PRINCESS AGENTS (SEASON 2)-COMPLETED

Chapter 26: Her Inn

After Chu Qiao brought the few of them along, they bought an inn along a nearby lake and started to manage it. Firstly, it was to cover their identities. After all, it was weird for a solitary lady to travel together with a maidservant and two children. Secondly, she wanted to find something to do for herself. Idling around was not an option.

Initially, they did not do this for the purpose of making money. However, due to Chu Qiao’s unique management style, the way that she maintained exemplary hygiene standards, and the favorable geographical location of the place, this inn came to be one of the most reputable places in the city. Scholars who came to attend the examinations held in spring and autumn would earmark this place as their foremost choice to stay in. Hence, this place earned the title of “Scholars’ Inn”. During the peak periods, business was booming as the rooms were often full.

Time flew by rapidly; each day flowed on to the next quietly. She lived in this remote city, away from the happenings of the world, concealing her past glory and abandoning her past memories. She lived like an ordinary woman, characterized by the peaceful days she had.

Nothing had changed, except for her health which had started to decline. Even though she was only 21, the long periods of physical exertion, being engaged in combat, and the hardships she had experienced since young had caused her body to be plagued with ailments. The injuries would cause her to feel pain whenever the weather was bad; her joints had also started to turn rheumatic. Thin wrinkles started to appear on her eyelids, while her vigor had also been affected. Whenever she felt a little bit tired, she would tend to drift off to sleep.

Illnesses had seemed to become her best friend. Nearly every part of her body had been ravaged by problems; while the flu bug visited her almost every month. As she lay on her bed, fighting the diseases, she often wondered if this body even belonged to her in the first place. She felt like a puppet at risk of being torn to shreds anytime.

On the bright side, peace had finally returned to her life. There was no longer any bloodshed, cruel deaths, and incessant scheming and plotting against other parties. Her heart started to enter a state of calm, like the water on the surface of a lake.

These two years, she rarely kept up to date about the situation in the outside world. However, as she managed the inn, many passers-by often shared the information with her and the children, who were also particularly interested. For example, she was informed about Yuwen Yue and Princess Nalan’s marriage. From what she heard, when Yuwen Yue got back to the Wei Empire, he readily accepted the offer. As the Wei officials clapped in celebration, Yuwen Yue dropped another bombshell that he already had a legitimate wife back in Qinghai. Claiming that he did not want to abandon her as she had stood by him, he declared that Princess Nalan could only be his concubine if they were to marry. Even if she were to give birth, she could only be his second wife.

The envoy of Song was greatly angered by this. This issue, which had been predicted to stir up a big hoo-ha in West Meng, was effortlessly diffused by Yuwen Yue’s casual attitude towards this matter. There were no other consequences as the matter slowly became forgotten.

Thereafter, with the backing of Chief Marshal Yuwen, the seventh prince, Yuan Che, returned to the capital from the northern borders with more than 500,000 elite troops. They had crushed the rebellion and liberated large swathes of territories in the borders. As they supported each other, they shattered Yuan Yang’s monopoly of power in the political scene of Wei.

Yan Bei was no longer as well off as before; the Liang Empire shut off the waterways along the southern borders while economic relations with Song were cut off. Faced with a two-pronged assault by Wei and Qinghai, Yan Bei temporarily lost the ability to wage another war with Liang.