After instructing the generals, Xiao Li’s gaze finally fell on Zhang Huai: “All matters at the rear are entrusted to the military adviser.”
The scattered hair at his forehead fell down somewhat, making him appear even more unrestrained. His dark eyes were deep and gloomy. Even when calmly discussing matters with the generals, he carried an oppressive aura befitting a lord and marquis.
Zhang Huai cupped his fists toward Xiao Li and said: “Huai will not fail this mission.”
Xiao Li said: “I’ve already sent word to Old Tiger. After he finishes the battle at Yan City, he’ll return to assist the military adviser.”
Zhang Huai nodded in acknowledgment.
Xiao Li ordered the camp to break, and the generals departed one after another. Zhang Huai also did not mention the matter of Northern Wei’s request for aid.
After the main army set out, he led a group of generals and strategists remaining behind to see them off at the main camp gates. When the southern expedition army had traveled far and only its tail could be seen, another small troop of soldiers rode out from the camp.
Zhang Huai saw the person on horseback from afar and cupped his fists, calling: “General Song.”
Song Qin reined in his horse. On this trip, he mostly brought brothers who had previously followed him out from Yongcheng Escort Agency.
The flames of war in the south had nearly spread to Yongzhou. Xiao Li’s several godmothers were all worried about Mudan who was still at Zuihong Pavilion. Xiao Li could see that Song Qin was also concerned, so under the pretext that the godmothers missed Mudan, he had him lead people to infiltrate Yongcheng and bring her out.
Song Qin selected brothers who still had family members in Yongcheng to accompany him, intending to disguise themselves as merchants to enter the city and bring out their families’ elderly and young left in Yongcheng as well.
He looked down at Zhang Huai from horseback with a somewhat scrutinizing gaze, slightly furrowing his brow: “The lord just left like that? I heard Northern Wei sent another urgent letter.”
Zhang Huai smiled and said: “The general isn’t unaware that the lord has consistently refused to read the reports sent by Northern Wei recently. That former Jin Princess they supported, after failing to help the Yu father and son frame the lord, has cleaned herself quite thoroughly. The various Wei generals now are just apologizing to the lord and wanting to invite him back to take charge of the overall situation.”
He smiled with narrowed eyes, warmth mixed with endless coldness: “But where in the world are there such convenient matters, right?”
As if understanding what Song Qin was worried about, he added: “General, rest assured. When Northern Wei’s side truly shows a sincere attitude of apology, Huai will promptly advise the lord.”
His pitch-black eyes met Song Qin’s gaze: “Huai, like the general, plans everything solely for the lord’s sake.”
With this assurance, Song Qin finally said nothing more. He nodded and led his subordinate soldiers out of the camp on horseback.
The personal guard behind Zhang Huai watched Song Qin’s group depart, saying with some trepidation: “Military Adviser, if Yanle Mountain is completely lost and the barbarians drive straight down to slaughter the people along the way, when the lord later learns about the letter report matter…”
Zhang Huai gazed at Song Qin’s retreating figure, his expression cold: “Even if the lord blames me, I must still secure a Northern border without future troubles for the lord.”
“If the Northern Wei subjects and people don’t experience a true catastrophic disaster, they won’t remember the lord’s repeated defense of Yanle Mountain and his achievements.”
The personal guard was speechless.
Zhang Huai withdrew his gaze, a cold smile playing at the corners of his lips: “Moreover, although Wei Pingjin is dead, that fake princess’s Wei clan bloodline in her womb is still a troublesome matter, isn’t it?”
Xiao Li had the bearing of an overlord, and also possessed the magnanimity and integrity of a regional hegemon. From the moment he agreed to Wei Qishan to take over Northern Wei, he had never made things difficult for the Wei Pingjin siblings, nor had he ever regarded these Wei clan descendants as hidden threats.
But with the precedent of Wei clan old ministers uniting with Yu Zhiyuan to frame Xiao Li using Wei Pingjin’s death, as a strategist, Zhang Huai believed he should eliminate all potential “hidden threats” for Xiao Li.
