The other Wuman people behind the stone stood obediently, ready for battle. They stared sharply at the young Wei official who was writing at the desk, as if the wing where Yan Shang worked was some kind of monster.

Hearing Meng Zaishi's question, not only Yan Shang asked back, but even the Wuman people behind Meng Zaishi showed a look of sudden realization.

Because Wuman was busy fighting against Chiman in the past two years, the Wuman King never forgot who caused the war. Meng Zaishi had people sneak into the Wei border army and followed this line to find Li Zhi, the magistrate of Nanhai County, who was the uncle of Princess Danyang.

Li Zhi had a letter from a man named "Yan Shisheng" who offered a suggestion and came up with this vicious plan to cause civil unrest in the Southern Barbarians.

However, Nanhai was managed by Li Zhi so tightly that it was impossible to infiltrate. The Wuman people spent a lot of time investigating, and the clues were also cut off in Nanhai. The Wuman people guessed that Yan Shisheng should be Li Zhi's counselor, but the Wuman people squatted in Nanhai for half a year and did not see a counselor named Yan Shisheng.

After that letter, Yan Shisheng seemed to have never existed. Nanhai County Magistrate Li Zhi had never contacted this person on his own initiative.

The spy went back to report to Meng Zaishi, but Meng Zaishi was also helpless.

Now that he has arrived in Wei, Meng Zaishi has no time to go to Nanhai in person, but he sees this young official named Yan, who is strolling around Beili with Princess Danyang so intimately... Meng Zaishi doesn't think that Yan Shisheng and the official in front of him are the same person, but he also feels that there must be some important connection between the two.

Meng Zaishi leaned against the wall, his hands supporting the flower rack beside him. He lowered his head and casually fiddled with the wintersweet flowers growing in the corner.

Meng Zaishi had never seen such yellow flowers in winter, so he was very interested and answered casually: "It's just that when I was dating Princess Danyang before, I heard the princess casually mention this person, so I asked."

As soon as he said this, Yan Shang knew he was lying.

Meng Zaishi's expression was indifferent, but it was obvious that the Wuman people behind Meng Zaishi had not mastered the ability of their king to speak without blinking.

Wuman was far behind the culture of Wei. Years of nomadic life and war made them honest and rude. They were not as smart as the people of Wei, and they called the intelligence of the people of Wei "cunning" and "inconsistent".

So Meng Zaishi lied in front, and when these Wuman people heard the name "Yan Shisheng", they showed indignant looks, and then remembered the king's previous instructions and tried to restrain themselves.

Seeing their expressions, combined with Meng Zaishi's expression... Yan Shang's brain was working, and he guessed that if there was no other reason, it must be the trouble caused by the advice he gave to Mu Wanyao.

Yan Shang's eyes flickered slightly.

He laughed: "So that's how it is. Then I don't know any Yan Shisheng."

As he spoke, he took out the booklet he had already finished writing in his hand, opened a new booklet that had not been written on it, and began to translate and copy the "birthday greeting card" given by Meng Zaishi.

Meng Zaishi stared at Yan Shang: "Didn't you just say you vaguely heard it?"

Old Yan Shang spoke the official language of the Great Wei Dynasty leisurely: "My dear, I am afraid you do not understand the customs of our Great Wei Dynasty. There is a big difference between vaguely hearing it and clearly hearing it."

The Wuman people behind the stone started to feel confused: What does this mean? Is this person using the flowery idioms of the Wei Dynasty again?

Even though Meng Zaishi understood some of the Dawei dialect, it was still a bit difficult for him to understand this. But Meng Zaishi didn't care and continued to look at Yan Shang: "I thought a person like Yan Shisheng would be very famous."

Yan Shang: "Then you are wrong, sir. I don't know who Yan Shisheng is, but he is obviously not a famous person. You can ask other people in Chang'an at will, and they will all be like me, not knowing the existence of this person."

Meng Zaishi: "Princess Danyang doesn't know either?"

Yan Shang raised his eyes slightly, without leaving any space for a moment: "Then you should go and ask Princess Danyang. Do you have a past with Princess Danyang?"

Meng Zaishi: "It seems a little old, but I'm not sure."

Yan Shang: "Looking at your posture, you must be a general. If Princess Danyang had married before, how could you not recognize her?"

Meng Zaishi: "What does she and the one who kissed her have to do with me?"

The two of them were exchanging sharp words, one after another. Everyone else standing in the room could feel the tense and testing atmosphere, and the sense of urgency between the two.

The Wuman people in the room all stood up straighter, and a Wei official walked to the door and was about to push it open, but when he heard the noise in the side room, he quietly retreated and did not join the argument.

