As she pushed the door open and entered the room, a refreshing and clean scent enveloped her. The room was identical to hers, sparsely decorated but immaculate. She walked to the table to light the lamp but found she had nothing to ignite it with. Luckily, the moonlight streamed in through the window, illuminating the room, so she decided against lighting it and flopped down on the soft couch.
Before long, Cailian entered the courtyard of the west wing, her laughter preceding her, "Looks like the Young Master really was right; the young lady is indeed waiting in his room, so I needn't return to the east wing. He asked me to tell you to wait for him; he'll be back shortly."
"Hmm! It's like he's a parasite; he knows what others are thinking," Yun Qianyue pouted, wondering why he couldn't just be called Zhuge Liang.
Cailian walked in, pulled out a fire striker from her bosom, and lit the lamp, adjusting the wick to brighten the room. "Just wait for the Young Master here! We servants don't have the fortune to eat the hibiscus fish. I, Ting Xue, and Ting Yu will go get vegetarian food at the temple. The temple's vegetarian meal is quite delicious; I had some for lunch."
"Sure!" Yun Qianyue waved her hand dismissively, thinking that Rongjing was so stingy that she'd be lucky to get any hibiscus fish at all, let alone enough to share with Cailian and the others.
Cailian turned to leave.
With nothing better to do, Yun Qianyue began scanning the room, and her gaze landed on a book resting on the bedside pillow. She recognized it as the one Rongjing had been reading in the carriage. She walked over, picked it up, and flipped through the pages, discovering it was actually a miscellaneous book.
This book was different from the ones Yun Muhan read about martial arts and eccentricities; it was a collection of geographic records. She casually browsed through it, noting that it not only detailed the mountains and rivers of various regions but also recorded interesting anecdotes, prominent families, and notable local figures, along with brief descriptions of their backgrounds.
Yun Qianyue was intrigued, thinking that Rongjing had quite a good book in his possession. She naturally wanted to read more.
Returning to the soft couch, she leaned back comfortably and began reading from the first page. Her training from her past life allowed her to read extremely quickly—her eyes flew over the text, absorbing it all effortlessly.
Since waking up in this world, she hadn't had a moment of peace. Being captured by Yun Muhan and confined in the Qianyue Pavilion just to be taught how to read had been enough of a headache. Most of her understanding of this world came from the snippets she'd gathered from Cailian, leading her to realize this wasn't the ancient world she was familiar with, but rather a historical context that had never existed. Now, this book was perfect for her to gain an understanding of this new world.
She learned that a hundred years ago, this land was ruled by the Murong clan, but their descendants fell into indulgence and trusted treacherous ministers, leading to the decline of the nation and the suffering of the people. During this time, regional princes grew powerful, eventually overthrowing the imperial court and causing the previous dynasty to fall. The commoner-born Emperor Ye Zhuolan of the Heavenly Saint Dynasty defeated the regional princes one by one and unified the realm. After seizing control, he didn't kill off his followers but instead rewarded them generously, which led to the establishment of the four major royal houses: the Rong Wangfu, the Yun Wangfu, the Xiao Qinin Wangfu, and the De Qinin Wangfu.
When Emperor Ye unified the realm, he didn't eliminate the regional princes completely; rather, he adopted a recruitment policy. As a result, some small nations were left behind, content to pay tribute to the Heavenly Saint Dynasty each year.
Yun Qianyue reflected that this founding emperor must have been a wise and capable leader. Throughout history, how many emperors have been able to possess such a broad-mindedness? Typically, they would endure hardships with their people but revel in the glory of their success. What was most commendable about this founding emperor was not merely his accomplishments but his devotion. The only woman he ever loved, who became the empress, was from the Yun Wangfu. This resulted in a decree that all future emperors must marry women from the Yun Wangfu, which was how she found herself entangled in the royal family's affairs.
A hundred years later, while the Heavenly Saint remained prosperous, it had lost much of its original strength. Officials were corrupt, indulging in pleasures, having not experienced a major upheaval in a century, and only small skirmishes were insufficient to shake the strong foundation of the Heavenly Saint. Thus, the atmosphere of complacency thrived among the populace.
In this context, surrounding small nations were diligently working to strengthen themselves, particularly a rapidly developing nation called Nanliang, now the second largest after the Heavenly Saint. Following Nanliang was the country of Xiyan, then Beiqi, along with several less developed smaller nations. The remote small countries received little support from the mighty Heavenly Saint, so they had to cling to the swiftly advancing Nanliang and Xiyan for survival. Though the Heavenly Saint appeared to remain a great nation, those small countries were slowly consolidating under the leadership of Nanliang.
As Yun Qianyue read, she couldn't help but be impressed. The political landscape of this ancient world was truly fascinating!
"Looks like you do enjoy reading after all! You just hadn't found the right book," Rongjing's voice suddenly interrupted her thoughts.
Startled, Yun Qianyue looked up to see that Rongjing had entered the room at some point and was seated at the table, sipping tea. She was taken aback; was it that she had been so absorbed in her reading, or was he just incredibly stealthy? If he were an assassin, she'd have been long dead by now. She realized that her alertness had diminished significantly since shedding her identity as Li Yun.
Immediately feeling a wave of annoyance, she shot him a glare. "Didn't you knock before entering?"
Rongjing glanced at her nonchalantly. "This is my room, isn't it?"
Uh, Yun Qianyue remembered that she was indeed in his territory and was the one intruding. She quickly composed her expression and sulked, "Why are you back so late? Where's my hibiscus fish?"
"I'm making it now!" Rongjing replied.
"What? You're only just making it? Do you want to starve me?" Yun Qianyue's eyebrows shot up at his response.
"You ate so much fish at noon, and then you slept half the day. I had to give you some time to digest, right? Otherwise, how could you enjoy the hibiscus fish later?" He raised an eyebrow, seemingly unfazed by her complaints.
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