After laughing, Princess Anping seemed to become much gentler. If there was a considerable distance between them before, like being separated by millions of miles, at this moment, the distance between them had truly narrowed. As if absorbed in thought, Princess Anping slowly said, "I heard that when you went to the Xie Family before, you suffered a bit?"
Chen Chao nodded and then shook his head, saying, "Not really."
Princess Anping smiled and said, "Of the men and women in the world, how many can get together just because they like each other?? It's challenging."
"Family background and ability each occupy a part. It's difficult for people to disregard everything and be together just because they like each other. This is seen in books, but hard to find in reality. Even if they manage to be together, they will probably be forcibly separated by the trivialities of life."
"This imperial highness has a question to ask you: is it better to regret what you couldn't get, or to regret losing what you once had?"
Chen Chao shook his head and said, "This subject doesn't know."
Princess Anping did not make things difficult for him and just said, "Without experiencing it, one naturally wouldn't understand. There's a line of poetry, that goes something like: What's learned on paper is always shallow, to truly understand, one must experience it."
Chen Chao fell silent. It was unclear how many times this had happened. Mainly because each sentence from Princess Anping seemed to have little relevance to the current situation in the Divine Capital. This left Chen Chao unsure of how to respond. Since he did not know how to respond, there was naturally nothing to say.
Furthermore, his mind was a mess, and he could not even distinguish whether Princess Anping was casually talking to him or trying to entrap him with words through these conversations.
Princess Anping looked at the somewhat bewildered young man in front of her and found it rather amusing. She asked huffily, "How useless, where's fervor you had in the first half of the night, when you were going on a killing spree at the Left Guard's office?"
Chen Chao looked at the pair of slender and fair legs in front of him. There were no waves in his heart.
"That's within this subject's scope. This subject naturally has to do it."
Princess Anping rubbed her forehead, feeling a bit helpless. Suddenly, she said, "Tell them to scram farther away."
She was addressing the man outside the carriage.
Chen Chao was rather surprised.
Outside the carriage at this moment, the man who only wore a single layer of clothing in the cold winter nodded slightly upon hearing the voice inside the carriage. He walked away into the snowy night.
After a moment, there were a few muffled groans. Several figures that were originally hidden in the dark were found one by one by the man. He placed one hand on the shoulder of one of them, and applied a little force, and the sound of bones breaking could be heard. The person's complexion instantly turned pale, but they endured without making a sound. The man's eyes flashed with a hint of admiration, and then he casually threw the person out, saying, "I know you all are waiting. Stay away and don't be an eyesore."
This statement was not only directed at one person.
At this moment, there was an unknown number of people hidden in the dark.
The informants belonging to various major forces in the Divine Capital, at this moment, tacitly retreated. Although it was impossible to leave directly, after the man took action, they all gave him face.
However, in reality, they were giving face not to the man but to Princess Anping behind him.
Although this princess lacked influence in the court and could not intervene in political matters, her status as the biological elder sister of the few princes guaranteed that regardless of which prince ascended to the throne next time, she would receive exceptional treatment.
Her position in the Great Liang Dynasty was deeply entrenched and almost impossible to shake.
Therefore, the withdrawal of those people at this moment was reasonable.
The man returned to the side of the carriage and coughed lightly. That Princess Anping turned her head again, saying with some fatigue, "This is how the Divine Capital is. It's said to be the sunniest place on earth, but when the sun is absent, the darkness here surpasses any other place. Yet, strangely, people are still eager to come here. I don't quite understand what's good about this place."
Within the imperial family, inevitable frustrations existed, and there was no easy way to explain them in just a sentence or two.
Chen Chao still remained silent, recalling the time when he had come from Tianqing County to the Divine Capital, he also wanted to pull himself out of the abyss by borrowing the brightest place under the sun.
"Don't go anywhere tonight. Stay in this carriage for the night."
Looking at Chen Chao, Princess Anping asked, "Any objections?"
Chen Chao, who had been silent this entire time, finally opened his mouth to ask, "What exactly does Princess want to say?"
Since the conversation had reached this point, Princess Anping no longer beat around the bush and went straight to the point, "This imperial highness isn't someone's messenger, nor do I have any ideas about the current situation in the Divine Capital. I just wanted to pull you out of this vortex."
Keeping Chen Chao confined in this carriage would, to some extent, offend quite a few people, including her own younger brothers. By preventing anyone from coming into contact with Chen Chao, Princess Anping naturally gave Chen Chao a reason not to make a choice. Moreover, by not allowing Chen Chao to choose, no one could say anything either.
"Why do this, Your Highness?"
Chen Chao was rather puzzled. In the power struggles among big shots, very few would care about the thoughts and life of a youth. They could casually treat this young man as a pawn, and manipulate him as they pleased. The Princess Anping in front of him was also one of these big shots. Yet, her appearance today was not to manipulate Chen Chao, but to protect him.
