The Great Yan princes had adopted such a humble posture and displayed their attitude of apologizing on behalf of the Yan Empress Dowager. Even if it was merely a show for the Great Zhou generals and soldiers to see, it left them without justification to attack the Yan Kingdom.

Bai Qingyan finished reading Xiao Rongyan’s letter and said to Wei Zhong, “Then let this Great Yan eldest prince come for a visit! Lest those outside think that we of the Great Zhou don’t welcome these three Yan Kingdom hostages and have treated them poorly.”

“Your Majesty, the Auxiliary Duke requests an audience outside,” a young eunuch entered and reported in a low voice.

“Please let her in!” Bai Qingyan set down the brush in her hand on the inkstone and picked up another memorial.

Bai Jinxiu entered and, after paying respects to Bai Qingyan, knelt beside her. “When I entered the palace, I saw the Great Yan eldest prince, the second prince, and General Xie Xun waiting at the palace gates. They must have heard about General Cheng and the others’ request to send troops to the Yan Kingdom and come to seek an audience with their elder sister.”

“Later, tell A’Qi and A’Jue that if nothing else comes up, they can invite the Yan Kingdom’s eldest prince, second prince, and General Xie Xun to visit our Bai Mansion. It would show our stance to the outside world. Especially since this Yan Kingdom’s eldest prince has always been timid by nature – if he were to receive cold treatment in Great Zhou, he might even think it was my intention.”

“How does elder sister know that the Yan Kingdom’s eldest prince is timid?” Bai Jinxiu smiled and nodded slightly to Chun Tao, who was serving her tea, then said with a smile, “I think this Yan Kingdom’s eldest prince is quite bold. Other kingdoms’ hostages usually hide quietly and dare not show themselves, yet he dares to come to the palace to seek an audience with his elder sister.”

Bai Qingyan smiled and said, “This… is precisely what elder sister admires about this Great Yan prince. Though he is timid and afraid in his heart, for the sake of his homeland, he dares to steel himself and come forward. Though fearful, he still acts – this is true courage, worthy of being Murong Yu’s son.”

Whether it was Bai Jinzhi’s letter or Xiao Rongyan’s letter, both mentioned that the Great Yan eldest prince had a gentle and soft nature. Yet someone with such a gentle nature dared to do what others wouldn’t dare, and dared to set aside his dignity to apologize – this wasn’t something everyone could do.

Counting the days, Jintong should have received her letter by now…

Second Prince Murong Ping had previously conspired with “Cui Fengnian” to discuss business matters. After returning this time, he would probably be taken over by Xiao Rongyan. Since Xiao Rongyan had once met Bai Jintong, Bai Qingyan had told Bai Jintong about Xiao Rongyan’s identity and asked Bai Jintong to find ways to avoid him, lest her identity be exposed.

Naturally, this was just Bai Qingyan’s worry. It was also possible that… regarding this matter, the Yan Kingdom’s story to “Cui Fengnian” was originally about business with the second prince, and going forward, the Yan Kingdom would only be able to contact “Cui Fengnian” through Second Prince Murong Ping’s people. Xiao Rongyan would only scheme behind the scenes and wouldn’t meet with “Cui Fengnian” directly.

But informing Bai Jintong of Xiao Rongyan’s identity was still very necessary, especially since Bai Jintong was currently in the Yan Kingdom.

However, Jintong would probably be very surprised upon learning of Xiao Rongyan’s identity. But when two kingdoms compete, personal feelings must be set aside. Bai Jintong had always understood priorities and would certainly handle the Yan Kingdom affairs properly.

“Early this morning, Xiao Si brought the wound medicine prepared by Physician Hong and made rounds starting from General Cheng’s place… visiting each one in turn, essentially going to console them on the elder sister’s behalf.” Bai Jinxiu picked up her teacup, took a sip of hot tea, then set it down and said, “However, I came to see elder sister today because of Xiao Qi…”

“Jinse?” Bai Qingyan lifted her gaze from the memorial to look at Bai Jinxiu. She wasn’t too worried, just smiled and said, “Xiao Qi has always been a child with proper boundaries. What matter could make you set aside little Wang Ge’er and make a special trip to the palace?”

“Previously, when Xiao Qi was kidnapped by refugees in Western Liang, she once escaped together with a seven or eight-year-old boy. Does your elder sister remember this incident?” Bai Jinxiu moved closer to Bai Qingyan and said in a low voice, “After Xiao Qi returned, this child has been staying by Xiao Qi’s side, inseparable from her. But he’s not without propriety. The third brother and A’Yu have been carefully observing this child throughout the journey. This child… pretends not to know how to read, and even deliberately held books upside down in front of us to act like he’s illiterate, but… his mannerisms don’t seem like those of a commoner.”

Bai Qingyan became interested upon hearing this. She took a hot towel from Chun Tao’s hands, wiped her hands, and picked up her teacup to think carefully. “Seven or eight years old…”

“He doesn’t talk much, but coincidentally… A’Jue noticed that the child’s dining etiquette, which he almost exposed, follows the Wei Kingdom’s royal etiquette!” Bai Jinxiu kept her voice extremely low. “He only revealed it that once – this child is very cautious.”

However, that child was still just a child after all, and would inevitably have oversights. Moreover, in a place like the Bai family… it was easy for someone to notice something unusual.

“Wei Kingdom…” Bai Qingyan’s fingers rubbed the rim of her teacup. “In the twelfth month of the seventeenth year of Xuanjia, Wei Kingdom’s six-year-old prince was supported by the Empress Dowager to ascend the throne, becoming Wei Kingdom’s new emperor… Counting the years, he should be nine years old now! If… during a child’s growing years, poor nutrition and inadequate nourishment could make him appear smaller and thinner, it’s possible. It couldn’t be… such a coincidence, could it?”

“According to Xiao Qi, this child seems to harbor great hostility toward the Yan Kingdom people.” Bai Jinxiu said this, then smiled and continued to Bai Qingyan, “This child doesn’t have such strong wariness in front of Xiao Qi. It seems that having experienced life and death together, that child trusts Xiao Qi greatly, and so does Xiao Qi! Xiao Qi also sensed something unusual, so she came to discuss it with me. But Xiao Qi intends to protect this child.”

Bai Qingyan remained silent for a long while before slowly speaking, “Regardless of what this child’s former identity was, since he has entered our Bai Mansion, let’s treat him as a friend who experienced life and death together with Xiao Qi! When you return, have Xiao Qi ask this child… whether he wants to stay at the Bai Mansion or wishes to leave. If he wants to leave, our Bai Mansion will provide him with a fine horse and travel expenses. If he wants to stay, have the Bai Mansion guards teach him martial arts and let him remain by Xiao Qi’s side as a bodyguard.”

She lowered her eyes to look at the clear tea in her cup, paused her voice, then continued, “But we still need to assign someone to watch him secretly. As long as he doesn’t do anything problematic, just let him live peacefully. As long as he wants to live out his life in peace, we can coexist peacefully.”

Regardless of whether this boy was the former Wei Kingdom emperor, the Wei Kingdom had already fallen, so the Wei Kingdom emperor no longer existed. If he could let go, he could indeed live out his life peacefully and safely. The fear was that he still harbored thoughts of restoring his kingdom, and if he encountered those Wei Kingdom loyalists who were determined to restore the kingdom, wanting to live peacefully and safely would become difficult.

Moreover, with unification imminent, they had all sacrificed too much for this unification. Bai Qingyan didn’t want any complications to arise at this crucial juncture. Keeping the person under her watchful eye with someone assigned to monitor him would give her greater peace of mind.