We Agreed On Experiencing Life, So Why Did You Immortals Become Real?-Chapter 382: Can Eldest Madam Call You Mo?

After Xiao Mo and the other generals returned to the capital, the border wars temporarily eased, but everyone knew the great war would not stay dormant for long.

At this time, Qin’s national strength was at its peak. It had already conquered Wei Kingdom, Chu, and Yanhuo—three great states—and countless smaller neighboring states besides.

Looking at the history of the Warring States, such a situation had never occurred before.

Now, from top to bottom in Qin, whether commoners or court officials, everyone was aiming at unifying the realm.

And at this moment, across the entire history of the Warring States, Qin truly was the state most likely to succeed in unifying it.

The remaining three states—Qi, Zhao State, and Jin—had always had frictions of all sizes in the past.

But now, they all understood perfectly well who the greatest enemy was.

So Qi, Zhao State, and Jin had already prepared to deal with Qin together.

They had originally planned to take advantage of Qin’s exhaustion and send troops against it. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

But after the great battle at Huai Mountain City, Jin’s casualties were far too severe. Then, not long after, turmoil broke out within Jin itself, and some of its feudal lords grew restless.

Qi and Zhao State had no choice. They had to give Jin a chance to catch its breath—at the very least, until Jin could recruit more troops.

Qin was not in a hurry to strike either.

Over these past few years—especially after Xiao Shi’s last suppression of the rebellion—Wei Kingdom could no longer stir up trouble.

Qin’s generous treatment of the local residents in Wei Kingdom only made it harder for the people to muster much will to resist.

For common folk, as long as they could live, and live better, that was happiness.

After all, who would like a world ravaged by war?

Not to mention that, in the beginning, the states across the realm had all been lands of Zhou.

After the Zhou king enfeoffed the lords, with time, rites and music collapsed, and the feudal lords rose side by side—only then did it become what it was today.

Looking back thousands of years, everyone had originally been one family.

For Qin, the most crucial task was still to digest the lands of Chu and Yanhuo that it had just taken.

Besides sending various generals to garrison Chu and Yanhuo, and reducing taxes for the common people—

Qin’s ruler also supported certain local noble clans that had fallen out of favor, provoking internal clan rivalries within Chu and Yanhuo. By making them restrain each other, Qin ensured they had no spare mind to cause trouble.

At Xiao Mo’s suggestion,

Qin also aggressively spread the idea: “Since it [N O V E L I G H T] is Qin soil, it is Qin people,” throughout the lands of Chu and Yanhuo.

In places severely damaged by war, Qin dispatched officials and soldiers for disaster relief, organized local people to restore farming together, and granted different policies depending on each household’s circumstances. Many people could even enjoy complete tax exemption for the next ten years.

Not only that, Xiao Mo also suggested accepting men from Chu and Yanhuo into the army.

Everything was voluntary, not forced.

Their treatment was the same as ordinary Qin soldiers.

And as for the original soldiers of Chu and Yanhuo, if they did not wish to remain in the army, they could leave at once.

However, Qin’s military-merit system was extremely attractive to the people of Yanhuo and Chu.

Because ordinary people truly could change their fate through military merit.

For a time, many men from Chu and Yanhuo entered the Qin army.

Qin’s troop strength expanded to a great extent.

With each supporting policy implemented, the people of Chu and Yanhuo gained much more of a sense of belonging to Qin.

If someone wanted to rebel and ruin their current good days, these common people would be the first to refuse.

And in the Shu region, after several years of development, Li Bin and his son’s waterworks governance had already achieved major results.

Ever since the Du River Weirworks was built, flooding in Shu had been greatly improved.

Plots of land that had once been impossible to cultivate became fertile fields, and each year’s grain output reached astonishing numbers.

This gave Qin tremendous confidence for its future campaigns.

And just as Xiao Mo returned to the Qin imperial capital, five months passed—then news came from the Xiao Residence.

The principal mistress of the Xiao household—Xia Qingke—was gravely ill.

Although Xiao Mo had not had much contact with Xia Qingke, no matter what, she still counted as his Eldest Madam.

