One morning after the daily military exercises of the imperial guards, the fourth prince Feng Jun Yao was surprised to see a new pile of scrolls and record books on his desk in the imperial guard"s barracks being delivered.
"Where did all these scrolls came from?" Feng Jun Yao stopped one of the workers to inquire.
The worker immediately recognized the fourth prince so he bowed and answered. "Replying your highness, these are the remaining records delivered from the Minister Xia"s manor. They said they found them in a forgotten archive and thought they have to hand them over as well."
Feng Jun Yao felt headache coming seeing the pile in front of him. Although these are less than the ones they delivered after his emperor brother took back Minister Xia"s jurisdiction of the imperial guards, back then he had Xiao Tians.h.i.+ to review them together.
Thinking up to this point, a smile bloomed at Feng Jun Yao"s face. "Maybe I could use this as an excuse to call her out!" He thought excitedly. After all it is hard to meet a "missing" person frequently.
Later that night, Feng Jun Yao groomed himself and waited at his office. He took a flower scented bath and wore a stylish robe. His appearance right now is drastically different to his usual brawny look. If someone who doesn"t know him will look at him right now, they might think that he is a refined prince.
When the night deepened and everyone in the barracks, including the servants, are already asleep, Feng Jun Yao heard a low knock at the window. His heartbeat quickened then he stood up and straightened his robes before opening it. On the other side, a beautiful girl in black male robes greeted him.The girl is about nineteen years old with a well-proportioned and toned body. Anyone could tell that she is well versed in martial arts. Feng Jun Yao admired her from top to bottom. Giving more attention to her perfectly developed chest area. Totally different to the thirteen-year-old arrogant brat he met years ago. The girl is no other than Xiao Tians.h.i.+.
She was caught off guard seeing a well-groomed Feng Jun Yao greeting her. Earlier, she received a letter saying "help" from him through a "customer" who bought medicine in the Caoyao Pavillion where she is currently hiding as a "male" store attendant. That is their way to reach out to each other. But seeing him now, she realized that she was fooled by this clingy man again and her anxiety was uncalled for.
Grabbing Feng Jun Yao"s hand, Xiao Tians.h.i.+ leaped to entered the room through the window. "Your highness, you don"t look like you are in danger. You even have the time to soak in a scented bath. Why would you ask for help?" Xiao Tians.h.i.+ said with one eyebrow raised while crossing her arms in front of her chest.
Feng Jun Yao gave the most convincing pitiful look he could muster then hugged her from behind. "Do I really need to have a life and death situation to have a reason to see my wife? I can"t even remember the last time I saw you." He said in a mournful tone.Xiao Tians.h.i.+ rolled her eyes at him. "You! Who is your wife?! I"m not your wife yet. And you can see me in the Caoyao Pavilion any time." Xiao Tians.h.i.+ rebuked.
"Being my wife is inevitable. Once sister-in-law returns, we"ll start preparing for the wedding. In fact, my manor is already prepared to receive their princess." Feng Jun Yao shamelessly declared with a cheeky grin gaining a blush from Xiao Tians.h.i.+. "And I really do need help." He added while pointing at the pile of scrolls on his desk.
Masking her embarra.s.sment from Feng Jun Yao"s bold declaration, Xiao Tians.h.i.+ escaped from his hold and opened one of the scrolls. "These are very old records of war tactics. And basically useless and outdated. Why would they send these after all these years?" She asked after briefly skimming the contents of the almost brownish yellow colored paper.
Feng Jun Yao sat on the chair in front of the desk while pulling Xiao Tians.h.i.+ towards his lap, catching the lady off guard in the process causing her to give him a deathly glare. "They said the coincidentally found it in a forgotten archive. And they reasoned that since the emperor told them to surrender everything, these also included these old records.
And I have no choice but to check them all, be it useful or not. After all I already a.s.sumed that old man Xia"s responsibilities. So I need my Tians.h.i.+"s help on these paperwork ah…" Feng Jun Yao said with a pitiful puppy eyes.
Seeing him trying to act pitiful as if this kind of job is too difficult for him, Xiao Tians.h.i.+ flicked Feng Jun Yao"s forehead. "Your highness, if I remember correctly, you are a prince with more than sufficient education compared to us lowly commoner. Don"t act like you are illiterate that cannot even handle simple reading.""But there"s too many for me to handle alone. I might fall asleep before I can finish half of them." Feng Jun Yao whined making him look comical with his towering size.
"Fine! But I can only help you tonight. You should finish the rest by yourself." Xiao Tians.h.i.+ compromised. She then started working only to realize that anything she pulls out contains useless information as she predicted. Most of them are inventory of old weapons and other necessities that were used by the soldiers from more than a hundred years ago. Some are even almost unreadable that she decided not to try to read it anymore.
After more than just an hour, they already finished more than half of the pile. But before Xiao Tians.h.i.+ could decide to stop reading and deemed them as useless, a piece of new sheet of paper mysteriously appeared after she unrolled a scroll. There is no need to think deep to know that it was purposely inserted recently.
Both Xiao Tians.h.i.+ and Feng Jun Yao paused and immediately diverted their attention to that piece of paper. And after reading its content, their hearts thumped and eyes widened. They never thought they would discover such huge conspiracy.
"Mo Jin!" Xiao Tians.h.i.+ suddenly called out a name. And a black clothed man soundlessly entered the room through the window causing alarm to Feng Jun Yao. But Xiao Tians.h.i.+ a.s.sured him that the intruder is not a foe. "It"s fine. He"s from the Qiangdu country. He"s here specifically for this information." She added pertaining to the sheet of paper in her hand before handing it over to the black clothed man called Mo Jin.
Reading the paper"s contents, Mo Jin"s expression visibly darkened. The paper contains the revelation of the enemy"s plot. It stated that a woman called Liu Yeyin is using the Zhixiang country to conquer both the Gonglu and Fanrong countries. Then use their combined force to go against Qiangdu country.
Unfortunately, the details in the paper are too general. So despite knowing that the Zhixiang country is targeting Gonglu, they don"t have any idea how they would do it. This frustrates them even more because even though they know that troubles are coming, they have no idea how to counter it.
"Rest a.s.sured even though this information is lacking, it is enough to convince our King to send some of his strongest subordinates to aid your country. After all it proves that the Liu clan is really the force behind them." Mo Jin stated solemnly. He can"t help but think that they should"ve purged the entire Liu clan that time twenty years ago. "They are our country"s traitors."
Feng Jun Yao is about to ask for more details to report to his emperor brother, but it was interrupted by a series of rushed footsteps coming towards his office. Mo Jin and Xiao Tians.h.i.+ immediately reacted and hid themselves.
With a pale and panicked look, a soldier barged in. "Y-y-your h-highness! H-his majesty! The emperor was found unconscious in his chambers!"
Hearing the report, Feng Jun Yao felt like he was doused in freezing cold water. And without a word, he ran towards the stables to get his horse and immediately left towards the palace.