Jiuxi

Chapter 573 [It is better not to see each other]

Jingzhou, Baimaquan.

In late spring, the sun is lazy.

In the clear light, the dust particles floating in the air are clearly visible.

A gentle breeze blew through the courtyard, rustling the green leaves.

Very peaceful and tranquil.

There was a recliner in the corridor. Li Tianrun closed his eyes slightly and tapped the armrest gently with his right hand.

In just over half a month, he seemed to have aged a lot.

After getting rid of this heavy burden, he no longer had to force himself to work hard. With Xue Huaiyi's careful care, his condition did not worsen. However, it was beyond human power to remove the root cause of the disease.

Suddenly going from being busy all the time to having nothing to do all the time, it is inevitable that you are not as energetic as you were at the beginning.

Li Bingxue sat aside, enjoying the rare leisure time.

Three days had passed since the great battle. After she completed the pursuit of the defeated Jing army, she returned to Baimaquan to be with her father and fulfill her filial duties.

"Lu Chen has been very busy these days, right?"

Li Tianrun spoke in a gentle tone, with a faint smile on his face.

"Ah."

Li Bingxue responded, and then said, "More than 100,000 troops are stationed outside Yongqiu City. He has to take care of their eating, drinking, defecating and urinating. He also has to count the results of the battle, record casualties, and verify military merits. Although he doesn't need to do these things personally, it's a lot of work just to take charge of them. In addition, how to establish a border defense line with Yongqiu City as the core and recapture the northern part of Dingzhou in time are all major matters that he needs to plan carefully."

Li Tianrun quietly opened his eyes, turned to look at her, and asked thoughtfully: "Then why don't you stay in Yongqiu to help him?"

Li Bingxue remained silent.

In fact, she had many suitable excuses, for example, she was only good at charging into battle and was far inferior to her brother Li Liangyu in handling mundane affairs, and she could not actually help with those trivial matters at the moment.

For example, she needed to return to her father and serve him wholeheartedly.

But she said nothing.

Li Tianrun smiled faintly, looked up at the sycamore tree in the corner of the courtyard, and said leisurely: "Because you don't want to compete with Miss Lin?"

Although he was in the rear and did not participate in the final decisive battle, he was well aware of the details of the war and of course knew about the Seven Star Army cavalry that appeared on the battlefield at the moment of the decisive battle.

Li Bingxue suddenly recalled an old memory.

That was after Lu Chen led his troops to launch a surprise attack on Heluo City last year. She and her father had a casual chat.

When talking about her relationship with Lu Chen, she told her father that she didn't want to compete with the two daughters of King Lin.

She could still use that answer today, but at this moment she couldn't say it.

After all, I'm not the type of person who can handle things in a flexible and harmonious manner.

Li Tianrun was slightly stunned.

It was not difficult to tell from Li Bingxue's expression that something must have happened between her and Lu Chen.

The middle-aged man did not ask any more questions, but said gently: "You young people love each other, and your father will not interfere. But I don't want to see my daughter sad and hurt herself. This is not the style of the old Li family."

Li Bingxue didn't expect her father to say this. She opened her eyes wide in surprise.

Li Tianrun smiled and said, "Since you like it, then don't miss it. I have taught you so many principles of decisiveness, can you only use them on the battlefield?"

"Daddy..."

Li Bingxue rarely showed the shyness of a child and lowered her head and said, "He...he already has..."

"Your Majesty has granted me the marriage, right?"

Li Tianrun clasped his hands in front of him and said calmly: "If you are willing to marry, and if he is willing to marry you, what does the status matter? Either let Lu Chen take over a branch of the Lu family, or just let the royal family come up with a name and then issue an imperial decree. These have never been a problem. The key lies in your original intention."

Li Bingxue was a little confused.

She was not the kind of lady who never left the house, but the only female commander in the Great Qi Dynasty in more than a hundred years. Under her command were the capable and battle-hardened Flying Feather Cavalry.

But the higher her position, the more she understood the twists and turns at the top.

The biggest problem between her and Lu Chen is not their status, but their identities.

Other people's dowries might be mountains of gold and silver, but her dowry was the vast network of contacts in the entire Jingzhou Military Governor's Office. How could the emperor allow Lu Chen to take control of all the border troops of Da Qi?
That time in the palace, the emperor hinted again and again that he hoped she and Lu Chen would recognize this problem.

"I know what you're worried about."

Li Tianrun said slowly: "After this battle, this worry is meaningless."

Li Bingxue frowned slightly, she understood the deep meaning of her father's words.

Li Tianrun continued, "It is a foregone conclusion that I will step down as the governor of Jingzhou. It won't be long before an imperial decree summons me back to the capital, and I will most likely be given the title of Duke. Your brother has been through many years of training, and he has made some contributions in the recent wars. His Majesty will probably transfer him back to the capital to take up a position, either as an assistant minister of the Ministry of War or to do odd jobs in the Military Academy. As for you, His Majesty will not deprive you of your military power. Firstly, he has to give me some consideration, and secondly, you are a woman, and you will not be able to touch the core military power after all."

Li Bingxue looked at his calm face, and an indescribable disappointment welled up in her heart. Li Tianrun said calmly: "Silly child, this is not a bad thing."