While Yan Shang and Meng Zaishi were looking at each other, Yan Shang's pen kept moving and he was still writing; Meng Zaishi was leisurely admiring the wintersweet flowers in the corner, and he seemed to appreciate the flowers very much.

Yan Shang stopped writing. Just as he put the pen on the pen holder and stood up to take out the post he had written, a Wuman joined the silent war between Yan Shang and Meng Zaishi: "Stop!"

The loud shout was directed at Yan Shang who stood up.

Meng Zaishi looked over curiously, trying to see what the Wuman had discovered that made him speak to the Wei official in that way.

The Wuman man strode towards Yan Shang.

He looked aggressive and murderous.

All the way into Chang'an, many Wei people were scared away by the Wuman's posture. The Wuman wanted to use this routine to scare the Wei official, but Yan Shang remained calm and looked at him calmly.

Outside the house, other officials from the Honglu Temple were already quietly watching the situation inside, and they couldn't help but laugh at this moment -

Yan Er was the one who killed the head of the Zheng family on the spot. How could such a decisive person be frightened by the swords and guns of the Wuman people?

The Wuman did not scare Yan Shang, and looked at him with a bit of surprise. But this was obviously not what he wanted to do. He walked to the desk where Yan Shang had just sat, picked up the book that Yan Shang had written for the first time, and looked through it.

Yan Shang maintained a polite smile and even acted appropriately surprised: "My dear, what are you doing?"

Wu Man quickly read through the first booklet and saw that the handwriting on the booklet was calm, ancient, and beautiful, and it was written in one stroke to the end without any stains. This booklet was already written perfectly, so why did the Wei official throw it away and write a new one?

The Wuman people came to Yan Shang again and asked for the second booklet he had written that Yan Shang was going to hand in.

Yan Shang smiled: "It seems that you want to accuse me of something. Then you should be prepared. This is the territory of the Great Wei. If you point out that a Great Wei official is wrong, even if it is an official of a low rank like me, you must first be beaten with thirty sticks if you want to sue me. You are in my Great Wei territory. Since you are not an inspector like the Imperial Censor, you must act according to the rules of my Great Wei."

The Wuman was surprised: "We are Wuman!"

Yan Shang smiled: "This is Chang'an, the capital of the Great Wei Kingdom."

Wuman people: "We are guests."

Yan Shang: "The guest follows the host's wishes."

The Wuman was extremely angry: "You, you..."

Yan Shang raised the book in his hand: "Are you sure you want to read it?"

At this point, the atmosphere in the room was obviously deadlocked. The Wuman who had started the trouble could not make the decision, and turned back to look at Meng Zaishi who was still folding his arms and admiring the flowers. Yan Shang's eyes paused slightly, thinking that this person had a very high status.

Meng Zaishi looked at them arguing in surprise and both sides laughed: "Why are you looking at me? I can't make the decision."

He glanced at the Wuman who was causing trouble, and although there was a smile in his words, there was a hint of cold threat.

The Wuman shuddered, and when he turned to Yan Shang, his expression had become tough again. He muttered in Wuman language: "I'm sure there must be something wrong with the book in your hand! I must see it! If you are not wrong, I will get thirty strokes of the cane when I leave."

Yan Shang was determined to fight for every inch of land: "First take thirty strokes, then I'll show you."

Wuman: "Go ahead and play with me..."

He was furious and wanted to beat up this seemingly gentle and weak official of the Wei Dynasty. The other party said calmly: "If you beat up the official of the Wei Dynasty, there will be no need for Wuman to exist in this ceremony."

Meng Zaishi was behind him: "Krilu!"

That was the name of the Wuman.

The face of the Wuman named Kelilu turned blue and purple, and his expression kept changing. Finally, he turned his head, walked out of the room with a sullen face, and went to get the stick first.

For a moment, people in the room could hear the sound of wooden sticks hitting people outside.

The Honglu Temple has become very lively.

The ministers of the Honglu Temple came out and stood in front of the hall, looking at the Wuman people being beaten in the courtyard in horror and stiffness.

The minor official from the Wei side was accompanied by a Hu person who could speak Wuman language and was summoned from the West Market. They persuaded the other side not to do so, which hurt the harmony between the two sides. The Krilu's face turned purple and he shouted: "I am willing to accept your thirty strokes! I volunteered!"

If persuasion fails, the only option is severe punishment.

The Minister of the Ministry of Rites listened to his subordinate's report and sighed, "Yan Erlang... I vaguely remember the time when he killed the head of the Zheng family with one arrow."

