After Xiao Xun left, a crowd of officials and soldiers all rushed away with him.

Xiao Man watched the courtyard left with only their own people, put away the female official bearing she’d learned in the palace, placed her hands on her hips and smiled: “Little Rabbit, Granny, you did well this time! Auntie said there will be rewards!”

Laughter rang out from their own people in the courtyard.

Only then did Chu Tang peek out from inside the hall: “Little Rabbit, is it safe now?”

Little Rabbit turned back laughing: “Sister A’Tang, come out quickly—it’s been safe for a while.”

Safe, what? Just now there were many of Prince Zhongshan’s people in the courtyard. If she walked out and was caught to vent their fury—her meager life couldn’t withstand such a contingency.

Only after confirming there were no more of Prince Zhongshan’s people here did Chu Tang emerge with her parents, but Chu Lan refused to come out, lying on the ground feigning illness.

“Master Chu, hurry up and get up. There are still important matters for you to do,” Xiao Man said.

Hearing this, Chu Lan simply decided to faint dead away. More important matters? How many lives did he have to withstand this—

“—The Empress said you must personally escort Prince Zhongshan’s heir back to the capital. That way all under heaven will know that you risked your reputation and person, taking dangerous risks, to capture Prince Zhongshan’s heir,” Xiao Man continued outside.

Before she finished speaking, Chu Lan lying on the ground opened his eyes, his spirit instantly clear.

He knew what this meant—

“—While you lie here, how can you enter the capital in glory with all people gazing upon you? How will the court reward you?”

Chu Lan got up, and Jiang Shi beside him didn’t even have time to help him.

He straightened his clothes.

“Master, are we really going?” Jiang Shi asked. All these ups and downs—was it real or fake?

“Real, how could it not be real?” Chu Lan said. “This was exchanged with our lives—absolutely real.”

Chu Tang smiled and supported Jiang Shi: “Father, remember to ask for more rewards.”

After all, she had given up an Empress position.

……

……

When Xiao Xun came to see the Emperor, Xiao Yu was still on the battlefield.

Prince Zhongshan’s troops had laid down their arms and were being gathered and guarded. The surviving civilians in the city had all been released. Seeing the tragic state of those who died, they felt both fortunate and sorrowful—if the fighting had continued, they would have been the next batch of cattle and sheep to die.

The grieving people saw a child in yellow robes walking among the wounded and dead, helping bandage wounds, picking up orphans who had lost their parents—he was only a few years older than those orphans himself.

“Your Majesty, fortunately Your Majesty is here—” The people knelt and wept.

Troops came from the distance shouting loudly: “Prince Zhongshan’s heir has been brought bound!”

Countless gazes looked over.

A young gentleman, bound hand and foot, was escorted forward. Before drawing near, he knelt down and said loudly: “Xiao Xun, acting impulsively, quarreling with court ministers, unruly and insubordinate, has committed a grave error and deserves ten thousand deaths.”

Having spoken, he kowtowed.

Prince Zhongshan had confessed his crimes, but what he confessed was the crime of Xiao Xun’s “conflict” with the decree-bearing ministers. So it was acting impulsively, being unruly and insubordinate—the intent to force abdication was thus concealed.

“The heir must remember,” came the admonishment from the trusted aide Prince Zhongshan had sent earlier. “We cease hostilities, but the court cannot harm or prosecute the heir.”

Ning Kun beside him said through gritted teeth: “Empress Chu threatened the Prince with the heir’s life and death. The Prince had no choice but—”

Xiao Xun asked not a single additional question, only nodding in acknowledgment. Upon seeing the little Emperor, he also knelt down cleanly and decisively.

Xiao Yu looked at the person kneeling not far away. He actually didn’t recognize this uncle, perhaps having seen him once or twice as a child, but had no impression at all.

But he knew that on that night at the Chu residence, it was this person who came to kill him.

Looking at this enemy so close at hand, then hearing the trivial charge of acting impulsively, Xiao Yu showed no grief or indignation, no questioning—his expression was calm.

Earlier, Old Bai had conveyed Sister Chu’s words. To avoid greater casualties, the court now also had to take a step back, make this matter small, and temporarily not pursue the crime of treason by Prince Zhongshan and his son.

Whatever Sister Chu said was what it was. Sister Chu had also told him one more thing—

Xiao Yu put down the orphan he was holding and said: “Xiao Xun, you need not kneel to me, need not confess to me. You should kneel before these people who died, and confess to them.”

Hearing this, the people erupted in sky-piercing wails.

“That’s right, he’s the one who harmed us—”

“My son, you died so miserably! Hearing that Prince Zhongshan’s heir was protecting the capital, you ran to enlist, only to die under his horse’s hooves.”

“Heaven-cursed Prince Zhongshan’s heir!”

Curses, weeping—some person who had lost a relative, driven by extreme hatred, grabbed dirt and stones from the ground and threw them. Immediately more people began throwing.

Xiao Xun knelt on the ground motionless, letting dirt, stones, and shoes strike his body and face.

……

……

In the deep night, the city was brightly lit, and the troops camped outside the city were like a river of stars.

The battlefield had been cleaned up, corpses were no longer visible, and the wounded had all been settled in the city, but walking through it, one could still smell the stench of blood.

