It wasn’t necessary?

That was probably the most interesting joke that Yang Si had heard recently. Until now, he thought that Jiang Pengji was joking with him.

He played along naturally and mocked, “If so, then my lord has to work harder.”

Jiang Pengji raised her brows slightly and asked, “Why do I have to ‘work harder?’”

“My lord, you’re approaching eighteen. Your coming of age ceremony at twenty is only two years away. In other houses, you would have been engaged, if not married already. On the other hand, my lord is still all alone. This won’t work. If you don’t marry a wife and have your own family, how are you going to have a daughter?”

How could he pass his throne down to his daughter if he did not have one in the first place?

Yang Si laughed and teased.

His words were not about Jiang Pengji working hard to fight for the throne, he was clearly mocking her. He wanted her to quickly marry and have a baby.

It would be two more months before she reached the age of eighteen. In this era, eighteen was old enough to start a family and become a father.

However, the rich and influential families had many conditions, so most marriages in those families often dragged on past the coming of age ceremony. The Liu family should be no exception.

In Yang Si’s perspective, his lord was still a young boy who had not yet come into contact with the affairs between men and women. He would naturally think about that when he got older.

Just…

According to Yang Si’s script, his lord’s face should have turned red and his heart should have started racing as he became so embarrassed from his teasing.

In reality…

Jiang Pengji raised her eyebrows. She said calmly, “Well, there’s no hurry. When it comes to having children, it also depends on the partner and the timing.”

Yang Si was astonished.

It seemed that his lord was not an innocent boy who knew nothing about human relationships. He was an old hand with rich experiences.

Yang Si became gossipy. “The partner and the timing? Perhaps you’ve got your eye on someone?”

There was a mysterious smile on the corners of Jiang Pengji’s lips.

“Yes.”

Yang Si asked curiously, “Which house is the lady from? If your statuses are similar, you can let your esteemed father fix the engagement on your behalf. It is your marriage, you can’t afford to be careless. You have to act fast, otherwise, you won’t get the girl. The one who acts first has the upper hand. It is only reasonable to get her engaged to you first. If her status is lower than yours, you can send a matchmaker to her residence to clarify your intentions to take her as your concubine. In short, it’s best not to miss the little lady who you like.”

Jiang Pengji laughed involuntarily.

She did not know that, in addition to his gluttony and love of food, Yang Si also had a faint gossipy attribute.

She found it very funny. After rolling her eyes, she said vaguely, “Status… Although her family has suffered a reversal in fortunes, they have never been involved in criminal activities. Her ancestors were once prominent, so she could be considered as destitute but high-born. She is quite talented and her personality is rather cute… She would live a wretched life as a concubine.”

Yang Si frowned. Someone destitute but of genteel birth… this was quite difficult.

She would rather be a poor man’s wife than a rich man’s concubine.

The more destitute and high-born a lady was, the more important their standing in a marriage. They would rather choose to be the first wife of a man from an average background. Few were willing to lower themselves to be a concubine to elevate their social status… Unless the husband’s family was of a much higher status. But it was clear that Liu Xi had not reached that level yet.

“What does my lord like about her?” Yang Si asked. “Her talent or her appearance?”

Jiang Pengji smiled and her eyes became crescent-shaped. “Her genes.”

Gin…s?

Yang Si could not wrap his mind around this.

The sudden bend in this topic was too great, his mind couldn’t cope.

“What is ‘gins’?”

Jiang Pengji pinched her chin. How should she explain it? She couldn’t explain this thing.

“Genes are the most essential thing in life.” Jiang Pengji thought for a while and mumbled, “But genes are only one aspect. Her genes attract me, but what interests me is her personality, habits, and the secrets she hides… How do I describe that feeling? She makes so many mistakes in her words and actions and still stubbornly tries to hide them which is no different from burying her head in the sand. She looks really cute…”

Yang Si was dumbfounded as he listened.

He could understand every word that his lord said, but when put together, he couldn’t understand anything.

Jiang Pengji concluded her speech.

