Xie Xuanchen hesitated several times, torn between confessing and remaining silent, but ultimately, he really didn’t know what there was to say. Mu Mingtang was still immersed in the anger of being eavesdropped, so she kept on verbally cursing at the intruders. The more she ranted, the worse Xie Xuanchen’s facial expressions became.
Xie Xuanchen spent the entire night thinking about how to casually tell Mu Mingtang the truth that could also remove himself from being one of the culprits. Xie Xuanchen even thought about claiming that he was threatened to do so, but after imagining the scenario in his head, he didn’t think that it was believable, which meant that Mu Mingtang would be even more doubtful towards the story.
Xie Xuanchen sighed inwardly.
One should not be too careless, it seemed. He was refreshed and had been in high spirits throughout the entire afternoon, but it seemed a moment of carelessness ended him up into a tricky situation.
Xie Xuanchen kept thinking of ways to tell Mu Mingtang the truth about the afternoon while cleaning himself up. He hadn’t made up the plan to frame Ye Luyan and Xie Xuanji when he saw Ye Luyan abruptly standing from the Beirong stands.
At this time, the sound of music in the hall was overwhelming as the Imperial Performance Division had arranged a grand performance. A group of court ladies who donned long sleeves and thin waists danced lightly on the high platform. Ye Luyan enjoyed the music in the background, holding up his wine bottle to toast with the Emperor, “The peace negotiation between Beirong and Ye is a great event and it will definitely affect the overall situation of the world. With this toast, I wish the peace talks between our two countries to go smoothly and I hope the Emperor lives prosperously.”
The Emperor smiled when he heard these words and raised his wine glass in response. Ye Luyan drank a glass of wine in public before he suddenly changed the subject and said, “Us Beirong sincerely want to form an alliance with the Ye Dynasty, but along the way, too many people want to interfere with the overall situation of peace negotiations. Your Majesty, not including the public opinion, at the very least, the courtiers of the Ye Dynasty are advocating this peace negotiation, I assume?”
The Emperor promised, “That is natural; the prince can rest assured about this.”
“That’s good,” Ye Luyan said, “May Beirong and Ye be brothers forever— if the monarchs of the two countries are brothers in name, then there will be peace even until they grow white hairs.”
Ye Luyan publicly proposing the content of the negotiations meant that the prelude to the peace talks would officially begin.
Of course, the real contract would definitely be extremely complicated as it would be filled with many small regulations, but today, both parties must first set the tone. If one country thought of themselves as the superior one and required the other to pay tribute whereas the other wanted to propose equal coexistence and armistice, there would be no need to discuss the treaty.
If the agreement was going to collapse just by verbal discussions, then they might as well conserve that energy. Today, Ye Luyan took the lead in throwing the touchstone, but both sides were testing each other’s attitude and bottom line.
The Emperor raised his spirit slightly and said, “Of course, I would like to form a good relationship with Beirong forever and sit on an equal footing. The younger generation can begin first.”
The Emperor would agree to the first condition Ye Luyan put forward as this point would undoubtedly be the consensus of many. Nowadays, things were different from the past— with the current size of the Ye Dynasty, it was unrealistic to imagine that all of the nations would come to pay tribute whilst the vassal states bowed in submission as they previously once did. Therefore, it was a good thing for both countries if they could negotiate the terms of a peace treaty.
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