Xi Weilan rolled around among the gold ingots several times, her small face still giggling happily. The glittering gold looked beautiful, as did the gleaming silver beside it.
Her behavior made Xi Qingyue laugh out loud. She walked over, picked the child up, and pinched her little cheek. "Alright, that's enough. They're hard and cold—are you really going to sleep on them?"
Xi Weilan smiled at her, still clutching a small gold ingot in her hand. "Big Sister, how many roast chickens can this one piece buy?"
"A small gold ingot is ten taels. Converted to silver, that's a hundred taels. One tael of silver can buy about thirty roast chickens. Can you figure it out?"
Hearing Xi Qingyue's words, Xi Weilan counted on her fingers for a while, then shook her head in frustration. "Big Sister, I can't do the math."
Xi Qingyue carried her as she walked outside, saying, "Big Sister is calculating based on the old prices. It'll buy at least three thousand roast chickens. But it's hard to say in the future. Next time we come across some, Big Sister will buy every roast chicken in the city for you."
"Yay!" Xi Weilan clapped her hands happily.
Xi Qingyue carried her to an open area in front of the villa before stopping. She set the child down and, in her hands, two swords appeared: one sharp longsword and one small wooden sword.
She handed the small wooden sword to Xi Weilan with a smile. "Starting today, you'll practice swordplay with Big Sister every day. You're born with extraordinary strength. Pair that with good swordsmanship, and you'll never be bullied. Understand?"
Xi Weilan took the small wooden sword and nodded seriously. "Mm-hmm, Big Sister. I'll practice hard."
Xi Qingyue patted her head, her voice gentle. "Good. Practice for one hour each day, and the rest of the time, you can play however you like."
Then, following the sword manual given by Lu Qianning, she began to practice. She wielded the longsword with slow, deliberate movements, making sure Xi Weilan could keep up.
Xi Weilan's sword movements weren't perfectly standard, but she mimicked them fairly well—at least she didn't hit herself with the wooden sword.
Half an hour later, Xi Qingyue stopped, sheathed her sword, and looked at Xi Weilan. "Alright, let's stop a little early for today, since you're just starting."
Xi Weilan, sweating profusely while holding the small wooden sword, wiped the perspiration from her forehead but still wore a happy smile. "Big Sister, I can practice a bit more. It hasn't been an hour yet."
Xi Qingyue shook her head with a smile. "No rush. The first few days, we'll practice for half an hour. Once you get used to it, we'll stick to an hour every day. Let's go get some water first."
Saying this, she took Xi Weilan's hand and led her to the spiritual spring.
Pointing at the spring, she said to Xi Weilan, "Lan'er, from now on, drink plenty of this every day. Drinking it will keep you from feeling tired, transform your body, and prevent you from getting sick."
"Okay, Big Sister. This water tastes really good," Xi Weilan said, taking the cup offered to her and drinking it in big gulps.
She had been sweating from the heat moments earlier, but after drinking the spiritual spring water, she immediately felt cool and refreshed all over.
Xi Qingyue also drank two large cups. No matter how good other beverages were, none compared to this spiritual spring water.
After finishing their water, the two didn't leave the space but returned to the villa's living room.
Xi Qingyue found some flashcards for teaching numbers to kindergarten children and began teaching Xi Weilan simple digits. Teaching a few numbers each day was no trouble.
Meanwhile, deep in the mountains, Lu Qianning and the others sat under a tree, panting from exhaustion. Beside them lay over a hundred black-clad corpses.
A layer of white cloth was wrapped around Lu Qianning's arm, with blood seeping through. Even her face was stained with bloodstains.
Luo Ling and the others were all wounded as well, looking thoroughly beaten and disheveled.
"Mistress, these people have gone too far. They don't want you to return to the capital alive," Luo Ling said angrily. If it weren't for the fact that her mistress was related to those people, she would have cursed them to high heaven.
Lu Qianning leaned against a large tree, resting with her eyes closed. She didn't respond to Luo Ling—she just didn't feel like talking.
