Chapter Seventeen

The two returned to the Prince of Qin's residence with the hostage. Zhou Yanqing had already instructed Chen Wu to inform Wu Guan to prepare rooms, but upon their arrival, Wu Guan said—

"Your Highness, only the west courtyard where the Queen Consort resides is available for the hostage in the Marquis's residence."

Zhou Yanqing frowned. "Aren't there still many rooms available?"

"Those are where the servants live, or maybe the woodshed is the only place left," Wu Guan said awkwardly.

At this moment, Si Yanmo walked over and said, "Then give my room to the hostage."

She whispered to Zhou Yanqing, "Whether the hostage is real or fake, we can't give them any leverage now."

"Then where will you sleep?" Zhou Yanqing asked the crucial question.

Wu Guan: "Since you and the princess are already married, why don't you..."

Si Yanmo and Zhou Yanqing immediately shook their heads and said in unison, "No way!"

The protons at the door were all stunned.

But... the three of them looked at each other, and after a long while, Si Yanmo sighed, "Is this the only way?"

Wu Guan's opinion.

Si Yanmo glanced at Zhou Yanqing and walked towards the east courtyard, saying, "You better behave!"

"What do you mean, 'behave yourself'?" the man muttered irritably as he followed behind.

Unfortunately, the two of them still had no choice but to move in together and share a bed... but that was impossible!

Zhou Yanqing volunteered to sleep on the floor, so the two of them lay on one bed and on the floor, looking very relaxed.

Crows were cawing outside, but the house was quiet.

Si Yanmo: "That..."

Zhou Yanqing: "You..."

They both spoke at the same time, then stopped at the same time, an awkward atmosphere spreading between them.

For a while, she thought Zhou Yanqing was asleep. But then he suddenly spoke: "Thank you for today."

"Thank me for what?"

"Thank you for comforting me in the shrine, and thank you for speaking up for me before the Sak envoy."

Si Yanmo's heart skipped a beat, and she stammered, "What, what's the big deal? We're in this together now... I, I just don't want to be buried with you if you die."

Zhou Yanqing did not answer, but only said, "Don't worry, I won't let you be buried with me. We will all be fine."

Hearing the other party's seemingly normal promise, Si Yanmo felt her cheeks burning, and a strange emotion welled up in her heart.

"Sleep, go to sleep." She turned around and covered her chest.

Stop jumping! she cried out in her heart.

Outside, Wu Guan walked past the east courtyard and secretly glanced at the two's room.

Fortunately, he was clever enough not to tell the two that there was actually a small house behind the east courtyard. Although it was not as big as the main house, it was enough for Si Yanmo to live in after some tidying up.

This would not only enhance the relationship between the King of Qin and his queen, but might also indirectly fulfill the duties of the concubine of Qin!

Ah~ He really is a good steward of the Prince of Qin's mansion!

——

The next day, Si Yanmo returned from her studies with Mo Wenzhong. As soon as she entered the door, a large hand grabbed her, startling her.

She looked closely and saw it was Wu Guan. He looked worried, so she steadied herself and asked, "What's wrong?"

“Your Highness, since that hostage Sak arrived, he hasn’t eaten or drunk anything, and he hasn’t said a word! I’m afraid that if this continues, someone will die!” Wu Guan said to her, while glancing at the small house in the west courtyard from time to time, carrying a food box in his hand.

Upon hearing this, Si Yanmo frowned slightly and turned her head to look at the west courtyard.

Where is Zhou Yanqing?

"His Highness said when he saw you off this morning that he had some business to attend to at the military camp outside the city and wouldn't be back until tonight."

Oh right! I think he did say that!

Si Yanmo woke up too early in the morning, and her head was still foggy. She couldn't remember anything that happened at the time. It seemed that she was already in the Bu Yuan when she became conscious.

It seems she's the only one left in this house!

Helpless, she could only walk towards the west courtyard.

Sak's conspiracy remains unknown, but if the child continues to refuse food and starves to death, it will be blamed on Zhou Yanqing, and the matter will still need to be dealt with.

Upon reaching the door, Si Yanmo asked Wu Guan to give her the food box. She slowly pushed open the door, looked around, and found that the room was empty.

She had no choice but to take a few more steps forward when she suddenly heard a series of rapid footsteps running away behind her. She immediately realized she had been tricked and turned around to shout, "Grab him!"

Outside came the cries of vendors at the market, and inside the courtyard, the footsteps of a group of servants frantically trying to catch Sak progeny.

The prince was young and ran incredibly fast, sometimes running from the west courtyard to the east courtyard, and sometimes to the front courtyard, exhausting the servants behind him.

Just as he turned around and saw the gate, as if seeing a glimmer of hope, he got up to run again, but Si Yanmo grabbed him.

"Still running?"

Just as Si Yanmo was about to pull him back, he lowered his head and bit her arm hard. She let go in pain, and the food box in her hand fell to the ground with a thud.

The proton seized another opportunity to escape, but fortunately, Wu Guan appeared out of nowhere and slammed the door shut.

He was humiliated and tried to run away, but Si Yanmo stopped him, saying, "If you run away, your parents will die!"

