Showing off the Dowry (1)

Princess Heyang, up until eighteen years of age, never picked a fuma. Not only because her public opinion was bad, raising numerous handsome male lovers, but further because towards those so called ‘talented handsome youths'[1], she very much disdained beneath contempt, let alone those that were able to become her fuma. According to her, ‘Someone who can't even compare to this princess's male lovers still dare to have delusions of marrying this princess?' It's best not to get killed by her during the wedding night.

Princess Heyang was raised by her elder brother like his own daughter. Even the Empress at the time needed to yield to her. And as for disciplining, that further didn't need to be mentioned. Her elder brother was both helpless and troubled, could it be he'll just have to yield to his younger sister like this for a lifetime?

Afterwards, Northern Xiongnu suddenly mentioned wanting to marry a Qi Yuan princess as their queen, establis.h.i.+ng friendly relations between the two countries. Northern Xiongnu, in the eyes of the Qi Yuan dynasty, was just a barbaric place. Never mind the place being overgrown by wilderness, they were even a bunch of barbarians, drinking blood and eating fur. Going to that kind of place to suffer hards.h.i.+ps, not a single princess or junzhu in the imperial household was willing. Originally, they were already preparing to pick a daughter from a high official's family, conferring into a princess, to go fulfill the political marriage, but unexpectedly, Princess Heyang voluntarily stood out.

(T/N: Note that there's a difference between empress (皇后) and queen (王后), because the Xiongnu's are considered inferior in power to the Qi Yuan dynasty their royalty can only have lesser t.i.tles like king(w.a.n.g) and queen. But there is a difference between an actual king of a lesser country/territory, and a w.a.n.g, even though they sorta share the same t.i.tle.)

Speaking of which, even if Princess Heyang stayed in Qi Yuan, wantonly doing as she pleased, she still had her elder brother in front taking responsibility for her. And when her elder brother dies, there would still be her nephew blocking for her, so others still wouldn't be able to do anything to her. Yet at this time, she voluntarily chose to marry for political union. Her imperial brother naturally firmly opposed, but don't know what Princess Heyang said to him, he finally loosened his mouth.

The ministers, who originally had very bad opinion of her, all suddenly changed their att.i.tude. For a princess that was able to sacrifice herself for the good of the country, no matter how bad she was in other aspects, she was still worthy of respect.

Donning the elegant royal gown, Princess Heyang gazed back upon the capital city, her eyes glistening with dazzle, hooking her lips, as her imposing grandeur was on full blast. Originally, not a stunningly beautiful face, but in that instant, it blossomed the most dazzling charm. In that moment, everyone all felt, that wasn't a princess going to Northern Xiongnu to form a political union, but rather a king going to conquer that piece of land. All the common people of the capital all kneeled in wors.h.i.+p.

Princess Heyang perhaps wasn't well received in Qi Yuan, but in Northern Xiongnu, she was very much popular, making a bunch of Xiongnu men become madly infatuated with her. When she was still in Qi Yuan, Princess Heyang already dared to openly raise male lovers, so naturally she didn't mind ‘tangling' with these Northern Xiongu n.o.bility. The Northern Xiongnu King although was infuriated, he still was reluctant to kill her.

Princess Heyang toyed with them in the palm of her hand, inciting them to fight amongst themselves. And the Northern Xiongnu King, this husband who legitimately possessed her in name, naturally bore the brunt of it, becoming the public enemy of everyone, with his sons joining hands and having him killed off. Thus, the Northern Xiongnu sunk into the struggle for power. Princess Heyang, on the other hand, just threw out one line, ‘This princess will only submit to the strongest man.' Afterwards, she just idly watched them kill one another. Just when there was a result, Qi Yuan suddenly dispatched troops at this time.

The newly crowned Northern Xiongnu King was unable to restrain his anger, desiring to behead Princess Heyang. However, Princess Heyang just nonchalantly smiled.

The Northern Xiongnu King firmly held her with the blade pressing against her neck, and blood seeping out from her skin, yet Princess Heyang still had the mood to provoke him, “In Qi Yuan, there's a saying called, ‘Marrying the chicken, you follow the chicken; marrying a dog, you follow the dog'. Since this princess has married into Northern Xiongnu, then naturally belongs to Northern Xiongnu. Whether the king wants to kill or torture, this princess will all obey and honor.”

These words actually dispelled the Northern Xiongnu King's desire to kill. And after giving away to one's beastly l.u.s.t, he brought Princess Heyang along out into battle. Afterwards, during a crucial moment in battle, Princess Heyang decapitated the Northern Xiongnu King.

