The moon was hazy that night. It was already spring, but the snow hadn’t melted in Shazhou.

The dim moonlight shone on the snow with a hazy feeling.

Qiu Jinglan changed into regular clothes. He knocked at the back door of the mansion of Princess Royal. When he was led to the bank of the serpentine bridge, he saw Ou Qinglan was already quietly waiting in the corridor across the bridge.

The ancestral home of the Ou Family was in Beijiang. Ou Qinglan inherited the tall and robust genes of her ancestors. Even though Qiu Jinglan was tall among men, Ou Qinglan was only half a head shorter.

He looked across the lake. Even at night, her garnet dress was still very red! Her slender waist glimmered in a damask embroidered with mandala leaves. She had an indescribable grace in the overhead light.

“Miss Ou!” Such a beauty, the moonlight, and her striking eyes with tenderness would attract even the dandiest young men, such as Ling Zui, Gu Yan, and Jiang Yadan. But Qiu Jinglan just lightly looked at her, and then he walked on the serpentine bridge. When he reached Ou Qinglan, he spoke slowly, “I am ordered to come. What’s the matter?”

His manner was easy, and his tone was calm, and his diction was deferential. Without being noticed, he distanced himself from her. It showed a guy who was good at flirting could turn to be cruel instantly.

Ou Qinglan’s expression changed from being eagerly hoping to talk to being tearfully disappointed and injured. He was so close to her that he could see it clearly. But he was not moved or touched at all.

“Qizheng says he is ruthless. And so, he is!” Ou Qinglan had mixed feelings. She had never seen a man whom she was so attracted to. She never thought he would be so cruel, either. He knew that she had traveled so far for him, and that she had killed his enemy for him alone, and that she had sacrificed all her dignity to beg him to meet her tonight…

However, he kept her at a distance as if they had met for the first time and had never known each other before.

“If my brother or Yashuang were here, whether they could defeat him or not, they would beat him at once.” She bit his lips, “I can beat him by myself.”

“But I can’t do it.” She gazed at Qiu Jinglan’s elegant face in the moonlight. Ou Qinglan struggled for a while and then she finally became resolute, “Don’t marry Miss Han!”

Qiu Jinglan wasn’t surprised. He knew the young lady in front of him. She grew up in a frontier fortress and so she was direct and enthusiastic. He just smiled softly, “Why?”

“How can you like her when you’ve never met her?” Ou Qinglan clenched her hands in her sleeves. She said earnestly. “And I bet she’s not as pretty as I am, or as good at martial arts, or as fond of you as I am! If you want a wife, why don’t you marry me?”

“How does Miss Ou know that Miss Han is inferior to you in every aspect?” Qiu Jinglan said cruel words in a gentle tone, “At least she is more reserved than you, isn’t she?”

Ou Qinglan’s eyes were red, but she held her tears. She said still earnestly, “Because I am also the daughter of a frontier general! No one in Beijiang does not know me, my beauty, and my martial arts! But here, who knows about that lady of the Han Family? No one even knows her last name! If she is so good, why is she so obscure?”

“As for modesty and self-respect,” Ou Qinglan said fatuously as if Ou Qinglan had endured a moment of heartache. “Miss Han maybe just cowers in her boudoir! How do you know she’s reserved and self-respecting? Perhaps she is ashamed of herself! She dares not come out to appear on public occasions.”

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“It may be.” Qiu Jinglan smiled. He didn’t want to argue with her. After all, there were so many aspects that he could blow her. So, he didn’t mind just the one or two.

He said calmly, “But Miss Han’s grandfather is Han Jishan, the temporary commander of the Western Army! Several generations of the Han Family were in the army. They have great power in the Western Army. If I marry Miss Han, my life will be much better in the Western Army! That’s not the advantage you can bring to me if I marry you.”

“Han Jishan is temporarily appointed as commander in chief of the Western Army and it is only expedient!” Ou Qinglan took a deep breath. She had been warned that Qiu Jinglan was not a nice guy. But she also insisted on talking to him. So, she was prepared. As for the question of who Qiu Jinglan would pick, she had carefully considered. Besides, she had consulted Jiang Qizheng about figuring it out.

So, the question was relatively innocuous. She said decisively, “There are two reasons why they chose him. It is firstly because he has been so many years in the Western Army, and also because he is old! So, once the real commander of the army is decided, they can let him leave for his age. Both sides will be decent! You say the Han Family’s several generations used to be in the army so that they are certainly influential in the Western Army. But being influential does not mean they are powerful! It is like that Han Jishan is an old man in the Western Army, but he is not an important one.”

Qiu Jinglan sneered, “If he is not important, he will not be appointed as the temporary commander.”

“If he is important, he will not be just a temporary one!” Ou Qinglan chuckled, “It is obvious that he is not qualified. Even if it is just sensible, Marquess Qin won’t appoint him as the real commander. Besides, when Kuang Qingwu kidnapped us, I was set free by someone. And then I met you on the way. So, the guy who set me free was not your subordinate. If he was, you didn’t ask him to do so.”

