Chapter 1185 Loyalty Without Strength
Shang Ruyi thought for a moment and said, "It's not that I knew all along, but rather, I guessed it all along, but I wasn't sure."
Yuwen Ye asked, "Oh? How did you guess that?"
Shang Ruyi said, "When I returned to the Shen family, my uncle told me that when the Tangquan Palace incident happened, he and Pei Shibo were discussing in the Gongde Courtyard how to persuade the Emperor to return to court. Then they saw a figure leaving from outside the Gongde Courtyard. At the same time, the guards' alarms sounded from the Feishuang Palace."
"..."
"Jiang Yan is right. A person cannot appear in two places."
"..."
"After Young Master Pei was arrested, he never revealed who was in Feishuang Palace. If one of them was Liang Youying, then who was the other? Who could make Young Master Pei bear the blame without speaking?"
As she spoke, Shang Ruyi looked up at Yuwen Ye: "So, I guess it might have been your doing."
She just didn't expect that such a small arrangement would have such a big impact on the situation later on.
Yuwen Ye didn't say anything, only curled the corners of his lips. Shang Ruyi's intelligence was never an exception to his expectations, but he suddenly remembered something and narrowed his eyes: "When did you return to the Shen family?"
Shang Ruyi said, "It was when we sent Sun Xianyue to recuperate."
Upon hearing this unfamiliar name, Yuwen Ye immediately frowned: "Sun Xianyue? Who is Sun Xianyue?"
Shang Ruyi was surprised to find that she had told him a lot about what had happened since they were separated, but she hadn't had a chance to mention Sun Xianyue yet, but Yuwen Ye had caught on to the name so quickly.
She stammered, "Uh, he, he is—"
Sensing Shang Ruyi's hesitation, Yuwen Ye frowned: "Who is he?"
Just then, a piercing gong sound suddenly rang out in the quiet night sky. Both of them were startled, and Shang Ruyi immediately got up and went to the door: "What happened?"
Yuwen Ye didn't say anything, he just glared at her.
Soon, the quiet official residence became noisy. Guan Ao led several people to the main hall, where he saw Yuwen Ye standing at the door with his hands behind his back, staring intently at the dark night sky. He immediately stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, the palace treasury is on fire."
"What!?"
Shang Ruyi was shocked to hear this, but Yuwen Ye remained calm: "I understand."
Upon hearing this, Shang Ruyi subconsciously glanced at him. Yuwen Ye's reaction didn't seem like he knew, but rather like he had known all along.
He said, "Keep the gates closed and don't go out no matter what happens."
Guan Ao replied, "Yes."
Yuwen Ye took a step outside, but when he heard Shang Ruyi's footsteps following behind him, he stopped and turned back to her, saying, "You don't need to go. Stay here and rest."
Shang Ruyi said, "Feng Chen..."
Yuwen Ye lowered his voice: "Be good!"
Hearing him say that, Shang Ruyi stopped insisting and only said softly, "Be careful." Yuwen Ye nodded silently, but before turning to leave, he added, "Rest well and wait for me to come back and ask you questions."
After saying that, he strode out.
Her initial worries vanished immediately upon hearing his last words. Shang Ruyi glared resentfully at his departing figure, her face full of indignation. Only after hearing the outer gate open and close again, and the crisp sound of horses' hooves gradually fading into the distance, did she let out a soft sigh.
At this moment, Guan'ao turned to her and said, "Your Highness, it's almost dawn. You should get some rest. I've already had a room prepared, though it's rather simple."
Shang Ruyi quickly replied, "You're too kind, sir."
She was indeed quite tired. She had been traveling almost all night since yesterday. Although she had slept for a while in Nuanwu, it was not enough to relieve her fatigue. Especially after Yuwen Ye left, she felt as if one of her pillars of support had been removed. Her eyelids began to droop. Guan Ao personally led her to a refined house in the back courtyard. It was indeed simple and clean, but this simplicity and cleanliness was carefully arranged so that a tired person could rest in peace.
However, she couldn't rest immediately, as she had been running all day and was covered in dust and blood. Fortunately, Guan'ao had already prepared hot water. After Woxue helped her take a simple bath, she dragged her heavy, leaden steps back. When she lay down to rest, the morning light was already breaking.
Overwhelmed by drowsiness, Shang Ruyi closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep, even though she could hear people moving around outside.
While she drifted off to sleep, some unknown yet earth-shattering changes were taking place in Luoyang City—the treasury caught fire last night, and the guards sent by the Prince of Qin had no choice but to rush in to put it out. Fortunately, the fire was not large and was extinguished in time, and not much of the property inside was lost; however, the Prince of Qi, Yuwen Cheng, who rushed to the scene after hearing the news, was even angrier than the fire itself. He flew into a rage and berated the guards, accusing them of deliberately setting the fire and insisting on breaking in to take inventory of the valuables.
But no matter how much he clamored, Yuwen Ye never allowed him to set foot in the treasury.
Under the pressure of the King of Qin, Yuwen Cheng could only leave in a huff, but before he left, he left behind a sentence: "I will definitely report everything that happened here to my father, you just wait!"
