<h4>Chapter 549: Affectionate Eunuch, Merciless Arrow</h4>
<strong>Trantor: </strong>Nyoi-Bo Studio <strong>Editor: </strong>Nyoi-Bo Studio
Seeing Fan Xian walk in with a heavy expression, the dazed Hong Zhu climbed up from the ground and knelt in front of him with his head lowered. He did not say a single word.
There was no one else around this room but Fan Xian standing and Hong Zhu kneeling. The faint light outside shone through and cast the two people’s shadows against the wall. It looked rather strange.
Fan Xian stared at Hong Zhu’s panicked expression. The hand hanging in his sleeve tightened into a fist the slowly released. Tiredly, he said, “I want an exnation for this matter.”
Hong Zhu raised his head to nce at him. His eyes were full of guilt and deep self-me. However, he only lowered his head again to kowtow and didn’t exin anything.
Hong Zhu had been Fan Xian’s biggest help in the Royal Pce. The reason Fan Xian dared to enter the rear pce with only 200 people and control Hanguang Pce in one stroke depended on hisplete knowledge of the situation in the rear pce—the cement of the guards and details of the nobles’ lives.
All of this had been in the intelligence reports Hong Zhu had braved with great danger to deliver outside of the Pce. This little eunuch, with his meteoric career, had originally been moved to Hanguang Pce. After the Crown Prince returned to the Eastern Pce, he had gone back, unwilling to leave the Crown Prince behind.
Since the empress dowager had set her heart on having the Crown Prince seed the throne, she did not obstruct his little requests. Thus, Hong Zhu became the strangest person in the Royal Pce. He had once held memorials in the royal study, served the empress dowager in Hanguang Pce, and been interdependent with the empress for two months.
The strangest thing was that all of the nobles appreciated and liked him. Fan Xian was not an exception.
People never knew that Hong Zhu was Fan Xian’s spy in the Pce. The strange poisoning of the guards on duty at the door of the Pce to Hanguang Pce waspletely the work of this eunuch.
Hong Zhu deserved a great deal of the credit for Fan Xian’s sessful entry into the Pce. At this time, the gaze Fan Xian turned on him was not gentle. He needed him to give an exnation.
The Crown Prince and empress dowager were in the Eastern Pce, right under Hong Zhu’s eye. How could they realize what was happening in the lightning-like entry into the Pce and escape before Fan Xian’s sharp sword arrived?
Fan Xian’s fists curled together tightly. A dark voice forced its way out from between his teeth. With a cold smile, he said, “You leaked it to them?”
Hong Zhu didn’t look at Fan Xian’s cold eyes and nodded his head heavily.
Fan Xian sucked in a cold breath and looked at him in disbelief. “Do you know what you are doing? We are rebelling, not ying house!”
Worried that others in the Eastern Pce would hear, Fan Xian did not raise his voice. His emotions inside gradually became violent and impatient.
“What’s wrong with you? Is your heart soft?” Fan Xian’s brows were furrowed tightly. He spoke strangely and quickly in a sinister voice. “Your kind-heartedness will hurt the entire Qing Kingdom!”
He stamped the ground by his foot and cursed viciously. “I have worked hard to get into the Pce. In the end, you yed such a trick. It’s fine if you don’t want to die, but what about all the people in the Pce. You’re forcing me to run without daybreak even arriving yet!”
Fan Xian felt a rare re of rage because he couldn’t understand how such a meticulous n, in which he had used his spy he had carefully hidden in the Pce for a long time, could have had such arge loophole. He couldn’t understand how it happened.
Why? Why! Fan Xian stared at Hong Zhu’s face. A dark fire shed through his eyes.
“The Crown Prince was very good to me.” Hong Zhu knelt in front of Fan Xian and suddenly began to cry. Tears rolled down from the corners of his eyes down his young face into his robes. “The empress was very pitiful. I thought for a long time but couldn’t stop myself in the end.”
Hong Zhu began to sob loudly. Snot and tears smeared across his face. “Sir, kill me. I don’t want to live either. I caused Xiu’er to die, who knows how many other people I am going to hurt. These are all my sins... My sins.”
Fan Xian sucked in a breath of cold air. Although he had already cursed earlier, he had not thought that the reason Hong Zhu had let the Crown Prince and the empress go was actually because his heart was soft.
“What about Guangxin Pce?”
“I don’t know.”
