Yu Ningying found Yu Qingdai and whispered about the male prostitute.
Yu Qingdai was first surprised, then felt it was absurd, and frowned: “Mother, how can you do this? Ziyu is still young, why should she see those things?”
“She’s not young anymore, and there’s nothing we can do about it. If she knows all men are the same, she won’t mind Li Jiyan’s ugly anymore. Otherwise, with her stubbornness, when will this marriage ever be settled?” Yu Ningying patted Yu Qingdai’s hand. “If you also want to watch, Mother will arrange a few for you.”
Yu Qingdai blushed: “I won’t look, they’re so ugly. What’s so interesting about male prostitutes?”
“How is it not pretty? Your father used to sell himself to me as a male prostitute.” Recalling the funny things from back then, Yu Ningying’s eyes smiled even more.
Yu Ziyu leaned closer and asked, “Mom, what are you talking about? I want to hear too!”
”Aren’t you tired of carrying this around all day? Take it off, and I’ll keep it for you.” Yu Ningying touched the curved knife hanging at Yu Ziyu’s waist.
”I’m not tired. Mother, what are you talking about?”
Yu Ningying tucked her stray hairs behind her ears and tapped her pert nose with her fingertips: “Mother has arranged something fun for you, go and take a look.”
Yu Ningying took her two daughters to the side courtyard.
Not long after.
Yu Ziyu’s furious roar echoed throughout the side courtyard: “So ugly! So ugly! Next!”
Yu Ningying and Yu Qingdai listened outside, their hearts pounding with fear. One after another, the male prostitutes came out of the house, their faces flushed. Yu Ningying asked, “Did you show her?”
Male prostitute: “I saw it.”
”What did she say?” Yu Qingdai also became interested.
”She called me ugly.” The young man, blushing and sweating, tightened his belt and stepped aside.
Yu Ziyu, carrying a knife, led the last two male prostitutes out of the room, grumbling, “Mother, they’re all so ugly, just as ugly. Only the one in white is a little bit better looking.”
At this moment, Li Jiyan was half-crouched on the wall of the Yu family’s outer courtyard, using the apricot tree for cover to observe the situation inside. Back on the mountain, Yu Ziyu had dropped an earring, which he had picked up.
He intended to return the earring to her, but upon hearing Yu Ziyu’s screams from outside the wall, he leaped over it to investigate. He discovered that Yu Ziyu seemed to be selecting male prostitutes. Judging from the way the male prostitutes straightened their clothes as they came out of the room, it was hard not to have some suspicions.
Adding to the fact that Yu Ziyu called them ugly, Li Jiyan also remembered that she had used the same tone to insult him before.
Perhaps she finds his private area ugly and wants to find something more attractive.
Li Jiyan thought that even though their marriage was not officially settled, Yu Ziyu still had some affection for him. He never expected that in her eyes, he was not even as good as those male prostitutes.
He jumped silently off the courtyard wall, clutching Yu Ziyu’s pearl earring tightly in his palm, and left the Yu residence without making a sound.
Inside the courtyard, Yu Ziyu complained, “They’re even uglier than Li Jiyan. I thought Li Jiyan was ugly enough, but these people are even uglier than him.”
Yu Ningying laughed and hugged her, saying, “I’m showing you this so you’ll know that all men are the same. Li Jiyan is young and promising, and handsome too. Aren’t you satisfied with this husband?”
”Let me think about it some more.” Yu Ziyu said resentfully, “If only he didn’t have that thing, it would be so much better. It’s like one bad apple spoiling the whole bunch.”
Yu Qingdai was amused by her: “Then why don’t you go find a eunuch?”
Yu Ziyu said dejectedly, “I need to find a man to share a room with in order to use the Yin-Yang method to help me cultivate into an immortal. I can’t find a eunuch.”
Li Jiyan returned to the general’s mansion in a daze, changed into his military uniform, and headed to the Zuolongwu Army camp.