The Minister of the Ministry of Rites turned pale, and he felt dizzy at the thought of losing a life among the Wuman people in this ceremony.

He could only smile bitterly: "As expected, you are Yan Suchen, who is famous in Chang'an."

A waiter nearby asked tremblingly, "Should we intervene?"

The Minister of the Honglu Temple looked up at the sky: "No need to intervene. Anyway, Yan Suchen is not an official official of our Honglu Temple..."

The Minister of the Ministry of Rites said cunningly, "Yan Suchen is in the Secretariat. If there is anything wrong with Wuman, let the Central Government hold the Secretariat responsible. Isn't Liu Xianggong Yan Suchen's teacher? With such a student, Liu Xianggong must be in a lot of trouble."

The people below nodded repeatedly. After hearing that the Honglu Temple did not have to be held responsible for Suchen's actions, everyone just watched the show with peace of mind.

In the side room, Kelilu came back limping, and with a dark face, he stretched out his hand to Yan Shang. Yan Shang smiled at him and handed him the booklet that he was going to hand in to the central government.

Kerrilu's breathing suddenly became heavier. He flipped through the booklet anxiously - if there was nothing wrong with it, then he had been beaten for nothing and had made a fool of himself.

The king will definitely punish him later! He might even kill him!

When flipping through the book, the pages rustled. Kelilu's eyes suddenly lit up, holding two different booklets and turning back to report to Meng Zaishi: "Brother! These two booklets are indeed different! The one that the Wei official later submitted is much thicker and has many more words, which is different from the one he was going to submit before."

Kelilu breathed heavily, but shouted excitedly: "He must have done something! He bullied us because we couldn't read the Wei language and gave us a look in front of the emperor."

Yan Shang sighed and laughed: "My dear, let me remind you once again, if you slander me without any reason, you will be beaten with a stick again."

Krilu's expression suddenly changed.

Thinking of the real beating he just received, his buttocks still hurt.

But after giving the booklet to Meng Zaishi, Kelilu finally became firm: "We Wuman people grew up on pony backs. How can we be the same as you delicate Wei people! Why would I be afraid of being beaten?"

Meng Zaishi ignored the noise of his subordinates and looked down at two books. Although he had learned some Wei dialect and some simple Wei characters from Mu Wanyao, Meng Zaishi could understand simple Wei characters, but it was obvious that the characters written by Yan Shang... Meng Zaishi didn't recognize nine out of ten characters.

The writing style of literati, the rich vocabulary and deliberate embellishment... are things that the straightforward barbarians will never understand.

Moreover, Yan Shang was already one of the few people in the Wei Dynasty who lacked literary talent. If Wei Shu, or even Feng Xianyu and Liu Wenji were here, the articles they could write would completely confuse the Wuman people.

Even though he was Yan Shang now, Meng Zaishi squinted his eyes when he saw that the second booklet had at least three more pages of words than the first one, thinking it was unusual.

Meng Zaishi looked at Yan Shang: "Do you admit it?"

Yan Shang: "That depends on how you make the decision, my lord."

The two looked at each other.

Meng Zaishi smiled slightly: "Of course I believe you. Your demeanor and bearing... I felt like I knew you from the first sight. You can't be wrong."

Yan Shang smiled.

The other party really changed the subject: "... However, we Wuman people have just arrived in your land. It is not easy for us to come all the way to pay homage to the Emperor of Wei. We cannot afford any mistakes. Even if I am sorry for you, I still want to test it."

Yan Shang made a "please" gesture.

-----

When the Honglu Temple was receiving the Wuman people, the news finally reached the palace, and the Wuman people were to be included in the arrangements and etiquette of the palace banquet.

Not only that, the Honglu Temple also brought a message that the Wuman King came to pay homage in person, and it was obvious that he respected the Wei Dynasty very much. They had to spend 100,000 times more energy to entertain him well and not let the Wuman people feel disappointed.

When she received the news, Mu Wanyao had just come out of the old emperor's bedroom, followed by her fourth sister, Princess Yuyang, for the first time ever.

The eunuch whispered the news in Princess Danyang's ear in the evening, and was relieved when he saw that Princess Danyang's expression remained unchanged.

Mu Wan shook her head and said, "I understand."

She clenched her hands in her sleeves, feeling a chill in her heart: ...The King of Wuman is coming in person!

It must be Meng Zaishi!

He really didn't let her go!

The eunuch handed Princess Danyang a booklet about the audience with the Wuman people and asked her to take a look at it before slowly retreating.

After Mu Wan turned around, Princess Yuyang had been staring at her sixth sister's slender back for a long time.

