Zuo Jinwei led twenty thousand Huben Army troops, bringing the family members of the Great Yan surrendering officials they had rescued, setting out for the capital in great formation. Throughout this journey, his spirits were extremely high, constantly keeping a close watch on the carriage “Pang Xiao” was riding in, afraid that cunning fellow would escape midway.

However, “Pang Xiao” was well-behaved throughout the journey. Perhaps because he was seriously ill, he basically never got out of the carriage, keeping only a young colonel by his side, with a seven or eight-year-old little girl the Huben Army had rescued from the mountains serving him medicine and soup.

Zuo Jinwei had once called that little girl over for questioning, but who knew the little girl was actually mute, only timidly looking at people with the simple-minded air of honest mountain folk. This made Zuo Jinwei completely lose interest in interrogating such a child.

At the same time in the capital, Emperor Zhou Li Qitian looked over the second secret report sent by Zuo Jinwei, his anger almost uncontainable.

He casually threw the memorial on the table and picked up the white porcelain tea bowl on his left, but his hands trembling with anger made the bowl’s lid clatter, and the tea nearly spilled out.

Li Qitian angrily threw the tea bowl to the ground: “Who made this tea! It’s so hot, how can I drink it!”

“Your Majesty, forgive me!” A palace maid immediately knelt and kowtowed.

Actually, everyone knew that bowl of tea couldn’t possibly be hot.

They served His Majesty and naturally had to attend to these trivial matters perfectly. The tea should have been six or seven parts hot, just right for drinking.

His Majesty’s behavior was simply displacing anger after encountering something unpleasant.

Head Eunuch Li Guanwen immediately stepped forward and bowed: “Your Majesty, calm your anger. This slave was negligent.” He turned and glared at the palace maid: “Why don’t you get out and receive your punishment!”

The palace maid was immediately scared out of her wits, nearly collapsing to the ground.

For her, this was truly a bolt from the blue, an undeserved disaster! But how dare a palace maid have other thoughts? If she said more, she might not even have a life left to receive punishment.

“Forget it, it’s not a big matter.” Li Qitian calmed down and sighed: “You all withdraw. Li Guanwen, stay.”

“Yes, thank Your Majesty for your grace!” The palace maid breathed a sigh of relief, gratefully kowtowing three times before respectfully withdrawing.

The eunuchs and palace maids serving in the imperial study were all Li Qitian’s trusted confidants. His private space definitely required trustworthy people, otherwise even in his own territory he couldn’t completely relax. Today’s actions were also a means of winning people’s hearts.

Li Qitian was accustomed to this method of giving a slap followed by a sweet date. Li Guanwen had long figured out His Majesty’s temperament and was no longer surprised.

When the others had filed out and only Li Qitian and Li Guanwen remained in the imperial study, Li Qitian asked: “Do you know the contents of this memorial?”

Li Guanwen smiled as he brought Li Qitian a fresh bowl of tea, smiling: “Look what Your Majesty is asking. This slave only knows to follow by Your Majesty’s side serving you all day—how would I know about outside matters? If Your Majesty wants this slave to know, naturally I would know.”

Li Qitian threw the memorial to Li Guanwen: “You old fox, take a look.”

Li Guanwen hurriedly took the memorial with both hands, read it carefully, then showed great alarm: “This Prince Zhongshun… could he be planning rebellion!”

“Hmph, one after another, none of them will let me have peace! They all take me for a soft persimmon easy to squeeze! He’s already handed over the Huben Army tiger tally to me, yet he still dares to act like this!”

Li Guanwen quickly bowed, not daring to say another word.

Only after confirming His Majesty’s anger had subsided somewhat did he say: “It seems Prince Zhongshun truly has genuine feelings for the Miss of the Qin family. When the surrendering convoy had problems, Prince Zhongshun became so anxious he couldn’t even care about imperial commands, rushing off with troops to rescue people. It seems the saying that heroes have always found it hard to resist beautiful women is truly accurate.”

Hearing a eunuch analyze “heroes finding it hard to resist beautiful women” before him, Li Qitian couldn’t help but laugh: “You castrated fellow know quite a lot.”

Li Guanwen smiled bashfully, then said: “Your Majesty, the Huben Army is now stationed outside the city—this is truly too dangerous. You must prepare early.”

Li Qitian pondered for a moment, and his usually gentle and amiable face showed an affable smile: “Where is Ji Lan now?”

“Reporting to Your Majesty, the Marquis of Dingbei is still outside kneeling in reflection. He’s been kneeling for a day and night already.”

Li Qitian sighed: “Although he acted rashly this time and created a big mess for me, Ji Lan at least has complete loyalty to me and knew to rush back to the capital to confess his guilt to me. Tell him to stop kneeling and come see me.”

“Yes, this slave will go immediately.”

Li Guanwen bowed and withdrew. Outside the imperial study, he helped the upright kneeling Ji Zeyu to his feet, first had a young eunuch massage Ji Zeyu’s legs and apply ointment to his bruised knees, then respectfully said: “Marquis, His Majesty requests you enter for conversation.”

Ji Zeyu secretly breathed a sigh of relief, coldly said “thank you” to Li Guanwen, then entered the imperial study.

Li Guanwen had originally intended to enter and serve, but His Majesty didn’t allow anyone to attend nearby, so what His Majesty and Ji Zeyu discussed, these people had no way of knowing.

At this time, Pang Xiao, who had just secretly returned to Prince Zhongshun’s mansion, had already learned that Ji Zeyu had also returned to the capital and was meeting the emperor to confess his guilt.

Pang Xiao frowned, remaining silent for a long time.

Huzi said: “Prince, you were truly too reckless this time. Even for Fourth Miss, you couldn’t… Now although you’ve rushed back, that doesn’t mean His Majesty knows nothing at all. Since His Majesty knows everything, he’ll definitely use this opportunity to give you a big blow. When that time comes, what will you do?”

How could Pang Xiao not understand these principles?

But when he strongly wanted to do something, the consequences became irrelevant. At least now he could confirm Qin Yining was still alive, rather than the corpse he’d repeatedly seen in nightmares these past days.

Pang Xiao feared neither heaven nor earth—what he feared most was Qin Yining being wronged or harmed. But this time, he hadn’t considered things thoroughly.

How could Pang Xiao have expected that Ji Zeyu would be so impulsive, directly defying imperial orders and leading troops to attack?

But thinking carefully, Pang Xiao felt somewhat bitter.

Was Ji Zeyu’s action really just to help him seek revenge?

From his years of acquaintance with Ji Zeyu, Ji Zeyu was deeply scheming and sharp-minded, no less than His Majesty. As commander of the Longxiang Army, he dominated the north and suppressed the Tatars firmly. How could such a person of courage and strategy be someone who would act impulsively without considering consequences?

Without much thought, Pang Xiao understood that Ji Zeyu’s actions this time were truly killing two birds with one stone.

But he didn’t want to use the darkest thoughts to speculate about a brother.

Pang Xiao ignored outside rumors and, after coordinating with his mother, grandfather, and grandmother at home, continued feigning illness.

The Huben Army troops traveling through snow over long distances finally reached the capital.

As soon as Li Qitian heard that Zuo Jinwei had returned with his troops, he immediately ordered the Five Military Camps, the Firearms Camp, the Three Thousand Camp forces, along with the ten thousand Longxiang Army troops Ji Zeyu had left stationed outside the city, to tightly block the twenty thousand Huben Army troops that had reached the city gates outside the outer city walls.