Chapter 175: The Prince Has Learned Bad Habits from You
Yan Jiu’s answer leaned more towards the bigger picture than personal feelings: “It concerns the sea merchants. After defeating the Japanese, maritime trade will surely flourish. The Yan Clan is willing!”
Jin Sui smiled gratefully at the two of them: “Then, the three of us have reached another cooperation. Ji Sui keeps her word. After returning to the border city, I will do my utmost to help you both achieve your wishes.”
Gu Changxiao quickly said: “This is my duty. Sui Sui, please don’t put too much pressure on yourself. You don’t need to go all out; your health is more important.”
This journey to the Northern Frontier, Sui Sui had clearly lost a lot of weight, her chin had become pointed. Before, when she was the Li King, she often mumbled at night, saying she was too tired and really wanted to sleep until she woke up naturally!
Gu Changxiao kept it all in mind. When they returned to the border city, he would definitely let Sui Sui sleep until she woke up naturally, and not let her worry or work too hard.
Just then, Hei Hu’s voice came from outside the tent: “Prince, Leader Ji, the Princess has arrived.”
Jin Sui heard a horse whinny. She opened the felt tent door and saw Princess Tuoya with a hint of anger on her face. Not far away, Batu was galloping on his horse.
Jin Sui raised an eyebrow. It seemed this younger brother was difficult to handle! As an elder sister herself, she understood Princess Tuoya’s feelings of disappointment.
“Princess, what’s wrong with the Crown Prince?” Jin Sui asked with a smile.
Tuoya said angrily: “Don’t mind him! I want to discuss the plan after entering the city with the Li King.”
Jin Sui invited her in. After hearing her intentions, Gu Changxiao had Eunuch Zhou brought over.
Eunuch Zhou was very panicked at first, completely confused about the current situation, especially when Gu Changxiao directly asked: “Did Prince Yu give you any token to contact the Left Wise King?”
Eunuch Zhou’s face turned pale: “Reporting to Your Highness, no. How would this old servant dare to contact the Left Wise King privately!”
His reaction and answer clearly indicated that he did!
Gu Changxiao sneered. He had intended to use coercion and enticement, but suddenly remembered the method Jin Sui used to deal with such people in the border city, which was much more efficient.
“Huo Zi’an, you tell Eunuch Zhou what the consequences of deceiving this King are!”
Huo Zi’an glanced at Jin Sui, his face instantly turned pale. He didn’t mention how Jin Sui had used him like a beast of burden and then smeared him with syrup to feed the ants.
Instead, he spoke about what happened after the assassin who used poison was captured. At that time, they used an iron brush and boiling water to scrub a live pig, but Huo Zi’an said he was scrubbing the assassin.
Hei Hu added fuel to the fire from the side: “That person was too useless, with little flesh and many bones, he wasn’t scrubbed much.”
Hei Hu looked Eunuch Zhou up and down, stroked his chin, and chuckled: “Eunuch Zhou is different; you have a lot of flesh on you.”
Amusingly, Princess Tuoya thought everyone was just trying to scare Eunuch Zhou, so she chimed in:
“Is it that troublesome for you Great Xia to interrogate a prisoner? Our Northern Frontier is much simpler. We just drag them behind a horse and run them on a sandy, rocky ground.
By the end, the person is ground to pieces, leaving a mess of shredded meat and blood, with only the head intact.”
Jin Sui exclaimed with disgust: “That’s also troublesome, and so dirty! There will be flies and maggots all over the ground.
I have a more interesting method. Wrap the person in a fishing net, then get a few dozen large dogs. Any flesh exposed through the net’s holes, cut it off and throw it to the dogs to fight over…”
Before Jin Sui could finish, Eunuch Zhou immediately knelt: “Yes, yes! It wasn’t Prince Yu, it was the Empress, who asked this old servant to secretly meet the Left Wise King with this token.”
He took out a jade tablet from his chest and tremblingly handed it to Gu Changxiao.
Gu Changxiao didn’t take it, but smiled: “It’s good that you have it. Then, please trouble Eunuch Zhou to lead us to meet the Left Wise King together.”
Liu Yun floated to Jin Sui’s side like a little doll and said: “The Prince has learned bad things from you.”
Jin Sui was speechless: “This is called adaptability, understand? Your Prince didn’t know how to adapt before, that’s why he was driven to the border city.”
Liu Yun choked. My Prince was a dignified gentleman before. Ever since he met you, he’s become a second rogue.
Of course, Liu Yun had to admit that in places like the border city and the Northern Frontier, the rogue’s approach was clearly better than the gentleman’s.
Moreover, he quite liked the Prince’s change. He remembered when the Prince was first expelled from Chang’an, his face was filled with despair.
His eyes were vacant, his expression was sorrowful, and he seemed to be plunged into an abyss of endless darkness, never to see a glimmer of light again in this life.
But when the Prince arrived at the border city and met Daoist Ji, everything changed. That desolate and barren border city healed the Prince’s heart and gave him the courage to start anew.
