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Chapter 195 The Duke of Chu Recognizes a True Dragon! His Daughter and Tribe Are Offered to Wei Tingyu!
Chu Yue knew instinctively that something serious must have happened!
"A-Yue!" When Duke Chu saw his daughter arrive, he relaxed his furrowed brows, then stepped forward and asked her, "Are the rumors about you and the Marquis of Jining from the Central Plains true?"
Princess Chuyue was taken aback. She hadn't expected her father to ask her this question, and she immediately felt embarrassed.
“Some of it is true…some of it is false…” She rolled her small eyes, then cautiously answered.
Ever since that dramatic scene at the jewelry store, gossip about her and Marquis Wei Tingyu of Jining has spread rapidly among the noblewomen of Andu.
The fact that the two were seen pulling and tugging at each other and talking intimately on the street was also witnessed by many people, and naturally became a topic of conversation among the public.
However, some of the rumors were really outrageous, and there were even rumors that she kissed Wei Tingyu in the street. Although not many people believed them, Chu Yue had heard them.
Therefore, he was unsure of his father's decision. Should he be happy that he had found a husband he truly loved, or angry that he had broken his engagement with Marquis Changqing?
"Does the Marquis of Jining truly love you?" The Duke of Chu shook his head slightly after seeing his daughter's expression, and then asked directly.
Chuyue was taken aback by her father's blunt question.
Does Wei Tingyu like her? Chu Yue thinks he definitely does! After all, she could clearly see it from his eyes before.
But ever since their parting at the market that day, Wei Tingyu hadn't contacted her again. This made Chu Yue a little uneasy; she wondered what he was thinking!
Of course, she understood. After all, she and Marquis Changqing were still engaged. If they were to get too close before the marriage decree from Emperor An was lifted, it might give those with ulterior motives something to use against them, and even Emperor An would lose face.
"You like it, right..." Chu Yue thought of this and, of course, there was no need to hide it from her father, so she nodded and said.
"And what about you?" Duke Chu nodded after hearing his daughter's words, then asked, "Do you like Marquis Jining?"
"I...I like..." Chu Yue was still a young girl, and it was not easy for her to admit to her father that she had another man in her heart.
However, seeing her father's serious expression, and knowing he wasn't joking, she forced herself to nod.
Chu Yue wasn't lying about this. You see, after parting ways with Wei Tingyu in the market that day, she dreamed about him that very night.
Moreover, as time went by, his longing for Wei Tingyu did not diminish at all; in fact, it intensified.
Last night, she couldn't sleep because Wei Tingyu's image kept popping into her mind. She was also resentful that he didn't come to find her. She finally drifted off to sleep in the middle of the night.
"Okay!" To Chu Yue's surprise, her father was not angry at all after hearing her answer; instead, he showed a relaxed expression.
"Father... what is this..." Chu Yue was increasingly confused. She blinked her cute little eyes and looked at Chu Guogong, asking him.
"If I could entrust you to the Marquis of Jining, I would be at ease!" However, the Duke of Chu unexpectedly nodded directly and looked at his daughter, saying, "I will go to the palace now to explain to His Majesty and ask him to dissolve your engagement with the Marquis of Changqing!"
"Then you shall go to the Central Plains with the Marquis of Jining!"
"..." Princess Chuyue was completely shocked that her father would say such a thing, and her eyes widened in disbelief.
In her memory, her father had never even met this Marquis of Jining! How could he so easily entrust her to a man he hadn't even bothered to investigate?!
Moreover, this matter requires first going to the palace to request Emperor An to grant the marriage, and you should know that there are great risks involved!
How could my father, who is always cautious and seeks no merit but no demerit, suddenly make such a risky move?
"Yue'er! Listen to your father!" Duke Chu looked at Chu Yue and knew that his daughter was full of doubts. At the same time, he also knew that if he didn't explain things clearly, his daughter would never be so obedient!
"Anguo is probably going to be in chaos!" Duke Chu frowned as he uttered a piece of news that shocked Princess Chuyue.
"You know about the infighting between the First Prince and the Second Prince a few days ago, right?"
"As a result, the eldest prince was beheaded by unknown assailants along the way, and his head was used as an offering to the late empress!"
"His Majesty couldn't bear the shock and even sent the Second Prince to guard Tianmen Pass!"
"Then they actually demanded an additional 30,000 taels of gold before they would release Emperor Wu!"
"Then he ordered Deng Hui, the commander of the Zhuyiwei, to personally strangle more than ten innocent subordinates outside the south gate!"
"This is madness!"
"Currently, the country has no crown prince. The eldest prince in Andu, the third prince, is still too young to serve as crown prince!"
"As a father, I always feel that there is an invisible hand controlling all of this!"
"I fear that a cholera outbreak in Anguo is not far off!"
"The best course of action for us in western Saudi Arabia at that time is to stay out of it and not get involved!"
"As the apple of your eye in the western desert, the only safe course of action for you is to leave this chaotic place!"
"Otherwise, no matter who you marry, we in the western desert will inevitably have to choose sides in this internal strife..."
"If you choose the wrong side, then... In short, your marriage to the Marquis of Jining as soon as possible is the only way for us in the western desert to avoid disaster!"
At this moment, Duke Chu was also very nervous, so without saying a word, he blurted out all the things he was worried about.
The sheer volume of information almost burst Princess Chuyue's little head!
She knew nothing about politics, but after hearing her father's analysis, she subconsciously felt that it made a lot of sense.
It seems Anguo might really be heading into chaos now?!
