Chapter 56: The Threat from Xiao Mingzhang
"Knock knock—"
Early in the morning, two knocks sounded outside the house on the grassland.
Yunzhu and Ayan were drying the persimmon cakes they had made the night before in the yard when they heard a knock on the door. They called for Mu Zhaozhi to open it.
Mu Zhaozhi opened the door and looked up through the high crack to see the person who had come in. She was startled and immediately imitated Ayan, pretending to close the door as if nothing had happened.
The person bent down and easily reached out to block the little girl's movements.
With a faint smile in his eyes, Xiao Mingzhang asked, "What is this for? I'm not here for anything else today; I've recovered from my illness and have come to invite you to dinner."
Should we invite them to dinner?
Mu Zhaozhi turned around and looked at her mother standing in the courtyard, puzzled.
From the moment Xiao Mingzhang's voice rang out, Yunzhu looked up and saw him.
Through the narrow crack in the door, she stared at Xiao Mingzhang and saw that his complexion had returned to normal, and his mental state was not much different from before. It seemed that he had recovered well at home in the past two days.
She turned back and exchanged a glance with Ayan.
This was the third day since Xiao Mingzhang moved to their neighborhood.
In the past few days, Yunzhu and Ayan have been observing, trying to see when Xiao Mingzhang will leave, and when the troops of Liangzhou or Huanwang Mansion will finally give out and call on him, the commander-in-chief, to take charge of the overall situation.
But so far, there has been no news.
After pondering for a moment, Yunzhu said, "We don't need your invitation to dinner."
“How could we not need it?” After Xiao Mingzhang finished speaking with Mu Zhaozhi, he straightened up and argued with Yunzhu through the narrow crack in the door, “Gratitude is the most basic courtesy in the Central Plains. You saved me a few days ago, so it is only right that I treat you to a meal!”
"To repay kindness is only right and proper?" Yunzhu felt extremely ironic to hear these words from Xiao Mingzhang.
She glanced at Xiao Mingzhang mockingly, then had no time to pay him any more attention.
The persimmons had finished drying. She washed her hands, took Mu Zhaozhi's small hand, pushed open the courtyard gate, and walked with her towards the school.
Xiao Mingzhang seemed to have nothing to do, and upon seeing this, he immediately followed behind the mother and daughter.
As he walked, he said, "Yunzhu, there are some things you really don't need to refuse me. Now you're raising the child alone, and the child is still young. All rules and etiquette must be learned from daily life. Gratitude is the most basic thing a child should learn. Even if you don't think about yourself, you should think about the child..."
"I don't need to learn these empty formalities!"
Xiao Mingzhang had only spoken halfway when, unexpectedly, the first to answer him was not Yunzhu, but their daughter.
Xiao Mingzhang lowered his head and glanced at Mu Zhaozhi again.
Mu Zhaozhi happened to look up and was also sizing him up.
The little girl's eyes were always bright and full of life. Even though Mu Zhaozhi's thoughts were beyond those of her peers, she was still essentially a little girl not yet three years old. Her big, watery eyes were inherited from her mother.
Seemingly afraid that Xiao Mingzhang might not have understood her meaning, Mu Zhaozhi looked at Xiao Mingzhang firmly and repeated her words: "I don't need those empty formalities. I understand gratitude, but I also understand what it means to be persistent, persistent, and relentless!"
The little girl spoke idioms with great seriousness.
"Pfft..." Yun Zhu originally wanted to pretend that she hadn't heard Xiao Mingzhang's words, but as soon as Mu Zhaozhi said this, she couldn't help but laugh out loud.
She lowered her head and tightened her grip on her daughter's hand.
Xiao Mingzhang looked at his daughter in surprise, then at Yunzhu in surprise, and after a moment, he grinned.
Mu Zhaozhi was indeed very clever, even more so than he had imagined.
At such a young age, she has already learned to say so many idioms.
They are grateful and persistent.