Those Wei clan old ministers with ulterior motives had previously been able to support the unborn child in Wang Wanzhen’s womb to condemn Xiao Li. As long as that child still existed, who could guarantee they wouldn’t repeat the past in the future?
—
Weizhou, Wei Residence.
Wei Ang paced back and forth in the front hall, completely at his wit’s end: “The request for aid has been sent to the lord, but the lord has not sent troops to help. Instead, he dispatched forces south to continue attacking Pei Song. The lord has truly abandoned our Northern Wei!”
Hearing this, the assembled Wei clan ministers and generals in the hall were all panicked, all discussing in low voices what could be done.
Someone said bitterly: “Those barbarians had already been frightened by the lord into moving their main camp and didn’t dare invade. It’s all because of that Pei traitor spy Yu Zhiyuan framing the lord, making the barbarians think our Northern Wei was in great chaos, which is why they returned. “
As he spoke, he couldn’t help but shake his head: “That Wei Tong is really not a good thing either. Seeing he couldn’t hold Yanle Mountain, he directly fled with a group of subordinate generals! When we catch him, I’ll dismember this bastard!”
“If you ask me, why not also execute that man surnamed Yu in the dungeon by a thousand cuts to welcome the lord back?”
Someone more reasonable shook his head: “That man surnamed Yu is certainly detestable, but previously quite a few people in the Wei camp were also clamoring to take the lord’s head. The lord has become cold-hearted toward our Wei camp!”
The person who raised the topic said indignantly: “But we were also deceived by that man surnamed Yu. Moreover, with the Princess testifying for that man surnamed Yu, could we suspect the Princess?”
Seeing the quarrel getting more and more out of hand, Wei Ang said sternly: “Enough! What use is assigning blame now? General Yuan is still at Yanle Mountain resisting the invading barbarians. We should quickly think of ways to help General Yuan!”
The originally noisy hall finally quieted down, but no one offered strategies. Someone only said quietly: “The little bit of troops our Wei clan has left were already decimated by that bastard Wei Tong at Yanle Mountain, and now he’s fled in fear of punishment. The lord refuses to come to our aid—where else can we borrow troops?”
Wei Ang rested his hand on the back of the chair at the main seat and sighed deeply: “Forget it. Wei Tong’s military authority was seized from my hands. By rights, I should lead people to kill him, then take his head to beg forgiveness from the lord.”
He ordered: “Gather five hundred elite cavalry to follow me to kill that bastard Wei Tong!”
Just as his words fell, a servant rushed in from outside: “General! This is bad! The troops escorting the Princess and the old lady back to Zhuozhou were attacked at Tujiuling!”
—
Within a radius of dozens of miles around Tujiuling, there were no towns. After Wang Wanzhen and Lady Wei were attacked there, because Wang Wanzhen was several months pregnant and had suffered a fright making further travel inadvisable, they could only order the main army to make camp nearby first, then find an abandoned farmhouse, clean it up, and provide it for Wang Wanzhen’s temporary residence.
After the military physician took Wang Wanzhen’s pulse and went to brew medicine, Wang Wanzhen lay on the clean bedding that the maidservants had re-laid. Recalling how the mountain bandits had earlier charged to kill her, her face was still pale and her soul still unsettled.
Lady Wei originally did not care for this daughter-in-law, but with both her children dead one after another, and Wang Wanzhen’s womb carrying Wei Pingjin’s only bloodline, she now cherished her like the apple of her eye, terrified that something might happen to the child in her womb.
At this moment, seeing that Wang Wanzhen seemed to have not yet recovered from the fright, she also sat at the bedside holding her hand and constantly comforting: “Good child, it’s alright now, it’s alright. Mother is here…”
Wang Wanzhen’s fingertips were ice-cold, and her eyes appeared somewhat dull and lifeless from extreme fear. Among that wave of mountain bandits charging toward her carriage, one person’s face-covering black cloth had been scraped off during the fighting.
