Li Zhijie casually placed the melon seeds on the plate beside him, turned around, and sat back down on the soft couch. He raised his eyes to look at the gently swaying candlelight, his fingers rubbing his chin as his gaze darkened…

If Bai Qingyan truly succeeded in ascending to the imperial throne, they would have to follow the original plan—surrender the fifteen cities to the Great Zhou, with Yun Poxing’s grandson personally coming to sacrifice his life in acknowledgment of their crimes.

Back then, Yun Poxing had disemboweled and humiliated the seventeen sons of the Bai family. Today, Yun Poxing’s grandson would also have to disembowel himself publicly to repay that humiliation, merely seeking the Great Zhou Empress’s forgiveness and hoping she would abandon the three-year pact made with Yun Poxing years ago.

Only by doing this could the Great Zhou be deprived of justification to attack Western Liang when the Rong Di and Western Liang went to war.

Moreover, if Western Liang went to such lengths and Bai Qingyan still insisted on war, even the court ministers would likely voice their disapproval.

Li Zhijie closed his eyes. Yun Poxing’s loyalty to Western Liang truly ran to his very bones.

The matter of having his great-grandson come to Great Zhou was something Yun Poxing had tearfully requested of His Majesty.

Western Liang had lost one hundred thousand elite troops in the battle at Weng Mountain. The recruits had not yet been trained to maturity, making it already difficult enough to resist the Great Zhou, let alone adding the Rong Di to the equation.

If they hadn’t seen the diplomatic documents from the Rong Di and Great Yan, it would be one thing. But since they had already seen them and knew that the Rong Di intended to attack Western Liang within three years, Western Liang had to make preparations.

The Rong Di were essentially helping Western Liang keep Great Yan in check. Now Western Liang needed to stabilize the Great Zhou. Only then could Western Liang fight the Rong Di with both hands free, striving to annihilate them!

Yun Poxing’s entire family consisted of loyal and brave men. The Western Liang imperial family was not the Jin imperial family.

The Bai family’s complete loyalty had ended in tragedy because their ruler was unworthy and fearful—such a thing, not only would Li Zhijie never allow to happen in Western Liang, but the Western Liang Empress would never permit it either.

Therefore, Li Zhijie and the Western Liang Empress did not want Yun Poxing’s grandson to die here. Yun Poxing’s grandson was also one of Western Liang’s fine sons. He clearly understood what he had come here to do, yet he had come resolutely nonetheless.

His purpose was to use his life to buy time for his motherland, allowing his nation to focus on dealing with the treacherous Rong Di.

Perhaps in others’ eyes, being able to use Yun Poxing’s grandson’s death to constrain the Great Zhou Empress from justifiably sending troops against Western Liang—freeing Western Liang from the predicament of having to split forces between fighting the Rong Di and Great Zhou—seemed like an extremely profitable deal. But in the view of the Western Liang Empress and Li Zhijie, this deal was not profitable at all.

Loyal and brave men were the value than ten thousand gold!

If they truly let Yun Poxing’s grandson die here, it would likely chill the hearts of Western Liang’s people.

After much consideration, Li Zhijie decided to help Prince Baishui, striving to kill Bai Qingyan during the coronation ceremony and save their Western Liang’s fine son.

Li Zhijie stared at the swaying candlelight, having made his decision, and called out: “Someone come!”

Li Zhijie’s trusted subordinate outside the door responded and entered, bowing: “Your Highness!”

“How many death warriors did we bring on this trip?” Li Zhijie’s gaze turned to his subordinate.

The subordinate raised his head and answered: “We brought over sixty men!”

“All of them… hand them over to Prince Baishui. Have him find a way to get them into the imperial palace. These men are all Western Liang’s top death warrior assassins—they will surely help him kill Bai Qingyan!” After thinking for a moment, Li Zhijie added, “Tell our death warriors to be careful not to let anyone see they are Western Liang people. Even if… even if they die, their corpses must not reveal to the Great Zhou Empress that they are Western Liang people. Tell them to be cautious!”

“Your Highness, rest assured! This subordinate will arrange everything properly!” After responding, the subordinate quickly departed.

