That evening, Pan Wei and Sun Xingjian left Shengjing City before the North Gate was locked, and went to meet up with the two hundred Wei Rong soldiers stationed in the suburbs.
These two hundred Wei Rong soldiers were all elite cavalrymen under Pan Wei. They were specially selected to accompany him to the capital, originally so that if the emperor had any new assignments, they could bring their old subordinates to the meeting to save a lot of inconvenience. But now they have unexpectedly come in handy.
Compared to the emperor far away in Shengjing, Pan Wei was the real boss in the eyes of these Wei Rong soldiers. So when Pan Wei asked them to do him a favor, which was extremely risky, and asked them to step forward if they were willing, and to continue their garrison if they were not, all two hundred men stepped forward, not one of them cowardly.
At Pan Wei's command, the two-hundred-man cavalry marched in a grand procession toward Yandang Mountain as dusk fell.
That night, the first snow fell in Shengjing City.
At this moment, in the Fuqu Pavilion of the Wei family, Wei Shuwan stood by the window, gazing at the distant sky. Although the view was dim and the fine snowflakes obscured her vision, she seemed to see a scene of thousands of horses galloping. Her hands, gripping the window frame, clenched involuntarily, her knuckles turning white.
“Girl, it’s all just a formality anyway, what are you worried about?” Cai Die brought a bowl of white fungus soup into the house.
Wei Shuwan breathed a sigh of relief. "You're right. Since those bandits are Li Qingchen's men, they wouldn't have gone so far as to kill my uncle and the others. I was just inexplicably nervous."
Zi Qiao stirred the soup, handed it over, and said with a smile, "Miss, you've even changed how you address the young prince now. You really do seem to be settling down!"
Only after Zi Qiao reminded her did Wei Shuwan realize that she had somehow gotten used to calling Li Qingchen by his name. She glared at Zi Qiao, then blushed and lowered her head to drink her soup. After only two sips, she unconsciously looked out the window again.
Upon looking at him, he was suddenly startled to find that Li Qingchen was standing there without him noticing. He was wearing a black cloak, and if it weren't for the snow that had outlined his figure, he would have almost blended into the night.
Zi Qiao, being quite tactful, bowed and left the room before her mistress could react.
"Why are you here?" Wei Shuwan stared blankly at the person in the courtyard.
Li Qingchen had a warm smile on his face. His gaze shifted from the young woman inside the window to a charcoal brazier in the corner. "Aren't you going to invite me in to warm myself by the fire?"
Before the word "men and women have..." could be uttered, Wei Shuwan suddenly remembered that the two of them were engaged, and it was inevitably a bit pretentious to say such a thing.
But she still felt awkward about calling Li Qingchen in, so she turned around and brought the charcoal brazier over, placed it on the small table by the window, and looked at Li Qingchen, saying, "You can warm your hands by the fire if you stretch them out."
Li Qingchen chuckled dryly twice and indeed extended his hand, saying, "You're quite generous."
Wei Shuwan also felt embarrassed and asked him again, "Why did you come?"
“I was afraid someone would worry so much they wouldn’t be able to sleep all night, so I came to reassure you.” Li Qingchen joked, then became more serious and said, “I received a message from Marquis Pingyang this morning that they were going to take action tonight, so I notified everyone in the village to leave. So there will only be an empty village tonight, and the two sides will not clash.”
Hearing this, Wei Shuwan's worries finally dissipated. She was about to thank Li Qingchen for telling her all this so late at night, but then she remembered his words last night, complaining that she was always too formal. So instead of thanking him, she asked with concern, "Young Prince, are you still cold?"
She thought that if he was really cold, it wouldn't be a bad idea to let him go to the outer room to warm up.
Li Qingchen looked up at her and said, "Didn't you call her name quite well before?"
Wei Shuwan realized that he had heard her and Zi Qiao's conversation and felt a little embarrassed. "I, I just accidentally let it slip."
"What the heart thinks will be revealed unconsciously."
Wei Shuwan was speechless for a moment and had no choice but to give up and change the subject.
While the two chatted idly through a window under the snow, Pan Wei and Sun Xingjian had already climbed Yandang Mountain.
Because the snowy night provided excellent cover, and they hadn't lit any torches, Pan Wei wasn't suspicious that they hadn't encountered any lookouts along the way. It wasn't until they successfully reached the bandits' stronghold that they discovered there wasn't a single bandit in sight!
Pan Wei looked around blankly, sword in hand, and was dumbfounded: "Where are the bandits? What's going on?"
Although Sun Xingjian had anticipated this outcome, he still feigned shock and reluctantly led his men to search each room. However, they were unable to find a single person.
"Could it be that our operation has been exposed as well?" Pan Wei couldn't help but wonder.
Sun Xingjian shook his head firmly: "The timing of the operation was a spur-of-the-moment decision, and only I and the Protector-General knew about it. There was absolutely no way it could have leaked out."
After saying this, he made a conjecture: "Could it be that they abandoned the village?"
"Why abandon the village?" Pan Wei asked, puzzled.
Sun Xingjian could only guess: "Perhaps he has reformed..."
Pan Wei sneered, instinctively finding it impossible, but he couldn't come up with a more plausible guess. At this moment, Sun Xingjian added, "Regardless, since we're here, we can't let this trip be in vain!"
Under Pan Wei's questioning gaze, Sun Xingjian snatched a torch from a soldier and threw it forcefully at a wooden building!
The torches ignited the wooden buildings, and with the help of the wind, the flames rose higher and higher, engulfing another building. In just a few moments, the entire village was engulfed in flames.
Pan Wei and Sun Xingjian retreated to a safe flat area. Looking at the sea of fire not far away, Sun Xingjian said, "The bandits have disappeared without a trace, and their lair has been burned to the ground by us. This will be a merit when we reach the Emperor!"
Although Pan Wei felt regretful for not being able to catch the bandits, he figured burning down the stronghold would at least give him an explanation when he returned, so he led everyone down the mountain again.
The next day at dawn, as soon as the city gates opened, Sun Xingjian and Pan Wei returned to the capital and hurried directly to the Daye Palace.
When the two men came to see the Emperor again, Eunuch Cao was initially reluctant to report it, since the Emperor had previously given the order not to see them. However, Sun Xingjian told Eunuch Cao everything about how they had wiped out the bandits of Yandang Mountain and burned down their stronghold the previous night. Eunuch Cao was shocked and agreed to report it to the Emperor and give it a try.
After Eunuch Cao left, Pan Wei frowned and looked at Sun Xingjian: "Why do you say that we drove away the bandits? We didn't even see a trace of them."
“Protector, how can we make our contributions seem greater if we don’t say it this way? Saving Wenjun is the most important thing right now.”
Thinking about it, it made sense. So, for the first time, the honest and straightforward Commissioner Pan lied and boasted before the Emperor.
This tactic worked, and soon Eunuch Cao came out and invited the two of them inside.
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