The corners of Fan Xian’s eyes twitched. His heart suddenly felt a glimmer of coldness. Looking at the eunuch in front of him, he suddenly opened his mouth and said, “Stand up.”
Hong Zhu knelt on the ground not daring to rise.
“Stand up!” Fan Xian’s roared in a low voice.
Hong Zhu timidly stood up and suddenly felt a pain below his hips, making him cry out involuntarily. Fan Xian slowly pulled back his hand. There was aplicated emotion on his face. Looking at Hong Zhu and without saying a word, he shook his head a momentter and sighed.
Hong Zhu’s face was pale white. He looked with fear at Fan Xian. However, he suddenly thought that since he had secretly told the empress and the Crown Prince to escape before the incident happened, his life was probably already forfeit. Since matters were already like so, what was there to be afraid of?
Thus, he straightened his body and looked at Fan Xian without a word. He was unable to wipe away the thick sense of guilt in his eyes.
Unexpectedly, Fan Xian’s didn’t say anything and didn’t draw his sword in rage and chop off his head. Fan Xian only sighed and waved his hand. He walked alone toward the outside of the Eastern Pce. His retreating figure appeared lonely and deste.
Hong Zhu watched Fan Xian’s in a daze and began to cry again for some reason.
...
...
Fan Xian walked out of the Eastern Pce’s main doors and could no longer hear Hong Zhu’s crying. His anger had, for no reason, decreased a little, but his heart felt empty.
He waved his hand and called over a subordinate. He ordered him to gather all of the eunuchs and serving girls from the Eastern Pce and Guangxin Pce to the Cold Pce near the Chen corridor to be watched together. Then, he walked alone into the darkness of the Royal Pce.
Hong Zhu’s sudden soft-heartedness brought an irreparable loss to his ns. For a moment, the rage-filled Fan Xian indeed had the impetus to kill. This rash feeling immediately disappeared without a trace because he had heard the word “Xiu’er.”
When he had been in Hangzhou, he had already wondered what influence the serving girl’s death would bring to Hong Zhu’s state of mind. From the beginning, he knew that Hong Zhu was not a normal eunuch. He was a eunuch that understood affection and honor. Otherwise, Fan Xian would not entrust so many important matters to him.
However, Fan Xian had not thought that Hong Zhu would be so overly sentimental to be soft-hearted during such an important event as a Pce rebellion.
From this, one could see that the Crown Prince was truly a generous and kind person. Furthermore, the secret-filled Hong Zhu might have developed some different feelings while the Crown Prince was exiled to Nanzhao for a number of months and had been wholly interdependent with the extremely pitiful empress in the Eastern Pce.
Hong Zhu was a sentimental eunuch. He had affection for Fan Xian, which was why he braved such danger to raise a Pce revolt and help him enter the Pce. He also had affection for the Crown Prince and empress, which was why he would let go at thest moment. People have always beenplicated creatures, particrly such a eunuch as Hong Zhu, who seemed more like a schr than schrs.
“Perhaps I am too merciless and that is why I didn’t think that people could have such sentiments.”
Fan Xian wondered this in his heart and involuntarily thought of Xu Maocai in the Jiaozhou Navy. A self-mocking smile rose to the corners of his lips.
Xu Maocai and Hong Zhu were the two deepest spies he had buried in the Qing court. However, it was in this astonishing court rebellion that both these agents had their own ideas and brought great evils to Fan Xian’s ns.
If he didn’t have Xu Maocai, he wouldn’t have been to escape through the deep sea below Dong Mountain. If he didn’t have Hong Zhu, he wouldn’t have even been able to enter the rear Pce. He knew that he had no right to me these trusted aides of anything.
He was reluctant to kill Hong Zhu. He didn’t want to me Hong Zhu. He only thought helplessly that in matters of touching people through emotions, the Crown Prince’s practice in this area had far surpassed his own. The Crown Prince asionally had true affection, while he was aplete sham to the end in this life.
...
...
With the help of the Overwatch Council personnel, the Imperial Army purged the rear pce. All of the guards had been captured and wouldn’t be able to cause any more trouble. With a heavy expression, Fan Xian returned to Hanguang Pce but did not go inside to see the empress dowager orfort the Third Prince and the others. He only gave a few orders in a low voice to Jing Ge outside the Pce.