Li Zhijie recalled the scene when he first met Bai Qingyan, dressed in military attire, her graceful silhouette sitting astride her horse. She was a stunning beauty, yet possessed an air of clear and elegant bearing. She was truly a type of beauty Li Zhijie had never encountered before.

Having such a beauty die—Li Zhijie truly couldn’t bear it, but for the sake of Western Liang, there was no choice in the matter…

Li Zhijie sighed, his gaze falling on the parrot. If Bai Qingyan truly died this time, he would burn a few more incense sticks for her on each anniversary of her death.

Thinking of this, Li Zhijie felt his sense of guilt wasn’t quite so strong.

He looked at the brightly colored azure and yellow parrot and said, “Say… the Great Zhou Empress is the most beautiful!”

The vividly colored azure and yellow parrot flapped its wings, landed on the tall table, stretched its neck, and shrilly mimicked Li Zhijie’s words: “The Great Zhou Empress is the most beautiful! The Great Zhou Empress is the most beautiful!”

The night had grown deep. After Bai Jinxiu and Qin Lang departed, Bai Qingyan ordered the nanny beside Bai Jinse to carry Bai Jinse back to her room. Bai Qingjue also quietly urged Bai Qingyan to rest.

Just as Chun Tao was helping Bai Qingyan to her feet, Xie Yuchang, who was personally guarding the entrance to the Bai residence, came running in through the rain. He stood before the gauze curtain hanging in front of the corridor to keep out flying insects and bowed to Bai Qingyan: “Your Majesty… Master Xiao requests an audience in the deep of night.”

By rights, if someone sought an audience with Bai Qingyan at this hour, Xie Yuchang should not have announced them.

But this Master Xiao was different from ordinary people. Not only had he shown kindness to the Bai family during their time of trouble, but Xie Yuchang had heard Great Liang’s surrendered general Yang Wuce mention in passing that during New Year’s Eve, this Master Xiao had specifically traveled to Great Liang to spend New Year’s Eve with Bai Qingyan, and that Bai Qingyan had personally said that Xiao Rongyan was her betrothed.

Therefore, when Xiao Rongyan personally came calling, Xie Yuchang had not dared to delay and immediately came to report.

Upon hearing Xiao Rongyan’s name, Bai Qingjue instinctively looked toward Bai Qingyan…

Once, it was Xiao Rongyan who had bought Bai Qingjue from human traffickers. By rights, Xiao Rongyan had shown kindness to Bai Qingjue, not to mention… Xiao Rongyan had once intervened to save their mother who had nearly crashed into the coffin.

But even so, Bai Qingjue remained extremely wary of Xiao Rongyan. This person had inextricable ties with Great Yan, and now the Wei kingdom had been absorbed into Great Yan’s territory, making the Wei person Xiao Rongyan into Great Yan’s Xiao Rongyan.

Bai Qingjue even suspected… this so-called richest merchant of Wei had been Great Yan’s spy from the very beginning.

He was certain that in the future… Great Yan would be Great Zhou’s strongest enemy in unifying the realm.

His elder sister was someone who repaid kindness with kindness. Bai Qingjue worried that Xiao Rongyan would leverage past favors to make demands, especially since his elder sister was about to ascend the throne as Great Zhou’s Empress. If Xiao Rongyan harbored deep ambitions, he would surely make exorbitant demands.

Bai Qingyan knew that Xiao Rongyan had already arrived in the capital city. Since Xiao Rongyan hadn’t come all day today, she knew he must have been detained by some matter. But she hadn’t expected Xiao Rongyan to come so late…

From New Year’s Eve until now, the two of them had not met again.

Presumably, Xiao Rongyan was concerned about her having lost her grandmother and worried about her, so after handling his affairs, he hurried over.

“Elder sister, why don’t… let me meet with this Master Xiao instead!” Bai Qingjue’s gaze looked toward the direction of the Bai residence’s entrance.

In the spirit hall, the candlelight illuminated Bai Qingyan’s pale and haggard features. Her hand at her side tightened as she said: “You focus on keeping vigil for grandmother. Please invite Master Xiao in…”