"There are so many people coming and going here. Let's go in and talk. Uncle Xie has someone prepare some wine and food. Niece Ruoxue will drink with Uncle Xie until we are drunk!"

Xie Tianzhang invited the three people into the house, and as if he had just discovered Lu Yanluo and Chu Chen beside Cheng Ruoxue, he asked casually: "Ruoxue, are these two your friends? Why don't you introduce them to Uncle Xie?"

Xie Tianzhang glanced at Lu Yanluo and Chu Chen. Although they looked exhausted, they had extraordinary demeanor and did not look like ordinary people.

Cheng Ruoxue, Lu Yanluo and Chu Chen walked without stopping, without even looking at Xie Tianzhang, and walked straight into the government office.

Lu Yanluo looked around the main hall of the government office, which was exquisitely decorated with carved beams and painted rafters.

"Master Xie, the interior of this yamen is really unique. I wonder how much silver was embezzled and how much military rations were lost to build this?"

Lu Yanluo speaks frankly and bluntly.

Xie Tianzhang was stunned by Lu Yanluo's words at first, but when he came to his senses, he immediately became angry and pointed at Lu Yanluo and scolded her, "How dare you! Who are you? How dare you speak nonsense here! Ruoxue, this is the friend you made? Does your father know that you made friends with such a person who speaks nonsense?"

"You are the one who is so presumptuous!" Chu Chen, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke up, glared at Xie Tianzhang, and said sternly, "Do you know who is standing in front of you?"

Xie Tianzhang didn’t care who Shi was. To offend him on his own turf was to seek death.

"Rebellion! Rebellion! Someone, come and arrest these two audacious and unruly people!"

The soldiers at the door responded and came in, drawing their swords against Lu Yanluo and Chu Chen. Just as they were about to attack, Chu Chen calmly took out a golden seal from his arms and showed it to everyone: "I want to see who dares!"

Looking closely, they saw that the golden seal read "Prince Su Chu Chen". The soldiers looked at each other in confusion. Xie Tianzhang rubbed his eyes hard, his eyes full of disbelief.

"Su...Su Wang! Your Highness Su Wang!" Xie Tianzhang fell to his knees and pleaded guilty: "I know my crime, but I didn't recognize the real master. Please forgive me, Your Highness!"

Chu Chen snorted coldly and said sarcastically: "Aren't you going to arrest me? What? Where is the courage that Lord Xie had just now? You are looking down on others!"

Xie Tianzhang did not dare to refute and pleaded guilty.

Who could have thought that it was such a coincidence that the one with Cheng Ruoxue was Prince Su, then... then the other one was... Prince Su's Consort?

"I didn't know that Prince Su and Princess Su were coming. I'm sorry for the trespass."

Chu Chen was immediately furious, and kicked Xie Tianzhang, angrily saying, "Shut up, stop talking nonsense here, the one next to me is the current Princess Ye, my sister-in-law."

Princess of the Night? Xie Tianzhang suddenly had an idea. He remembered the Night King who came to ask for food before. At that time, he rejected the Night King's request for food. Now he asked the princess to come. Thinking of the three people who had a bad look since they met, Xie Tianzhang's heart skipped a beat.

"My humble servant is not very good at seeing the arrival of Princess Ye and His Royal Highness Prince Su. I hope you will not be offended! It is an honor for the people of Qingzhou that you two have come to Qingzhou."

Seeing that Xie Tianzhang was trying to talk about something else, Lu Yanluo said, "Master Xie, with your wit, I'm sure you will know why we are here after hearing my name. Why don't we get straight to the point? After all, Master Xie can wait, but the soldiers of Tianque Pass can't."

"This..." Xie Tianzhang lowered his head, constantly thinking in his mind how to solve this problem.

When the King sent people to ask for food, he agreed with the prefect of Tongzhou and refused to send food, saying that they had not yet received the news of the war between Beijing and Tatuo.

There was a reason for what happened. Three days before the Night King's men arrived, he and the Tongzhou prefect received a secret letter stating that the emperor in the capital was seriously ill, and things were about to change in Tianji. The outcome of the conflict between Ye and Liang was still foreseeable, so the prefect needed to take care of himself and preserve his strength for any emergency.

He was originally wondering, what is the meaning of taking care of oneself? What is the meaning of preserving strength? He is a prefect of a state guarding the border, even if the two princes in the capital fight to the death, what does it have to do with him.

He lived a free and easy life in Qingzhou.

However, he did not expect that three days after receiving the rice noodles, the Night King's men came to ask for food. He immediately understood the meaning of preserving strength in superstition.

In this era, what is strength? The first is soldiers and the second is food. Whoever has food and milk is the mother. He has led troops to war for many years, so how could he not understand this simple truth?

So when the Night King sent people to ask for food, he chose to refuse. Anyway, he did not receive any order from the court to send food, so it was not his fault for not giving it. The only one to blame was the emperor in the capital.

But as the saying goes, "If you don't do anything wrong, you don't have to worry about ghosts knocking on your door." Who could have thought that after King Ye asked for food three times in vain, he would actually bring his own princess over, bringing along King Su from the capital. This kind of situation really left him with no choice.

"Please calm down, His Royal Highness the Night King asked for food, that is true, but I really have not received any orders from the capital. You two also understand that Qingzhou's food is the life-saving food for Tianque Pass during the war. Without orders from the capital, how dare I open the warehouse and release the food privately? What if..."

Xie Tianzhang glanced at Chu Chen secretly, and the profound meaning in his words made Chu Chen's face turn cold.

What Xie Tianzhang had not yet said was that if the Night King was looking for an excuse to cheat for food and rebel, then if he gave him food, he would be aiding and abetting his evil deeds.

"You're talking nonsense!" Chu Chen didn't care about etiquette, pointing at Xie Tianzhang's nose and scolding: "You old fool, do you think I'm stupid? Didn't you see the Tatuo people outside Tianque Pass? Didn't you hear the news that the Night King came to Tianque Pass to resist the enemy?"

"My brother risked his life to protect you bastards, and you are here to slander my brother. I think you are tired of living!"

Xie Tianzhang was scolded so much that he was speechless. After a long while, he finally explained, "I dare not. How dare I slander His Majesty the Night King? It's just that the rules cannot be broken. Without the order of His Majesty, I really cannot open the warehouse."

"Good!" Lu Yanluo clapped her hands and said sarcastically, "There are not many people as upright as Lord Xie nowadays. Since Lord Xie wants an imperial edict, I will give it to you."

Lu Yanluo took out a bright yellow imperial edict from her sleeve and threw it into Xie Tianzhang's arms: "I have the imperial edict, Sir Xie, bring the food."

Looking at the imperial edict in his hand, Xie Tianzhang was stunned. It took him a moment to realize that if the grain was taken out, it would be like throwing meat buns at a dog, and it would never come back. He was somewhat unwilling to do so.

"This... the food in Tianque Pass is supplied by Qingzhou and Tongzhou. Princess and Prince Su can't just rely on the food in Qingzhou."

All in all, Xie Tianzhang was unwilling to give the food away.