Peace Order

So the children began to laugh, Qi Bi Li smiled and nodded, and the children started to divide the food among themselves, carefully sipping the soup before they ate the meat, which had a flavor disliked by people from the Central Plains. The donkey hadn’t been fanned, the bleeding was poorly handled, and the cooking was far from exquisite.

The meat still reeked of rawness that wouldn’t dissipate, but to them, it tasted as if it were the most delicious thing, their eyes shone with delight. Li Guanyi glanced at the young Khan sitting beside him, and Qi Bi Li said with a smile, "Being able to save these children on my last day before leaving Chen Country, I can go back with a clear account to my elders."

Li Guanyi asked, "You’re leaving?"

Qi Bi Li hummed in affirmation and said, "The Emperor invited me to stay, offering me a dukedom and a princess, but he didn’t say how he would bring my folks over to the borderlands of the Central Plains. The young prince of the Dangxiang and the living Buddha from the Western Regions both plan to stay."

Li Guanyi cast his gaze downward, he actually knew well the Emperor’s method of weighing options, so he knew from the start that Qi Bi Li was not going to get what he hoped for; even so, he wished this young man could have his desires fulfilled.

Qi Bi Li said, "Officials from Chen Country asked me if I wanted to stay, telling me that the Western Regions are bitter and cold, the land beyond the frontier is poor and desolate, and it’s better to stay here with beauties and gold, a life without worries."

"The road to Jiangnan, oh, the Central Plains are truly wonderful."

"Even I feel that the boiled meat I used to love eating as a child now tastes gamey, ah. The wind here is good, the grass and water too, even the breeze carries the scent of water, the willows sway, the girls are beautiful, but..."

The young Khan sat amidst the children, patting his scimitar, his smile tranquil: