In the urgent message that had been delivered from the imperial palace, there were only a few words: Your Highness, quickly come back! Sender: Zhang Yuan.
Xuan Tian Ming furrowed his brows and handed the message over to Feng Yu Heng. At the same time, he said to himself: “To be able to have Zhang Yuan send an urgent message from the imperial palace, the only possibility is that the old man is causing trouble again.”
Feng Yu Heng was puzzled, “What trouble could he be causing? It’s not like this is the first time you’ve led soldiers to fight a battle.”
Xuan Tian Ming helplessly shook his head, “Who knows! Let’s go. Either way, we should return quickly.” He then said to the messenger that had brought the message: “Go and report to lord Lu. Tell him that this prince must hurry back to the capital and will not be remaining in Jiang Zhou, but I will be back in the future to talk when there is some free time.”
The messenger immediately replied: “This subordinate will comply and will immediately report to lord Lu. Your Highness, have a safe journey.” After saying this, he took a couple steps back, preparing to watch the army pass through the city.
At this time, they heard a loud shout come from the North, outside the city: “Your Highness, please wait.” Everyone turned back and saw a soldier quickly running forward. Arriving before Xuan Tian Ming and Feng Yu Heng, he cupped his hands and said: “Your Highness, imperial daughter, there is a carriage outside the city from Bin City. They said that they came to find the army, and the girl in the carriage is calling herself Princess Lian of Qian Zhou.”
Feng Yu Heng nearly choked to death on some saliva. How had she forgotten about this. Wu Li Sheng, oh Wu Li Sheng, she really was persistent!
She looked back at Prince Lian, who was riding on the same horse as his guard. Today, this evildoer was wearing some riding clothes and had a black cloak on his back. He lost a bit of his beauty, but this made him look more courageous. Although he still looked like a woman, in any case, he was no longer as feminine as before and seemed to be a little more acceptable.
The arrival of the so-called “Princess Lian” caused Feng Zhao Lian to be given quite the scare. He had his guard hurry forward. At the same time, he urged Xuan Tian Ming: “Didn’t you just say that you needed to quickly return to the capital? Let’s go! What are you waiting for? Quickly, quickly, quickly, we must hurry. If there was an urgent message from that far away, there must be something urgent.”
Xuan Tian Ming faintly smiled, “No rush.”
Feng Yu Heng also nodded, “Indeed, there is no rush.” She then said to the soldier standing guard at the gate: “Go and invite Princess Lian into the city.”
The soldier received the order and left, but Prince Lian had a bitter expression: “Ya Ya, what are you bringing that madwoman in for?”
Feng Yu Heng raised an eyebrow: “You know her, right?”
“Isn’t that a waste of words?” Prince Lian was exasperated, “Qian Zhou is only so large. If you said that there is a woman that calls herself Princess Lian every day with such a grand stature, it would spread through all of the cities. Even if I did not want to know, it would be impossible for me not to know.”
“Then why do you allow her to continue spreading it?” Feng Yu Heng was puzzled, “One surnamed Feng, since you know that it’s a fake, why do you still allow her to continue saying it. What sort of peaceful mind do you have?”
Prince Lian rubbed his hands and lowered his head, not knowing what he should say. He was not feeling at peace. He was feeling guilty!
Using his arm, he prodded the guard: “You say it.”
Only then did the guard say: “Replying to imperial daughter, that matter is because master stayed in the city lord’s manor when he visited Bin City. At night, he drank and spoke with young miss Wu then slept with the young miss.”
Pft!
Feng Yu Heng was about to collapse, “Slept with her?”
The guard nodded very seriously, “Correct, slept with her.”
Prince Lian raised his head and very unhappily said: “So what if I slept with her? We just slept under the same blanket for a night. It’s not like I did anything! Also, even if I wanted to do something, I would still need to be able to do it! Furthermore, they always viewed me as a woman. When young miss Wu drank too much, she always called me elder sister, and she dragged me to bed!”
As he spoke, he heard a girl’s voice come from the back, where the army was. The voice drifted along the wind. It was filled sorrowful and delicate, but it was also resolute and slightly trembling. That voice shouted: “Husband!”
Prince Lian trembled and moved closer to Xuan Tian Ming’s side; however, the voice grew closer and closer, and it continued to speak: “Husband, where are you going? Why did you not wait for me? Husband, Qian Zhou has fallen. I can’t be left alone in Bin City. Anywhere that you go, I will follow. I don’t want to be apart from you!”
Slowly, Wu Li Sheng broke free from the crowd of soldiers and moved forward. With so many people before her, she could practically instantly notice Prince Lian. Without needing to search, her gaze did not miss its mark by even a hair, locking up her target. She then took a few steps forward and grabbed the reins to his horse, “Husband, bring Li Sheng with you.”
Feng Zhao Lian had not seen Wu Li Sheng for many years. Thinking back to when he had stayed in the city lord’s manor, Li Sheng was still a young girl and had two pigtails. Bouncing around, she was very cute; however, the young girl from that time now had her hair tied up in the same manner a married woman would. Wearing a bright red wedding dress, the colors looked to be a little old, but it was very clear. With her face covered in makeup, the rouge covered her face in a pale-white color and made her look like a dead person.
He could not help but feel shocked, “Why did you make yourself look like this?” Wasn’t this clearly the appearance of a madwoman?
Li Sheng wiped her face in a bit of a panic and asked: “What is it? Could it be that my makeup is smudged? Does your Highness not like it?” While saying this, she scolded her servant, “I told you to help me fix my makeup in the carriage, but you insisted that it did not smudge. Just wait and see how I take care of you.” She then looked up and said to Prince Lian: “Your Highness, are you preparing to ride a horse? Then this wife will not disturb your HIghness. This wife will return to my carriage and follow along behind the army. Either way, this wife will follow you anywhere you go. Who… whose fault is it that I’m your wife.”
