"I'm a little surprised by this too. It's been more than eight years since I've encountered any side quests. The host's luck is just too bad." The system vaguely felt that something was wrong, but it couldn't figure out what the problem was.
It can only be tentatively concluded that Xia Yixin was unlucky and failed to activate the side quest.
"What about the third stage of the main storyline?"
The system calmly replied, "Host, don't worry, it will activate automatically when the time comes! However, the main storyline has already begun, and the main characters have been determined."
As for who it is, the system certainly won't reveal it.
The overall structure is now basically set, and Xia Yixin thinks that the most likely key characters in the main storyline are all related to the female lead.
The new emperor of Nanlin, Dong Qi; the head of the Eastern Depot of Yushang; Shen Shaoyang, who has not yet regained his memories; and the young emperor Qi Lin—after all, the female lead still has half of the protagonist's halo, and the law of attraction will not change.
But each one individually has its uncertainties, and since she couldn't think of one, she simply stopped thinking about it.
The next day.
Xia Yixin didn't get the main quest, but she did get another piece of good news.
Xia Jingfeng received the news, and sure enough, the people from Yushang who had been secretly manipulating Nanlin's economy made their move.
The Yu Shang Group sent a merchant surnamed Wang to Nan Lin to negotiate with the newly enthroned Crown Prince Gao Qi.
Upon receiving the news, Xia Jingfeng immediately discussed countermeasures with Xia Yixin.
If Yu Shang succeeds, the two countries will join forces against Bei Wu, putting Bei Wu at a great disadvantage as they will be caught in a pincer movement. Therefore, their cooperation must be stopped.
But now Nanlin is already in dire straits, and they can't possibly fill this bottomless pit, so there's only one way—chaos!
He killed Crown Prince Gao Qi, causing the Southern Lin to split.
The old emperor of Nanlin has more than just one prince, Crown Prince Gao Qi. Now that Crown Prince Gao Qi has just ascended the throne and his position is unstable, this is the best time.
Therefore, this time in Lin'an City, we must send the most elite people, and we also need someone to meet them outside the city.
As someone who had lived in Nanlin before and thus had a legitimate status, it was perfectly reasonable for Xia Mingyu to volunteer.
Xia Jingfeng's first instinct was to refuse, but he quickly realized that this might be a good opportunity for his own grandson to make a name for himself in one battle, so he gritted his teeth and agreed. Xia Jingfeng was still a little worried about Shen Shaoyang as the outer support force, so he sent another team.
Half a month later, as expected, a group of merchants from Yu Shang arrived in the capital of Nan Lin, and Xia Mingyu and his group successfully infiltrated the city.
When the new emperor of Nanlin, Gao Qi, was seriously injured, and the other two princes of Nanlin fought each other and were both injured, Nanlin was thrown into chaos. Xia Jingfeng immediately sent people to prepare to meet up with Shen Shaoyang who had retreated.
To everyone's surprise, the returning messenger brought bad news—Shen Shaoyang and the young Marquis Xia Mingyu had both disappeared.
"What exactly happened? How did you get separated from them?!" Xia Jingfeng roared, grabbing the returning soldier commander.
Xia Jingfeng already had a fierce and menacing appearance, and when he got angry, his face turned black and his beard became messy, making him look even more ferocious.
Commander Tian panicked and said, "I have made a mistake, and I deserve to die ten thousand times! Originally, we retreated from the city smoothly and even reached the main road. We rested that night, but who knew that General Shi would discover early in the morning that the young marquis and his horse were gone, leaving only a letter. We followed the hoofprints and chased them all the way to the vicinity of the Yushang border, where they disappeared. General Shi was afraid of delaying military intelligence, so he returned temporarily and went to chase after them alone."
"A letter?" Xia Yixin was also anxious; she had heard the key word.
“That’s right, the letter is here, but we don’t dare to look at it.” Commander Tian handed over the opened envelope, which Shen Shaoyang had opened earlier.
Xia Yixin couldn't wait to take it and open it. After glancing at it a few times, her brows furrowed.
Xia Jingfeng also saw what was written in the letter, and immediately trembled with anger, shouting, "Nonsense!"
Xia Mingyu's letter contained only a few hurried words, probably written on the spot. He said that he had received news that a friend of Yu Shang was in danger and he was going to help him. He would give them information soon.
Xia Jingfeng wanted to tear the letter to shreds. "With a formidable enemy at hand, how could he still have the mind to help some friend at Yushang? Liu'er, what's going on here?!"
Xia Yixin also found it strange. Based on the eight years of living together, she knew Xia Mingyu best. This child was mature beyond his years and would never do anything risky. However, since she was an outsider, she couldn't say anything in detail.
"Xiahou, there's definitely more to this than meets the eye."
Hearing her unfamiliar address, Xia Jingfeng, who was furious, gradually calmed down. He was about to tell the kneeling Commander Tian to go and recover from his injuries when Commander Tian suddenly exclaimed as if he remembered something.
“Xiahou, you are indeed not simple! Among the merchants from Nanlin this time, we brothers saw a few of them outside the city. At the time, they looked familiar. Now that I think about it... they were people from the Eastern Depot. Moreover, they were following someone timidly. Judging from his tall figure and steady gait, his martial arts skills were definitely not low. Even that merchant was very respectful to him.”
Xia Jingfeng took a deep breath, his face grim, and first told Commander Tian to go out and treat his injuries.
After no one else was in the study.
Xia Jingfeng finally let out a slow breath and asked her with concern, "Liu'er, what do you think?"
Xia Yixin didn't expect that Cao Anmin would go in person this time, and the fact that Shen Shaoyang and Mingyu had both disappeared was indeed a bit dangerous.
Especially the former, since the female lead is in the capital.
She paused for a moment before speaking.
“Father, don’t be anxious. There’s no evidence yet to say that it’s Cao Anmin. Besides, even if it is him, Nanlin is in complete chaos now, and we’ve achieved our goal. What we need to pay close attention to now is what he’s going to do next. Moreover, I think Mingyu’s matter may not be related to Cao Anmin and his group.”
Xia Jingfeng felt slightly relieved, but he quickly became worried again. "Putting aside Ming Yu's matter, I'm actually more worried about Shen Shaoyang. He went to Yushang this time, and there might still be people there who recognize his face. What if he remembers the past and turns against us..."
Although Xia Yixin wanted to believe Shen Shaoyang emotionally, she did have to be wary of his words.
Seeing her silence, Xia Jingfeng knew she was hesitant, and said earnestly, "Liu'er, you should not have the heart to harm others, but you should be wary of others. I know you trust Shen Shaoyang, and I have trusted him after spending seven or eight years with him. But if he is captured by the enemy, he might confess under torture."
Xia Yixin nodded. "Indeed, this needs to be considered. Father, how much did Shen Shaoyang know about Beiwu's defenses? Just in case, we should change the generals and the locations of the grain depots. We should take things slowly and not alert the enemy."
"Father knows all this, but what about Mingyu?" He was still worried about his grandson's safety.
“I’ll go,” Xia Yixin said in a deep voice.
Xia Jingfeng paused for half a second before reacting, and said urgently, "No, no, absolutely not! Liu'er, this isn't a sightseeing trip. Your current martial arts skills are enough to deal with one or two petty thieves, but we're going to Yushang. Now that's the domain of the Eastern Depot. What will you do if your identity is discovered, you're a woman?"
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