Jing Ge’s expression was slightly confused. It seemed that he hadn’t thought that the Commissioner would be considering the problem of failure after such arge victory, but he didn’t ask anything. Stretching out his right hand, he pressed the mask firmly against his face and took a knee to ept the order. He then led a portion of the ck Knights that had been brought into the Pce out of it.
From this moment, the safety of Hanguang Pce had been handed to the Imperial Army.
The two main conspirators of the first rebellion in Qing Kingdom’s history finally met on the tall pce walls half an hour after the fireworks had shot into the sky.
Fan Xian bowed silently to the fully armored Great Prince. The Great Prince’s expression was serious. Despite the armor, he still formally returned the bow. The night wind suddenly picked up. It made the Great Prince’s red cape snap in the wind and the ck Overwatch Council robes on Fan Xian’s body stiffen as if it had been starched.
The soldiers patrolling nervously on the pce walls saw this sight and couldn’t help but feel admiration from their heart. Indescribable confidence welled in their hearts. Since the first year of the Qing calendar, the Great Prince had led armies to the West. His prestige had gradually grown. He had yet to experience failure. After Fan Xian took control of the Overwatch Council, he had be Chen Pingping the second. However, he was much prettier than old Director Chen.
The two princes were like the battle robes they wore, a passionate bright red and a cold pure ck. With light and darkness joining forces, how many people could stand against it?
Fan Xian and the Great Prince straightened their bodies. Without saying anything, they moved to the outside of the corner tower. They watched the quiet square below the lofty pce walls. In the distance, there came the faint sounds of killing. Further in the distance, there were a few explosions that drew one’s attention.
The two of them did not need to speak. urately speaking, after the incident at Dong Mountain, the two of them had not met or talked to each other, but they had sessfully organized the revolt today in the Pce.
This depended on their mutual trust and confidence. This kind of implicit understanding did not stem from personal advantage but from history. In the Emperor’s family, both of these princes had been humiliated and neglected. Their mothers and elders had once battled shoulder to shoulder. Now, these two had finally fought shoulder to shoulder.
There were 3,000 imperial soldiers. At this moment, 1,000 were stationed in the Pce, 1,000 were on the city walls, and 1,000 had ridden off into the depths of Jingdou. They had to control the entirety of Jingdou before daylight broke. It was indeed too difficult to control Jingdou with 1,000 people, but if they included the 1,000 Overwatch Council officials Fan Xian had purposely left outside the Pce as helpers, it would go much more smoothly.
“We must capture them before daylight,” the Crown Prince said in a cold voice, referring to the Crown Prince and his mother, and the Eldest Princess, Li Yunrui. Of the soldiers responsible for rooting them out, at least three small riding groups followed the path around theundry facility, desperately looking for the people who had escaped out of the Pce.
Fan Xian remained silent. After learning that the Crown Prince and Eldest Princess had escaped the Pce, he had already sent orders to the secret agents and swordsmen of the Overwatch Council. They were all doing their best in Jingdou. However, he knew that just as the Eldest Princess found it difficult to find him when he hid among the sea of residences in Jingdou, it would also be a difficult matter for him to catch her.
This kind of thing depended on luck. Unfortunately, Fan Xian and the Great Prince only had the three hours [JW1] before daylight arrived.
“Everything is fine in Hanguang Pce.” Fan Xian didn’tment on the Great Prince’s words. His eyes looked at the soldiers below the pce walls and changed the subject, “The empress dowager is fine.”
The Great Prince furrowed his brows and didn’t say anything.
The Great Prince had always been a straightforward, lenient, and filial person. It was impossible for him to do what Fan Xian could do. Even hearing about the empress dowager made him feel gloomy and a bit uneasy.
Fan Xian gazed at him with a slight smile, as if seeing through the shadows in his heart. He opened his mouth and said, “In the battle for imperial power, it is always a matter of life and death. We are only carrying out the Emperor’s posthumous edict. The history books will give you the assessment you deserve.”
“I don’t care about that.” The Great Prince shook his head and weed the night win on the loft pce walls. In a quiet voice, he said, “There is no need to say more. Since father has given you full authority in the edict to handle this matter, I trust that you will be able to handle it well. I have confidence in you.”
If he didn’t have confidence, the always filial Great Prince would not risk Lady Ning’s life to raise troops in revolt.
“But, do you have confidence in me?”
