Chapter 161

 

The border military exercise prepared by Qin Yuantang would last a total of seven days, with each day featuring a different battlefield and fighting style.

Near noon, the siege exercise officially ended.

Emperor Yuanyou was very satisfied with what he saw today. When going down the Great Wall, he asked Chen Tingjian to walk on the left and Qin Yuantang to walk on the right, which showed how much he valued Qin Yuantang.

As for Hua Yang, she decided to stay for a while on the ground that she wanted to enjoy the scenery on the great wall.

The real reason was that her legs were tired from climbing the Great Wall. It was fine for her to stand on flat ground, but once she stepped down the stairs, both her calves became so sore and weak that she could not walk on her own.

Emperor Yuanyou knew his sister very well and considerately arranged for Chen Jingzong to stay.

After watching the emperor and his ministers enter the beacon tower below, Chen Jingzong grabbed the grand princess’ wrist and led her inside the tower. He pushed her against the wall and asked through gritted teeth, “The Silver-armored General is so powerful, and my skills are not as good as him?”

Hua Yang didn’t believe that he didn’t understand what she meant, so she kept silent and just glanced at the observation hole not far away. From this angle, she could only see towering mountains and the wilderness outside the Great Wall, and guessed that no one could see them in the Zhenyuan Tower.

Chen Jingzong straightened her face, and kissed her before she could even frown.

Hua Yang just acquiesced at first, but gradually she couldn’t help herself. She raised her slender neck and grasped the robe at his waist with both hands.

Just like a delicate and extremely lazy peony, she was happy for the rain from heaven but did not respond to it, until the rain plays tricks on her and deliberately hooked the peony to stretch its branches, allowing the whole drooping flower to bloom completely under the rain, allowing the rain to nourish every one of her petals.

Grand princess never said any sweet words, and was even stingy with gentle words, but Chen Jingzong could feel that she was very affectionate.

If it were heartless, how could the proud and noble peony allow a mortal to taste and pick it?

If she was heartless, how could the dignified and reserved grand princess have a secret affair with him in broad daylight on the Great Wall?

The so-called Silver-armored General, this Eldest Master Qin, was merely a facade set up by the kind-hearted Princess to take care of the old man of the Qin family. As for him, the Prince Consort, he was the long pole the Princess habitually used to hold up this facade.

With so many people around at that time, why didn’t she use someone else as the pole?

Because only he was her Prince Consort, her family. And since he was her family, Chen Jingzong was willing to be used by her, willing to cooperate with her in this performance.

“I am injured, but his injuries are more serious than mine.”

Although he was willing, Chen Jingzong still had to make some things clear.

Their lips had just parted and Hua Yang had just opened her eyes when she heard these words and met his sour eyes again.

Hua Yang sometimes couldn’t tell whether he was really being jealous or was just being frivolous about this kind of thing. After all, if it was the former, his jealousy was too much and unreasonable. Not to mention her father-in-law and her two brothers-in-law, he could even jealous of Cabinet Elder Zeng, Cabinet Elder Lu, and Cabinet Elder He, who were obviously couldn’t make her tempted, and even Zhou Yu from the Three Kingdoms who had long since turned to ashes.

However, even though it was all an act, Hua Yang had just praised Qin Ji and belittled him in front of everyone, which did hurt his face. Although Hua Yang knew better than anyone that he would not care about this at all, it was not because he was thick-skinned, but because he was open-minded and never minded these details.

“In terms of bravery, you two may be on par with each other, but in terms of appearance, you are superior by a notch.”

Hua Yang lowered her eyes and made a fair comment.

Qin Ji was the kind of man with a righteous and upright figure, while Chen Jingzong was the kind of handsome man who could easily make women’s hearts flutter.

In fact, all three brothers of the Chen family were like this, except that Chen Bozong was too solemn and Chen Jingzong was too unruly. Only Chen Xiaozong was gentle and loved to laugh, truly embodying the words “jade-faced fox”.

Chen Jingzong pressed the corner of her lips with his fingertips: “Only a notch?”

Hua Yang glared at him. This man should not be praised. If he was praised, he would dare to become more and more demanding.

Her lips were still wet and watery, which made Chen Jingzong have other thoughts. He kissed the tip of her ear and asked, “Did you bring the lotus bowl?”

Hua Yang’s tone turned cold: “I didn’t bring it.”

Chen Jingzong kissed the side of her neck and twirled her earlobe with his right hand, bewitching her and trying to please her: “After we go down, ask the maid to soak one?”

