#699 - Lore
The next day, at dawn.
The envoy from Da Jue, surnamed Zhang, caused quite a stir in Liangzhou City, leaving behind the harsh words, "Da Jue will never let this matter rest."
Afterward, he escorted Yan Huanwen's body out of the city.
They would likely enter the Tian Shan within a day, catch up with the retreating Da Jue army in a few days, and then return to Da Jue with the army.
When that time comes, Yan Huaiqing would certainly wear mourning clothes and hold an incredibly grand funeral for his father, perhaps even immediately constructing a royal mausoleum to bury Yan Huanwen within.
The father unexpectedly died in a foreign land, and the son built a mausoleum for him.
After all this commotion, Yan Huaiqing would undoubtedly transform into a truly commendable, filial, and trustworthy good son.
And once he had done all this, he could rightfully ascend the throne and become the new emperor of Da Jue.
As for Da Ning, who bore the "blame"...
A personal letter of apology from Ning Wenjun, along with some symbolic compensation, would most likely be enough to settle the matter.
After all, this was ultimately an "accident."
I was ready to release the person, but who would have thought that we would happen to encounter a prison break?
Besides, it was your emperor who ran around everywhere, mingling with the prisoners, which led to him being shot to death by stray arrows.
We are indeed very sorry about this.
But that's all there is to it.
Otherwise, what else does Da Jue want?
Another fight?
Then you'll have to ask your new emperor if he agrees first.
Of course, such a "well-timed" accident could not possibly avoid raising suspicions.
However, with the matter already settled and Yan Huanwen dead, those loyal subjects who once swore to follow him to the death would likely make a pragmatic judgment.
If they still insisted on seeking an explanation, they would, at best, be dismissed from their posts and sent home, and at worst, lose their lives.
In that case, it would be better to quickly turn around and side with Yan Huaiqing, completely forgetting about the matter.
Anyway, they are all members of the Yan family, so it's not a big problem.
Thus, after Yan Huanwen's death, Wei Changtian had already fulfilled all his promises to Yan Huaiqing.
And the latter did not make any moves to "kick away the ladder" after crossing the river.
Or rather, Yan Huaiqing now no longer had the ability to "dismantle the bridge."
After all, after suddenly launching an attack and killing 200,000 elite troops of Ji, the Da Jue army that had set out this time was left with only 400,000 or so, which was already at a disadvantage in terms of strength compared to Da Ning.
Moreover, Ji was located between Da Jue and Tian Shan, and if they didn't quickly take it down, the supplies for Da Jue's 400,000 troops would soon become a problem.
Therefore, what Yan Huaiqing had to consider now was not whether he could launch a "counterattack", but how to swallow the entire Ji kingdom in the shortest possible time.
Because of this, the Da Jue army's retreat north was faster than expected.
Only five days later, the vanguard had already left the mountains and immediately engaged in fierce fighting with the defending army of Ji's Nanshan County City.
Wei Changtian had no interest in knowing how they were fighting.
He only knew that in a few more days he would be able to return to Shuzhou.
Um... Before that, there was one more thing.
Now that Yan Huanwen was dead, the Da Jue army had withdrawn from Tian Shan, and the teleportation array had been completely controlled by him...
Then it was time to exchange Chu Xianping and Tang Chen, who were being held as hostages.
February 29th, Tian Shan, Mountain God Temple.
This year happened to be a leap year, and February had twenty-nine days.
And on the last day of February, at noon, Wei Changtian brought Li Zimu and Tang Chen to the Mountain God Temple to prepare for the "hostage exchange."
Now that both sides of the teleportation array were controlled by the Shu army, there would be no accidents in this exchange.
"Young Master Tang."
Turning his head to look at the copper hourglass in the corner, Wei Changtian, with the mentality of "since I'm here, I should say a few words", shifted his gaze to Tang Chen.
"After today's farewell, I don't know when we will meet again."
"There are no personal grudges between you and me. Now that the conflict between Ning and Jue has been resolved, even if we can't be considered friends, at least we are no longer enemies."
"If you have nothing to do in the future, you can always go to Da Shu to find me and see the customs and culture of Da Shu."
"At that time, I will definitely do my best as a host."
"..."
Since that day when he talked with Tang Chen, Wei Changtian had already given up the idea of taking the latter for his own use.
So what he was saying now were all polite words, just to pass the time and avoid standing there awkwardly.
Tang Chen, on the other hand, politely returned some platitudes, and his words and actions were no longer trembling, and could even be said to be very natural and calm.
"Young Master Wei, thank you for your care these past few days."
"If I have the opportunity, I will definitely go to Da Shu for a visit, and I will have to bother you then, Young Master."
"..."
After a few polite words, the copper hourglass's pointer happened to point to noon.
Looking at the dark and deep black mist in front of him, Tang Chen cupped his fist at Wei Changtian.
"Young Master Wei, farewell."
"Mm."
Wei Changtian nodded, watching Tang Chen walk step by step to the black mist.
Wait a minute...
Why does it feel like something is not quite right?
It seems like something is missing...
Turning his head to look at Li Zimu beside him, who had a complicated look in her eyes, Wei Changtian now understood what was wrong.
So it turned out that Li Zimu hadn't said a word!
What's wrong?
Did the beauty trap fail, so you won't even be friends anymore?
People are about to leave, you should at least say goodbye!
Just standing there?
Wei Changtian curled his lips, too lazy to care about Li Zimu, and shifted his gaze back to Tang Chen.
And the latter also suddenly stopped at this time, facing away from Wei Changtian and Li Zimu, and said softly:
"Young Master Wei, don't forget what you promised me."
"Miss Li, thank you..."
"..."
Not "farewell", not "goodbye".
At this last moment of parting with Li Zimu, Tang Chen actually used the word "thank you".
Thank you? Thank you for what?
Wei Changtian was completely confused and didn't understand what Tang Chen meant.
However, Li Zimu seemed to understand, and suddenly took a step and ran towards Tang Chen.
From her posture, Wei Changtian originally thought she was going to give Tang Chen a "retaining" hug.
However, in the end, Li Zimu only stopped half a step behind Tang Chen, and then lowered her head and took out a handkerchief from her sleeve.
"Young Master Tang..."
Calling out softly, Li Zimu seemed very timid, her voice very small.
Seeing Tang Chen turn around, she raised the handkerchief slightly.
"This, this is the handkerchief you once lent me..."
"Re, returning it to you..."
"..."
Returning the handkerchief before parting, at first glance, this action undoubtedly meant "drawing a line."
Tang Chen initially understood it this way as well, so even though he had already taken the initiative to give up on Li Zimu, a trace of pain still flashed in his eyes.
However, just as he took the handkerchief with a bitter expression and his gaze swept across the silk surface, his whole person suddenly froze in place as if struck by lightning.
Dark hair hung low, obscuring the beauty's eyes.
Only to see that a small line of embroidered words had been added to the originally empty silk surface.
The embroidered words were not large, and the embroidery was somewhat rough, with traces of several times of unraveling and re-embroidering, indicating that the embroiderer's needlework was not very good.
However, judging from the dense stitches, the embroiderer was particularly serious.
More importantly, the clusters of dark red blood stains undoubtedly showed how much "price" she had paid to embroider these words.
And the content of this line of small characters conveyed a most unspeakable affection.
With just one glance, all feelings jumped out.
"Young Master Tang..."
"If there is no fate in this life, Zimu will promise you a lifetime in the next."
