When she thought of those brothers, Shen Yuerong felt even more sad.

"If I hadn't wanted Yu Hou to help me, they wouldn't have died just to pass on the message for me. The prince is really too cruel."

He could easily block the area where those people were and tell them that this news would never reach the capital.

But in the end it cost them their lives.

"The prince is using another way to warn you and me. He wants you to know that if someone wants to help you and me, it will be a dead end."

The prince's threat was indeed somewhat effective. At least in this way, even if someone in the past could have made arrangements for Shen Yuerong for the sake of Shen Yuerong and her father, they still had to worry about whether their lives would be implicated.

"He really is..."

A good prince.

"Well... since the message cannot be delivered to His Majesty, and you and I are now trapped in this pavilion, what should we do next?"

He shook his head.

If Fang Mu was here, he would have been able to arrange for Fang Mu to solve all of this.

But they seemed to have been prepared for a long time. While they were watching and suppressing them, they had already let Fang Mu leave and kept a distance from them.

At this moment, no news from outside could come in, and they could not see anyone from outside.

Maybe it was just a warning from those people.

Although the two of them were under custody before, they were never short of food or clothing.

But after he refused the peace talks, all this hardness seemed to be reduced a lot.

Looking at the food that had been mixed with a lot of things, Chi Mu. Some of them couldn't help but stand up and wanted to argue with them, but were stopped by Shen Yuerong.

"Why? They are just following orders from above to treat you and me like this. Even if you go to them to seek justice, they won't change their minds."

He sat down and looked at the food which had a lot of dirt mixed in it today.

“How do you eat this?”

They once went together to help the homeless people and provide relief for floods.

The food we ate back then was indeed somewhat indecent.

But I never ate these.

"Think about those men who do hard work outside. In order to have some strength, they also eat these things. As long as you pretend that they don't exist, nothing can bother you and me."

As Shen Yuerong spoke, she closed her eyes and took a bite of the dish mixed with rice.

The sand and gravel rolled into my throat and was indeed a bit sharp, but I had to eat it in order to maintain my strength.

She looked at the person in front of her, "Chi Mu, I believe that sooner or later His Majesty will find out that there is something wrong with this."

He had been away from Kyoto for such a long time, and he only had the reputation of being an assistant. If he didn't return to the capital for too long, the emperor would definitely question him.

Now it’s just a matter of time.

"Okay, I'll listen to you."

Chi Mu endured it and ate most of the food in front of him.

Perhaps they did not expect that two of them, who were so noble as they were, could actually eat food mixed with sand. Seeing that they were not affected at all, they thought of another dirty trick.

"Lord Liu said that there is not much rice left even at the border. The people who went out to buy rice have not come back yet, so there is not much food left. Can we just ask you two to eat less?"

Shen Yuerong frowned as she looked at the food that had been drastically reduced to the point where even he could hardly eat enough by himself.

"These things can't even feed a woman like me, let alone there are two of us, and one of them is a man in his prime."

"This is the only solution. There are so many people working outside waiting to be fed. You and the prince just stay in the house reading books all day long, and you don't need much physical strength. It's better to give your rations to others."

Even if I have to give in, I have to do it under the condition that I can survive.

Shen Yuerong was full of anger, and the person in front of her was as cunning as Lord Liu.

He looked unhappy and threw the food directly onto the table, with some soup spilling out.

"Eat if you can, and go hungry if you can't."

Seeing that they were becoming more and more aggressive, Chi Mu wished he could directly use the power of his secret guards.

"Don't."

Shen Yuerong knew that Chi Mu would definitely find a way to break the impasse.

But now is not the best time to expose the power behind him.

"It's already like this, and you still want me to endure it. Am I going to watch you starve to death?"

He looked at her with some anger. They had already done it so decisively, and he didn't want to wait any longer.

"You have now exposed the power behind you. The prince is targeting you. How can you live in peace in the future? Moreover, if you reveal all your trump cards, the prince will know how to deal with you."

Shen Yuerong said honestly, "Besides, it's just that someone tampered with the food, and you can't starve to death."

Even though there was very little left now, she still divided the food into two halves and even left some for Chi Mu.

"I don't eat much, you eat more."

"Don't worry about me. When we are on the frontier, sometimes there is not enough food and it is normal to fight on an empty stomach."

"I remember when he just left, the general's mansion was extremely poor, and there were only old and young people living there. At that time, in order to feed them, I was always hungry. Later, I worked hard to make money, thinking that I would never go hungry again in my life, but I didn't expect to have such an experience again."

"If I had known that no matter what happened, I would never have sent you to the capital, and you wouldn't have to go through such a hard life with me."

"What a hard life this is!"

Shen Yuerong stood nearby and pointed to the distance, "You see, although we are trapped, thanks to the efforts of the people, those things have now been built."

The most basic living conditions have been rebuilt not far away. Although it looks a bit shabby, at least those innocent people finally have a place to live.

"Although food and fashion cannot satisfy them, at least they now have their own home, and in the future they can earn money for themselves with their own hands."

"Yes, maybe after everyone leaves, they can grow crops on their own and their lives will be a hundred times better than now. That's why I say people should have hope. Only hope can make the future better."

He sighed and hugged Shen Yuerong into his arms.

Capital city.

Brother Li went through untold hardships to enter the capital city. He hid everywhere and finally cut off the prince's spies. But entering the capital city was just the first step.

How can this news be reached into the palace, and how can His Majesty be informed!

He was very confused at the moment. Yu Hou asked them to send the news to the capital, but did not tell them anything else.