Chapter 549

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Chapter 549: Enemy Nation in the Boat

Inside the room, the candlelight flickered.

Nalan Qingshu stared at the old minister surnamed Sun and repeated her question.

"Are you asking me to die here?"

She was very puzzled, unable to understand or grasp what was happening.

The old man said, "If the city is breached, Your Highness will not have a good end. This is just a precaution. If you can end your own life, it would be better. But if it falls into the hands of the Ba Xia, I’m afraid…"

Nalan Qingshu shook her head. "You might as well speak more directly."

Her mother is not stupid, she is also not stupid, she just didn’t think of things that way.

"Your Highness, your father has passed away."

"Hmm, he was assassinated."

"Your Highness, your mother has also died."

"Hmm, she was worn out."

"Your Highness, we are willing to die for the cause, we should not cling to this life and suffer, it is for the sake of your parents."

"Why?" Nalan Qingshu asked, not understanding. "Why did my parents die, so I have to die too?"

The old servant sighed, "This is a necessary sacrifice, for the greater good."

"Greater good?" Nalan Qingshu stared at the dagger. "But I still don’t understand, what did I do wrong? After my father was assassinated and my mother worked herself to death, all for the sake of restoring the country, but… you all did so much, and yet we still failed. If we failed, fine, but do I still need to bear the blame and responsibility? In your eyes, what am I, just a tool? Or a scapegoat?"

The old advisor’s face changed drastically, he let go of his hand and dropped the wooden box onto the ground.

"I would rather die!"

"I will never be a cowardly survivor!"

"I just hope Your Highness won’t become a puppet for others. Do you know what will happen if you fall into the hands of warlords?"

Nalan Qingshu had no expression on her face, then she tilted her head and asked, "What will happen?"

"It’s just…"

"Is it worse than death?"

"Yes!" the old advisor said in a low voice. "You will become a puppet, controlled and dominated, with no freedom. Every move you make will be subject to others’ approval. You might lose your life accidentally and be completely abandoned after being used up…"

"How is this any different from now?" Nalan Qingshu quietly questioned, repeating it in front of the old advisor, "Isn’t this what you’re doing? Isn’t it what you’re doing to me now?"

The old man’s face turned red, "This can’t be the same, I am doing it for Bi Fang Country!"

"In my opinion, it’s the same." Nalan Qingshu’s gaze fell on the sand table, then looked at the flickering candlelight, "Because what you need to do is different from what I want to do. If the country is successfully restored, that’s fine. But since it’s going to fail, then I will be free from now on."

"Your Highness, you mustn’t!" the old minister said.

"Why not?" Nalan Qingshu smiled and said, "Are you asking me to come down and wait for death to accompany you? But I’ve done enough. I’ve done everything that Mother arranged for me. I’ve even gathered soldiers and cooperated with you in this play. I’ve even persuaded those soldiers to accept their own deaths without complaint. These things make me sick, but I don’t owe you anything."

"You are the bloodline of the Nalan family, you are Bi Fang!"

The old minister said sternly, "How can you cherish your life at a time like this! You can’t leave, you absolutely can’t leave! If you leave, the restoration of Bi Fang will be a complete joke. Are you going to let your parents be forever humiliated?!"

He took a step forward, clenched his fist, his withered body roaring with strength, just like when he reprimanded the feudal lords who insisted on marrying mortal women as wives in the court, he angrily said, "There is no place for you in this world! Are you planning to escape to another country? You, Nalan Qingshu, can only die in this city of Phoenix Feather and cannot live on as a homeless and nationless person!"

Instead, Nalan Qingshu stared in surprise at the old man who was unusually angry, his face full of confusion.

"If not to escape, then wait for death?"

The old minister’s eyes sparkled with admiration. He realized that some truths simply couldn’t be explained. This group of people could bravely sacrifice their lives for Bi Fang Country, but it was useless for a young girl.

Or rather, she didn’t really not understand, she knew what it meant, but her values had completely changed. There was no thought of sacrificing oneself at all.

It has never been like this before!

At least during their last meeting, even though Nalan Qingshu didn’t do anything or say anything, everyone could feel her determination, a determination to sacrifice herself. But now that determination was gone, replaced by a vitality, a new vitality. Even when leaving behind the past, leaving behind their homeland, they had to pursue this new vitality. And this kind of vitality was too dazzling for them, a group of old folks.

The old man couldn’t understand and felt angry. He wanted to slap the girl to wake her up.

