"Jiu'er, don't talk to me like this. Are you bothered that I've taken another woman as the queen? But that day, clearly... I wanted to make you the queen, yet you refused. I did this for the sake of the entire Southern Border."
"Elder, what nonsense are you spouting? You and I are uncle and niece. How could I possibly care about whom my uncle marries?"
"Jiu'er, I thought you wouldn't mind this. Moreover, your father and I are only distantly related. Such a relationship might not be traced back even eight generations..."
Listening to their conversation, Su Wan'er was now certain that the elder was in love with Xiao Jiu! And it seemed that Xiao Jiu was using the name Yuwen Jiu'er. To be honest, she was initially shocked and thought the elder was being delusional. However, as she listened to their conversation, she felt that the elder didn't seem as lecherous as she had imagined. His words to Xiao Jiu were sincere.
But not only Xiao Jiu, even Su Wan'er knew that Xiao Jiu was just using him to continue her actions within the Yuwen family. How could she really agree to him?
It seemed that today's matter was because Xiao Jiu was afraid that if Si Junlin came as General Su Wei, the elder might discover the truth. So she asked the elder to promise not to stay in the queen's chambers tonight.
"Jiu'er... What on earth do you want? I've sent people to investigate, and I can't agree with what you said about the second brother. If it weren't for you, you know that the crime of slandering an elder would have landed you in prison long ago. But I believe you're not such a person. What do you want? Do you have some grudge against the second brother? Why are you trying to harm him?"
"I'm just slandering him. Just arrest me." Long Xiao Jiu seemed to be certain that the elder wouldn't lay a finger on her.
No wonder the Yuwen family, which had been doing well in the war, suddenly had a rift between the two elders. Could it be that all of this was planned by Xiao Jiu?
"Jiu'er, stop being so willful, okay? Apart from matters concerning the Southern Border, I'll agree to anything you say."
Su Wan'er was eavesdropping on the roof, tiptoeing carefully. The more she listened, the more shocked she became. If she hadn't seen clearly that the elder was in his right mind, she would really have suspected that Xiao Jiu had put a curse on him. Now, the elder seemed to be completely at Xiao Jiu's beck and call. If it weren't for his age, he would be like a young man head - over - heels in love!
Su Wan'er believed that since Xiao Jiu had been dealing with the elder for so long, she should be able to handle today's matter on her own. So she turned around and prepared to leave, but she forgot that she had no martial arts skills now. Although the roof wasn't very high, falling without any preparation still hurt.
This unlucky Si Junlin never practiced martial arts. He was useless at this critical moment.
Si Junlin was also quite surprised when he heard about this. This Yuwen elder seemed to be a very upright person. Did he have a thing for young girls?
"What are you talking about?" Su Wan'er glared at him. "Don't be so vulgar. Xiao Jiu told me her real age. If calculated, she's already a girl of seventeen or eighteen." The age difference was a bit large, but it was far from being a case of pedophilia.
"You're actually taking the side of this old man. Weren't you always so protective of Long Xiao Jiu?" Si Junlin was even more surprised by Su Wan'er's attitude.
"If I had only heard about this, I would naturally think the worst. But today, I saw with my own eyes that the elder seems to be truly in love and is completely obedient to Xiao Jiu." Su Wan'er recalled and felt that the elder might really be sincere.
"If that's the case, then Long Xiao Jiu must have put a curse on him." Si Junlin mused.
"Absolutely impossible. He's an elder of the Yuwen family. Although Xiao Jiu is the Holy Maiden, she must be inferior to him. Moreover, today we saw that he was clearly in good spirits."
"I caught one of the maids who came to deliver the food and got some information from her. At first, I was skeptical about whether what she said was true. Now that there's such a relationship, it must be true."
"What did you find out?"
"It seems that everyone in the Southern Border knows that your Xiao Jiu is not an ordinary person. She's not just an insignificant forward. In the eyes of the Southern Border people, she's already become a fox spirit who has bewitched the elder."
"What are you talking about? Si Junlin, since you're using my mouth, can't you say something nicer?" Su Wan'er couldn't help but get angry.
"These three words suit her perfectly. Do you know about the large - scale recruitment in the Southern Border not long ago? They recruited 100,000 new soldiers at once. You can imagine that if there aren't capable generals to train these new recruits for a year or two, the combat effectiveness will only decrease. Such a simple truth. Don't the people of the Southern Border understand?"
"Yes, I was also very puzzled at that time. But when I was thinking on the battlefield, I just thought that the Yuwen family was desperate and resorting to excessive military expansion." Su Wan'er recalled the battle.
"Do you know that this policy was persuaded by Xiao Jiu to the elder to implement?"
"What? Impossible. Xiao Jiu always cherishes her people. How could she..." But then Su Wan'er thought about it. With these new recruits, it seemed that the casualties of the Southern Border army were actually fewer than before. When she fought against the Southern Border army, because there were so many new recruits, even when she went into battle herself, she couldn't stop most of the Southern Border army from surrendering and defecting halfway through the battle.
"Now you know how amazing your Xiao Jiu is, right? She can use the beauty trap and is also very familiar with war. I'm afraid she's definitely not just seventeen or eighteen years old. Maybe the Southern Border has some kind of magic. Like Yuwen Shan, she might be twenty - seven or twenty - eight years old."
"Absolutely impossible. Stop talking nonsense. Maybe Xiao Jiu is a genius. And you know her uncle. Aren't the elders of the Long family also..." Su Wan'er seemed very certain that Xiao Jiu hadn't lied to her about her age.
Naturally, they didn't dare to act rashly in the palace. They knew that even if the elder didn't send people to watch them, he would still be on guard against them.
However, plans often change. Su Wan'er couldn't help but feel troubled. Looking at Xiao Jiu's situation, she wasn't an unimportant person. So she couldn't just disappear and become the Holy Maiden again.
The elder was not only familiar with her but also seemed to be deeply in love with her. What should they do now?
"Can't we just ask Xiao Jiu to change her appearance? Or find someone to impersonate the Holy Maiden?" Although they had the token, it didn't matter who the Holy Maiden was. And it would be more convenient if it was someone from the Jin Kingdom. But now the real Holy Maiden was right in the palace. What could they do?
"It's too late. We'll just follow the original plan. After all, the truth will always prevail. So what if the Yuwen elder knows the truth? With the support of the Jin Kingdom, he can't do anything to Long Xiao Jiu." Si Junlin thought that this matter couldn't be delayed any longer. After all, once Su Wan'er left, only Gu Jingtian would be in the army. He was afraid that Gu Jingtian wouldn't be able to hold the Su family's army together.