knife

Chapter 172 When you are successful, you should help others; when you are unsuccessful, you should cultivate your own virtue.

Princess Chang Le looked at Li Dachui standing in front of her, sometimes nodding and sometimes shaking her head, which made Li Dachui quite confused.

The woman in front of me must be my aunt.

Is this the first blood relative I've ever met?

Of course, the Tiele don't count.

“He doesn’t look like Brother Anze, nor Sister Qingqiu!” Princess Chang Le said.

Duanmu Miaomiao, standing to the side, said, "Princess, look into his eyes!"

Princess Chang Le stared for a while before saying, "Now that you mention it, I can see a resemblance to Brother Anze in these eyes. However, Brother Anze's eyes are melancholy, always showing a look of concern for the country and its people. This boy's eyes, on the other hand, always reveal a cunning, and his gaze is shifty. Without careful observation, one really can't tell that he resembles Brother Anze!"

“It’s a good thing that he doesn’t look like him. If he did, some people might be reminded of the past as soon as they see him, and then that kid wouldn’t last long!” Duanmu Miaomiao laughed.

“That’s true!” Chang Le stretched out her hand: “Where’s the jade pendant your mother left behind?”

Li Dachui took the jade pendant off his neck and handed it to Chang Le.

Holding the jade pendant in their palm, they channeled their true energy into it, and fiery red seal characters appeared one by one, flashing before their eyes.

"This jade pendant was a gift from Brother Anze to Sister Qingqiu. I even helped Brother Anze choose it!" Chang Le said emotionally, holding the jade pendant. "This jade pendant was their token of love. I always thought it was gone with Sister Qingqiu. I heard Miaomiao mention it the other day, and I really found it unbelievable! Please sit down!"

Li Dachui sat down, looked at Princess Chang Le, and asked, "Aunt, my godfather never tells me about my parents. Can you tell me their story?"

"What's there to talk about!" Princess Chang Le laughed. "It was just an unexpected encounter between a handsome man and a beautiful woman. Sister Qingqiu is an exceptionally talented person, and she immediately attracted Brother Anze. You can guess what happened next!"

"How could an ordinary woman marry into the royal family and become the crown princess?" Li Dachui was somewhat skeptical.

"Back then, Sister Qingqiu was no ordinary person! She was the daughter of the governor of Huazhou in our Great Qin. However, we later learned that this identity was fake. The governor of Huazhou was a person planted in our Great Qin by the Demonic Sect. After decades of struggle, he actually made it to the position of governor!" Princess Changle said.

Li Dachui suddenly realized that the key to his long-standing suspicion about how his mother, a saintess of the Demonic Sect, could suddenly become the Crown Princess of Qin was now clear.

It's quite terrifying to think that the Demonic Sect meticulously infiltrated the area and then turned their own Holy Maiden into the Crown Princess of Qin.

"Later, during the coup in Chang'an, Brother Anze was killed, and an army of over 100,000 men attacked Huazhou in four routes. After that great battle, Huazhou was almost completely destroyed!" Chang Le sighed. "At that time, I had been married to Yandu for over a year, and when I heard about this, I was truly stunned."

"Looking back, the fact that my mother was the Holy Maiden of the Demonic Cult became one of the biggest pieces of evidence that they deserved to die!"

"Of course!" Princess Chang Le sighed, "Otherwise, your father was the Crown Prince back then, while Brother Anmin was just a prince. The difference in their strength was enormous. Without the Emperor's tacit approval, how could Brother Anmin have succeeded?"

"Aunt, were the things my parents wanted to do back then really wrong?" Li Dachui pressed.

“I don’t know!” Princess Chang Le said, “I have always despised these things. I just want to live happily, but even this small request cannot be fulfilled. Just because my mother was just a lowly palace maid, this kind of marriage alliance fell on my shoulders. During that time, if it weren’t for your mother’s comforting words, I might not have wanted to live.”

At this point, Princess Chang Le took out a small box from the table, opened it, and took out a stack of letters from inside. She said, "Even after I married into this family, she kept writing to me until she died! I survived those most difficult days by relying on these letters."

Li Dachui took the stack of letters, his hands trembling slightly.

Looking at the delicate handwriting on the envelope, I couldn't help but think of the painting of court ladies in palace attire in the secret chamber of Tai'an City.

"Auntie, can you give me these things?" Li Dachui whispered, "Besides the Jade Linglong, I have nothing left of my mother!"

"Take it!" Princess Chang Le sighed. "I never imagined that Sister Qingqiu would have descendants, and that they've become enemies with the Tiele. If I'm not mistaken, you intend to use the area outside the pass as your base, and then march south to conquer the pass, right?" "I haven't thought that far ahead!" Li Dachui said honestly. "I'm just taking it one step at a time. To be honest, even if you laugh at me for lacking ambition, I don't even know if I can defeat Linghu Ye right now! Even if I do, there's still the behemoth that is the Great Yuan. If I can't defeat the Northern Yuan, I can't leave the area outside the pass. I'd rather not fight for the beautiful land inside the pass than let the Yuan people enter the pass and harm the people of Great Qin."

