I am still planning on finishing the earlier chapters, but I figured with the drama wrapping up, some of you guys might be eager to see how the novel ended.
Chapter 140- 160
- Yanzhou is once again under siege, but thankfully, Daddy Qiao (heroine’s dad) reached out to Bi Zhi and asked for his help. Bi Zhi and his men successfully helped Yanzhou defeat their enemies. Daddy Qiao jumped on this perfect opportunity to tell his brother that the famous Green Eyed General is none other than his own son-in-law. Stunned, Uncle Qiao couldn’t get over his distaste at the thought that he would have a former horse slave as a son-in-law and turned to his advisor, Zheng Pu, for advice. Instead of advising Uncle Qiao to accept Bi Zhi, Zheng Pu convinced Uncle Qiao that his own brother could be trying to oust him, and that he should not only reject Bi Zhi but also throw in his lot with Liu Yan (heroine’s ex-fiancé who is still very much obsessed with her.)
- Knowing that his brother would be an obstacle to his plan, Uncle Qiao allowed Zheng Pu to poison Daddy Qiao. It wasn’t Uncle Qiao’s intention to harm his brother permanently but something went wrong with the plan, and Daddy Qiao ended up losing his eyesight. Things reached the point of no return when Zheng Pu went behind Uncle Qiao’s back and ordered an attack on our hero’s most trusted General, Wei Liang, who had arrived in Yanzhou to simply deliver birthday well wishes for Daddy Qiao on our hero’s orders. (This was a huge step for our hero since it showed that he had finally accepted Daddy Qiao as his father-in-law. Wei Shao had just gotten word that Xiao Qiao had given birth to a baby girl. His heart feeling full of love for his little family, Wei Shao wanted to do something that would make our heroine happy.)
- Shocked and furious when he was informed that not only had the Qiao Clan publicly declared their loyalty to Liu Yan, General Wei Liang was also severely wounded and his guards all killed outside of Yanzhou gate. It dawned on our hero that he was yet again betrayed by the Qiao clan.
- Sitting by Wei Liang’s bedside, Wei Shao held his hand until he could feel Wei Liang’s hand slowly turning cold and stiff. Ignoring Gongsun Yang’s hesitant suggestion that perhaps there was some sort of misunderstanding, Wei Shao ordered his troops to head for Yanzhou.
- In the meantime, the now blind Daddy Qiao was locked up by his brother. Also locked up in his room, Qiao Ci belatedly realized something was very wrong. Not understanding all the political implications but knew enough to know that her no-good husband had done something terribly foolish, Aunty Qiao told Qiao Ci everything she knew and convinced him to force her husband to let him go by holding her hostage. Uncle Qiao probably would not have let Qiao Ci go just because his wife was in danger, but Aunty Qiao wisely called out to Liu Yan and reminded all within earshot the kindness Qiao Clan had shown to him when he was young, thus forcing him to order Uncle Qiao to let Qiao Ci go.
- When Qiao Ci left Yanzhou, he was still under the false information given by Liu Yan that Wei Shao was locked in a bitter battle elsewhere so he promptly went to Bi Zhi to ask him to go aid Wei Shao. Unfortunately, Liu Yan was already a step ahead and had ordered some trops to attack Bi Zhi. By the time Bi Zhi defeated his enemies and rushed to aid Wei Shao, that’s when Bi Zhi and Qiao Ci found out that Yanzhou was already under Liu Yan’s control, General Wei Liang was ambushed, and Wei Shao had already left to attack Yanzhou.
- Naturally Qiao Ci tried to explain their side of story to Wei Shao, but our hero would not even meet with him but instead sent word to Bi Zhi that if Bi Zhi went to Yanzhou’s aid, then he would take that to mean Bi Zhi wanted to be enemies with the Wei Clan. Thanks to Gongsun Yang’s advice, Qiao Ci traveled night and day to ask Xiao Qiao for help, in hopes that perhaps she would be able to get Wei Shao to listen.
