Liu Rushi’s mocking smile became even more pronounced: “Dongyi is nothing but a tiny nation. Not to mention comparing it to Western Liang… It’s even inferior to the Rong and Di barbarians, yet it dares to threaten the Great Zhou. An ant… dares to roar at a giant! Overestimating one’s abilities!”

The Dongyi Emperor slowly straightened his spine, squinting at Liu Rushi: “Then let’s try it and see whether attacking my Dongyi is more important in the Great Zhou Emperor’s heart, or the national gambling with Yan is more important.”

Originally, the Dongyi Emperor wanted to probe Liu Rushi to see whether the Great Zhou Emperor was unwilling to hand over the jade cicadas because they were her husband’s relics, which was why she sent two jade cicadas to fool him.

After all… if these jade cicadas weren’t in the Great Zhou Emperor’s hands, how could ordinary Great Zhou people forge jade cicadas that even Tianfeng’s Grand Shaman couldn’t distinguish at first glance? He had already compared these jade cicadas – the three jade cicadas and the one in his hand, if one didn’t examine them particularly carefully, would truly make people think they came from the same piece of jade.

The Dongyi Emperor hadn’t slept all night. After carefully studying the three jade cicadas, he felt that the real jade cicadas must be in the Great Zhou Emperor’s hands. Even if they weren’t in the Great Zhou Emperor’s hands, after obtaining these three jade cicadas, the Great Zhou Emperor would surely follow the trail… to find whoever forged the jade cicadas. That forger must have the real jade cicadas; otherwise, it would be impossible to make them so well, almost identical to the one in his hand.

Having failed to probe anything from Liu Rushi, the Dongyi Emperor emerged from the moldy prison. The Dongyi Emperor looked back at the two lanterns hanging high at the prison entrance and said, “It seems that Lord Liu is living too comfortably.”

The eunuch following the Dongyi Emperor quickly responded: “Your Majesty, rest assured, this slave will instruct people to take extra care of him!”

The Dongyi Emperor nodded, then stepped on the slave’s back to board his carriage.

Inside the carriage, he closed his eyes, his fingers stroking the jade cicada, his expression dark. He must achieve time reversal… only through time reversal could he return to that time in time to save her.

On September 27th, Lu Ping escorted Imperial Physician Hong to Jin Wan City. Arriving together with Lu Ping and Imperial Physician Hong were also Bai Jinse… and the boy who stayed close to Bai Jinse’s side, as well as Yinshuang, who was holding delicious pastries for Bai Qingyan to eat.

Yinshuang had one eye covered with an eye patch embroidered with white butterflies by Cuibi. She knelt beside Bai Jinse, who was bowing her head in admission of guilt, holding pastries with both hands and looking up at Bai Qingyan with a bright smile, showing no awareness of having committed a wrong by secretly slipping away with Bai Jinse.

Bai Qingyan stood with hands behind her back under the corridor, looking at the three people kneeling in the courtyard, as well as the Bai family guards kneeling behind Bai Jinse, her expression dark.

Wind passed through, making the layered green leaves in the courtyard rustle.

Bai Qingyan sighed softly, came down from the steps, touched Yinshuang’s head, took the handkerchief wrapping the pastries, and said to Wei Zhong: “Send someone to take Yinshuang to Imperial Physician Hong.”

“Yes!” Wei Zhong responded with a smile.

Bai Qingyan instructed Yinshuang: “Stay by Imperial Physician Hong’s side and be obedient, understand?”

“Yes!” Yinshuang answered cheerfully.

Wei Zhong helped Yinshuang up, and the little girl nimbly patted the dust off herself before leaving with the guard.

“You’ve always been steady and followed orders. After staying with your Fourth Sister for some time, how did you learn all her bad habits?”

Bai Jinse’s whole body tensed up. She looked up at her elder sister: “Elder Sister… Xiao Qi was wrong! Xiao Qi just wanted to come help and gain some experience, and besides… all along the way, I followed behind Uncle Ping and Imperial Physician Hong! Only after passing the Qingxi Mountain checkpoint did I dare show myself to Uncle Ping; otherwise, I was afraid he’d send people to escort me back.”

“You’re quite clever…” Bai Qingyan’s voice was cold and hard.

It wasn’t that Bai Qingyan was unwilling to let Bai Jinse come, but she had left a letter and run away without telling their mother. This Xiao Qi also followed suit by leaving a letter and running away, not bringing a single guard, only bringing a child and Yinshuang. If they encountered bandits on the road who saw three children and wanted to bully them, what would happen if something went wrong?

“Xiao Qi knows Elder Sister is upset that Xiao Qi didn’t bring guards when going out. Xiao Qi thought that following behind Uncle Ping would be safe. If something happened, Yinshuang would go first to call Uncle Ping, and Uncle Ping could quickly bring people to rescue us.” Bai Jinse pursed her lips, using her peripheral vision to direct Bai Qingyan’s attention to the boy beside her, “Moreover, Xiao Qi came this time because there’s something important to tell Elder Sister!”

Bai Qingyan remained impassive, only using her peripheral vision to look at the boy kneeling behind Bai Jinse with his head lowered, saying nothing, then nodded: “Get up, come inside to talk…”

“Wei Zhong, take that child to eat something and change clothes. He suffered this ordeal because he followed Xiao Qi out; it’s not his fault.” Bai Qingyan instructed Wei Zhong.

“Yes!” Wei Zhong responded.

Hearing this, the boy looked up at Bai Qingyan, saw that Bai Jinse had already followed Bai Qingyan into the house, and, after being urged by Wei Zhong, also stood up… leaving with three backward glances.

After entering the room, Bai Jinse dismissed everyone around them, stood beside Bai Qingyan, and said in a lowered voice: “Elder Sister, the reason I brought this child to chase after Elder Sister is because I saw someone making contact with this child. The shadow guard Elder Sister assigned to protect me said that the person contacting this child was Wei’s Prince Xihuai. That shadow guard had protected Elder Sister during the Great Liang campaign and had seen him once, saying that Prince Xihuai was with Brother-in-law at that time! Elder Sister… I don’t want this child to be used by those who harbor thoughts of restoring their country, so I could only bring him to the coast to avoid Prince Xihuai.”

Bai Qingqi and Bai Jinse had long suspected this boy’s identity. At the time, Bai Qingyan felt that regardless of whether this child was the former young emperor of Wei, since Wei no longer existed, the young emperor of Wei should also be considered non-existent. As long as this young emperor didn’t cause trouble, the Bai family could protect this child’s safety for life, especially since Bai Jinse had already developed feelings for this child and wanted to protect his peaceful life.

The two of them had escaped together from the hands of Western Liang refugees, sharing life and death through hardships. Their bond was extraordinary. Bai Jinse was the youngest child in the family, usually cared for by her brothers and sisters, and she also wanted to care for this boy.

Bai Qingyan looked at Bai Jinse: “So you didn’t give him time to contact Prince Xihuai again and directly brought him here.”

Bai Jinse nodded: “I didn’t want to use methods that might harm Yu Sheng to cut off their contact, so I could only do this.”

“Yu Sheng?”

“He said he doesn’t remember his name, so I gave him a name – Yu Sheng… Bai Yu Sheng.” Bai Jinse’s gaze was clear, “He’s a good child. Regardless of his past, Yu Sheng… I hope he can live peacefully and happily.”