The children were very happy to receive free dried fruit while singing the local songs, and they invited their friends to come and learn the songs as well.
The people Xiao Liuzi brought were all very responsible. Only after the children recited the song fluently did they consider it a pass, and they gave them candy to pass on the song.
Soon, the content of this song spread throughout the capital city:
The King of Western Chu was ruthless
They're going to blow up the coal mine and freeze me to death.
The King of Western Chu is shameless
He wanted to marry the princess and scam her dowry.
The King of Western Chu is shameless
Colluding with officials to obtain intelligence
The King of Western Chu had no heart
Locking up my father harmed my uncle and sister-in-law.
When did the King of Western Chu die?
Please listen to my song of tomorrow.
...
Nursery rhymes are catchy and easy to understand.
People, connecting the events that have occurred in Nanyang in recent years, were able to roughly link the causes and consequences together.
The people, who were originally immersed in the beautiful love between the Ninth Princess and the King of Western Chu, now hated Xi Jing with a passion that was itching to bite him when they heard the nursery rhyme being sung over and over again.
Yun Duoduo understood the feeling of a house collapsing the most, so when she asked Xiao Liuzi to deliver the letter, she specifically instructed Guan Guan to embellish it.
Guan Guan's father was a well-read scholar, and his stories were incredibly vivid.
"Hey, I didn't quite believe the nursery rhymes those kids were singing earlier!"
"Look at what's written on this paper!"
A woman showed a leaflet to her friend: "He forced his old, gray-haired father to abdicate and even imprisoned the father who had raised him with great difficulty."
As the woman read on, tears welled up in her eyes: "The late Emperor of Western Chu was so pitiful. He was an old man, and his own son had imprisoned him."
"Tsk tsk tsk, what a heartless person!"
"This person has no heart!"
An uncle eating sunflower seeds nearby chimed in in agreement.
"And look at what's written here, he murdered two of his uncles, broke his uncle's arms and legs, and cut off his head and hung it on the city wall!"
"It is said that his uncle's wronged spirit lingered at the city gate, and the blood flowed for two whole days before it dried up!"
A woman who had been eavesdropping quickly covered her son's ears, afraid of frightening the child.
"Honestly, he's such a scoundrel!"
"That's right. Look at how he can do this to his own family members, let alone us people from Nanyang."
The other woman sighed.
"It turns out that the black powder that the Ninth Princess investigated was done by the King of Western Chu."
The woman shook her head, her face full of resentment.
"You little bastard, you're so mean! If the coal mine gets blown up, we won't have any coal to burn in the winter, and we'll freeze to death!"
The woman drinking tea shivered; she knew the feeling of being frozen stiff when the charcoal fire in her house ran out in winter.
"It's a loss!"
"Pah! Xi Jing is no good!"
"He wants to marry our princess? He's like a toad lusting after a swan!"
"Our princess is so clever. If she hadn't seen through Xi Jing's character before and discovered that he was behind the gunpowder, I'm really worried that if she had been tricked into marrying him with his sweet words, what would have become of her for the rest of her life!"
"Who can argue with that!"
...
Inside the Western Chu Imperial Palace, Xi Jing was happily sipping his wine, pondering that his beautiful story with the Ninth Princess of Nanyang should have already spread throughout Nanyang. Now, he was just waiting for the old emperor of Nanyang to send a message.
Suddenly, he heard hurried footsteps, and his guards rushed in.
"What's wrong?"
Why are you in such a hurry?
"Could it be that Nanyang has agreed to marry the Ninth Princess to them?"
Xi Jing felt that this guard had been by his side for too long and was now acting increasingly recklessly.
"Well, I think there's no need to rush. She's only fourteen."
He thought the guard had come to tell him about Nanyang's reply.
"I am not some beast who would lay hands on any little girl."
Xi Jing chuckled self-deprecatingly.
"She can marry into the family when she comes of age and is of marriageable age."
“Girls will inevitably miss their hometown after marriage. Why don’t we let her stay in Nanyang for a few more years?” Xi Jing said, looking like he was making a bet.
Every time the guard tried to speak, he was interrupted by Xi Jing's mutterings.
He finally couldn't hold back any longer and blurted out before Xi Jing could say the next sentence, "Your Majesty, something terrible has happened! The news has spread all over Nanyang."
"Oh? Is it about me and the Ninth Princess? It's a good thing that word has spread!"
"May the people of Nanyang bless us!"
Xi Jing closed his eyes and opened his arms, looking as if he were receiving worship.
"No, Your Majesty, it's..."
"Oh dear, the news has spread throughout Nanyang. They're saying how the king ascended to the throne, how he cruelly harmed his relatives and brothers, that you're heartless, unfilial, shameless, and heartless. They're even saying that after you died, they didn't burn paper money for you..."
"Ugh, anyway, the insults were really awful!"
Xi Jing stood there, stunned, looking at the guards with a puzzled expression.
Why... did things not go as he expected?
After a moment of panic, he grabbed the guard's shoulder: "Did you hear everything clearly?"
"Only a few people in the royal family know about what happened in Western Chu. How could it have reached Nanyang?!"
The guard's shoulder was being gripped tightly by Xi Jing, and he felt as if the bones in his shoulder were about to shatter.
"Your Majesty, your subordinate..."
He didn't know why either!
"That's outrageous! The people of Nanyang are truly despicable! They actually dared to say something like 'not burning paper money for this king'..."
Xi Jing narrowed his eyes slightly, then smiled and said, "This little thing is really different."
"It seems I wasn't wrong about him; this little guy has some skills!"
"This is the woman I, Xi Jing, have set my sights on!"
Xi Jing rubbed his hands together, looked out the window, his eyes shining: "Things are starting to get interesting."
The guard standing to the side was somewhat at a loss. He looked at the emperor in front of him, his expression changing repeatedly. He could only stand aside silently, waiting for his orders.
...
Within the territory of the Shu Kingdom, in the Taihe Hall of the Imperial Palace, the investiture ceremony for the Crown Prince is being held.
Originally, the Shu royal family only had one prince, Lian Jiucheng, so everyone naturally regarded him as the crown prince, and some even began to call him the crown prince in private.
However, because the emperor of Shu was indulging in pleasure every day and neglected his son, the investiture ceremony was postponed until today.
If it weren't for the repeated, subtle reminders from the Empress of Shu, the Emperor of Shu probably wouldn't have thought of appointing his son as Crown Prince for a moment.
The civil and military officials of the Shu Kingdom, dressed in their court robes, stood in unison in the center of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
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