"Returning to the capital without reporting it first... what exactly is he trying to do?"
Kan Riletu's eyes flickered, his grizzled beard trembling as he said hoarsely, "Could he... really mean to... become a slave to three surnames? All these years... I have treated him well, yet I have always felt... he was gradually growing distant from me..."
"Father, I'll investigate the Grand Commandant's Residence. If that old bastard really means to rebel, I'll bring you his head!"
Kan Yong rolled up his sleeves and bellowed, his gaze sweeping toward the ivory bed. Though the two girls were wrapped in camel-wool blankets, with only their glossy black hair showing, their shapely curves made his eyes burn with desire. He swallowed hard several times.
The customs of Western Liang were more uninhibited and rough-hewn than those of Great Chen. Its people had originally lived as nomads, where the strong devoured the weak. When guests visited a household, the women of the inner quarters made no effort to avoid them, and men and women sat together. Some tribes even had their wives and concubines attend to honored guests.
In the early years after the former Great Liang dynasty was founded, Western Liang, with its powerful soldiers and horses, repeatedly raided its borders. Great Liang sent troops but suffered defeat after defeat. To stabilize the situation, it had no choice but to send Princess Wenyu away in a marriage alliance.
The people of Western Liang regarded women not as human beings, but as property. When an old khan died, the new khan inherited all his possessions, including his women. Princess Wenyu of the Great Liang Kingdom married three successive khans, serving three generations from grandfather to grandson. After enduring every humiliation, she died of despair.
Kan Riletu lowered his head, clutching his chest