(T/N: I feel like either he's super b.a.l.l.sy or stupid to bring her into war against Qi Yuan, her home country, or she must have been h.e.l.la convincing to make him bring her along.)

That battle, Qi Yuan naturally seized total victory, even nearly wiping out Northern Xiongnu. Unfortunately, in Northern Xiongnu, everyone can be said to be skilled in battle, brave and good at fighting. Wanting to exterminate them was very difficult. Northern Xiongnu however suffered heavy losses. Including the several hundred years from the previous dynasty, this can be said to be one of the greatest victory against Northern Xiongnu, greatly weakening Qi Yuan's greatest enemies in the northern borders, and Princess Heyang's contributions cannot go unnoticed. It was more than enough to have her recorded into the annals, letting the later generation sing praises for her.

Just, everyone all thought, after decapitating the Northern Xiongnu King, Princess Heyang lost her life to those high-ranking generals. In any case, there weren't anymore news of her. Yet, unexpectedly, this princess not only was perfectly fine and alive, never mind returning to Qi Yuan, she even lived quite luxuriously and comfortably. If Yun Niang really is Princess Heyang, then for her to be able to hold on to the Rouge Pavilion, with no one daring to touch in the slightest, that was just as matter of course. Her backing was indeed Le Cheng Emperor, just this relations.h.i.+p was entirely different from what Jing Wan previously thought. Anyone who dares to touch the Rouge Pavilion will certainly get chopped up by Le Cheng Emperor.

Of course, in the official history of Qi Yuan, it will only record Princess Heyang's contributions, and her wild and unconventional romantic history will instead appear in the unofficial histories of popular legends and the numerous folk storybooks. Even if it's a storybook character created with her as the model, no one has ever deliberately slandered her.

This woman was precisely a legend.

“Princess Heyang should be fifty some, nearing sixty, right? But Yun Niang only appears to be in her early forties.”

“That's why this servant is also just guessing and really isn't certain.” However, w.a.n.gye's side definitely wouldn't make a mistake. Since he said the Rouge Pavilion's boss is precisely the former Princess Heyang, then it definitely wouldn't be wrong. Just she never thought, miss would run into her during her first time going. How many people deliberately wanted to seek her out yet all weren't able to.

“Then how did mama recognize that Yun Niang might be Princess Heyang?”

“This servant once inadvertently saw Princess Heyang's portrait before in the palace, very much similar to Yun Niang.”

Jing Wan glanced to Gong mama. This kind of portrait probably shouldn't be something that anyone is able to see, right? Then, when Gong mama was still in the palace, she probably wasn't that kind of very weak in power gugu[2]? But, Gong mama knew martial arts, ordinary court gugus, which one would know these things? Could it be that Gong mama was…………..Jing Wan lightly coughed, dispelling those messy thoughts.

“If that's really the case, then the possibility of mama's guess being correct is very high.”

“Then in the future, what does miss wish to do?”

“Naturally however it's suppose to be, just treat it as not knowing. Besides, for the most part, everything was settled in this first trip, and since I don't have any interest towards the Rouge Pavilion's things, I won't go without a purpose. Then that way, the chance of running into her will be very small.”

Gong mama nodded. Miss's situation right now was already not too good. Never mind having w.a.n.gye, that kind of dangerous figure, around, also attracting Princess Heyang's attention isn't anything good either.

While Jing Wan was chatting with Gong mama, there were rumors of third miss not liking the eldest sister-in-law going around inside the manor.

“……..Never mind that last time when third miss gave the other young misses ointment, there weren't any for our eldest young madam[3] (little w.a.n.g-s.h.i.+), this time, aside from the younger misses, the madams above all had a share. Even the eldest miss that has married out already all have a share. Just our eldest young madam and fourth miss didn't get any. Third miss has always been at odds with fourth miss, so not giving any to fourth miss is rather understandable, but what about our eldest young madam here? Similarly not liked by her like fourth miss? When third miss entered the capital with old madam, the greeting gift eldest young madam gave her, that was a bracelet worth thousand some taels of silver, really was given to a…………”

[1] This is mostly referring to scholar or those who excel in this sort of scholarly activities with prospects in politics. These were usually sons of n.o.bles or officials, and ones that had high enough status to marry a princess was usually a son from a prominent family.

[2] Term for older palace maid, usually higher in status than average palace maid.

T/N: I wasn't joking when I said she had a super bada.s.s backstory. If you ask me, Princess Heyang's backstory can even be written into a full novel and it would still be super entertaining. I always like to think of this novel as a novel with many mini stories inside in the form of the other characters' backstories. It's so much fun with all the different side characters having so unique backstories.