An Shichong had merely asked where the Wei Kingdom’s First Prince was, when Yin Chenxue, ever tactless, responded with particular aversion: “Wei no longer has a First Prince. Yin Chenbi has demoted himself to commoner status and left the palace. Today, I am here to receive you both. I am the Crown Prince of Wei.”
Upon hearing this, Xu Huaizu rolled his eyes. What’s so great about being Crown Prince? Wei’s Crown Prince wasn’t even equal to Wu Kingdom’s City Defense Force Commander! Seeing this person’s arrogant manner, he wanted to throw a scabbard at him.
“Why did he demote himself to commoner status?” An Shichong asked with a displeased expression.
Yin Chenxue sneered: “You two are envoys from the Wu Kingdom, here to establish good relations with our Great Wei. Why do you keep asking about Yin Chenbi? He’s nothing now, so why should you care?”
This tone was full of disdain, and his eyes kept rolling upward, which made Xu Huaizu lose his patience. He asked An Shichong: “Can I hit him?”
An Shichong shook his head: “We’re diplomatic envoys…”
Yin Chenxue overheard this and frowned repeatedly: “Speaking of which, Wu is also a kingdom of propriety. When have envoys ever entered the palace carrying swords? Before seeing His Majesty, please hand over your weapons.”
Hand over? Hearing this choice of words, An Shichong’s face darkened. He no longer held Xu Huaizu back and simply stepped aside.
With a roar, Xu Huaizu pounced forward and landed a punch right on Yin Chenxue, leaving half his eye socket purple and blue as he fell to the ground.
The Wei palace was shocked. Countless imperial guards rushed over, surrounding the diplomatic mission.
When Yin Chenxue recovered, he was furious and shouted: “What kind of Wu Kingdom envoys are these? Looking at them, they’re just children who haven’t even grown their adult hair, here to cause trouble! Seize them!”
The rest of the diplomatic mission had initially thought their two leaders were being impulsive, but seeing Wei’s attitude, they all darkened their expressions.
Yin Gezhi had spent over a year in Wu Kingdom, and Wu had only left Wei in peace for a year. Now Wei couldn’t even position itself properly? If not for Yin Gezhi, they would be a vassal state now – where did they get the courage to treat envoys this way?
So, An Shichong and Xu Huaizu drew their weapons, fighting while retreating. The diplomatic mission left the palace entirely and returned to write letters of complaint.
When Emperor Wei heard the news, he immediately slapped the Crown Prince to the ground!
“Fool! They submitted proper documentation and entered our palace – how could you still doubt they were envoys? What’s wrong with your head?”
Covering his face while kneeling properly, Yin Chenxue trembled: “But… those two leading envoys were extremely young, and their tempers were volatile. They struck your son first, so I…”
“Would they have struck you if you hadn’t offended them?” Throwing a scroll of documents in front of him, Emperor Wei raged: “These two are from powerful Wu Kingdom families and hold important positions. The King of Wu sending them shows his sincerity. But you’ve done well – you’ve driven them out of the palace without a second thought!”
Yin Chenxue looked somewhat dumbfounded: “But… they kept asking about Yin Chenbi… I didn’t answer, does that count as an offense?”
Yin Chenbi? Emperor Wei was startled and lowered his eyes to think.
Chenbi had spent a year in Wu Kingdom, so it wasn’t strange that he knew some people. These two probably had some friendship with him and wanted to ask about his situation. But now that traitorous son… better not mention it! At worst, he could handle it personally. He’d be able to sort it out.
Looking at the Crown Prince with disgust, Emperor Wei kicked him aside and strode out.
In the courtyard compound.
After hearing Guanzhi clarify the situation, Yin Gezhi nodded slightly and said: “Then we should make an appearance. Come, let’s find Feng Yue.”
“Yes!” Guanzhi turned to fetch the carriage.
Feng Ming was still lost in thought staring at the mud-like substance in his dishes when the people outside had already vanished without a trace.
Feng Yue sat with everyone at the restaurant, and the nearby civilians were already discussing among themselves.
“Did you hear? Wu Kingdom’s envoys came, but as soon as they entered the palace, they were driven out for some reason.”
“Ha, I think our emperor is too confident. Wu Kingdom’s strength has increased greatly these past few years, to the point where they don’t need to take Wei seriously anymore. Yet he dares to drive out their envoys?”
“It looks like there might be war. What generals do we have to use now? Besides the young General Feng Ming, who else is there?”
“Ah…” Sighs rose one after another.
Listening to this, Feng Yue felt her appetite improve, and when the food arrived, she heartily ate three bowls.
The others at the table, including Yin Yanzhong, all had expressions of watching a good show, but with so many people and loose tongues, they couldn’t speak freely. They just moved their chopsticks, filled their stomachs, and planned to return to discuss matters.
Unexpectedly, just as they finished paying and walked out, they saw Guanzhi waiting outside with a carriage. The curtain lifted to reveal Yin Gezhi’s expressionless face as he looked at Feng Yue and said: “Want to go to the post station?”
Who was at the post station? The Wu Kingdom diplomatic mission is at the center of the whirlwind! Feng Yue nodded as soon as she heard: “Let’s go!”
With Yin Gezhi taking her to watch the excitement, how could she not go?
So everyone stood at the restaurant entrance, watching the dust kicked up by the carriage rise to the sky and slowly settle back down.
