Just as she was about to take issue with being called “Master’s Wife,” upon hearing those words, Feng Yue immediately shifted her attention: “Who’s coming?”

Yin Gezhi displayed the characteristically “profound and mysterious” expression of a fortune teller at a bridge: “Just wait and see.”

“…” After a moment of silence, Feng Yue picked up a nearby chair, ready to smash it in his face!

“Master’s Wife!” Xu Huaizu was terrified and quickly restrained her. “What are you doing?”

Everything had been fine back in Wu Kingdom, so how did she become so bold upon returning to Wei Kingdom? She even dared to… to attack Master?

Narrowing her eyes, Feng Yue seriously patted his shoulder: “Don’t call me Master’s Wife.”

“Then what should I call you?”

Grinding her teeth, Feng Yue smiled: “You can call me Grandmaster!”

Xu Huaizu: “…”

An Shichong glanced worriedly at Yin Gezhi beside him, expecting him to be angry. However, not only was there no trace of anger on his master’s face but there was even a slight smile.

Shuddering, he couldn’t help but wonder if Wei Kingdom’s environment had somehow made Master’s temperament more gentle.

The room was in chaos. Yin Gezhi calmly drank his tea, waiting until dusk. Hearing movement outside, he finally got up and picked up Feng Yue, stuffing her into a cabinet in the room An Shichong had prepared.

“If you want to watch the drama, keep quiet.”

After glaring at him for a few moments, Feng Yue obediently covered her mouth with her hands.

As the cabinet door closed, darkness enveloped her. Soon after, she heard chaotic footsteps outside the courtyard. The senior officials who had been hiding while writing complaint letters earlier now all emerged, standing in the courtyard and bowing, their voices devoid of emotion as they called out: “Greetings to Your Majesty of Wei.”

To think the Wei Emperor would personally come! Feng Yue was somewhat shocked, and beyond the shock, her blood began to boil.

She had originally planned to enter the palace. Now that this person had delivered himself to her doorstep, she had to seize the opportunity!

Listening to the laughing and talking outside, Feng Yue took a deep breath and gently pushed against the cabinet door.

“Click.” The iron lock outside made a sound, and the door wouldn’t budge.

Feng Yue was dumbfounded for a moment, then reacted, grinding her teeth as she cursed in her heart: Yin Gezhi, you beast!

The beast Yin was sitting calmly at the table drinking tea. Outside, the Wei Emperor had already apologized to the envoy group for the Crown Prince’s impulsive behavior, his attitude extremely gentle and tone sincere, making the people from Wu Kingdom feel somewhat more at ease.

However, when the Wei Emperor expressed his desire to discuss the matter of an alliance in detail, An Shichong stepped back half a step and cupped his hands, saying: “Your Majesty, we were not informed of any alliance matters on this visit. We came only to contribute to the friendship between our two nations.”

The smile froze on his face as the Wei Emperor’s anger rose internally. Who wasn’t clear about the current situation? Fighting was everywhere, with no country staying out of it. The Wu Kingdom was currently the strongest under the Song Kingdom, and if they could take the Wei Kingdom under their wing, it would be an enormous benefit. This was precisely why he had come to apologize so humbly, yet these people still refused to discuss it.

What nonsense about not being informed of alliance matters – such naive excuses wouldn’t work on an old hand like him, the Wei Emperor cursed internally. However, on the surface, he had no choice but to smile: “Since the distinguished officials are not in a hurry to discuss this, why not take some time to see the sights of Lizhou and enjoy some local delicacies? If you’re willing to enter the palace, we naturally have meals prepared for everyone there as well.”

“That’s very kind,” Xu Huaizu bowed respectfully and said, “However, the two of us had previously accepted your country’s Crown Prince as our master back in Wu Kingdom. We came this time hoping to see him, only to learn that something seems to have happened to him… May I ask Your Majesty, has he committed any crime?”

Hearing this, the Wei Emperor lowered his eyes and smiled awkwardly: “How could he have committed any crime? It’s just that I indulged him too much, lost proper boundaries, and he resigned his position and left of his own accord.”

“In that case, we can rest assured,” An Shichong nodded and said, “Master is someone who doesn’t stick to conventions. Not wanting to be a royal noble shows the character of a refined scholar who doesn’t covet power and status. Since he’s not guilty of anything, we’ll just let him stay at the courier station. We hope Your Majesty won’t take offense.”

Yes, staying at the courier station. The Wei Emperor nodded, but as he nodded he realized something was wrong. His face changed as he looked at An Shichong and asked, “He’s at the courier station?”

“Of course. He is after all our honored master. As soon as we arrived at the courier station, we welcomed him here, intending to show our filial respect,” An Shichong said. “However, Master said he had some conflict with Your Majesty and feared seeing him would anger Your Majesty, so he didn’t even come out to pay his respects. Look, he’s in that room over there.”

The Wei Emperor became angry upon hearing this. The person was right here at the courier station and wouldn’t even come out to pay respects? What arrogance!

However, Xu Huaizu sighed: “Though we don’t know why Master resigned his position, his filial piety towards Your Majesty truly moves us disciples.”

“Where do you see any filial piety in him?” the Wei Emperor snorted coldly.

Xu Huaizu raised an eyebrow: “Is it not obvious? Even though he’s no longer a prince, Master is mindful of Your Majesty’s feelings and willingly confines himself to a single room to avoid angering Your Majesty. Can Your Majesty not see such filial piety?”