Fan Xian looked at the expansive Royal Pce andparatively sparse number of soldiers and sighed. In the front and rear of the Royal Pce, there were only 1,000 soldiers. It was impossible for one to feel a strong sense of support.
The Great Prince understood what he was worried about. After a moment of silence he said, “Father took a group of the Imperial Army to Dong Mountain, and we have lost more tonight. But, rest assured, a one-to-three ratio has always been used to guard cities. Particrly for a Royal Pce like this, one-to-four is also fine.”
“But the Royal Pce is very big. It is difficult to watch every party.” Fan Xian lowered his head and calcted. “If the Eldest Princess and Crown Prince actually escaped Jingdou and met up with the Jingdou Garrison, how many soldiers could the old Qin family bring into the city?”
“The Jingdou Garrison has 10,000 people.” Since the Great Prince had raised the troops, he had calcted clearly the military power inside and outside Jingdou. “If webine our strength, we have around 5,000 people. We should be able to resist them.”
“My people can’t be used to guard the Pce.” Fan Xian shook his head and raised his right arm to point at Jingdou’s sea of homes in the darkness. “They only have power in there.”
He turned and looked at the Great Prince’s profile and said with slight worry, “You’ve forgotten one thing. The Second Prince is not in the Pce. If he acts fast, he may have already slipped out of the city. Do you not need to worry about Ye Zhong’s people? Besides, the military power of the old Qin family is not limited to just the Jingdou Garrison.”
The corners of the Great Prince’s eyes twitched. If the Ye and Qin families actually attacked together, even if another 3,000 imperial soldiers suddenly appeared in the Royal Pce, he still wouldn’t have much confidence.
“The Royal Pce is an isted pce and doesn’t have grain and food likerge counties. If we are surrounded by an army, how many days can we hold out?”
The Great Prince abruptly turned and stared at Fan Xian’s eyes. “What exactly do you want to say? I know that the Royal Pce is not easy to guard, but why are we guarding the Pce and not the city?”
“Guard the city? Do we have any of the 13 city gate guards in our hands? We have no idea which of the nine gates would quietly be opened by the Eldest Princes, just like how I knocked open the rear pce doors.”
“Don’t hide it from me,” the Great Prince said. “It is impossible that you have just given up the city gates. Your people have already gonest night. The agent that the Eldest Princess had hidden among the city gate guards has already been killed by you.”
Fan Xianughed self-mockingly and said, “The Overwatch Council is not a god. It is impossible to have rooted out all of the Eldest Princess’ agents. I must prepare for the worst. If the empress dowager’s edict is unable to subdue Commander Zhang of the city gate guards, then you and I will have to be prepared to be surrounded by an army inside the Pce.”
“I only want to know how many days before the Qin family’s army would be able to enter the capital. Ye Zhong has taken an order to return to Dingzhou. Even if he stopped halfway, he still needs time to reach the capital.”
“If we’re just counting the Jingdou Garrison, they can arrive in one day,” Fan Xian said calmly. “The Qin family army will probably arrive four dayster. Ye Zhong’s return to the capital should be around the same time.”
The Great Prince didn’t ask why Fan Xian was so knowledgeable about the Qin family’s ns. He believed that the Overwatch Council had agents in the Qin family’s army just like they did in the Imperial Army. The purge earlier would not have gone so smoothly if Fan Xian hadn’t named their opponents to him.
“You can control the city gate guards.” The Great Prince watched Fan Xian’s eyes and suddenly turned the conversation back. “If you couldn’t, you wouldn’t have the courage to take action. I am curious as to what you are saying these things to me right now.”
Fan Xian fell silent.
“Earlier, Jing Ge came to me with your Council token. He took 200 horses and left the Pce,” the Great Prince looked at him coldly and said. “Don’t tell me you don’t have some ideas.”
Fan Xian suddenly smiled and said, “Actually, I wanted to say... Let’s run.”
...
...
A muffled crash rang out. An angry Great Prince mmed his hand against the bricks on the pce walls and said angrily in a low voice, “Run? You’re crazy!”
Fan Xian smiled bitterly. “I think I am indeed crazy... Where could I escape to? It was only a joke. Don’t get so worked up, alright?”
“This is not the time to make jokes!”
“Everyone is so tense. What’s wrong with me making a joke to rx the atmosphere?”
Fan Xian’s words were not just a joke. If it had been in the past, when the situation had taken such a turn for the worse, perhaps he would have escaped a long time ago for his own safety. If the Crown Prince and Eldest Princess slipped out of Jingdou, then the seemingly great situation at present would be destroyed at once.
