“Prince Ding, Prince of Zhennan, how do you plan to acquire the Murong family’s assets?”

Faced with this sudden change, everyone exchanged glances. The Prince of Zhennan pushed away Lei Tengfeng’s hand and stared coldly at Ren Qining, “What does Master Ren want?” His investment and effort in the Murong family far exceeded what Mo Xiuyao and Xu Qingchen had expended, so he couldn’t bear to watch this cooked duck fly away.

Mo Xiuyao still lay on the ground unable to get up, his head resting in Ye Li’s embrace as he lazily looked at Ren Qining, “This prince said he only came to join the excitement, and that’s truly all it was. This prince’s word doesn’t count regarding the Murong family’s assets. Ah… that old fellow Murong Xiong was formidable. A’Li, your husband is seriously injured…” Seeing his pale face yet still smiling at her as casually as ever, Ye Li’s heart ached, “Does it hurt badly? Let’s return immediately and call for a physician.”

Though Mo Xiuyao claimed to be seriously injured, nobody present except Ling Tiehan truly believed his injuries were severe. Looking at the man half-lying on the ground, their wariness only intensified.

Hearing Mo Xiuyao’s words, Ren Qining raised an eyebrow and looked at Xu Qingchen, smiling, “Then what does Young Master Qingchen say?”

Xu Qingchen lowered his eyes, smiling faintly, “The Murong family never belonged to Prince Ding’s mansion anyway, at most it’s unexpected wealth.” Despite the bloodbath, Prince Ding’s mansion had suffered no losses except for Mo Xiuyao’s injury of uncertain severity. Those who fought were either the Prince of Zhennan’s people Yama’s Palace, or Mo Jingli’s men. Prince Ding’s mansion had brought few people, so their sacrifices were naturally limited. Moreover, even if they got nothing else, at least all the Murong family’s properties in the Northwest and half their assets in Da Chu had already been brought under Prince Ding’s control. Even if they couldn’t get another bit, they wouldn’t lose out.

Hearing this, Ren Qining’s expression darkened slightly as he smiled faintly, “I don’t recall ever offending Young Master Qingchen or Prince Ding’s mansion. Can’t we part on good terms?” His biggest bargaining chip now was the Murong family’s wealth, but if Prince Ding’s mansion wasn’t interested in it, then his chance of escape…

“Moreover… if Young Master Qingchen isn’t interested, I wonder if the Prince of Zhennan, Master Ling, Emperor Chu, and Prince Li are also uninterested?” Ren Qining’s gaze shifted as he smiled at the others, “As it happens, you all came a step too late. The Murong family truly deserves their reputation as a century-old family wealthy enough to rival a nation. Their accumulated wealth probably exceeds the combined treasuries of Western Ling and Da Chu, doesn’t it?” The others’ expressions indeed became somewhat subtle. Ling Tiehan, supported by Leng Liuyue and the Sick Scholar, stood up and glanced at Xu Qingchen, “Whatever Young Master Qingchen means is what this seat means.”

“Prince of Zhennan, what do you say?” Xu Qingchen asked. The Prince of Zhennan hesitated briefly before saying, “Come to think of it, Master Ren has no entanglements with Western Ling.” The Prince’s meaning was clear.

Mo Jingqi’s gaze slowly moved from Mo Xiuyao and Ye Li before he suddenly smiled, “The Prince of Zhennan is right. Moreover, Master Ren hasn’t done anything wrong – if something happened to him in Western Ling, who would dare come to Western Ling again? I feel an instant connection with Master Ren; why don’t we share a drink later?”

Mo Jingqi now held the strongest position among those present. The others had all been through fierce battles to varying degrees, but Mo Jingqi’s hundred-plus elite fighters hadn’t even drawn their weapons. Looking at Mo Xiuyao leaning against Ye Li, Mo Jingqi’s eyes filled with hatred, fear, and unwillingness. He couldn’t be certain how severely Mo Xiuyao was injured, and he didn’t dare gamble whether his subordinates could kill him, so he dared not act rashly.

If it had been anyone else, Mo Jingqi might have tried. But the injured party was Mo Xiuyao, and that made Mo Jingqi hesitate. Years ago, when Mo Xiuyao was injured, how many imperial physicians had diagnosed that he wouldn’t live past a month? Yet he had stubbornly survived. How many had said he would never recover? Yet in less than ten years, he stood before them again, completely whole, his martial arts even stronger than before. Vaguely, in Mo Jingqi’s heart arose a strange notion: Mo Xiuyao cannot be killed.

Xu Qingchen sighed helplessly, casting a faint glance at Mo Jingqi, who looked at him somewhat provocatively. For an emperor to provoke a strategist from Li City and still feel proud – how impressive indeed.

“I understand the Prince of Zhennan and Emperor Chu’s meaning. In that case… Master Ren, reveals the location of the Murong family’s treasures. Prince Ding’s mansion won’t trouble you before you leave Western Ling.” This meant that once he left Western Ling, all bets were off.

Ren Qining secretly sighed in relief, nodding with a smile, “Many thanks for Young Master Qingchen’s mercy.” Once he left Western Ling – no, just An City – people would come to his aid. By then, he needn’t fear Prince Ding’s people. Though the wealth he had just obtained seemed impossible to keep now. Fortunately, he wasn’t entirely unprepared.

All present were powerful figures in their own right, and naturally wouldn’t play tricks of going back on their word in such matters. Ren Qining straightforwardly handed over the location of the Murong family’s treasures and account books. The gold and silver accumulated by dozens of generations of Murong family heads were indeed astounding. After confirming it was truly the Murong family’s treasure, Ren Qining didn’t concern himself with how they would divide it and took his clean leave – after all, he wouldn’t get a share anyway. Before leaving, Ren Qining took with him Murong Mingyan, the last surviving member of the Murong family.

According to the original agreement with the Prince of Zhennan, Prince Ding’s mansion would take three-tenths of the Murong family’s assets, Yama’s Palace one-tenth and the rest would go to the Prince of Zhennan. Mo Jingqi only received what Ren Qining specifically gave him, and though he eyed Mo Xiuyao and the Prince of Zhennan’s portions enviously, he remembered he was under someone else’s roof and said nothing. As for Mo Jingli, he had separate arrangements with Prince Ding’s mansion, naturally unrelated to the Murong family’s assets.

When Ye Li’s group returned to the Qingyuan Inn, they found it empty, from the innkeeper down to the cleaning boys – all had vanished. Having long known of Qingyuan Inn’s connection to Ren Qining, Ye Li and the others weren’t too surprised. For safety’s sake, they all moved to the inn where Xu Qingchen was temporarily staying. The Prince of Zhennan left Lei Tengfeng to handle the aftermath and rushed back to Western Ling’s imperial city that same day.

Mo Xiuyao’s injuries were indeed serious, and Ye Li forced him to stay in bed and rest without moving about. For Mo Xiuyao, being confined to bed was truly more painful than death, but Ye Li had been frightened by his injuries this time and ordered that he must rest in bed. So the Prince became even more excessive in clinging to his Princess Consort to keep him company while recuperating, leaving Young Master Qingchen outside looking increasingly displeased day by day.

“Reporting to Your Highness and Princess Consort: Emperor Chu and Prince Li have arrived,” a guard announced from outside.

Mo Xiuyao, who had been lying lazily in bed with his head tilted back letting Ye Li feed him fruit, frowned impatiently, “What do they want?” The guard outside was stunned – how would he know what they wanted with the Prince? But this didn’t prevent him from noting his lord’s displeased tone, and he quickly asked, “Should I ask them to leave?” The room was quiet for a moment before Ye Li’s voice came through, “Please show Emperor Chu and Prince Li in.”

The outer door opened as Mo Jingqi and Mo Jingli entered together. In the room, the screen separating the inner and outer chambers had been removed. As soon as they entered, they saw Mo Xiuyao half-lying in bed, his white hair casually spread across the pillows, his white robes making him appear particularly cold and distant.

Ye Li sat beside the bed, setting down the freshly peeled apple in her hand as she nodded and smiled at the two, “Emperor Chu, Prince Li, please sit.” The two sat down silently. With the guards all outside and Ye Li held fast by Mo Xiuyao, naturally no one would serve them tea, but fortunately, they hadn’t come for tea anyway.

Mo Xiuyao glanced at the two and asked, “What brings you to this prince at this hour?”

Such a casual tone might not have meant much to Mo Jingli, but to Mo Jingqi’s ears, it was entirely different. When Mo Xiuyao was still in the Chu capital, no matter what, he would never use such a casual, perfunctory tone with him. Even if the respect and submission in his tone had been fake, at least he had maintained appearances. But now Mo Xiuyao’s tone suggested he viewed the emperor before him not as a nation’s ruler but as some random cat or dog on the street – if he felt like speaking, he would; if not, he would simply ignore them.

Seeing Mo Jingqi about to explode with anger, Mo Jingli casually coughed, “Imperial Brother, didn’t you have something to ask Prince Ding?” Though he also disliked Mo Xiuyao, he had to admit seeing his imperial brother’s face darken with rage was quite pleasing.

Mo Jingqi took a deep breath to swallow his anger and stared at Mo Xiuyao, “Where is Princess Changle?”

Mo Xiuyao looked at Mo Jingqi in confusion, then after a while gave a light snort, saying indifferently, “Princess Changle is your daughter. How would this prince know where she went?”

Mo Jingqi laughed coldly, “Changle disappeared from the Nanzhao Palace. Who else could it be but you?” Mo Xiuyao curved his lips, his tone mocking, “Indeed, Princess Changle disappeared from the Nanzhao Palace. How would this prince know why she went to the Nanzhao Palace? How would this prince know when she went to the Nanzhao Palace? Mo Jingqi, when your daughter goes missing you come demanding answers from this prince – next time your dragon throne goes missing, will you come demanding that from this prince too?”

“You!” Mo Jingqi’s face alternated between green and white before he finally couldn’t help but slam the table as he stood up, glaring at Mo Xiuyao. Mo Xiuyao couldn’t care less about his anger, lying back against the soft pillows and looking pitifully at Ye Li, “A’Li, I’m hungry…” Ye Li helplessly picked up the apple she had set aside and cut it into small pieces to feed him. Mo Xiuyao ate happily while also sharing with Ye Li, “A’Li should eat too, the things Lei Tengfeng’s people sent aren’t bad.”

Watching the two act as if no one else was present, Mo Jingqi was furious but helpless. He could only turn to leave in rage, but as he was about to go, Mo Xiuyao finally spared him a glance, “Wait.”

Mo Jingqi gritted his teeth, “What else do you want to say?”

Mo Xiuyao looked at him with an ambiguous smile, thought for a moment, and said, “Since you made a special trip to see this prince, I’ll give you some free good news. You know that Master Ren you felt such an instant connection with the other day… he’s the current Northern Territory Commander, the former dynasty’s surviving heir Lin Yuan.”

This news left Mo Jingqi reeling. Mo Jingli frowned and asked, “If Ren Qining is Lin Yuan, then who is Tan Jizhi?” Mo Xiuyao shrugged, indicating he didn’t know. Mo Jingqi laughed coldly, “You think I would believe such nonsense?”

Though he said this, Mo Jingqi was secretly shaken. Because he knew Mo Xiuyao wouldn’t joke about such matters. Seeing Mo Xiuyao’s slightly teasing and mocking expression, Mo Jingqi wished he could find a hole to crawl into. Tan Jizhi, whom he had trusted so much, was a remnant of the former dynasty, and Ren Qining, whom he had casually saved two days ago, was also a remnant of the former dynasty. If this got out, where would he, the emperor, put his face? No longer in the mood to quarrel with Mo Xiuyao, Mo Jingqi departed with a dark expression.

Mo Jingli lingered a step behind him. He turned back hesitantly to look at Mo Xiuyao and asked, “Is Ren Qining…”

Mo Xiuyao smiled disdainfully, “Would this prince gain anything by lying to you? That waste Mo Jingqi – people are making moves right on Da Chu’s soil and he hasn’t caught even a whisper of it. These past years, Ren Qining has reclaimed the entire Northern Territory and extended his reach into Da Chu, and what has that waste been doing? Well, it’s just as well – saves this prince from having to step in first to eliminate him when it becomes unbearable. Tell Mo Jingqi that the day he becomes ruler of ten thousand nations, this prince will send him a sword on behalf of the founding emperor to help him die for his country.”

Mo Jingli remained silent before turning to leave. Outside the door, Mo Jingqi had heard Mo Xiuyao’s remarks and was trembling with rage, yet couldn’t bring himself to storm back in to confront Mo Xiuyao.

Mo Jingli’s eyes darkened slightly as he stepped forward, “Imperial Brother, we should return to the capital.” Mo Jingqi snorted coldly and left.

Mo Xiuyao spent nearly half a month recovering before leisurely departing An City with Ye Li, heading northwest. As for the ever-diligent Young Master Qingchen, he had already returned ahead of them.