Xiao Mingzhang remained noncommittal, knowing that the surprises his daughter would bring him in the future would likely be far more than what he had mentioned.
He continued to follow behind Yunzhu and her daughter, but because of what the little girl Mu Zhaozhi said, he stopped talking nonsense.
Finally, Yunzhu and her daughter arrived at the school gate.
Xiao Mingzhang then blocked Yunzhu's path again and said to her, "I've asked someone to prepare dinner at home tonight. Yunzhu, don't refuse me, otherwise I will send invitations to everyone in town and ask them to come and celebrate my housewarming."
Yunzhu thought it was just a simple invitation and was about to refuse after hearing the first half of the sentence. However, the second half of the sentence made her stop completely outside the school gate and look at Xiao Mingzhang with a cold face.
This is the real Xiao Mingzhang.
Yunzhu's face darkened as she looked at the face she knew all too well, thinking. This was the real Xiao Mingzhang—he would give people room to consider things, but when he was rejected time and again, his decisions and his ruthless methods would also slap people mercilessly in the face.
She already knew his personality.
She never imagined that his tactic would one day be used against her.
Xiao Mingzhang spoke softly, even when he was making a blatant threat to Yunzhu, his tone was gentle and warm, like a willow swaying by a riverbank.
But what he was saying was inhuman, and he knew it himself.
"Yunzhu, I had no choice." Seeing the anger in Yunzhu's eyes, Xiao Mingzhang smiled bitterly. "Tonight's dinner, I'll have someone make your favorite crispy chicken, squirrel-shaped mandarin fish, and Buddha Jumps Over the Wall... You'll come, right?"
He had no more basic explanations left, and just laid bare his worst side to Yunzhu.
Yunzhu was almost laughing in exasperation.
Was his invitation to the entire town to his home an attempt to reveal his true identity and, incidentally, hers, or did he intend to control them all and threaten her?
Based on Xiao Mingzhang's habits, Yunzhu thought it should be the first one.
Although he secretly disregards human life, he outwardly pretends to be a benevolent leader who cares about the people.
He only needed to expose her identity in front of everyone, making it impossible for her to stay there any longer, and then his goal would be achieved.
"Aren't you afraid that I'll reveal my identity to them myself?" Yunzhu asked rhetorically.
"What do you mean by revealing my identity?" Xiao Mingzhang asked with a smile, the hem of his robe embroidered with green pines and bamboos swaying in front of Yunzhu's eyes.
Yunzhu was momentarily blinded.
Originally, she thought that the green pine and bamboo hem of her clothes was a symbol of a gentleman, but now she realized that the green color could also be the poisonous bamboo leaf green.
“Yunzhu, revealing your identity will not benefit you in any way, will it?” Zhu Yeqing flicked his tongue as he spoke to her.
"But I won't let you get anything out of it!"
The thought that Xiao Mingzhang would continue to use this to threaten her in the future sent chills down Yunzhu's spine.
She would rather die than reveal her identity to Xiao Mingzhang and everyone else before him, than give him this handle that he could use to threaten her indefinitely from now on.
Yunzhu hated nothing more than being hindered and threatened. In the past, when she was in the Prince's mansion, the one who hindered her was Ying Shi. But now that she was out of the mansion, she never imagined that the one who would inherit Ying Shi's mantle and threaten her would be Xiao Mingzhang.
But no matter who it is, Yunzhu is determined to break free from this constraint and will not allow anyone to control her so easily again.
Her gaze was so unwavering, like the most resolute steel blade on the battlefield.
Xiao Mingzhang asked, "So you plan to take Azhi back to the outside world, living a nomadic life, wandering from place to place? Yunzhu, to be honest, the Huan Prince's Mansion has made many enemies outside. I have already discovered you, which means that besides me, there must be many more people outside who have also discovered you. They can't take action just because I am here. Yunzhu, where can you take Azhi? Do you really think that you can leave this place and be safe and sound without the protection of the Prince's Mansion?"