The Great Prince suddenly sighed and heavily patted his shoulder. “You’ve never led an army and have never seen a true battlefield. It is not strange that you have such thoughts.”
As if to give Fan Xian more confidence, the Great Prince lowered his voice and said, “With the help of your people in controlling the city gate guards, even if there are 4,000 people, I can hold Jingdou for 10 days!”
Below the pce walls, the Overwatch Council officials escorted a line of carriages closer to the Pce gates. The Great Prince narrowed his eyes and gazed at the officials who had been tortured for a confession by the Crown Prince came down from the carriage. “With this group of officials present, how can we escape? How could we have the heart to escape?”
Fan Xian was silent. He nodded his head and said, “In your opinion, we should open the court conference today, announce the posthumous edict, and depose the Crown Prince.”
The Great Prince furrowed his brows and said, “Circte in all directions and order all four Roads of the military to return as fast as possible to provide aid.”
“Three of the armies are on the borders. They won’t be able to make it back in less than 10 days. The closest is the Yanjing Camp. If we summon back soldiers...”
Fan Xian’s heart was slightly cold. “You and I may be criminals of Qing Kingdom.”
Fan Xian wasn’t worried about just anyone. He was worried about the unfathomable Emperor in Northern Qi. In this world, news traveled too slowly. Fan Xian knew that since the Governor of the Northern Western Army had been killed by him and the lives and deaths of the soldiers below Dong Mountain were uncertain, if, at this moment, chaos broke out in the Royal Pce and he summoned back the army stationed in Yanjing in the name of supervising the country, it may be part of the Northern Qi’s Emperor’s calctions.
He was worried that before the Yanjing camp was able to reach the capital and subdue the Ye and Qin families, the Northern soldiers would already have reached the South.
After experiencing matters for so many years, Fan Xian knew that the Northern Qi Emperor was truly the most incredible person in the world. Since he hadmunicated secretly with the Eldest Princess and participated on the inside in the Dong Mountain matter, he would definitely not pass up on such a great opportunity.
Therefore, the Yanjing camp could not move.
The Great Prince’s expression also became heavy. He knew that Fan Xian’s worries were very reasonable, “10 days... We can hold for 10 days at the most. If we can’t move troops back to save the country...”
He suddenly smiled and gazed at Fan Xian. “Looks like what you said makes sense. Our best choice would indeed be to run away as soon as possible tonight.”
After he said this, Fan Xian stared. Immediately after, their eyes met. They began tough without any reason.
Theughter spread out from the pce walls and startled the schrs Shu and Hu by the pce gates below into looking up. They could faintly make out that it was the Great Prince and Fan Xian. Involuntarily, the two schrs felt their hearts ease slightly, thinking, If these two could stillugh so joyously at this time, then the situation must be settled.
No one knew how much helplessness and bitterness was in theirughter. With great mutual understanding, the two of them never brought up the matter of escape again. Since the two of them were already standing on the pce walls, then running away was not reasonable.
“Today, we are unifying the situation. Spread the posthumous edict through the streets and alleys of Jingdou to steady the people’s hearts. Send a public edict to each of the provinces.” After theughter stopped, Fan Xian gazed at the Great Prince with a slight smile. “Use the empress dowager’s edict to steady the city gate guards and then take control. You said that you can hold the army out for 10 days, then I will give you 10 days.”
“Ten days for sure.” The Great Prince grasped the sword at his waist tightly. His expression was determined. However, he thought to himself that the blockade around the Royal Pce would be broken eventually in 10 days. Why was Fan Xian so fixated on this time?
“You have to do your best to give me these 10 days.”
Fan Xian coughed gently and took out a sharp-smelling pill and swallowed it. His expression was calm. “Although I’ve never led troops, I still know that the most important thing in an army are the leaders at various levels. Imagine if all of the soldiers from themander to the secondarymanders to the deputy generals to the officers all died. What would this army look like?”
“A te of loose sand that would fall before being attacked.” The Great Prince furrowed his brows slightly and looked at Fan Xian. If all of the leading officers in the army mysteriously died within 10 days, then he would be able to hold Jingdou, but... No matter how skilled the Overwatch Council was in assassinations, no matter how excellent you were in poisons, it would be impossible toplete such an unnatural thing among the thousands of troops.
