Chapter 1138 So, It Was A Secret Crush

　　The Eunuch brought a piece of news to the Zong Sui Empress Chunyu Qing, Da Shun was leading troops towards the eastern border, the General preparing to war with Zong Sui was the Seventh Prince Xuan Tianhua.

　　This shocked Chunyu Qing greatly. Based on the information which the scout sent back earlier, the person leading the soldiers should be the Ninth Prince Xuan Tianming, right? Why was it changed to the Seventh Prince? Even though the Seventh Prince had once headed to the eastern border as a commander, but at that time, the two nations had not started fighting and the border was peaceful, he was only stationed at the large army to supervise their training, there was no need to be deployed to kill the enemy. Why was it so sudden this time?

　　Chunyu Qing was a little frantic, even though Zong Sui’s new Emperor Li Jian did not have much feelings for her, she was still Chunyu An’s daughter. Currently, Li Jian still needed to depend on Chunyu An military power, so for this impending battle, a lot of the soldier deployments were not hidden from her. So she knew, Zong Sui was not fully certain, but they did still have 80% confidence, especially that Duanmu Anguo, it seemed like he had some fallback plans which could help Zong Sui secure the victory, causing Li Jian to be filled with confidence about this.

　　Hearing that Zong Sui felt very certain about obtaining victory should be a good thing, but when Chunyu Qing heard that the person leading troops over from Da Shun was the Seventh Prince Xuan Tianhua, from her point of view, this good thing then turned into a bad thing.

　　Da Shun’s Seventh Prince Xuan Tianhua, gentle as jade, floating like a deity, it was not just the Da Shun’s citizens who heard so much about him, even within the territories of the four subordinate nations, there was no lack of Xuan Tianhua’s fans, especially in this Zong Sui. Because Zong Sui was very similar in topography and climate to Zong Sui, the appearance, demeanour, including the way they speak, was very compatible to Da Shun, this also caused the beauty standards of Zong Sui to come very close to that of Da Shun’s. Xuan Tianhua was very famous in Zong Sui, the bookstores in the various provinces of Zong Sui sold his portrait, many women treated Xuan Tianhua as a target of admiration, secretly asking their maid to buy the portrait, hiding this in their inner bedroom, facing this portrait every day, longing for a day where they could become a deity couple with this deity-like person.

　　Amongst them, this included the Third Miss of the General’s manor when she had not married yet, Chunyu Qing.

　　Chunyu Qing knew about Xuan Tianhua through Yu Qianyin. Talking about when looking at the whole of Zong Sui, the one who liked Xuan Tianhua the most, and also completely switched from a secret crush to an open display of affection and chased him so passionately, it was definitely the Zong Sui princess Li Yue who was named as Yu Qianyin. Chunyu Qing was the daughter of the old General, every time the imperial palace organised a banquet, or when there was a gathering of female friends, she would always encounter Yu Qianyin. Yu Qianyin would always talk about Xuan Tianhua, such that over time, she also strangely felt positive feelings for this person Xuan Tianhua.

　　It was not as if Chunyu Qing had never seen Xuan Tianhua’s portrait before, there were a few cheerful girls in the General’s manor, and they had taken the chance when they went out of the manor to restock supplies to buy Xuan Tianhua’s portrait, she took a few glances out of curiosity. At that time, she only felt that this man was like a deity in a painting, he was handsome, but the feeling of distance was too strong, not resembling a real person. She even bantered with the girls, saying that it was just a thing which the small merchants used to bluff others, it might have just been copied from some deity painting, how could there be someone who looked like this in the world.

　　But afterwards, Yu Qianyin went after Xuan Tianhua until she went to Da Shun, and came back covered in injuries, locked in the imperial palace by the previous Emperor and not allowed to go out. But the skills of Yu Qianyin in making skin were not an exaggeration. In order to stave off the thoughts in her mind, when she was recovering from her injuries in the imperial palace, she actually made a Xuan Tianhua human skin mask, and even looked for a servant to was said to be around Xuan Tianhua’s height to wear it all day, only for the sake of satisfying her eyes.