Feng Zhao Lian collapsed, “Who said that you’re my wife? How did you become my wife? Wu Li Sheng, can your mind clear up a little?”
Unfortunately, Li Sheng could not hear these words. She let go of the reins and turned back. The soldiers opened up a path for her and heard her say: “Bring our carriage to the middle of the army. I want to see his Highness when I lift the curtain.”
There was nothing that the servant at her side could do. She could only nod and comply.
Watching Wu Li Sheng return to her carriage then watching the carriage be brought to the middle of the army, Prince Lian lay on the horse’s back and began to complain: “Why is my life so unfortunate? Why is my life so unfortunate!”
Feng Yu Heng laughed and said: “Serves you right. Forget it, Li Sheng and I hit it off. Just think of it as me taking her to see the sights in Da Shun.” While she said this, she said to Xuan Tian Ming: “Have the officials in Jiang Zhou send a letter to Bin City to tell city lord Wu. That will save him some need to worry.”
Xuan Tian Ming nodded and complied, turning around to give the order. When the army set out once more, Li Sheng was added to the party. When they arrived in Song Zhou, they picked up Huang Quan and Wang Chuan. Fu Ya also agreed to go with them to the capital. The group was finally completely assembled and began returning toward the capital in earnest.
Standing next to a carriage in front of the general’s manor in the Eastern Fu Zhou, a woman wearing a bamboo hat was holding a ten-year-old boy in her embrace and negotiating with Xuan Tian Hua: “Is not going back a choice?”
Xuan Tian Hua shook his head, “No good.”
“Your job has yet to be completed. Returning the capital now would mean leaving your post without permission.”
“It’s fine. This prince does not care about being guilty.”
“But you can’t choose to not care about the position in the army that you have finally managed to build up!”
“If my status was to collapse that quickly, it would mean that it was not truly built up. It’s pointless.”
“Hua’er…” She began to throw a hissy fit, “Let’s stay here for a bit longer? A few more months, how about we stay here for a few more months. Is that alright?”
Xuan Tian Hua shook his head once more, “No good.” He began to move her into the carriage.
Zi Rui was the first to be carried in. The child looked at imperial concubine Yun with a look of sorrow and nearly began crying. “Seventh brother, Zi Rui doesn’t want to leave either.” He begged, “Zi Rui has reached a critical point in a discussion with military advisor Nan Gong. We arranged to continue this afternoon! To leave like this is truly too untrustworthy. Seventh brother, can you just give me a few more days?”
“No good.” Xuan Tian Hua was very resolute in regards to returning to the capital on this day. He would not give any concessions. He looked at the woman in the bamboo hat and leaned forward, saying: “Mother, will you get in yourself, or will son need to carry you in?”
Imperial concubine Yun trembled and took a couple steps back, “I won’t get in.”
“You can’t not get in.” While saying this, he scratched his chin, “With so many people watching, how could brother Tian not dare to get in a carriage?”
Imperial concubine Yun looked back. Sure enough, there were countless courageous men standing there, all of them staring at her like devils. Imperial concubine Yun did not doubt in the slightest that if she tried to run, she would be held down by those people.
She was alarmed. Staring at the men, she said in a daze: “It’s a shame that I lost so much money to you over the days. At a critical moment, you still help the outsider after being fed by me. You don’t favor me at all.”
The men were very honest, with one representative saying: “To us, his Highness the seventh prince is the one that feeds us. You are the outsider.”
Imperial concubine Yun was angered but could do nothing. Turning around, she angrily got into the carriage and sat down, loudly shouting: “If we’re leaving, leave quickly! Don’t keep dawdling! Xuan Tian Hua, I’m talking about you, quickly get in here!”
Xuan Tian Hua smiled bitterly then turned around and followed her on. The guard outside drove the carriage, while another ten hidden guards followed the group. They finally set out on the path back to the capital.
After the carriage was quite far away, the brave men standing in place let out a sigh, with one of them saying: “It’s clear that his Highness is afraid of his wife!”
Another person asked: “Say, if brother Tian really ran, should we have given chase or not? Exactly how should we have acted in that situation?”
Everyone shook their heads, “I don’t know. I figure that we would have offended someone no matter what we did.” They finally acknowledged that it was a difficult situation for them before going back. Speaking of, the days without brother Tian were really quiet.
After setting out, imperial concubine Yun accepted her fate. She told Feng Zi Rui: “Cheer up, in the end, we are a woman and child. We are both weak and can’t defeat the evil forces.” She removed the bamboo hat from her head and glared at Xuan Tian Hua.
Xuan Tian Hua smiled bitterly, “Aren’t I doing this for your own good.”
“How is this good for us?” Imperial concubine Yun did not understand, “We all want to be on the outside and don’t want to return to the capital. It’s clear that you don’t understand our desires, yet you still say that it’s for our good. You really are shameless.”
Xuan Tian Hua said, “It really is for your own good. A message arrived yesterday. Ming’er and A-Heng have already conquered Qian Zhou and began setting out to return to the capital half a month earlier. Speaking of, we’re slow to return to the capital.”
“What?” Imperial concubine Yun was shocked, “They finished fighting so quickly? They’re returning to the capital?” She suddenly realized the urgency of the matter, and she suddenly understood why Xuan Tian Hua had said that this was for their own good, thus she urged: “Quickly, quickly, get the horses to go faster. We must get back to the capital before them!”
Xuan Tian Hua was very satisfied with this outcome.