Chapter 989: Hot Potato
“And what can you do about it? You can only stay mad.” Zu An sneered. Then, he pulled Sun Xun aside and asked quietly, “Minister Sun, can I discuss something with you?”
Sun Xun cupped his hands and replied, “Sir Zu helped me find my son’s real killer, so I feel only gratitude. Please tell me if there’s anything you need. I’ll definitely help you as long as I can.”
Zu An rubbed his hands together. He gave Qiu Honglei a look and deliberately gave Sun Xun a ‘you know’ expression as he said, “Minister Xiang, that woman really made me suffer quite badly last time, so I’ve always wanted to find a way to get back at her. Her background is mysterious, and she’s crafty too, so I never thought I would have a chance to get revenge, but the heavens have eyes! God himself has allowed me to meet her again. I wonder if Minister Sun can hand her over to me for a few hours so I can properly return the favor?”
Sun Xun obviously knew exactly what Zu An was implying from his expression. How else would leaving a single man and woman together mean getting revenge? He had a troubled expression as he replied, “Sir Zu, I fear that would be quite troublesome. Her cultivation is extremely high, so you might be in danger if we let you in.”
“It’s fine; my cultivation is still barely enough to restrain her. Furthermore, can’t we just cripple her cultivation?” Zu An could sense that her ki fluctuations were still normal, which left him confused. He wanted to take the chance to inquire about that.
“That would cause a grudge that wouldn’t end until one side was completely eliminated! Her master is the Devil Sect Master, and also a grandmaster. If she really did seek revenge without any misgivings, then even the king would find it hard to handle,” Sun Xun replied. “Sir Zu, we’re all close, so I won’t hide anything from you. If it were anything else, I would definitely agree, but this woman’s status is a bit too sensitive. A single mishap and it might cause huge repercussions. That’s why I ask for Sir Zu’s forgiveness.”
Zu An sighed and said, “Then that’s really a pity. This woman is just too beautiful.”
Sun Xun thought to himself, This kid is a pervert, as expected! He sneered inwardly, but he still had an extremely sincere expression on the surface as he said, “Sir Zu, I’ll have my people make some arrangements for you later. The girls from Yi Commandery are all tall and slender. They aren’t much worse than this evildoer.”
“Forget it, I’ve lost my interest.” Zu An directly refused. He walked over to Honglei’s side with a lust-consumed expression. Secretly, however, he sent her a voice transmission. “Honglei, don’t be scared. I’ll teach you how to get out.”
“What are you staring at? I’m going to gouge those eyes out if you keep looking!” Qiu Honglei exclaimed, glaring at him hatefully on the surface. However, she replied in private, “No! King Yan Manor is a place full of powerful cultivators and guards. King Yan is a grandmaster himself. It’s way too dangerous for you to save me! Not only would you fail to save me, you might even end up getting involved too! Don’t worry, I’m fine. They wouldn’t dare to do anything to me.”
“Come and gouge them out? Judging from how fair and slender you look, I’m sure it’ll feel good even if you’re gouging out my eyeballs,” Zu An responded while saying through voice transmission, “Don’t worry, I won’t act recklessly. Of course I’d only do something if I felt confident in its success.”
Sun Xun rolled his eyes when he heard that. This guy really isn’t good at flirting with girls at all… Did he never meet women in his past life or something? Some guards approached and told him a few things, however. After his initial shock, he walked over to Zu An’s side and said, “Sir Zu, the imperial envoy has arrived. We should head over together.”
When he heard that Sang Hong had arrived, Zu An nodded. Then, he blew Qiu Honglei a kiss, saying, “Wash up and wait for me, babe. You’ll be mine sooner or later.”
Sun Xun had a smile on his face, but he sneered inwardly. This guy really has some crazy confidence.
Only Qiu Honglei knew what he was really talking about. She blushed slightly and harrumphed. It had already been a long time since they last met, yet this guy was still the same. But she was also worried. What if he really did something rash? But she had no way of contacting her master…
…
Zu An and Sun Xun went to King Yan’s bedroom. Sang Hong was already chatting happily with him. He expressed his concern for King Yan’s injuries, while the other side spoke highly of the imperial envoy’s difficult work. Sang Hong then praised the accomplishments King Yan had.
Zu An was incredibly impressed. This kind of official bullshitting ability was something he would never be able to do even if he studied it his entire life. It really was a language art in itself…
Gao Ying and Pei You, who were behind Sang Hong, sighed in relief when they saw Zu An. They had been worried that Zu An might be in danger if he followed Sun Xun, so they quickly returned to report what happened.
