Chapter 391 Walking into a Trap

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Inside Zhennanguan.

At that moment, Sheng Sheng was leisurely reclining on a deck chair, watching Xie Yunyang and Xie Yunli play chess.

One was calm and collected, the other had his brows furrowed.

Xie Yunli scratched his head; he was sweating from playing chess.

"Your Highness, I remember you couldn't beat me at chess before, how come you've become so good now?"

Xie Yunyang chuckled: "Big brother, you've forgotten. Although I couldn't beat you back then, I could. In the years since you left, I've honed my skills playing against you."

After saying that, Xie Yun-yang placed his last piece, leaving Xie Yun-li with absolutely no chance of turning the tide.

Xie Yunli said with a bitter face, "Sigh, I almost forgot about my second brother. He had only been learning chess for half a year when he was able to defeat me completely."

Xie Yunli sighed deeply, then suddenly remembered something and asked Shengsheng, "Shengsheng, where were you yesterday? How did Second Brother and that Miss Li do at your birthday banquet?"

Xie Yunli has been bedridden these past few days recovering from his injuries, and Xie Yunxiang has been handling most of his official duties on his behalf.

Aside from occasionally discussing it with others, I mostly listened to Sheng Sheng talk about gossip in the capital.

Just as Sheng Sheng was about to continue talking to him, Shi Tou came running over and nuzzled her shoulder with his head.

"Hmm?" Sheng Sheng casually picked up a piece of beef jerky from the table and fed it to him. "What's wrong? Did you finish what you were doing?"

Stone devoured the beef jerky in one bite, then placed his paw in her hand: "Don't worry, Master, Stone will handle anything without a problem!"

"The stone is awesome!"

Although Xie Yunli had gotten used to Shi Tou's obedience, he still couldn't help but stare at Shi Tou every time, and then exclaim, "Shi Tou is so obedient, Sheng Sheng, you're so cool!"

He chuckled softly.

"But, Sheng Sheng, what did you send Shi Tou to do?"

Xie Yunyang also looked over curiously.

Sheng Sheng feigned mystery, pouting and chuckling, "Hehe, you'll find out soon enough."

"You," Xie Yunyang smiled helplessly, then cautioned her, "Our scouts have reported that there have been frequent disturbances at the granary recently, and the barbarians are likely about to launch a further offensive. I suspect there's a 70% chance they'll target you first."

The barbarians have now basically concluded that he is a "mascot" crown prince who only knows how to talk the talk but also dotes on his younger sister.

From the barbarian's perspective, the morale of the Zhennanguan army was already low, and if they could capture a princess at the very beginning of the battle, it would definitely deal a heavy blow to Zhennanguan.

Meanwhile, Xie Yun, the crown prince who dotes on his younger sister, will surely find a way to rescue her.

Whether it's the former or the latter, placing the barbarian's first step on Sheng Sheng is a good choice.

“That’s right. You don’t need to go anywhere. Just sit here. I’ll have people guarding the place inside and out. Not even a fly will be able to get in.”

"No, no, no." Sheng Sheng waved her hand. "Not only can I not hide, I have to show up in front of them on my own initiative."

"What?" Xie Yun-yang objected. "This is no joke, Sheng Sheng, you..."

"Brother Crown Prince, don't worry, listen to me." Sheng Sheng cleared his throat. "Think about it, if there were a way to minimize losses and gain the upper hand from the start, wouldn't the barbarians go to the other way?"

Xie Yunxiang and Xie Yunli exchanged a glance.

Of course not.

Both of them understood that the method Sheng Sheng mentioned was to capture Sheng Sheng and use him as leverage.

"The barbarians sent troops to intercept the four checkpoints because they wanted a quick victory. They can't wait long, so they will seize any opportunity they have. Rather than being on guard against them and waiting passively, it's better to hand over our weakness to them, which will put the initiative in our hands."

"So, what are you going to do?"

Sheng Sheng stroked the stone tiger's head and smiled, "Of course, you walked right into the trap."

...

The night was dark and windy, with heavy clouds overhead—perfect time for some trouble.

Sheng Sheng stretched and came out of the tent, picking up a small pebble from the ground to play with, feeling rather bored.

"This border is so boring. I keep thinking about eating the royal kitchen's hibiscus fish."

Zijuan hurriedly brought out a thin cloak and draped it over her shoulders: "Princess, it's already December, and the wind is strong at night. Be careful not to catch a cold."

Sheng Sheng gave an "oh," silently dressed, and then couldn't help but cross her arms and complain, "Zijuan, when can we go back to the capital? That Crown Prince is really something! He promised to take Sheng Sheng out to play, but instead we've ended up here. Not only can we not do anything, but this princess almost got captured by those rude barbarians!"

He grumbled as he wandered aimlessly.

"Princess, please bear with us a little longer. We'll be able to return to the capital soon."

Zijuan advised, seeing that they were getting closer and closer to the edge of the military camp, she wanted to take her back to the tent, "Princess, let's go back first, the battle is about to start, it's not safe outside. His Highness the Crown Prince is busy with military affairs, he is currently discussing official business with several generals, we should hurry back to the tent, I'm afraid we might run into..."

"I don't want to!" Sheng Sheng angrily brushed away Zijuan's hand. "This is Zhennanguan, in a military camp. What could possibly happen here?"

He seemed to get angrier and angrier as he spoke, and suddenly he started running out of the military camp.

"Boring, boring, boring! This princess wants to go out and play. I don't want to stay here every day. I can't even walk the dog!"

"Oh, Princess!"

Zijuan was terrified and quickly chased after her, shouting as she ran, "Princess, you can't! We're about to leave the camp, and it's time for the soldiers to change shifts. It's very dangerous for you to run out!"

But Sheng Sheng had already used her agility to quickly run to the outer perimeter of the military camp.

Perhaps it was because Sheng Sheng was running in the direction of the soldiers' camp, where the soldiers were still training at night and there was no one around, which gave Sheng Sheng the opportunity to sneak out.

Sheng Sheng lowered her body and quickly ducked out.