Mountains and rivers are waiting for you to return

Chapter 37 First meeting
Before Gu Jinheng became the extremely powerful Duke Duan Ding, who was the focus of attention of the court and the public, many people asked Pei Nai, how could she, with such good conditions, fall in love with the mute bastard of the Gu family?
She has never answered this question directly.

People speculated that there was an exchange of interests behind this, and that the late emperor was wary of the power of the queen's own family, and granted the marriage for the purpose of dividing power and balancing checks and balances.

To most people, Pei Nai and Gu Jinheng's love story is nothing more than a set of rhetoric.

A daughter of heaven's favor falls in love with a mute bastard? Unless she is mentally ill or simply stupid, she would do such an irrational and foolish thing.

Moreover, in the eyes of outsiders, Gu Jinheng was with her only for the military power of the Pei family.

There are many different opinions from the outside world, some true and some false, and even Pei Nai can't tell clearly.

But there was at least one thing Pei Nai was sure of.

They were right, she was indeed crazy. The fate that seemed like a dream to her was nothing but her wishful thinking from the beginning to the end.

The memories seemed to go back to fifteen years ago.

When Pei Nai first met Gu Jinheng, she had just reached the age of 15.

That day was the summer solstice, and the bright sun brought scorching heat to the earth.

A large imperial banquet was held in the palace, and as the orphan of the great general who defended the country, she followed her mother into the palace.

She was born and raised in a military camp, and it was her first time to attend such a palace banquet.

Her mother had long ago told her to be gracious, elegant and dignified. All the noble children from prestigious families would be present at the banquet at that time.

My mother also said that people still respected her and her because a large part of the military power was still in the hands of Uncle Guo, but she had been ill for a long time, and one day she would pass away to accompany my father, and Uncle Guo would gradually grow old.

Therefore, Pei Nai needs to find someone she can trust to take care of her for the rest of her life.

That man will be her future husband.

Pei Nai understood all these principles. After entering the palace during the day, she controlled her temper and even dared not use too many cakes.

Soon after, my mother was called over by other ladies to sit and chat, but she had never been able to get along with her peers from the aristocratic families in the capital since she was a child.

In her opinion, those legitimate and illegitimate children were just mediocre people who could only talk about poetry and needlework.

She was proud, so she strolled leisurely in the imperial garden alone, thinking about her future husband.

There are pavilions hidden among the flowers and pavilions by the water.

It was at that time that he appeared, sitting alone in the wooden pavilion with a black-tiled roof.

Passersby avoided him, but he didn't care.

He raised his hand and sipped a cup of tea, his behavior was so elegant and profound.

He was handsome, with a face like beautiful jade, dressed in plain clothes, and had an extraordinary demeanor, as if he was a god from heaven.

At the same time, the powerful aura emanating from his body reminded Pei Nai of the realm of martial arts that the person in front of him had reached.

God knows how she felt at that time. She was like a deer running around endlessly. She had never felt like this before. Is this what is called heartbeat?

It seems so.

She grew up in a military camp and was used to being bold and unrestrained when outside.

Pei Nai doesn't understand worldly etiquette, he is just bold.

She only knew that she liked this man, so she strode over, and stood directly opposite him despite the pressure.

Amid the scrutiny and puzzled gazes of passersby, she bowed and said, "My name is Pei Nai. May I know your name?"

He turned his head when he heard the voice, glanced at her lightly, but did not respond.

Pei Nai thought he was being too reckless and a little rude, so he didn't want to reply.

Most of the people passing by in the Imperial Garden at this time were noble ladies and young men from aristocratic families in Kyoto who were chatting with each other. Many of them stopped and looked over here and laughed.

It was as if what she did was hilarious and ridiculous.

Pei Nai just thought these people were incomprehensible and was about to add something when a young man who was watching the fun interrupted him at the right time.

"He is a mute and can't reply to you."

Pei Nai was stunned. It turned out that the seemingly flawless "God" also had unspeakable physical defects.

But this made her feel more compassionate and want to get closer to him.

In her opinion, they are the same kind of people, all of whom are looked down upon and lonely inside.

Because he was mute, people avoided him; because Pei Nai was a girl, people assumed that her father Pei Hao had no descendants and claimed that the Pei family had no descendants.