One of the guards nudged Luo Ling's arm and whispered, "Say a little less. As if the Mistress isn't upset enough already?"
Luo Ling immediately shut her mouth. Who wouldn't be furious in this situation?
After a moment, Lu Qianning opened her eyes. Her gaze was sharp and carried a hint of killing intent.
She gave orders in a low voice to the male guard beside Luo Ling. "Zhou Shu, when we reach the next city, you and a few others will split off from us. Take the letters proving Fourth Prince's collusion with the Northern Yue people and have them carved into printing blocks—produce at least ten thousand copies. Also, print out all the evidence they used to frame me. Make as many as possible. Travel south and past them up everywhere. Hire people with silver to get it done as fast as possible. I want the whole world to know about this."
"Your subordinate hears and obeys!" Zhou Shu knelt down to accept the order. His heart stirred with excitement—his mistress had finally reached her breaking point.
Suddenly, Lu Qianning added, "Also, I need one more sentence added. Make sure every single sheet has clear, legible writing."
Zhou Shu was puzzled. "Mistress, what sentence?"
Lu Qianning immediately pulled out a letter she had transcribed earlier. It was a secret correspondence between the Fourth Prince and the Great Prince of Northern Yue: the Fourth Prince would help the Great Prince assassinate the old emperor of Northern Yue, and in return, Northern Yue would help the Fourth Prince ascend the throne.
Right on the letter, she added a sentence. Her handwriting was carefree, and the words were bold—a stark contrast to her usual gentle and indifferent demeanor: "Fourth, no need to send assassins to snatch the letters anymore. I don't have nine lives for you all to kill. But as your sister, I'm still considerate of you, imperial brother. What you want, I'm giving away for free and announcing to the whole world."
After writing it, she signed it: "Wenqing."
When Luo Ling and the others saw what she had written, they were so shocked their mouths could have held an egg. It was utterly unexpected.
Lu Qianning's expression remained calm. She knew that even if this information came to light, the court most likely wouldn't punish the Fourth Prince. But her goal was for the entire nation to know and believe that the Fourth Prince had colluded with Northern Yue. Such a man was unfit to be ruler. She was cutting off any chance he had of becoming Crown Prince.
If a prince denounced by all the people could still become Crown Prince, then the Great Jing Dynasty was doomed to fall.
Then there was the Tenth Prince, her own younger brother—a two-faced ingrate. She'd deal with him when she got back, one by one.
She was aware that this course of action would anger the court. The Emperor might even blame her for harming the royal family's reputation, but she didn't care anymore.
Since they wouldn't let her live peacefully, no one else would be left in peace. What good was royal face? She had nearly lost her life.
She glanced down at her own clothes, frowned slightly, and then asked the guards next to her, "Do any of you have extra clothes? If so, bring two sets. Luo Ling and I need a change of disguise."
A quarter of an hour later, Lu Qianning and Luo Ling appeared before the others dressed as men. Lu Qianning deliberately mussed her hair a bit and smeared some dirt on their clothes.
She carefully instructed everyone, "It seems they won't let this go. With our lives on the line, let's focus on survival first. Let's change resting spots and head down the mountain tomorrow. Smudge our faces darker, blend in with the refugee caravans, and keep going until we reach a safe area. Then we'll figure out our next steps."
"Yes, Mistress!"
As they walked along the road, Lu Qianning couldn't help but sigh, "Alas, here I am, a proper princess, yet far less carefree than Yue and the other two little ones."
Hearing this, Luo Ling nodded in agreement. "You're right, Mistress. Those two little minxes are something else—they kill people even more cleanly than we do, without a hint of fear."
The very sisters they were talking about, Xi Qingyue and her sibling, had already ridden out of the space on their magical steed, Windstepper. Their destination was the bandit stronghold of the Chen brothers.
Xi Qingyue had just remembered: she had already ransacked the county office's treasury, but she hadn't yet plundered the bandit stronghold's storehouse. They couldn't let good loot go to waste.
