Attending a banquet
Tang Qi arranged for Hu Xingche to recuperate in the house. Perhaps due to being on the run for too long, Hu Xingche's condition fluctuated, sometimes good and sometimes bad, and his mental state was very unstable. Sometimes, when it got serious, he couldn't even recognize people. His wounds could have healed quickly, but when he was in a bad mood, he would uncontrollably scratch them, and the festering wounds would be scratched endlessly. The pain from the medicine made him cry out every day, but even so, Hu Xingche remained alive without falling into a coma.
Shen Zhiqing: "He is very ill."
"How could this be? Most of these injuries on his body were inflicted by himself; otherwise, he should have healed long ago." Ye Qian was somewhat puzzled.
"It's my fault." Tang Qi continued after both pairs of eyes looked at him, "This brat definitely didn't tell the whole truth. He stumbled upon Wu Shunyi's deal with Gui Luo, how could he have escaped as easily as he said? Wu Shunyi has seen his face before, and Jin Bei isn't stupid. This kid must have been really determined to keep them from finding out."
"What was he like when you found him?" Tang Qi asked Shen Zhiqing.
She briefly recalled before saying, "It was very dirty and messy. You couldn't even tell it was a person."
Ye Qian: "He survived by begging for food like a stray dog."
"The fact that the military report wasn't lost under these circumstances shows how much effort this kid must have put in."
Tang Qi looked at the military report, which contained only a short line of text, but the bloodstains on it were so thick that he dared not look directly at it.
"Just this one military report caused the deaths of so many people." Tang Qi scoffed, "How dare they? How could they dare?"
"Now that you have the military report, how do you plan to bring them down?"
"I want the whole world to know that Jin Bei and Sheng Hui colluded with the enemy and betrayed the country." Tang Qi emphasized the last few words, and continued with a hateful look in his eyes: "I want the truth to come out."
"What if we can't do it?" Ye Qian suddenly asked.
Shen Zhiqing looked at him in surprise.
Tang Qi was also taken aback. Ye Qian continued, "The current situation is that there is a traitor within the Wolf Strategy, which led to the army's complete defeat. The purpose is that the Wolf Strategy misjudged people, which has led His Majesty to replace the Wolf Strategy. The truth you are asking for is that the two armies colluded with the enemy and betrayed the country to prove that there is no danger within the Wolf Strategy. This is exactly the opposite of what His Majesty wants. Zhong Le, have you ever considered that if this is not the truth His Majesty wants to see, would he allow this truth to exist?"
"What...what do you mean?"
“I’ve said it before, His Majesty’s eyes always see further than ours. What will you do then if the truth you’re demanding is just another version of the story that His Majesty has abandoned?”
"Treason! Ye Qian! That's treason! How could His Majesty allow such a thing to exist!" Tang Qi was almost shocked.
"It's just what you think is treason," Ye Qian said calmly. "After the Dongshou Mountain incident, I reported Zhou Ziye's matter to His Majesty truthfully."
Guess where he is now?
"...Isn't he in prison?"
As if mocking his naiveté, Ye Qian's eyes crinkled into a smile: "At the Zhou residence."
"His Majesty asked me a question at the time. He asked me what my relationship with Zhou Ziye was. I answered truthfully. He then asked me what I thought should be the punishment," Ye Qian continued, "Treason and collusion with the enemy should be punished by beheading and public display."
“But His Majesty said that others would face certain death, but if it were Zhou Ziye, he might be able to survive after walking all ten paths.”
Ye Qian looked at Tang Qi: "I'm the one who put him in jail."
—Do you understand? I am the path to survival that His Majesty has shown Zhou Ziye.
Tang Qi was completely stunned, slowly shaking her head, still unable to believe it: "Impossible...why..."
Ye Qian shook his head: "I don't understand either. The Southern Continent is small and its military strength is not as great as that of my Great Shuo. Why would His Majesty trade with them? I don't understand the rights and wrongs involved."
“Looking at it from another angle, perhaps His Majesty wasn’t targeting the Wolf Strategy Army in the first place,” Shen Zhiqing suddenly said. “What if His Majesty did this not out of fear of his powerful generals overshadowing him, but simply to eliminate General Tang?”
"Just to kill my father? Why? Did my father offend him?" Tang Qi was even more confused.
“If you were afraid of being too powerful, why is Li Guangjun unharmed? Moreover, it’s not just Li Guangjun; even in Langce, apart from General Tang and you, none of the other soldiers in Langce have had any major problems. So—” Shen Zhiqing looked at Tang Qi: “Perhaps His Majesty’s target was General Tang from the very beginning.”
Is there something about my father that His Majesty fears? Tang Qi remained silent.
"I don't believe it," he said sullenly after a long while, turning his head away.
"You don't believe me?" Ye Qian looked at him, his words ruthless, as if trying to tear away the last veil of pretense. "Or do you simply not want to believe me?"
"Then what do you want me to do?" Tang Qi suddenly stared into Ye Qian's eyes: "Do you want me to admit that everything we're doing now is in vain?"
"You mean that whether he's alive or I'm alive, it's all meaningless, right?"
"Tang Qi, you're being irrational," Shen Zhiqing interrupted Tang Qi.
"I'm just reminding you that you must prepare for the worst. Your revenge might never be possible."
“Impossible,” Tang Qi suppressed the surging emotions in his heart, his eyes stubborn: “Even if His Majesty really doesn’t kill those two, I will definitely take their lives.”
After he finished speaking, none of them continued to speak, and the conversation ended rather unpleasantly.
