Chapter 75

As midnight approached, a light drizzle began to fall, gradually turning into a heavy rain.

In the pavilion at the southern outskirts of Daliang, the loyal Shen Yu and seven other clan guards stood in a row on the upwind side, their backs to the stone table where Prince Zhao Hongrun and Princess Yulong sat, shielding them from the cold night wind with their bodies.

"It's raining?"

Princess Yulong, her beautiful eyes half-closed with a drowsy look, gazed at the rain curtain outside the pavilion, as if talking to herself or asking Zhao Hongrun, "When did it start raining?"

"Who knows?" Zhao Hongrun smiled slightly.

Princess Yulong tilted her head and looked outside the pavilion for a while before suddenly asking, "Is it midnight yet?"

"It's already past." Zhao Hongrun whispered, subtly pushing the wine jar on the stone table away, causing Princess Yulong's hand to grasp at empty air.

"What are you doing, Hongrun?" she called out, somewhat angrily.

"Enough." Zhao Hongrun said softly, "Sister, you've had enough to drink."

Though his tone was light, it brooked no argument.

Initially, the wine he had prepared in the carriage was a fruit wine that could be consumed like a beverage. However, the clan guards later bought warm huangjiu (rice wine) from a roadside inn. Although it had a low alcohol content and a sweet taste, it had a strong aftereffect. One might not feel it while drinking, but after a while, it would make one drowsy, and even vomiting wouldn't help to sober up.

During the wait for He Xinian, Zhao Hongrun and Princess Yulong not only finished the fruit wine he had prepared but also drank two jars of the huangjiu bought by the clan guards, leaving the guards with no wine to drink, which was quite awkward.

"How much?" Princess Yulong, her eyes filled with drowsiness, looked at Zhao Hongrun, not at all like her usual dignified self. She pointed at Zhao Hongrun and giggled, "You're my younger brother, younger than me, but your tone... uh... is like scolding a younger sister... Hey, Hongrun, I'm... your elder sister, you should listen... listen to me, give me that jar."

Seeing her drunken state, Zhao Hongrun frowned but remained unmoved.

"Give it to me." Seeing Zhao Hongrun not moving, Princess Yulong stood up angrily, her left hand on the stone table, her right hand reaching for the wine jar in his hand.

Seeing her like this, Zhao Hongrun became angry and threw the wine jar on the ground with a loud crash.

"Clang"

The wine jar shattered, and the huangjiu spilled everywhere.

Princess Yulong, who had never seen her usually gentle younger brother angry, looked at Zhao Hongrun with a mix of fear and disbelief.

Realizing his loss of composure, Zhao Hongrun saw her swaying and instinctively reached out to support her.

However, Princess Yulong raised her hand and slapped Zhao Hongrun's hand away, stumbling towards the rain outside the pavilion.

"Where are you going?"

Zhao Hongrun was startled and quickly pulled her back by her sleeve, dragging her out of the rain.

Princess Yulong, clearly drunk, could barely stand. When Zhao Hongrun pulled her, she fell into his arms.

"Let go, I want to ask him why he lied to me... He promised, but he broke it... Hmph, ha ha... He sounded so sincere back then... How foolish of me to have hope... Now, thinking back, would he really leave his family to take me away?..."

"Sister, you're drunk." Zhao Hongrun steadied her.

"I'm not drunk, quite the opposite, I'm very clear-headed... I really hate being born in the palace, I hate being a princess... I hate having a mother who abandoned her husband and daughter, and I hate having a father who never treated me like a daughter... Besides the worthless title of princess, what do I have?... I have nothing, yet I must still accept the fate of a princess, as a sacrifice for a political marriage..."

Seeing her self-pitying state, Zhao Hongrun felt a pang of sympathy and couldn't help but console her, "Sister, you still have me, your younger brother."

Princess Yulong paused, looked up, and said with a complex expression, "I hate you too, Hongrun."

"What? Hate me?" Zhao Hongrun asked, incredulous.

Princess Yulong laughed bitterly and murmured, "Shouldn't I hate you?... On the Dragon Boat Festival, I was sitting by the pond, resigned to the unfair fate imposed on me, but you appeared, secretly taking me out of the palace to experience the outside world... You opened the prison of the palace and set me free, even though I had already resigned myself..."

"..." Zhao Hongrun opened his mouth but had no words to say.

"Why did you take me to the Elegant Wind Poetry Gathering? Why did you deliver his letter?... Why did you give me the illusion that I could stay in Daliang, at least in the capital where I was born and raised, instead of being married off to a neighboring country thousands of miles away?"

"..."

Zhao Hongrun remained silent.

