Thousand Miles of Bright Moonlight - Chapter 159.2

While the common people endlessly discussed the romantic rumours between the princess and the Buddha’s Son, Yang Qian and the other people of Hexi were also stirred with excitement, Princess Wenzhao was from the Central Plains!

Yang Qian was desperate to know what the current situation was in the Central Plains. Had it been unified? Was the Emperor planning to send troops to recover Hexi, Gaochang, and Yizhou?

He sent a family servant to follow the merchants to the Royal Court to inquire into the princess’s origins. Half a month later, the servant returned with disheartening news: the princess had previously been captured and taken to the Western Regions by Haidu Aling. She was struggling to protect herself, and the dynasty of the Central Plains still had not reclaimed Helong.

Yang Qian was bitterly disappointed, yet he still sold off his land to gather a sum of money, intending to travel to the Royal Court to pay his respects to Princess Wen Zhao. Whatever the case, she was a princess of the Central Plains, adrift in foreign lands without support. As a son of the Yang clan of Hexi, he felt duty-bound to ease her burdens. Perhaps he could also learn news of the Central Plains from her.

Unexpectedly, before he could set out, the princess came to Gaochang herself.

Yang Qian’s heart had leapt in alarm: Haidu Aling’s evil designs on her had not yet died. In the Royal Court, with the Buddha’s Son presiding, she was safe, but Gaochang was under the Northern Rong’s sway. If Lady Ina sent word to Haidu Aling, the princess would be in grave danger!

He thought her reckless and wanted to give her a stern warning so she would see the danger clearly.

What he never expected was that, barely after they had left the market district, someone was already eager to send a letter of betrayal.

Yang Qian’s fingers clenched tightly around the sheepskin parchment, veins standing out on the back of his hand.

“Since the princess has obtained these letters, you must have prepared for this in full. I admire you! Please, tell me the names of these people. I, Yang Qian, am ashamed to be associated with them!”

Yaoying gave a faint smile, her expression free of any anger at betrayal. “This is Gaochang, not the Central Plains.”

Yang Qian’s brow furrowed deeply.

Yaoying met his gaze calmly. “Young Master Yang, the Central Plains are in turmoil. The Western Regions have stood isolated for many years. How many people are there, like you, who never forget their homeland and yearn to return east?”

Yang Qian clenched his fist and said, “There are many more like me! As long as I call out, they would all be willing to serve the princess!”

Yaoying shook her head. “Young Master, you are a hero, and I admire you. But not everyone can cast aside life and death as you do. Far more are concerned only with wealth, glory, and a peaceful life. Right now, the Great Wei cannot yet send troops towards the west, and Gaochang has no strength to oppose the Northern Rong. Their betrayal of me is only natural.”

She had long expected that someone would betray her and had made preparations in advance.

This meeting was a test from the start to see who could be trusted, who could be used, and who must be avoided. In her mind, she already had a plan.

“The princess need not excuse them. They may cling to life and fear death, but they could have stayed away from the market instead of coming to meet you. They should never have sworn loyalty to the princess only to betray you afterwards! That is far beyond what can be excused!”

Yang Qian gave a cold laugh. “We sons of Hexi would never stoop to such vile acts!”

Yaoying’s lips curved slightly.

When Yang Qian was young, he had been wild and arrogant. People called him a wastrel, a playboy. Who would have thought that this playboy, dressed in thin spring robes, riding on a horse by a slanting bridge, waving his red sleeves, would have such unyielding pride in his bones?

She looked at the man before her, recalling how he had suffered countless hardships, only to die in despair, his body becoming nothing more than dry bones buried in the drifting desert sand. Her gaze softened.

“Precisely because there are so many petty men, that a man of pure loyalty like you is all the more precious.”

Yaoying spoke from the heart, her dark, luminous eyes fixed steadily on Yang Qian.

Hearing the sincerity in her voice, Yang Qian froze for a moment, flustered. He averted his gaze, his back pressed against the carriage door so stiffly it began to ache. On his face, still not free of anger, there flickered a trace of awkwardness. He muttered in a low voice, “The princess is too kind.”

Yaoying smiled.

Yang Qian, unsure where to put his hands and feet, sat in an embarrassed silence for a while. Then he suddenly lifted his head…bang! striking the back of it against the carriage wall with a loud thud.

Ignoring the pain, he frowned. “Princess, are you truly just going to let this go? What if someone among them has already sent the letter of betrayal?”

Yaoying pointed at the sheepskin parchments. “Young Master Yang, I came from the Central Plains and know little of the noble clans of Hexi here in Gaochang. You must be knowing all these people who have reported me. They are all descendants of Hexi officials, bound to each other by marriage ties. Among them is even your clan uncle. If I were to kill them for my own safety, how would their families see me?”

The anger slowly drained from Yang Qian, leaving him slumped and dispirited. “If you kill them, the noble clans will certainly bear a grudge against the princess.”

For the great aristocratic families, clan interests outweighed all else. The princess was merely an outsider; the clan members were blood relatives who had shared both hardship and fortune. Even if they did not approve of their kin’s despicable act of betrayal, they would still choose to shield them.

Therefore, these people could not be killed.

But could they really be allowed to curry favour with the Northern Rong at the princess’s expense? If he had to spend his days among such people, when would he ever realise his ambition to reclaim the lost lands?