Sheng Jiangli said, "If we leave in a hurry now, he will surely catch up with me right away. You know his capabilities. If he hadn't used you as a hostage back then, my thirty thousand Hu cavalry would have perished in Yanjing. Moreover, I only have Subude and a few others by my side now."
"We need to plan this out carefully..."
Caiyu nodded silently, agreeing with Sheng Jiangli.
Anyway, she wasn't in a hurry to leave. She was just disheartened. Since her eldest and second sisters had been reunited and the case of the Lan family had a chance of being retried.
She just wanted to be that free bird selfishly.
No longer a servant, nor a canary kept in a cage by someone.
After all the quarrels these days, she had seen through Song Yinghuai's character.
Maybe he liked her, but he wanted her to become the kind of person he liked.
This was exactly what she could never do.
She was who she was, unyielding. She couldn't shrink into her own small world for a man.
Having only that man in her heart and eyes, spending her whole life around a man and children.
So, between freedom and love, she chose freedom.
The world was vast.
Even if she hid in the countryside, bought a small yard to grow vegetables and raise chickens, it would be better than watching Song Yinghuai ascend to the throne step by step, with three thousand concubines in the harem, and finally ending up in the cold palace after endless disputes with him.
"I understand," Caiyu said. "We'll take our time."
"What a sensible girl," Sheng Jiangli said with a beaming smile. "I still feel like I'm dreaming... Are you really willing to leave him?"
Was she willing?
Caiyu was dazed for a moment.
Actually, she wasn't.
Putting aside their different ideas, Song Yinghuai had actually been very good to her.
These days, she had also reviewed every quarrel between them.
She had a fiery temper, while he was domineering. Every time they had to communicate after a quarrel.
But every time after the communication, she would understand where Song Yinghuai was angry.
She must have ruined his important plans.
But precisely because of this.
Because he thought she was a woman and the one he needed to protect, he never discussed any plans or important matters with her.
And she, on the contrary, was not a dodder flower willing to rely on her husband. What she needed was exactly discussion.
This was what had caused so many misunderstandings between them.
She had understood the misunderstandings between them and knew his feelings for her. So, actually, she was reluctant to leave.
That was why she had persuaded herself countless times to stay by his side.
Until the quarrel the other day.
In a fit of anger, she had given her virginity to him.
Just as compensation for ruining his important plans!
When that wisp of blood flowed out of her body, she felt that all her persistence seemed to have disappeared.
It was time for her to leave.
Thinking of this, Caiyu nodded firmly. "I'm willing."
"That's good," Sheng Jiangli said with a gentle smile, rubbing her hairpin. "Then listen to me."
He said seriously, "He's already regretting and reflecting now. So, the colder you are to him, the more he'll focus all his attention on you. This will actually be bad for your escape. So... during this period before you leave, you should talk to him as you used to, to make him let his guard down."
Caiyu nodded.
"But you can't be as clingy to him as you used to be. You have to keep him on tenterhooks, be willful, throw tantrums, and make things difficult for him. Only in this way will he be obedient to you to make amends... In the end, no matter what you ask him to do before you leave, he'll agree to do it."
This plan was a bit complicated. Caiyu nodded half understandingly.
"The best time to leave should be when the peace talks with the Tatars are over. Xiang'er will return to the Tatars, he'll return to Yanjing, and I'll return beyond the pass... Our several groups of people will set off one after another. It'll be the best time to escape on the way."
Caiyu nodded again in agreement.
By then, Song Yinghuai would be suspicious of both Sheng Jiangli and Lan Jinxiang, wondering who had taken her away.
And he wouldn't have enough people around him to divide his forces and pursue them at the same time.
Once he chased the wrong one, her chance of escaping would greatly increase.
Sheng Jiangli smiled. "I'll immediately send a message with the gyrfalcon. My Hu cavalry will secretly enter the pass during this period to meet us."
Things might not be as simple as expected.
To be on the safe side, he needed to make a careful plan.
"Okay. I'll listen to you," Caiyu said obediently, nodding again.
Sheng Jiangli couldn't help but poke her cheek. "You're so obedient with me. If you were half as obedient in front of him, he wouldn't have bullied you so much."
"That's different," Caiyu said sullenly, turning her face away. "Not only did he keep things from me, but every time I accidentally ruined his good deeds, he would be as angry as if he had taken gunpowder. You wouldn't be like that."
Even if she ruined things, Sheng Jiangli would only accept it with a smile.
That was true.
Sheng Jiangli said complacently, "So, after all the comparisons, I'm the more gentle and considerate foster husband, right? After you come with me, I'll really make it a done deal. Don't regret it."
Naive Shu'er.
Did she really think he was gentle and considerate?
She shouldn't forget that he was the notorious wolf on the frontier!
The most cunning and best at disguising creature.
When he said this, Caiyu couldn't help but feel flustered.
She and Brother A Li...?
She wasn't mentally prepared yet.
Although she wanted to escape from the cage of love woven by Song Yinghuai, she had never thought of starting a new relationship with another man.
"I'm just joking!" Sheng Jiangli pinched her face again. "Since childhood, when have I ever won against you?"
...
In the imperial city of the Great Ye.
Lan Jinxiang came late.
She was half an hour later than the appointed time.
Emperor Guangwu and all the court officials waited until their faces were as black as coal before they saw Lan Jinxiang's luxurious sedan chair swagger into the drill ground.
"Outrageous!" Gong Qingliang, the grand scholar, blew his beard and glared. "She actually dared to enter the drill ground of our Great Ye in a sedan chair. She doesn't put the emperor in her eyes! What's Lord Xu doing? As the welcoming official, how could he be so reckless... He he he..."
Before Gong Qingliang could finish his words, he saw the Lord Xu he was talking about standing in front of the sedan chair, with his back to the door.
As soon as the door opened, a gorgeously dressed and radiant figure of a woman appeared outside the door, and then she jumped onto Xu Ziyi's back.
Gong Qingliang stared in disbelief. "He actually carried the Tatar Khatun off the sedan chair! Where's the backbone of our Great Ye officials! Aaaaah!"
Xu Ziyi carried Lan Jinxiang into the drill ground expressionlessly.
Lan Jinxiang jumped off his back and gave everyone a charming smile. "Sorry, everyone. I got a lovely pet yesterday. I enjoyed myself too much and stayed up too late. I didn't wake up in time this morning..."
Everyone's faces turned red.
Even Xu Buyue couldn't help it. "Second Sister Lan, how have you become like this?"
Xu Buyue knew a little about the matter between her second brother and Lan Jinxiang.
At first, she almost thought Lan Jinxiang would become her second sister-in-law.
It was obvious to everyone that her second brother liked her.
She just didn't expect that the beauty would be so unlucky and Lan Jinxiang would end up in that situation.
Even more unexpectedly, she had come back to life and become such a person.
Lan Jinxiang just greeted her with a smile. "It's been a long time, Princess. I've always been like this. It's just that your Xu family doesn't know me well."
Xu Buyue stopped talking and all her attention went to Song Yinghuai who entered later. Her face showed obvious happiness.
But when she saw Song Yinghuai carefully helping Caiyu get off the carriage, her eyes couldn't help but dim.
Lan Jinxiang glanced at her and then at Song Yinghuai, and sneered.
Fine!
The Xu family just couldn't let the Lan family go.
Xu Ziyi had let her down.
Xu Buyue was competing with her third sister for a husband.
Lan Jinxiang sneered, apologized casually to Emperor Guangwu, and then sat down ostentatiously. She said,
"Then let's start the martial arts competition!"