"But Jingzhou——"

"Someone else will take over the Jingzhou Governor's Office, either Liu Shouguang or Zhang Xu. The military commanders will not change easily, but with my resignation and your brother being transferred back to the capital, the influence of the Li family in the Jingzhou Governor's Office will inevitably be weakened."

Li Tianrun smiled and said calmly: "So do you understand? The Tian family will no longer oppose your relationship with Lu Chen."

Li Bingxue sighed softly, unable to tell whether she was happy or sad.

After a long while, she said calmly: "Then I don't want to look for him either."

Li Tianrun asked curiously: "Why?"

Li Bingxue looked at the spring scenery in the courtyard and said with a half-smile, "It's obvious that Miss Luo from Shazhou has some unclear connection with him. She's probably having a quarrel with Miss Lin right now. If I get involved, I'm afraid Lu Chen won't even dare to go back to his residence."

"Shazhou?"

Li Tianrun laughed in silence, then shook his head and said, "This guy is really..."

He looked at Li Bingxue's calm face, and actually knew very well in his heart that his daughter was not deliberately being considerate of Lu Chen, it was just her natural temperament.

If you don't want to compete with others, you will have your own world.

……

To fight or not to fight is a complicated and confusing matter.

Before coming to this strange place, Luo Jiujiu had never thought about this troublesome situation.

Born in the magnificent land of Shazhou, she is like a small tree in the mountains, thriving through wind and rain, with her own pride and unrestrainedness.

That's why she traveled thousands of miles to the capital of Qi to avenge her dead clansmen, and that's why she gave herself to Lu Chen without reservation and didn't ask for any promises from him.

I still remember that when they parted outside Qingjiang City, she expressed her feelings with an arrow and a handkerchief, and then decisively returned to Shazhou.

She originally thought that the two of them would go their separate ways and never see each other again.

Who would have thought that the Qi army general named Chen Lanyu would pass through Shazhou with his personal letter, and her father decided to send thousands of warriors to help. She was worried about these thousands of warriors. After all, the bloody incident outside Heluo City that year was still vivid in her mind, so she followed.

After a great battle, she met Lu Chen on the battlefield.

Reunion is naturally a joyful thing, but the joy is mixed with a bit of bitterness.

Because she saw two extremely outstanding women, one of whom was his fiancée Lin Xi, whom he was about to marry, and the other was Li Bingxue, the jewel in the crown of Jingzhou Grand Commander Li Tianrun.

Her intuition told her that Lu Chen and Li Bingxue were not just ordinary friends.

After they got to know each other, she finally hid all her longing for him.

Lu Chen was very busy in the next few days, so he naturally had no time to come and see her, but he didn't know that his daughter's mood was hard to describe in words.

No matter how busy you are, don't you have time to meet and say a few words?
Just asking your close associates to come and say hello?
Are you really as busy as your confidant said, or are you afraid to meet me for some reason?

Luo Jiujiu didn’t know that Lu Chen actually didn’t have time.

A war involving more than 100,000 regular soldiers, plus Xiao Wangzhi's intention to let him go and hone his skills, the post-war affairs and the next arrangements all fell on Lu Chen's shoulders. He only slept for one or two hours every day these days, and even listened to reports while eating.

Although Luo Jiujiu had an open-minded personality, she still couldn't stand this unclear situation. So that afternoon, she came to Lu Chen's residence in the city alone.

When the guard outside the gate saw the young woman in red, he knew that she was the leader of the Shazhou native soldiers and had made great contributions in this battle, so he hurriedly stepped forward and saluted, saying, "Hello, Miss Luo."

Luo Jiujiu asked straight to the point: "Is Lord Lu here?"

The guard said, "The Marquis has gone out of the city to do some work, and may come back later."

Luo Jiujiu frowned slightly and wanted to turn around and leave.

"Miss Luo, please stay." The personal soldier said with a smile, "I have sent someone to inform the inside that although the Marquis is not here, Madam Lin is here. If Miss Luo has any problems, she can tell Madam Lin."

Hearing the three words "Mrs. Lin", Luo Jiujiu nodded with a complicated expression and said, "Okay."

After a while, Luo Jiujiu came to the main hall of the mansion, and a slim and calm young woman appeared in her sight.

I met him outside the city three days ago. At that time, Lin Xi was full of murderous intent, and the aura of a master was self-evident.

When we met again today, Lin Xi had changed into a moon-blue dress, with only a red hairpin as decoration in her hair, looking pretty and elegant.

She wears light makeup and has a natural beauty.

Luo Jiujiu has always been very confident about her appearance, so at this moment she couldn't help but feel a little comparative.

She looked at Lin Xi's face. It wasn't a face that was particularly stunning at first sight, but upon closer inspection, there was nothing wrong with it. The extremely beautiful facial features matched with the confidence and composure that could be easily sensed made Luo Jiujiu suddenly feel a little frustrated.

Then she thought of the three words "Mrs. Lin" that the personal soldier had just said, and that Lu Chen had never looked for her in the past few days.

Luo Jiujiu's eyes became sharp and shot towards Lin Xi like a sharp arrow.

(End of this chapter)