Chapter 455: Joining Forces
Translator: Pika
Zu An couldn’t help but glance over at Yun Yuqing. When he saw that she was also secretly looking at him, he smiled and winked at her.
Yun Yuqing blushed and turned her head away.
Her body and mind were both exhausted. To be honest, she hadn’t wanted to come out at all, but when she thought about how this might be the last time she would be able to see Zu An, she still ended up coming out for some strange reason.
Their exchange didn’t escape King Wu’s notice, and his rage only continued to grow.
You have successfully trolled Zhao Yan for 1024 Rage points!
However, there was no way for him to make a move with everyone else around him. He could only pretend that nothing had happened, and continued to chat with King Liang, Liu Yao, and the others.
The two finally parted ways after they left the city.
As Zu An’s carriage passed by her, Yun Yuqing sent him voice transmission. “Take care of yourself.”
Zu An laughed when he sensed the grief of separation coloring her voice. “North Order City is a good place. Not only is the scenery beautiful, so are the people. I will definitely come back in the future! Haha.”
Yun Yuqing’s face turned red. She knew that he’d said this for her to hear, as a reminder to her of their agreement. However, she didn’t believe there was any chance that Zu An would survive this journey.
Everyone around them found this really strange. You’re only passing through as a prisoner—what fond memories could you have possibly made in this place?
Only King Wu understood the meaning behind what he’d said. His handsome face immediately grew twisted. The killing intent within him grew stronger and stronger.
You have successfully trolled King Wu for 444 Rage points!
Huang Huihong closed the door to Zu An’s carriage in annoyance. “Shut your mouth. You’re already a prisoner. How could you possibly return?”
The people around them roared with laughter, mocking Zu An for overestimating himself.
Zu An didn’t really mind. You goons have no idea how much I enjoyed myself here!
“Is there something going on between you and the Madam?” Zheng Dan’s fingers wrote on the table. She was right beside Zu An, and had noticed their exchange.
Zu An smiled. He also began writing on the table. “Of course. She was no match for my handsome face, and completely fell for my charm.”
Zheng Dan rolled her eyes.
Like hell I’ll believe you! Madam Wu commands such a high status that she’s basically an immortal goddess. Why would she care about you?
She might have had some doubts if they’d stayed longer, but their stay in the manor had only lasted for two days. They were locked in that courtyard the entire time as well, and didn’t even see Madam Wu’s face. How could there possibly be anything going on between them?
She slowly exhaled when she thought of this. She was clearly overthinking things.
Sang Hong was also incredibly puzzled. He felt as though he had forgotten something, yet he just couldn’t figure out what it was.
Sang Qian was the only one who stared at the distant woman in the white fox coat as they departed. He sighed. How could there be such a perfect woman in this world? He was incredibly envious of King Wu.
...
With each person having their own thoughts, the party headed north, and arrived at a small town. The sky was already darkening, so King Liang gave the order to stop at this town.
This town was quite small, with only a single inn. King Liang's subordinates quickly reserved the entire inn. Of course, most of the Imperial Guards had to be stationed outside the town.
Because of the scarcity of rooms, Zu An obviously couldn’t have his own room. He had to share a room with Sang Hong and Sang Qian.
Inside the room, Sang Qian was pissed. Just looking at Zu An made his face go red with anger.
Zu An noticed that Sang Qian seemed about to throw himself at him, and said rather unhappily, “Aren’t you being rather ungrateful?”
“Me, ungrateful?” Sang Qian was so angry that he burst out laughing. He had no idea where this fellow found the nerve to say something like this. What in the world did he have to be grateful for?
You have successfully trolled Sang Qian for 666 Rage points!
“Putting aside how I saved you before, let’s talk about right now. If it wasn’t for me, you two would still be stuck in that prison carriage. Would you have even had a chance to stay in a room in the inn, especially when the space is so limited?” Zu An punctuated his statement with a snort.
Sang Qian’s breath caught. This fellow wasn’t wrong.
By rights, all of them should have been left inside their prison carriages. However, Zu An always complained that he might forget some parts of the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra if he was uncomfortable. He pushed all of this responsibility onto the rest of the party, claiming that they would let such a thing happen only because they didn’t want the emperor to obtain eternal life.