　　After seeing that palace servant who was wearing that mask, Chunyu Qing started having a secret crush on Xuan Tianhua. She thought emotionally at that time, so there was really someone that deity-like in the world, and since then, she was no longer able to put down that person who, she had never seen before.

　　A human skin mask entranced Chunyu Qing until she was head over heels, but Yu Qianyin was not satisfied with that mask she made, she told Chunyu Qing, the mask did not look like him, she was unable to create the romantic charm of Da Shun’s Seventh Prince at all, not even achieving 10% of it!

　　Then, Xuan Tianhua headed to Da Shun’s eastern border to supervise the military camp, that was the time Imperial Concubine Yun followed him out. Chunyu Qing heard about it, and secretly sneaked out from the General’s manor, crossing the border between two countries, infiltrating into the city of Fu province. It was that time when she finally saw Xuan Tianhua’s actual appearance, and from this, the roots of her emotions grew deeper and she was unable to pull herself out.

　　However, a person whom even a Zong Sui princess could not obtain, how can a General’s daughter like her hope to obtain him? Chunyu Qing knew that this secret crush was not going to be fulfilled in the end, crying bitterly in secret.

　　When she secretly left that time, the old General Chunyu found out and punished her by having her kneel in the manor’s Buddhist hall for one day and one night. After that, she married the Second Prince Li Jian, so for such thoughts in her heart, she had to bury them deeply, not allowing anyone to know this. It was such that even the personal maid who knew about it was secretly executed by the old General to help Chunyu Qing keep this secret.

　　Chunyu Qing thought about the past, it was as if the days when she admired Xuan Tianhua in the General’s manor was just yesterday. At that time, Zong Sui and Da Shun were still stable, the interactions between the two countries were also rare, everything was so good. But in the blink of an eye, the situation changed, the previous Emperor of Zong Sui passed away, her husband Li Jian ascended the throne, turning against Da Shun just like that. Currently, that Seventh Prince Xuan Tianhua even lead troops out for a conquest. Chunyu Qing’s heart was chaotic, she even imagined a scene of Xuan Tianhua dying in this battle.

　　Seeing that the Empress was stunned on the spot after the Eunuch said some words in her ear, the personal palace maid next to her did not understand, and called out to her softly: “Your Highness, Your Highness, what is wrong?”

　　Chunyu Qing quickly came to her senses, growing apprehensive. Li Jian was prone to suspicion, even many of his own people were arranged around her, including these personal servants next to her, she did not know which of them were normal palace maids and Eunuchs and which of them were people under Li Jian.

　　She glanced at the palace maid who called out for her and then glanced that the Eunuch who delivered the message, thinking for a while, then saying: “It is nothing, This One is only thinking, as a person, one cannot be too narrow minded. Even though the new people entering the palace would certainly share the favour with me, but This One is the Empress of the central palace and should not only think about myself and consider the big picture. The selection is for the Emperor to reproduce children, this is for the good of our Zong Sui. For the sisters in the imperial family, there should be more of them so that it would be lively. For this matter, just let Imperial Concubine Wu decide on her own! Just tell her, do not be too strict in selecting people. Currently the various courtyards are empty, if they can be filled up, then just fill them up! The first to produce dragon children, This One will reward them greatly.”

　　Her Highness the Empress had thought it through, the servants also breathed a sigh of relief, quickly receiving the book of names from her, and someone else went to pass the Empress’ words to Imperial Concubine Wu. It was just that personal palace maid next to her felt that her own master was acting rather abnormally just now. It was clear that the Eunuch reported something to cause the Empress to be silent for so long, and before that the Empress even asked “How can it be”. What was going on? She looked at that Eunuch, that Eunuch lowered his head and stared at the top of his shoes, not meeting her gaze.

