CHAPTER 681: CHAPTER 661: WIFE AND DAUGHTER

Xie Xun’s hands trembled as he held the letter. Second Brother got married in Beiman? Married? His sister-in-law is a Beiman woman, so that’s why Second Brother has been tight-lipped about him and Fang Chuning? Second Brother actually got married in Beiman!!! It must have been a helpless move. So what if he bowed to their Heavenly God? The Beiman people might recognize it, but he doesn’t. Why should Beining recognize Beiman’s Heavenly God? And Second Brother kept this marriage a secret for so long. Wait, who is his wife? General Cui’s letter didn’t make that clear at all. It’s maddening!

Dugu Jing must know!

In the dead of night, Xie Xun summoned Dugu Jing into the palace. Dugu Jing thought something must have happened in Beiman and rushed over in a hurry, only to find Xie Xun asking about Xie Jue’s marriage.

Dugu Jing frowned, silent, his expression betraying barely concealed disdain, as if a marriage between a Beiman person and someone from Beining was an unforgivable crime.

"What’s with that expression? For a Beiman girl to marry my Second Brother, it’s her fortune!" Xie Xun was so furious he put on the air of an elder scolding the younger generation. "She struck gold! She married into nobility and became Princess Consort Yan in one leap—my sister-in-law! What are you disdainful about? Who are you to be disdainful?"

"He deceived her into marriage! When he got married, Lan Ningzhen didn’t even know he was from Beining! Then he vanished, leaving her all alone to raise a child. In Beiman, abandoning your wife and child like that would get you torn limb from limb!" Dugu Jing roared with fury. "A scheming trickster, a fraud, abandoning our Beiman women! He’s nothing more than an ungrateful, wife-abandoning scoundrel!"

Xie Xun: "..."

The revelations were too shocking. Xie Xun was stunned!

My dear brother, just what have you done in Beiman!!!

A child, too?!

"A child?"

"Yes, Lan Ningzhen gave birth to a daughter."

Xie Xun felt a flicker of joy in his heart. Hehe, our family has gained another Commandery Princess. But then he thought again—no matter how compelled Second Brother was to marry in Beiman, nobody forced him to truly consummate the marriage with a Beiman woman. How could there be a daughter? Unless... the Beiman women were so aggressive that Second Brother succumbed to their dominance? Wait, what was he even thinking? How could he think of his Second Brother like that? But, come to think of it, with Second Brother’s limited martial prowess, he might actually be no match for those Beiman people.

"What’s her name?" Xie Xun couldn’t help but ask.

"Whose?"

"The daughter!"

"Lan Mingzhu," Dugu Jing reluctantly revealed.

Xie Xun mused inwardly, what a good name! A "bright pearl in one’s palm."

"The Lan Clan is a major tribe in Beiman, located east of the Imperial Court. Her father is the Right General of the Beiman Imperial Court. For this marriage, Xie Jue was the one getting above his station! Originally, Lan Ningzhen was set to marry into our Imperial Family; she’s also considered a Goddess among the heroes of Beiman."

"Who’s marrying up?! Who’s marrying up?! For my Second Brother to marry your Princess, it’s your Princess who married up!" Xie Xun, like a doting mother defending her spoiled son, flew into a rage whenever anyone dared say a single bad word about his family.

"Facts speak louder than words!" Dugu Jing dismissed him, unwilling to argue further. "Xie Jue is viewed like that by us Beiman people!"

Xie Xun thought grimly to himself, no wonder the Beiman people hate Second Brother so much. Their hatred even surpasses the grudge they bear against our eldest brother, who killed the Beiman King. Not only did Second Brother sow discord within the Beiman Royal Family, but he also abandoned their revered Goddess.

Good job, Second Brother, just what have you done?

"Did Xie Jue just confess to you what he did in Beiman?" Dugu Jing asked with a cold laugh.