She remembered that face. On the night she went to see Xiao Li at Wei Qishan’s funeral, because Xiao Li’s strategist kept staring at her, she had also unobtrusively observed that strategist. That was precisely the attendant who followed beside that strategist.
Those attacking the carriage weren’t mountain bandits—they were Xiao Li’s people!
Xiao Li wanted to kill her?
Tremendous panic had enveloped Wang Wanzhen ever since she recognized that “mountain bandit.”
She had thought that by pushing all blame onto Yu Zhiyuan, claiming she had been forced by Yu Zhiyuan, she could get past this. Now it seemed this was not the case.
The other party had consistently ignored the Wei camp’s apologies, so it turned out he wanted her life!
That’s right—in her womb was “Wei Pingjin’s child.” With the previous frame-up as precedent, to prevent the Wei clan from consolidating power again, Xiao Li would not tolerate this child.
This kind of “accident,” having happened once, would inevitably happen a second time, until she “accidentally died.”
The more Wang Wanzhen thought about it, the more afraid she became. She suddenly spoke as if possessed: “I want to see Xiao Li. I want to see the lord!”
Although Wei Pingjin’s death had been clarified as not Xiao Li’s doing, when Lady Wei thought about how Wei Qishan had entrusted the Wolf Cavalry and Northern Wei to Xiao Li, yet the other party did not remember this favor and instead repeatedly gave her son difficulties, and now over a misunderstanding was abandoning the entire Northern border, she extremely disliked Xiao Li in her heart.
She coldly said: “See that ungrateful thing for what? If he dares to allow the Northern border to be invaded by barbarians, just wait for people throughout the realm to curse his spine in the future!”
Wang Wanzhen dared not let Lady Wei know that Xiao Li’s side had sent people to kill her.
For the sake of the child in her womb, Lady Wei was currently on her side, but with Lady Wei’s mind and temperament, she would definitely shout it out and let the Wei clan old ministers know too, in order to make the Wei clan generals who repeatedly tried to curry favor with Xiao Li turn against him.
But previously, quite a few Wei clan old ministers, for the sake of power, were willing to risk opposing Xiao Li. Now with the entire Northern border in imminent danger, to save themselves, they might very well choose to directly eliminate her to curry favor with Xiao Li.
She, this fake former dynasty princess carrying a fake Wei clan bloodline in her womb, had already become real in outsiders’ eyes.
Even if she gave up everything right now and just focused on fleeing for her life, what awaited her would only be endless assassination attempts.
From the moment Wei Qishan selected her to be the former dynasty princess, this brocade road laid at her feet had become a dead end.
Her only chance of survival lay with Xiao Li.
Only by expressing loyalty to Xiao Li and stating that she was still useful to him could she exchange for a way to live.
Wang Wanzhen forcibly steadied her mind and gripped Lady Wei’s hand in return, putting on an appearance of being heartbroken to the point of devastation: “Madam, I am the former Jin Princess selected by the Marquis. The Marquis and my husband have both passed. I should also guard Northern Wei for them, guard the people of the Northern border. Today when I encountered danger and my life hung by a thread, when I thought about going underground and seeing the Marquis and my husband with no face to tell them Northern Wei would fall, I felt so distressed…”
She collapsed into Lady Wei’s embrace, crying uncontrollably: “Madam, I’m not going to Zhuozhou. I want to go to Xiao camp to seek an audience with the lord! If the lord still holds a grudge because I was previously forced by that Pei camp traitor to slander him, I’ll kneel outside the camp to apologize—anything!”
Hearing this speech, Lady Wei also felt great sorrow in her heart. She wiped tears and said: “Good child, don’t call me madam anymore. Call me mother.”
She patted Wang Wanzhen’s back, only feeling heartache. Because of her posture with her head tilted against the top of Wang Wanzhen’s head, her tears slid directly across the bridge of her nose: “You go to Zhuozhou to properly protect the pregnancy. Mother will go to Xiao camp to beg that ungrateful wolf!”
