Upon hearing this, the man carrying the broadsword paused, looked at Shang Shaoyan, and asked, "County Princess?"
Shang Shaoyan glanced indifferently at Mingtan: "I have plenty of useful people here, do you think I'm short of one more?"
After saying that, he waved his hand and said, "Hurry up, I still need to eat."
A surge of survival instinct welled up within Mingtan, and he hurriedly said, "Princess, I know all of the Crown Prince's plans! Please don't kill me, I'll tell you everything!"
Shang Shaoyan glanced at him with some interest: "Why don't you tell me first?"
The man carrying the large knife obediently stood aside, but kept his eyes fixed on Ming Tan—Ming Tan knew that if his answer did not satisfy Shang Shaoyan, he would surely die today.
Mingtan swallowed hard and said tremblingly, "A few days ago, the Suzhou dikes breached, and the Prince of Nan'an took on the disaster relief work, but he actually wanted to take the opportunity to make a fortune. When His Highness the Crown Prince found out, he set up a scheme to have the Prince of Nan'an die in a peasant uprising... That's one thing. Another thing is that recently, Prince Gong has also become involved in the struggle for the throne, and His Highness the Crown Prince is a bit flustered because the Imperial Preceptor is standing behind Prince Gong."
Shang Shaoyan raised an eyebrow and said meaningfully, "These are all things I know. If you want to live, pick out some things I don't know."
Mingtan was shocked—these were all matters within the royal family, and not everyone in Shengjing knew about them. How could Princess Heyang know so much?
Shang Shaoyan noticed the surprise and uncertainty in Mingtan's eyes, smiled, and raised an eyebrow, saying, "Some things don't need to be investigated too deeply. The more you know, the shorter your life will be..."
Mingtan was nearly having a heart attack from Shang Shaoyan's repeated threats. He said painfully, "That's all I know, County Princess. Why don't you just give me a quick death? Remember to leave me a whole corpse..."
Shang Shaoyan looked at him, a rare hint of admiration in his eyes for this pig-like opponent: "You do have some backbone. I won't kill you, but I won't let you leave either, understand?"
Mingtan nodded and agreed.
Shang Shaoyan continued, "If you dare to have even the slightest disloyalty..."
Mingtan quickly pledged his loyalty: "Your Highness, rest assured, I would never do such a thing!"
Upon hearing this, Shang Shaoyan nodded indifferently. As for whether Ming Tan was incapable or dared not, she was too lazy to care and didn't want to care.
After all, this person wasn't of much use.
Shang Shaoyan and Shang Yunlan took the imperial edict and headed back, while Mingtan was taken to the dungeon and became neighbors with Ashina Yeting.
Ashina Yeting smiled and waved to him: "Hello, my friend!"
Half of his face was hidden in the darkness, making it impossible to see his features, but he spoke Mandarin very well, so Mingtan did not notice anything amiss.
Ming Tan felt relieved, thinking that this person was quite easy to get along with, much better than that ruthless Shang Shaoyan. So he replied in a friendly manner, "My name is Ming Tan. I was imprisoned by the Princess of Heyang. What about you? What did you do wrong?"
Ashina Yeting laughed and said, "My name is Ashina Yeting. I was captured because of the attack on Southern Chen."
As he spoke, he peeked out his handsome face from the darkness, his pair of emerald green eyes almost suffocating Mingtan.
Ashina Yeting, who doesn't know him? He was the little Khan of the Western Turks, known as the "Eagle of the Gobi"!
What virtue or ability did Mingtan possess to be imprisoned with such a person?
But Mingtan managed to stay calm. He forced a smile and asked, "Your hometown has been quite peaceful lately, hasn't it?"
Ashina Yeting: "..."
He wiped his face and said expressionlessly, "How could I not behave? He Yang personally led the troops, captured two cities of the Western Turks, cut off Ashina Zheng's head, and captured me alive... That's the situation now."
Mingtan: "...?"
Meanwhile, Shang Shaoyan returned to his residence and enjoyed the meal carefully prepared by Qiao Xiuyu, radiating an aura of "happiness".
Shang Yunlan watched the two of them shoveling food into each other's mouths with a sour look on her face, muttering, "Don't they have hands? Can't they pick up food themselves?"
Shang Shaoyan: "..."
She slammed down her chopsticks with a "snap," the sound neither too loud nor too soft, but it startled both Shang Yunlan and Qiao Xiuyu. They both put down their chopsticks, sat up straight, and looked at Shang Shaoyan.
Shang Shaoyan smiled gently and said to Qiao Xiuyu, "Qilang, be good, you eat first."
She paused, then turned to Shang Yunlan, her face darkening, and sneered, "What's your opinion?"
Shang Yunlan obediently shook her head: "No objection."
Shang Shaoyan glanced at him and sneered, "You're getting impatient. If you're so capable, go find yourself a girlfriend who's willing to share food with you. If you do it again, don't come eat with us."
Shang Yunlan glanced at the sumptuous and delicious-looking dishes, swallowed hard, and became even more obedient: "Okay, I won't say it again."
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