Sang Hong hadn’t dared to treat the matter lightly when he heard that either. Why would he care about King Yan’s health at all? He had come purely for Zu An.
King Yan then said, “Right, Sir Sang, this king wants to discuss something with you.”
“The king is too polite; please speak your mind.” Sang Hong was hesitant. That was also the reason he hadn’t wanted to go ashore before. He hadn’t wanted any dealings with the local powers.
King Yan said, “I mentioned to you earlier that we captured the Devil Sect’s Saintess. I heard that this evildoer caused a huge disturbance in the Imperial Palace, so I plan to send her to the capital for his majesty to deal with. That would also help the empress, crown prince, and the others vent a bit of their resentment.”
Sang Hong was stunned at first, but he quickly realized that it was because the Devil Sect Saintess’ status was too sensitive, so King Yan didn’t dare to kill her; and yet, he didn’t dare to release her either. That was why they figured they might as well just send her to the capital.
He obviously didn’t want to get involved in anything like that, saying, “Respected king, we naturally do not wish to shirk out responsibility over something like this, but we already have another task on this trip. We need to hurry to Cloudcenter Commandery as quickly as possible. I fear we cannot let ourselves get distracted and help you deliver this evildoer back to the capital.”
Zu An was nervous. He really wanted to just agree, but he quickly calmed down. Why had the other party proposed a request the imperial envoy had no way of agreeing to?
Sure enough, King Yan immediately said, “I would not dare to entrust something like this to Sir Imperial Envoy. I only hope that Sir Imperial Envoy can help me pass it on to Yi Commandery’s Governor Zhang and have him escort this evil woman to the capital. We have to fight the Devil Sect battle after battle and really cannot attend to other things right now.”
“I fear that…” Sang Hong immediately realized that the matter was touching upon the struggle for local authority. King Yan probably wanted to offload that headache to another local official. Not only would it make them feel disgusted, it would also leave them with a difficult problem to deal with.
If the government manor successfully delivered her to the capital, that was just something they were supposed to do. Since it was King Yan Manor who had captured the Devil Sect’s Saintess, the reward would be King Yan Manor’s. No one would reward the Governor Manor.
However, if something happened to the criminals being escorted along the way, that would be a ton of responsibility. When his majesty began to point fingers, even the governor might be forced to lose his position.
That was why Sang Hong obviously didn’t want to get involved. He was just about to refuse when Zu An spoke up and agreed. “We’re all working for the court, so we shouldn’t shirk our responsibilities with this kind of thing. We’ll tell the governor.”
Sang Hong was surprised. But he knew that Zu An wouldn’t speak without thinking, so he tacitly agreed. They chatted for a while longer, then Sang Hong got up to bid his farewell.
After seeing them off, Sun Xun returned to King Yan’s room. King Yan had already gotten up from the bed. He didn’t look as weak as before at all.
“Congratulations, my king. Now, the responsibility is completely on that Zhang bastard,” said Sun Xun.
King Yan frowned. “I can’t understand why that Zu An looks so enthusiastic about this. Could it be that there are some crafty plots in play?”
Sun Xun explained, “My king is overthinking it. It’s just because he’s lustful…” Then, he explained what had happened in the prison. “I fear what he wants is merely to bring her out of King Yan Manor to make it easier for him to get closer to her.”
King Yan said with a sneer, “He really overestimates his own abilities. He dares to touch even the treasured disciple of Yun Jianyue? He’ll end up losing his life without even knowing why.”
Sun Xun remained expressionless. Even though that Zu An had helped him find out the real killer, his grudge with Ji’er earlier had been real too. That was why even if something did end up happening to him, it would also be a kind of revenge for Ji’er.
Just then, King Yan said seriously, “Minister Sun, you’ve had to experience the death of your child, and you still have to deal with all sorts of complicated matters. I’ve really troubled you.”
“Thank you for your concern, my king. Even though this subordinate is grieving, it won’t affect proper matters. After all…” Sun Xun paused and said, “I don’t just have one son.” His voice was a so cold, it could send a chill down the back of anyone who heard it
King Yan roared with laughter and said, “I’ll bestow you a few more beautiful wives and concubines so they can give birth to a few more sons.”
…
Meanwhile, after Sang Hong’s group left King Yan Manor, he pulled Zu An over and asked quietly, “Why did you agree to that matter?”