Capital City, Shen Residence.
"Third Master, Chief Shen is here."
Upon hearing Nian'an's words, Shen Qingping finally set down the book in his hand. Since the war began at the front, the court had fallen quiet. Even the censors, who usually would argue over the smallest matters, had shut their mouths.
Shen Qingping had found himself some leisure time.
"Brew tea, receive the guest."
He said only this, but Shen Qingping made no move to rise.
When Shen Xiao entered, he carried an air of stern killing intent. Lifting his gaze, he saw the young Lord Shen, once dubbed the 'God of Slaughter', casually flipping through a book, not a trace of a smile on his face, exuding an aloofness that kept others at a distance.
"Two taels of gold."
Shen Xiao's words caused the person on the soft chair to change expression. "Shen Xiao, wasn't it agreed upon for one tael of gold? You are being dishonorable."
"I'm telling you the result of the Emperor's assignment first. I'm risking my head doing this."
Shen Xiao's face was also cold. Nian'an just felt so cold, truly.
He missed His Highness the Crown Prince, missed the Princess, missed Liu Xi, missed Baoxia.
"Nian'an, fetch two taels of gold for him," Shen Qingping said through gritted teeth, vowing to swindle this man out of a sum one day.
"That person is indeed a member of the imperial clan."
With only that sentence thrown down, Shen Xiao rose and used qinggong (lightness skill) to swiftly disappear from Shen Qingping's sight.
"What? Just one sentence, for two taels of my gold?"
Shen Qingping was so angry he completely lost his mood for reading. He paced around the room like a headless fly, muttering incessantly:
Two taels of gold, two taels of gold...
"Third Master!"
Nian'an suddenly spoke up, "You sought this information for His Highness the Crown Prince. In the future, His Highness will surely reimburse you for these two taels of gold."
"Perhaps the Princess, with her soft heart, will reimburse you too."
"That's true."
The young Lord Shen, who had always deeply understood the value of money, finally regained a sparkle in his eyes.
He could be scolded a few times, but taking his silver was unacceptable.
Shen Qingping nestled back into the soft chair. After a long while, he murmured:
"A member of the imperial clan..."
I wonder what princely title he'll be granted?
And who knows if this person's intentions are good or bad. He must take advantage of the Prince and Princess being away to test this suddenly appearing imperial relative.
...
Song Yu was completely unaware he had suddenly gained a cousin, and Song Shihuan was completely unaware she had gained a pair of twin cousins, one male and one female.
At this moment, the father and daughter had just received intelligence from Yu Fan: Prince Rui was about to arrive at the battlefield.
Emperor Mingde had used the position of Crown Prince of Dayue as bait, which would naturally make the fierce beast that was Prince Rui unleash his strongest combat power.
"Princess, what do you plan to do?"
Gu Zheng asked. The other deputy generals also looked at Song Shihuan in unison. Unconsciously, everyone had begun to regard the young Princess before them as their pillar of support.
"Cold-tossed."
Song Shihuan innocently curved her almond-shaped eyes. "I feel like having a cold-tossed dish."
Gu Zheng's gaze, however, softened. At this moment, the Princess was strikingly similar to Mingzhu. When it came down to it, they were both still children.
"I know very little about Prince Rui. The only thing I know is that he is treacherous, cunning, and acts like a petty villain. With such a person, it's best to wait for him to make the first move."
Song Shihuan sighed. Unknowingly, it had been a month since leaving the capital.
"How is Yu Fan?"
Song Shihuan's question obviously jumped topics quite a bit.
"He's fine. He and a group of his men have set themselves up as kings of the mountain. The entire village is full of his informants. He's quite impressive."
Song Shihuan nodded, then called Gu Zheng over to instruct the cook to make her a cold-tossed dish.
Only Song Yu smiled and shook his head. Gu Mingliu's belly was growing bigger day by day, and A'Huan was even more concerned about it than Mingzhu, her own blood sister.
Such a little person, worrying about everything all day long.
Thinking of this, Song Yu got up again to prepare tonic soup for Song Shihuan. He was genuinely worried the child wouldn't grow tall.
The old father was quite troubled.
Prince Rui arrived at the border city the day after Song Shihuan received the intelligence.
Well... this border city was not the border city of old.
Seeing the city filled with wounded soldiers, Prince Rui was furious. "Didn't Deng Xian win battle after battle? How did he stumble here against Daqi, losing forty thousand out of a hundred thousand troops, with half of the remaining being wounded?"
"Your Highness, please calm your anger."
The deputy general who had served under Deng Xian could only hold his nose and accept the blame.
"Any other situations?" Prince Rui continued to ask.
Then came the sound of knees hitting the ground. The deputy general, who had been hanging his head like a quail moments before, was now crying, tears and snot running down his face. "Your Highness, we beg you to seek justice for our General."
"Daqi hung the General's corpse on the city gate, with Daqi's war banner planted beside it. This is a clear sign they hold no regard for our Dayue."
"It's simply... simply too insolent!"
Prince Rui's chest heaved with rage. Before coming, he had been confident and proud, thinking Deng Xian would have won a victory, and he could simply take credit for the achievement.
He never expected such a mess.
After a few breaths, Prince Rui's eyes were filled with malice. "Since Daqi shows no mercy, then we need not hold back either."
That afternoon, war drums were beaten.
But Dayue showed no signs of sending out troops.
Left with no choice, Song Yu and Song Shihuan, along with a group of generals, ascended the city gate tower.
They saw on the opposite city wall, Prince Rui dressed in gray robes, standing next to a person who was bound tightly and gagged.
"Huh? We shouldn't have any captured officers or soldiers," Li Laoba wondered aloud.
The next second, he received a sharp knock on the head from Gu Zheng. "Are your eyes on the back of your head? That's the Grand Imperial Grandson."
Oh, so it's...
It's actually the Grand Imperial Grandson!
The faces of all the generals grew heavy. Clearly, that treacherous villain Prince Rui intended to use the Grand Imperial Grandson as leverage to force them to withdraw their troops.
And they would indeed be held hostage by this.
In less than half the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, a faint sorrow appeared on the faces of several generals.
"If you do not wish your Grand Imperial Grandson to be separated from his head, then withdraw your troops and return the cities of our Dayue that you have occupied."
Prince Rui grabbed Song Yanzheng by the back of his neck, forcing him to lift his head so the people opposite could see clearly.
A strong light simultaneously burst forth in the eyes of Song Yu and Song Shihuan. It really was Song Yanzheng!
How should they make Song Yanzheng die?
"I will count to three. If you do not remove your Daqi war banner next to Deng Xian's corpse, I will immediately push Song Yanzheng off this city wall."
"The height of this wall is enough to kill him by the fall."
Prince Rui wore a smile of certain victory, but he did not notice that Song Shihuan had already, under the stunned gazes of several generals, slowly drawn her longbow.
"Three."
"Two."
Seeing no reaction from Daqi, the smile on Prince Rui's face changed. Could it be that the Crown Prince of Daqi could watch his own nephew die before his eyes?
Wasn't he afraid that the censors' saliva spray would bury him?
Thinking of this, Prince Rui removed the rag from Song Yanzheng's mouth and threatened:
"You, say a few last words."