King Liang and these other old foxes didn’t dare to take that sort of risk. Besides, giving up a room wasn’t that big of a deal.
That was why they had given him a room to stay in whenever they could. Of course, they also figured that it wouldn’t look good for them if news got around that these powerful masters were being manipulated by a scoundrel, so King Liang decided that he might as well put the other criminals in rooms as well. After all, Sang Hong and the others had previously been officials of the court, and they did not want to give those imperial censors anything to criticize.
In other places, there had been enough rooms to go around, but this inn was small, so the three of them were crammed into the same room.
“That’s more like it. As people, we should learn when to be grateful, and when to take our revenge. Otherwise, I might just become so annoyed that I have no choice but to move in next door with Miss Zheng. I wonder what you'll do then?” Zu An snorted again.
Zheng Dan was a woman, so there was no way she would be thrown together with the other men.
Because Sang Hong still hadn’t been officially convicted, King Liang, Liu Yao, and the others were still worried about how some things might look.
“You are going too far!” Sang Qian was about to go mad. He roared and charged straight at him.
You have successfully trolled Sang Qian for 999 Rage points!
Since his ki was sealed, his movements were roughly as quick as an ordinary person’s, and Zu An easily avoided him.
As he dodged about, he began to yell, “Help! Save me! I want to change rooms!”
“What are you making a racket for?!” Huang Huihong came in and gave them all a furious glare. “If you keep making noise, I’ll throw all of you outside.”
Zu An chuckled. “I’m not the one who is trying to kick up a fuss. This guy, however, thinks of me as his enemy! He wants to kill me whenever he sees me, so I don’t feel safe here! Please put me in young miss Zheng’s room instead! The two of us are close, so I don’t think she’ll mind.”
“What the hell?” Sang Qian suddenly realized that he had unwittingly fallen for another of Zu An’s tricks.
Just as he was about to panic, Huang Huihong glared at Zu An. “You want me to put you in with her? Keep dreaming!”
Zu An was less than impressed by his response.
Does this guy have something against me too? All I did was look at your goddess a few extra times. Is there a need for you to make things so difficult for me?
Just then, a soldier rushed over. “Commander Huang, the respected king has something he wishes to discuss with you.”
Huang Huihong nodded. He issued the two of them another warning. “If you two start some more trouble, I’ll have no choice but to be discourteous. Lord Sang, please say something as well. It’ll look bad for everyone here if I have to make you sleep outside.”
Sang Hong nodded. “Don’t worry, I will hold Qian’er back.”
Huang Huihong gave Zu An a final look. “The same goes for you.”
Zu An shrugged his shoulders indifferently.
Huang Huihong left quickly. Zu An began to devise how he was going to farm more Rage points from Sang Qian.
However, Sang Hong spoke up. “My little friend Zu, we aren’t enemies. We might even end up fighting on the same side in the future. Why is there a need for all this internal strife?”
“Fight on the same side?” Zu An was rather confused.
Sang Hong looked into the night sky. He said quietly, “There are many people who want you dead, and there are quite a few who want us dead as well. Once the situation gets messy, we might have to join forces.”
Zu An curled his lips in a sneer. “And here I thought you had something else to say. I thought I heard you say that there were quite a few people out to get you, but everyone who has shown up so far has been after me! Please stop trying to raise your value.”
Sang Hong didn’t seem to mind him at all. “It’s not like that’s a good thing, so I don’t see it as raising my value. As for those who want to kill us, given the timing, they should be here tonight.”
Sang Qian was still furious, but he couldn’t help but feel shocked when he heard what his father said. He couldn’t be bothered to pursue any further argument with Zu An.
Zu An frowned. From the looks of things, it seemed as though Sang Hong had detected something.
At that moment, the door opened, and a member of the service staff brought in a wooden case. “Dinner for your distinguished selves.”
As he spoke, he placed a plate of food in front of each of the three individuals. Even though the food wasn’t anything to write home about, it seemed decent.
Sang Qian’s stomach had begun rumbling with hunger a long while ago. However, just as he was about to eat, Sang Hong stopped him. He looked at his father in confusion.
Sang Hong laughed. “Look, Zu An isn’t in any hurry to eat yet. Why are you in such a rush?”
Zu An chuckled. “Respect for our elders is a traditional virtue of our Zhou Dynasty. Elders should obviously eat first.”