Wasn't it your royal palace that wanted to kill me back then? Now you want me to be safe?
If they weren't still at the school gate, Yunzhu would have loved to yell at Xiao Mingzhang, pointing her finger at him and calling him heartless and despicable.
All the hardships and wanderings she has endured in her life were bestowed upon her by their royal family. And now he has the audacity to use this as leverage to threaten her!
Shamelessness knows no bounds!
Yunzhu really wanted to have a good venting session with Xiao Mingzhang.
But it was early morning, the time when students were going to school, so no matter how angry Yunzhu was, she couldn't afford to have a conflict with Xiao Mingzhang in front of so many students.
She could only clench her fists again and again to stop her trembling body, her face blank, and remain silent.
Xiao Mingzhang continued talking to himself, making the final decision, saying, "Yunzhu, let's have dinner together tonight. Bring Azhi and Ayan along; we haven't had a proper chat in a long time."
Yunzhu did not answer.
Xiao Mingzhang took this as tacit agreement.
Before leaving, he bent down and asked his daughter, "Azhi, your father will be waiting for you at home tonight. I heard you like mare's milk cake. What else is there? Tell your father and I'll have it prepared."
I don't like you! I hate you!
Mu Zhaozhi stood by her mother's side the whole time. The little girl couldn't understand Xiao Mingzhang and Yunzhu's conversation, but Mu Zhaozhi could tell that her mother became very angry after they finished speaking.
Mother is trembling!
Mu Zhaozhi then grasped her mother's hand, glaring at Xiao Mingzhang with the same disgust as Yunzhu.
Xiao Mingzhang was speechless.
He gazed tenderly at his daughter, ultimately not getting angry with her, but said to himself, "In that case, Father will prepare food for Azhi based on his intuition. We'll see if Father and Azhi have any tacit understanding then, okay?"
Mu Zhaozhi pursed her lips and, like Yunzhu, stopped talking.
Xiao Mingzhang waited a while longer, but when he still didn't get an answer, he finally got up and said goodbye to Yunzhu.
In reality, no one cared about his departure, but he insisted on putting on an act, pretending to be a gentleman after doing all sorts of bad things.
Yunzhu was so angry she wanted to grind her teeth.
After Xiao Mingzhang had completely left, Mu Zhaozhi tugged at Yunzhu's sleeve and looked up to ask, "Mother, are we really going to his house tonight?"
"I'm not going!"
Yunzhu answered decisively, and Mu Zhaozhi nodded her little head earnestly after hearing it.
—
That night, the moon rose above the branches, and a light frost condensed on the petals of Mid-Autumn Festival. Under the moonlight, they looked like the flower stamens holding a belly full of bright pearls.
Xiao Mingzhang sat at the table, looking at the pile of food prepared in front of him, quite satisfied.
Wuqi stood to one side, seemingly lost in thought, but asked with concern, "Your Highness, it's already completely dark. Will the Princess Consort and the others really come?"
The sky in the Western Regions always gets dark later than in the Central Plains. Now the moon has already risen quite some time ago, which means that the proper time for dinner has long passed.
Wuqi had just asked about the time and found out that it was already past midnight.
Xiao Mingzhang, however, said with certainty, "She will come."
Even with a thousand doubts, Wuqi dared not utter another word of objection.
They could only wait quietly.
Finally, after waiting for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, they heard some movement coming from the courtyard outside.
Wuqi quickly turned around and saw a woman's figure, supported by the moonlight that had risen high in the sky, walking into their courtyard.
She was aloof and solitary, arriving alone without a maid or her daughter.
Wu Qi was slightly taken aback, but Xiao Mingzhang seemed to have anticipated everything. He immediately stepped forward to greet her without any surprise or hesitation, and stood beside her under the moonlight, saying happily, "You've come."
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Author's Note: Finally, I finished that really difficult chapter. The next chapter should be the confession scene~ The young master still has a long way to go in winning back his wife [milk tea emoji]
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