“That was an accident.” Qiu Jinglan said without emotion. “Nobody expected that Kuang Qingwu was so bold that he dared to be inurbane to you. He was afraid that something disgusting might happen to you and so he set you free.”

Ou Qinglan shook her head, “Although I am not good at calculating, Qizheng is! She told me that if the man had done what you ordered, he would never have let me go to Shazhou for help! He would only hide me or point me to a safe, hidden place to take refuge! Because that place is far away from Shazhou. And I am a girl. Besides, it was my first time to come here with not much water, and no one could be sure that I could safely reach Shazhou! What if something terrible happened along the way? You will not wish to offend my Family for your sister’s sake.”

“Chunfu Princess! It’s none of your business!”

Qiu Jinglan sighed in his mind. He said, “Princess is so smart. That guy is not my subordinate. What do you mean?”

“So, he is Han Jishan’s subordinate, isn’t he?” Ou Qinglan stared at him. She said calmly, “He pretended to be your subordinate to let me leave, but he asked Kuang Qingwu to send killers to chase me. He used to be your ally. What he did would entrap you. So why? Qizheng said that the most likely reason was that he was hesitant! Or he was afraid!”

“I don’t know how you persuaded him to join you in framing the first branch and the third branch of the Jiang Family. But sooner or later, Marquess Qin would know it! Even if Marquess Qin does not punish you, he must warn you in private. Your sister is the wife of Jiang Yashuang, and now she is pregnant. With her pregnancy and your talents, Marquess Qin will surely show mercy to you! And then it must be Han Jishan who will mainly bear his wrath!”

“Han Jishan was unwilling to accept it and so he wished to make you the guy who was forced to take on the primary responsibility. He ordered a guy to pretend to be your subordinate to set me free. Even if I was killed on my way to flee, he knew how to let my Family see the news. And it was all because that your subordinate didn’t correctly help me. Otherwise, why could the pursuing forces catch me so quickly after I escaped so easily?

Ou Qinglan looked at Qiu Jinglan. He didn’t deny it. She bit her lips and continued, “What qualification does a guy like him have to make you call him grandfather?”

“He is useful to me.” Qiu Jinglan said calmly, “The reason why I can gain a foothold in the Western Army is that I was born in the Ruan Family, not because of my talents! If I marry Han Jishan’s granddaughter, I will gain wide approvement in the Western Army, which means I can obtain more military power than before. I won’t mind his ambivalent attitude which is the same as Kuang Qingwu I used before. But if I marry you, not only will I fail to gain the advantages Miss Han can give to me, but my soldiers will doubt that the power of the Northern Army may permeate into the Western Army.”

“As the daughter of a border general, you should know that although the Western Army and the Northern Army will not encounter each other, they have been competing with each other for long, right? You are the jewel of the Northern Army…”

He smiled ironically and calmly.

Ou Qinglan raised her eyebrows, “You are wrong.”

“Oh?”

“Do you only care about the Western Army? Have you ever thought about the whole country?” Ou Qinglan pointed in the direction of Jing City. “Now Half Regime Jiang has become a whole regime. The emperor is just a puppet. The Western Army is just an elite army of the whole country. Even if the generals’ power here is entrenched, what is it when compared to the whole country?”

“Gu was killed and Kuang Shihan was murdered. Whether generals in the Western Army are willing or not, it is a foregone conclusion that the Jiang Family is going to encroach on the Western Army’s military power! Jiang Yayue and Jiang Yaqing came here for the military power, didn’t they? The generals here all welcomed them with smiles! If you marry me, you will strengthen your power and position. Miss Han is not worthy of comparison with me. And the Han Family is not worthy of comparison with my Family in aspects of power and status!”

Ou Qinglan pursed her lips, “I’m the only girl of this generation in the Ou Family. And I’m still the daughter of Jingbo’s official wife. My position in my family is more important than many people think! If you become my husband, my parents and my brother will treat you generously! Besides, I grew up with your sister’s parents-in-law. They treated my brother and me as their own children because their children were far away from them! Your sister’s father-in-law, whom I call fourth uncle, is now indispensable to the Jiang family!”

“Jiang Yayue and Jiang Yaqing died. There are no kids in the first branch and the third branch who can participate in the distribution of military power. But they won’t give up! Now the one who can stop the Jiang Family is in the Jiang Family! The one who can stop Jiang Tianao and Jiang Tianchi is my fourth uncle!”

“Now, the fourth branch of the Jiang Family cannot choose a proper person to lead the Western Army. If you are not here, the Western General will have no choice but to support me!” Qiu Jinglan was still calm, “The status and connections your Family has can bring me a lot. But it is not enough for you to persuade me!”

Ou Qinglan became silent in an instant.

When Qiu Jinglan prepared to say something hurtful before leaving, she said faintly, “All right. I will not mention my Family. I will only talk about myself!”