Hua Yang said nothing.

Chen Jingzong knew that she was actually prepared. Maybe she didn’t think about it, but she knew he would think about it, so she was willing to fulfill his wish.

That’s the way she loves him.

.

The Great Wall was steep, so Chen Jingzong supported Hua Yang as they walked down step by step. When they reached the bottom, they found Chao Yun standing next to a sedan chair.

“His Majesty asked someone to prepare it.” Chao Yun explained with a smile as she took the grand princess’ arm from prince consort.

Hua Yang felt warm inside. Even though her brother had so many ministers around him, he still remembered to take care of her as his sister.

Chen Jingzong escorted her back to the grand princess’s tent and then went to attend the banquet at Emperor Yuanyou’s place.

This time, the brothers Qin Ji and Qin Lu sat at the table opposite him.

Chen Jingzong glared at Qin Ji several times.

Qin Ji was confused. It had been several days since the two men had fought to a draw. Prince Consort had been quite friendly when they met before. Why did he suddenly treat him like an enemy today?

Emperor Yuanyou saw this and found it funny. Although prince consort appeared honest and loyal in front of his sister, he had a hot temper when he got jealous.

Qin Yuantang looked at the prince consort and then at his own son, feeling a little puzzled. In terms of handsomeness, prince consort was far superior to his own son, so there was no need to mind it.

After the banquet, Qin Yuantang took the time to tell his eldest son what the grand princess said on the city wall, and asked his eldest son to be careful recently and stay away from grand princess as much as possible to avoid unnecessary trouble.

Qin Ji: …

Qin Lu joked with his brother: “Grand Princess wouldn’t be thinking about you, right?”

Qin Yuantang: “Of course Grand Princess won’t do that, but as long as she looks at your brother, Prince Consort will bear more grudges against him. If Prince Consort is unhappy, how can Cabinet Elder Chen be happy?”

Even though the Chen’s father and son seem to be incompatible on the surface, Qin Yuantang was a father himself and knows that every father loves his children.

Qin Ji sighed, “If I had known this would happen, I should have let Second Brother spar with Prince Consort that day, and let Prince Consort defeat Second Brother directly, and there wouldn’t be so many problems.”

Qin Lu: “What do you mean? My spear skills are not inferior to yours. If I fight with Prince Consort, the worst result is a draw!”

Qin Yuantang: “If you want to fight, go out and fight. I’ll take a rest first.”

He was too tired. He had to please the emperor and the chief minister, and also be on guard against some gossipy person mentioning the “Qin Army”. The effort he put in this half a day was more than he spent on training the troops for half a year!

.

Hua Yang took a nap in the tent and slept until dusk. When she woke up, her legs felt like they were filled with lead.

Her brother invited her to have dinner with him, but Hua Yang declined on the pretext that she had caught a cold from the wind.

The young eunuch brought back the grand princess’ words. Upon hearing this, Emperor Yuanyou ordered someone to serve dinner to his sister, and then he brought Chen Jingzong to visit his sister.

Qi Jin was there too, but naturally it was not appropriate for them to go together, so he left first.

When the emperor and prince consort came over, Hua Yang was leaning against the head of the bed, with Chao Yun and Chao Yue massaging her legs from both sides.

There were no outsiders and Hua Yang was dressed neatly, so she did not ask the maids to stop. She just complained to Chen Jingzong in dissatisfaction: “It’s all your fault. You insisted on watching the sunrise.”

Chen Jingzong hesitated to speak.

Emperor Yuanyou spoke for prince consort: “Sister, you forgot that it was you who insisted on climbing up by yourself…”

Halfway through his words, seeing his sister raised her eyebrows, Emperor Yuanyou changed his words and blamed prince consort: “In short, it’s all your fault for not taking good care of Sister.”

Chen Jingzong: …

Chao Yun and Chao Yue laughed out loud, easing the atmosphere.

Cao Li then brought people to deliver dinner.

Hua Yang couldn’t eat on the bed, so the maids went to help her. Chen Jingzong saw how difficult it was for her with her crippled leg, regardless of Emperor Yuanyou watching, walked over, picked up the grand princess without saying a word, and put the person in her seat.

Emperor Yuanyou thought that her sister would be embarrassed, but instead she acted as if it was natural. This showed that prince consort usually acted like the ox and horse for his sister.

During the meal, Chen Jingzong just picked up the food and ate silently.

