No matter how the court officials clamored, objected, and questioned, how could they possibly stop Xie Yanfang?

When Xie Yanfang decided to do something, who could block him?

Xie Yanfang mounted his horse while holding Xiao Yu.

Since the Crown Prince’s death and the new emperor’s ascension, in the eyes of the world, Xie Yanfang remained an elegant gentleman and the emperor’s only relative, his most trusted uncle. Having entered the court as an official and holding a stable high position, no one could compare to him.

But to him, he was still stuck in that night.

He was still wearing the undergarments he’d awakened in from sleep, holding a long blade, blood covering him from head to toe.

He had helplessly watched the Crown Prince die, watched the Crown Prince’s consort die, watched the young prince be rescued by others, watched an obscure nobody leap above him in status.

Young Master Xie had never been so wretched in his life.

How could he be content!

Finally, tempted by external threats, Prince Zhongshan personally delivered himself. In this battle, Young Master Xie would avenge his humiliation, establish his might, secure his reputation, and reclaim the child’s heart.

Xie Yanfang looked down at the child seated before him.

Xiao Yu was wrapped in a cloak. Under the illumination of torches, his jade-white face shone with radiance.

All around, hoofbeats thundered. The imperial guards loudly shouted “His Majesty personally leads the campaign,” the cry echoing through the capital’s streets. The people who had been hiding in their homes heard this call with disbelief. At first, those along the streets peered through cracks in doors and windows and indeed saw a child. Though many hadn’t seen the young emperor, who else but the young emperor could sit before Xie Yanfang? In no time, they all surged out. More and more people gathered, and the entire capital instantly boiled over.

“I will personally go question Prince Zhongshan—why, when claiming to protect Da Xia, does he harm my subjects? If he shows no remorse, I will personally execute him myself.” Xiao Yu shouted loudly to the crowds surging from the street sides.

The child’s voice was tender, and his words somewhat childish, but they made everyone even more excited.

“Everyone please rest assured, my personal campaign doesn’t mean we’ve reached a critical moment.” Xiao Yu continued. “The Empress can lead troops to personally campaign in the border commandery against the King of Xi Liang, so naturally I won’t just sit safely in the imperial palace either.”

The child threw off his cloak. His small hand raised a sword almost as tall as himself.

“Those who violate Da Xia—execute them.”

“Those who harm my subjects—execute them.”

The child’s voice was tender but loud and stirring. No one treated this child as a child—this was the emperor, this was the Son of Heaven, this was their sovereign. The people along the streets were moved to tears, shouting “Execute them!” with hoarse voices.

The capital’s gates, closed for many days, opened. Countless citizens followed the emperor’s troops, wanting to accompany His Majesty to the front lines.

Bright torches made the entire capital burn.

Xiao Yu looked up at Xie Yanfang. His eyes sparkled and his cheeks flushed: “Did I say it correctly?”

Xie Yanfang nodded: “You spoke very well. Without my teaching you, with Miss Chu teaching you instead, you’re much better than I anticipated.”

Sister Chu? Of course Sister Chu was excellent. A smile bloomed on Xiao Yu’s face.

“Now that Sister Chu isn’t here, I’ll teach you.” Xie Yanfang continued, swinging the long blade in his hand. “This time I’ll teach you how to kill enemies. A’Yu, this time, I want you to personally kill someone.”

He looked down at Xiao Yu.

“A’Yu, do you dare?”

Xiao Yu was so excited even his ears turned red. He nodded forcefully: “Uncle, I dare.” He also raised the long sword in his hand just like Xie Yanfang’s blade.

The sincere uncle had finally arrived. Next, he would make the word “uncle” even more heartfelt and irreplaceable.

Xie Yanfang laughed heartily, raised his blade and spurred his horse. The horse neighed and galloped forward.

“This won’t do!” “How can this be allowed!” “Grand Tutor—”

In the clamorous calls, the officials’ voices continued creating a cacophony.