Princess Chang Le laughed: "The more you say that, the more I admire you. Not aiming too high and taking things one step at a time makes you more likely to succeed. But the thought of you becoming an opponent of the Tiele makes me a little melancholy."

Li Dachui smiled without saying a word; there was nothing he could do about it.

Moreover, there was absolutely no possibility of reconciliation between him and Tiele.

It can only be a life-or-death situation.

"This is the helplessness of being born into an imperial family. In ordinary families, brothers are kind and respectful, fathers are loving and sons are filial. But within the royal family, kinship is almost non-existent; there is only self-interest, gain and loss, and bloodshed." Chang Le shook his head and said, "Li Dachui, if you win in the future, will you let the Tiele go?"

“My cousin is actually exceptionally talented. If he’s willing to bow down to me, I’m not afraid to use him and have him serve me!” Li Dachui laughed. “However, my cousin is arrogant and proud. I’m afraid he’d rather lose to someone else than to me!”

"If the Tiele win, will you play for them?"

"I'll run away!" Li Dachui said honestly. "If things were impossible, I would have run away long ago and found a place where no one knows me to live a quiet life."

Princess Chang Le and Duanmu Miaomiao were completely taken aback by Li Dachui's answer. After a long pause, Princess Chang Le burst into laughter, while Duanmu shook his head repeatedly.

"You're a shameless bastard!" Duanmu Miaomiao pointed at Li Dachui: "You actually dared to say that in front of us, you have such a thick skin!"

"When you're successful, you should help others; when you're unsuccessful, you should cultivate your own virtue!" Li Dachui declared confidently. "Auntie, I don't think I did anything wrong. Does losing and offering your neck to someone else to cut off count as being tough, having ambition, or being heroic?"

"So, you're going to run away and then find a place to make a comeback?" Duanmu Miaomiao asked.

Li Dachui shook his head: "Then forget it. I'm pretty strong now. If I lose again, how can I fight when I have nothing? At that time, I will definitely be a good citizen, honestly farming, hunting and paying taxes."

Princess Chang Le nodded: "Without any burden, you say, 'When you are successful, you help the world; when you are unsuccessful, you cultivate your own virtue.' Well said. If the Tiele people had your attitude towards life, I would be much more at ease. It's just a pity that they are too burdened by their own thoughts."

“Our upbringings are different, and the things we want to do are probably very different as well, so naturally we will have different attitudes!” Li Dachui said, “But it’s too early for us to talk about these things now. As for me, I still have to compete with Linghu Ye, and he still has to fight wits and courage with Zhebie and Akdun for the throne. Auntie probably knows the fierce competition much better than I do! If we both win, then we can talk about the future! Don’t worry, Auntie, the forces that Tiele can use at that time are much stronger than mine!”

Princess Chang Le chuckled again and said, "But judging from your tone, you don't seem to care about these things!"

"I don't have any burden. If I can't win, I'll just run away!" Li Dachui said with a forced smile.

"What about Xiao Changche? Will he follow you too?" Princess Changle laughed. "Your relationship with this woman is quite unusual, isn't it? Her hatred for the Great Yuan is extraordinary. I heard from the Tiele that this woman's entire family of several hundred people died at the hands of the Great Yuan!"

“What’s the point of saying anything if we lose? If she doesn’t come with me, I’ll just knock her out and run away!” Li Dachui said. “The one who killed her whole family back then was the Left Wise King Astu. I’ll find a way to kill Astu! That’ll be revenge. Do you really think I can wipe out the entire Yuan Kingdom? That’s impossible!”

"Heh, aren't you afraid of biting off more than you can chew? Do you think you can just kill the Left Wise King as you please?" Duanmu Miaomiao sneered.

"There's no such thing as being a thief for a thousand days but not being able to guard against thieves for a thousand days!" Li Dachui said, "Astu, this Left Wise King who has lost power, is not the emperor of the Great Yuan. There's always a way to kill him! Aunt Duanmu, although I can't beat you, I'm still quite skilled."

Duanmu Miaomiao snorted, but she had to admit that what the kid said made a lot of sense.

Princess Chang Le said, "After the Chang'an Incident, the entire Qin Dynasty underwent a purge. Many of the Crown Prince's men were among the border troops; some died, and some fled. A significant portion of them escaped to the Yuan Dynasty. His Majesty, out of respect for me, allocated them a territory. However, they are unwilling to pledge allegiance to the Yuan, much less to serve as their vanguard in attacking Qin. Their lives have been far from comfortable these past years. The only thing I can do is ensure their survival, but not allow them to live well! Go and meet them. If they are willing to return with you, take them with you. I have told the Tiele not to mistreat these people!"

Li Dachui stood up and bowed deeply to Princess Chang Le: "Thank you, Aunt!"

(End of this chapter)