Chapter 83 "Just how much does Guo Jian actually…?"
"Guo Jian is still inexperienced. This is his first time going out to do something for His Highness. He is not confident and even wrote a report asking two pigeons to be sent to deliver it."
Concubine Guo Wanchun served the Second Prince a cup of tea, then looked at the two scrolls of secret messages carried by pigeons on the table, their tone filled with intimate complaints.
Although these words were tinged with complaint, they were also speaking up for Guo Jian, saying that he always put the Second Prince first and regarded the Second Prince as his pillar of support. This was Guo Jian's way of showing his loyalty to the Second Prince.
Guo Wanchun is the daughter of Marquis Dingbei, Guo. Although she is currently only a concubine because she is an illegitimate daughter, the fact that she can be seen in the study and knows a little about outside affairs shows that she is still very much loved and trusted.
The Guo Jian she mentioned was originally just an ordinary member of the Guo family. Because he was quite shrewd, he first climbed up to Guo Wanchun, a concubine of the prince, and was then recommended to the second prince by Guo Wanchun.
Although Imperial Censor Shen was ostensibly impeaching the Marquis of Dingbei, this comes at a time when the struggle among the princes is intensifying, and the Marquis of Dingbei is the maternal relative of the Second Prince, making him one of his main supporters.
Anyone with a modicum of sense would know that Imperial Censor Shen was nothing more than a sword in the hands of someone with ulterior motives.
Although the sword was aimed at Marquis Dingbei, it also subtly referred to the Second Prince. Since Marquis Dingbei was stationed in the north, these minor matters were naturally handled by the Second Prince, and Guo Jian was a good executor.
Since Consort Guo could "tease" Guo Jian's inexperience in front of the Second Prince, it's clear that she was well aware of what Guo Jian was going to do this time.
She is indeed a "tiger daughter of a military family." No matter how gentle and refined she may appear on the surface, she treats the matter of wiping out an entire family as nothing more than ordinary "courage." Ordinary women would hardly be able to match her.
The second prince took a sip of the tea that Consort Guo handed him, then put down the teacup and casually opened the first secret letter.
At this moment, both the Second Prince Li Fang and Consort Guo were certain that the two letters were written by Guo Jian to take credit for his achievements.
The sealed tube was opened, and inside was indeed a letter praising his achievements. Guo Jian confidently said that he had arranged everything and personally launched an ambush at Sanniu Gorge, leaving no one from the Shen family who passed through the area alive.
"It seems Guo Jian is quite capable. Wan Chun, you've recommended a talented person to me." Li Fang smiled with satisfaction after reading it, and handed a small roll of letter to Consort Guo, gesturing for her to take a look as well.
When Li Fang saw the name San Niu Xia, his eyes lingered for a moment longer. Why did this place look so familiar?
"I suppose this counts as recommending a worthy person regardless of kinship?" Consort Guo gave the Second Prince a gentle smile and accepted the secret letter with both hands. There were only a few words inside, and he finished reading it after just a glance.
Her smile held a hint of satisfaction: "It seems Guo Jian's trip has indeed gone smoothly."
As soon as she finished speaking, she suddenly realized something was wrong. The letter was complete and needed a second letter to supplement it. Consort Guo looked at the Second Prince and asked in confusion, "Since everything went smoothly and he was preparing to return to the capital with his men, why did he write another letter to Your Highness? Could it be that something unexpected has happened?"
"You'll see when you look," Li Fang said with a smile, pouring the letter out of the small bamboo tube containing the secret message.
But as the letter was unearthed, Li Fang and Guo Wanchun's expressions changed drastically in an instant.
Although the letter was still rolled up, it was already clear that most of the paper was soaked in ominous blood.
“This…” Consort Guo pointed to the ominous dark red stain: “Is this blood?”
Upon reading the contents of the letter, Li Fang's face turned extremely ugly, and even the veins on his hand holding the letter bulged.
"Your Highness!" Consort Guo called out softly, trying to remain calm. Although she wanted to know what was written in the letter, she dared not ask, faced with a letter soaked in blood and the Second Prince who was clearly full of anger.
Not only did she not dare to ask, she also deeply regretted coming to the study in the first place, but now that she was standing there, she dared not leave rashly.
"Send a letter to Marquis Fengbei, saying that a pair of children from the Shen family have escaped." The Second Prince coldly ordered this, his eyes fixed intently on the blood-stained letter. His aura suddenly became extremely dangerous, a chilling killing intent emanating from him.
"Yes, Your Highness." Consort Guo replied, quickly bowed, and then retreated listlessly.
She knew perfectly well that the secret letter contained more than just this, but the rest was not her concern.
With a "bang," the sound of a heavy object falling to the ground echoed as Consort Guo left the study. She subconsciously slowed her pace, and could faintly hear the Second Prince's cold voice instructing his personal eunuch behind her.
"Go and call Sun Dong and Su Mingsong to come see me."
"Useless! What a waste of a promotion!" Even though Consort Guo's legs were still weak from the murderous aura the Second Prince had just exuded, it didn't stop her from cursing Guo Jian to the bone in her heart.
What exactly happened to Guo Jian, who sent back that bloodstained secret letter?
To hell with him!
Consort Guo had no time to worry about that. She was only concerned that Su's brothers had already become the prince's trusted advisors, but what about her people? They were all useless.
However, Guo Wanchun actually underestimated how useless Guo Jian was, because the second bloodstained letter was not written by Guo Jian at all.