Before leaving, Ling Tiehan came to bid farewell to his two adopted sisters and brother. The Great Master of Yama’s Palace, after two consecutive battles with supreme masters Mo Xiuyao and Murong Xiong, seemed to have gained some insight and decided to return for closed-door training. The once bustling An City had gradually quieted down.

When Ye Li and Mo Xiuyao left, only Lei Tengfeng came to see them off, as he had to stay in An City to clean up the mess left by the Murong family’s extinction. In comparison, although Prince Ding’s mansion hadn’t fully achieved its expected goals, they had benefited the most. They had invested nothing, everything gained was pure profit, and they could even avoid the cleanup.

The couple traveled slowly, reaching the Northwest by late September, nearly October.

Just as they returned to Li City, before they could enter the magnificent gates of Prince Ding’s mansion, a plump little dumpling in dark brocade clothes rushed out. Mo Xiaobao hugged Ye Li, crying earth-shatteringly, “Wuu… wuwa… Mother, you broke your promise… wuu, you clearly said you’d come see Xiaobao the next day. Wuwa… Mother doesn’t want Xiaobao anymore, Xiaobao is an unwanted child. Wuu…”

Ye Li couldn’t help but feel exasperated – who had taught him such nonsense? But looking at the little dumpling crying with tears streaming down his face, even using the usually-hated “Xiaobao,” showed he was truly hurt. Since Mo Xiaobao’s birth, she had always kept him by her side; this was the first time she’d been away for so long. Seeing her son crying until he hiccupped, Ye Li quickly bent down to kiss his tear-stained little face, saying softly, “I’m sorry, Mother was wrong. How could Mother not want Xiaobao? Xiaobao is Mother’s precious darling.”

Being kissed by his mother in front of so many people, Mo Xiaobao still had a tiny bit of shame, his little face immediately turning apple-red. But he had missed his mother so much – finally, unable to bear leaving his mother, Mo Xiaobao buried his face in her shoulder, his little hands tightly wrapped around Ye Li’s neck, refusing to let go, “Mother, Xiaobao missed you.”

Ye Li looked at Mo Xiaobao’s fair, tender, dewy face and wet big eyes, her heart soft as cotton, “Mother missed Xiaobao too.”

“Then Mother won’t abandon Xiaobao?” Mo Xiaobao looked at Ye Li hopefully, and Ye Li immediately melted, “Mother will never abandon Xiaobao.”

“Mother is the best, Xiaobao loves Mother.” Smack! Mo Xiaobao happily gave Ye Li several kisses of longing.

The welcoming crowd watched their young master expressing his longing to the Princess Consort, while also noting their lord’s increasingly darkening handsome face to the side. After a while, as Mo Xiaobao continued clutching his mother and relating his longing and grievances, Mo Xiuyao couldn’t help but twitch his mouth corner and bend down to pluck Mo Xiaobao from Ye Li’s arms.

“Mother…” Being lifted by his collar, Mo Xiaobao unhappily kicked his little legs while calling to his mother for help.

“Xiuyao…” Ye Li looked at Mo Xiuyao disapprovingly – always lifting the child by his collar wasn’t good, what if Xiaobao got hurt?

Mo Xiuyao quickly changed to a hold Ye Li could accept, carrying Mo Xiaobao in his arms, smiling as he looked at his son whose eyes were rolling around, “Son, Father missed you very much too. Don’t you miss Father at all?” Mo Xiaobao bared his teeth at him where Ye Li couldn’t see. He didn’t miss his annoying father at all – it was better when Father didn’t come home, then no one would compete with him for Mother’s attention. But in front of Ye Li, young master Mo Xiaobao could only obediently nod, “Child missed Father too.” He leaned forward and planted a kiss on Mo Xiuyao’s face.

Mo Xiuyao froze, covered in saliva, then looked at the little thing in his arms wearing a mischievous smile. Mo Xiuyao strongly suppressed the urge to throw this little thing away and said with a forced smile, “You truly are Father’s good son. Since Xiaobao is so well-behaved, you must have finished all the homework Father assigned before leaving, right?”

Mo Xiaobao’s face stiffened, his eyes darting everywhere but refusing to look at Mo Xiuyao. Seeing his expression, Mo Xiuyao understood completely. Looking at him with a kindly smile, “Xiaobao, it seems you need to explain to Father and Mother properly how much you missed us these past months, so much that you forgot to do your homework.”

Mo Xiaobao immediately deflated like a punctured balloon. Father was just the worst!