Princess Yuyang was in a dilemma. Recently, her mother and her third brother were unhappy because the imperial concubine was confined to her house and the arrangements for the grand ceremony and banquet fell to Mu Wanyao. In addition, her third brother was exhausted from dealing with the ministers who were on good terms with Mu Wanyao in the court.

The third brother now also wants to intervene in the ceremony. Therefore, the King of Qin hopes to temporarily reconcile with Mu Wanyao and let his own sister Princess Yuyang act as a lobbyist.

Princess Yuyang called out softly, "Sixth sister."

Mu Wan tilted his head, looking questioningly.

Princess Yuyang walked over and smiled softly, "I seem to be pregnant with my second child, but I haven't let my husband know yet. I want to share this good news with my sixth sister first."

Mu Wan looked blank for a moment before he lowered his head to look at Princess Yuyang's still flat belly.

Mu Wanyao looked at her fourth sister and smiled politely: "Congratulations."

Princess Yuyang stroked her belly and said gently, "Sixth sister, what do you think of my life? Although my husband is busy, I am a princess, so he must respect me very much and cannot take concubines. There is no conflict between the mother-in-law and the mother-in-law, and this is because I am a princess. The advantage of being a princess is that she has a husband and children. It is a blessing for us women."

Mu Wanyao said, "What does Fourth Sister want to say?"

Princess Yuyang saw her cold and indifferent look and became a little anxious: "What I mean is that we women are born to be good wives and mothers, to bear children for our husbands, to love each other and have both sons and daughters. This is the happiness of us women!

"Instead of being like you, Sixth Sister, who is always involved with ministers and government affairs. What's the use of having power? After all, we are not men, and we can't fight for it. Sixth Sister, why don't you also find a prince consort, have children, and be a princess like me?"

Princess Yuyang: "Do you really have to confront my brother and his men?"

Mu Wan shook his head and stared at his fourth sister.

A hint of envy arose in my heart.

Good wife and good mother, giving birth to children, loving husband and wife, having both sons and daughters... Every word turned into a cold knife, piercing her heart. Princess Yuyang would never understand that kind of feeling of being tortured to death, that kind of thing she had lost long ago.

Mu Wan shook her head and said, "I forgive you."

Princess Yuyang: “……?”

Mu Wanyao said coldly: "I forgive you because of your ignorance. Because you have not had my experience, you are living peacefully as a normal princess, you don't know how I died and came back to life. You don't know my pain, so you can ignorantly advise me to let it go. I don't blame you. You are my sister, and I also hope that you will always be as innocent as you are today. You don't understand my situation, how lucky I am."

Princess Yuyang's face flushed.

I felt the mockery from my youngest sister.

No matter how gentle she was, she couldn't help but get a little angry at this moment: "Why do you have to play politics?"

Mu Wan shook the post he had just received and threw it at Princess Yuyang, his voice as sharp as a knife: "This is the reason——"

After saying that, she left without looking back.

The booklet hit Princess Yuyang, who hurriedly caught it and heard Princess Danyang loudly calling for someone to "drive to the Honglu Temple."

Princess Yuyang squatted on the ground, picked up the booklet and opened it, and saw a few words at the beginning -

The Wuman came to pay homage, and the Wuman king personally congratulated them.

Princess Yuyang's fingertips trembled, and she instantly remembered that Mu Wanyao was a princess who had married into the Wuman Kingdom. Now that the Wuman Kingdom's envoys have come, and the new Wuman King has come... What should Mu Wanyao do?

Princess Yuyang raised her head and looked at Mu Wanyao. She saw the blood-red skirt was embroidered with phoenixes and large peonies. Mu Wanyao was walking on the steps under the setting sun, looking noble and graceful.

He took each step steadily and never looked back.

Princess Yuyang was so frightened for her sixth sister that her fingers were shaking and her whole body was cold. She regretted having said such words.

-----

Under the Master of Ceremonies Office of the Honglu Temple, the sky was gray and the cold air penetrated the bones.

The Minister of the Honglu Temple was invited out, his eyelids twitching, and he had to personally take the two books and look through them in front of everyone. The officials of the Honglu Temple and the Wuman people led by Meng Zaishi all looked at him covetously, making the old man sweat profusely and feel uncomfortable in the twelfth lunar month.

After a while, the Minister of the Ministry of Rites raised his head and looked at Yan Shang with complicated eyes.

That look was full of admiration and admiration, without any blame.

Meng Zaishi saw it keenly and seemed to be thinking about something.