But the problem was, the two had never met before, and today was their first time meeting.
Theoretically, there was no connection or bond between them.
"Do you really not know why this imperial highness is treating you like this?"
Princess Anping looked into Chen Chao's eyes, revealing a multitude of complex emotions.
Chen Chao fell silent, then shook his head.
Princess Anping smiled, immediately covering her chest as if feigning some sorrow, and said, "Turns out that you truly don't want to acknowledge this imperial highness as your elder sister."
Chen Chao was stupefied.
He never expected that Princess Anping would say such a thing.
Yes, they were naturally siblings, although not born of the same mother, they were cousins. [1]
There was no issue with this at all.
Chen Chao remained silent. He knew that his true identity could not be hidden from everyone ever since he arrived in the Divine Capital. That was why he told Xie Nandu before and when he confronted the Great Liang Emperor, he also spoke frankly. However, he had only revealed his secret to two people until now. The Great Liang Emperor knew about it, but he did not mind, so he could remain alive. Furthermore, he could live the same way as he did before. Xie Nandu knew, but would not tell anyone either.
If others found out about it, they could only pretend not to know. The price of poking through that windowpane paper would be enormous. Yet, in the current situation, it might not necessarily be a problem between just two of them.
Princess Anping said, "Don't you remember? When you were little, this imperial highness even carried you before." Chen Chao fell silent. That was a long time ago. At that time, the Great Liang Emperor was still just a vassal prince, and it was also his last time meeting the deceased Crown Prince. At that time, he brought Princess Anping along.
"Well, you were too young to remember; it's normal if you can't recall."
Chen Chao opened his mouth to ask, "Why did Your Highness mention these things?"
"Are you wondering why this imperial highness dared to poke a hole in this windowpane paper? Imperial Mother has met you, so she definitely knew your identity. On the day of Imperial Mother's passing, you entered the palace. Imperial Father didn't take a single step away from her, so he wouldn't have missed you. The fact that you left unharmed meant that Imperial Father didn't want to kill you, and he doesn't care about that old matter. Since you chose to continue serving the Great Liang, you might not necessarily care about that incident either. So, why wouldn't this imperial highness dare to acknowledge you?"
Princess Anping was truly intelligent. She had never been a fool, it was just that she lived deep in the palace all year round. Few people knew just what kind of woman she was.
She looked at Chen Chao, her eyes narrowing as she said, "This is the first time this imperial highness has met you, but I've heard a lot about you. Now that we've met, I think you're not bad. You're better than this imperial highness' other three brothers. So, since this imperial highness has such a fine brother, how could I possibly let you struggle in this vortex?"
Princess Anping smiled and said, "This relationship has nothing to do with your mother, and it's unrelated to the past grievances. Even if you still harbor resentment towards my family, after tonight, you can still treat Imperial Father, and me, your elder sister, as enemies; it doesn't matter. This is an old grudge, where right and wrong are unclear, so let's not talk about it."
Chen Chao remained silent. Once again, for no apparent reason, he thought of the time he entered the palace with Xie Nandu and later left the imperial city, recalling the feeling when he saw the jade bracelet on the girl's wrist.
That Empress had never thought of harming him.
Now, this cousin in front of him who resembled that aunt, also never thought of harming him.
Princess Anping looked at Chen Chao indulgently and said softly, "In the imperial family, schemes and intrigue have virtually become the norm. Ordinary families find it hard to understand. Every time this imperial highness' two brothers meet, it's always an appearance of being close but distant. Seeing this kind of thing too often can be really annoying. Seeing you is a kind of comfort for this imperial highness. At least, it seems to tell this imperial highness that in the Chen imperial family, apart from Imperial Father, there's still one other person who isn't annoying."
Chen Chao wanted to speak but swallowed the words back.
"Do they think you're easy to bully because you're all along? Those so-called big shots scheming against each other, tossing you out casually and ignoring you? Either way, this imperial highness doesn't care. Tonight, regardless of what they're thinking or planning, this imperial highness also doesn't care about what you're thinking or want to do. You can't take a step away from this place tonight."
Princess Anping looked outside the carriage, as if announcing to the entire Divine Capital. She emphasized each word, "This imperial highness wants to tell the entire Divine Capital that this imperial highness' younger brother, will naturally be protected by this imperial highness! Nobody can think about touching you!"
In a horse carriage further away.
The man in the blue robe looked at the chessboard in front of him, suddenly feeling a bit emotional as he said helplessly, "In such an important game of chess, a woman actually flipped the board just because she felt like it!"
The person concealed under the black robe said, "That's no ordinary woman."
Indeed, during that incident back then, for anyone else, it would have been impossible to save that guy. Only she managed to forcibly drag that person out of a checkmate.
