It seemed like someone didn"t want Han Xiang to be welcomed at Lin Zhou, but the only city that they could rest comfortably was Lin Zhou. But why? Was there another party that wanted to prevent this marriage? Even if they wanted to stop their marriage, they couldn"t let people know that it was the work of Shu people... otherwise, the consequences would be dire!
Who did this?!
Yao Ling decided to drag the rest of them to rest at a nearby teahouse. She felt thirsty and a teahouse was the place where people drinking and talking at the same time. They probably would be able to hear something there.
Lin Zhou wasn"t as big as Wen Feng, there was only one big teahouse in the city so the chance to find something out was bigger. All of them had a tacit understanding not to talk about what they had heard from the street vendor. Xiao Fang was going to say something on the road, but Yao Ling stopped her with a glance and mouthed to her that it wasn"t the right place to talk. Luckily, Xiao Fang was willing to listen to her.
They sat leisurely while enjoying their tea and pastries. Yao Ling ate hungrily because she didn"t eat any snacks on the street just for the sake of finding information. There were not many people in the teahouse and they patiently waited there. Yao Ling knew that Xiu had been ordered to find out the news secretly, so they weren"t in a hurry.
They talked leisurely until a bunch of scholars went inside the teahouse. The scholars chose to sit near the window and a bit far from where Yao Ling"s party sat down. However, the teahouse wasn"t that big and the surroundings were also a bit quiet so they could hear clearly what the other party talked about. Besides, they talked in loud voices and seemed like afraid not to be heard by other people.
"Haiyahhh~" One of them sighed loudly.
"Soon, The Han Princess will pa.s.s by Lin Zhou ahh~ It will bring us calamity ah!" The other said.
"Yes, ah~... The other two kingdoms are really looking down on our Shu Kingdom."
"How sad..."
"Haaaa~ should we receive the princess at Lin Zhou?"
"What else can we do?"
"It"s a must..."
"But... the other two kingdoms want to join hand ah!"
"What if they will declare war and attack our Shu Kingdom together ah~?"
All of the scholars nodded at the same time. They sat near the window and every pa.s.serby would be able to listen to their words and this teahouse was right in the middle of Lin Zhou"s busy street, so what they talked about would soon be heard by all Lin Zhou"s people. Yao Ling realized that these bunch of scholars were the ones who spread the rumor and incited negative feelings toward Han Xiang before she even stepped foot at Lin Zhou.
If the commoners heard and harbored a negative feeling toward Han Xiang, there was a possibility that they would create a ruckus. If something happened to Han Xiang, they couldn"t avoid war!! Someone just deliberately used this opportunity to incite war. Even if The Emperor wanted to ruin the wedding, he would do it quietly just like them. On the surface, he needed to maintain the good relations.h.i.+p between the three kingdoms.
Yao Ling furrowed her eyebrows and finally decided to say something, "Are we going to let them say nonsense just like that?"
"We can"t let them say something outrageous. We need to come up with something..." Xiao Fang said, she gritted her teeth in anger.
"Wait for a little bit. We need to hear more, so we will know for certain what they are up to..." Lin Jian held Xiao Fang back. This woman was simply too rash --- she always wanted to do right away what"s inside her mind without thinking.
They continued to listen to the scholars" provocation words.
"We need to show our disgust to them when the entourage pa.s.ses by..."
"Yes! We should not let them come step inside Lin Zhou!"
"We should embarra.s.s the princess!!"
"Throw something at their entourage!"
They indeed tried to stir up the crowd and let them do the dirty work of attacking the wedding entourage.
The louder they talked, the more people they were attracted. They listened to what the scholars said and if they heard these kinds of things every day, they definitely would be brainwashed. The commoners tended to believe the words of smart scholars. After all, they were respected by the illiterate people.
Their goal was to make the people angry and ruined the wedding using people"s rage. What a trick!
"I will handle this," Yao Ying said leisurely. Battle of words, huh? He was the best choice for this.
Yao Ying walked to the scholars" table while the three of them looked at him, feeling curious about what he would do next. Yao Ying cut them off in the middle of the scholars" boisterous talk, "Brothers, may I know what is this all about?"
The crowd had gathered around the window, so when Yao Ying suddenly appeared, their focus landed on Yao Ying and felt curious about the young man"s sudden appearance.
One of them answered confidently, "What else? About the upcoming royal marriage between the Qin and Han Kingdoms." The scholar was able to see from Yao Ying"s clothing and aura that he wasn"t an ordinary man, so even though he was arrogant, he didn"t dare to be impolite. There were a lot of people from different backgrounds at Lin Zhou and because of the marriage, Lin Zhou attracted a lot of people from the other parts of the Shu Kingdom. He was afraid that somehow he accidentally offended someone that shouldn"t be offended, so he held back his att.i.tude a little.
"Oh? Let me hear about it more clearly..." Yao Ying pretended that he hadn"t heard a thing before this.
The scholars excitedly repeated what they had said.
Yao Ying nodded, pretending to agree to them. "Ah I see... how do all of you plan to stop them from coming into Lin Zhou? As far as I know, the Shu Kingdom never puts on a ban for them to stay at Lin Zhou."
The crowd listened to Yao Ying and thought that what he had said was indeed true. They realized that The Emperor never made an announcement about that. Did it mean that the Emperor agree with this marriage?
The scholars started to sweat. Indeed, there was no move from the government and they were doing this because of the money and official position that had been offered to them.
One of them smoothly said, "Yes, they never put on a ban. However, we are Shu people so we should uphold justice for our kingdom! I"m sure that The Emperor will feel happy if we work for the better of the kingdom! We can"t let the other kingdoms join hands!"
Yao Ying could see the way the crowd started to sway to the other party once again. Yao Ying shook his head and pretended to ask curiously, "Have you ever thought about the consequences if the Emperor actually allows them to enter and all of you tried to prevent the entourage?"
The scholars startled because no one had asked them that way. They just blindly believed in their words. If they were against the Emperor"s decree, they would become rebels.
"I"m sure The Emperor will support us!" They insisted, trying to maintain their calmness.
"I"m sure... I"m sure... I"m just asking. The announcement board has no such order from The Emperor... I"m afraid... it will only implicate too many people if we let the people do it," Yao Ying said in a clear voice and loud enough for the crowd to hear his words.
Someone from the crowd asked, "What would happen?" And the question was supported by the murmur of the ma.s.s. They started to think about how they almost went into trouble for nothing. In reality, the wedding didn"t affect their life that much.
It made the scholars" face started to get paler. They were scholars but they hadn"t pa.s.sed the test so they couldn"t hold a post in the officialdom. It meant that they weren"t as smart as of how they looked like on the surface.