Chapter 721: The Foremost Great Clan

The family reunion inside the tea shed did not last long.

Soon afterward...

Li Liangting and his Princess Consort boarded one carriage.

Li Qian and Li Fei, the sister and brother, boarded another.

Inside the carriage...

"Ah, meat pies. Wife, truly, after eating all that rich fish and meat in the capital, I really do miss your meat pies."

Li Liangting picked up one and took a large bite.

There was not actually much meat inside.

More of it was chopped scallion and various seasonings.

The outside had been baked crisp and fragrant.

One bite... and ah.

Now that was satisfying.

Li Liangting chewed his pie.

Then turned toward his wife.

And froze.

Tears were running down the Princess Consort's face.

"This... Wife... you... sigh."

Li Liangting lowered his head and quietly kept eating.

"Li Liangting, you beast! Beast! Beast!"

The Princess Consort practically ground the words between her teeth.

Husband and wife were still husband and wife.

Their relationship was different from the diluted affection of a man with three wives and four concubines.

Li Liangting and his Princess Consort... were a genuine married couple.

So Li Liangting himself understood perfectly well.

There were some things he simply could not hide from her.

Besides... she had always been extraordinarily intelligent.

"Wife, about this..."

"You old beast. If Qian'er weren't so strong by nature, what other woman could go through what she did and still possess the courage to keep living? Fine. Fine! You old beast! After ruining your daughter, now you turn around and start ruining your son!"

"Wife, listen to me..."

"Listen to what? What am I supposed to listen to? Wujing came. What did Wujing come here for? Did he come to visit our house as a guest? Tell me! Aren't you good at talking? Then tell me! Tian Wujing, the Prince of Jingnan, came all the way to my Beifeng Commandery. What is he here to do?"

The Princess Consort knew perfectly well.

There could be only one reason for the Prince of Jingnan to come to Beifeng Commandery.

War.

And looking across all the lands around Prince Zhenbei Residence, what enemy could possibly warrant this level of attention except the Barbarians?

More than that... who except the Barbarian Royal Court?

Then there was the Golden Tent Grand Assembly currently causing a sensation across the desert, known practically to everyone.

Put the pieces together... and the target of the two Princes secretly returning to Beifeng Commandery was obvious.

Send their son.

Send the Heir of Prince Zhenbei Residence to "offer congratulations"?

What sort of congratulations was that?

What kind of damned congratulations could it possibly be?

They were plainly using the Heir... using their own son... as a calming pill for that old Barbarian and his little Barbarian heir.

To reassure them.

To numb them.

"You old beast. Even Barbarians starving to death in the desert would not use their own newborn babies as bait to lure prey. Your heart... is even more vicious than theirs! I truly was blind back then. If I had known you were this kind of man, on our wedding day I should have taken a pair of scissors and stabbed myself to death first!"

Li Liangting kept his head lowered.

He chewed his meat pie with unnecessary force.

Before outsiders... he was the awe-inspiring heir to a military house that had stood for a century.

At home... he was, in truth, somewhat afraid of his wife.

Just look at Li Qian's temperament and the answer was obvious.

Most strong-willed women... had mothers who were just as strong.

"Li Liangting, why are you sending your son? Why don't you send me to the Royal Court instead? Wouldn't my identity be even more convincing than this son whom outsiders may still not be sure is real? If that old Barbarian King saw me, wouldn't he become even more complacent? Exactly. Send me. Send your wife. Go on. Send me!"

"Enough!"

Li Liangting abruptly raised his head and glared at his Princess Consort.

The Princess Consort did not retreat in the slightest.

Prince Zhenbei's anger and roar... meant less than a fart to her.

Li Liangting drew in a deep breath.

Then let it out slowly, his body faintly trembling.

At last... he put down the meat pie in his hand.

Ignoring the grease on his fingers, he scrubbed both palms hard across his face.

"Wife. Wife. Then tell me what I'm supposed to do. Tell me what I'm supposed to do! Wujing wiped out his own entire clan. You know that. Brother Hao forced the two women he loved most to death. His own son too. Do you know what he looked like when I saw him in the capital this time? Brother Hao was thin as a sheet of paper. He soaked himself in a bathing tub while Wujing forced the pill toxins out of him, and what came out was all silver-black filth. Do you know how he survived this past year? I can even guess that once he decides the national heir next, he'll be even more ruthless. Ruthless toward himself. Ruthless toward his own sons. His Majesty was the elder brother, and he became like that. Wujing is the younger brother, and he became like that. And me? Apart from once taking an injury for His Majesty and ruining my cultivation... what the hell have I ever sacrificed?"

"They become beasts, so you have to become a beast too?"

