Chapter 1987
Not a Noble Consort 8
The clouds yearn for her garments, the flowers for her face; the spring breeze caresses the balustrade, heavy with dew. If not seen atop Mount Qunyu, she will surely be met beneath the moon on the Jade Terrace.
Upon seeing the poem, Huai Ning was overjoyed, and Dongfang Zeng also praised it repeatedly.
Dongfang Zeng: "The poem is well written, but Aning is not worthy of it."
Huai Ning glared at Dongfang Zeng: "How am I unworthy of this poem? I complement this poem perfectly."
Huaining carefully put away the paper with the poem written on it, deciding that after returning to the palace, she would have the poem rewritten and hung on the wall of her bedroom.
She originally intended to frame the original manuscript, but Duanmu Ying's handwriting was simply...
Duanmu Ying: It's already quite impressive that a modern person like me can write calligraphy like this.
"Second brother, third brother."
When Dongfang Zeng and the other two turned around, they saw Nangong Fan walking towards them with a smile.
Huai Ning's eyes lit up.
Is this man her fiancé? He's so handsome, almost as good-looking as her brother.
Nangong Fan frowned when he saw Huaining.
He already knew Dongfang Zeng's identity, and thus knew that the woman in front of him must be his fiancée.
However, he liked Duanmu Ying and did not want to fulfill the marriage agreement.
He knew what the royal family was planning: to use the princess to stop the three kings' rebellion, but it was to no avail.
The three families have been preparing for decades, and the arrow is already on the bowstring.
Duanmu Ying was not only the woman he liked, but also very intelligent, often coming up with novel ideas from which he benefited.
Marrying Duanmu Ying would definitely bring him a lot of benefits.
Nangong Fan put aside his thoughts and chatted with the two of them with a smile.
Dongfang Zeng probably doesn't know his identity yet, so he continues to pretend to be a snake with him.
Huai Ning moved closer to Nangong Fan and said with a smile, "Hello, my name is Fang Ning, and I'm your second brother's sister."
Nangong Fan pretended not to know that the woman in front of him was his fiancée: "Hello, my name is Gong Fan. You can call me Big Brother, just like Second Brother does."
"Brother Fan," Huaining called out with a smile.
Nangong Fan narrowed his eyes and accepted the title.
Duanmu Ying felt uncomfortable hearing this.
How could Nangong Fan allow another woman to call her so intimately?
Men are indeed untrustworthy; they fall for any pretty woman they see.
Although Duanmu Ying had already decided to choose Dongfang Zeng, she still selfishly wanted Nangong Fan to continue loving her.
Nangong Fan was unaware that his failure to refuse her caused Duanmu Ying to completely withdraw her affection for him.
While the four of them were entangled in their own affairs, Liu Dong and Liu Qingya left the capital under the pretext of praying for blessings.
This time, they weren't just leisurely sightseeing; they were traveling with a specific purpose.
The remnants of the previous dynasty left behind a treasure map, but no one can decipher it.
Liu Dong discovered the secret of the treasure map: it was made of two layers of paper pasted together.
Liu Dong separated the two layers and put them back together, which created a detailed map, revealing the location of the treasure.
Liu Dong and Liu Qingya's trip this time was to find the treasure.
If you're going to rebel, you need to raise an army.
Maintaining an army requires money.
Liu Tong had many ideas for making money, but they all seemed to be related to time travelers.
Liu Tong didn't want to get involved with time travelers and rejected those money-making ideas.
Therefore, the treasure became what they wanted most.
Liu Dong and Liu Qingya led their people into the deep mountains and discovered an underground palace.
The underground palace was riddled with traps, but thanks to the treasure maps, they avoided them and dismantled them all. They entered the palace smoothly and found the treasures left behind by the previous dynasty.
Before the capital was captured in the previous life, the last emperor transported all the gold and silver treasures from the national treasury and his private treasury to this place and hid them.
When the founding emperor of the dynasty stormed into the palace, he found only rat remains in the emperor's private treasury, which enraged him so much that he almost burned down the entire palace.
How much wealth was in the national treasury and the emperor's private treasury of a dynasty?
Anyway, Liu Dong and his men have enough to support 100,000 soldiers.
What made Liu Dong happiest was that they discovered an iron ore mine near the underground palace.
With iron ore, weapons and armor can be manufactured, and the army's equipment will no longer be a problem.
Liu Dong and Liu Qingya established a base in the deep mountains, had their subordinates recruit soldiers, and "invited" many blacksmiths to the base.
To prevent the blacksmiths from missing their families after being separated for too long, Liu Dong very "kindly" arranged for the blacksmiths' families to be invited to the base as well.
The blacksmiths could only stay at the base and diligently make weapons.
This valley is not far from the capital.
After all, if it's too far away, how can the previous emperor hide his treasures?
Weren't we spotted on the street?
Therefore, Liu Dong and Liu Qingya would take turns coming to the valley each month to inspect the soldiers' training.
The men were quite capable. Actually, the people in this world lived a hard life. As long as they were given a little money to support their families, they would follow the men without hesitation.
Two years later, there are now 50,000 people in the valley.
Liu Dong also turned eighteen and regained her memories.
But whether or not she regains her memories has no effect on Liu Dong.
A lot has happened in the past two years.
The love quadrangle involving Dongfang Zeng, Duanmu Ying, and three others remains unresolved.
The identities of Dongfang Zeng, Nangong Fan, and Duanmu Ying have all been revealed.
Nangong Fan confessed his love to Duanmu Ying, but Duanmu Ying rejected him.
She stated that she likes Dongfang Zeng, regardless of whether Dongfang Zeng is an emperor or an ordinary person.
Dongfang Zeng was deeply moved and wanted to bring Duanmu Ying into the palace.
Duanmu Ying expressed her desire for a lifelong, monogamous relationship.
After some hesitation, Dongfang Zeng said he would do it.
The two became engaged, but the emperor's wedding required a great deal of preparation and time.
Therefore, the couple set their wedding date for two years later.
After Duanmu Ying got engaged, Nangong Fan returned to the southeast in disappointment.
Princess Huaining bravely pursued her love, traveling to the southeast.
No one in the capital knew how the two were doing in the southeast.
The emperor occasionally received letters from Princess Huaining, which were all complaints about Nangong Fan being a fool who did not accept her feelings, and contained no useful information whatsoever.
Over time, the emperor became too lazy to read Princess Huaining's letters carefully.
However, Liu Tong, Liu Qingya, and the other three siblings treated the news from the southeast as gossip and mocked Huai Ning together.
Who told Huaining to make things difficult for the four siblings when they entered the palace, taking advantage of her status as a princess?!
The feud began when they were young.
Besides the four of them, there was another person sitting next to Liu Qingya, listening in.
It was none other than Gong Yi, whom they had once saved.
Gong Yi is indeed Nan Gong Yi.
When his brother climbed over the wall, Nangong Yi almost died at the hands of the men sent by his elder brother.
He was lucky; he was saved by the Liu siblings.
His elder brother, however, was outmaneuvered by the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind, and died at the hands of Nangong Fan.
Nangong Fan emerged as the winner.
After recovering from his injuries, Nangong Yi returned to the southeast, and the situation had settled down. (End of Chapter)