Chapter 393: Knowing People

Xiao Luan looked at his daughter's eyes, which were as calm as an abyss, and suddenly remembered what she looked like when she was a child—at that time, she would still shed tears for a butterfly with a broken wing, her brows curved, and she would tug at his sleeve in a soft, sweet tone, begging him to save it. Now, those eyes had no ripples when facing him, yet he saw his own shadow within them.

"Have you really thought it through? Don't you want to use the Donggong to balance me? If you reject the Xu family's marriage, how will you explain it to the Donggong?" Xiao Luan's voice remained steady.

Bao Yue was equally steady:

"Daughter has never had the thought of balancing Father; daughter just doesn't want to repeat Mother's mistakes—"

She deliberately paused, wanting to see something on her father's face, but she saw nothing.

Bao Yue took a breath, her voice as steady as before:

"As for the Donggong, daughter will have her own explanation."

Xiao Luan said coldly:

"What explanation can you have? The Prince of Badong has rebelled, and the evidence you gathered is useless. What will you explain?"

Bao Yue was silent.

It must be said that the Prince of Badong's uprising changed many things. She had gone to great lengths to verify the evidence of the Prince of Badong's trade of weapons with the barbarians. This should have been a very weighty bargaining chip, but this chip became worthless almost overnight!

For a prince who had already rebelled, what did it matter whether he had traded with the barbarians or not?

Xiao Luan shook his head and smiled:

"You haven't even sorted out your own affairs, yet you have the heart to care about other people's affairs. You really are—"

"He is not other people," Bao Yue said suddenly.

Xiao Luan's smile vanished, and his face sank:

"What did you say?"

Bao Yue did not avoid or dodge, only lowered her eyelashes, gathered her skirts and knelt, hands folded in front of her forehead, and performed an impeccable bow to Xiao Luan:

"Father, please listen: when daughter was in the Yidu faction, in order to protect herself, she once disguised herself as a servant of the divine messenger and stayed in the same room with Wang Yang—"

The Marquis's usually calm expression changed instantly. He stepped forward and said angrily:

"That brat actually dared—"

Bao Yue's gaze steadily caught her father's anger, and she explained calmly:

"Wang Yang did nothing. He is a gentleman who observes propriety; it was just an expedient measure at the time..."

Xiao Luan's face turned livid, and he paced back and forth angrily, his steps fast and heavy, as if he were looking for someone to fight but couldn't find an opponent!

But for some reason, he stopped after a few steps. The anger on his face quickly faded, and he soon returned to his usual calm self.

"Since it was an expedient measure, then there is nothing to say. In extraordinary times, one should take extraordinary actions. Those who stick to rules and don't know how to adapt in times of crisis are the actions of foolish men and women. My Xiao family's daughter has a broad mind and eyes that can contain rivers and seas; how can she be trapped by mere vulgar rituals? It's a small matter; you don't need to worry about it.

Don't you want me to present the letter to the imperial presence? Fine, I can promise you. I can also guarantee for Wang Yang, ensuring he is loyal and has no second thoughts! I will ask the Son of Heaven to examine his heart, understand his hidden difficulties! Record his merits, accept his strategies! Forgive his crime of acting without authorization, and give him a path to serve—"

Bao Yue was overjoyed!!!

What she feared most before was that even if the letter was delivered, the Son of Heaven's attitude would be ambiguous. Although Wang Yang had stated his merit in recovering the Three Barbarians, the letter had traveled a thousand miles, and the actual effect had not yet arrived. Wang Yang also had the name of being a rebel; whether the Son of Heaven believed it or not was still a matter of doubt. If he thought this was just a path Wang Yang had left for himself, and would investigate his crimes after the rebellion was quelled; or if he determined that this was a trap set by Wang Yang and the Prince of Badong together, then that would be...

Just thinking about this possibility made her shudder!

But if her father was willing to come forward to guarantee him, then this matter would be seventy percent successful! Even if the Son of Heaven had doubts in his heart, he would not decisively cut off Wang Yang's path to survival!

Just as Bao Yue was excited, she heard Xiao Luan say:

"However, the premise is that you must agree to the marriage with Xu Kuang."

The room fell silent instantly.

The daughter looked at the father, and the father also looked at the daughter. That gaze pressed over unhurriedly, as if waiting for something.

Bao Yue's thoughts turned like lightning, and she soon had a plan.

Tomorrow is the time to deliver the letter. As long as the letter is delivered, can't she go back on her word anytime, anywhere? What "a promise is worth a thousand gold"? It doesn't exist! Even if it were ten thousand gold, she could afford to pay it!