"Bullshit! Who told you damned woman to bring the boy back? That matron was one of your people. You should've had her keep our son in that village and let him live out his days there. Wouldn't that have been better? Why bring him back? What can he do after coming back? If he came back, then he has to do something! My son, Li Liangting's son, counts as a son... but everyone else's sons don't?"

"So you won't be satisfied unless you send your own son over there to die? Wujing has gone mad. His Majesty went mad. And now even you... you want to go mad with them too, is that it? What crime did he ever commit? Just because he's your son, he has to complete your conscience for you as his father?"

"Conscience? What guilt do I have?"

Li Liangting hammered one fist against his own chest and looked at his wife.

"Shulan, when I married you all those years ago, I told you with my own mouth: my surname is Li. The sons of my Li Clan have guarded the desert for Great Yan for a hundred years. If you take the surname Li, then you should already be prepared to die fighting the Barbarians in the desert. If you're afraid I'll die in battle, then don't marry me. It was you, Shulan. You were the one who said a good man ought to defend his home and state, ought to display his ability upon the battlefield! Your son. My son. Yes! One of his legs is crippled! But this useless old man has never once thought that one crippled leg amounted to anything! I only know one thing. His surname is Li! When our ancestor was first enfeoffed as Marquis Zhenbei, he made one promise to the Emperor of Yan of that generation. From that day forward, if the Barbarians dared advance east, the sons of the Ji Clan would be second to die. The first to die would be those surnamed Li. Only after every last Li was dead would it be the Ji Clan's turn! Shulan. You have resentment in your heart. I understand. I know. You can hit me, curse me, do whatever you want to me. But your son, if he is going to be the Heir of this house, then he should go. Even if we know perfectly well he will die in the chaos. No. Even if the Barbarians tear him apart before Wujing and I can lead the army in... that is still what he owes! Across centuries, countless Yan men have died fighting the Barbarians. Why should he alone be exempt?"

"Because from the day he was born, he never enjoyed a single blessing from Marquis Zhenbei Residence."

"Blessings? Blessings? What blessings have I enjoyed? At home I can't even eat one satisfying meal of meat! If you're born surnamed Li, you're not born to enjoy blessings. This is what he owes. He... owes it."

"Li Liangting. Do you want me to die too?"

"Then die. Fine. Go ahead first. When you get down there, start making meat pies for me. I'll follow in a few days and can start eating the moment I arrive. It'll only be hard on Qian'er. She'll be all alone."

As Li Liangting spoke, he carefully stole glances at his wife's reaction.

Then... he sighed sentimentally.

"The boy suffered when he was little. Endured hardship. Lost one leg. He ate all the bitterness at the front end of his life. Doesn't that mean later on maybe..."

"Li Liangting. What exactly are you trying to say?"

"What if the boy doesn't die? What if he comes back alive, while you went down early to keep this old thing company? What then? You finally got your son back and barely warmed him beside you before you rush down here to continue looking after me? I think that'd be excellent. Very excellent. But I'm afraid you might feel shortchanged."

The Princess Consort nearly laughed from rage.

She pointed west.

"How does he come back alive? How?"

"Leave it to fate. We have all heard of men surviving situations where nine out of ten should die, haven't we? Who the hell can say with certainty that Li Liangting's son is absolutely some short-lived ghost? This time, if he goes... forget whether he's really my son. If he goes there and returns alive, then even a fake becomes more real than the real thing! Otherwise, do you truly think that even if he lives peacefully, those arrogant commanders and vicious generals below will submit to him? Without the support and recognition of those men beneath him, can this Heir really sit firmly in the position of Prince Zhenbei?"

Li Liangting finished speaking.

Then picked up the meat pie he had tossed near his feet earlier.

Put it back into his mouth.

And kept chewing.

A long while passed.

The Princess Consort asked:

"Enough?"

"Never enough. The pies you make are never enough no matter how many I eat."

"There are more if it's not enough."

...

"Little Brother."

"Sister."

"Don't go. Later, tell Father... no. I'll tell Father myself. Let me go instead."

"Why, Sister?"

"Heh. Afraid I'll steal your glory?"

"Whatever Sister wants, I'll give. What's glory worth? If Sister wants it, take it. But for something that means courting death... how could I let my elder sister take the risk?"

"You know?"

"Of course I know. The Southern Prince came, didn't he? Father came back quietly too. I figure he won't even return to the Prince's residence. Otherwise, Mother wouldn't have deliberately brought all three of us over here just to meet Father. War is coming. Sister, Father and the Southern Prince... they're going to fight the Barbarians together."

"And you can still smile?"

"Father tells me to go, so I go. If it's good for fighting the Barbarians, then I should go."

"Why?"

"I don't know why either. If I don't go, then either Sister goes or Mother goes. Better that I go. I'm a man, after all."

