"What about the crowned prince?" Peng Mingzhu asked, still in shock from her findings.
"It is the same with First Brother," Wei Kangnuan answered honestly, not at all caring that her body had tensed from learning about such a thing.
"How can that be possible? I mean...you guys are princes after all. Not just normal citizens…" Peng Mingzhu numbly mumbled as she stared off into space, not at all understanding, especially since the emperor also gave the crowned prince freedom to choose his own bride.
"Royal Father believes in marrying for love, not marrying for politics or for the better of the country," Wei Kangnuan explained. "He thinks that it is stupid and close-minded to do such a thing. Marrying for the country is the same as trying to cover up a crime, so he said."
"Huh...I-I see…" Peng Mingzhu remarked in shock, still surprised at the way that the emperor was thinking.
"I have quite a great family, do I not?" Wei Kangnuan bragged with a smile.
Just when Peng Mingzhu was about to answer, she thought of something, "Wait, then what do you guys do when the country is at war? I mean, the most simplest method would be to marry-"
Hearing her question, Wei Kangnuan laughed, "Are you looking down on an empire? What else other than having force meet with force?"
"Those poor men…" Peng Mingzhu muttered under her breath as she thought about how many people could have lost their lives due to wars.
"It is not that bad," Wei Kangnuan told her with an amused face at her mutterings. "We train our soldiers constantly for a reason. In fact, out of the entire continent, we have the biggest army. Do you know why?"
Peng Mingzhu wanted to answer, 'Because you guys constantly recruit and train your men.'
However, Peng Mingzhu instead shook her head and said, "No, why?"
"Because we make sure to take care of our soldiers," Wei Kangnuan stated gloatingly.
"In what ways?" Peng Mingzhu asked, wondering if it was like how she took care of her men.
"They do not receive the best food, but they do receive something that is more than nutritional enough while tasting good. The country also ensures that they receive more than enough hygienic care, and above all, though they risk their life during wars and battles, we make sure that their life is not at risk during a resting period," Wei Kangnuan explained to her everything that his country did for these men that were sacrificing for the country in a proud voice.
Though he did not want to involve himself too deeply into state affairs or even the politics, he was still very proud of what his family had achieved. He did not know which ancestor started the rules and laws about family affairs, but with the advancement in the imperial family, the country also advanced. Maybe this was why there was the saying, "Do well in the house, and you shall do well outside."
[A/N: For those that might be confused by the proverb; If you can take care of your own house affairs, there is a belief that you will do well out in the world whether it be for work, social life, or whatever else there can be; And I truly believe in that.]
"This place indeed treats their men much better than what I know of…" Peng Mingzhu remarked as she thought back on the historical texts she has read before about what soldiers went through.
After long periods of training, they are then thrown into the battlefield. If their country did not have enough men, then the drafting process was commenced. If there were men who disobeyed their obligations, they would be punished severely.
The punishments that they were subjected to? There were too many to list; and all of them were too gruesome for her, someone who was well-versed with punishments.
It was even with this subject that she started lessening her likings towards the ancient Chinese period. She stopped reading historical texts, surprising Xiao Qiqiang so much that he even thought she was going through depression.
"This is why you should marry me," Wei Kangnuan then tried to lure her once again.
"No," Peng Mingzhu immediately rejected.
She refused to leave a mark in this place, in this country, and in this world; this universe that was unknown to the rest of her people.
"Well, then… Your request for me to hide you from people… We can forget about it," Wei Kangnuan said with a tone as though he was having difficulty and regret.
"Alright," Peng Mingzhu agreed, stunning the man sitting behind her who was holding onto the horse reins.
Wei Kangnuan shook his head disappointedly and then asked, "If you were going to say that, why did you ask in the first place?"
"I was having my hopes up," Peng Mingzhu answered honestly. "However, I do know that it is impossible to hide my traces. No matter where I appear, I know I will always leave an imprint behind even if I do not want to leave one."
"Why do you not want people to know about you anyways?" Wei Kangnuan asked her, wanting to know more about her and the secrets she held.
"Someone who has plans to leave, why would they want to leave something behind?" Peng Mingzhu answered in a questioning format.
"You plan to leave? Wait...no. You plan to go back to where you came from?" Wei Kangnuan asked with a slight irritation in his voice.
He knew that she would leave eventually. However, he did not feel well knowing that at all. There was too little he knew about her, so he could not find her if she disappeared.
He...did not want her to disappear from his life forever after having met her. Right now...she was like the pupils in his eyes, the stars in his sky, and the heart in his body.
"You already know that I am not from here," Peng Mingzhu sighed. "I only came here for research purposes. Other than that, I have no other reasons to be here."
"When...when will you be done with your research?" Wei Kangnuan asked, getting rid of his depression and instead forming plans on how to stop her when the time came.
He would do everything in his power to stop her from leaving and to interrupt her research. If he could not disrupt her research, then he would try his best to at least slow the research down.
"To be honest, I am not sure," Peng Mingzhu honestly answered with a frown. "The continent is too big and it will take a long time to travel through all the important places for my research. The research might take months if I try to make it quick, or it might be years if I try to be detailed."
"I think you should try to be detailed," Wei Kangnuan suggested, of course, purely for his own selfish reasons. "It will be more helpful for you in the long run."
Sighing, Peng Mingzhu agreed, "I know, but I might worry the others. I came here without them knowing, almost like sneaking out. I am already sure that the moment we make contact with each other, I would receive an earful of scolding. Especially-"
Just when she was about to say Xiao Qiqiang's name, she shook her head. It was not just an earful she was going to receive from him. She knew she might even get grounded by him - the only person to ever treat her like a child.
"You snuck out?" Wei Kangnuan questioned with an amused face as he tried to imagine her being sneaky.
Actually, his imagination was too much for her because she actually did not sneak in the same way that he imagined. All she merely did was make sure that nobody was nearby and then just walked in since she knew that her ID card would not cause too much of a disturbance to the building. This was all because she disliked it whenever people gathered at the front to greet her, so Xiao Qiqiang changed the coding to make sure every time she scanned her card nobody knew.
"Everyone was against the idea of me being the first person to leave, so I had to sneak out," Peng Mingzhu admitted with a painful face. "They worry too much."
Wei Kangnuan chuckled at her statement, "How are you guys communicating now? Pigeon mail? Or horse mail?"
"We have our own ways," Peng Mingzhu told him as she did not want to lie.
The moment that you started lying, the more you had to lie. Knowing this, she would rather keep secrets instead since she can just say, "I don't feel comfortable letting you know about this. Please do not ask me again."
If anybody ever questioned her, she can even say, "You have no rights to know about my personal business."