Deng Yi stood before the palace gates watching them depart. From the moment Xie Yanfang finished speaking and the young emperor shouted “Uncle, I’m willing,” he hadn’t said another word, nor had he tried to stop them. At this moment, officials surged forward following Xie Yanfang’s party, leaving only a few people beside him.

Deng Yi stopped everyone’s clamor and smiled slightly.

“Originally I was indeed somewhat worried. Prince Zhongshan has accumulated power for so long—this battle wouldn’t be so easy to win. But now that Xie Yanfang has stepped forward, I’m no longer worried.” He said, looking at the capital clamoring and burning like fire. “Prince Zhongshan has always believed this is his opportunity, but actually he’s merely Xie Yanfang’s opportunity.”

……

……

When dawn once again illuminated the earth, the local clan heads waiting outside the government office all awakened from their stiffness. The sons and nephews accompanying them carefully massaged their elders.

“Father, can you still hold on?” they inquired in low voices, their expressions worried.

The elders were all over sixty or seventy years old and hadn’t suffered such hardship in many years.

“Hardship?” a clan head said quietly. “Compared to those families who had their heads cut off and now lie quietly on the ground, it’s a bit hard, I suppose.”

This joke wasn’t funny at all. The sons and nephews smiled bitterly, unable to hide the fear in their eyes.

Who could have imagined that the polite crown prince with deep dimples when he smiled would kill at the drop of a hat?

“What’s unimaginable about it?” another elder said flatly. “With strong troops in hand, saying they’re asking us to uphold justice is merely a polite phrase.”

While they spoke in low voices here, over there a general walked out from within the government office. Seeing them, he seemed quite surprised: “You haven’t gone home yet?”

A clan head quickly stepped forward and bowed: “We urgently seek an audience with the Crown Prince.”

The general nodded: “The Crown Prince just woke. Follow me in.”

So he was willing to see them. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, bowed again, and followed the general to enter. Just after walking a few steps, soldiers rushed up from behind.

“Sir.” He held a letter in his hand and whispered a few words in the general’s ear.

The general’s expression showed some surprise. Looking at the letter again, he hesitated, then said to that soldier: “I’ll go report to the Crown Prince. You keep those people under watch.”

The soldier responded affirmatively and left.

The general was about to leave when he saw the clan families following behind him.

“You wait a moment. There’s an urgent matter to report to the Crown Prince,” he said.

The clan families naturally had no objections. They’d already waited all night—they didn’t care about waiting a bit longer. They quickly said the general should please go, and again apologized for disturbing the Crown Prince when he was so busy—

The general didn’t listen to the rest of their pleasantries and proceeded into the hall.

Xiao Xun sat at his desk listening to Tie Ying speak while occasionally glancing at a map.

“Crown Prince.” The general strode in and called out loudly. “Someone from the capital has sent a letter.”

Letters from the capital were nothing more than the court’s new moves, and those moves were just troop deployments. At this point, unless they deployed celestial troops and generals, nothing would help. They were unstoppable. Xiao Xun wasn’t concerned: “Give it to Master Ning to read.”

But the general didn’t respond and leave. Instead, he stepped forward: “It’s a personal letter from Old Master Zhou of the Zhou clan in the capital.”

The Zhou clan.

That was a renowned aristocratic family.

Xiao Xun raised his head: “I didn’t expect the Zhou clan to be first. They truly live up to their reputation as masters of chess strategy, best understanding the ways of advance, retreat, victory and defeat.”

Previously, letters had been sent to the capital’s prominent clans—reassurance was one aspect, but the real purpose was persuasion.

Persuading them not to meddle, to all keep quiet, and to entice them to side with Prince Zhongshan.

According to news from recent days, the clans had indeed all quietly shut their mouths and hadn’t denounced Prince Zhongshan.

As they executed the proclamation envoy and drew closer to the capital step by step, finally a clan had come to actively show goodwill.