"Little Brother, I should still go. Over these years, your sister has understood one truth more deeply than anything else. Being a woman is difficult. This world will not allow a woman to hold up an entire household alone. This family needs a man if it wants to keep the facade standing."

Li Fei smiled.

"Sister, can a useless piece of trash hold it up too?"

"Little Brother, do you know something? When you were young, your sister once sent people to poison you."

"Sister..."

"At the time, I thought you had died. Because after that night, the family never received another scrap of news about you. Mother punished me by making me kneel outside my room for an entire day. Later, when I saw you again and saw the matron beside you, I finally understood. Mother had sent people to carry you out of the residence. Tell me... back then Marquis Zhenbei Residence commanded three hundred thousand iron cavalry. Who could we possibly fear? Even the Emperor himself wouldn't dare show our house an ugly face, would he? And yet Mother was afraid. Tell me. Who was Mother afraid of? After I saw the Southern Prince. After I saw His Majesty. I suddenly understood. Mother... what exactly was she afraid of? Who possessed such power that even three hundred thousand cavalry beneath Marquis Zhenbei Residence could not guarantee your safety?"

"Sister, stop talking. It's all in the past. Haven't I already come back?"

"I used to envy you. Why were you the Heir while I was only a Commandery Princess? But in truth, precisely because I was only the Commandery Princess, I was allowed to grow up inside Marquis Zhenbei Residence. Tell me... all of them, one after another... what exactly are they seeking? Wanting glory in their own lifetime would be one thing. But then they start seeking some thousand-year legacy too. They themselves are dreaming. Why do they have to drag us along and force us to cooperate with their dream? This disgusting world. These state altars so filthy one wants to smash them apart with one slap. What exactly is so wonderful about any of it? It's nothing more than one dirty object."

"Father... is a great hero."

"You truly think so?"

"Yes. Sister, I knew who my father was from the time I was very small. So when I was a child, I loved sitting beside the stream at the village entrance, looking at my reflection in the water and imagining Father's face. Marquis Zhenbei. Zhenbei Army. Great Yan's iron cavalry, unmatched beneath Heaven. That was my father. My father. Chen Xianba will envy me, Sister."

"That childhood friend of yours from the village?"

"Yes, Sister. He should be in Fengxin City now. Brother Liangshen also said he's good material for martial cultivation. He has always admired Marquis Pingxi..."

"Heh." The Commandery Princess laughed.

"Actually, I admire him too."

"You are the Heir."

"But I feel even more like A'Fei from the village. Because Marquis Pingxi started as an ordinary man too. He began as a laborer, didn't he, Sister?"

"Little Brother. Outsiders slapping your sister's face is one thing. Even my own blood brother does it now?"

"Hahahaha." Li Fei laughed happily. "Wasn't Marquis Pingxi only the smallest step away from becoming part of our Li family?"

"Fine. Fine. Fine. Little Brother, your sister promises you. If this whole thing turns out to be a dream and I wake up five or six years ago, and see that bastard Zheng kneeling before me refusing to become a retainer of the Li family... I'll have Seventh Uncle strip him naked and throw him into my command tent. I'll simply take his body on the spot. Then that bastard Zheng can become your brother-in-law. How about that?"

Li Fei genuinely thought about it.

Then said:

"Sounds pretty good to me."

Thunk!

The Commandery Princess knocked her knuckles against Li Fei's head.

"Sister, that hurts!"

"Pathetic!"

...

The two carriages came to a stop.

The Princess Consort climbed down from her carriage and boarded the one carrying her son and daughter.

Li Fei lifted the curtain.

He wanted to look at his father one more time.

But the Princess Consort said:

"You've seen him. Once you've seen him, you've seen him. If you want to see him again, go wait at the Barbarian Royal Court for your father to come collect you."

"All right, Mother."

The carriage carrying the mother and her two children continued forward.

Li Liangting remained seated in the other carriage.

Seventh Uncle sat across from him.

"Old Seventh, in a few days I'll have to trouble you to use the needles on me again."

"Your Highness, listen to yourself. This old slave also wants to see our Prince's old magnificence one more time."

"Heh-heh. Ah."

Li Liangting still could not stop himself.

He lifted the carriage curtain and watched the carriage ahead slowly grow distant.

"Your Highness..."

"Old Seventh. Back then, I personally led the Zhenbei Army cavalry in trampling Great Yan's aristocratic clans into the ground."

He paused.

Then Li Liangting suddenly smiled.

"But... in truth, the strongest great aristocratic clan in Great Yan was never the Tian Clan, nor the Liu Clan, nor the Wang Clan. It was mine. Marquis Zhenbei Residence."

[End of Chapter 721]