Outside Yanmen Pass, the autumn autumn wind swirled withered grass across the empty plain. At the long negotiation table, Xia Huai'an and Qiyan Xue sat opposite each other. Wisps of tea aroma curled in the air, yet failed to mask the heavy atmosphere between them.
Qiyan Xue stood up, her gaze sweeping past Xia Huai'an to look out at the rolling grasslands in the distance. Her voice was soft yet resolute: "Mr. Xia, you say that Mobei and the Central Plains should fuse into 'one family,' but the grasslands and the Central Plains have vastly different customs, mutually unintelligible languages, and even different faiths. How can they truly merge into one entity?"
Xia Huai'an set down his teacup and smiled faintly, his eyes as deep as an abyss. "The Grand Princess has hit the crux of the matter. Ethnic integration is by no means a matter of a day or two, but if the methods are right, within three generations, Mobei and the Central Plains will know no distinction between each other."
Chapter 246