Xiao Mo immediately sent word by flying sword to his father in the Northern Wasteland, and to his elder brother who was still at the Shaking-Mountain Sect.

After receiving the letter, Xiao Shi and Xiao Yichuan returned to the Xiao Residence at once.

After Xiao Yichuan saw his mother, this towering eight-foot man—who had stepped onto the immortal path—burst into tears on the spot.

Xiao Yichuan held his mother’s hand and kept saying, “Mother, I’m sorry,” and, “Your son was not by your side to fulfill my filial duty.”

“Silly child. The road of cultivation is like this. Your long life, and the achievements you have attained—your mother feels happy before she has time for anything else. Why must you say you are sorry?”

Xia Qingke gently stroked her child’s hair.

But the more his mother said it like that, the harder Xiao Yichuan cried.

That day, Xiao Shi also spoke alone with this principal wife of his for a long time.

To Xiao Mo, that was only natural.

No matter what, Xia Qingke was Xiao Shi’s first wife.

Even if Xiao Shi spent years away on campaign and rarely came home, there was at least some affection there.

But what Xiao Mo did not expect was that this principal mistress of the Xiao household would actually summon him over, wanting to speak with him alone.

“Eldest Madam.”

Entering the bedchamber of the Xiao household’s First Madam, Xiao Mo clasped his hands and bowed.

“The Frost King need not be so formal. Please, sit.”

The principal mistress of the Xiao household smiled faintly and spoke softly.

Xiao Mo nodded and sat on the stool by Xia Qingke’s bedside.

Looking at the woman before him, even though he had only met her a few times, Xiao Mo still felt a quiet sigh in his heart.

Her life-flame was about to go out. Though her face carried a trace of color, it was only the last flicker of vitality at life’s end.

“Frost King.”

“Eldest Madam can just call me Xiao Mo,” Xiao Mo said.

“Then can Eldest Madam call you Mo?” Xia Qingke asked with a smile.

Xiao Mo froze for a moment, then nodded. “Of course you can.”

“Mo.” Xia Qingke looked at Xiao Mo. “It’s the first time I’ve called you that... cough, cough, cough...”

Xia Qingke wiped the blood at the corner of her lips, then looked at Xiao Mo with gentle eyes.

“You really are remarkable.

“Although you were born of a concubine, you relied on your own ability to be enfeoffed as a king and marquis. Now, Mo, your momentum is not the least bit inferior to your father’s.

“Before, I was still worried—what if, in the future, when the Northern Pacification King’s hereditary succession passes down, my son cannot obtain what he should?

“Later, I finally understood. This so-called ‘Northern Pacification King’—Mo, you do not care about it at all. You do not need it either.

“Instead, it was me. I lived my whole life, yet I was still so petty.”

“Eldest Madam should not say such things. A mother seeking blessings for her children is only natural,” Xiao Mo said.

“That is true. But I am not only Yichuan and Yishe’s mother—I am also the principal mistress of the Xiao household. When your father is not at home, I can only manage the entire Xiao clan.

“So I cannot think only for my sons. I must also think for the Xiao family.”

Xia Qingke rested her hands before her and leaned back against the headboard, continuing.

“You and your father both think I resent you for ‘harming’ Yishe.

“Yichuan, too, thinks I resent him for failing to protect his younger brother.

“But the three of you do not know.

“You do not know that I never blamed any of you.

“The only person I blamed was myself.

“The one who truly killed Yishe was not anyone else, but me—his mother.

“Because I knew that Yichuan’s heart was not in the court. His heart was up there, among the mountains and the clouds.

“So I forced all my thoughts onto Yishe.

“Yishe wanted to become the Northern Pacification King—was it because he truly wanted to become the Northern Pacification King, or because of me, so he wanted to become the Northern Pacification King?

“If it were not for me, how could this so-called ‘Northern Pacification King’ have become his obsession, until it finally brewed into a great mistake?

“So it turns out, in the end, the person who valued this ‘Northern Pacification King’ the most...

“Was me.”