　　The book of names was quickly delivered to Imperial Concubine Wu, and at the same time, the words of the Empress Chunyu Ling were delivered without any modifications.

　　After Imperial Concubine Wu heard it, she laughed suddenly, speaking to her personal maid as she laughed: “This One did not mishear it, right? The Empress is that generous? She said that it would be better if there were more sisters in the imperial harem? Saying that it would be better with more imperial children? Such a joke! Pretending to be a good person but inside, she was probably really angry, right? Hmph! She is that kind of person, she would obviously be jealous, but insists on keeping her image, so fake.”

　　For words like this, the servants could only listen, no one dared to speak. But Imperial Concubine Wu was still angry, not feeling satisfied after saying these. After carefully pondering the words delivered by the person who came, she said: “What did she say? The first to give birth to dragon children will be rewarded? Reward with what? It’s a bowl of miscarriage tonic, right! Hahahaha!” She was laughing, but her face was so twisted that it was almost distorted, “Fake! Disgusting! How can the Chunyu family allow dragon children to live? How can the Chunyu family allow other children to be born before Chunyu Qing did so! Forget about princes, even daughters are no good! No good at all!”

　　The emotions of Imperial Concubine Wu seemed to have lost control, her body trembling. A palace maid quickly supported her from the side, giving a look to the person who delivered the message at the same time and saying: “My Highness has remembered the words of Her Highness the Empress, Mister Eunuch, you can return! My Highness is feeling unwell and she is speaking nonsense, when Mister Eunuch returns, do not repeat these unintentional words to Her Highness the Empress.” As she spoke, over at that side, a palace servant next to Imperial Concubine Wu had already stuffed a large piece of silver into the hands of that Eunuch. When the Eunuch delivering the message received the silver, he nodded happily, and after promising that he would definitely not speak carelessly, he left this place quickly.

　　Imperial Concubine Wu was still immersed in anger, she covered her stomach with one hand, mumbling: “My child half a year ago, the physician said it was only a girl, I had thought a girl was good, not inviting jealously from anyone, able to live well until she grew into an adult. But Chunyu Qing would not even spare a girl! I had that child for seven months, she already developed a human form, but she still died to her hands, my child, my poor child!”

　　Imperial Concubine Wu slumped over the table, involuntarily crying in a bitter manner, the servants next to her advised her in a soft voice helplessly, but they also knew that whatever advise was all useless, they could only allow Imperial Concubine Wu properly, it would only stop after she cried until she was satisfied. This was not the first time this situation happened, ever since half a year ago when Imperial Concubine Wu lost her child, that scene would repeat itself regularly, the palace servants were already used to it.

　　It was just that no one was able to understand the pain in Imperial Concubine Wu’s heart, she hated Chunyu Qing, hated her until she wanted to strangle the other party in her dreams. But she could not! At that time, Li Jian was close to snatching the throne, she could not be on bad relations with the Chunyu family, so she could only abandon her own child. When Li Jian clearly knew that Chunyu Qing was involved in this, he did not lecture Chunyu Qing at all, even helping Chunyu Qing find a reason to wash away her sin, only having a young girl take the blame.

　　Currently, Li Jian still needed to depend on the power of the Chunyu family to stablise his throne, it was not known when she could get revenge for the grudge of losing her child.

　　Imperial Concubine Wu cried for a period of time, finally recovering, a Eunuch who was outside entered, approaching and bowing to her, then saying: “Your Highness, the person we planted at Her Highness the Empress’ side came to report, saying that when Her Highness the Empress was looking at the book of the names of the candidates, her mood was low, her palace maid even advised her to be more open-minded. But after that, after hearing a secret report from a Eunuch later, she suddenly changed her tone, but the reason is unknown.”

　　“Oh?” Imperial Concubine Wu became spirited, instructing immediately, “Go investigate! This One must know what that Eunuch said in the secret report.”