Here, Bai Qingyu could fight openly, but he couldn’t say too much…

As the Ghost-Faced Prince, his attacking Xiao Rongyan here wasn’t entirely without reason. It could be said… that they had argued in the Great Zhou palace over their respective national interests. Xiao Rongyan had the advantage as the Great Zhou Female Emperor’s fiancé, and because the Great Zhou Female Emperor had fainted, their dispute ended inconclusively. The Ghost King Prince, still angry, attacked Xiao Rongyan at the courier station – this was reasonable and logical.

Thinking of this, Bai Qingyu didn’t hesitate to attack Xiao Rongyan again. Bai Qingyu’s fist smashed into the tree, causing leaves to rustle down in a flurry, falling into the water that reflected the half-round bright moon and silver moonlight, stirring up countless shallow ripples of alternating light and shadow.

Xiao Rongyan had just dodged Bai Qingyu’s fist and hadn’t yet steadied himself when Bai Qingyu’s leg swept toward his face. From the corner of his eye, Xiao Rongyan saw a figure approaching and quickly grabbed Bai Qingyu’s leg, speaking rapidly: “Xiao Rongyan will fall gravely ill tonight, then marry the Great Zhou Female Emperor. If you attack now and someone sees it, are you planning to connect Xiao Rongyan’s death… with the Rong barbarians?”

Bai Qingyu, whose chest was filled with rage, immediately understood upon hearing Xiao Rongyan’s words how Mother and Elder Sister planned to handle this matter.

Seeing another person approaching from the corner of his eye, Bai Qingyu withdrew his leg and straightened the hem of his clothing.

A servant carrying dinner bowed to both Bai Qingyu and Xiao Rongyan, then hurried across the wooden arched bridge without daring to linger.

Only after the person had gone far did Bai Qingyu speak: “You deserve to die!”

“This matter is my fault…”

“You deserve to die!” Bai Qingyu’s tightly clenched fists trembled.

Elder Sister’s journey had been too difficult. If this Great Yan Ninth Prince truly intended to be with Elder Sister with proper ceremony and respect, Bai Qingyu wouldn’t say a word against it! But the two countries… would inevitably have a battle in the future. How dare he!

Xiao Rongyan bowed deeply to Bai Qingyu: “A’Bao and I already have an agreement – when the world is settled, I will stay by her and the child’s side! I hope… You will grant us this.”

Bai Qingyu approached Xiao Rongyan with clenched fists, lowering his voice to whisper in Xiao Rongyan’s ear: “After Xiao Rongyan dies, stay away from my sister…”

Having said this, A’Yu bumped hard against Xiao Rongyan’s shoulder as he left.

Xiao Rongyan watched Bai Qingyu’s retreating figure, understanding his anger, but the urgent matter was how to make Xiao Rongyan fall ill. Without lingering, he lifted the hem of his robes and walked toward the courtyard where the Yan kingdom envoys resided.

“Your Highness, forgive this subordinate for not agreeing with Your Highness’s words.” The person who had been impersonating the Great Yan Ninth Prince was so shocked he stood up, grabbing the medicine bowl from Xiao Rongyan’s hands and saying: “Your Highness left the Kingdom at a young age and worked so hard to establish Great Yan’s intelligence network. If something happens to Xiao Rongyan…”

His voice paused before continuing: “After Xiao Rongyan marries the Great Zhou Female Emperor, all networks in Great Zhou will be unusable! Not to mention, we’ve just opened up opportunities in Western Liang. If Xiao Rongyan dies… all our previous arrangements and plans, all the manpower and resources we invested in the Western Liang strategy, would be wasted – we’d have to start from scratch! After all, Western Liang’s eight great families only recognize Xiao Rongyan!”

Xiao Rongyan looked up at the subordinate gripping his wrist tightly, pried his hand away, and said in a steady voice: “This prince… this is an order, not a discussion!”

Having said this, Xiao Rongyan tilted his head back and drank all the medicine in one gulp.

Yue Shi quickly handed Xiao Rongyan a handkerchief, secretly glancing at the subordinate who had been impersonating their master, thinking to himself that this was simply a foolish child… Since he already knew the master had feelings for the Great Zhou Female Emperor, couldn’t he guess that the Great Zhou Female Emperor probably already knew their master’s identity long ago? After she ascended the throne, wouldn’t she deal with it? Those shops… had long been useless.

