"Hoo."
Meng Ruliu pulled on Xuehua's reins, stopped the horse, and patted the horse's neck to show his appreciation.
Snowflake snorted and turned to rub her hand against hers.
Ever since Su Wan disappeared, fearing that others wouldn't take care of her properly, she personally assumed the responsibility of looking after the precious horse, Snowflake. Snowflake was a magnificent steed, far exceeding the speed of ordinary horses. She rode Snowflake when she went to the shipyard by the sea to build ships. This time, she rode Snowflake again to Yanxun Pass.
After more than half a month of shipbuilding, she received news that Wei Jingzhuo had suddenly decided to build an eighteen-story platform and had recruited hundreds of thousands of laborers from all over the country to go to Yanxun Pass.
She was furious when she found out. Her sworn sister was suffering on the island and was definitely hoping someone would come to rescue her. She had been overseeing the shipbuilding on the beach, talking herself hoarse, while Wei Jingzhuo had the leisure to do this wasteful and troublesome thing.
This is blatant betrayal of her sworn sister, unforgivable. Even if it were the Emperor, she would confront him directly.
Departing from the shipyard at dawn, a journey of 600 li, the snowflakes arrived in just one morning.
Outside Yanxun Pass, tents of all colors stretched as far as the eye could see, surrounding an open space the size of the imperial city, said to be the site for the construction of the Star-Gazing Platform. It was lunchtime, and bonfires had been set up in front of all the tents. Everyone was wolfing down their food around the fires, some eating steamed buns and porridge, others noodles and meat pies.
Upon approaching, soldiers maintaining order stepped forward to greet him with a military salute: "Greetings, General."
Meng Ruliu, with a stern face, jumped off his horse, tossed the reins to a soldier beside him, and asked, "Where is His Majesty?"
A soldier pointed to a pointed tent peeking out from among the many tents and said, "His Majesty is in that pointed tent."
"Okay, I'll go find him now."
Meng Ruliu strode over to the tent the soldier had pointed to.
Lin Qingfeng, who was guarding the door, saw Meng Ruliu's angry eyes and quickly stepped forward to greet her, saying, "Greetings, General."
"Get out of the way," Meng Ruliu glared, "I want to see His Majesty."
Lin Qingfeng said with a smile, "General, His Majesty knew you were coming, but he didn't expect you to arrive so quickly. He thought you wouldn't arrive until tonight."
"What do you mean?"
"Your Majesty... he went to drink with the Emperor of Southern Chu and is not in the tent."
"Oh, he still has the leisure to drink?"
Meng Ruliu had been holding back her anger the whole way, and now she exploded: "My sworn sister is suffering on the island, and he still has the mind to drink. I'm so angry!"
She shoved Lin Qingfeng aside with a wave of her arm and went straight into the tent. Lin Qingfeng gave a helpless, wry smile.
The tent was indeed empty. A table stood in the center, covered with strangely shaped lines that looked like mountains. She glanced at it but couldn't understand them.
Stepping out of the tent, she asked Lin Qingfeng, "When will His Majesty return?"
Lin Qingfeng said, "It's hard to say. The two rulers will probably be drinking until evening."
Meng Ruliu was furious but had nowhere to vent her anger. She planned to go to Yanxun Pass to enter the Southern Chu Kingdom and go directly to find Wei Jingzhuo. She hadn't gone far when a boy ran out of the tent and shouted, "General!"
When Meng Ruliu saw that it was Su Yuze, she was quite surprised and asked, "Yuze, what brings you here?"
Su Yuze was originally assigned by Su Wan to study at the academy in the capital. After Su Wan disappeared, he was very anxious and sought out Meng Ruliu to inquire about Su Wan, and also went to see Wei Jingzhuo. Logically, Su Yuze shouldn't have come along when they gathered laborers to build the Star Gazing Platform.
Upon seeing her, Su Yuze burst into tears before he could even utter a word.
"General, you've finally arrived. Instead of rescuing my sister, His Majesty has come here to dig a huge pit, saying he's going to build a platform."
Meng Ruliu knelt down and used her sleeve to wipe Su Yuze's tears, saying, "It's alright, your sister is here now. I was just about to go and question His Majesty."
Su Yuze sobbed, "General, tell me, which is more important, my sister or the platform?"
"Of course, it's my sworn sister. Without her, he wouldn't be where he is today."
“Yes, yes,” Su Yuze said, pointing east with tears in his eyes, “My sister was imprisoned on an island by that eagle. If His Majesty wanted to rescue her, he should have built a ship, right? But instead, he came here to dig a pit and build a platform… and even named it something like ‘Star Gazing’.”
Meng Ruliu asked, "Have you spoken to His Majesty about this?"
Su Yuze said, "I already said it. I said, Your Majesty, have you changed your mind? Guess what Your Majesty said?"
"What's wrong with him?"
"He...he just laughed and said he was saving his sister. He was lying to my face, taking advantage of my age to deceive me. Books say that the emperor is the Son of Heaven and his words are golden. My brother-in-law is a big liar. I even praised him before."
Su Yuze was so heartbroken that he burst into tears.
Meng Ruliu shared the same sentiment, saying, "That's right, a tyrant."
She comforted Su Yuze, saying, "His Majesty is confused, let's ignore him. Your sister is building ironclad ships at the shipyard. Once they're finished, she'll personally go to fetch her sworn sister. Yuze, don't be sad."
Just as they were trying to persuade Su Yuze, Granny Cui emerged from the tent and said, "My little imperial brother-in-law. Why aren't you eating properly? Why are you out here again..."
Meng Ruliu asked, "Granny Cui, why did you come along too?"
Granny Cui exclaimed, "General, you've arrived so quickly?"
She persuaded Su Yuze to go into the tent before coming out to speak with Meng Ruliu: "The other day His Majesty missed the Empress and didn't eat anything. This time, when His Majesty went south to repair the Star Gazing Platform, this old servant was afraid that His Majesty would not be able to eat anything, so I came along."
Meng Ruliu snorted and said, "He won't stop eating now. Didn't he go to drink with the emperor of Southern Chu? He's completely forgotten about my sworn sister."
Seeing Meng Ruliu's angry expression, Granny Cui forced a smile and said, "His Majesty said he is saving the Empress..."
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