Chapter 22: United Hearts

  Thanks for the support from Xiaopao Bing 085, Lan Donghao and srqg!

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  Lingyun only wanted to drink a mouthful of wine and get drunk, then wake up from his drunkenness and find himself still lying on the painting boat heading south to Yangzhou, everything here was just a dream after his intoxication.

  However, Gao Qianxue was unwilling to see her newlywed husband drunk and unconscious. She reached out and snatched the wine bag, throwing it back at its owner. Ling Yun wanted to protest, even wanting to shout loudly at Gao Qianxue. But thinking of his princess's noble status, as well as the more than 200 fierce anti-government armed men around him, he suddenly lost his courage.

  Gao Shanshuo retreated to Gaojiazhuang and then summoned her followers, who all came forward in response. In just half a night, more than 200 warriors arrived with knives, guns, swords, and shields. And this was only a small part of them. Just now, Gao Mingyue told him that they had deployed thousands of warriors in Liuhe County. In Yangzhou, even more people could be mobilized to arm themselves, up to three thousand people, who were normally distributed among the various farms and shops controlled by the Gao family. These people all had a normal identity on the surface, either as farmhands or tenants, or as shop assistants or guards. Of course, in addition, some of the Gao family's warriors were arranged near the rivers and roads in Yangzhou, acting as mountain bandits and water thieves, listening for messages and using force at critical times.

  Thousands of private soldiers, for Lingyun, are a huge force, but for the imperial court, and even for those large families in Jiangnan, they are not rare. Which big family's private soldiers and servants don't add up to hundreds of thousands? If it were before the Sui dynasty destroyed the Southern Chen dynasty, these powerful families in Jiangnan had tens of thousands of slaves and servants.

  "After tonight, none of us can stay in Yangzhou anymore." Gao Qianshuang took a sip of honey water and said softly.

  Be careful, for a thousand years of sailing. Their identities made her cautious. Perhaps Gao Ding's injury does not necessarily mean that the imperial court has discovered their identities. But to be on the safe side, in this situation, Gao Qianxue finally chose to transfer immediately. This transfer, such a big movement, will inevitably not be able to hide for long, and it won't take long for the movement here to be discovered by the government, and may lead to more secrets being pursued.

  "Where shall we go?" Lingyun said absent-mindedly.

  "Return to the North!" Gao Qianxue replied.

  "Why was Gao Ding injured?" Lingyun turned his head to look at Gao Qiansheng, whether he liked it or not, he had already fallen into this quagmire. Lingyun did not want to complain about heaven and earth, after all, Gao Qiansheng had saved him in the past, and later also gave him the opportunity to leave. It was his own choice to leave, now facing such a situation, no one could blame anyone else. Moreover, he was not the kind of person who liked to regret. Now that things have come to this point, what can be done is not to complain and regret, but to solve the trouble. Since so, he hoped to participate in it, even if it meant being a treacherous minister, even if he knew he might die, he still wanted to be a clear-headed person, rather than losing his head in confusion.

  Lingyun's performance fell into Gao Qianshuang's eyes, making her somewhat unexpected and also surprised.

  "Now, I don't plan to hide it from you, my husband. In fact, our trip to Jiangnan was to unite with the powerful families of Jiangnan to rebel against the Sui dynasty. After a year, someone finally agreed to cooperate with us, and this time, Gao Ding went to welcome that friend's envoy. Gao Ding brought fifty guards to receive the person, but it was extremely secretive, yet unexpectedly, Gao Ding returned severely injured. I'm worried that the news will leak out, and Gao Ding and his men were intercepted by the imperial court."

  Lingyun nodded, "It's also possible that your friend was the one who betrayed you in the end?"

  Gao Qianxue nodded in agreement, glancing at Ling Yun: "Husband's words also make sense. Whether it's the government discovering them or they betraying us, under unclear circumstances, we can't just sit and wait for death. Relocating and gathering our forces is preparing for the worst-case scenario."

  "Ah, I'm glad you told me!" Lingyun reached out and grasped Gao Shanshu's slender hand, which was as cool and delicate as jade. Although they were already nominally husband and wife, this was still the first time Lingyun had made intimate contact with her, aside from that one time when their lips touched. Gao Shanshu didn't seem embarrassed at all, but rather very calm and composed, allowing Lingyun to hold her hand without resistance. She let out a slight sigh of relief, as she had been worried that Lingyun would have a bad reaction after finding out about her identity, or even worse, after learning about their current situation. But unexpectedly, he just looked lost for a moment before quickly regaining his composure and starting to think seriously about how to handle the situation.