- Back in Yanzhou, Uncle Qiao finally realized he had been fooled, and Liu Yan’s plan all along was to get Wei Shao to attack Yanzhou. In Liu Yan’s plan of revenge, Wei Shao would wipe out the Qiao Clan, and that would naturally turn our two leads against each other. Still imagining himself as the rightful emperor, Liu Yan vows to himself that he will one day obtain possession of Xiao Qiao no matter who has her. (The guy was sort of traumatized when he watched helplessly as Xiao Qiao was taken from him by Chen Rui in the beginning of the novel. He vowed that day he would one day be powerful enough to take Xiao Qiao from whoever had her.)
- Since his intention was for Wei Shao to decimate Yanzhou all along, Liu Yan soon left Yanzhou with his troops and tricked General Ding Qu into taking over the city. (In the novel, Ding Qu is actually the one who married Madam Yulou but after meeting Liu Yan here, she abandoned Ding Qu and left with Liu Yan.)
- Daddy Qiao’s men became suspicious of his brother’s words that their master was too sick to see them, and thanks to the chaos due to Wei Shao’s troop circling the city, they were finally able to find Daddy Qiao and rescue him. Somber when his men informed him how bad the situation was, Daddy Qiao came up with a plan to take out Ding Qu.
- Already starting to get an inkling that perhaps he had bitten off more than he could chew, Ding Qu was quick to listen when Daddy Qiao blamed this whole mess on Liu Yan’s resentment towards Qiao Clan for breaking off his engagement with Xiao Qiao. Convincing Ding Qu that there was no reason for him to sacrifice himself for someone’s revenge plan, Daddy Qiao suggested that Ding Qu instead prove his loyalty to Wei Shao by killing Uncle Qiao. Feeling that he had made a great friend with Daddy Qiao, Ding Qu was quick to agree to Daddy Qiao suggestion that they drink to their new friendship with couple rounds of drinks…and that’s how Ding Qu lost his head after he passed out from being too drunk.
- After getting rid of Ding Qiao and any remaining men still loyal to Liu Yan, Daddy Qiao’s men headed straight for Zhang Pu’s manor (the advisor) to kill him. However, other than a mystery headless corpse, Zhang Pu was nowhere to be found. Identifying the corpse by his outfit and belongings, Daddy Qiao was dismayed to discover that it was actually his brother. From Daddy Qiao’s guess, his brother must have realized he had been tricked and went to confront Zhang Pu, but ended up being killed by Zhang Pu instead.
- With Wei Shao’s troop still at the city gate, Daddy Qiao promptly wrote a letter explaining everything and delivered it along with Ding Qu’s head to Wei Shao’s camp. Unfortunately, Wei Shao refused to accept either the letter or the head. Daddy Qiao belatedly realized Wei Shao must take Ding Qu’s head to mean that Qiao Clan had once again flip-flopped on their ally. Daddy Qiao climbed onto the city wall only to see Wei Shao’s troop encircling the city, with nowhere to escape, while Bi Zhi’s troop had also arrived, ready to battle it out in protection of Yanzhou.
- By the time Xiao Qiao arrived at Yanzhou things were tense but actually better than they had expected. After scooping out the situation, Qiao Ci reported back Xiao Qiao that her dad had regained control of the city, killed Ding Qu, Bi Zhi was here with his troop in case the city was attacked, and most importantly, while Wei Shao refused to listen to her dad’s explanations, he had not order his troop to attack yet. In fact, by the time our heroine arrived, Wei Shao’s troop had been in a holding pattern for several days already.
- When Xiao Qiao stepped into Wei Shao’s tent, the first thing he said to her after she apologized for what happened was, “Go back and take good care of Fei Fei (their daughter’s nickname). You did give me a daughter after all so I will let Yanzhou off. I will call off the troops tomorrow.”
