Ye Shuiyao’s reaction overturned the answer in Ye Nu’s mind and it made him slightly tremble. He found out that his care and understanding towards her had been too shallow these past few years. But he could not to dwell on this subject for too long, he could only treat her as nothing. Whatever he had witnessed were just his imagination so that the guilt in his heart would be lessened and he would easily make her agree.
Ye Nu nodded his head, finally forcing himself to speak of the main topic, “Grandpa has something to tell you today.” He looked at Ye Shuiyao, then calmly said, “Right now, when people of Heavenly Star Continent mentions our Ye Family, they would exclaim in admiration of our bravery and loyalty. Only a few people know that a hundred years ago, our Ye Family was originally a group of bandits. Later on, when my grandfather’s grandfather had encountered a great catastrophe, he incidentally met Emperor Wenzheng and his whole family had been rescued by Emperor Wenzheng. Although he was a bandit, he was an affectionate and true person, when he was rescued, he made a vow of loyalty and devotion to Emperor Wenzheng that all his life he would be loyal to the Long Family… The current Ye Family was developed starting from that time. He told his next generation that if it wasn’t for the Long Family, he might have already died a long time ago, and the Ye Family would have lost it’s bloodline. Our Ye Family must always remember such great favor and forever protect the Long Family and Tian Long Nation.”
“My grandfather’s grandfather is right. If it wasn’t for the Long Family, he would have died and I wouldn’t have existed. You and Chen-er wouldn’t have existed. What the Ye Family has today, although it was accumulated through several generations, without any exaggeration, all of these were bestowed upon us by the Long Family. So, no matter what generation of the Ye Family, we shouldn’t forget our loyalty. As for resisting the enemies outside, the men of our Ye Family will always be dauntless and fearlessly clash ahead in the battlefield, building a very strong line of defense. The women in our Ye Family were similarly equal with men in terms of ability and bravery… Every one of them has been recorded in the history book of Tian Long, prolonging the glory of our Ye Family.
Ye Shuiyao silently listened, seventy percent of her heart was bewildered, the thirty percent was worried.
“Twenty years ago, the Gale Nation invaded us, desiring to acquire our Tian Long Nation. Your father and I had gone to the battlefield together and there, we completely forget our life and death. During those years the battles were vastly different, each one of them was extremely challenging, but fortunately the heavens care for our Tian Long Nation. Every time we were in extreme danger, there will be always be some unexpected miracles. Finally, we won and the Gale Nation had no choice but to retreat. The expedition that was carried on for a year had severely exhausted the Gale Nation, and deteriorated our Tian Long Nation, even now, we have not completely recovered. But the Gale Nation… They recovered almost ten years ago. In their defeat, the Gale Nation didn’t become agitated, instead they waited for fortunate timing, for a very suitable opportunity…”
Ye Nu heaved out a long sigh, in a deep voice he said, “And that great opportunity is now.”
“......”
“The Kui Shui Nation, which originally allied with Tian Long Nation and Cang Lan Nation to keep the Gale Nation at bay had unexpectedly became an ally of the Gale Nation without any prior indication. Although this information hasn’t been completely verified, it is most likely true. If it is true, then its presents unfavorable factors to our Tian Long, as only with all three could we make keep the Gale Nation at an impasse. Losing Kui Shui is similar to the collapse of a half of Tian Long Nation’s line of defense. We have just received this information moments ago, having been caught unprepared we simply couldn’t think of any plans in response to this. If we are to start the war now, our Tian Long will certainly fall into a dangerous situation which had never happened before in a few hundred years. Our chance of victory is very little… In the end, even if we are able to withstand it, the price will be extremely tragic. At that time, they might already be making their invasion inside the Tian Long Nation, we have no idea how bad they will trample against our Tian Long Nation.”
“What do you want me to do?” Ye Shuiyao interrupted his words as she asked coldly.
Ye Shuiyao was able to figure out the evil desire that the Long Family had planned for the Ye Family. Her intelligence greatly surpassed others, which was the reason why she has always been discouraged and unwilling to get affected by the vulgar world. Having heard Ye Nu’s words, she was able to figure out that Ye Nu must have something that needed her agreement, some major thing she needed to do that her grandfather was too embarrassed to mention.
Facing her gaze, Ye Nu slightly moved his eyes away, subconsciously trying to avoid making direct eye contact. Throughout his life, he had never owed anything to any person, yet now he was destined to owe everything to his granddaughter, someone he had seldom cared about. “And… Fortunately, the heavens still have not forsaken our Tian Long Nation, as we have an opportunity to temporary avoid this major catastrophe… The crucial point of this opportunity is related to you.”
Ye Shuiyao’s body went stiff. In an instant, her hands and feet became ice-cold. An opportunity that was related to a woman who seldom stepped out of her home. Aside from marriage as a peace treaty, what else could it be!?
She remembered the strange man with extraordinary manners she had seen yesterday. Although she had indifferently shot a glance at him, she remembered his expression, feverish, infatuated, and stunned… She had already seen such expressions many times before, as it was also one of the reason why she refused to go out. She knew of her charms, yet she hated all the men who looked at her that way. Aside from Ye Wuchen, as every time he looked at her, he always exposed a different way of being stunned in his admiration. Not only did she not reject him, she enjoyed the sense of being observed by him, perhaps because of those stares, her heart gradually fell into that dangerous abyss.