Tang Qi was extremely busy in the following days, taking care of Hu Xingche on one hand and refining his plan on the other.
After all, he still had a "trap" to attend.
Upon approaching the Deng residence, a familiar face immediately came into view.
Gu Chao was dressed in red, and his fat figure made his belt look a little tight. However, he had a smile on his face and greeted people with a bow and clasped hands, gesturing for them to come in. He was so humble that he looked like he wanted to bury his head in the ground.
Tang Qi, holding the invitation, strode up the steps. Gu Chao happened to look up at that moment, and their awkward eye contact made Gu Chao, who hadn't straightened up in a long time, suddenly stiffen.
"What are you doing here?" Gu Chao looked up.
Tang Qi continued to wave the invitation in her hand, without saying much to him.
Gu Chao also saw what was in his hand, but given the incident at Dongshou Mountain, he naturally didn't get along with Tang Qi. He raised an eyebrow and asked, "Where did you steal this from?"
Pfft.
"Do you want to check it more carefully?" Tang Qi chuckled as she handed the invitation to him.
Gu Chao indeed examined the invitation carefully from top to bottom, but of course he couldn't find anything wrong with it. So when he returned it to Tang Qi, Gu Chao was almost gritting his teeth, and his eyes were filled with disgust.
I've been working like a slave for Deng Yu for so long just to barely get a job as a greeter at Deng's residence. Why should this person, whom I've only met once, be treated as an honored guest?
The unwarranted jealousy made Tang Qi unhappy. He looked at Gu Chao coldly, his gaze making Gu Chao feel uneasy.
"You're using yourself as a stepping stone, and you expect others to pity you and not step on you?"
Tang Qi withdrew her gaze and stepped back into the room, her voice trailing behind her, piercing Gu Chao's ears like a thorn.
"You overestimate people's empathy. No one cares about self-esteem except oneself."
Many tables were set up in the main courtyard of the mansion, and various dishes were served one after another. Although the scale was not as large as the princess's mansion last time, the pomp and circumstance were still quite impressive.
Deng Ning was quite good to his daughter. Tang Qi chuckled, glanced around, casually handed over the gift, and then sat down in a corner of the banquet.
He was eating the fruit in front of him, feeling a bit bored, when suddenly another person sat down next to him.
"Hey, you're here pretty early," Tang Qi said with a smile.
Cheng Junshi sat down and straightened his clothes: "You're not late either."
After saying that, he glanced to the side—Tang Qi was sitting cross-legged, casually eating fruit and smiling at him, his legs shaking uncontrollably. Compared to the upright Cheng Junshi, Tang Qi was just a hooligan harassing people on the street.
"Tch," noticing Cheng Junshi's gaze, Tang Qi pulled her long legs back, straightened her back facing the table, and muttered resentfully, "Pretentious. Anyone can sit up straight."
"Naive." Cheng Junshi took a sip of water and retorted without hesitation.
The rivalry between people can be so sudden and unreasonable.
However, Tang Qi's temper flared up quickly but subsided just as fast; within minutes he was back to his relaxed state. Of course, it wasn't because he couldn't sit still at all.
Tang Qi completely ignored Cheng Junshi's quiet mockery and stretched on his own. Before he could even loosen up his tight bones, he suddenly saw someone walking straight towards him.
"How did you end up at my birthday party?!"
Tang Qi steadied the wine glass that was almost knocked away and chuckled, "General Deng invited me, didn't you know?"
"My father invited you?" Deng Yuman stared at him in disbelief. "He really is getting old and blind."
"Get out of here right now!"
She then saw Cheng Junshi beside her, and her voice suddenly rose as she said, "And you, you're no better than me! All of you, get out!"
Cheng Junshi, who was being labeled a bad guy for the first time, appeared remarkably calm. After wiping the water off the table next to Tang Qi, he slowly raised his eyes and said, "Oh."
"oh?!"
Deng Yu got even angrier, almost pointing her finger at them and yelling, "I don't want to see you. Can't you even understand human language?"
Tang Qi gave her a big smile, and then—
"oh."
......
Luckily, Gu Chao was there, otherwise Deng Yu would probably have given them both a good punch, regardless of saving face.
No one can tolerate passive-aggressive behavior.
Tang Qi was still watching Deng Yu jump around with a smile when a deep, steady male voice suddenly entered his ears.
"Yu'er, you mustn't be rude."
Tang Qi's joints cracked. He stared directly at the person opposite him as he slowly approached, his face still bearing that hypocritical smile.
Even during Katyu's encirclement and suppression, he still wore this smile.
"haven't seen you for a long time."
Tang Qi stood up, bowed, stared straight at the ground, and his voice fell silent almost instantly: "General Deng."
"General Deng." Cheng Junshi, standing beside him, also stood up and bowed, drawing Deng Ning's gaze from Tang Qi to himself.
"Dad! Why did you let them come to my birthday party! I hate them, make them leave right now!" Deng Yu grabbed Deng Ning's arm.
"Stop talking nonsense!" Deng Ning snapped at her. "These are all distinguished guests. Don't cause trouble here."
Deng Yu, feeling rebuffed, glared at them fiercely, while Deng Ning, on the other hand, became amiable and said to the two of them, "My daughter is mischievous, please don't be offended."
Cheng Junshi shook his head and said, "Miss Deng is pure of heart and as unpolished as a piece of jade. She is a rare person of true feelings in this world."
Tang Qi couldn't help but laugh. Cheng Junshi was so tactful that even his insults were so subtle that no one could find fault with them.
She is pure in nature and as unpolished as a piece of jade.
—Your daughter's brain is so new it's like it's never been used.
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