Chapter 292 - Calm Before The Storm

After a while, Wei Liuying responded, "Yes."

"That's good."

"You sound as if you wish for me to say yes in the first place, Your Highness."

Prince Ji Sheng laughed lightly, showing a rare smile on his usual indifferent face. "It'll be a lie if I say no. You two have been going on and on in a battle of mind."

Wei Liuying merely smiled. He was the one who started it, so she would continue to challenge him over and over. Besides, it was fun for her to keep on having a battle of mind with Yang Xian. It served as a good practice to keep her mind active.

"Do you plan to do anything with him?"

"Not now, Your Highness."

"Alright. I'll write the message to General Hao. There are some of your friends in Zhuang City, so you might find time to meet with them too."

Friends?

Wei Liuying's lips curled up slightly. The only friends she ever made was only Xie Jing whom she met a few times during her time in the capital city and temple. They were not close, but still could be considered as close acquaintance. After the failure to help defending the temple, Xie Jing was transported to other places. Just recently, he moved to Zhuang City, so Wei Liuying might have the chance to meet with him.

"Can you tell me more about General Hao, General Sheng?"

"General Hao used to stay in the East area and rarely got involved with the conflicts. His family is trying to stay further away from the eye of the storm and so far, there was no one who can tell much about his ability. He has decent ability and known to be a good person," Prince Ji Sheng replied.

Wei Liuying arched her eyebrows. "To be able to expand the territory during this period of chaos, I don't think that the word decent will be enough to describe him, Your Highness."

"I believe he got some help. However, there's not much information that I can get. It's your task to figure things out, Liu Ying."

"I'll do my best, Your Highness."

Prince Ji Sheng handed the letter he wrote to Wei Liuying and pondered for a moment. "When you arrive in Zhuang City, try to stay focus on your work and not bother with what happened in the capital city. No matter what kind of news you got, you should never care about that and focus solely on your task in Zhuang City."

Listening to the third prince's words, Wei Liuying was silent for a moment. It meant that even if their plan ended in failure and Yang Xian was wounded or something else happened to him, Wei Liuying was not allowed to help him at all. She should just stay focused on what she had to do.

"I understand, Your Highness."

"You may leave."

Wei Liuying cupped her hand and bowed down slightly. She left through the door without turning around even once. Her mind was busy thinking about the things that she had to do starting tomorrow. It wouldn't be easy for her to finish everything in time, especially when the situation was getting worse and worse recently.

"Liu Ying."

"Yang Xian," Wei Liuying greeted back. She smiled faintly. "Are you waiting for me?"

"I brought food for tonight. His Highness' servant prepared too much for dinner," Yang Xian explained.

Wei Liuying shook her head. It must have been done on purpose. Ever since Prince Ji Sheng got married, his servants often prepared too much food, so Yang Xian usually brought it back with him for the two of them.

"The time finally comes."

"Have you been worrying about it for a long time?" Yang Xian asked.

"Yes."

"I thought you don't have much access to the overall political situation back then."

Wei Liuying looked to the sky and sighed. "My uncle is the one letting me to know the overall situation. Even though the details are kept confidential because of the limited time I have with him, I managed to discuss so many things with him."

"Your uncle sounds like a good and capable man."

"He's a good official, but he's a bit rigid and hard to cooperate with," Wei Liuying giggled. "That's one of the reasons why his position is still far lower than my father."

Yang Xian nodded. The ability to give in and cooperate with other people was important. There were some principles that Wei Lu held that other officials disliked, thus making it harder for him to climb the rank. Even back then, it took him extremely long time to be able to become third rank official.

If he had to say, Yang Xian didn't know much about Wei Lu. However, he knew that one of the few things that Wei Lu chose was the option to not have any concubine. He was one of the few people who didn't want to make connection by using women, which was why some disliked him.

"We're home. Should I take a bath first?" Wei Liuying asked. They have to make sure who was would be using the bath first in order to avoid the same incident from happening again.

Yang Xian nodded. "You can go in first. I'll wait outside."

"Ok."

"If you want to take a bath together…"

"I'll pass," Wei Liuying cut off Yang Xian's words before he could possibly finish. There was no way she wanted to take a bath with him right now.

"Fine."

The two of them took their turns to take a bath before they have dinner together. Their conversation only talked about some reports of what happened recently and also the fact that Prince Ji Sheng would have to send his men to several areas to keep the security there.

"There won't be enough soldier if there's a war happening," Wei Liuying said after a while. She put down her chopstick. "It'll be a fight with us being at disadvantage."

"There'll be several option of how we should fight back, but it'll be for the best if we can make use of the terrain." Yang Xian stood up and looked at Wei Liuying. "I'll think of it after it's clear that Prince Ji Tian's faction failed to protect their prince."

"Will you make your move?"

"Me? I can only hope to protect myself and not others."

Wei Liuying watched Yang Xian's back as he entered his room and sighed. They were not present in the capital city and only heard words here and there, but the chance for Prince Ji Tian to win in the showdown with Prince Ji Shu was extremely low.

They could only hope for the best.

Prince Ji Sheng's men didn't have much influence when it came to the capital city. Yang Xian could only try to protect his life when he came there.