Though the Zhou clan didn’t appear to hold high positions at court, relying on chess mastery they’d gathered many disciples and had branches spreading everywhere. That they came first—Xiao Xun was somewhat pleasantly surprised. He took the letter and opened it, but as he read, his brow furrowed.

“What did old man Zhou say?” Tie Ying quickly asked. The unruly ones were never youths but these old diehards. Aristocratic clans’ arrogance was never uncommon. In the previous dynasty, an emperor seeking to marry into a certain clan was refused by them, who even privately declared, “Aristocratic clans are iron, emperors are water that flows”—

Seeing Tie Ying’s expression as if he wanted to immediately go chop off Old Master Zhou’s head, Xiao Xun quickly reassured him: “He wrote very pleasantly, not at all like his aggressive chess style. However, he wrote this letter on behalf of someone else.”

Someone else? Tie Ying didn’t understand.

Xiao Xun smiled: “Our old friends we haven’t seen in a long time.”

……

……

The several clan heads standing in the government office were forgotten again.

They watched that general rush in and rush out again. Before long, he brought a scholar rushing back—from start to finish never sparing them another glance.

Was Prince Zhongshan’s crown prince truly busy, or deliberately giving them the cold shoulder?

But now they were under someone else’s roof—they didn’t dare ask, could only continue waiting.

They heard the clear laughter of a young man from inside—the Crown Prince was at least in a good mood. When they met him shortly, it would be easier to talk.

……

……

After listening to Ning Kun describe the recent events in the capital, Xiao Xun laughed heartily, then shook his head while laughing: “Chu Lan is truly pitiful.”

Ning Kun said: “After Miss Chu became empress, things weren’t so good for him either. He’s been kept confined, the couple never coming out to see people—it’s equivalent to imprisonment.”

“She was also protecting them.” Xiao Xun smiled. “But now that she’s left, there’s nothing to be done.”

He sighed.

“Deng Yi and Xie Yanfang are both heartless, unrighteous, cold-blooded people, not caring a bit about Miss Chu’s dignity.”

Though the court specifically said Chu Lan’s matter had nothing to do with Chu Zhao, it was useless. Empress Chu would carry this family stain for life—deposing the empress in the future would be much easier.

“Deng Yi and Xie Yanfang haven’t received any favors from the Chu clan, so why should they care about the Chu clan’s dignity?” Ning Kun said disdainfully.

Tie Ying also sneered: “If Chu Zhao had remained at home back then, not only could she still have become empress, the Crown Prince would have received favor from her family and would certainly have shown gratitude, protecting the Chu clan’s dignity everywhere.”

Back then—Xiao Xun said: “Miss Chu is intelligent and brave, she doesn’t care about such things.”

Nor does she care about him.

“Caring now is too late.” Tie Ying said. “Her reliable father is dead, her uncle’s family has also been convicted by the court. Let’s see what she can do now.”

Ning Kun interrupted Tie Ying: “Don’t mention the past. Crown Prince, the Chu Lan family fled here in panic seeking refuge—do we receive them or not? Chu Lan is of no use. Receiving him plays right into Deng Yi and Xie Yanfang’s hands, confirming that you, Crown Prince, colluded with the Chu clan in rebellion. In my opinion, we should execute him before the battle lines, just to tell the world this matter is the court’s slander.”

Xiao Xun smiled: “The Chu Lan family is indeed useless, but Old Master Zhou sent them here.”

He waved the letter in his hand.

“That Old Master Zhou could write this letter and send people here shows his pledge of allegiance to us. If we kill Chu Lan at this time, not only the Zhou clan but other clans in the capital will certainly be wary of us, and might even immediately rise up to aid the court.”

Ning Kun nodded thoughtfully. This was indeed a problem.

“Let the Chu Lan family enter.” Xiao Xun said, then smiled. “Me taking in the Chu Lan family—does that count as a hero rescuing a beauty?”

Tie Ying said: “No, Chu Lan is too ugly.”