He truly couldn’t see it! But he could see how much these two respected Yin Chenbi. Rolling his eyes, he pressed his lips together and said: “Hearing you put it that way, I do feel somewhat ashamed. In that case, I’ll go in to see him and forgive his crime of gross insubordination.”

The first half sounded fine, but at the last sentence, An Shichong became displeased. With a serious expression, he said: “How could Master possibly be guilty of gross insubordination? Resigning his position to become a commoner was only a helpless move under Your Majesty’s distant exile to Bashan and the Crown Prince’s intentional harm. Does Your Majesty still think Master was in the wrong?”

“Indeed!” Xu Huaizu frowned: “The noble Prince’s mansion was surrounded by the Crown Prince’s men in the middle of the night, intending to take the Prince’s arm! After suffering such treatment, Master not only harbored no resentment or filed complaints but quietly resigned his position as Prince to ease the Crown Prince’s concerns and keep the court stable. Unexpectedly, Your Majesty shows no appreciation and instead considers it gross insubordination!”

The Wei Emperor was stunned – this was unexpected: “The Crown Prince surrounded the Prince’s mansion? Where did you lords hear this from?”

“You don’t know?” Xu Huaizu’s eyes widened in an expression of surprise, his face full of emotion. Very angrily, he said: “It’s all over the streets outside, you can hear people talking about how many City Guard corpses were carried out that night!”

Thinking carefully, the Wei Emperor recalled Shi Hongwei saying something that day in court about “the Filial Prince killing over a hundred City Guard soldiers.” Could it have been this incident?

With thoughts churning, the Wei Emperor now truly sincerely intended to talk with Yin Gezhi.

The door creaked open. Feng Yue sat in the cabinet clenching her fists as she heard Yin Gezhi’s calm voice: “This commoner pays respects to Your Majesty.”

With a complex expression in his eyes, the Wei Emperor looked behind him. Those two important officials from Wu hadn’t followed him in and had even personally closed the door.

Letting out a cold laugh, he turned back to look at the person kneeling before him and said: “You’re quite capable indeed, Chenbi.”

“This commoner is Yin Gezhi,” the man in white replied without a ripple of emotion. “The ‘Gezhi’ means to stop the conflict between Wu and Wei.”

The Wei Emperor’s heart sank slightly, and he showed a rare trace of guilt: “You may rise.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Letting out a long sigh, the Wei Emperor sat down at the table and drummed his fingers on it as he looked at him: “Come back when you’re done making trouble. You know that right now is a critical time of survival or destruction, and we may need your help.”

“Your Majesty,” Yin Gezhi said coolly, “That day in court, this commoner already said everything that needed to be said. What Your Majesty said, this commoner has also taken to heart.”

After this, may Your Majesty take care. If there are difficult matters, you may still seek this commoner’s assistance. – That’s what he had said.

I, the mighty Emperor, would seek help from you, a commoner? Yin Chenbi, without your royal status, you are nothing! Don’t think too highly of yourself! – That’s what His Majesty the Emperor had said.

Recalling that scene, the Wei Emperor laughed awkwardly: “I… was also confused then, momentarily angered by your behavior, so those words shouldn’t be taken seriously.”

Was it being angered into deciding to allow his removal, or was it because he had such thoughts early on, so the words came easily? Yin Gezhi didn’t want to pursue this. He only said coldly: “Every word this commoner said was carefully considered. This commoner is not playing around, nor treating the royal status as child’s play. Your Majesty, this commoner is simply truly disappointed in the Yin royal family.”

“How dare you!” The Wei Emperor was furious, slamming the table as he spoke: “How can such words be carelessly spoken!”

The Emperor’s anger was extremely intimidating, yet Yin Gezhi’s expression didn’t change across from him. He maintained that calm appearance, waiting until the Emperor had mostly exhausted his anger before saying quietly: “If this commoner is speaking nonsense, then Your Majesty should have a clear conscience and need not be angry.”

Conversely, it was having a guilty conscience that led to anger from embarrassment.

The Wei Emperor wasn’t stupid. After his anger subsided, he also understood what his son was thinking, he just couldn’t accept it – why should he, as Emperor, still be controlled by him? He refused!

However, those Wu Kingdom envoys outside clearly listened to him and had come for him. If there was another conflict with Yin Gezhi that caused serious consequences, it might be his imperial authority that suffered!

Taking several deep breaths, the Wei Emperor calmed his tone and asked: “Do you insist that I must redress the Guan family’s case before you’ll believe there’s hope for the Yin royal family?”

“The Guan family case is just one stone,” Yin Gezhi looked at him and said: “This commoner hopes Your Majesty can take the law seriously and give justice to loyal subjects, not letting the stones above the Yin family’s head pile up more and more until they finally crush the entire country.”

Children are so simple! The Wei Emperor laughed coldly inside while forcing a nod on the surface: “Fine, as long as you return to being the Filial Prince and help me settle matters between Wu and Wei, I can consider this matter.”

His expression cooling slightly, Yin Gezhi said: “Even giving justice to loyal subjects comes with conditions? Your Majesty truly still doesn’t understand this commoner’s thoughts. You should return to the palace early and take care of your imperial health.”

“Ah…” the Wei Emperor grew angry: “You want the case redressed, and I’ve agreed to it, what more do you want? Yin Gezhi, don’t go too far!”

This kind of agreement could be reversed at any time – did he think him stupid? He was also surnamed Yin, how could he not understand these thoughts?