If he didn’t act, the Eastern Palace would take action themselves.

Out of respect for his late wife, Xiao Changqing hoped to preserve the last bloodline of the Gu family and had shown much leniency toward Gu Qingshu, but this didn’t mean he could tolerate Gu Qingshu leaking information from the Xin Prince’s manor.

Xiao Changqing didn’t immediately seek out Gu Qingshu, nor did he send someone to summon her. He returned to his study, his deep, cold gaze falling on a painting hanging there – a stark cliff face with a solitary red plum blossom blooming amidst snow falling like goose feathers, piercing cold to the bone.

The signature bore Gu Qingzhi’s childhood name. This was one of the few surviving paintings by Gu Qingzhi. Despite her proud, cold personality and immense talent, she rarely displayed it. This painting was only obtained after his father-in-law specifically requested it for him.

After staring for a long while, Xiao Changqing finally looked away, ground some ink, and picked up his brush.

To punish Gu Qingshu, satisfy the Eastern Palace, and avoid alerting the Zhao Prince’s manor that Xiao Changgeng had been exposed – his thoughts cleared, Xiao Changqing methodically wrote two letters and sent them from the Xin Prince’s manor.

One reached Xiao Huayong’s hands, containing only two characters: “Understood.”

Xiao Huayong’s distinctly knuckled fingers unfolded and read it, then tossed it to Tianyuan: “Watch closely.”

After respectfully receiving it, Tianyuan asked: “Your Highness, should we monitor movements in all directions?”

His Majesty had truly mobilized the Divine Warrior Army this time. They had already noticed something unusual, having long wondered how such a large army could hide without leaving traces. This incident revealed that His Majesty’s Divine Warrior Army had been dispersed and distributed across various locations.

Xiao Changfeng, the Xun Prince who commanded the Divine Warrior Army, had secretly left the capital. With one order, he could mobilize forces in all directions.

Should they investigate where these people were hidden?

“This might well be bait laid by His Majesty.” Xiao Huayong gently shook his head, rejecting this proposal. “Drawing us in would be the minor goal; dividing our forces would be the major one.”

After the incidents of the Kang Prince’s secret weapon manufacturing and the former Minister of Revenue’s embezzlement from the national treasury, His Majesty must suspect someone knew about his private army. After the Divine Warrior Army’s setback at the temporary palace, His Majesty became even more convinced and subsequently extremely cautious.

Yet both the Kang Prince and the former Minister of Revenue cases were inseparable from Shen Xihe. The Kang Prince was sent to the execution ground by Shen Xihe’s hand, and though he had helped push matters from behind regarding the former Minister of Revenue, it hadn’t bypassed Shen Xihe on the surface.

Thus, His Majesty harbored the deepest suspicions toward the Shen family.

He believed Shen Yueshan was the one who knew about and had been trying to uncover the Divine Warrior Army.

This time, regardless of whether His Majesty suspected others behind the scenes, the Shen family was the most obvious threat on the surface. Since Shen Yueshan wanted to know about the Divine Warrior Army, rather than hiding it, why not let him see it properly?

Once His Majesty had such thoughts, he would certainly create a movement to achieve certain goals, whether to trap them or to create deliberate confusion.

Tianyuan’s heart tightened, unable to match his master’s depth of thought: “Your Highness, regarding Young Master Bu…”

Xiao Huayong’s midnight-dark pupils were hidden by his gently lowered lashes, only his cold voice revealing his ruthlessness: “Whether she lives or dies is her own choice.”

Tianyuan respectfully acknowledged and withdrew.

Matters had never left His Highness’s control, including the high possibility that the Fierce Prince would risk helping Young Master Bu for the Crown Prince’s consort’s sake. If this truly happened, the Crown Prince had already set boundaries for what would make the Fierce Prince return obediently.

Now was when Young Master Bu was truly isolated and helpless. The Crown Prince’s test required no one to pass by chance – to become someone the Crown Prince’s consort could rely on, one must demonstrate both ability and value.

Walking out of the great hall, Tianyuan looked up at the crystal-clear blue sky, only able to pray silently: Young Master, be clever.

He didn’t want Bu Shulin to choose wrongly, nor did he want anything to happen to Bu Shulin, otherwise, the Crown Prince would lose a capable minister in Cui Shaoqing.

At this moment, Bu Shulin was indeed in a difficult situation. As soon as she entered Tibet, her whereabouts seemed to have been leaked. The border between Tibet and their dynasty had never been heavily guarded before, as market towns had been established to facilitate trade between the two countries’ people, with both nations maintaining good relations and frequent exchanges.

But her merchant caravan was detained at the border for various reasons, consistently denied passage.

“If they don’t let us through today, we’ll have to break free by force,” Bu Shulin instructed Jin Shan.

She had already had the caravan’s manager offer substantial bribes to smooth the way. These people had always recognized money over people, so if they wouldn’t even accept bribes now, they must be after lives!

“This subordinate will make arrangements immediately.” Jin Shan withdrew.

Only Bu Shulin, dressed as a woman, remained in the room. Her appearance had been subtly modified, quite different from usual.

She wondered who had leaked her whereabouts.

With the Fierce Prince’s help, those people should have all been led away. Even if they realized they’d been tricked, they shouldn’t have had time to set up this nearly foolproof checkpoint to trap her.

More bizarrely, these people were only preventing passage, not treating them discourteously. Were they verifying something?

Soon, the person Bu Shulin had sent to negotiate returned: “Young Master, it’s because of the Northwest Prince’s heir…”

The coincidence was just so – a few days ago, Shen Yunan had brazenly passed through Tibet to reach Min River, blatantly challenging Emperor Youning.

Emperor Youning was naturally enraged. He hadn’t anticipated Bu Shulin would also try to pass through Tibet; he simply didn’t want Shen Yunan to have an escape route to secretly return to the Northwest through Tibet.

He wrote a letter to the Tibetan King, asking him to strengthen surveillance and control in this area, especially in stopping large merchant caravans or groups from their dynasty.

As long as Shen Yunan couldn’t take this route, even if he escaped from the Min River battle, he would be blocked from returning to the Northwest.

The reason Shen Yunan could boldly rush to Min River to challenge imperial authority was because of Shen Yueshan’s cover.

If Shen Yunan didn’t return for a long time, he wanted to see how long Shen Yueshan could keep providing cover.

Hearing the reason, Bu Shulin could only sigh at the poor timing. If not for the Zhao Prince and others pursuing and blocking them, she would have passed through Tibet before Shen Yunan, avoiding being detained here.

She bore no grudge against Shen Yunan, nor did she have the right to. Shen Yunan had gone to Min River to help her, otherwise, why would His Majesty be so focused on Min River now?

She felt only gratitude.

“Young Master, should we still break free tonight?” Jin Shan asked.

Bu Shulin shook her head: “Since our whereabouts haven’t been exposed, we shouldn’t give ourselves away. Let’s wait another day. Since we’re not the only ones being blocked, if others retreat, we can follow suit and choose another route to Min River.”

This way wouldn’t arouse suspicion.

Bu Shulin’s plan was very thorough, but she didn’t know that Xiao Changwen, after receiving Xiao Changgeng’s confirmation that Xiao Changying had indeed blocked and misdirected them, had immediately sent people to pursue and kill them.