Xiao Yuanshan turned his head, his eyes gleaming. "Princess Qingluan? You address her so familiarly. Who are you to my daughter?"
The group hesitated slightly, their eyes darting around, unable to meet his gaze.
Xiao Yuanshan chuckled, "Stop pretending. I saw through your pretense on the very first day I arrived."
He reached out and plucked the white beard from the nearest man. "Tsk tsk, what kind of hair is this? Dyed?"
This man was none other than the middle-aged man who had twice gifted Xiao Zhixing the Akhal-Teke horses.
The man covered his mouth, groaning in pain. He slapped the man's hand away and cursed, "You brute, that hurts like hell!"
Xiao Yuanshan threw away the fake beard, looked him up and down, and then frowned. "You look familiar. Have I seen you before?"
The man rolled his eyes. "I gave your daughter a gift when she came of age."
Xiao Yuanshan shook his head, "No, no, you were far away and you were walking fast, I didn't see you clearly, but I'm sure I saw you before that!"
The man paused slightly, then nervously rolled his eyes. "Really?"
Xiao Yuanshan said meaningfully, "You are... that person from the Bili family..."
The man interrupted him, "Alright, alright, I admit it, we have indeed met before. I am Yin Jia, the princess's personal bodyguard."
Xiao Yuanshan suddenly realized, "Alright, you bastard who flicked my butt, I've finally found you!"
He jumped up, ready to punch someone, shouting, "How dare you touch my ass! I must avenge this!"
Unexpectedly, the other two elderly men grabbed him, making him unable to move. "Come on, come on, let's go inside and talk. There are too many eyes around here. You don't want your daughter to know what you're doing out here, do you?"
Xiao Yuanshan broke free. "With my daughter's intelligence, she must have guessed it long ago. Hehe, only fools like you would think you could escape her."
The group was immediately furious and glared at him angrily before storming into the nearby courtyard.
Xiao Yuanshan gestured to someone to calm down and leisurely followed them inside.
Xiao Zhixing immediately focused all his attention on Xiao Yuanshan's live stream.
Xiao Yuanshan entered the room, where the five men were already sitting in a row, staring at him.
Xiao Yuanshan simply sat down opposite them, nodded with his chin, and said, "Tell me, why aren't you in Xiaoyan Village? Where is the princess?"
Yin Jia sighed, "To be honest, we don't know where the princess went either. As for why we're living in seclusion here, that's a long story."
"Then let's get to the point."
"Alright, the princess instructed us to take care of something very important, and we were gone for three months. The princess didn't come back, but you were the one who received the princess's order to come and take the young master to Shengjing."
“We were afraid of being targeted by that person, so we lied and said that the princess had passed away, and urgently moved here, leaving only Ali and the others to wait for the princess over there. Hey, I didn’t expect you to have such a keen sense of smell, and you found us again.”
It seems they knew their methods before, which is why they found them so easily.
Xiao Yuanshan stared intently at them. "Are you sure you don't know where the princess is?"
Yin Jia smiled wryly, "We're also looking for the princess; we've almost searched all five kingdoms."
The more they searched for them, the more disheartened they became. Could it be that the princess had vanished into thin air?
Xiao Yuanshan frowned, somewhat disappointed. He had thought that keeping an eye on them would give him some clues, but it was a complete waste of his time.
"Hey, what's with that look? You've been staying here for two years and you think you're being mistreated?"
Xiao Yuanshan sneered, "If I had known you were this useless, I would have gone to find someone myself long ago."
Yin Jia was so angry that he jumped up and down, "How are we useless? At least we prepared a lot of good things for the princess and the young master, just waiting for them to come and collect them."
"What good stuff?"
When Xiao Yuanshan was led into the deep mountains and forests of northwest Qingzhou, in a top-secret valley, the sight of tens of thousands of Akhal-Teke horses almost made him drool.
Yin Jia said proudly, "How about that? We've figured out a method to increase the breeding of Akhal-Teke horses. There are still several thousand mares and foals over there."
Xiao Yuanshan slapped him hard, "You're so stingy. You have so many excellent warhorses, yet you only gave my daughter a pittance."
Yin Jia was so angry that he cursed again.
Xiao Yuanshan grinned. He was rich! With these warhorses, the Xiao family army's fighting strength would rise to another level, and they might even be able to withstand an attack from the Northern Barbarians with an equal number of cavalry.
Xiao Zhixing smiled broadly. Although he hadn't found Xiao Yan, he had gained more than 10,000 fine horses, which was some consolation.
Yin Jia then added, "The last news we received was that the princess went to Dongzhou, and everyone says she may have already gone to sea."
Xiao Yuanshan was completely baffled. "What is the princess going to do at sea?"
Why would he abandon his young daughter and go out to sea alone?
Xiao Zhixing withdrew his view.
She then instructed the Ghost Guards to contact Xiao Yuanshan. She wanted all the warhorses; she wouldn't treat them unfairly, she would pay for them herself.
Xiao Yan is Xiao Yan, and she is herself; she can distinguish between the two very clearly.
The New Year passed by uneventfully, but the palace and Shengjing City were quite lively.
The destruction of the Northern Frontier was a major event, and the entire Great Sheng Dynasty held many lively activities to commemorate it.
She spent New Year's Eve in the palace as usual.
The Immortal Palace is still the same Immortal Palace.
The senior officials at the front were the same old faces. Oh, Zhang Rengui has been dismissed, and his position as Minister of the Court of Judicial Review has been taken over by Zhao Zhong.
Xiao Zhixing sat alone in the first seat on the left, second only to the emperor, while Li Xiao sat opposite her in the first seat on the right.
The left is superior to the right.
Xiao Zhixing raised her glass to Li Xiao and offered him a toast. Li Xiao smiled and returned the toast.
Soon after, the emperor, empress dowager, and their concubines attended the gathering.
After the emperor and his ministers exchanged greetings, Xiao Zhixing's gaze inadvertently swept over the newly arrived concubines.
Look at them, all covered in thick makeup, their faces stiff; they must be making a fuss because they're guessing the emperor can't have children.
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