Liu Ying was truly grateful.
The Liu family used to be a big family, which is why his sister was engaged to Wu Jin, but then there was a change in the family and the Wu family not only did not dislike his sister, but also married her in accordance with the marriage contract.
The Wu family also promoted him to the position of commander from a small soldier.
He was aware of the intentions of the Duke of Qi’s family, Consort Shu and the Third Prince, and knew what they meant by bringing him to this position. The Featherwood Army guarded the imperial city, so if anything happened to the imperial city, he could take the army directly into the city, whether to suppress or force the palace, he would be able to arrive quickly.
The third prince was relegated to Youzhou after the death of the Duke of Qi, and he did not feel that the Wu family had lost its power, after all, there was still Lady Shu.
It was only when the Third Prince was killed that he panicked. Without the Third Prince, what was the point of having the Lady Consort in favour? Without the Third Prince, all of them had nothing to fall back on.
The first thing that he wanted to do was to use the soap when the Marquess of An Guo asked for it, but before he could get any results, Mrs. Wen went to the shop first and got into trouble, but he didn’t get any advantage, so he had to give up the idea.
The second prince’s letter was received with suspicion. The first prince and the Wu family had never had any enmity, so why would he want to poison his sister?
It was only when he was relieved and rushed over to save his sister that he believed the letter and guessed that the Second Prince was trying to draw him in.
One was to say thank you, and the other was to defect.
The second prince was the only one left, and he was the only one left to take the crown.
“Your Majesty’s kindness is unforgettable. If there is anything Your Majesty wants, Liu Ying will do it for you, even if he has to go through fire and water.”
The second prince was very happy to have gained a big help for nothing.
When he received Song Wangyue’s letter yesterday, he was still puzzled as to why his men were not allowed to go out and take down the Grand Prince’s men, but now he understood that Song Wangyue had sent him a great general.
“I will remember this, if you ask for anything from now on, Commander Liu will help me with all his might.”
“Your Highness, I’m sorry, just tell me what to do.”
……
Inside the palace.
Consort Rong knelt straight at the entrance to the Hall of the Nurtured Heart.
Eunuch Huang came out from inside and walked up to Consort Rong, “Your Majesty, you’d better go back, His Majesty is angry right now, if you help Chu Yuan plead for mercy at this time, it will only make His Majesty even angrier.”
Consort Rong did not know that. But the Grand Prince was her only son, and she could not stand by and watch him suffer in Liangzhou.
Her head knocked heavily on the ground, “Your Majesty, everything is my fault, it is my fault for not teaching Yuan’er well, please be merciful and forgive him, Your Majesty.”
There was no movement in the hall.
Consort Rong did not give up and raised her voice, “Please be merciful, Your Majesty, and forgive Yuan’er!”
A tealight slammed hard on the floor.
Eunuch Huang was shocked and hurriedly lifted his feet to go inside when the Emperor’s angry voice came out, “Confine Concubine Rong in the palace, no one is allowed to let her out without my order!”
……
The people in the palace were not aware of what was going on in the palace, and at the moment several people were discussing matters in the study.
The Duke of Determination told them of his doubts, this was a critical moment and nothing could go wrong.
“Even if he doesn’t love Chu Yuan anymore, this is still a heavy enough punishment.”
The Emperor’s son commits the same crime as the people, that is only for the ordinary people, the powerful and noble people who kill people even if they are found out, they are not necessarily sentenced to death, let alone Chu Yuan is the imperial son. In the beginning, the third prince killed 113 members of the Gu family, but he was not abolished as a prince.
“Chu Yuan is different from the third prince. With the rumours of the day before, the one who was there was already suspicious of him. If Chu Yuan sent someone to kill the Wu family, in that one’s eyes, he would undoubtedly be killing to exterminate them, so how would that one tolerate him?”
The Duke of Ding realized that, and gave Song Wangyue a thumbs up.
If it wasn’t for her, they wouldn’t know how much more work they would have had to do.
Song Yin had a smile in his eyes.
He had thought that the road to revenge was a difficult one, that it might take half a lifetime to complete; with Yue, maybe in another six months, no, maybe three months, he would be done.
Song Wan Yue did not know what he was thinking, and seeing him laughing happily, she could not help but glare at him. This was not an idea she had come up with on her own, but the result of a thorough discussion between her and Song Yin.
Song Yin laughed even more heartily.
The Duke of Ding could not bear to look at his grandson, who was laughing like a fool, and coughed lightly.
Xiao Qian didn’t want to look either and spoke out, “I should go back.”
He had been back for many days, and now that Song Si had woken up, I was afraid that if he didn’t return to the temple, he would attract suspicion.
“We’ll take you back.”
Xiao Qian did not refuse, he had only brought a personal servant with him, in case something happened on the way, his “weak” body would not even be able to defend itself.
The lunch was very generous, with twenty dishes and everything in between.
When he found out that Xiao Qian was going back in the afternoon, the Duke of Ding kept on giving him dishes, “There is still a month or so to go before the New Year, so come back early and let’s have a lively New Year this year.”
Xiao Qian replied, not knowing whether it was because the food at home was good or because Song Wan Yue had toned it up, his face had a slight blush.
The meal was a satisfying one.
After eating and resting for a while, Xiao Qian went back to Qianshan Temple, with Song Wan Yue and Song Yin escorting him.
Xiao Qian rode in the front carriage, while Song Wan Yue and Song Yin rode in the back.
The carriage was not too fast or too slow, and it was almost dark when they arrived at the Thousand Hills Temple.
Xiao Qian did not want them to travel at night, so he let them stay on the mountain for the night.
There were already rooms for the incense-bearers at the temple. Song Wan Yue donated a hundred taels of silver for the incense money and the young monk led them there.
The guest room was near the back, next to the courtyard where Xiao Qian was staying.
After thanking him, they went to Xiao Qian’s courtyard, where they ate dinner and played two games with him before going back to the guest room to rest.
Late at night, a slight rattling sound came through the courtyard wall.
Song Wan Yue opened her eyes, got out of bed, put on her shoes and walked to the door. Song Yin was already waiting at the door, heard the movement and pushed the door open.
The wall inside the house parted in the middle, and Xiao Qian stood behind it in a dark passage and nodded at the two of them.
Song Yin took her by the hand and followed Xiao Qian inside.
The wall behind them closed silently.
After walking for about half an hour, they arrived at a mountain.
The bottom of the mountain was very open and could hold tens of thousands of people.
Xiao Qian put his hand in his mouth and blew a whistle, and there were countless figures coming from all directions, soon arriving in front of several people.
Sporadic torches lit up.
Seeing Song Yin, some of the men were excited.
“There are two thousand men here, part of them are those who followed Father’s men back then, and the other part is recruited by cousin over the years, and can take one for a hundred.”