Sure enough, the Minister of the Ministry of Rites explained to the Wuman people who did not know the Wei language, at least to Meng Zaishi, who could understand the Wei language, and Yan Shang translated the Minister of the Ministry of Rites' words for the other Wuman people: "...these two books are actually correct. But according to the etiquette of the Wei Dynasty, it is obviously better to hand in the second one.

"The first book, judging by the number of words, was completely translated according to the post provided by Wuman. But envoys, you don't understand that the etiquette of Wuman and our Great Wei is very different. If you think it's simple, we have to flatter for a long time. For example, you don't have the etiquette of kowtow, but in our Great Wei, you must kowtow at such a grand ceremony. When you face our Majesty, you just call him 'Lord Father', but we must add many embellishments in front of you to make you appear respectful.

"Generally, we would embellish the letters submitted by the envoys. They would be much thicker than the original letters, with many more words and many more etiquette."

The Minister of the Ministry of Rites looked at Yan Shang and asked, "Why did you translate the first booklet as it was without any modification, and only modified the second one?"

Yan Shang lowered his eyes and said, "Because I am not an official of the Honglu Temple, I was seconded here and am not very familiar with government affairs, so I made a mistake. Fortunately, I remembered it in time and corrected it. I didn't want the Wuman envoy to misunderstand me."

The officials of the Honglu Temple looked at each other, and they didn't quite believe that Yan Shanghui was unfamiliar with the government affairs here.

If he was on secondment for ten days or half a month, he might not be proficient, but Yan Shang has been here for a month and never made a mistake before. To say now that he has forgotten... is a bit perfunctory.

The Wuman people knew that they had caused a misunderstanding and their faces turned ugly.

Krilu lowered his head, fell to his knees, and was ready to be punished with a pale face.

Meng Zaishi looked at Yan Shang deeply and ignored Kelilu. Meng Zaishi calmly returned the two books and said politely, "It turns out that I misunderstood this Yan Erlang."

Hearing others calling Yan Shang that, he followed suit. At least Yan Erlang's pronunciation was much easier to pronounce than Yan Suchen.

Yan Shang sighed: "It's just a misunderstanding. I'm not familiar with government affairs, but I made the guests laugh."

Meng Zaishi smiled: "My Lord, this method is already remarkable."

Yan Shang also smiled: "My lord, your ability of insight is already remarkable."

The two of them flattered each other and didn't even mention the tense atmosphere. Kelilu was taken away with a pale face and beaten again, but Meng Zaishi and Yan Shang were obviously sympathetic to each other, which was indescribably strange.

The Wei official had the strangest look on his face: they naturally knew that Yan Erlang’s charm was enough to make anyone like him and make friends with him.

But even a foreign country like Wuman was impressed by this kind of affinity... Isn't it too strange?

With such a friendly atmosphere and exchanges between the two countries, the Honglu Temple has also reached the time to seal it today. A group of officials walked out of the Honglu Temple, and in their hypocritical politeness, they happened to see Princess Danyang's carriage passing by them.

Princess Danyang's carriage stopped.

Meng Zaishi and the guard Fang Tong, who was riding a horse beside the carriage, made eye contact. Meeting an old friend again, Fang Tong's muscles tensed up, while Meng Zaishi was still smiling, but his eyes were narrowed.

Meng Zaishi immediately recognized the person sitting in the car, it should be Mu Wanyao.

Fang Tong lowered his head and said something to the carriage. A young maid who was riding beside the carriage and whom Meng Zaishi did not recognize rode a horse a few steps towards the official road and said, "Erlang Yan, our prince said that since we live in the same lane and are neighbors, if Erlang wants to go back home, why don't we take him with us?"

The officials looked at Yan Shang, who was walking at the back in a low-key and slow manner.

Everyone's faces looked so strange.

On one side are the Wuman people, and on the other side is Yan Shang, who was once betrothed by the emperor but rejected by the princess.

Now Princess Danyang invited Yan Shang to get on the carriage in front of the Wuman people.

Yan Shang's expression remained unchanged. He said goodbye to his colleagues and walked towards the carriage.

The car door opened.

In the silence, the car door creaked open and the beauty in the car, who looked like an ancient painting, came to life, making everyone stunned for a moment.

Meng Zai Shi looked straight into the eyes of Mu Wanyao, who was sitting in the carriage with her skirt touching the ground.

He smiled, but his eyes suddenly became sharp.

She was cold and arrogant, her eyes lightly sweeping across Meng Zaishi's body.

The afterglow of the setting sun shines on the bluestone floor tiles, making the ground red. Yan Shang is tall and slender, a young man of talent.

A few years passed in a flash. The cold wind howled, and the three of them were silent, with a tacit understanding and an undercurrent surging.