Chapter 1023: Dumb but cute (2/2)
Long Feiye lifted Han Yunxi’s chin and grinned. “Han Yunxi, I don’t mind you turning a little dumber.”
Han Yunxi was both embarrassed and angry. She shoved him aside with a glare.
“Urgent news,” Long Feiye added, reminding her of the secret missive in her hand. She glanced at the paper and recognized it as the one used for the fastest messages from Western Zhou.
Quickly opening the letter, Han Yunxi poured over the contents and grew alarmed. “In other words, Mu Qingwu was kidnapped?”
Before Mu Qingwu sought refuge with Long Tianmo and the Mu Clan gave their daughter to Long Tianmo in marriage, Han Yunxi had an excellent opinion of the young general. In fact, he was only inferior to Gu Beiyue then. But after the incident with the famine crisis, Mu Qingwu chose to side with Long Tianmo and the imperial uncle for the sake of Mu Liuyue’s marriage. After that, Han Yunxi stopped viewing him as a friend.
“It’s been ten days or so, but the kidnapper still hasn’t shown his face. This is really something,” Long Feiye observed.
“Jun Yixie?” Han Yunxi guessed at a suspect. In the past, the man had laid plenty of spies in Tianning. Perhaps he still had agents in Tianan. But she quickly dismissed that idea. Tianan and Western Zhou had the strength of a chicken on the grand chessboard of Cloud Realm Continent. They were neither worth eating nor bad enough to through away, but they had no impact to the conclusion whether they were allies or enemies.
If Mu Qingwu wasn’t kidnapped for some public cause, could this be a private vendetta?
Long Feiye wasn’t very concerned about Mu Qingwu. The only reason he was consulting with Han Yunxi about this message in the middle of the night was a question worth asking.
He asked, “Why is Emperor Kangcheng so worried this time?”
“Duanmu Jin’s married Long Tianmo, so it’s a power struggle between the empress and noble consort?” Han Yunxi suggested. But it was clear that she was less sensitive to politic issues like these.
Long Feiye expounded, “Emperor Kangcheng might be getting old, but he’s not blind. He must be afraid of something, or else he wouldn’t get involved in this mess.”
Long Feiye didn’t know the truth of Emperor Kangcheng’s fears towards the Mu Clan, but he had guessed completely right. Western Zhou and Tianan didn’t share any borders and were now equally weak. Their alliance wasn’t a matter of mutual interests or benefits, because neither Long Tianmo nor the Mu Clan troops posed any significant threats to Emperor Kangcheng. It was perfectly reasonable for him to observe the current course of events. However, it would be different if Emperor Kangcheng was actually under some form of exhortion from Long Tianmo or the Mu Clan troops. Unable to sit still, he’d then get involved in the disappearance of Mu Qingwu.
After Long Feiye’s explanation, Han Yunxi immediately understood. She asked doubtfully, “But what could Long Tianmo and the Mu Clan troops threaten Emperor Kangcheng with?”
The two nations bordered the powerful south central regions and Tianning. Could Long Tianmo and the Mu Clan troops be threatening Emperor Kangcheng on the military front? But that isn’t reasonable. Chu Tianyin should pose the biggest threat to Emperor Kangcheng, ah.
Chu Tianyin was one of Long Feiye’s agents, so Emperor Kangcheng should ultimately dread Long Feiye. Another option was that Long Tianmo’s powers had infiltrated the Chu Clan troops, but Chu Tianyin should have discovered something like that ages ago judging from his skills. Even now, the Chu Clan troops were perfectly fine and had finished preparing everything. They were going to cooperate with Long Feiye in the coming spring to battle their way up north!
Han Yunxi had a hundred unanswered questions while Long Feiye was puzzling over it too. He took the matter to heart and wrote a reply to Chu Tianyin as soon as Han Yunxi brought him brush and ink. It was a reminder for him to check the army for any potential spies.
After a shadow guard left with the letter, Long Feiye shut the doors and discovered that Han Yunxi was already lying on the bed. Although it was the middle of winter, the Celestial Fire Qian Furnace kept rooms in the Medicine Requesting Cave nice and cozy. Han Yunxi was only wearing a fine silk gauze slip as she reclined lazily on her side against a pillow.
It was too late, so she was looking at him groggily. Long Feiye walked over and said in all honesty, “Han Yunxi, I really am a little hungry.”
That was enough to banish Han Yunxi’s drowsiness. She had no idea what he could mean by “hungry” now. He sounds so serious, so maybe his stomach’s actually hungry? But this guy’s never had the habit of midnight snacking. In fact, he doesn’t even like to eat when it gets too late at night.
Han Yunxi’s expression turned dumbly cute again as she struggled with an answer for Long Feiye…