Masquerade in Bridal Attire and Marry the Prince

60. Retreat

Translator: Antonia

Understanding these people’s intention, Ashina Yi snorted with a sneer, at either the discretion of the advisors or at his own bad luck. A long moment later, he took a deep breath and threw out an order flag. The advisors were all elated.

“Your Highness is wise.” The advisors kneeled on the floor and chanted. They picked up the flag in a hurry and left the hall. The flag meant retreat. How could these advisors not be happy?

“Your Highness, if we retreat now, the previous effort put in will all be wasted.” After the advisors left, a person wearing a red organza coat came out of the screen. She had a delicate gorgeous face, neither too coquettish nor plain, one that would be remembered by one glance.

Ashina Yi sneered, “But do I have a choice?” A touch of angry frustration flashed in his eyes. It was always the case. His father could never see how hard he had tried, and his good eldest brother could easily erase all his hard work with some words.

Except a fool, everyone could tell what an advantage they were enjoying on the battlefield. This chance of defeating Shenglan, once missed out, would be gone forever.

“I’m wondering if Your Highness ever heard of such a saying.” The woman had exchanting and brightly smiling eyes, which should radiate a chill of conspiracies, “That is, to expand one’s territory, one must pacify one’s own country first. What you have done all the time only aims to gain His Majesty’s approval. Over so long a time, I think, Your Highness should stop thinking in this way.”

Ashina Yi’s expression wasn’t pleasant on hearing the words, but he knew she was right. His eyes were directed to outside the tent, falling on nowhere. Finally, after a long silence, he sighed, “Alright. I’ve given the order already. Let’s just see what else he got.”

Subconsciously, his hand slipped into the pocket where the grasshopper was in, and his fingers gently stroked on it, as though seeking to get some warmth from the little thing. He didn’t want to leave just because he wished to see that person talking lively in front of him.

However, now, even he himself was losing the position in his own country, so how was it possible for him to give that person a peaceful life? Thinking of this, he looked determined. It was fine to retreat, but after returning to court, he would let the entire capital know that the world was supposed to belong to him.

The news of the Turks’ retreat was soon spread to Shenglan barracks, but most people doubted it. Many generals were convinced that this was a trap of the Turks and insisted on not retreating in case that the Turks might catch them off guard.

Yuxing Tianrui planned to catch the person during these days, so naturally he agreed with the generals and requested to the court that they stationed here for another half a month before going back.

The news of Ashina Yi’s retreat gave Shan Zhongli both panic and joy. He panicked because the cooperation between them actually ended before it ever started, and he was happy that Yuxing Tianrui couldn’t charge him of treason and that Du Chuxuan’s criticism against him wasn’t enough to put him into prison.

He felt Heaven was doing him a favor, so naturally he no longer cared to pay attention to Mister whom he had been regarded as the last life-saving straw. To him, the man, though useful, was merely one of his advisors. With money and power, he would have new advisors. Yet, over this battle, he felt this person was no longer useful.

The man had no idea that Shan Zhongli had decided to abandon him and was happy at the thought that as long as they could return to the capital, this thing was over. Since it was the Turks who retreated first, so Yuxing Tianrui, returning with a triumph, wouldn’t droop down to specially give him a bad time.

Unfortunately, the dreams of the two men would finally turn out to be void. When the night came, and the noiseless barracks were on a sudden disturbance, Shan Zhongli, half-asleep, felt a sudden wave of faster heartbeat, and a bad feeling began to take shape in his mind.

Du Chuxuan raised his eyebrows. After so long, he almost came to believe that this person wouldn’t come again. Surprisingly, he showed up at this time, very likely because Shan Zhongli was cut off the means to send him messages after he had been grounded.

“Assassin!” Someone shouted, putting the entire barracks in restlessness. Judging from the sound, the person seemed not dash to Yuxing Tianrui but to the edge of the barracks.

When Dongxiang heard the warning shout, he sprang up and went to stand guard at the door of Du Chuxuan’s tent. Although they were at a safe position and there were Yuxing Tianrui’s guards on duty, he still worried about Her Highness’s safety.

He was about to get in to check Du Chuxuan, when the door curtain was lifted up. Dongxiang knew who it was without guess.

“Why do you come out, Your Highness?” Taking up a fur cloak and carefully put it over Du Chuxuan’s shoulders, Dongxiang led the way in front with a lantern. He knew that Du Chuxuan would absolutely come out to see the identity of the assassin.

Du Chuxuan wasn’t late. When he arrived, there were already layers of people surrounding the scene. In the middle of the circle, a man was pressed against the ground, motionless, with a saber on his neck. Yuxing Tianrui and a group of guards came up slowly.

“Your Highness, this is the assassin we caught just now. It seemed he was going to save the son of Duke Ningyuan and his follower.” Seeing Yuxing Tianrui and Du Chuxuan, Aer got on one knee and reported.

Hearing the words, the man kneeling on the ground took a grudging glance at Yuxing Tianrui. Everything was so clear. The man came to rescue Shan Zhongli, a fact that everyone had already known. Failure was failure. He found there was no need to say more.

Du Chuxuan wasn’t in a hurry to interrogate him. In two or three steps, he walked to the man and began to grope his chest pocket. Yuxing Tianrui’s eyelids leaped in anger, and there were gasps of shock from the soldiers around. Only then did he finally remember that he was the Crown Princess.

Shaking his hands carelessly, he demonstrated to everyone the token he had just found, “I didn’t expect the son of Duke Ningyuan was so well-informed that he was actually on a friendly term with Wulin people.”