The Prince before them now was like a metamorphosis. He estimated that his old subordinates in Chang’an would not believe their eyes if they saw him.
The Prince had the vibrancy of youth, and his eyes were no longer filled with sadness and heaviness. It was as if the past wounds were merely the hardships of wind and frost, not worth mentioning at all.
Instead, there was a fiery ambition and passionate fighting spirit.
Liu Yun looked at Miss Ji beside him, a truly strange and capable girl.
The courage she possessed, the kind that feared no difficulty, seemed contagious. As long as one stayed by her side for a while, even you would feel that
the difficulties before you were merely ravines, and then, you would charge forward like a fierce tiger through them!
“What are you looking at? Your Prince changed because he is a good learner, learning for the better. You should be grateful to me!”
Liu Yun actually nodded very seriously: “Thank you, Miss Ji.”
This left Jin Sui speechless. This was going too far, as if I turned your dignified and noble Prince into a rogue.
Seeing Gu Changxiao and the others still discussing, Jin Sui quietly went out, preparing to have a chat with that adolescent Crown Prince.
Internal disunity among clients, and lack of cooperation, makes business impossible!
After your sister and the Li King enter the Royal Court, they will still need you to provide support!
Adolescents are actually very easy to appease. As long as you praise them and give them the feeling that the sky is about to fall and only they can hold it up, they will become energized.
Liu Yun naturally followed. The Prince had said that his mission was to protect Miss Ji’s safety.
Jin Sui was still defending herself: “What I did when I was the Li King was out of necessity. I was afraid of being exposed, and afraid of not being able to intimidate those Yan Clan gentry, so I had to pretend to be a villain.
In reality, I am a very gentle and kind good girl!”
Liu Yun: … I’ve never heard of a good girl who calls herself gentle and kind.
Moreover, why do I feel that the period when you were the Li King was your true nature, and now you seem to be acting.
Seeing Liu Yun’s disbelieving expression, Jin Sui felt even more wronged, feeling that the things she did while pretending to be the Li King would become a lifelong black history.
Before, she used to say that since it was Gu Changxiao’s reputation at stake, it had nothing to do with her.
But now it seemed it was her own reputation at stake, and it would be remembered by Hei Hu, Liu Yun, and the others for a lifetime!
Mounting her horse and asking Tuoya’s bodyguards about the Crown Prince’s whereabouts, Jin Sui felt all her worries disappear as she galloped.
Reputation, face, and such things are not important at all! No matter what you think of me, someone called me a reincarnation of a mischievous monkey before, so now I’m that mischievous monkey’s sister.
“Alas, I wish I had a brother like Sun Wukong.”
She thought she was sighing in her heart, but unexpectedly, due to carelessness, she actually said it out loud.
Liu Yun looked at her with an increasingly strange gaze. What was Miss Ji thinking about all day?
You were just talking about the passion during the defeat of the Japanese, and I was still admiring you. Now you want to be a monkey…
“Leader Ji, hehe.”
Jin Sui turned her head and saw Hei Hu galloping up on his horse. A wave of guilt surged in her heart. After meeting in the Northern Frontier, she hadn’t had a proper chat with Hei Hu and Han Xing alone.
She quickly smiled: “Congratulations, Hei Hu, on your promotion. When we return to the border city, the Prince will surely promote you again, and Miss Bai will become an official’s wife when she marries you.”
Hei Hu couldn’t feel anything towards his superiors, but upon hearing Miss Bai’s name, his face instantly turned red: “Hehe, Leader Ji, what else did Miss Bai say?”
Jin Sui, of course, exaggerated Baozhu’s words, adding a lot of affectionate confessions, which made Hei Hu both happy and shy.
The two-meter-tall man actually fidgeted on his horse, poking his fingers together: “Did Miss Bai really say that?”
Liu Yun felt the scene was too beautiful for him to watch. Who would have thought this was Hei Hu, the Captain who strung Tartars and heads onto a spear like candied hawthorns?
He looked like a village guardian! Women are truly terrifying. No matter how mighty and powerful a man is, in their hands, they turn into fools.
Hei Hu asked again: “Leader Ji, when we return to the border city, can you come to my wedding with Miss Bai?”
Jin Sui said affirmatively: “Of course! I will be the officiant.”
Hei Hu said happily: “That’s great! I was so worried Leader Ji would leave.” He then apologized:
“I regret not leaving with you back then. Hearing that you encountered assassins, Han Ge and I were both very regretful.
I’m sorry, Leader Ji. If you go anywhere in the future, be sure to bring the brothers from our Black Feather Camp. Other bodyguards are useless.”
Liu Yun didn’t like hearing this. Wasn’t he explicitly saying he was useless? But he had indeed failed to protect her adequately, and he was both angry and unsure how to retort.
Suddenly, a high-pitched and melodious cry echoed from the sky. The three looked up and saw two falcons circling and calling out above the pasture.
Jin Sui initially found it quite interesting, wondering if the falcons would dive down to catch lambs.
