Qingcao looked at her and stammered, "If so... Miss, are you his priority or his urgent matter?"
"Huh? Well... well..." This time it was Su Wan'er's turn to be at a loss for words.
On the day of returning to the palace, apart from Yu Wenshan causing a ruckus at noon, the rest of the day was extremely peaceful and smooth. But in the evening, an unexpected guest suddenly arrived.
"Your humble subject pays respects to the Grand Elder." Seeing the Grand Elder striding into the palace quickly, Long Xiaojiu bent down to salute.
The Grand Elder looked at the slaves in the palace and suddenly ordered them all to leave. The people of the Long family who had come with Long Xiaojiu naturally knew the current situation, so they remained unmoved. Only the palace servants who had originally guarded the Saintess Palace left at once.
"Don't you understand what I'm saying? Get out of here all of you!" the Grand Elder roared again. Long Xiaojiu thought that he didn't dare to do anything at this moment. Moreover, it wouldn't do any good for the maids and servants to hear their conversation, so she then ordered her own people to retreat.
"I really didn't expect that the little concubine daughter who was once willing to start from the lowest - ranking military officer in my Yuwen family would suddenly become the Saintess." At this moment, sparks almost burst out of the Grand Elder's eyes. He was naturally extremely angry, but Long Xiaojiu was not afraid at all, as if she was determined that this man wouldn't dare to do anything to her.
"Grand Elder, are you mistaken? The Saintess is the Saintess. I'm Long Xiaojiu of the Long family. What does it have to do with your Yuwen family?"
"Why on earth did you sneak into the Yuwen family? Did you deliberately approach me to avenge your Long family?" Since the moment he knew that Long Xiaojiu was the Saintess, this thought had been lingering in the Grand Elder's mind. Long Xiaojiu had gradually approached him and caught his attention only because she was the Saintess of the Long family. Then, all the things in the past, whether it was Long Xiaojiu's playing hard - to - get or her subsequent avoidance of him, were they all just an act?
"Grand Elder, don't think too much. I never deliberately approached you. Today, I might as well tell you here. When I sneaked into the Yuwen family back then, I did have the intention to avenge my clan. But within a month in the Yuwen family, I had already found out who was the one who had spared no effort to harm my Long family. The great enmity has long been avenged. Where is the so - called deliberate approach to the Grand Elder?" Long Xiaojiu remembered that she did have the suspicion of deliberately approaching the two elders to stir up internal strife among them, but since the goal had been achieved later, there was no need for it anymore.
"Sure enough, it was you who killed Murong Chong."
Murong Chong was the only brother of the Grand Elder's wife. Long Xiaojiu had long investigated and learned that on the day when the Long family was exterminated, although the elders of the Long family had escaped, they were all seriously injured. It was all because General Murong Chong seemed to have a deep hatred with the Long family before, so he deliberately provoked troubles again and again and spared no effort to harm the Long family. Finally, he personally led troops to besiege the Long family.
"Then why... why did you wear my wife's clothes that day? Why did you deliberately dress like her?" The Grand Elder seemed extremely unwilling. In his impression, Long Xiaojiu had been very noticeable since she appeared within the ruling class of the Yuwen family. He had always been able to notice Long Xiaojiu.
"It was someone who framed me. Now it seems that the person who framed me is Yu Wenshan." It was not until today that Long Xiaojiu had carefully figured it out. Wasn't it Yu Wenshan who framed her? Knowing that the Grand Elder was deeply in love with the late queen, the most taboo thing in the palace was disrespect to the late queen. As a result, when she came back from the battlefield that day, her clothes were all stained with blood. She casually found a simple palace dress, thinking that it was prepared for her by the maids. Who would have thought that it was the clothes of the late queen when she was alive.
"Then why... why did you suddenly come back with the identity of the Saintess?"
"This is exactly what I want to discuss with the Grand Elder. This matter concerns the lives of the common people in the Southern Border. So even if the Grand Elder didn't come to find me tonight, I still wanted to discuss it with you." Long Xiaojiu planned to tell the Grand Elder everything that Su Wan'er had told her and discuss countermeasures with him.
"Don't worry. Originally, I didn't intend to hand over the position of the Saintess to Yu Wenshan. If you want to be the Saintess, then be it."
On the day when Long Xiaojiu disappeared, the Grand Elder felt what panic was for the first time. Since he had ascended to the position of the Grand Elder in his twenties, he had led the Yuwen family to bear humiliation and burden, almost step by step and steadily for more than a decade. Finally, they had seized the ruling power of the Southern Border. Perhaps there had never been anything that made him miscalculate, and nothing could escape his prediction. But when the palace servants reported that Long Xiaojiu had left, he simply couldn't believe it. He had almost given everything he could to this girl. He even had the intention of making her the queen long ago. He simply didn't know why Long Xiaojiu had left. There was simply no reason.
"This matter is not very important. The most important thing now is the war between our Southern Border and the Jin Kingdom." Long Xiaojiu glanced at him, not knowing what the Grand Elder's plan was.
"Since the Jin Kingdom has married their queen here, presumably the two countries will have a truce for a certain period of time. But in the past few days, the scouts from the front line have reported that the number of the Jin soldiers has only increased and they are all stationed by the border river. Don't worry. As long as I have a breath left, I will do my best to protect the Southern Border." Although the current situation is not optimistic, he is not the Grand Elder for nothing. He will not watch the Southern Border fall into the hands of the Jin Kingdom.
"I know that the Grand Elder is dedicated to the country and the people. But... but doesn't the Grand Elder think that if this war continues, there will only be one result in the end, that is, the Southern Border will run out of ammunition and food and finally become a vassal state of the Jin Kingdom." Although she herself didn't want the Jin Kingdom to take over the Southern Border, she didn't want to see such a result even more. Moreover, for more than 200 years, the Southern Border has implemented the elder - system by various major families. This backward management method has long restricted the development of the Southern Border. But it can be seen that although the Jin Kingdom has an emperor, the emperor is restricted by the three departments and six ministries. Moreover, there are civil and military officials offering advice and suggestions. In this way, the development of all regions in the Jin Kingdom will naturally keep pace with the times.
"Jiuer, you don't need to worry about this. I will protect you and the Southern Border well." The Grand Elder thought that Long Xiaojiu was worried about losing the war.
"What I mean is that since we will lose even if we fight, and even if we win, it will be a Pyrrhic victory. Instead, we might as well just submit to the Jin Kingdom now. Although we will be a vassal state, we will still be stronger than other small countries. Although we will have to pay tribute every year, in this way, the advanced agricultural and animal - husbandry technologies of the Jin Kingdom can also be introduced. Maybe the people of the Southern Border will live better."