Chapter 1061: Chapter 1054: Bearing Calamity

In the blink of an eye, ten days had passed.

On this day, the sky was blue and the clouds were white, with a gentle breeze blowing.

The Princess Beimo, who had left the Royal Palace for a long time, finally returned home.

Knowing his daughter was safe, King Beimo was relieved and did not blame Princess Jing Mountain.

Princess Jing Mountain acted spoiled in the arms of Queen Beimo, who glared at her, "You still remember to come back?!"

After she disappeared, Queen Beimo couldn’t eat or sleep, and even when she dozed off during the day, she had nightmares.

They all thought she had been captured and taken to the Nanliang Capital, but who would have thought that she was rescued halfway through?

Being rescued was good, but how did her daughter manage to stay at Prime Minister Zhao’s house in Nanliang without sending them a letter?!

If it weren’t for her Imperial Brother discovering her, was she planning to stay in the Zhao Family forever without coming back?

Queen Beimo knew that grown-up daughters couldn’t be kept home, but it was Nanliang, the Nanliang who was their enemy.

Queen Beimo was very angry, but Princess Jing Mountain didn’t fear at all, and she acted spoiled in her mother’s arms. Soon enough, Queen Beimo’s anger dissipated.

To return unscathed was already a blessing, what more could she ask for?

Palace maid Xiuxiu had already changed back to her palace maid attire, and Princess Jing Mountain sought a reward for her personal palace maid, "Mother, Xiuxiu performed meritorious service this time, enduring many hardships in my stead, you must reward her well."

Xiuxiu quickly replied, "This is what I ought to do as a servant."

Queen Beimo looked at her and smiled, "You shouldn’t be modest about your contributions, the matter of you being the Golden Mountain Princess has already spread in Nanliang. Beimo will hold a ceremony to officially make you a princess, from now on you will be my daughter, no need to dress as a palace maid." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Xiuxiu hurriedly said, "I dare not deserve such honors."

"Stop calling yourself a servant, change it to ’Mother’," Queen Beimo said with a smile.

"...Yes, Mother."

"Stand up," Queen Beimo smiled.

Princess Jing Mountain helped Xiuxiu up and said, "Don’t worry, I won’t let you marry the Prince of Nanliang."

It’s not that she won’t marry, it’s that the Prince of Nanliang wouldn’t marry her at all.

He wants to marry Beimo’s most favored princess, not a little palace maid who cannot be used to threaten Beimo.

However, her becoming a princess after being a palace maid is already a blessing cultivated through several lifetimes.

Xiuxiu knelt down to express gratitude.

To confer a princess title is a major affair, many things must be prepared.

While Beimo had yet to hold the princess conferring ceremony, meantime, Nanliang’s betrothal gifts had already arrived in Beimo.

The Prince of Nanliang was infatuated with the Golden Mountain Princess, longing for her day and night.

The day after the Golden Mountain Princess left, the Prince of Nanliang ordered the preparation of betrothal gifts to marry the Golden Mountain Princess.

Indeed, barely three days after the Prince Beimo arrived back in Beimo, the Nanliang envoy had delivered the betrothal gifts.

Beimo welcomed the betrothal gifts with joy, showing no displeasure at all, making the Nanliang envoy feel something was amiss.

If Beimo showed such joy in marrying off a princess, then Nanliang wouldn’t have needed to go to the trouble of capturing the Princess Beimo to Nanliang.

The Nanliang envoy sensed something was off, made inquiries, and was frightened on the spot.

King Beimo’s most beloved princess was Princess Jing Mountain, not Princess Golden Mountain.

The Beimo princess they saw was fake!

Could the Nanliang envoy let Beimo marry a fake princess to their prince when knowing she was a fraud?

The Nanliang envoy sought to request Princess Jing Mountain from King Beimo.

This request was rejected by Beimo.

Even though the bride wasn’t Princess Jing Mountain, Beimo indeed had a Princess Golden Mountain, recognized by the Prince of Nanliang.

The Nanliang envoy argued, "That is a fake princess, merely a palace maid of Princess Jing Mountain!"

