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Approving, comforting, heartbroken, pitying, or... possessive?

"Don't worry, political marriages aren't that scary." She took the tea from his hand and slurped it down. "I'm quite capable as a daughter to help Father accomplish his great cause, aren't I? I can't compare to you in terms of beauty and temperament, but this is something only a true daughter can do. You can't do it, can you?"

After saying that, she even raised her eyebrows at him as if presenting a treasure.

The late emperor's sudden death, without any heir, created a moment when the prosperous era was on the verge of turning into chaos. Prime Minister Li was about to welcome the current Your Majesty to the capital to prepare for his ascension to the throne. However, General Wu Yanju, who was guarding the border, held a large army and his attitude was unclear. After all, the newly enthroned Your Majesty had neither kinship nor favor with General Wu. If General Wu showed the slightest dissatisfaction and held his army for himself, even a small spark could ignite a fierce fire on the border.

However, a clever plan averted this imminent danger.

This brilliant plan was devised by her— Li Danxin.

Under the guise of marrying off his daughter, General Wu's son was transferred from the border back to Yuanzhou in Jiangnan, and half of his troops were dismantled. Once the emperor was firmly on the Dragon Throne, Wu Yanju was transferred back to Yuanzhou from the border under the pretext of supporting his father, becoming a general in Jiangnan with no real power.

Her piece was cleverly placed in the enemy's throat; she was alone, a single White Stone, placed by her own father amidst a group of Black Stone pieces.

He never asked Xiaojing how she was doing, nor did he inquire about her from anyone. He just wanted to hear a reassuring and heart-wrenching answer from her.

My husband treats me very well.

Then why did I send you to the capital alone?

"Father still had my best interests at heart; he chose a good husband for me."

Why then do you leave someone who spent the night outside the city unable to return home?

"Ah, I'm full." She clasped her hands together contentedly.

A warm hand grasped her soft slender wrist, Long Ang led her outside, saying, "Come on, let's stay at my place."

"Huh? To your house? No way! Your father would definitely not want to see me." She refused, shrinking back repeatedly.

"Who said I'd take you to my house? My private home. A place where I can be alone when it's noisy." He could sit there all day, doing nothing, looking at the sky, reminiscing about the places he and she had been together.

"Oh! Xiao Ang, you've gone bad too. Of course, you're a boy after all, starting to prepare your golden house so early?" She winked at him gossipy, but he didn't have time to explain much to her. He grabbed her hand and was about to leave, but she still managed to pull her hand away from his.

"But that still won't work, I still want to go back to my parents' home."

"He won't even let you in the door, what are you going back for?"

Li Danxin pouted, "Even if Father refuses to see me, I still want to see him again, because... this trip back is a mission my husband gave me."

"..." Another mission! Another mission that uses her as a pawn to lure her to the enemy's doorstep!

"I don't think Father would be so heartless. I'll just stand at the door and stay up all night. He'll definitely let me in by tomorrow morning!"

His fists clenched slightly without his noticing. Her hands encircled him, a gentle, comforting gesture devoid of any ambiguity.

"Xiao Ang, I'm fine. This matter is too serious; I can only ask Father for help."

"What exactly is it that your husband keeps to himself while you, a woman, have to come out and show your face in public?"

"He wasn't hiding in the back; my husband can't leave the place he's guarding, and besides... it concerns my father-in-law..."

"Ha! He should handle his own father's affairs himself!"

"... My father has caught my father-in-law red-handed, and he's now imprisoned in the Yuanzhou Prefectural Office. He's a stubborn man; he refuses to eat since being locked up. If he's not released soon, someone might die."

"..."

She kept saying she was worried about others, that she was concerned about her newly formed family. He so wanted to speak up for her, to condemn every scoundrel who didn't care about her, but—

Perhaps it was because he had been wearing women's clothing for too long that he had become so weak and helpless, unable to stop her, and could only watch her kneel at the entrance of the Prime Minister's Residence like a block of wood.

No wonder she wasn't wearing makeup, no wonder she was dressed in plain clothes. She came to kowtow and apologize on behalf of her husband's family, but what wrong had she done? Political struggles are like this, but why is it always her who has to step forward to resolve these politicians' crises?

"Xiao Ang, I might be getting married. Father has chosen a husband for me."

"Even though you're going to a very far place, don't be sad. I'll come back to see you."

"Hmm? I don't know if I want to get married. Father told me to think it over carefully. But the first time Father looked at me like that, it was as if no one else in the world could help him except me, his daughter. You know, that look of certainty in his eyes made me feel so satisfied, as if it was the first time he had ever looked at me with such certainty."

"Xiao Ang, I've made up my mind. I want to get married."

"Because Father knelt before me. Father was a strong-willed man all his life, and I had never seen him like that before. He told me it was for the sake of Common People. But honestly, I don't care. I did it all for Father, even if I can't compare to you in anything. In the end, Father still needs me."

"Aren't you happy for me? I heard my husband is a Young General. Maybe I can really realize my dream of riding a tall horse to see the snow and the desert..."

From the moment her wedding Imperial Palanquin left the Capital, he hated the Li Household, hated every single one of them, hated her father, and hated himself even more for not having had time to take off this delicate and powerless women's clothing, for not letting her see that he had been by her side as a man for so many years.