- Xiao Qiao could tell something was terribly wrong, but didn’t know what until Wei Shao had Zhang Pu brought in. Zhang Pu could only get a few words out of pleading for his life before Wei Shao wacked his head off with his sword and sent it flying through the air. Wei Shao calmly told Xiao Qiao that Zhang Pu had came to him with her uncle’s head, but he had no interest in Yanzhou so the Qiao Clan could keep it from now on.
- The moment she saw Zhang Pu, our heroine knew the man must have said something to cause Wei Shao to act like this. Forcing her brain to work through the mind numbing fear (the sight of Wei Shao holding a blood-dripping sword brought back her recurring nightmare of how Xiao Qiao was stabbed through by Liu Yan in her previous life), our heroine finally figured out that Zhang Pu must have told Wei Shao how she was the one who had advised her father to strength Yanzhou in case Wei Shao ever turned on them.
- Zhang Pu’s words made our hero feel like a complete fool. While he was falling head over heels in love with Xiao Qiao to the point of tossing aside what should’ve been his family’s unforgivable grudge, his own wife had never trusted him and had been preparing her family to fight against him one day.
- Our two leads parted with a deep chasm in their relationship that seemed hopeless to bridge. Feeling they owed Wei Liang a personal apology on behalf of the Qiao Clan, Xiao Qiao and Qiao Ci traveled to the city Wei Liang was in and received the joyful news that Wei Liang had woken up. Wei Liang was at death’s door, but thanks to Gongsun Yang’s master, who arrived at the nick of time, he was saved. After finding out it was Liu Yan who behind the whole thing, Wei Liang refused to accept Xiao Qiao’s apology since he said they were not at fault. (Zhang Pu had been working for Liu Yan and had gone behind Uncle Qiao’s back when he ordered the attack on Wei Liang).
- In the novel, Wei Liang didn’t have any romantic storyline. In fact, Wei Liang was already married. On our heroine’s side, other than her nanny, her other maids didn’t have any memorable character development.
- Daddy Qiao found her sister-in-law locked up and reunited her right away with Qiao Fan, Bi Zhi, and her grandson. After crying and hitting her daughter a few times on the arms, Aunty Qiao personally helped Bi Zhi up from kneeling on the ground. (Signaling that she had officially accepted Bi Zhi as her son-in-law)
- Before our heroine returned home, she met with Wei Shao again and confessed the recurring nightmare she had been having. Xiao Qiao explained to Wei Shao that in this recurring nightmare, Wei Shao had directly and indirectly wiped out her whole family, herself included. The nightmare brought about deep fear and distrust in her, to the point that she kept herself guarded even when she could see that Wei Shao was offering his whole heart to her. Xiao Qiao promised Wei Shao that from this point on, she would be his wife and mother to their daughter, no longer as one who always held herself as the daughter of Qiao Clan.
- Things were still tense between our two leads when Wei Shao returned home to the Wei Manor, but it was obvious that our hero’s heart was melting with each interaction with his baby girl. Knowing well that it will take time for our hero to open his heart again, Xiao Qiao focused on being a good mother and being more honest in expressing her love for our hero. (ie. a surprising kiss on the mouth, followed by “This morning when I came home and saw your steed at the door, I knew you were back and my heart was very happy… Husband, I too, love you.” Our heroine knew sometimes people just need the right moment to let go of the past, so in the mean time, she will say and do what she can, and wait patiently.
- While our hero’s anger and resentment were not gone, they were melting fast, especially when he had to admit to himself that even when he was at the height of his anger, he still didn’t dare to tell Xiao Qiao to go back to the Qiao Clan because he was too scare to lose her. He can’t tell if her sweet words were just more lies but the one thing he did know was that his anger and resentment were useless when it came to her because he could no longer bear to let her go.
- One day, Wei Shao finally had the chance to see Xiao Qiao trembling all over with fear in her sleep while being in the grip of her recurring nightmare. For the first time, Wei Shao saw for himself how horrifying our heroine’s nightmare must be to her. Upon finding out that the sight of Zhang Pu dying in front of her had also been added to her nightmare that night, Wei Shao finally came to understand the constant fear Xiao Qiao must experience as his wife.
