Chapter 63

Chapter 63

The eldest prince looked at the strategist with eager eyes, and the strategist smiled mysteriously, saying, "These past two days, General Lu's adopted son has been making overtures to me. Your Highness should know that Lu Tong, due to Lu Yunqi's death, has turned his anger towards Murong Jie. I'm afraid he won't be able to borrow the Lu Family Army's influence."

The eldest prince's face lit up with wild joy, asking, "Sir, you mean..."

The strategist waved his feather fan, smiling even more inscrutably: "At most fifteen days, Your Highness can make your move, to avoid dragging things out and inviting trouble."

Hearing the strategist's words, the eldest prince finally burst into loud laughter. Laughing, he picked up a wine jug, poured a cup, handed it to the strategist, and clinked his cup hard against the strategist's. After clinking, he tilted his head back and drank it all in one go.

After finishing the wine, the eldest prince wiped the wine stains from the corner of his mouth and said, "Good, good, good. This is the day I've been waiting for! With the Lu Family Army, what do I have to fear from Murong Jie? That mongrel isn't even fit to tie my shoes! You've put in the work these past days, Sir. When I take the throne, you'll be a marquis! Your support in my rise is a huge achievement!"

The strategist smiled and said, "Your Highness is too kind. I do this for a wise ruler and for the people's blessings. As for being made a marquis, I've never considered it."

But the eldest prince let out a disdainful laugh: "I don't buy that, Sir. Since ancient times, who doesn't chase fame and profit? You've planned for me, and I naturally will value you! Enough of this pointless talk. Sir, tell me, what's your plan?"

By now, the Wanping Wasteland—no, it should be called Wanping City—

Wanping was booming. It was no longer a nobody town but a bustling district with tens of thousands of people.

It drew in not just refugees from Great Xia but also traveling merchants from Great Jin, Great Zhao, and Great Yan.

At this point, Wanping City no longer kept its existence a secret. Like a giant roc riding the wind, its fame spread across the Central Plains and beyond in just days.

The buzz was that a Wanping City had seemingly risen overnight in the northern wasteland. Its lord, surnamed Mo, was called Mo Wen. The locals called him a heavenly envoy sent down to save the world from its misery.

Even the capital was buzzing with praise for the Wanping city lord.

"Have you heard? There's this divine place up north called Wanping City. They say if you're at the end of your rope, pass the city lord's test, and you can join that divine place and live like a god!"

"I heard that too, but who knows if it's real!"

"It's true! Absolutely true! Do you remember Wei San, who fled here with me? He got recruited by the Wanping city lord under the pretense of a job opening. Not long after, I heard he sent a ton of silver home, and his family's life got way better. Soon after, he took his folks and his kids over to live the good life! I didn't believe it then, but now that I think about it, why didn't I go along? I heard about Wanping City's recruitment at the time too!"

"Man, you really missed out! I heard folks in Wanping City eat white rice every day, with all the meat and veggies they want—chicken, duck, fish, pork, you name it. They get silk and satin every month, and their food and clothes are better than the palace concubines'!"

"That's not all! I heard you can just scoop fish out of the rivers, and the butcher shops are stuffed with meat—all free! Clothing shops keep popping up, and you can wear whatever you want..."

Listening to all this, Lu Yunqi could only think: this is getting more and more ridiculous.

After two weeks of rest, he'd mostly recovered. The day he could walk again, he talked to Xiao Jiu about setting up a business outpost in the capital.

Xiao Jiu had no problem with it, but he did ask: "Master! You're this eager to go back to the capital—is it to see someone?"

Lu Yunqi played dumb and denied it: "What are you talking about? Of course I want to see people! I want to see the child I gave birth to myself! I only got one look at him after giving birth before you hauled me back. I birthed him myself, after all—blood's thicker than water. What's wrong with wanting to see him?"

Xiao Jiu covered his face: "Alright, alright, I hope the one you want to see is really him. But Master, if you return to the capital with your current appearance, it might not be wise. What if you run into Murong Jie? How would you explain yourself to him?"

When he left, things were urgent, and Lu Yunqi hadn't had a chance to think it through.

When he finally calmed down, he realized his heart felt empty.

When he was working on the strategy, he thought clearly: just survive. As long as he could survive, he was willing to pay with his body, even if it meant pregnancy and childbirth.

Yes, he was afraid of death, but the fear of death is human instinct—it wasn't his fault.

But humans are strange creatures. No matter how terrible your past experiences were, if you've experienced warmth, then when you look back, all you remember is that warmth.

It's said that the human brain has a function of forgetting pain—it's the body's protective mechanism.

Although Lu Yunqi found it absurd—how could he feel nostalgic for someone who had killed him nine times? Shouldn't he want to stay as far away from him as possible?

Now that he had finally succeeded in his strategy and escaped, he was running back eagerly. It really didn't make sense.

No matter how unreasonable it was, his feet were now on the ground of the capital.

But the atmosphere in the capital was clearly off. The streets were too quiet. The small vendors didn't dare make noise, and even the usually bustling West Market Street now seemed somewhat desolate.

Lu Yunqi sent people to inquire, but they couldn't get any useful information. They only knew that the emperor was severely ill and hadn't held court for two days, and the empress had been attending to him for three consecutive days. No minister could submit memorials, and even if they were submitted, they were returned by the attendants.

"The old emperor is severely ill? That shouldn't be! Didn't they say that although this old emperor is sickly, he's actually very hard to kill?"

Lu Yunqi was currently wearing a stunningly handsome face, no longer his original appearance. Xiao Jiu had given him a new face, and Lu Yunqi's only requirement was that it had to be handsome—preferably more handsome than Murong Jie.

But Murong Jie's face was already the ceiling of male beauty, so Xiao Jiu had to take a different approach and style him toward the alluring and seductive side.

His overall rating indeed matched Murong Jie's, but with every smile and frown, he was one hundred percent eye-catching, captivating men and women, young and old alike. Everyone on the street had to take a second look at him.

Lu Yunqi sighed softly at this: "Being too handsome in this model is also a kind of trouble!"

Yuan Pingya, who had gone to gather information, returned. He whispered in Lu Yunqi's ear: "I heard that His Highness Prince Cang has been made a Prince Peer and has already moved out of his original residence. Lord Nine Thousand Years has long since cut ties with him, and the little young master is being raised by Lord Nine Thousand Years."