Xiao Rongyan took the handkerchief Yue Shi handed him and wiped the corners of his mouth: “The intelligence network in Great Zhou has already begun to be restructured. As for Western Liang… we’ll find a nephew or nephew-in-law for Xiao Rongyan to take over his business.”

“Will Western Liang’s eight great families recognize Xiao Rongyan’s nephew?” The subordinate impersonating the Ninth Prince felt indignant, deeply believing that Xiao Rongyan was letting personal feelings harm the Kingdom.

“That’s not something you should worry about…” Xiao Rongyan threw the handkerchief onto the small table. “Or… just because you’ve been impersonating the Ninth Prince, do you think you’re Great Yan’s Regent?”

The subordinate was startled and quickly knelt: “This subordinate wouldn’t dare!”

Xiao Rongyan looked at the kneeling subordinate, and only after a long moment did he rise and walk to him, helping him up: “This prince knows of your loyalty, but… this prince has plans for everything. If you follow the plan, that would be the greatest help to this prince. Do you understand?”

The subordinate looked at Xiao Rongyan, whose attitude had become gentle, his eyes reddening as he clasped his hands: “This subordinate remembers!”

Just as Liu Rushi was urgently working through the night with relevant officials from the Ministry of Rites to discuss setting a wedding date for the Female Emperor and her fiancé Xiao Rongyan, news came from the courier station that Xiao Rongyan had suddenly developed a high fever and collapsed after returning to the palace.

Upon hearing this news, the Female Emperor became restless after learning that imperial physicians had already rushed to the courier station. She then dispatched Physician Hong and Imperial Physician Huang together to the courier station to treat Xiao Rongyan.

The imperial physicians and Physician Hong diagnosed together, all saying Xiao Rongyan’s condition was dire – his illness was unprecedented.

The next day, after Xiao Rongyan’s high fever subsided, he regained consciousness, but his pulse was extremely chaotic. Physician Hong even declared that Xiao Rongyan probably couldn’t survive more than a month, and several imperial physicians nodded in agreement.

When this news reached the Great Zhou Female Emperor, she issued an edict to bring Xiao Rongyan into the palace for care, and summoned Grand Marshal Lu, Minister of Works Shen, Grand Secretary Dong, and Minister of Rites Liu Rushi to the palace to discuss hastening the marriage with Xiao Rongyan.

Both Dong Qingping and Liu Rushi were very surprised – just yesterday, the Empress Dowager and His Majesty had summoned them to the palace to prepare for His Majesty’s wedding, so why was it being moved up today?

Only then did Empress Dowager Dong Shi explain that Xiao Rongyan was gravely ill… Physician Hong and the imperial physicians were at their wits’ end, believing Xiao Rongyan probably couldn’t survive a month. Bai Qingyan wanted to marry early, hoping to bring good luck – perhaps Xiao Rongyan could recover.

Liu Rushi was stunned. Since ancient times, others had married to bring good luck to the imperial family, but this was the first time he’d heard of an emperor marrying to bring good luck to a future imperial consort.

However, Liu Rushi was also a person of sentiment and quite admired Bai Qingyan’s courage. He was the first to agree with Bai Qingyan: “It’s just that, Your Majesty, what the Empress Dowager mentioned about within three days might not be possible! Just Your Majesty’s ceremonial robes and the imperial consort’s ceremonial robes alone – even if everyone in the weaving workshop worked without sleep or rest, they probably couldn’t finish them in time.”

“Everything should be simplified. Rongyan’s health can’t be delayed. Within three days, I humbly request that you gentlemen prepare this matter properly.” Bai Qingyan bowed to the several ministers: “I trouble you, gentlemen.”

Grand Marshal Lu and the others quickly rose to return the courtesy, hastily saying they wouldn’t dare.

The ministers who had been worrying about the Female Emperor’s marriage just yesterday suddenly heard that the Female Emperor wanted to marry within three days. They were all dumbfounded, but then learned that the Female Emperor was doing this because Xiao Rongyan’s health was failing and she wanted to bring good luck. The ministers, remembering how Xiao Rongyan had once shown kindness to the Bai family, all praised Bai Qingyan for repaying kindness with gratitude.