official agrees that Governor Wei should go south to fight.”

“This official thinks that no one is more suitable to fight against Nanzhao than Diannan Prince.”

Emperor Huining felt his head ache after hearing this, made a gesture to stop them, and then said: “Assistant Minister Lu,” beckoning him to speak.

Lu Shi Qing took a step forward, cupped his hands, and asked the courtiers, “Why everyone want to fight? Our Great Zhou has natural disasters before tonight, and man-made disasters afterward, not to mention that tomorrow is the New Year’s festival. If we fight at this time, then under the chaos of war, it’s easy to cause turmoil among people, and the public will be clamoring. At that time, there will be strong enemies invading outside and frequent troubles inside, and everyone plan to send a couple Second prince and Governer Wei to suppress it?”

Zhang Zhi Xian was choked by his words, and then he snorted coldly: “It seems Assistant Minister Lu is ready to submissively hand over the whole Jiannan to the enemy.”

Lu Shi Qing pulled the corner of his mouth and looked at Emperor Huining: “What this official mean is that subdue the enemy without fighting is the best plan.”

The entire Xuanzheng Hall was silent, and then someone laughed: “Nanzhao and Tubo has joined forces, and neither are easy to talk to. Is Assistant Minister Lu joking with us?”

Lu Shi Qing faintly smiled: “Nanzhao is not easy to talk to, and Tubo is not easy to talk to either. But when Nanzhao joined forces with Tubo, they will be easy to talk to.”

The crowd seemed to realize something in shock, Emperor Huining also stared at him and said, “Do you have a plan?”

Lu Shi Qing lifted the corner of his robe and knelt down: “This official request to go south to face the enemy, and swear to reach a peace agreement with Nanzhao and Tubo.”

Emperor Huining pointed at him, “How sure are you?”

He raised his head slightly, his thin lips curved slightly: “Completely sure.”

It was already evening when Lu Shi Qing returned to the mansion, and he had not yet informed Xuan shi about his trip to Diannan the next day. He first asked the servant whether Yuan Ci Xian had been here, and when he heard no, he was not at ease, so he hurried back to his courtyard. But as soon as he stepped into the courtyard door, he saw Cao An and Zhao Shu jumping desperately under a dead tree, they seemed to want to pick a paper kite hanging from the tree.

Lu Shi Qing immediately choked. When did these two become so childish? It’s freezing cold, but they use freezing cold wind to release paper kites?

From a distance, he saw Cao An stepping on Zhao Shu’s shoulder and took down the blue kite, and after looking carefully at it for a while, he was pleasantly surprised, “This seems to be Lancang County Princess’s handwriting.”

Lu Shi Qing was stunned, and the voice came first before the person: “Bring it here.”

Cao An looked back, hurriedly stepped forward and handed him the paper kite, and explained: “Master, the paper kite flew out of nowhere, and it just happened to hang on your tree. When this servant looked at it, it seems to be Lancang County Princess’s handwriting.”

Lu Shi Qing looked down and saw that it was indeed Yuan Ci Xian’s handwriting, and on this paper kite she wrote a cheesy poem: Biting on Qingqing and not letting go, the roots are originally in the broken rock. Thousands of blows are still strong, let the wind from east to west, north and south.

He froze in an instant, and his heart seemed to be hit by a huge object, hitting a very soft spot.

He suddenly raised his head and asked Zhao Shu: “Last time in front of the mansion, what did Diannan Princess call her?”

Zhao Shu thought about it and answered, “This servant heard it seems to be a childhood name, called ‘Yaoyao’.”

Lu Shi Qing lowered his head again, stared at the sentence “Biting on Qingqing and not letting go“, he curled his lips and smiled: “Oh, Yaoyao (bite).”

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TN: Okay it’s hard to explain! And please anyone who can read mandarin correct me if I’m wrong.

The sentence Biting on Qingqing and not letting go is actually the original title of this novel, let me break it down. It originally comes from a poem called “Bamboo and Stone” by Zheng Xie in the Qing dynasty, but it modified to fit the author’s purpose.

The original sentence is like this: 咬定青山不放松 (yǎo dìng qīng shān bù fàng song) which translated “Sticking to the green hills and not letting go”, and it’s about bamboo that doesn’t relax its grip on the green hills. But on this sentence there’s a word ‘yao’ and ‘qing’, which is the same as the character’s names, they’re not exactly the same word but homophone, meaning it has the same sound.

So the author changed it to 咬定卿卿不放松 (yǎo dìng qīng qīng bù fàng song). 咬定 can means insist or sticking but I changed it to biting because 咬 (yao) means bite and it’s more make sense later on. Remember, Yuan Ci Xian’s childhood name is Yaoyao (窈窈) and 卿卿 (qingqing) from Lu Shi Qing. So I translated it as Biting on Qingqing and not letting go, which can also interpreted as YCX fixing herself on LSQ and never let go.

I’m sorry it’s so complicated. When I decided to translate this novel, I actually confuse by the title, because I don’t know any Chinese’s poem (or any poem for that matter), I didn’t know it originally comes from a poem. That’s why I made a lame new title – Let Me Pursue You.