Since she was born, countless people have questioned her qualifications to learn the Pei family spear. In their eyes, as a woman, she is not even worthy of picking up a spear.

Very few people know how difficult her journey was, but she persisted day by day relying solely on her passion.

She just wanted to prove to people that even as a woman, she had the ability to defeat all the men who looked down on her, and one day, she would be worthy of the three words "Zhu Bei Qiang" left to her by her parents.

When she was old enough to get married, she met a man who made her fall in love at first sight.

The man was mute and was surrounded by people laughing and mocking him, but he remained calm and composed.

Just like her, although not accepted by the world, she still has that unyielding stubbornness.

"Then can you write your name for me?" Pei Nai ignored people's gazes, took the initiative to step forward, sat next to him, opened his palm and handed it to him.

He just looked at her coldly without any reaction.

Pei Nai smiled at him, but he stood up and left without caring, leaving Pei Nai's hand hanging stupidly in the air.

Even though he had acted so cold and indifferent and kept strangers away, Pei Nai still did not give up. She felt that this man's temperament was very much to her liking.

The young girl put in a lot of effort and asked her mother to send someone to find out the man's name after returning home.

Gu Jinheng. It turned out that he was the illegitimate son of Marquis Duan Ding, the third child in the family, and had not yet been engaged.

His mother didn't quite agree. He was just a bastard, neither a prince nor a legitimate son, and he was also a mute. How could she guarantee Pei Nai's future life?

But Pei Nai just set his sights on him and looked down on everyone else.

This forced the mother to find someone to arrange the marriage.

At that time, Lady Duanding Hou was Gu Jinheng's mistress, but not his biological mother.

In her opinion, if Gu Jinheng could make this marriage happen, she would have someone she could rely on.

She is the legitimate daughter of the General Guarding the Country. Although her father died for the country, there are still the remaining forces and the entire Pei family army, right?
In order to prevent her other two sons from being suppressed, she did not tell Marquis Duan Ding and Gu Jinheng, and concealed the matter. She had someone reject the wife of the General, claiming that Gu Jinheng already had someone he liked. She also tactfully expressed her regret that the two families could not become relatives.

The matter should have ended there, but Pei Nai was such a person.

The budding love gave her endless courage and added fuel to the fire. She stopped Gu Jinheng's carriage in the street and asked him who he loved.

Only then did Gu Jinheng know that the General's Mansion had proposed this marriage.

Only then did he know that there was a woman who openly wanted to marry him.

The news of the carriage blocking incident spread quickly and soon reached Marquis Duan Ding.

Marquis Duan Ding is a member of Your Majesty's party and is an upright person. He has always admired heroes like Pei Hao and Guo Min who fought bravely for the country. In his opinion, being able to become a relative of the General's Mansion is a great honor that can't be achieved in eight lifetimes.

What's more, His Majesty had mentioned to him that he wanted to arrange a marriage between the Pei and Gu families and betroth Pei Nai to the eldest son of the Gu family, the prince of Duangding.

Pei Hao was dead, and Guo Min was temporarily in power, but Guo Min had no successor.

Without anyone to take over the Zhubei Spear, the Pei family army's power will soon be dispersed, and by then countless people will intervene and try to get a piece of the pie.

If we can form an alliance with them through marriage, we can preserve the power of Pei's army and allow them to continue to serve Your Majesty. Isn't this a great joy?
It's just that the Pei family dotes on their daughter, and they don't want to use Pei Nai's marriage as an exchange of interests. They also heard that Pei Nai is not an ordinary woman, and she will never succumb to a forced marriage.

As a result, neither His Majesty nor he could have expected that Pei Nai would fall in love with Gu Jinheng, the mute illegitimate son of the Gu family, and even stopped a carriage in the street to express his feelings, causing a sensation.

Although Pei Nai did not choose the Prince of Duanding Marquis, no matter what, as long as Pei Nai can marry into the Gu family, the follow-up work that he and His Majesty need to do can continue.

For this reason, he severely punished the wife of Marquis Duan Ding, sent someone to prepare an apology gift, and visited Pei Nai's mother that same day. Afterwards, the two families went to the Golden Palace together to plead.

His Majesty personally arranged the marriage between her and Gu Jinheng.

From then on, she and Gu Jinheng began a life of entanglement with each other.

(End of this chapter)