- Wei Shao took out his precious box and opened it to show Xiao Qiao that it was an old folded-up flag that had his dad’s blood on it. Wei Shao explained to Xiao Qiao that he truly can’t forgive the Qiao Clan but he also knew that as long as he doesn’t, then he and Xiao Qiao can’t truly be united as one in their marriage. “Manman, I know I am not a good husband and know that you have been doing the very best you can since you married me. And recently, you have experienced great fear and injustice. I also know that if I can’t let go of the hatred in my heart, then we can’t erase the chasm between us. Please give me some more time to think this through.”
- One night, while Wei Shao was away to yet another battlefield, Xiao Qiao was alarmed to see a dark figure showing up in her bedroom. The man was none other than our hero’s cousin Wei Yan. Now a prince in the Xiongnu tribe, Wei Yan came to warn Xiao Qiao that Liu Yan had made a pact with the king of Xiongnu. Liu Yan promised to return some prized land that the King of Xiongnu would very much like to reclaim, if the Xiongnu tribe would send 300,000 men to attack three different cities. Wei Yan had made a promise not to kill a single Han Chinese as long as his grandmother was alive. Staying true to his promise, Wei Yan told Xiao Qiao that he would not be part of the Xiaongu army, but he would not join the Wei Clan to fight against his own people either.
- With only 100,000 troops at their disposal, Xiao Qiao and Madam Wei knew they had a tough fight in front of them. Xiao Qiao suggested to Madam Wei that they seek the help of a certain ally who could help them hold off for a bit. (This is an ally Xiao Qiao was instrumental in the alliance because she had by chance saved the chief’s son.) Madam Wei agreed to our heroine’s suggestion but insisted that Xiao Qiao leave the city with her baby and Mama Wei. Xiao Qiao agreed on the surface but returned to the city immediately after she sent her mother-in-law and daughter off.
- The Xiongnu army was indeed as big as Wei Yan had warned. Madam Wei was soon forced to give up the two other locations (after they had sent all the citizens away) and focused on the troops guarding a gateway city. Despite her frail health, Madam Wei personally beat the drums on top of the city wall as a battle cry to cheer on her soldiers. On the sixth day of the battle, Madam Wei finally collapsed. The news of her collapse spread like wildfire through the troops, affecting their morale. Madam Wei regained consciousness and was about to struggle up to go to the city wall again when her maid assured her that Xiao Qiao had taken her place at the drum. Holding up the old flag of her father-in-law (the flag that was in our hero’s box) while wearing her mother-in-law’s armour, Xiao Qiao gave a fiery speech until the troops’ morale reached a new high.
- Ten days in, the arrival of their allied troops bought our heroine some time, but it was still not enough, especially when the Xiongnu prince leading the battle promised great reward (they would be awarded the title of lordship and be given a town) to anyone who could break through the city barrier and capture the female master of Wei Clan who was beating the drum. One day, our heroine’s men urged her to leave right away as it looked like their enemy was about to breach the city wall even as her own brother was leading a small group of men trying their best to hold off the breach. Xiao Qiao could feel her world spinning from exhaustion, but she knew this was probably everyone’s limit, after fighting for so long and so outnumbered. Just when all seemed lost, the thunderous sound of horse hoofs came from the distance. The sound was getting clearer by the second as it came closer and closer.
- On the 22nd day of an extremely difficult battle, Wei Shao and his troops came back in time.
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ps. I feel Qian Fan and Wei Liang’s characters were definately richer and much more developed in the drama than the novel…but it would’ve been really nice if the drama didn’t feel the need to kill them especially when they were very much alive in the novel. I guess it would’ve been crazy to not give Qian Fan and Bi Zhi a happy ending in the novel when their previous life was so tragic.