"Mission failed, the Shen family's children escaped, and all members perished." In the study, Li Fang unfolded the secret letter he had crumpled in his hand. He had only a few words in his mind, but the handwriting was clearly not Guo Jian's.
Although it consists of only a few words, it conveys a great deal of information.
This is a clearly provocative letter. Since the writer was able to send this secret letter through Guo Jian's private channels, Guo Jian must be dead. Not only dead, but he also betrayed the party before his death, otherwise the other party would not have had a secret code for sending the letter.
Not only that, Guo Jian's previous secret letter requesting credit stated that the entire Shen family was dead, but this letter mentioned that a brother and sister from the Shen family were still alive. This means that Guo Jian had already sent out the secret letter requesting credit before the matter was even completed. Immediately afterwards, that good-for-nothing not only had his ambush plan sabotaged, but all his men were also killed.
What infuriated the Second Prince most was that he had already guessed whose people had written this provocative letter. He remembered why the name San Niu Gorge sounded so familiar—it was one of the locations he and his advisors had previously planned to ambush the Sixth Prince.
However, since the spies ahead informed him that Lao Liu had taken the Binhe Post Station route, he stopped paying much attention to Sanniu Gorge and only instructed his subordinates to keep a close eye on it.
Thinking that he was still waiting for news from Binhe Post Station, but Lao Liu actually played this trick on him.
Not only did he cross the Three Ox Gorge three days ago, but he also took control of Imperial Censor Shen's two children. In fact, if Guo Jian hadn't died, he would most likely have fallen into his hands as well.
Although this person had nothing to do with him except being a member of the Guo family, the Second Prince was still furious.
This not only meant that the Sixth Prince had seen through all his schemes, but also that the Sixth Prince didn't take him seriously at all, toying with him like a clown. How could the Second Prince tolerate being provoked like this by someone he once looked down upon?
"Sixth Prince, you've made something of yourself. You've become quite assertive after being away for a few years." The Second Prince grinned wickedly. "Very rare, very good! I was originally thinking of letting you die out there, but now it seems I should let you come to the capital so you can learn a lesson about respect and hierarchy once again."
The bloodstained secret letter was once again gripped tightly in the Second Prince's hand.
......
"Shall we return to the royal procession? Isn't it too early?" Xiao Yan asked, her voice tinged with doubt, upon hearing Qin Ji's words.
If she remembered correctly, there were two more suitable dangerous places ahead: "I thought you would choose to change the identity of this caravan again, or simply break it up into smaller groups, and we would bring a few experts to disguise themselves as wealthy old men or something!"
"I wouldn't dare. If I were just a rich old man traveling with such a beautiful young lady, I might not even meet my second son's men, but lecherous men would be coming one after another. Wouldn't I be exhausted to death?"
Qin Ji propped his chin up and leaned against the carriage, looking at Xiao Yan Hui. His slightly upturned smile was both gentle and flirtatious, and his gaze on her face was so tender it seemed almost tangible.
Xiao Yan didn't avoid him; instead, she leaned forward, half-pressing onto the small table between the two of them. One hand braced against the table, while the other, following Qin Ji's slight raised eyebrow, reached out and touched his face.
“Very good, your reasoning convinces me. We really should bring enough people with us, otherwise it won’t just be you chasing after lecherous men, I’ll also be chasing after philanderers, it’s really too tiring.”
As she spoke, the hand that was holding his face tapped his cheek repeatedly. The light coming in from the car window shone on his cheek, making that half of his face shine like jade, while the other half, hidden in the shadows, had a kind of wicked and mysterious charm.
"So beautiful." Xiao Yan looked down at him, her gaze drifting to the corner of his mouth that was turned up in a smile.
Then, in the next second, the handsome, almost beautiful face zoomed in rapidly, and it turned out that Qin Ji, who had been leaning against the car wall, had suddenly stood up.
Xiao Yan felt a soft and warm touch on her lips, but the touch was fleeting.
"So beautiful," Qin Ji sighed softly.
With warm hands, he cupped Xiao Yan Hui's face and carefully traced her eyebrows with his gaze once more.
Her eyes were filled with tenderness and appreciation, a pure admiration tinged with a touch of infatuation. The infatuation was faint, like a wisp of mist, but enough to make his heart race.
And those beautifully shaped, lusciously colored lips... He had just kissed them; it wasn't the first time he'd ever kissed them, but...
He reached out and pressed his hand on the back of her neck, gently pulling her down, and their lips met once again.
For Qin Ji, no matter how many times he ate it, he never felt like he had had enough. It was like Zhu Bajie eating ginseng fruit; he could never quite grasp what it tasted like, and he was always thinking that he should savor it more carefully next time.
Their breaths mingled chaotically until their breaths gradually diminished, and they both felt a slight difficulty breathing. Only then did Qin Ji step back slightly, and the two of them began to pant rapidly.
"I find the green hills charming, and I suppose the green hills find me just as charming," Qin Ji murmured softly.
Lips pressed together, they could touch when they spoke and exchange breaths.
"Yes." Everyone else was dressed the same, but he was so scholarly and alluring.
Xiao Yan gave him a quick peck kiss, stepped back a little, touched her forehead to his, and then blushed as she returned to her original seat.
“We’re talking about serious matters!” she complained softly.
The main issue is that these inappropriate actions between them seem to have increased over time. This time, they were already sitting across a small table from each other, yet...
"Oh, right, let's continue talking about the Second Prince." Qin Ji also lowered his eyes, coughed lightly to cover up his embarrassment, and tried to steer the conversation back on track.
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Author's Note: Qin Ji: She's so beautiful!
Yan Hui: He's so handsome!
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