  "In fact, you didn't have to take on these responsibilities. I have a national feud and family hatred with the Sui clan, but you don't. This is a matter of life and death, and you don't have to take this risk. If you want to leave now, I won't stop you. Although we've gone through the three books and six rituals, we haven't formally held the wedding ceremony or consummated the marriage. If you want to leave, I can return the marriage certificate, and this marriage will be null and void. I'll make sure others forget about you, as if you never existed. Even if we're caught by the imperial court in the future, I won't implicate you."

  Lingyun directly lowered his head and kissed the rose-petal-like red lips of Gao Qianxue, blocking her words in her mouth.

  This sudden kiss left Gao Shanshan at a loss, she was stunned and didn't know how to react. In her entire life, this was the second time she had kissed a man, actually, it was the first time she had kissed a man while being sober. The last time when she almost drowned, Lingyun also kissed her, but she only heard about it from Mulan afterwards, and she didn't feel anything herself. But now it was different, this was a real kiss that suddenly landed on her, she could feel his breath with the scent of a man, the smell of a man's body, even the air blown out from his nostrils hitting her face.

  That moist, warm feeling, this is a kiss.

  Her heart racing accelerated, that fair and incomparable face quickly flew up two red clouds, her whole body began to stiffen, then began to soften, she felt herself about to stand unsteadily, about to fall down.

  She involuntarily stretched out her hands to hold him, so as not to fall to the ground, then she immediately thought of it, oh my god, this is in front of everyone! Although it's late at night, under the bonfire's light, it's no different from daytime. As soon as she thought about it, two people doing such intimate things under the gaze of so many people, she suddenly felt ashamed and wanted to dig into the ground. At this time, she was no longer the calm and composed woman from before, but a shy little girl, she breathed heavily and said to Ling Yun: "Don't, don't do this..."

  Seeing Gao Shanshan's other side, Lingyun suddenly felt much better. He didn't let her be embarrassed anymore and finally let go of her. In fact, it was just a very ordinary kiss, even just a lip touch, he didn't even stick out his tongue, not to mention a wet kiss with tongues entwined. However, seeing Shanshan still shrinking her head into her chest at this time, he finally realized that he had forgotten the change of times and spaces earlier. This was the Great Sui Dynasty, no matter how open-minded the Sui and Tang dynasties were, such a public kiss was still too bold, even if they were newlyweds. He guiltily stole glances at the people around him, and indeed saw that although they pretended to have noticed nothing, their faces under the firelight showed a hint of unnaturalness. Some guys looked like they were about to burst out laughing.

  Lingyun coughed a few times, pretending to be polite.

  "Stop talking nonsense. You are my wife, formally welcomed into our family with the three books and six rites. No matter what happens in the future, you will always be my wife. And I will always be your husband, forever unchanged. Whether you are a young mistress of the Gao family or a princess of the Qi kingdom, you are my old lady, bound together for this life, till our hair turns white and we depart this world."

  "You're the real mistress!" Gao Qianxue rebuked in a low voice, stretching out her jade hand to gently pound Lingyun's chest. In that state, she didn't have even half of her usual cold and noble princess demeanor. "What are you talking about, saying I'm your wife? Where did this strange talk come from, it's not proper."

  "Wife, even when you become bald and toothless in the future, I will still be by your side. At that time, you are an old woman, I am an old man, you call me husband, I call you wife!"

  "Husband, wife!" Shallow Snow whispered softly.

  "Wife!" Lingyun called out in a low voice.

  "Old... old husband!"

  "Ah!" Lingyun happily responded.

  "You can call me too." Gao Qianxue said softly, her voice filled with shyness.

  "Wife!"

  "Hmm!"

  A simple greeting, yet it immediately narrowed the distance between them, and at this moment, they were intimately close.

  The two simple titles of "husband" and "wife" were, at this moment, far more precious to Qian Xue than the titles of "princess" and "prince consort". This belonged only to the two of them, truly belonging only to husband and wife.

  The sound of horseshoes interrupted the romantic atmosphere between the newlyweds.

  Several warriors on the outer guard rushed over on horseback, "It's Gao Qiu who has returned."

  "Which one is the leader?" someone shouted from beside the bonfire.

  "Go high, team high!"

  Before the words had fallen, Gao Yi had already ridden his horse to the side of the bonfire. He urgently pulled the reins to stop the warhorse, and the black horse's front hooves rose into the air as it let out a long whinny. As soon as the horse stopped, Gao Yi leapt down from its back.

  Lingyun had already run over with Gao Qianxue, and Gao Yiman was covered in dust and night dew. As soon as he saw Gao Qianxue, he called out: "Big sister, I'm back."

  "It's good that you're back, what's the situation outside now? Have you found the brothers who are with Gao Ding?"

  "Found it! One good news and one bad news, which one does Big Sister want to hear first?"

  PS: It's Monday again, a new week begins. Last week's ranking stopped at 24, this week brothers and sisters will add more effort, let's rush to new highs!