You Meng, coming from military ranks, most despised spineless men like Prince Yan. He immediately sneered coldly and mocked: “It won’t happen? If Prince Yan isn’t stupid, you should have been able to see this outcome when you left home, right?
“You surrendered to His Majesty, so His Majesty treated you as a minister and your family members as a minister’s family, naturally taking care of you. However, you harbored rebellious thoughts, used sweet words to deceive His Majesty into letting you out, privately came out to search for treasure wanting to keep it all for yourself, and even plotted rebellion to claim the throne! In doing this, are you worthy of His Majesty’s trust?
“When you were emperor, you were an incompetent ruler—your subjects couldn’t eat their fill or dress warmly. When you became a subject, you rebelled again, not even caring about the woman beside your pillow! Now that you’ve seen blood, you’re afraid? Where were you earlier!”
Yuchi Yan had already been scolded until his face was deathly pale, his lips trembling but unable to form words.
You Meng finally felt satisfied and turned to address the stern-faced Pang Xiao: “Your Highness, His Majesty’s intention is for you to continue awaiting orders in place with the Princess Consort. These two are also for you to guard.”
Pang Xiao’s face was dark as water. He snatched the imperial edict from You Meng’s hands and quickly scanned it, seemingly able to confirm this was indeed His Majesty’s intention and not You Meng’s fabrication, before suppressing his anger and giving a heavy “Hmm.”
You Meng then left twenty Dragon Guards behind: “You stay here to protect His Highness. The rest, follow me back to the capital.”
“Yes!” The group then organized themselves to escort the long convoy and set off.
For this trip, to avoid suspicion, Pang Xiao had only brought Huzi and four Elite Tiger Guards, while Qin Yining had only brought Bingtang, Ji Yun, and Xiao Man—four people total.
The twenty Dragon Guards who remained, ostensibly to protect Pang Xiao, were actually left to watch over Pang Xiao’s group, fearing they might move around freely and also fearing they might leak the treasure’s secrets.
Qin Yining rested her head on Pang Xiao’s shoulder, her expression grave as she furrowed her brows.
Li Qitian had finally torn off all pretense with Pang Xiao.
Although on the surface he hadn’t appeared discourteous to Pang Xiao, in reality what had Li Qitian done? Stripped his military authority, placed him in the cabinet but didn’t completely trust him, much less give him important responsibilities.
Finally, when disaster relief required his services, Li Qitian had arranged for Pang Xiao to supervise Yuchi Yan’s departure alone, yet had also brought her along!
Everyone knew she had once been Yuchi Yan’s choice for empress. Although no one knew that Pang Xiao had used a stratagem to force Yuchi Yan to let go, anyone with half a brain should know that Pang Xiao and Yuchi Yan were not on good terms.
Making such arrangements during disaster relief—wasn’t this deliberately trying to create trouble for Pang Xiao and Yuchi Yan?
Now it was even better—the treasure had been found, and Pang Xiao was completely isolated and abandoned. Even You Meng, a mere general whose military achievements and rank were both below Pang Xiao’s—such a minor character—dared to challenge Pang Xiao to his face.
The current situation forced her to seriously consider the future and how to protect Pang Xiao and everyone around her.
Li Qitian was just an ungrateful person who turned his back on others. Trusting him would only end in waiting for death.
“Sister Yining?” Pang Xiao turned his head to look at Qin Yining.
She was obediently leaning against his shoulder. When he lowered his head, he could see her fluttering long lashes and delicate nose bridge. Pang Xiao couldn’t help but reach out to touch her cheek: “Were you frightened?”
Only then did Qin Yining come back to her senses.
The people around were all looking at her with concern. Realizing she had been leaning against Pang Xiao’s shoulder as if no one else was around, even forgetting about the others nearby, she felt uncomfortable.
“It’s nothing, just a bit tired.”
“Then go sleep for a while. We don’t have anything else to do anyway. We still need to wait for His Majesty’s decree before we can continue to provide disaster relief. I wonder how the grain preparation is going.”
When they left the capital, Li Qitian hadn’t arranged for any grain supplies to accompany them. Claiming it was for disaster relief, he had only arranged for three hundred Dragon Guards to follow, making it seem more like escorting prisoners.
Pang Xiao knew the national treasury was empty. Li Qitian perhaps couldn’t produce so much grain at the moment and still needed time to prepare before it could be transported.
Moreover, Li Qitian must have guessed that Yuchi Yan’s return to Great Yan on this trip would certainly involve a method to find the treasure.
Now that everything had verified his and Qin Yining’s speculations, his mood couldn’t improve.
Qin Yining’s plan was so meticulous, reading Li Qitian’s thoughts completely, but sometimes Pang Xiao really hoped they were judging a gentleman’s heart with a petty person’s mind.
Qin Yining stood up and walked toward the newly built bamboo shed.
Who knew that after just one step, Yuchi Yan, who had been keeping his head down, suddenly called out: “Don’t go!”
Qin Yining looked back at Yuchi Yan in surprise.
She saw his graying hair disheveled, his face pale, his eyes unfocused and bloodshot, tear tracks covering his face—he looked somewhat mad.
What appeared in her mind was the image from their first meeting at Prince Ning’s mansion—the elegant, noble young gentleman. Qin Yining couldn’t even merge that person with the current one.
“Go rest.” Pang Xiao looked at Qin Yining with concern, then instructed the remaining Dragon Guards: “You go arrange Prince Yan and Minister Gu properly. Make sure to watch them carefully. The mountains are dangerous—don’t let them wander around freely.”
“Yes!” Several people respectfully agreed.
The Dragon Guards had once guarded the northern frontier. Although they were Ji Zeyu’s soldiers, these northern men’s military discipline was no less than that of the Huben Army. They also held some curiosity and admiration for Pang Xiao, the God of War, not to mention Pang Xiao’s consistently domineering conduct and their interactions along the way.
Although His Majesty no longer trusted Pang Xiao as much, in these people’s hearts, Pang Xiao was still the God of War.
Their duty was to protect and guard, but when Pang Xiao gave them orders, they were willing to listen.
So several people worked together to carry the bound-up Yuchi Yan and Gu Shixiong to a tent not far away and imprisoned both men inside.
Qin Yining returned to the distant bamboo shed and rested with a blanket. Soon Pang Xiao also came in.
The attendants and guards were accustomed to seeing how Pang Xiao doted on his wife, so even if the two went back in broad daylight, no one found it strange. Everyone gathered around the fire to roast meat and chat, with only a few Dragon Guards occasionally craning their necks to look, as long as Pang Xiao wouldn’t escape.
Pang Xiao blocked the entrance with bamboo slats.
The entire triangular bamboo shed was enclosed on all sides, with only sunlight faintly filtering through the gaps between bamboo, and one could see dancing dust motes in the shadows.
Qin Yining smiled at Pang Xiao while holding the thin blanket.
Pang Xiao couldn’t help but smile too. He removed his outer robe and boots, lay down on the thick mattress and mat, and pulled Qin Yining’s slender body along with the blanket into his arms.
“Your Highness, are they all roasting meat?” The implication was asking whether anyone outside might be eavesdropping.
Pang Xiao didn’t answer immediately but closed his eyes, concentrating all his attention on hearing, carefully distinguishing sounds before saying in a breath: “They’re all roasting meat.”
Qin Yining then relaxed and whispered: “We no longer have any carrier pigeons. But I think my people should have already set up their ambush long ago.”