"Our Nanliang has treated Beimo benevolently, is this how Beimo treats us?"

Bringing up the matter only stoked the flames.

The Beimo Minister was displeased and said, "What fake princess?"

"While Princess Golden Mountain isn’t the biological daughter of our king, she is a grand princess officially decreed to the world!"

"Isn’t the princess decreed by Beimo a true princess in Nanliang’s eyes?"

The Nanliang envoy retorted, "At the time of signing the marriage contract, Beimo had no Princess Golden Mountain!"

The subsequent decree was sheer deceit.

The Beimo Minister laughed, "Who told you at the signing of the marriage contract by our Eldest Prince, Beimo didn’t have a Princess Golden Mountain?"

Mhm.

The day before the signing of the marriage contract by the Eldest Prince of Beimo, King Beimo adopted a foster daughter and proclaimed her Princess Golden Mountain.

No one knew who Princess Golden Mountain was, as the decree was suddenly announced, stirring speculation in Beimo.

The Beimo Minister even felt the title was too similar to Princess Jing Mountain, making it hard not to confuse, petitioning King Beimo to change it.

King Beimo mentioned Queen Beimo had a nightmare about something bad happening to Princess Jing Mountain.

He consulted a well-known monk, adopting this foster daughter to ward off calamities for Princess Jing Mountain, which silenced the ministers.

Since they hadn’t actually seen the adopted princess, being declared an omen blocker, everyone thought it was just a nominal title.

It was only a few days ago that it became known that the Golden Mountain Princess was indeed Princess Jing Mountain’s personal maid, Xiuxiu.

King Beimo made Xiuxiu the Golden Mountain Princess, and the Prince of Nanliang intended to marry Xiuxiu, thus the marriage contract had no issues.

The decree of conferring a princess was officially announced to the world, if the Nanliang envoy had doubts, they could inquire outside the palace.

Plus, there surely were Nanliang people in the Beimo Capital, Beimo wouldn’t deceive them—their own people wouldn’t, right?

Only then did the Nanliang envoy realize Beimo had long planned this deceptive strategy, leaving them defenseless.

Indeed, once the Eldest Prince of Beimo knew Princess Jing Mountain was not in Nanliang Capital, he thought of such a plan.

Issue a decree for a princess to bless his Imperial Sister, if needed it’s real, if not the decree would be discarded—no loss to Beimo.

The Eldest Prince of Beimo initially delayed signing the marriage contract, awaiting the decree, avoiding criticism.

Now he and Princess Jing Mountain have returned to Beimo, and Beimo indeed has Princess Golden Mountain. If Nanliang insists on marrying, Beimo will fulfill the agreement to marry Princess Golden Mountain to the Prince of Nanliang.

Mhm.

Now it’s not Nanliang fearing Beimo won’t marry off a princess, but rather worrying Beimo will compel them to comply with the marriage contract.

It’s merely adopting a foster daughter; in case of marrying to Nanliang or even to the ends of the earth, there would be no heartache. But their Prince of Nanliang, with his noble status, married to a palace maid—would be a laughingstock.

Nanliang had never done such a foolish thing.

The Nanliang envoy dared not make decisions and hastily sent someone back to inform the Nanliang Emperor and Crown Prince.

Poor Zhao Xu returned from the military camp to Zhao Family only to learn the Prince of Nanliang had sent someone to propose in Beimo.

Zhao Xu wanted to go to Beimo but was stopped by Prime Minister Zhao. Not mentioning he had beaten Prince Beimo twice, with the marriage contract already signed by Prince Beimo, what good would his going do?

He and Princess Jing Mountain were fated to have no future together in this lifetime.

Zhao Xu refused to give up.

Prime Minister Zhao sent people to lock up Zhao Xu, forbidding him from going to Beimo.

It took Zhao Xu two days to escape, riding swiftly to Beimo only to arrive and find out about this major blunder.

This Golden Mountain Princess was not the same as Princess Jing Mountain.

Zhao Xu, "..."

Guard, "..."