Fan Xian didn’t resolve his confusion and continued calmly. “If even the Crown Prince and the Eldest Princess suddenly died, do you think this army would still have any reason to exist?”
The Great Prince looked at him with a face full of confusion. He wondered if Fan Xian had gone crazy.
Fan Xian smiled slightly. “The reason I am not running and am willing to guard this lonely city with you is not because I am brave. It is because I have never lost confidence. After this matter, I’m afraid my days will not be easy to live through.”
The Great Prince did not understand what Fan Xian was saying. If Fan Xian truly brought out the assault rifle killing machine, who knew how the future would develop?
Suddenly, there was a burst of chaos at the pce gate below. A group of riders arrived in the dust and seemed to have caught a person. The Great Prince focused his gaze and saw that the person captured was a woman. However, the distance was toorge, so he couldn’t see clearly. It seemed she was wearing a normal serving girl’s clothing.
Fan Xian narrowed his eyes as he looked and faintly said, “Our luck is still very good. Look, the empress has already been caught. Could the Crown Prince and Eldest Princess be far?”
After saying this, he turned and walked down from the pce walls along the wide stone steps. He was getting ready to wee the old officials who had suffered and prepare for court conference tomorrow. He quietly considered what kind of crime he was going to arrange for the Crown Prince and Eldest Princess. At the same time, he got ready tofort the pitiful, stupid, and unlucky empress.
“Should I shut the empress and Hong Zhu in the same room?” A strange idea suddenly surged up in Fan Xian’s mind. He quietly thought to himself that, actually, he was quite sentimental.
On the stone steps, his coughing became worse and worse, more and more serious. It seemed that the sharp smelling pill he took earlier didn’t have any effect. He leaned against the wall beside the stone stairs and calmed his state of mind. He took out another pill and stuffed it in his mouth. Biting down a few times, he swallowed it down.
The sharp smell was the scent of ephedra leaves. After this pill had been created by Fan Xian and his colleagues in the Third Bureau, it was the second time it had been taken in the world. The strength of this type of pill was overly tyrannical. The ephedra leaves were like a stimnt and could easily make one distracted and zhenqi be chaotic.
The first time this medicine was taken was also by Fan Xian. It had been a few years ago on the sheer precipice on Xi Mountain in Northern Qi when he had faced thebined attacks of Liang Tiao and the others.
Fan Xian breathed forcefully a few times and calmed his mind. After escaping from Dong Mountain, he had been scratched by Ye Liuyun’s sword intent, chased across hundreds of li by Yan Xiaoyi, and finally taken an arrow close to his heart. His injuries had been grievous. He had been unable to obtain good treatment. His entire body was already reaching a breaking point.
Although he had rested for a few days in Lady Sun’s boudoir, his present realm was still only an eighth of his full strength. In order to break into the Pce, he had no choice but to take this harmful medicine again to ensure that his power would be fully demonstrated.
The first time he took this medicine was for Xiao En, for the secret of the Temple in the old man’s mouth. The second time he took this medicine was to break into the Pce, for the territories of Qing Kingdom. There are many things in the world that are more important than health, Fan Xian thought to himself as he walked down.
...
...
Jingdou was in chaos. Compared to the battle-less victory with the Ministry of Justice and Jingdou government, the attack on the Eldest Princess’s other manor sunk into a bitter battle from the beginning. The mes that Fan Xian and the Great Prince had seen from the pce walls were a cruel n that the Overwatch Council had no choice but to use when attacking.
Fortunately, the Eldest Princess was not in the manor. Yuan Hongdao, the main Xinyang strategist, who was supposed to be organizing the defenses, seemed to have been terrified out of his wits by the attack. Thus, the aces and serving girls in the manor had eventually been turned into hedgehogs and poisoned into stiff corpses after the Overwatch Council had paid the price of 10 bodies.
When the Overwatch Council officials broke in, the head of the First Bureau, Mu Feng, received a deep cut on his left shoulder. The blood flowed freely, but his face had an uncaring expression. Viciously, he held the short sword across Yuan Hongdao’s neck.
What surprised him was that the strategist he had seized in the Eldest Princess’ manor did not seem to be overly scared. Instead, he was very anxious.
Yuan Hongdao gazed at Mu Feng’er and anxiously said, “I have an important matter to report to the Duke of Danbo!”
[JW1] Possibly six hours.