Xie Yanfang stopped and looked down at the ground. Despite being trampled and buried, a blade of grass still grew out crookedly.

“The bitter winter has finally passed,” he said softly.

Beside him, Steward Cai’s face was colder than bitter winter: “Deng Yi doesn’t want to live!”

He held a scroll in his hand—bright yellow with dragon patterns. But the next moment he threw the scroll on the ground, and the crooked blade of grass was immediately flattened and disappeared.

“Prince Zhongshan failed to properly teach his son. The heir Xiao Xun was domineering, defied superiors, disobeyed orders, and threw our nation into chaos.”

He recited the contents of the edict word by word: “These few lines still sound like human speech, but what follows—”

“In consideration of Prince Zhongshan supplying a hundred thousand troops for the court’s campaigns, and sending his heir to the capital for instruction, knowing one’s errors and being able to reform—there is no greater good. We specially grant Prince Zhongshan the title of Kingdom-Protecting Prince, praying for Da Xia’s eternal stability and the people’s peace and health.”

“Deng Yi—how dare he draft such an edict!”

Xie Yanfang looked down at the edict and suddenly asked: “Did the Empress write to him?”

Steward Cai was startled. Right now they were discussing Deng Yi’s edict—

Of course, the timing of Deng Yi’s edict was too coincidental. Clearly it had been negotiated with Prince Zhongshan, and Prince Zhongshan was being besieged by the Empress, or rather, the Empress had ventured alone into danger and was sitting in Prince Zhongshan’s estate.

This matter ultimately came back to the Empress.

“The postal station reports have no letters from the Empress,” Steward Cai said coldly. “However, the Empress has people we don’t control.”

So although the Empress was at the border commandery, she was clear about the court and capital’s movements, which was how the Chu Lan family could flee yet she could still capture Prince Zhongshan’s heir.

Prince Zhongshan and his son suddenly confessing, Deng Yi suddenly sending such an edict—this must have been—

“The Empress colluded and negotiated with Deng Yi,” Steward Cai continued.

Xie Yanfang interrupted him, sighing softly: “The Empress actually didn’t write to me, didn’t collude with me, didn’t negotiate.”

Steward Cai was startled again, then said angrily: “Young Master, what are you thinking? What nerve would she have to write to the Third Young Master! She only dares hide and avoid the Third Young Master, secretly trading with Deng Yi, ruining the Young Master’s plans.”

The more he spoke, the more hateful it became. Deng Yi, Chu Zhao—these two petty people! Base! Shameless!

“They’ve made the court a laughingstock!”

Xie Yanfang smiled and comforted Steward Cai: “This isn’t a laughingstock. This is just a transaction.”

He reached out to pick up the edict, gently supporting the flattened blade of grass with his other hand, then stepped forward.

When Xiao Xun knelt at the front—no, it should be said, from when Prince Zhongshan’s troops began retreating, he had known.

That girl had done it.

Her transaction with Prince Zhongshan, her transaction with Deng Yi—she had accomplished both.

Steward Cai’s angry voice echoed in his ears:

“Using the court, using Da Xia to trade with Prince Zhongshan—by what right do they!”

“Deng Yi has many followers and relies on having the imperial seal, forcibly issuing an edict.”

“Young Master, he can write it if he wants—he can send it, but we can also make it disappear from this world!”

Although the edict had left the court, it hadn’t actually been presented at the front lines to be read aloud. Midway it was intercepted by the Xie clan’s people.

Not only intercepted—they could make it completely disappear, as if it had never existed.

Did they really think that with the Xie clan not in court, Deng Yi could do anything he wanted?

Hearing this, Xie Yanfang, who had seemed distracted all along, stopped and looked at the edict in his hand.

Steward Cai reached out: “I’ll burn it!”

Xie Yanfang raised his hand high to avoid Steward Cai’s hand. In the night, a smile even appeared on his face.

Steward Cai was somewhat helpless: “Young Master, don’t joke around.”

Xie Yanfang smiled: “Steward Cai, don’t joke around. We can intercept the edict, burn the edict, but we can’t stop this matter.”

Steward Cai’s face darkened.

“The root of this matter isn’t the edict,” Xie Yanfang said, swaying the edict in his hand. “It’s authority.”

As Grand Tutor, entrusted by the late Emperor, holding the imperial seal to supervise the government—no matter how petty Deng Yi was, how shameless, he had authority, and so he could do this.

No matter how absurd this matter was.

Chu Zhao was the same.

She was young, had lost her father, had a thin family foundation. She was made Empress by the late Emperor, the Mother of Great Xia—she had the authority to use Da Xia to make transactions.

Authority—the more it was used, the better one became at using it.

Xie Yanfang looked toward the northwest: “Look, how well Miss A’Zhao used it this time.”

Authority—the more it was used, the more it flourished.

This battle—he, Xie Yanfang, gained illustrious fame.

This non-battle—Empress Chu gained illustrious fame.

Xie Yanfang looked down at the edict again and called out to Du Qi, flicking it with a snap.

Du Qi, hidden in the night, reached out and caught it.

“Proclaim it to all under heaven,” Xie Yanfang said.