Yuwen Ye sneered and remained silent.
The imperial city is ninefold high, yet its prestige extends a thousand miles. The treasury is on fire and in a standoff. Although Yuwen Ye forbids the news from spreading, the people who have heard rumors are still terrified. But even if they are scared out of their wits, they dare not step out of the house. They can only quietly huddle in their small homes and wait for their fate.
The entire city of Luoyang was gripped by fear and unease.
By the time Yuwen Ye finished dealing with the treasury matters and returned to the palace, it was already afternoon.
He was exhausted and hungry, so he hastily drank a bowl of soup noodles. When he arrived at the elegant residence arranged by Guan'ao, Shang Ruyi was still not awake.
Seeing her lying on the bed, fast asleep and seemingly unconscious, Yuwen Ye felt both annoyed and amused. He walked over to the bedside and sat down. He looked at her face, which was flushed from sleep, and her eyelashes, which were quietly resting on her thin eyelids, trembling with each breath as if she were about to wake up at any moment. However, no matter how long he stared at her, she did not seem to wake up. Finally, Yuwen Ye couldn't help but reach out and gently brush her eyelashes aside.
"Hmm..."
The sleeping person felt a slight tingling sensation and immediately let out an unhappy murmur in their dream.
The voice was muffled, with an unconscious hint of coquettishness. Yuwen Ye had grown accustomed to seeing her commanding respect, fighting on the battlefield, and displaying her dashing and sharp demeanor on horseback. Suddenly encountering her like this felt both unfamiliar and delightful.
His smile deepened, and he gently tapped her nose with his finger.
"Um!"
At this moment, Shang Ruyi finally woke up from her sleep, and the first thing she did when she opened her eyes was to look impatient and resentful: "What is it?"
Then, she saw Yuwen Ye sitting on the edge of the bed, leaning over and looking at her. His expression was blank, and he blinked repeatedly. After a long while, it seemed as if he finally recognized her: "Feng Chen..."
Yuwen Ye said, "Hmm, not bad, you still recognize people."
Shang Ruyi struggled to sit up: "When did you get back?"
"Just got back."
Have you eaten yet?
"I've already eaten."
"Over at the treasury—"
"It's solved."
The first few questions seemed to be asked instinctively, but when she asked the last one, she almost snapped back to reality. She looked around to make sure no one else was in the room, but still lowered her voice and asked, "You, you set the fire?"
Yuwen Ye didn't speak, but just tugged at the corner of his mouth, as if blaming her for asking the question.
But Shang Ruyi still asked, "Are you after the things in the treasury?"
Yuwen Ye raised an eyebrow again.
Now, Shang Ruyi finally understood.
Yesterday, she was troubled by not being able to open the treasury to reward the soldiers, but Yuwen Ye casually said that the matter could be resolved. Now it seems that he had already made up his mind to take over the Luoyang treasury, but he used this "compromise" method because of Yuwen Cheng and the law.
But Shang Ruyi was still worried: "If Father finds out about this, will he blame you?"
Yuwen Ye said, "There's no need for 'ifs,' he will definitely find out."
"..."
"Even if others don't say anything, do you think the third brother won't? If I'm not mistaken, his complaint letter is probably already on its way."
As he spoke, he got up and took off his cloak, which was covered in dust and blood. Shang Ruyi got up and was about to remove his armor, but Yuwen Ye gently waved his hand and said, "No need."
Shang Ruyi frowned—not removing his armor meant that he couldn't completely let his guard down yet.
However, it was impossible to conquer such a large city as the Eastern Capital in just one or two days.
So she didn't say much and watched him wash up with the cold water in the basin. Shang Ruyi personally handed him a towel and some salt. After a simple wash, Yuwen Ye sat down on the couch by the bed to rest, and Shang Ruyi sat down next to him as well.
She lowered her voice and asked, "Father, will he blame you?"
Yuwen Ye squinted his eyes: "Perhaps."
"Then you still dare to do it?"
"My father only cares about whether I can win battle merits; he doesn't care whether my soldiers are eating meat or starving. But I have to care."
"..."
"However, now that I've brought back such a great victory, do you think he'll still care whether I kept an eye on the treasury to prevent it from burning down?"
Shang Ruyi began to understand that Yuwen Ye's move was a calculated scheme. He was using the enormous military achievement of capturing the Eastern Capital to force Yuwen Yuan to accept everything he had done there. You see, the treasury contained not only wealth and weapons, but more importantly, the household registration records of Luoyang. Once he got his hands on these, Luoyang would be officially taken over by the Great Sheng Dynasty, but in reality, it would belong to Yuwen Ye.
This was a power struggle with the emperor.
Shang Ruyi sensed something was amiss, her heart pounding, and she whispered, "Is this alright?"
"..."
Yuwen Ye didn't speak. He had already squinted his eyes, looking as if he were asleep. But after a long silence, his deep voice slowly said, "Loyalty without strength is the easiest thing to be sacrificed and abandoned."
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