Considering his seniority, he had the right to slap her, but after doing so, they would lose their bond completely.

He reluctantly said, "The attempt to restore the country failed, and we are prepared to die. If His Highness gallantly sacrifices himself, at least the others who are still alive can be treated well. But if His Highness is captured or escapes, it’s hard to imagine what the angry warlords will do. Perhaps they will directly massacre the city, or maybe…"

Nalan Qingshu shook her head and said, "Whether you want to escape or die, when the tree falls, the monkeys scatter. What’s the point?"

"It will chill everyone’s hearts, everyone…"

"If I really cared, I would say okay, I’ll go die." Nalan Qingshu stared at him, "But now, I really don’t care."

She said calmly, "I’m leaving."

…If the city is breached, I must find a place to hide and wait until everything calms down before leaving.

…Although the restoration of the country failed, there are still some industries scattered around, so it’s not completely destroyed.

"Who is it?" the old man questioned sternly, "Is it that Princess Chao Lu? Or is it that young man surnamed Bai? Who among them has instilled wrong ideas in Your Highness? I knew it, they are simply not trustworthy, not at all…"

Nalan Qingshu paused in her steps, "It’s me, I have come to accept it myself."

The old man said sorrowfully and angrily, "You haven’t come to accept it, you have fallen, completely abandoning your homeland, completely…"

Upon hearing this, Nalan Qingshu could no longer hold back.

She turned back and roared in anger.

"Why do I have to live for your ideals?!"

"Why can’t I live for myself?!"

After she finished speaking, looking tired, she repeated again, "I have to leave, someone is waiting for me to go back."

She walked outside the house and pushed the door, making a creaking sound.

"You can’t leave," said the old servant, lifting his eyes.

The guards outside the door also raised their weapons and intercepted her at the entrance. Seeing this, Nalan Qingshu scolded a few times, but no one listened to her.

Being here, she felt like being in a cage. She was just a canary, with no ability to control the situation, only able to be a puppet.

No one listened to her words, no one protected her safety, no one cared about what she thought. She was helpless, caught in a dilemma, stuck in enemy territory.

Nalan Qingshu deeply missed that small carriage, where she could truly be herself in that confined space.

"Murong Nu won’t come," the old servant said in a low voice. "She has already left, even if she didn’t want to."

"Hahaha…" Nalan Qingshu laughed and covered her face with one hand. "How much you all want me to be alone?"

"It is necessary for His Highness."

"Necessary control, right?" Nalan Qingshu found it funny. She clearly saw the true faces of these people. All these years, they had been manipulating her, using their claims of restoring the country as an excuse, but they were only restoring their own power!

…instead of my home.

"If being scolded a few more times can help, I’m willing to endure it. But before the city falls, Your Highness cannot go anywhere." The old servant gave up trying to convince her with words and took a firm stance. He walked up and closed the door.

"What about after the city falls?" Nalan Qingshu asked, looking down at the wooden box that was now empty.

"Your Highness, it would be best if you were dignified. If you don’t want to, then I will help you maintain your dignity," the old man sighed. "It’s all for Bi Fang Country."

Nalan Qingshu weakly cursed, "You are truly mad."

"Yes, the old servant has gone crazy. We are all a group of crazy people, unable to restore the country, unable to go back, wandering like lost souls on the land." The old servant didn’t wail and cry, but tears kept flowing, with a fierce expression like an evil spirit. "Oh, how I wish I could die in the great fire of Qingyang City! They are all gone, everyone is gone, unable to restore the country, so let’s reunite in the underworld! Everyone, together! Buried together!"

He murmured, "We should have gone crazy, should have gone crazy long ago. Bi Fang has already fallen, and we are just waiting for the late burning."

He wiped away the tears on his face, pointed at Nalan Qingshu, his finger trembling, his voice trembling too. "Your Highness, why did you wake up? Why did you understand? It’s better to be confused! How can you, among a group of crazy people, hope to live like a normal person? If you don’t want to die, you shouldn’t have come back in the first place, or never come back!!"

Nalan Qingshu looked at the old man, who couldn’t stop crying, and felt sorry and resentful for his madness. Was the previous version of herself just like him?

In the silence of deathly stillness, suddenly, the earth shook and the sky thundered.

The room was torn apart, with bricks and stones cracking from above, and the sound of the guards outside panicking as they forcefully opened the door, "It’s Ba Xia, Lord Ba Xia has entered the city!"