She is not some obedient, submissive daughter, nor is she a weakling in the boudoir to be manipulated! Want to force her to submit like this? Not a chance! If you really force her into a corner, she'll show you whether her methods are ruthless or not, and whether she's willing to go all out! Even if one day Wang Yang is on the executioner's block, she'll set fire to the Taimiao! She'll kidnap dozens of high officials as hostages! She will never do that kind of cowardly thing of putting on a wedding dress to save someone! Even if she really puts on a wedding dress, it will be to set an ambush at the wedding banquet and wipe out those bastards, including the damn groom, in one fell swoop!

Besides, it's not easy to form a marriage, but it's very simple to ruin one. Even if the marriage contract is formed, there are many ways to make the Xu family withdraw the marriage themselves! Not to mention that the marriage contract hasn't been formed yet! Then there are even more ways! Even the Crown Prince and her father can't stop her! If you dare to force her into the wedding carriage, she dares to make the groom disappear the day before the wedding! If you don't believe it, just try!

The most urgent matter is to first deceive Xiao Luan. After the letter is delivered, everything will be easy to handle.

Bao Yue deliberately didn't agree immediately, but waited for a while. The timing had to be just right—not too short, or it would look perfunctory; not too long, or it would look deliberate. It had to be just enough for Xiao Luan to feel that she was struggling, weighing, and deciding.

As for the bridges of being weak, pitiful, sobbing, and begging, they didn't fit her style in front of Xiao Luan at all, and they couldn't be used.

She pretended to be strong and looked at her father, calm and decisive:

"I understand Father's meaning; I agree. But I have one condition: Father must only discuss the marriage with the Xu family after I have confirmed that the Son of Heaven has read the letter and Father has indeed fulfilled the promise of protecting Wang Yang. If there is the slightest mistake in the middle, the marriage will be void immediately!"

Xiao Luan's lips moved. He looked at his daughter, and a flash of surprise crossed his eyes. After the brief surprise, what followed was a complex and indistinguishable emotion.

He didn't speak, looked at his daughter for a moment, then turned around and paced back and forth a few steps just like before. Only this time, his steps were much slower.

He walked to the window and stopped.

The lamplight fell on his profile, pulling the shadow of his brow bone, which was no longer young but still clearly defined, very long.

Bao Yue watched her father's back.

After so many years, he stood there, still the person she couldn't fathom—deep, calm, and unruffled. But at this moment, there seemed to be something more in that back.

Xiao Luan stood for a while, twisted his shoulders and neck twice, then stretched his muscles and bones as if nothing had happened, exhaled a breath that sounded very refreshing, tidied his robes, and sat back in his original seat. The heaviness between his brows completely dissipated, his expression relaxed, and he spoke as if chatting:

"Tell me about Wang Yang."

Bao Yue didn't understand Xiao Luan's intention and asked:

"Tell you what?"

"Tell me about his affairs. Didn't you say some things before? Besides those, tell me more."

Bao Yue speculated that her father wanted to understand Wang Yang as a person more, firstly to judge whether he could really guarantee him, and secondly to master more information so that he would have something to say when he played to the emperor tomorrow.

This meant that her father was really going to protect Wang Yang!

Bao Yue's spirit lifted, and she began to detail how the Prince of Badong held hostages, and how he passed words to Wang Yang on the battlefield. This was the key inside story of Wang Yang's return to Jingzhou as a spy, and it was also an important foreshadowing to show Wang Yang's character and win the favor and respect of the Son of Heaven and even the officials in the future.

After listening, Xiao Luan asked:

"Anything else?"

Bao Yue was puzzled:

"Anything else what?"

"Besides that, continue."

Bao Yue began to praise Wang Yang's scholarship in the History Department, implying that Xu Kuang's so-called "talent for a good historian" was actually not as good as Wang Yang's.

"Anything else?" Xiao Luan asked again.

Bao Yue began to talk about Wang Yang's quick wit and wonderful words, which were recited in Jingzhou. She also picked a few sentences from "Selected Quotations of Wang Zhiyan," as well as sentences that were widely circulated in the city, mainly wanting to borrow Xiao Luan's mouth to pass them to the Son of Heaven, such as "In the management of affairs, there is the shadow of mountains and rivers; in the taste of the world, there is the sound of classics and laws," and "The world does not pity talent, and beautiful women often ruin their own bodies. This is the ruthlessness of heaven and earth. Since it bestowed spiritual beauty, it made it fall into the dusty world; since it planted the roots of love, it produced a fickle man," and so on.

Xiao Luan listened carefully, and still asked:

"Anything else?"

The two of them, one asking and one speaking, the moon moved and the stars shifted outside the window, not knowing how many watches had passed; inside the window, the candlelight flickered, and only wisps of smoke rose slowly. The speaker forgot her fatigue, and the listener forgot the time.

Although Bao Yue spoke to her heart's content, her vigilance was always there. She didn't reveal a single bit of Wang Yang's secrets and trump cards. By the end, she only picked some anecdotes about Wang Yang and the scholarly discussions he gave when he taught her.