Wang Wanzhen hurriedly said: “I’ll go too!”
She touched her obviously protruding abdomen, thinking that when the time came, if Xiao Li still refused to see people from their Wei camp, she as a pregnant woman, and Lady Wei as Wei Qishan’s widow—if they waited bitterly outside the camp, for the sake of public opinion, Xiao Li couldn’t possibly refuse to see them.
But facing Lady Wei, she still put on a tearful appearance of worrying about her: “If you have any mishap, my husband in the underworld will certainly blame me too.”
These words struck right at Lady Wei’s heart. Lady Wei was even more satisfied with this daughter-in-law, gripping her hand and saying: “Good, we mother and daughter will go together.”
—
When Wei Ang led people to Tujiuling, before he could figure out which local mountain bandits had ambushed the Wei clan forces, Lady Wei and Wang Wanzhen suddenly insisted strongly on going to see Xiao Li to request he send troops to aid Northern Wei.
Wei Ang tried unsuccessfully to dissuade the two and also felt this wasn’t a bad method, so he agreed.
However, Xiao Li had already led troops south. If they chased after him now and encountered an ambush by Pei Song’s forces, it would undoubtedly add danger. So they could only settle for second best and change to seeking an audience with Zhang Huai, who was helping Xiao Li handle all rear matters.
—
At that time, Zhang Huai had just received news of the failed ambush from his personal guard. The order he had issued was to have Wang Wanzhen attacked and lose the child in her womb.
Sparing Wang Wanzhen’s life served two purposes: first, her identity as former Jin Princess still had some use; second, if Wang Wanzhen truly died at the hands of mountain bandits, the origin of this group of bandits would be unclear. With all of Northern Wei without a master and Xiao Li being the greatest beneficiary, it would inevitably invite speculation and add unnecessary trouble.
But unexpectedly, because of this order, his subordinates hesitated in their attack, allowing Wang Wanzhen to be rescued in time by Wei clan personal guards.
Hearing his subordinates report that Wei Ang was bringing Wang Wanzhen and Lady Wei to seek an audience with him, Zhang Huai had not yet given a reply when the personal guard who had gone to ambush Wang Wanzhen already showed some panic and guilt: “Military Adviser, this subordinate’s face cloth was pulled off by Wei residence guards during the ambush. Could it be that someone recognized this subordinate…”
Zhang Huai glanced at his personal guard and said: “What are you panicking about? Even if the Wei camp comes to demand accountability, they have no solid evidence.”
After thinking briefly, he said: “I happen to have a letter to deliver to General Zheng at Yan City. Make this trip for me and don’t stay in camp for the next few days.”
The personal guard clasped his fists in acknowledgment.
Only then did Zhang Huai look back at the territorial map spread on the table and say: “Yanle Mountain should fall soon. The Wei clan sending people at this time is mostly still to have the lord send troops to aid Wei. Fine then, let’s see them.”
Zhang Huai wanted the Wei clan old ministers to thoroughly kneel down and acknowledge Xiao Li as their new master. Naturally, he still couldn’t do too much behind Xiao Li’s back, lest the Northern Wei subjects and people, in their despair, also breed hatred.
Therefore, after agreeing to see Lady Wei and her daughter-in-law, he also released some word that Xiao camp was willing to talk with their Wei clan.
—
On the day Wei Ang brought Wang Wanzhen and Lady Wei to see Zhang Huai, Lady Wei and Wang Wanzhen sat together in the carriage. Feeling the bumps of the mountain road, she couldn’t help but complain: “They say when people leave, the tea goes cold. The Marquis passed away only half a year ago. He insisted on entrusting the Wolf Cavalry to that ungrateful wolf back then. Now look—the other party turns his face and doesn’t recognize people. Even his subordinate, a mere small strategist, dares to be arrogant, requiring us mother and daughter to come see him personally.”
Wang Wanzhen was still anxiously thinking about how to speak when she saw Zhang Huai to get the other party to spare her life.