Xie Xun shook his head. "Second Brother hasn’t said a word about Beiman. I didn’t even know he got married, let alone had a daughter. It was because your Beiman Royal Family is coming to the Capital City, and General Cui wrote to inform me. He said the Beiman King is bringing along the entire Lan Clan, claiming they’re my Second Brother’s maternal clan. You have no idea what kind of uproar this caused among the Ningzhou Iron Cavalry. This... this... my Second Brother’s lifelong reputation is ruined just like that."

Married, had a daughter, abandoned his wife and child, and said nothing about it—how does this not look like the deeds of a scoundrel?

Dugu Jing sneered. "Well, this could be considered a political alliance, I suppose."

Xie Xun: "...no guarantee of that."

If his Second Brother continued to refuse to acknowledge his wife and daughter, there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn’t exactly force him. Besides, how was this situation even going to be resolved? With the entire Lan Clan coming to the Capital City, if word of this spread, it wouldn’t do any good for his Second Brother’s reputation.

"Dugu Jing, let’s negotiate. When they arrive in the Capital City, you go meet with the members of the Lan Clan first to smooth things over. Let’s not make this public for now—I have no idea what Second Brother is thinking."

Dugu Jing’s temper flared instantly. He exploded, "When Lan Ningzhen was still in Beiman, far away with mountains and rivers in between, Xie Jue ignored his wife and child. We didn’t say anything because Beiman could afford to raise them and would never stoop so low as to use them to threaten him. We Beiman people can take care of ourselves; we don’t need to trouble him. But now Beiman has surrendered, and the Lan Clan is coming to the Capital City. If Xie Jue still refuses to acknowledge them, what does he take us Beiman people for? He refuses to take responsibility for anything he’s done—is this the Xie family’s way? Beiman and the Marquis Zhenbei Mansion have fought for so many years, and the hatred runs as deep as the sea. But my father, my elder brother, and my grandfather all respected the upright and honorable conduct of the Xie family. So how is it that, when it comes to your family, things have turned so sinister and deceitful with you brothers?"

Xie Xun, his face stiff, replied, "Don’t lump me into this. I can’t make decisions for Second Brother. I’ll discuss this with him. If they are indeed his wife and daughter, he wouldn’t refuse to acknowledge them."

Dugu Jing retorted, "He’s been refusing to acknowledge his wife and daughter for many years."

Xie Xun couldn’t help defending Second Brother. "To be fair, back then, when Second Brother was undercover in Beiman, he surely didn’t have a choice about the marriage, right? To avoid exposing his identity, he must have gone along with it. With his personality, it must’ve been your Lan Clan who forced the marriage. My Second Brother was in no position to refuse. As for having a daughter, he didn’t even know about her before returning to Ningzhou. During your peace negotiations, no one mentioned it back then, and now you still didn’t bring it up. How is this his fault?"

Dugu Jing’s expression shifted. The marriage had indeed been forced, but as for the wife and daughter—they were not forced; he married willingly. "We forced him into marriage, sure, but did we also force him to consummate it, to have a child?"

Xie Xun: "..."

Judging by when Second Brother returned from Beiman, his daughter must already be almost five years old now.

Xie Xun felt both excited and troubled simultaneously. On one hand, he was thrilled that Second Brother had a daughter. On the other, the whole situation sounded utterly absurd, so unlike something his Second Brother would do.

Then again, unforeseen circumstances might explain it. The marriage was forced, and to avoid exposure, he had no choice but to comply. If he had blown his cover in Beiman, isolated and without allies, death would have been inevitable. Once he returned to Ningzhou, who would care about a fleeting marriage of convenience he’d left far behind in Beiman? He must have thought he’d never see them again—not when the towering Sha Ling Tian Mountain stood between them like an unbridgeable divide. Who could’ve predicted that Beiman would surrender, and his wife and daughter would find their way to him?

"I need to speak with Second Brother first!" Xie Xun had sought out Dugu Jing primarily to preemptively gather some facts from him. Though Dugu Jing had a fiery temper, he had never been one to lie over the years. "Can you tell me everything my Second Brother did in Beiman—all of it?"