Madam Qiu sighed: “Why does the young master always go with him?”
Yin Yanzhong shook his head: “The trap is well-laid; I want to go too.”
Luo Hao nodded in agreement: “Me too!”
Diplomacy was a major affair between nations. In Wei’s many years of smooth diplomatic history, this was the first time such a major slip had occurred – the aftermath would surely be interesting.
Feng Yue was excited and asked Yin Gezhi along the way: “Will Wu Kingdom refuse to ally with Wei because of this?”
“No, not with me here.”
Hearing this response, Feng Yue felt somewhat displeased and asked seriously: “So the diplomatic mission incident will just be forgotten?”
Glancing at her, Yin Gezhi said coolly: “With me here, it won’t be.”
The same five words, but the latter statement carried a hint of cunning. Feng Yue narrowed her eyes, wondering what he could do. But when they arrived at the post station and she saw the two people who came out to greet them, she instantly understood.
Who were these envoys? An Shichong and Xu Huaizu! What was their relationship with Yin Gezhi? Master and disciples… no, or rather, Yin Gezhi was their object of faith. Just as commoners believed in Buddha, these two particularly believed in Yin Gezhi, thinking he could accomplish anything in heaven or earth, and that everything he said was right!
With these two people here, how could Emperor Wei escape Yin Gezhi’s calculations?
Sighing quietly, Feng Yue raised her eyes to look at them and saw An Shichong stride to Yin Gezhi’s front, kneeling on one knee: “Master!”
The unruly Xu Huaizu directly pounced forward to hug Yin Gezhi once, then knelt as well: “Master!”
“I’m now just a commoner. How can you, important officials of Wu Kingdom, pay such respects?” Reaching out to pull them up, Yin Gezhi said coolly.
An Shichong frowned, saying somewhat angrily: “Regarding Master’s self-demotion to commoner status, we disciples have already learned the detailed process. The Wei royal family is ungrateful, to treat Master this way – we disciples are outraged on Master’s behalf!”
“Indeed!” Xu Huaizu said: “That Crown Prince was no good person at first sight, throwing his weight around and being absurdly arrogant. He even dared to try to cut off Master’s hand!”
Raising an eyebrow at this, Feng Yue asked: “Who told you all this?”
“Commander Lian said so.” Xu Huaizu turned his head upon hearing this voice: “Master’s wife is here too?”
But when he turned around, instead of seeing that beautiful person in red clothes, he saw a man with a full beard, looking shifty-eyed.
Startled back half a step, Xu Huaizu stared: “Who are you?”
Yin Gezhi smiled slightly: “What you called out just now was correct.”
What? An Shichong was somewhat incredulous. Earlier when Xu Huaizu had mistakenly called someone “Master’s wife,” hadn’t he suffered for it? Now he called a man “Master’s wife,” and Master seemed quite pleased.
Xu Huaizu also found it incredible. He moved closer to examine Feng Yue for quite a while, reached out to pull off a piece of the beard, and finally realized: “It is Miss Feng Yue!”
“Enough,” Yin Gezhi said: “This isn’t the place to talk. Return her beard, we’ll discuss it inside.”
“Yes.” Suppressing their shock, the two young masters obediently followed their master’s words and invited him and Feng Yue into the post station.
The wind blew and clouds passed; half an hour later, the four people sitting in the post station had explained everything that had happened since coming to Wei, only concealing Feng Yue’s identity. Everything else was disclosed.
“I said General Guan was a good person!” Slapping the table, Xu Huaizu finally felt vindicated: “But how can Wei’s emperor be like this? Knowing someone was wrong, yet not allowing the case to be reopened?”
An Shichong’s brows were tightly knitted as he looked at Yin Gezhi with great concern: “Master’s situation is too difficult. If Crown Prince Ye knew, he would certainly reconsider the alliance with Wei. After all, he only considered this plan because of you.”
“It’s not that serious,” Yin Gezhi said: “Wu needs to resist Song, having Wei as an ally is beneficial without harm. It’s unwise to have conflicts with Wei at this time. Regarding today’s events in the palace, Emperor Wei will certainly seek reconciliation with you. When that time comes, you’ll need to help your master with something.”
“Alright!” Without even asking what the favor was, both of them nodded in agreement.
Feng Yue watched with emotion. Of all the calculations, the human heart was the hardest to calculate. Emperor Wei was also a person of deep schemes, but he was destined to lose to Yin Gezhi because he couldn’t win people’s hearts like Yin Gezhi could.
Even saying “winning hearts” wasn’t quite right – Yin Gezhi completely conquered people’s hearts through his strength.
How terrifying, truly terrifying.
The two stayed at the post station until the first quarter of the You hour (5-7 PM) when a eunuch’s voice came from outside: “Delivering His Majesty’s verbal edict, requesting the diplomatic mission to enter the palace.”
Xu Huaizu irritably opened the door and called out to the Wu Kingdom guards outside: “Go back and reply that the envoys’ legs were all broken by your Crown Prince, so we can’t enter the palace. Please ask the Wei Emperor to forgive us!”
The eunuch choked, hesitated outside for a long while, then left unwillingly.
“Master and Master’s wife should stay here tonight,” An Shichong said: “If anything happens tomorrow, you two can know immediately.”
“No need to wait until tomorrow,” Yin Gezhi looked outside and said calmly: “Prepare a room. Someone will come at dusk.”