I don't know how long it had been, but when Xiao Luan asked "Anything else?" again, Bao Yue replied:

"Nothing else."

Xiao Luan seemed to be still unsatisfied:

"Nothing else?"

Bao Yue was tired of talking and picked up the teacup to moisten her throat:

"Nothing else. I've said it all."

Xiao Luan nodded thoughtfully, then asked:

"Why don't you mention that he is using the surname of the Langya Wangs?"

The teacup in Bao Yue's hand almost fell!

She scrambled to hold it steady, first pretending to sigh that the teacup was crude and heavy, then asked blankly:

"What usurping the surname? What is Father talking about?"

Xiao Luan looked at his daughter's clumsy cover-up and smiled:

"You've even bribed people in the Minister Province, do you really think I don't know anything? Following the bottom rather than the top (referring to Bao Yue walking the grassroots route for household registration), this method is not bad."

Bao Yue's face turned a few shades paler, and she suppressed her panic and explained:

"He didn't usurp the surname! How could the Langya Wang family usurp a surname?! With his scholarship, it's impossible to usurp any surname! He just didn't register his household, he is illegitimate—"

Xiao Luan seemed completely uninterested in his daughter's explanation of Wang Yang's identity and interrupted:

"I ask you, how do you think Xu Kuang's talent compares to Wang Yang's?"

Bao Yue didn't know Xu Kuang's talent particularly well, but she knew Wang Yang, and that was enough.

"Not as good," Bao Yue said without hesitation.

Xiao Luan frowned:

"Just not as good?"

Bao Yue thought for a while and said:

"Very not as good."

Xiao Luan frowned again:

"Just very not as good?"

Bao Yue was a bit confused:

"What does Father mean?"

Xiao Luan glanced at his daughter:

"The separation between immortal and mortal, how can they be compared?"

Bao Yue: (゜□゜)

"I ask you again, how does Wang Yang's future compare to Xu Kuang's?"

Bao Yue hadn't recovered from the shock, and began to analyze in a trance, her voice still a bit floating:

"Although Xu Kuang started as a Zuozuo Lang (a compiler of national history, a very clear and noble position; starting with this official position at this time is a high selection. Starting positions like Taixue Doctor, Dianzhong General, Fengchaoqing, etc., are not as good as this. Liu Cheng previously relied on his father's power to try to take Wang Yang as a dog and promised several starting positions, but didn't dare to promise this one), and his family status is noble, but in terms of true talent—"

Xiao Luan laughed out loud:

"No matter how noble the family status is, it's just worldly assets. One person of high talent is enough to traverse the world! Even if the Xu family is full of glory, how can it compare to Wang Yang alone? You are actually still talking about a Zuozuo Lang? Let alone starting as a small Zuozuo Lang, even if he started as a Zuo Lang or a Secretary Cheng, looking at it with the eyes of a swan, it's just dust! How is it worth mentioning?!"

Bao Yue was completely stunned!!!

Xiao Luan's expression was open and his spirit was high, and he continued eloquently:

"You said one thing wrong just now. You said Wang Yang returned to Jingzhou to gamble with his life; you were wrong. He wasn't gambling that the Prince of Badong wouldn't kill him, but knew that the Prince of Badong couldn't kill him! Why couldn't he kill him? Because he calculated that if the Prince of Badong wanted to sit in Jingzhou, he might not need him; but if the Prince of Badong wanted to take the world, he must use him, Wang Zhiyan! Without this confidence, would he dare to return to Jingzhou?! You can't even see this?"

Bao Yue's brain was buzzing! She felt as if she were in a dream!!!

Not you!!!

I don't object to you praising Wang Yang, but isn't this praising him a bit too much!!! Wang Yang is a monster, but he's not that monstrous, right?!!! Do you know Wang Yang or do I know Wang Yang???

"This man's intelligence is enough to resolve chaos, and his talent is enough to save the state from ruin; yet, if you employ him, you cannot fully utilize his talent, and if you appoint him, you cannot exhaust his wisdom! You have this top-tier, world-class, peerless talent as a husband, yet instead of fighting for him or snatching him up, you actually agreed to marry that third or fourth-rate character surnamed Xu? You—you—what on earth are you thinking???"

When Xiao Luan finished speaking, he was actually a bit angry, pointing at his daughter, his eyes full of heartache for her not living up to expectations!

Bao Yue:???????????????????

——————

Note: Chapter 51 "The Daughter of the Marquis of Xichang": "Lady Xie Lady Xie Xinghan's starry eyes blinked slightly: 'What about the Third Young Master Xu? His scholarship is deep and broad, he is eloquent and well-versed, even my father says he has the 'talent of a good historian,' and his starting position is Zuozuo Lang, his future is limitless...'"

Busy these two days, taking a day off, updating on the 11th. ===== CHAPTER 394 =====