He remembered that when he took Princess Yulong to the Elegant Wind Poetry Gathering hosted by his sixth elder brother Hongzhao, he hadn't expected He Xinian to fall in love with her, and Princess Yulong didn't dislike He Xinian, a handsome and talented young scholar.

Why did Zhao Hongrun hesitate so long when He Xinian asked him to deliver the letter to Princess Yulong?

Because he knew that Princess Yulong had been confined in the palace since childhood and had little contact with the outside world. Whether it was He Xinian, Li Xinian, or Zhang Xinian, any of them who maintained a correspondence with Princess Yulong for a certain period would gradually make her fall in love. After all, she was just a naive fifteen-year-old girl, in the prime of her youth, and anyone who invested time and effort could win her heart.

But Zhao Hongrun couldn't do that, because Princess Yulong was his half-sister.

So, Zhao Hongrun ultimately chose He Xinian, thinking that this young scholar with a sense of righteousness would be an ideal husband for Princess Yulong. However, it turned out that his choice was wrong.

Perhaps in this era, no one except Zhao Hongrun valued emotions so much.

Relying on others is indeed not a good strategy...

Zhao Hongrun sighed inwardly, realizing that his thoughts were too idealistic.

"I'm sorry." Zhao Hongrun apologized to Princess Yulong.

"No..." She said one word, then her face showed pain, "Hongrun, my head hurts, it's getting worse... I feel dizzy..."

Zhao Hongrun knew it was the aftereffect of the wine. Seeing her discomfort, he scolded her gently, "I told you to drink less... Should we rest in the carriage?"

"Don't move, don't move... I feel dizzy..." Princess Yulong shook her head, feeling the world spin and a strong urge to vomit, which she barely suppressed.

She placed her hands on Zhao Hongrun's shoulders, swaying left and right, as if she might fall at any moment.

Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun didn't dare to move.

After a while, Princess Yulong seemed to feel better, looking at Zhao Hongrun dizzily and continuing what she wanted to say, "Hongrun, you don't need to apologize to me, it's my fault... I've been complaining... I understand, Hongrun, your kindness to me..."

As she spoke, she leaned closer to Zhao Hongrun, her right hand gently caressing his face, and whispered, "From the beginning, you've always been by my side... Sometimes I think, if you... or I, weren't born in the palace... that would be better... But then, you probably wouldn't have come to comfort me, huh? Ha..."

As she spoke, she didn't know what came over her and lightly kissed Zhao Hongrun on the lips.

...

Zhao Hongrun was stunned, feeling the warmth on his lips.

He opened his eyes wide, momentarily lost in thought.

At that moment, the warmth on his lips disappeared, and he saw Princess Yulong's hands on his shoulders, her head lowered, and she vomited all over him.

...

Zhao Hongrun opened his mouth, not knowing what to say, and instinctively patted her back.

"Hongrun, my head is so dizzy... I feel so bad..."

"Support... support the princess to the carriage to rest." Zhao Hongrun instructed the clan guards, his face expressionless.

The clan guards quickly brought the carriage over, helped Princess Yulong onto it, and made her lie down, covering her with a blanket.

During this time, Zhao Hongrun lightly touched his lips, then looked down at the mess on his clothes and sighed.

"I told you to drink less, now you've ruined my clothes..."

At this moment, Shen Yu got off the carriage and said to Zhao Hongrun, "Your Highness, the princess is asleep. Should we prepare some tea to sober her up? Otherwise, she might have a terrible headache when she wakes up tomorrow..."

The other clan guards nodded in agreement. They were often drunk and knew very well the effects of a hangover.

"Let's wait until the rain stops... Come over and have a drink with me, you didn't get much chance to drink earlier, right?"

The clan guards laughed and gathered around the stone table, knowing their prince's drinking capacity.

"Your Highness, He Xinian didn't show up... What should we do with Princess Yulong?"

"What else can we do?" Zhao Hongrun drank a cup of wine and said seriously, "The only option now is to be honest with Father... No matter what, I won't let Sister marry into Chu."

"What if the Emperor confines you to the palace?" Shen Yu asked hesitantly.

"Then we'll hide Sister... If Father can't find her, there's no need to confine me. The problem is the Chu envoy's entourage; I need to find a way to make them leave on their own..."

Zhao Hongrun muttered to himself, pondering the situation.

In fact, he didn't need to worry about the Chu envoy's entourage because in two days, Daliang would receive news.

The Chu envoy's entourage and the Wei soldiers escorting them from Fenxiong Pass had been ambushed and killed near Yongqiu.

Nearly two hundred people, none survived.

PS: "My Wife is the Supreme General" is back? This is... bizarre. Did my book violate any rules? I don't think so? I wonder if a lot of romance writers will be affected.

...

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