Yuan Xingzhou agreed without hesitation: "Okay."
"If you were to become the king of Ye, could you guarantee that you would be a diligent and honest ruler who strives to govern well, appoints virtuous and capable officials, understands the people's grievances, is benevolent and respectful to the virtuous, reduces punishments and taxes, governs with leniency, and cherishes the lives of the people?" She took a long breath and finished asking the question in her heart.
In fact, more than her own personal grudges, she was worried that Yuwen Sheng would seize the throne but not intend to properly govern the war-torn Ye Kingdom, causing it to fall from one fire to another, which would be the greatest disaster.
Yuan Xingzhou was both surprised and unsurprised by her question. His pale and indifferent face seemed somewhat out of place with his current intense scarlet expression. He stared at Zheng Quchi with strange and burning eyes, his tone having a ticklish quality like a feather falling.
"To be honest, I can't."
Zheng Quchi felt like he was being burned by his gaze, and he was extremely uncomfortable: "..." Now he's not even willing to lie anymore?
Yuan Xingzhou took a step forward towards her, but Zheng Quchi, quick-witted and agile, saw this and quickly took two steps back, afraid that he would catch her again.
"If you can't, you can't. I was just asking casually..."
"But if you are willing to stay by my side to advise and guide me, and become a guiding light for my future, perhaps I can transform Ye into a country that satisfies you."
He spoke hypothetically, but his eyes held the same hope as those of a devout believer beneath the statue, expressing a one in ten thousand chance that his wish would come true.
The two looked at each other, one filled with hope, the other terrified, their thoughts wandering off to who knows where.
Good heavens, what does he mean by that? Why would he say such strange things to a loyal subordinate? Isn't he afraid of being the subject of strange rumors?
"Your Highness, what are you talking about? He... he's Fu Rong!" Wei Yao was terrified by the demonic atmosphere between the Crown Prince and Fu Rong.
Wang Zebang also said nervously and seriously, "Your Highness, is it because the Phoenix Tears have flared up and made your vision blurry? I...I'll go find the imperial physician to take a look right away—"
They all felt that Yuan Xingzhou must be blind, otherwise why would he suddenly change his attitude towards Rong so much, treating him like a girl, coaxing and deceiving her, making promises and praising her, which was completely against common sense. They couldn't help but get goosebumps and feel uneasy.
Zheng Quchi shared the same thoughts as the two of them. Yuan Xingzhou's murderous rage earlier was frightening, but not disgusting. However, she didn't know how to deal with him now.
"Your Highness, Shimoda has launched a mutiny, Jundo has sent word of his death, and most of the generals within the army have collectively defected. Now, most of Shimoda's territory has been lost—"
Upon receiving the blood-stained report, Li Gang rushed over in a panic. Just as he finished speaking, a man in black suddenly appeared behind him, raising a knife and preparing to stab him in the back. However, Yuan Xingzhou was one step ahead and snapped his wrist, pushing him away with a palm strike. Li Gang died, spitting blood.
"assassin!"
Zheng Quchi was stunned by Li Gang's shout, and then she was shocked to see an assassin chasing after Li Gang. Before she could react and shout a signal, the assassin had already been cleanly and efficiently dealt with by Yuan Xingzhou.
He was a professional and skilled assassin.
Li Gang glanced at the assassin's corpse behind him, panting heavily with shock. Wei Yao and Wang Zebang quickly stepped forward: "What happened?"
"Urgent news! Something has happened to Shimoda, Your Highness!" Li Gang put aside the matter of the assassin and quickly handed the intelligence in his hand to Yuan Xingzhou.
Yuan Xingzhou took it, read it quickly, his face expressionless, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking. He then passed it on to Wei Yao and Wang Zebang.
Li Gang watched as the assassin's body was carried away, feeling both fear and disdain, and said, "Empress Ye's accomplices, when pushed to the limit, will show their true colors as snakes and rats in a den."
These words made Zheng Quchi feel that he was talking about both the assassins in the palace and the matter of Xiatian.
She had been wondering why Yuan Xingzhou had imprisoned Ye Hou and the others but hadn't taken any action against them while collecting evidence of their crimes. It had been so long; he could have easily interrogated a few of his accomplices and searched her palace. How could they not have evidence to convict them?
But everything remained calm until now, when she finally understood that the reason for sparing the Empress Ye's life was to lure her into a trap.
Indeed, after so many years of ruling the Ye royal family, Empress Ye naturally had influence both in and out of the court. Most importantly, Empress Ye only cared about power, not which country she ruled in, nor did she care about the people of Ye. Therefore, she had no principles or beliefs, and could collude with other countries without any burden, which led to Ye almost colluding with the brink of collapse in just a few years.
The Ye Kingdom was even more corrupt and incompetent, with jealous and treacherous officials suppressing Yuwen Sheng's abilities. Fearing that his achievements would overshadow the emperor, they disregarded the grim national situation and exiled him to a remote region, erasing all his accomplishments.
Thinking about it now, going to the fields is like a boil that has been ripe for a long time bursting; it was only a matter of time.
“Runtu died in battle… We’ve been planning for so long, yet we still lost.” Wei Yao gritted her teeth in anger.
Upon hearing this, Zheng Quchi, who was standing nearby, hurriedly asked, "Who did you say died? Runtu?"
When she asked, Wang Zebang gave her the information: "Take a look for yourself."
Zheng Quchi took it, quickly glanced through it, and felt a chill run down his spine; his teeth chattered: "He fought desperately to defend the last line of defense in Shimoda, but died from an arrow shot from behind..."
Who shot the arrow after that?
Behind him were people he should have been protecting, but some of them shot arrows at him instead...
Seeing Zheng Quchi so saddened by Runtu's death, Yuan Xingzhou's eyes darkened slightly. He then said to Li Gang, "Summon Li Dewei, Chen Shao, and Wang Feichen to Xuanwu Hall."
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