“She’s easily bullied. I like to bully her and I like how she holds back her emotions when I bully her. Whatever I like can only be mine.”

Yang Si was so shocked that he couldn’t speak.

After a long time, he broke into laughter.

“My lord, if you like the lady, you can’t do that. You’ll scare her.”

He had thought that his lord was a skilled old hand with a depth of knowledge. Now that he looked at him, he was obviously an overbearing youth who did not understand anything about love.

Jiang Pengji asked him, “How should I chase her?”

Yang Si thought for a while. He said, “If you like her, why don’t you talk with your father and ask him to propose marriage on your behalf. Since she’s from a genteel family, her upbringing must be pretty good. My lord, although your actions are born out of affection, in the lady’s eyes, they would be seen as frivolous, as if you’re only dallying with her. Even if my lord has a score of ten out ten, after making such a move, you would leave an impression on the little lady that is only one or two out of ten.”

Jiang Pengi clicked her tongue in objection.

“She has an open-minded and generous nature. I don’t think she would misunderstand…”

“That may not necessarily be true.” Yang Si added, “As a young girl, her thoughts may be more delicate and it is easy for her to split hairs.”

Jiang Pengji rested her chin on her hand and thought for a while. She said, “If it’s like that… Listen, Jing Rong, you’re quite experienced, right?”

Yang Si sneered. He was more than ten years older than Jiang Pengji, how could he not know what he was talking about?

“If my lord wants to, you can ask Zi Shi. He has more experience. But he is a profligate wastrel, so I don’t recommend adopting anything he suggests.”

Yang Si incidentally smeared Feng Zhen’s name. He could only blame himself for being a wastrel.

Jiang Pengji thought for a long time.

Finally, she said, “It’s still early, let’s see again after five or six years. I’m not in a hurry… I’m quite enjoying my current state…”

Yang Si did not suspect that there was anything unusual.

In his opinion, the little girl who was the object of his lord affections was probably only eleven or twelve. After another five or six years, she would be old enough for marriage.

As a man, his homeland and career should be the most important things to him right now. It was okay if his lord wanted to get married later on.

It was no harm if his affections shifted elsewhere after a few years, a manly-man would have no lack of potential wives!

Little could Yang Si have imagined that Jiang Pengji had deliberately steered the conversation in such a direction that the contents became utterly self-defeating.

They clearly could not understand each other, but somehow they had managed to have a conversation on the same topic.

“Then, I’ll be waiting for my lord’s little empress to be born.”

Yang Si laughed and teased.

Jiang Pengji said, “Deal! I just hope you don’t cry.”

Before dawn broke, Jiang Pengji went back to her tent to rest for a bit.

Golden light pierced through the heavy clouds, bathing the ground in light. Horns sounded through the camp.

Not too far away, everyone in Fenghu County, who had been through an apprehensive and frightening night, seemed to get an electric shock. They were so terrified that their hair was standing on end.

Jiang Pengji counted all the soldiers and horses and got in their battle formation outside the city. The cold wind whistled and whipped at their banners.

On one side, an energetic atmosphere surged. Meanwhile, the people on the opposite side seemed to be in low spirits.

When the battle drums sounded, the bowmen responded by shooting arrows from their crossbows to provide cover for the ladder. The soldiers hid under the ladder and pushed it closer to the city wall.

Due to the urgency of the march and the limited supplies they could carry with them, they had not brought a ballista for this siege.

Relying on the cover provided by the waves of arrows, bodies fell from the city wall non-stop. The ladder was successfully propped against the wall… Hearing the drums coming from outside the city, the Red Lotus leader hurriedly put on a suit of armor. Just as he ascended the wall, an arrow flying towards him nearly shot through the bun on top of his head.

“Why has the battle already started?”

The leader glared with wide eyes. The enemies under the city wall were dense and there were numerous groups of them. He felt his scalp going numb as he watched.

The soldiers who were guarding the city were spiritless and lackluster. And now that they had seen their leader emerge while still half-dressed, they felt even more discouraged.