Hua Yang chatted with her brother: “Brother, how do you feel about today’s exercise?”

Emperor Yuanyou said with emotion: “If all the soldiers in our garrison were as brave as the Qin Army, the entire grassland would be within our grasp.”

Hua Yang frowned and said, “Cousin has a slip of tongue, why did you also call it Qin Army?”

Emperor Yuanyou laughed and said, “It’s just a title. There are many great generals in our dynasty, and in terms of personal military achievements, they are no worse than Qin Yuantang. However, their armies are not as brave as Qin Yuantang’s. Even the enemy soldiers are frightened by the name ‘Qin Army’, which shows that Qin Yuantang is really good at training soldiers. A strong army means a strong country. I only regret that there are no more Qin Army, Li Army, and Ling Army.”

On the wall, Qi Jin mentioned the “Qin Army”, and Emperor Yuanyou was indeed a little unhappy, but after watching the whole exercise and looking at the inside and outside of the Great Wall, Emperor Yuanyou didn’t care too much. Qin Yuantang deserve the reputation of a great general through the ages. Not to mention that Chen Tingjian was willing to take care of him, as long as Qin Yuantang always remained loyal to the court, Emperor Yuanyou would be willing to use Qin Yuantang.

In Hua Yang’s eyes, her brother still had a young face, but his eyes were full of passion.

Hua Yang believed that her brother really admired Qin Yuantang at this time, but there were too many people around the emperor, and the emperor’s mood could change at any time. If someone reported Qin Yuantang when his brother was unhappy, his brother would impulsively want to deal with Qin Yuantang. As long as he opened his mouth, it would immediately become an oral order or an imperial decree, and there would be no room to maneuver.

Accompanying the monarch is like accompanying a tiger, it was exactly like this.

She no longer mentioning Qin Yuantang, but looked at prince consort who was eating quietly with a hint of sarcasm, and said with a smile: “Maybe there will be a Chen Army in the future.”

Emperor Yuanyou followed his sister’s gaze and saw that prince consort suddenly paused while holding the bowl, and his young and handsome face slowly turned red.

He guessed there was a story and asked his sister, “What do you mean?”

Hua Yang told Chen Jingzong’s heroic words on the city wall as a joke: “Prince Consort said that when he becomes an old man, he may have helped us regain all the territory outside the Great Wall.”

Considering Chen Jingzong’s age and military achievements, it was indeed quite outrageous to say this.

Emperor Yuanyou was also young and reckless. His sister looked down on prince consort’s ambition, but Emperor Yuanyou admired it very much. He criticized his sister seriously: “Prince Consort is as skilled as Qin Ji, and will become a great general in the future. If a general doesn’t even have the ambition to recover the outside of the Great Wall, what kind of general is he? Just because my brother-in-law dared to say this, I dared to use him. Sister, don’t look down on Prince Consort.”

Hua Yang looked at her brother in shock, the smile on her face gradually disappeared, revealing anger and grievance.

Among brothers and sisters in the world, older brothers would rarely show weakness to their younger siblings, but it was common for older sisters to act coquettishly towards their younger brothers who were taller than them.

Hua Yang’s aggrieved attitude at this time was another form of coquettishness.

Emperor Yuanyou, who had just spoken some harsh words, immediately softened his heart.

Chen Jingzong came to the rescue in time: “Your Majesty, please don’t blame Grand Princess. It’s true that this minister was too arrogant. When this minister has made real military achievements, this minister will tell say this again, and Grand Princess may believe me.”

Emperor Yuanyou stole a glance at his sister.

Hua Yang put down her chopsticks with a stern face and said as if sending off the guests, “I’m done eating. You two brothers-in-law are the real family here. Go eat outside so I don’t dampen your conversation.”

Emperor Yuanyou: …

That’s too unreasonable!

Chen Jingzong winked at him repeatedly and led the young man out respectfully.

After leaving the tent, Chen Jingzong heaved a long sigh of relief and said to Emperor Yuanyou in the tone of an experienced person: “When Grand Princess is in a bad mood, you have to go along with her. It’s useless to reason with her. She won’t listen at this time.”

Emperor Yuanyou: “Sister is angry with Zhen too?”

Chen Jingzong: “No, Grand Princess likes you the most. Your Majesty, don’t worry. This minister will come to Grand Princess to apologize later. Grand Princess should calm down by tomorrow morning.”

Emperor Yuanyou patted his shoulder sympathetically and said, “Thank you for your hard work.”

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