Suddenly, she thought of something and quickly shouted to Tuoya’s bodyguard: “Where is the Crown Prince? Quickly, there are enemies!”
Hei Hu and Liu Yun looked around in surprise. Where were the enemies?
At this moment, Jin Sui saw Batu. This kid was dressed even more luxuriously than his sister. The large hat he wore was inlaid with gemstones bigger than pigeon eggs.
The red cloak he wore was the color of blood.
Jin Sui loudly commanded: “Liu Yun, push the Crown Prince into the grass. Hei Hu, put on his cloak, run thirty miles north, then take off the clothes and run back.”
Although Batu was adolescent, he wasn’t stupid. Seeing the circling falcons, he understood Jin Sui’s intention. He quickly took off his cloak and threw it to Hei Hu.
Without Liu Yun having to push him, he jumped off his horse. Liu Yun pressed his head down as they hid in the shallow grass.
Jin Sui ran north with Hei Hu first. When she realized the falcons were indeed following them, she stopped to test.
After confirming the falcons were following Hei Hu, she returned and angrily dragged Batu out of the grass, slapping him directly:
“Do you even know what the situation is? Do you want to drag all of us down with you?”
Unfortunately, because the other party was too tall, her slap lost much of its force. Even so, it stunned the approaching Northern Frontier guards.
This Han woman is dead! How dare she hit the Crown Prince!
Liu Yun was already thinking that if the Crown Prince ordered Miss Ji to be killed, he would snatch Miss Ji onto his horse and flee the Northern Frontier first.
To everyone’s surprise, Batu merely touched his slapped cheek and looked down at his toes, like an elementary school student who had done wrong and was being scolded by a teacher:
“I just didn’t expect them to send falcons.”
Jin Sui’s anger subsided, and she regretted slapping him. In her previous life, this slap would have cost tens of thousands of yuan.
But seeing Batu’s reaction, Jin Sui’s heart skipped a beat. It seemed Princess Tuoya’s usual way of disciplining her brother was too gentle, hence ineffective.
When a sister disciplines her brother, she has to hit him!
“Hurry back and gather your people. This tribe is no longer safe. Hei Hu only led the falcons away, but as long as they follow the area where the falcons were circling, they can track us here.”
Jin Sui returned to the felt tent first. Really, she hadn’t even had a peaceful sleep yet, and now she had to run again.
What she didn’t hear was Batu asking Liu Yun behind her: “Can Taoist nuns in your Central Plains who serve gods really not get married?”
Liu Yun: “… She hits people!”
Batu touched his face and said with a reminiscent smile: “Her small hands don’t hit people! This is called affection.”
Liu Yun: … So many lunatics, I want to go home!
Catching up with Jin Sui, he curiously asked: “How did you know those falcons were looking for the Crown Prince?”
Jin Sui casually replied: “I read it in a book. Northern Frontier falconers specially train falcons to find people.”
She then muttered: “Batu is too idiotic! He dresses so conspicuously when he goes out. Cooperating with such a client will eventually lead to ruin!”
Liu Yun looked pityingly at Batu. How could you be so misguided as to want to marry this tigress?
At this moment, everyone who heard the commotion rushed out. Gu Changxiao, seeing that Jin Sui was unharmed, asked with relief: “What happened?”
Jin Sui explained the situation briefly. Princess Tuoya was extremely embarrassed, fearing that the Li King and Yan Jiu would find Batu unreliable and refuse to cooperate further.
The tribal chief Batu was the most furious. He wasn’t angry that Batu attracted the falcons, but that the Left Wise King dared to send falcons to scout his tribe.
He immediately said: “Princess, please don’t be angry. I will send my best archers to shoot down that falcon.”
At this moment, two falcons with arrows on them were thrown at Batu’s feet. Everyone looked up and saw Hei Hu in the red cloak, looking magnificent:
“Hehe, no need. I’ve already shot them down!”
“Leader Ji, you asked me to lead them away, but I felt uneasy just leading them away, so I just shot them dead.”
Then Jin Sui saw the way these Northern Frontier people looked at Hei Hu, it was as if they were looking at a god of war.
She first praised Hei Hu: “Well done!”
Then she reminded everyone: “Although the falcons are dead, the people who were observing them will surely realize that they circled above the tribe. The tribe is not safe, we still need to leave.”
Batu quickly said: “Then you all can transfer to my other tribe.”
Yan Jiu said clearly: “We need to be fast. The Left Wise King has already torn off the pretense and only wants to capture and annihilate all of us.”
No one had much to pack. From the mention of transferring to departure, it took less than fifteen minutes. Batu had his eldest son lead the team, and everyone left on horseback.
Batu himself stayed behind to look after the old and weak tribesmen and to deal with the Left Wise King’s men.
No one expected that an hour later, Batu’s youngest daughter would chase after them, crying:
“The Left Wise King personally led his men to the tribe, demanding the whereabouts of the Crown Prince and Princess. When Father refused, he killed him!”