He was originally serving as the General Who Pacifies the Barbarians on the frontier. This time, Li Fanglian brought him back to the capital, hoping that he would help him seize power and profit in the capital.
Li Jiyan had distinguished himself in frontier battles, and Li Fanglian, using his position as Grand Commandant, successfully arranged for Li Jiyan to serve as a third-rank general in the Left Dragon Martial Army of the Six Armies of the Northern Army.
Li Jiyan had only been back in the capital for half a month. For the time prior, he had been dragged around by Li Fanglian, socializing with high-ranking officials and nobles to become familiar with them. He had spent very little time at the military camp.
Upon arriving at the military camp, he first went to greet several senior soldiers.
The Dragon Martial Army has one Grand General of the Third Rank and two Generals of the Third Rank.
Li Jiyan needs to take the initiative to greet the Grand General and the General. As for those with lower ranks, such as the Chief Clerk, Military Advisor, Left and Right Generals, they have to come and talk to Li Jiyan themselves.
Following Li Fanglian’s instructions, Li Jiyan brought a fine tea set to General Lin Hongsong’s tent.
”Your humble servant Li Jiyan greets the General.”
Lin Hongsong put down the military book in his hand, looked at Li Jiyan, and said, “You are Li Fanglian’s godson, known as the ever-victorious general beyond the Great Wall, who is invincible and has superb skills?”
Li Jiyan bowed slightly: “Most of the rumors are untrue, I dare not accept such praise.”
Lin Hongsong moved to stand in front of Li Jiyan and sized him up. He looked at Li Jiyan’s eight-foot frame, broad shoulders and narrow waist, and patted his strong back forcefully. Then he looked at the hideous scar that was half exposed on Li Jiyan’s wrist.
He nodded in satisfaction: “He’s a truly capable military commander, not bad at all.”
Nowadays, the emperor neglects state affairs, and factions in the court are colluding with each other, creating an undercurrent of unrest.
In their quest for military power, nobles and generals would send their weak and powerless sons into the army. Lin Hongsong was thoroughly disgusted by the sight of these young men swaggering around in the camp.
Now that a genuine military general has arrived, Lin Hongsong is naturally eager to acquire such talent.
”Work hard from now on. If you don’t understand anything, just come and ask me,” Lin Hongsong said in a strong voice.
”Yes, General.”
Lin Hongsong had originally intended to have a long chat with Li Jiyan about his battles against foreign enemies on the border, but seeing Li Jiyan’s indifferent expression, he knew he wasn’t a talkative person. He didn’t press him, simply gave a few instructions, and then dismissed Li Jiyan.
Li Jiyan then went to give a gift to another general of the same rank as him, named Ye Biao, who was about the same age as him.
Li Jiyan heard that Ye Biao was a military camp arranged by the Third Prince, and that he had considerable power behind him and should not be underestimated.
Ye Biao was also a man of few words; after exchanging a few polite words with Li Jiyan, he said no more.
After going through several connections, Li Jiyan arrived at the training ground. The equipment and training methods there were so standardized that he was secretly excited. The formations, archery, weightlifting, and horsemanship were all more rigorous and proper than anything he had seen in the border regions.
In the border regions, the army was mostly based on the Fubing system, which emphasized “being a soldier on horseback and a farmer on foot.” In addition to training, soldiers also had to cultivate the land, which made management and training quite inconvenient.
The troops in the capital are all full-time soldiers who focus on training and have higher military skills.
Li Jiyan first went to the archery range. He was not good at anything else, but he was really good at fighting. He had been trained by Li Fanglian since he was a child, and he was proficient in everything that a military general should do.
Holding a bow and arrow, he effortlessly drew the string with his powerful arm, and the arrow pierced through the air, hitting the bullseye! This drew cheers from the crowd.
After practicing archery, he moved on to the martial arts arena.
He easily lifted a 60-pound stone lock with one hand, practicing catching it with his shoulder, elbow, and hand.