The other party was a strategist trusted by Xiao Li. The mountain bandits sent to assassinate her were also disguised personal guards from beside him. Unable to see Xiao Li, Wang Wanzhen was certain that begging for mercy from Zhang Huai would be equally effective.
However, she had previously tried to attach herself to Xiao Li, and that very night was warned by him several times. Dealing with such smart people, she absolutely could not play any tricks. She only needed to let the other party know she was still useful to them.
Lost in thought about these matters, hearing Lady Wei again reminiscing about the glory when Wei Qishan was still alive, Wang Wanzhen felt impatient inside but couldn’t show it openly. She could only say: “Mo… Mother also said when people leave, the tea goes cold. For Northern Wei’s sake, let’s just endure for now.”
Her saying this was mainly because she feared Lady Wei wouldn’t put down her airs as the marquis’s wife and would act haughty upon seeing Zhang Huai, angering the other party and instead ruining her own important matter.
Hearing this, Lady Wei sighed: “I know today is about going to see someone’s face. I just can’t swallow this grievance. Just let that man surnamed Xiao watch—once the Northern border crisis is resolved, today when we mother and daughter traveled over mountains hundreds of miles to see a mere small strategist under his command, this matter must be spread through every street and alley. If he dares to bully us orphaned daughter-in-law and widow like this, just wait for the spittle of people throughout the realm to drown him!”
Speaking to an angry point, Lady Wei wiped tears and said: “Who knows if Jin’er’s death can’t be separated from that man surnamed Xiao either. It’s just that after that man surnamed Xiao fell out with the Pei camp, the Yu father and son turned on him in a dog-eat-dog fight! I only hate that the Wei clan has become what it is now, and I have no way to seek justice for Jin’er anymore.”
Hearing these words, Wang Wanzhen instinctively clenched her fists, while barely comforting Lady Wei with her mouth.
Fortunately, the carriage didn’t travel long before stopping. Wei Ang rode up to report: “Princess, Madam, we’ve arrived.”
Only then did Lady Wei stop her grief. She took a handkerchief to wipe away her tears, then signaled the maidservant to lift the curtain. But she saw that outside the city gates, only a junior general came to meet them, with no one dressed as a strategist.
When that junior general exchanged pleasantries with Wei Ang and then led them into the city, Lady Wei swept down the curtain with a flick of her hand and let out an extremely heavy cold snort from her nose.
Hearing the sound, the junior general glanced back at the carriage. Wei Ang hurriedly smiled apologetically and said: “Please, General, lead the way.”
Wang Wanzhen gently squeezed Lady Wei’s hand and called: “Mother.”
Lady Wei closed her eyes and said: “Going too far in bullying people!”
Wang Wanzhen said nothing.
When Wang Wanzhen and Yu Zhiyuan joined hands to frame him, and the Northern people and Wei clan generals were all cursing him, Xiao Li had led his army away from Northern border territory.
Later, when he used thunderous methods to flay Yu Jingwen alive and force Yu Zhiyuan to acknowledge his father, clearing his own sullied name, various prefectures competed to welcome him into their territory.
The road back to Tongzhou was blocked by Pei Song and the battle lines of the Liang and Chen camps. Xiao Li simply took nearby Yizhou, which bordered the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, as a temporary base.
Currently, he was leading the main army south to attack Pei Song. Zhang Huai was stationed in Yizhou on his behalf while also clearing out bandits in the surrounding areas.
Wei Ang and others followed that junior general to the outside of the prefecture yamen. Maidservants helped Lady Wei and Wang Wanzhen down from the carriage, then the junior general led them through winding corridors, passing through two hanging flower gates before reaching the yamen administrative courtyard.
After the guards outside the main gate went inside to announce them, they continued to lead their group inside.
Lady Wei was extremely angry inside, only feeling the other party was openly slapping the Wei clan’s face.
