vstars Chapter 147 Li Cen's Personal Campaign
Chapter 147 Li Cen's Personal Campaign
Lu He silently watched as Yu City was engulfed by fierce flames. The flames soared into the sky, seemingly burning through the heavens, like a giant red beast ravaging Yu City.
She stood below the city wall, her hands clasped together, silently mourning the soldiers who died here. And General Lu, Prefect Qin, I can't take your heads back, so I'll use this grand fire to cremate you in Yucheng, and let the King of Hu's soldiers be buried with you!
“News has come back from the capital…” Chao Huaiyuan walked to Lu He’s side, not daring to disturb her as she was praying with her eyes closed.
Lu He opened her eyes but didn't turn around: "Is it a letter from Her Highness the Eldest Princess?"
“Hmm…” Chao Huaiyuan handed her the letter, which indeed had the words “General Lu’s personal address” on it.
Lu He took the letter and was about to open it when she noticed that Chao Huaiyuan showed no sign of leaving; he seemed to have something to ask.
"What's wrong, A-Yuan?" Lu He asked first, seeing him standing cautiously to the side.
"...You, you asked me before if I could become the princess's husband for your sake..." So that's what it was about. How come he still remembers it?
"Oh, that? No need. I was just asking casually that day." Lu He waved his hand, telling Chao Huaiyuan not to worry about it.
"...What I wanted to say was, could I marry you..." Chao Huaiyuan, as if having made up his mind, raised his head and stared straight at Lu He: "If we win this battle and return home, I want to ask you to be my wife..."
What? Lu He was stunned. He didn't expect that at this critical moment, Chao Huaiyuan was still thinking about his love affair with A Qing.
“Ah Yuan, you shouldn’t rush into this matter…” Lu He was somewhat displeased, but tried not to show it: “I have other more important things to do, getting married is not an important thing for me.”
"You...don't want to marry me?" Chao Huaiyuan lowered his head, his eyes seemingly glistening with tears. Afraid of being seen, he touched his nose to suppress his sadness. "Aqing, sometimes I feel you've changed so much, I wonder if you're really Aqing..." Especially what he had seen and heard these past few days—how she helped the Princess defeat the Crown Prince, and how she used these amazing mechanical arts to charge into battle. This was completely different from the An Linqing he knew.
“But your face… your eyes… it’s clearly A-Qing…” Chao Huaiyuan couldn’t understand why An Linqing’s abilities had changed after the house was raided. He could understand if it was just that a person’s personality changed drastically after experiencing a major upheaval and suffering a severe blow. But the scheming in power struggles and the ability to conjure up these mechanical arts out of thin air were things he couldn’t explain.
"Can you tell me yourself if you are really A-Qing..." Chao Huaiyuan tried to hold back, but hot tears still dripped onto his military boots.
How could Lu He not have seen that crystal-clear tear falling from above?
“I’m sorry, A Yuan…” Although she felt guilty, she couldn’t lose Chao Huaiyuan as an ally right now: “I’ve had so many things happen to me that I can’t explain them to you in a short time… I promise you, once the Princess has secured her throne, I will tell you everything.”
"As expected, you're going to help the eldest princess become empress..." Chao Huaiyuan laughed self-deprecatingly. The way he dealt with the crown prince and the third prince, and even the death of the emperor, were probably all related to the person in front of him.
"Are you going to expose me?" Lu He asked in a deep voice.
Chao Huaiyuan shook his head. He wasn't stupid. He could see that Li Cen's ability to govern the country was stronger than Li Yun's, and her benevolence and virtue surpassed Li Guangqi's. She could bring blessings to the people if she became emperor. Besides, he didn't care who was emperor at all.
“I will help you. I can see that the eldest princess is very suitable to be the emperor... at least more suitable than the King of Hu…” He had witnessed the King of Hu’s brutal massacre of the city and the killing of the people along the way.
“…Thank you, A Yuan…” Lu He didn’t know how to express her gratitude to Chao Huaiyuan now, since she had indeed deceived him first.
Chao Huaiyuan turned and took two steps away, then suddenly stopped and turned back: "There's one last question... Do you no longer like me?"
Lu He was stunned. She didn't know whether she should tell him the truth and that she didn't love him, or continue to lie to him. But then she thought again that she was only using An Linqing's body now, and the real An Linqing was in Nie Qing's body. She had no right to speak for him about whether he liked her or not.
Seeing that Lu He couldn't answer for a long time, he gave Huaiyuan a sad smile and left without waiting for an answer.
Fine, Lu He watched his departing figure and opened the letter Li Cen had written to her.
"The northern border is in danger, I will personally lead the expedition!" These few words showed that Li Cen wrote them in a great hurry, but after reading the letter, Lu He was so anxious that she could hardly sit still.
Whom did Li Cen take with him on his personal campaign in the north, and how many troops did he bring? What if something goes wrong? And who is currently guarding the capital? Why didn't Li Cen specify this clearly?