He was consumed by jealousy, his mind filled with thoughts of Yu Ziyu. The thought of Yu Ziyu seeing a male prostitute made him feel terribly uncomfortable, a lump forming in his throat that he couldn’t release, and he could only vent his frustration through these devices.
Even by evening, when the soldiers had long since returned to their barracks to rest, Li Jiyan was still running on the drill ground, his uniform soaked with sweat.
He lay on the lawn, took out Yu Ziyu’s pearl earring and looked at it for a long time before heading to the bathhouse.
He took off his clothes, picked up a bucket of cold water, and poured it over his head, soaking him completely from head to toe. He couldn’t help but fall into a trap of delusions: Was he really that ugly? Yu Ziyu said she felt like vomiting just looking at him there. What should he do…?
For the next few days, he stayed in the military camp for training.
Li Fanglian thought that he and Yu Ziyu had broken up, so he started to visit other famous officials and dignitaries, thinking of finding a new marriage for Li Jiyan.
A few days later, Li Fanglian sent someone to the military camp to summon Li Jiyan back to the general’s mansion, saying that the emperor was hosting a banquet in the palace that night, and he wanted to take Li Jiyan with him to the banquet.
Li Jiyan returned to the general’s mansion, where Li Fanglian was already waiting for him.
He asked, “Will Yu Ziyu be going too?”
Li Fanglian sipped his tea and replied casually, “Who knows? That madwoman, the Emperor seems to like her quite a bit.”
Then, Li Fanglian took out a stack of names and said, “By the way, it seems your marriage with Yu Ziyu is off. I’ve arranged a few new ones for you, the eldest daughter of Grand Tutor Zhang, the youngest daughter of Governor Chen… We have to meet them all.”
Li Jiyan rarely stood by his own opinion: “Father, I only want Yu Ziyu.”
”Then why haven’t you gone to see her these past few days?” Li Fanglian closed the list. “A marriage alliance with the Yu family is what Father is most satisfied with. It’s a pity that Yu Ziyu is crazy. If you really get together with her, Father is afraid you’ll go crazy too!”
Li Jiyan did not answer.
Li Fanglian then said seriously, “If the marriage with the Yu family cannot be settled within a month, I will have to arrange for you to marry a girl from another family.”
Yu Ziyu entered the palace with her parents and sister.
At the palace gates, everyone had to undergo a body search by the Imperial Guards and was forbidden from carrying weapons into the palace. However, there was one exception: Yu Ziyu.
Yu Ziyu was allowed to bring her longsword and scimitar into the palace; this was a special privilege granted by the emperor.
If we’re talking about who’s the craziest person in the capital, it’s the third young lady of the Yu family, Yu Ziyu. The second craziest person is the monarch in the palace, who holds the power of life and death over the entire nation.
The old emperor now neglects state affairs, focusing solely on finding the elixir of immortality. This has led to various factions colluding and eyeing each other covetously, waiting for the old emperor to breathe his last so they can seize power.
Yu Ziyu was obsessed with cultivating immortality, and she hit it off with the old emperor.
The old emperor believed that if Yu Ziyu could truly cultivate into an immortal, he could go to the immortal realm and find the elixir of immortality for him.
While waiting at the main gate of the palace, Li Jiyan saw Yu Ziyu.
He hadn’t seen Yu Ziyu for six days since the day he ate poisonous mushrooms with her on the mountain.
He stood behind Li Fanglian, his gaze constantly lingering on Yu Ziyu.
She still carried a silver longsword on her back and a black lacquered scimitar at her waist, standing ramrod straight, like a stalk of green bamboo. Li Jiyan admired Yu Ziyu quite a bit; on the day on the mountain, he had secretly weighed Yu Ziyu’s longsword and scimitar, and they were quite heavy.
She actually carried these two swords on her back day after day, without even taking them off when she ate; her perseverance is commendable.
Yu Ziyu was extremely perceptive and quickly realized Li Jiyan’s gaze. She gripped the hilt of her knife tightly and pushed through the crowd toward him.