Entering the administrative hall, she saw Wei Ang clasp his fists in greeting to a young man, calling him “Mister Zhang.” Clearly that young man was the Xiao camp military adviser they had come to see.
The anger in Lady Wei’s heart became even more impossible to suppress. Before Wei Ang could introduce her, she said with a smile that wasn’t a smile: “This old body only knew that seeing the lord’s face once is difficult, but didn’t know that seeing Mister Zhang beside the lord has also become as difficult as ascending to heaven.”
Wei Ang and Wang Wanzhen’s expressions both changed. Wang Wanzhen even called out quietly: “Mother.”
Zhang Huai naturally heard the sarcasm in Lady Wei’s words. He put down the official document in his hand and said neither warmly nor coldly: “The lord is on his southern expedition. Huai, being valued by the lord, was ordered to handle many important matters. If there were any discourtesies toward Old Lady Wei, please forgive me, Old Lady.”
But Lady Wei could no longer listen to Wei Ang and Wang Wanzhen’s persuasion. Nor did she feel a military adviser under Xiao Li whose mouth hadn’t even grown hair was qualified to say anything to her. She said with disdain: “If your master remembered even one bit of the Marquis’s favor, he couldn’t have done something like ignoring our Wei camp’s plea for aid and dispatching troops south. Just because he’s attacking Pei Song and has this excuse, after the Northern border is conquered by barbarians, he thinks he can extricate himself?”
Lady Wei sneered coldly: “The Northern soldiers and common people are all watching! If the Northern border falls, your Xiao camp will be accomplices!”
Wei Ang urgently called: “Madam, please say less!”
He cupped his fists toward Zhang Huai again: “Mister, the old lady absolutely doesn’t mean this. She’s just too worried about the Northern border falling into barbarian hands…”
Zhang Huai gave a mocking laugh: “Favor? Is Old Lady Wei referring to saving your Wei camp’s great general at Majialiang, repeatedly guarding Youzhou and Yanle Mountain for your Wei clan, only to have subordinate soldiers trampled to death by people beside your Wei clan’s young lord, then be cut off from all reinforcements and sent to defend Yanle Mountain to die?”
Whether from anger or shame, Old Lady Wei’s face turned red as she pointed at Zhang Huai and shouted: “Talking complete nonsense! Your entire Xiao camp are ungrateful people!”
“Old Lady Wei, you’ve got it backwards. Your Wei camp is the most ungrateful.”
Although Zhang Huai’s face still wore a smile, only mockery remained in his eyes: “If not for our lord, your Northern Wei would have been destroyed countless times already.”
“What, whenever there’s trouble you seek the lord, and after turning danger into safety you wipe the lord’s achievements completely clean? The phrase ‘thick-skinned and shameless’ used for your Wei clan really couldn’t be more appropriate.”
Wei Ang was left red-faced by Zhang Huai’s words. Lady Wei only felt Zhang Huai was humiliating her and the entire Wei clan. She shouted angrily: “If not for the Marquis’s appreciation, could that Xiao Li have today? Don’t forget—your Xiao camp still has our Northern Wei’s Wolf Cavalry!”
Zhang Huai lightly scoffed, mocking: “It’s Lady Wei who has a noble’s forgetfulness. You forgot that when our lord first came to Northern Wei, it was to help your Wei clan resist barbarian bandits. You also forgot that our lord established achievement after achievement for your Wei clan, while what your Wei clan gave our lord was nothing but prison disasters and one sullied reputation after another!”
By the end, a look of mocking anger appeared on his refined face: “You’ve also forgotten that before the Wolf Cavalry was handed to the lord, it had already been decimated by barbarians at Yanle Mountain along with General Liao. The Wolf Cavalry now in the lord’s hands was rebuilt one soldier and one horse at a time by the lord leading his subordinate soldiers while saving from their own rations! Otherwise, why does Old Lady Wei think that when your Wei camp’s good princess daughter-in-law helped that traitor Yu frame the lord, all the Wei generals in the army requested resignation, but only the Wolf Cavalry remained unmoved?”