Ye Nu saw the severe changes in her expressions and knew that she might have already guessed so he continued, “Yesterday, the young man who came to visit was the crown prince of the Gale Nation, Feng Ling. Originally, the reason why he came to visit was to give the written letter of war to us on behalf of his father, but after he saw you yesterday, he changed his mind and directly said that if we betrothed you to him, he would postpone the war for five years… Five years would not only bring five more years of peace and security, but it can also help change the fate of our Tian Long Nation!”
Ye Shuiyao tightly bit her lower lip, her body slightly swayed as she was on the verge of collapsing. She was surely incomparable to other woman. Normally, no matter what kind of family, even the royal family, she would ruthlessly decline them. But this time, she could not afford to decline… One person’s destiny and a nation’s fate, even if she was a thousand times unwilling to accept it, what other option did she have? The Ye Family never suffered being bullied nor humiliated, but now Ye Nu had personally come to convince her to be agreeable to the Gale Nation which she had hated all her life… Not just her, anybody would be left with no other option.
If there had been any other way to turn around the situation, how could Ye Family be willing to abandon their own daughter?
Seeing that she had not coldly refused, Ye Nu felt relieved and said, “Feng Ling has also mentioned that if you were to marry into the Feng Family, he promised to make you his imperial wife. Later on, you might become the Empress of the Gale Nation. He will absolutely not make you suffer. Yao-er… Do you understand grandpa’s idea?”
Ye Shuiyao turned around and approached her desk. She sat down helplessly. Her expression was occasionally in disarray, occasionally bewildered, and occasionally sorrowful… In front of her was surprisingly the half-completed painting of the twin lotus flowers on one stalk. The stalk and leaves were done, vivid and lifelike, yet with only one white lotus flower blossomed, sad and beautiful.
As Ye Nu looked at her delicate figure, he was pained. “Grandpa knows that this will be cruel for you, but we have no other option. Every member of the Ye Family is heroic, willing to strive hard for the sake of the safety of the nation regardless of life and death. You have a cold nature, we had originally planned to let you spend your life peacefully and let you follow your heart’s desires. We refused to let you place yourself in any cruel struggles in life, yet quite unexpectedly, you were still unable to avoid it… Just like our Ye Family’s destiny. This time, your decision relates to the life and death of the entire Tian Long Nation!”
Ye Shuiyao tightly clenched her hands, her lips had turned white due to her biting. How could she not understand Ye Nu’s words? If she did not, even if he was her grandfather, she would have refused. She was not a woman who failed to grasp the big picture, in this kind of situation, her rejection was certainly powerless. If she agreed, she would be able to save the entire nation from the catastrophe. If she refused—provided that she would be able to—she would become somebody condemned by history. People would despise her, nobody would ever forgive her, even the Ye Family would be humiliated because of her. In this world, selfish people would always be greater in number. They only considered their own safety and would neglect the painful option Ye Shuiyao had to make in marrying someone from the Gale Nation. Ye Shuiyao was not a holy woman, but just a normal woman with her own selfish desires, yet she could not attain something open-hearted like that Princess Zhaojun who left her home country.
[note: tl;dr, she was really pretty, sent to a foreign land to marry, and had a happily ever after.]
Every minute and every second that went by, the silence was terribly scary, and only the sound of two hearts beating in different rhythms could be heard. Waiting for a very long time, Ye Nu did not hear a response from Ye Shuiyao, who only quietly sat there with a lifeless look in her eyes, as if her soul was out of her body.
“You are a child of Ye Family, if you agree, our Ye Family will be proud of you. If you firmly reject, no one will ever force you, you don’t have to force yourself as well.” Ye Nu finally spoke again. He was worried that based on her nature, if she would took it too hard and decided on an extreme end, nothing could be redeemed then.
He turned around and headed out with heavy steps. Ye Shuiyao was still as quiet as ever with her back facing Ye Nu, but her face was already covered with tears.
“I agree…”
Ye Nu was about to leave the room and was pushing the door open when beside his ears echoed Ye Shuiyao’s trembling voice which was almost hard to hear. He halted his steps, slightly nodded his head, the slowly walked out. Silently closing the door, his eyes were already slightly wet.
Ye Shuiyao eventually leaned on her desk, her shoulders violently trembled. The paintings piled up on the desk were wet with tears. She shut herself off for so many years because she was worried about the destiny of the Ye Family, but she also refused to be involved in the political disputes that disgusted her. She did not expect that in the end, she would still become a sacrificial lamb. If Ye Wuchen had not returned to the Ye Family, she would have still agreed, but she would not cry in the ice-cold silence and would have just waited for her destiny to arrive. But now, this was the first time in her life to cry so mournfully and emotionally unrestrained. For her to agree so fast was also a kind of escape. Perhaps to forever depart from Ye Family, depart from Tian Long Nation, so that she might be able to completely forget this feeling which should never have existed so that she would not ruin Ye Wuchen’s life.
When Ye Nu went over to persuade Ye Shuiyao, Ye Wei went over to convince Wang Wenshu. Women were more emotional and more meticulous than men. Their hearts were not as lenient as men, but Wang Wenshu was no ordinary woman. When Ye Wei told her everything, she stared blankly for a while, then very emotionally she wanted Ye Wei to absolutely not agree, but Ye Wei simply responded with, “Although Yao-er wouldn’t be able to come back to Ye Family anymore, Tian Long Nation will forever remember her name if she is married off to the Gale Nation. If she won’t marry to the Gale Nation, she will suffer from being despised by people and the Ye Family will also be denounced by the people. If Tian Long Nation is invaded, not only will she be married off, but instead she will be snatched off.”
Wang Wenshu could only cover her face and cry out painfully. She could no longer advise against it.
Translated by:
Fatty_Uncle
Edited by:
seriouspotato patrick_father_of_dragons
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