Hearing these words, Yin Gezhi suddenly felt that Fengyue was indeed a clever girl. Having someone like her as a companion made him far more fortunate than General Yi.
Yi Guoru fell into deep thought again. Yi Zhangzhu tugged gently at his arm, “Father has finally returned home. Instead of having a meal with us, why keep talking about these matters?”
“Are you hungry?” Yi Guoru looked at the time and smiled, “It’s still early.”
“We should still have preparations made in advance.” Yi Zhangzhu said coquettishly, “Let’s not discuss state affairs at home.”
“Alright, alright.” Yi Guoru’s expression softened as he looked at her indulgently, “Whatever you say. I’ve neglected you for half a year, and as your father, I must make it up to you properly. How about this – go to the kitchen first to see what’s available, then instruct them to prepare lunch?”
Seeing her father’s gentle expression, Yi Zhangzhu nodded and agreed, “Okay.” Then she lifted her skirts and ran out.
When only two people remained in the main hall, Yi Guoru spoke again: “The Crown Prince’s governance is tyrannical, and many at the court are dissatisfied. If Your Highness can distance yourself in time, that would be for the best.”
“General, please rest assured.” Yin Gezhi clasped his hands, “As soon as the General returned to the capital, I had someone return the Wind-Listening Decree to the Grand Marshal’s mansion. With the General here, I believe the Crown Prince won’t force this object upon me again.”
The implication was that he had only been compelled to accept the Wind-Listening Decree because the General wasn’t in the capital.
Yi Guoru nodded, finally stopping his intense gaze. Instead, he squinted at the sky outside, “In my life, I’ve had many opponents. The ones I admire most are only Your Highness and General Guan from Wei. Sadly, General Guan died due to royal suspicion, which is truly lamentable. With this precedent, I do not wish to follow in his footsteps. Sometimes, one must employ methods to protect oneself.”
His meaning was likely to give Yin Gezhi advance notice – I’m going to use some underhanded tactics, even if you notice, don’t say anything, it’s just for self-preservation.
But Yin Gezhi’s attention wasn’t on this point. After hearing these words, his first question was: “General Guan died due to royal suspicion?”
Yi Guoru froze, his eyes shifting slightly before he casually smiled and asked, “Did I just say that?”
Yin Gezhi frowned and nodded.
“Then I misspoke.” Yi Guoru picked up his teacup and said calmly, “Your Highness should know better than I how General Guan died. These are old matters, no need to bring them up again.”
“General,” Yin Gezhi said in a deep voice, “I am now merely a hostage, not concerning myself with Wu affairs, naturally also not involved in Wei affairs. But regarding General Guan’s matter, please tell me the truth.”
Back then, Guan Canghai had allegedly committed treason by collaborating with the enemy – wasn’t that enemy the very Yi Guoru sitting before him? So how could he blurt out that Guan Canghai died due to royal suspicion?
Yi Guoru smiled, clearly having no intention of continuing this topic. He changed the subject: “Wei losing one General Guan, there will always be young people to fill the void. Recently, I heard the news that Wei has a General Feng, young and vigorous, who won three consecutive battles, subduing the small surrounding countries. He quite has Your Highness’s former style.”
General Feng? Feng Ming? Yin Gezhi said flatly, “The heir of the Marquis of Pacifying the State has some ability, just his temper isn’t very good.”
“Oh?” Glad to avoid discussing General Guan, Yi Guoru engaged in the conversation, “How is his temper not good?”
“He was originally betrothed to General Guan’s legitimate daughter, Guan Qingyue.” Speaking slowly, watching Yi Guoru’s suddenly stiffened expression, Yin Gezhi continued, “Unfortunately, after General Guan’s entire family was executed, his fiancée also died on the execution platform. Because of this, he broke into Wei’s Eastern Palace at night and fought with me.”
The topic tried to turn but turned to the wrong place. If speaking of who in Wei still had connections to the Guan family and was still alive, there was only Feng Ming.
Yi Guoru laughed dryly, seeing the conversation heading back to the Guan family, he quickly called out, “Go see how the young miss is doing!”
“Yes,” the servant outside responded.
Turning back, General Yi said, “This border battle had many interesting incidents. If Your Highness wishes to hear, I can share them.”
Giving him a deep look, Yin Gezhi nodded, “Very well.”
The sun slowly climbed to its zenith. In the envoy’s mansion, Fengyue fanned Lingxu with a silk fan while complaining, “It’s too hot.”
Lingxu sat opposite her, copying her movements with a fan, obediently saying, “If you’re still feeling hot, this servant can bring some ice blocks back for you.”
“Where would we find ice blocks at this time?”
“There are some, in the shop in the middle of Anju Street, specially supplied to the nobles there,” Lingxu said, “This servant saw it when out last time.”
If that’s true… Fengyue turned back with a smile to look at Guanzhi.
Guanzhi, who had been lost in thought, shuddered and looked back innocently, asking, “What?”
“How about going to Anju Street to bring back some ice blocks?” Fengyue smiled brilliantly, “I’ll give you the money.”
Guanzhi’s face fell, “Miss Fengyue, this subordinate alone can’t carry much…”
“Lingxu, are you hot?” She immediately turned to ask.