Lady Wei was choked speechless. Wang Wanzhen felt her vision darkening. She supported her belly and said anxiously: “Mister, please calm your anger. What Wanzhen said that day to falsely accuse the lord was truly because she was coerced by that traitor…”
She almost knelt down, but in front of Wei Ang and Lady Wei, it was inappropriate to be so humble. When Lady Wei reached out to pull her up, firmly saying “Mother is here, you need not fear these ungrateful wolves,” she nearly couldn’t catch her breath.
She barely steadied her mind and said: “Mother, please go out first. I’ll speak with Mister Zhang.”
Then she looked at Wei Ang: “Trouble the General to see Mother out.”
Wei Ang also felt that Lady Wei today hadn’t come to request aid but to cut off Northern Wei’s retreat.
Getting Wang Wanzhen’s words, he hurriedly signaled to the maidservants on the side to support Old Lady Wei and withdraw with him first.
Only Wang Wanzhen and two maidservants supporting her remained in the room. She glanced at Zhang Huai sitting above and the attendant standing behind Zhang Huai, then turned to the two maidservants and said: “You also withdraw.”
The two maidservants dared not say more. They complied and withdrew, closing the door.
Only then did Wang Wanzhen kneel down on the verge of tears: “I beg Mister to spare Wanzhen a way to live.”
Zhang Huai raised an eyebrow somewhat surprised, then understood Wang Wanzhen’s purpose for this trip. But he said: “Huai doesn’t understand what the Princess is saying.”
Wang Wanzhen cried: “Mister knows. Wanzhen only had admiration for the lord—how could she have intent to frame him? Everything she accused him of back then was forced by that traitor Yu Zhiyuan…”
She touched her swollen abdomen, pleading: “Now my husband has passed. The Wei clan ministers and generals all place their hopes on the child in Wanzhen’s womb. Wanzhen is willing to follow the lord’s lead and will definitely use this child to help the lord win over all the Wei clan old ministers!”
In these words, she emphasized her usefulness and that of the child in her womb.
After listening, Zhang Huai only felt the other party did have some brains. After figuring out that the mountain bandits attacking her carriage were people from his side, she immediately thought to run here and beg for a way to live.
However, the other party had clearly misunderstood that he wanted to take her life.
He said in the most gentle voice possible: “I’m afraid I must disappoint the Princess.”
Wang Wanzhen’s face instantly turned white.
Only then did Zhang Huai say leisurely: “The child in the Princess’s womb cannot be kept.”
Wang Wanzhen felt as if she had been dragged to the gates of hell by the first sentence, then brought back to life by the latter sentence.
She wasn’t stupid. She immediately understood the meaning in Zhang Huai’s words.
—Her identity as former Jin Princess was still useful. She didn’t have to die.
But the Wei clan could not have descendants.
But if she only had the identity of former Jin Princess, Lady Wei and quite a few Wei clan ministers and generals knew her true identity. In the future, she would have nothing to rely on and could only become a puppet manipulated by others.
Only by using this child to gather the Wei clan old ministers would she still have a foothold.
Wang Wanzhen’s thoughts raced. She hurriedly said: “This child is not Wei clan bloodline!”
Zhang Huai narrowed his eyes, but before he could speak, another attendant knocked and entered from outside, walking to Zhang Huai’s side and whispering something to him.
Wang Wanzhen lowered her gaze and dared not look around, straining to listen but couldn’t hear a single word.
When Zhang Huai replied, as if concerned that someone was still present below, he glanced at Wang Wanzhen kneeling below, then said: “Leave them waiting. Go brew a cup of tea for me in the side room.”
After the messenger bowed and withdrew, he seemed to ponder and consider for a moment before continuing with Wang Wanzhen: “The Princess, to keep this child, really knows how to joke with me.”
Wang Wanzhen already had a plan in mind. She looked at Zhang Huai earnestly: “Wanzhen has not deceived Mister. This child truly is not Wei Pingjin’s.”