Yelu Luan smiled. He didn’t believe that the emperor didn’t understand what he meant. Thinking back to how he was flatly refused when he asked for Qin Gui’s hand in marriage from the emperor, he downed his wine in one gulp as well.
Gu Jing’s eyes gleamed. He asked in a joking tone, “Prince Yelu has been in our Great Qi for some days now. Has a girl caught your heart yet?”
“There is in fact a girl,” Yelu Luan replied frankly.
As soon as those words came out, curious looks appeared in the eyes of many.
The courtiers all know that one of the purposes that Yelu Luan had come to the Great Qi was in order to tie the two nations in a marriage alliance. Only, the emperor wasn’t too keen on the idea. He was neither willing to send any of the princesses off nor any imperial clanswomen. He just put the matter on hold.
Could that reason be that Yelu Luan himself had already picked a candidate for marriage?
YeluLuang had just gifted the Great Qi 500 Turkic horses in Northern Yan’s name and promised 500 more for a bride. If he named a woman now, then even the emperor may find it difficult to refuse him. After all, these Turkic horses were worth a lot and were also very important to the army.
“Who is it?” Gu Jing asked with excitement. “Why not take advantage of this prosperous day to ask for her hand from Father?”
Gu Jing cupped his hands at the emperor, smiling. “Father Emperor, what do you think?”
The emperor narrowed his eyes slightly, his emotions not written on his face. With the two of them dancing and singing in front of him in unison, did they really take him for a blind man?
Yelu Luan had his eyes on Qin Gui, or rather, on the composite bow. Anyone with a clear eye could see that.
With a thousand Turkic horses as the price, he wanted to take advantage of an occasion like today to “force” him to compromise, right? What a plot!
He wondered whether his Second Prince was a fool or just trying to be smart.
The emperor twirled the wine in his cup, looking at Gu Zezhi in the distance. When he thought of how Gu Zezhi threw a sack over Yelu Luan and beat him, he couldn’t help but smile.
He put the jade cup down and quietly shot a glance at Empress Wei, appeasing her.
Seeing that the emperor was not saying anything, Gu Jin felt slightly awkward. He could only shoot a glance at a fifty-year-old man in an azure robe.
That old man was Duke Cheng’en, Empress Dowager Liu’s brother and Gu Jing’s maternal grandfather.
“It would be a beautiful thing if the emperor could grant a wedding.” Duke Cheng’en immediately stood up and cupped his fists with a smile. “Prince Yelu, why don’t you just say it?”
Yelu Luan smiled. His eyes slowly swept over the people at the banquet and landed on Qin Gui who was sitting at the end of the table.
Qin Gui slowly wiped her hands with a handkerchief, feeling that this guy had been hit too lightly in that sack. She should’ve given him a few more kicks. Gripping the long whip at her waist, she smirked.
Yelu Luan’s gaze rested on Qin Gui for a moment before he looked back at the emperor on his throne. “Your Majesty, Emperor of Great Qi. I…”
“Prince Yelu.”
Right at that moment, the warm voice of a man suddenly rang out, interrupted Yelu Luan.
The man’s voice was as warm as a ray of spring sunshine but his words carried resounding force. “Where does a defeated nation find the qualifications to speak conditions with us?!”
The person who spoke was Gu Zezhi.
Gu Zezhi did not get up. He was holding his fan elegantly like a noble gentleman.
When these words came out, the hall turned so silent that even a pin drop could be heard.
The two nations were at constant strife, ending up in a dozen battles of various scales throughout the past five to six years. It wasn’t until a year ago during a desperate battle for the Yu family that Northern Yan’s army collapsed. In the end, they could only take the initiative to propose peace talks, bringing the two regions in a brief moment of peace.
In the end, Northern Yan was the defeated country.
Whether a marriage is approved and who the wedding was with was not something a defeated general had the right to bring up!
Yu Fuyun in the distance raised his eyes towards Gu Zezhi, expressionless. He clenched his right hand around his cup, and the transparent liquid quivered at the force, creating subtle ripples on its surface.
Many of the generals in the room were impressed by Gu Zezhi’s words.
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