The hostage turned around in shock, his eyes wary: "Who are you? How do you know?"

His Qin language was better than the envoy's.

Si Yanmo crossed her arms dismissively. "Isn't it obvious? Princess Consort of Qin!"

Seeing the boy standing there in a daze, she told Wu Guan to take him back to the west courtyard and asked him to prepare another meal. She then sat facing the hostage in the room.

Noticing that the boy's body was tense, Si Yanmo took out a handkerchief to wipe the dust off his face, but he dodged away.

She lost her temper and threw the handkerchief at the boy, telling him to wipe his face himself. The boy obediently did so, haphazardly wiping his face and hands with the handkerchief she gave him.

Seeing this, Si Yanmo secretly chuckled to herself. She knew exactly how to deal with children, after all, she had always caused her older sister trouble in the past.

When Wu Guan brought the food over, Si Yanmo raised her chin at the boy and said indifferently, "Eat!"

The boy remained unmoved, not even glancing at the food on the table. She had no choice but to say again, "Sakfan Khan sent you here to die here, so at least die a glorious death. What kind of nonsense is it to starve yourself to death?"

The boy froze again. "How...how did you know?"

His incredulous look piqued Si Yanmo's playful side. She leaned closer to the boy and exaggeratedly said, "Because... I'm a fairy!"

The boy looked incredulous, lowered his head to think for a moment, and then asked, "Are you a fortune teller?"

"Why don't you believe I'm a fairy?" she laughed.

"Fairies have magic. If you were really a fairy, you would have caught me just now," the boy replied earnestly.

Uh... okay! He's right.

"What exactly do you know?" The boy suddenly asked, his gaze turning fierce as he stared directly at her.

Si Yanmo smiled calmly, "I'll tell you after you finish your meal."

The boy glanced at the dishes this time, but still didn't make a move, only silently clenching his fists.

Si Yanmo sighed helplessly, "I know that Sakfan Khan sent you here to target Qin. If you are recognized, they will deny it to the death and make you commit suicide in Qin, so that there will be no evidence against you. If you are not recognized, you will find a way to kill yourself here, and then they will have an excuse to denounce the King of Qin, right?"

Actually, she didn't see these things in her destiny chart, but rather deduced them based on Zhou Yanqing's words yesterday and the hostage's behavior today.

However, seeing the prince's panicked expression, so much so that he didn't dare to look up at her, she knew she had guessed correctly.

"Too bad, kid, your trick is really too low-level!" She leaned forward, a contemptuous smile on her face. "Think about it, if you really starve to death here without making a sound, even if Sakfan Khan can't get here in time, and we just insist that you're fine, what can Sakfan Khan do to us?"

The boy seemed to think what she said made sense, and his clenched fist gradually loosened.

Si Yanmo pressed her advantage: "Besides, have you ever thought about what will happen to your parents, your younger brother and sister if you die?"

The boy immediately looked up when his parents and younger siblings were mentioned, his eyes filled with a hint of panic.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end, he didn't utter a single word.

Si Yanmo knew she had hit a nerve with the boy. She had previously seen in his destiny chart that his name was Sano, and he was a member of the Sawa tribe.

In Sak, the nobility is divided into the Sava and Uk peoples.

The current Sakfan Khan is a Uk people. After taking office, he launched a fierce attack on the hostile Sava people, causing many Sava people to fall from nobility to slaves, including the Sano family.

This time, Sano was impersonated by the Khan as his fourth son and sent to Qin as a hostage, in exchange for the lives of his entire family.

Si Yanmo actually felt sorry for the child in front of her. At only fourteen years old, he had to risk his life to save his family.

Considering that she was only two years older than him, if it weren't for the incident with Zhou Yanqing, she would still be the apple of her parents' eye in the Si family, while he would have to prepare to die far from home. It was only natural for her to want to run away.

It was only then that she truly experienced the cruelty of power struggles for the first time.

In a dog-eat-dog world, ordinary people are the best tools.

Thinking of this, her nose involuntarily felt a little sore.

She sniffed, steadied her voice, and said, "Have you ever thought about rescuing them?"

Upon hearing this, Sano suddenly stepped forward and grabbed Si Yanmo's sleeve: "Do you have a way to save my family?"

“Yes,” Si Yanmo nodded confidently, “but you need to eat first. If they starve to death, who will save them?”

Sano then sat down and quickly picked up his chopsticks to eat the rice in his bowl.

Seeing that he was eating too fast, Si Yanmo quickly poured him some tea and handed it to him, saying with a wry smile, "Eat slowly, don't choke!"

Before he could finish speaking, Sano choked on the last bite of food he had just put in his mouth. He quickly took the teacup and drank it down, then poured himself several more cups before he felt better.

He gasped for breath, then immediately grabbed Si Yanmo, "I've finished eating, how can we save them?"

Si Yanmo chuckled, "To become the Khan of the Sakfan!"

Sano felt tricked by her words, let go of her hand, and said angrily, "You lied to me!"

Si Yanmo looked completely innocent: "How did I lie to you?"

"How could I possibly become the Khan of the barbarians?"

"Why not?"