The matter between himself and Wei Tingyu became the key to whether Sha Xi could remain uninvolved in the internal strife.
"Okay!" And it just so happened that Chu Yue originally liked Wei Tingyu and hated that Marquis Changqing!
Now that she could both follow her beloved and fulfill her own desires, and also have the noble cause of saving the western desert, she nodded in agreement without hesitation.
"I will go see Lord Wei in person tomorrow!" Having figured all this out, Chu Yue even made up her mind. You, Wei Tingyu, refuse to see me? Then I'll go see you on my own initiative! Anyway, with the greater cause of the future of Shaxi in mind, she is not afraid of being laughed at!
"Give this gift to Lord Wei when you see him tomorrow!" Seeing that his daughter agreed so readily, Duke Chu nodded and handed Chu Yue an official contract.
Chu Yue took the official contract and opened it, her face immediately showing shock and bewilderment.
"You're going to give all of Fengyuan's fortress, troops, and horses to Lord Wei?" The contents of this official contract were so shocking that she couldn't help but be astonished!
However, after seeing her father simply nod silently, Chu Yue finally believed that she hadn't misread it!
And the father didn't make a mistake; that was really his decision!
"This is the most valuable part of Grandmother's dowry!" Chu Yue blinked and looked at her father, saying, "It's the part that my eldest brother asked you for so many times, but you wouldn't give it to him!"
Chu Yue was also confused at this point. No matter what, her father would never give Wei Tingyu a gift that he wouldn't even give to his own son!
Even if he approves of this future son-in-law, going to this extent is truly a bit excessive.
"Because only in this way can we prove the sincerity of our Chu family towards him!" Then Duke Chu shook his head, turned to look at Chu Yue and said.
"No..." Chu Yue really couldn't understand why now, because in her eyes Wei Tingyu was indeed a very likable young man, and his status was not low either, as he was a marquis of a great power in the Central Plains!
Of course, they also have some interesting skills, such as using acupressure to make people speechless from a distance!
But that's all! Even if I marry into the Marquis's family in the future, I'll just be another pearl from the western desert among the noble ladies of the capital!
The Wei family's relationship with the Chu family is limited to a transnational marriage that can serve to maintain friendly relations between the two countries!
But that's all there is to it! But now it seems like Father is entrusting the future of the Chu family to Wei Tingyu.
Even if my father had foreseen the impending chaos in Anguo, what power could Wei Tingyu, a marquis from another country, possibly have in Anguo? How could he possibly protect the Chu family?
“You don’t understand!” Duke Chu naturally saw the doubt on his daughter’s face and immediately shook his head and said, “Actually, this Marquis of Jining… ever since the news spread that he accompanied Prince Li of Wu on his mission to Da’an, I have been secretly keeping an eye on him!”
"This man is definitely not simple! According to the intelligence from our spies in Wuzhou, he has accomplished quite a few major feats along the way!"
"That Prince Li was nominally the envoy from Wu Kingdom to welcome the emperor, but in reality, the entire camp was entirely controlled by Wei Tingyu alone!"
"Why does Prince Li listen to the advice of a foreign minister in everything?"
"Furthermore, there are rumors within Wuguo that the Prince of Danyang sent over a thousand soldiers to ambush and kill the imperial envoy, but all of his private troops died at Tianxing Gorge!"
"After that, Wei Tingyu actually hid the 100,000 taels of gold and the other members of the delegation, and with only Prince Li and a few others, he rode lightly and quickly to Andu!"
"So secretive! So cunning! So unpredictable! The more I think about it, the more suspicious I feel!"
"However you look at it, it only proves one thing: Marquis Wei Tingyu of Jining is far more complex than he appears on the surface!"
"His true power is probably more than a hundred or a thousand times greater than what he has shown to the world!"
Upon hearing her father's words, Chu Yue's expression grew increasingly shocked! She never imagined that her father had been secretly investigating Wei Tingyu for so long!
The Battle of Tianxing Gorge has been over for quite some time now. Even if the King of Danyang is dull-witted, he must understand that Zhou Jian and his thousand private soldiers have run into trouble!
After such a massive battle, with so many corpses and severed limbs, it was absolutely impossible to completely hide the traces of the battlefield!
Therefore, the situation in Tianxing Gorge was gradually uncovered by intelligence gathering teams from various parties, who began to gather clues...
Of course, some people with ulterior motives have already formed a general idea about these things...
"From this day forward, everything in the western part of the desert, including the stable boys, will be divided in two!" At this moment, the Duke of Chu gave his daughter an even greater shock, slowly saying, "Half for your eldest brother! Half for the Marquis of Jining!"
"What?!" Chu Yue was even more shocked upon hearing this. Even if her father's predictions were correct, she still found it hard to understand why half of the western part of the desert would be given to Wei Tingyu.
"Because the Marquis of Jining will... his potential is limitless!" At this moment, the Duke of Chu already had a very complete vision in his mind. After so many years of conflict among the various states, it was time for a true overlord to emerge and unify the country!
The more he investigated Wei Tingyu's situation, the more he felt that he had seized this opportunity!
Therefore, it is imperative to curry favor with Wei Tingyu before he truly becomes wealthy! Half of the wealth in Shaxi was a pledge of allegiance from the Duke of Chu!
This naturally includes his own daughter, Princess Chuyue, the pearl of western Shaanxi!
"Of course, the Marquis of Jining is, after all, an outsider, so this matter must not be publicized!" Duke Chu then spoke up, "So nominally, that half is your dowry! Even after you get married, it is still your property!"