305 Untitled (2/2)

She moved closer and proceeded to point at ”His Majesty's personal handwriting” for Meng Fuyao, her jade-like finger traveling over the pale golden scroll, not landing at the bottom of the list, but instead pointing at the word between ”Fenglai Mountain”, ”Yuchi Lake”, ”Taiyou View” and ”Wanxian Mountain”.

Meng Fuyao squinted her eyes, Zhangsun Wuji tilted his head, and the two of them chuckled unanimously, ”Oh, I see.”

Feng Danning curtsied and retreated.

They carried on eating the gyoza, the sound of merriment filling the air as the officials began to appreciate the flavor of the gyozas, which tasted even better with wine, and the more they ate, the more they laughed.

Meng Fuyao drank her wine lazily, a slight smile gracing her lips.

”Lai, Chi, You, Xian.”

”Lai ci you xian.” (The second word of the names of the locations mentioned earlier form a similar pronunciation to the Chinese phrase for ”Coming here is dangerous.”)

Feng Danning actually thought of using assonance to warn her discreetly.

However, she wasn't a pig, how would she not be aware that coming here was dangerous? Feng Danning naturally knew that they were aware as well. Hence, the warning was fake; it was merely the Ninth Princess's attempt at hinting her alliance.

Seems like there were quite a few factions within the Xuanji Royal Court.

Meng Fuyao smiled and tapped her fingers on the table. ”Your Highnesses, food must be eaten, places must be visited, and official matters must be discussed as well. I have yet to receive a response on how Xuanji intends to answer for the Crown Prince and I being trapped and ambushed in the North. Who is the culprit? How many are there? Have they been caught? How do you intend to deal with the criminals?”

After being bombarded with these questions in rapid succession, all of the officials quickly put down their chopsticks, and the room quickly fell quiet. The Second Prince looked slightly stunned, his gaze falling upon the easily manipulated Prime Minister. He knew that the Prime Minister had gone to meet the Emperor about this matter previously, but he didn't know what had been discussed.

The Prime Minister's fingers tightened around his chopsticks as he frantically thought of what to say. He would never tell Meng Fuyao directly what His Majesty had said, yet he didn't know what else to say, and after a long time, he mumbled, ”… We're currently investigating the situation. The entire of Xuanji will definitely give the Crown Prince and King Meng a good answer.”

Meng Fuyao nibbled on her chopstick and smiled. ”How efficient, how efficient.”

The other Xuanji officials remained silent, acting dumb.

”Actually, there's no need to do much, there're so many people in the world, finding those few murderers is like finding needles in a haystack, I don't want to trouble you guys,” Meng Fuyao said to the delight of the officials. However, she continued, ”As the saying goes, a head for a head, if you beat someone then pay them, the Crown Prince and I could be counted as being beaten by Xuanji. Since our statuses are different, you don't have to compensate us with silver, just cut a few cities for us.”

The tone in which she spoke was casual and light, yet when the officials heard her, they almost fainted, and after several moments, the Prime Minister stuttered, ”… Cut… cut a few cities?”

”I don't need much,” Meng Fuyao chewed on gyoza and raised a hand, ”Just this is enough, the Crown Prince will take the larger ones, I'll take the smaller ones.”

”Five… five cities…”

”That's right,” Meng Fuyao smiled, ”Just a few days ago, wasn't Dahan just discussing with you guys about erasing a few cities on the Xuanji map? The discussion should probably be finished by now? If it's not finished, then my troop of 30,000 men from Chang County and Wuji's troop of 30,000 stationed at Mianzhou is precisely located on both sides of Dan City, so…” She formed a scissor-shape with her fingers and mimed cutting the air, smiling sinisterly.

”Just like that… Snip!”

All of the officials jumped in fright as if they had really been cut by her.

”This is no small matter, no small matter,” the Prime Minister wiped his sweat, ”We don't have the power to make this decision, no power…”

”This is the most pressing issue that I want to settle right now,” Meng Fuyao said solemnly. ”Before it's settled, I have no intention to travel around.”

”Uh… Uh…” The Prime Minister was stumped; he naturally knew that the traveling arrangement was absurd, but what wasn't absurd at that moment? The Imperial Court was in a mess, and all the officials were uncertain as to who the new leader was going to be. His Majesty had locked himself in the harem and refused to come out, only releasing orders, yet occasionally the orders had been contradictory as well. Under such circumstances, although the Prime Minister had been trying hard to hold things up, he was already at his wit's end. Now that the opposing party was on the offense, what could a mere official like him offer? His head?

One look at the itinerary was all it took to understand His Majesty's intent not to let the Crown Prince and King Meng remain in Dan City to witness the civil unrest. But since he had been so unwilling, why had he invited them in the first place, creating such a situation now?

The Prime Minister's mind was in a jumble, yet unable to understand what was going on in the secretive Xuanji Palace. He broke out in a cold sweat as he tried to shift the topic.

However, Meng Fuyao didn't have the patience and retrieved a box from beside her. ”I have a present from Dahan to personally offer the Emperor of Xuanji, yes… personally! But with the itinerary that you planned for me, it seems like I won't be able to meet His Majesty, this is…”