The little maid cooperatively nodded, “Hot!”
Giving her an approving look, Fengyue smiled and looked back at Guanzhi. The latter’s face turned ashen, and after struggling for a while, he said softly, “Please give me the money.”
To avoid anyone reporting to Yin Gezhi when he returned, Fengyue still gave extra money, enough for him to hire an ox cart to transport the ice. Guanzhi felt overwhelmed with gratitude and ran out of money in a flash.
The moment he stepped out of the envoy’s mansion, a whistle sounded in the distance, neither loud nor soft, buried in the noisy sounds outside, not very noticeable.
Fengyue was smiling and talking with Lingxu when suddenly her expression tightened. She picked up Lingxu and ran towards Yin Gezhi’s room.
“What’s wrong?” Lingxu looked bewildered.
“Something’s happened.” With a grave expression, Fengyue’s face was taut, her movements clean and swift as she stuffed Lingxu into the gap between the canopy bed and the wall, saying softly, “Don’t make any sound. Even if someone comes looking, try your best to close your eyes and play dead, understand?”
Having no idea what had happened, but faced with her master’s piercing gaze, Lingxu covered her mouth and nodded.
The sounds of fighting outside gradually became clearer. Fengyue tucked her long skirt into her waist, gathered her sleeves, and quite heroically jumped out the window, charging straight toward the direction of the sounds.
People had broken into the envoy’s mansion. Probably seeing Guanzhi leave, they thought there weren’t many guards, so ten masked men boldly came straight through the main gate, only to be blocked at the entrance by Ganjiang and others who emerged from hiding.
The ten masked men were initially bewildered, unable to figure out where these people had come from, when they saw the person they were trying to catch standing in the distance, making an exaggerated “Wa!” sound. Then she turned and ran, running so fast that she disappeared in a flash toward the back door!
“Catch her!” the leader shouted. Everyone immediately abandoned the fight, trying to break free from the guards to chase after her.
However, Ganjiang and his men weren’t useless. When the masked men got distracted, they immediately gained the upper hand, catching several who were anxious to rush through and giving them a thorough beating.
Instantly, several masked men fell to the ground unable to get up. But two managed to break through and chased straight toward the back door.
Ganjiang grew anxious. He struck one person’s crown with his palm and also broke away to run toward the back door. When he arrived, he saw the back door wide open. There was an embroidered shoe at the door, and the two masked men had already chased far out.
After a slight pause, Ganjiang went forward and immediately closed the back door, then turned to look around.
“You’re much smarter than them,” Fengyue, hiding nearby, said with a smile, “You knew I hadn’t gone out.”
Hearing this voice, Ganjiang instinctively clasped his hands, “Young Master…”
“What are you saying?” Walking in front of him and lifting his hands, Fengyue smiled, “How could this humble one deserve such respect from you?”
Hearing the fighting sounds from the front courtyard, Ganjiang shook his head, “This place isn’t safe to stay long.”
“What’s unsafe about it?” she said, “There’s no place safer than here outside, and besides, Lingxu with her little arms and legs couldn’t run very far. Better to defend than retreat.”
The mansion’s guards could handle fighting one against three without a problem, it’s just that things happened suddenly and they hadn’t quite reacted. Moreover, in broad daylight, with the envoy’s mansion being near Anju Street, the thieves naturally wouldn’t dare to stay long if there was too much commotion.
Ganjiang nodded, gave her a deep look, then turned to continue dealing with the masked men. Fengyue unhurriedly locked the back door, then went to the kitchen to get two jars of oil and wine. She poured them on the ground under the back door and wall.
The pursuers hadn’t seen any trace of Fengyue along the way and realized they’d been tricked. They quickly returned. Seeing the back door wouldn’t open, they laughed coldly and used their lightness skill to fly in from outside the wall!
Then they landed on the slick ground and fell in a way that left them half-paralyzed.
Fengyue smiled, holding a torch, squatting not far away watching them: “Want to catch me?”
Smelling the wine everywhere and looking at their oil-covered bodies, the two masked men got up in terror, repeatedly backing away.
“Didn’t you want to catch me? Come on, don’t be afraid.” Showing a row of white teeth in a grin, Fengyue held the torch in front of them, saying coyly, “Take me away~ brothers.”
Looking at her like they were seeing a ghost, the two struggled to their feet and immediately went to open the back door, slipping and stumbling as they ran out in complete disarray.
What a terrifying woman!
Three incense sticks’ worth of time passed before the fighting sounds in the front courtyard gradually subsided. Ganjiang caught his breath, just thinking about tying up those who couldn’t escape, when he suddenly remembered the back courtyard and slapped his forehead, shouting, “Oh no!”
What if those two came back?
He hurriedly ran to the back but smelled a strange odor. Ganjiang looked up in surprise to see Fengyue squatting on the steps, head lowered as she sighed, “Amitabha Buddha, wasting oil and wine, how wasteful.”
“This…” Ganjiang was dumbfounded, “What happened?”
“Nothing much just dug a trap. The enemy forces have retreated ten li, not daring to offend again.” Standing up and dusting off her hands, Fengyue looked at him with a smile, “Thank you for your hard work.”