Sui Heng’s mind went blank for a moment, then his face remained unchanged, and he replied, “Naturally, just feed whatever is good.”
“So he’s probably had enough to eat?”
“Of course.”
Jiang Yun is half believing and half doubting, mostly doubting.
Since the little boy was born, three nannies have been taking turns feeding him. After he’s half a year old, in addition to regular milk, a bowl of elk antler soup is added every day.
Elk antler soup is such a great tonic. No matter how much one eats, the effect is not half that of elk antler soup. He is really worried that the little boy will be hungry.
But elk antlers are a sensitive topic that Jiang Yun doesn’t really want to mention now.
He switched, “There’s some food. You can take it back to the little boy later.”
Sui Heng agreed.
After lying silent for a moment, Sui Heng suddenly asked, “You don’t want to know how Gu plans to solve this war?”
This is another more sensitive topic.
300,000 troops still lay at the foot of the Muyun Pass. If they stayed for an extra day, they would consume an extra day’s worth of military provisions. Even if Sui Heng were the Crown Prince, he couldn’t be so laborious and treat war like a child’s play.
There must be a result in this matter.
As the Crown Prince of Jiang, he could not have voluntarily given up the Muyun Pass, disregarding the interests of the Jiang Empire and the hundreds of thousands of people in Jiangnan.
Jiang Yun asked, “How does Your Highness plan to solve it?”
Sui Heng said coldly, “How to solve it is Gu’s matter, does it have anything to do with you?”
After speaking, Sui Heng’s heart was a bit congested. He reached out and grabbed the person into his arms, gritting his teeth. “Jiang Rongyu, you really know how to make things difficult for Gu.”
Jiang Yun’s eyes curled and focused on him in the dark night. “Does the fact that Your Highness thinks it’s a difficult problem mean that Your Highness has gone soft on a hypocrite like me already?”
Sui Heng didn’t answer but said, “Give me your hand.”
Jiang Yun didn’t understand his meaning for a moment.
Sui Heng said, “Right hand.”
Jiang Yun didn’t move and asked, “What does Your Highness want to see?”
Sui Heng was silent.
After a while, he said, “You ask while knowing the answer.”
Jiang Yun slightly raised the corner of his mouth, reached out his arms, and hugged his strong waist, saying, “I’m fine, you don’t need to look.”
Sui Heng looked up at the top of the bed, his eyes slowly turning red in the darkness.
The two of them pressed their skin against each other, and Jiang Yun felt his chest tremble gently. He was taken aback and said, “I’m really fine.”
“Of course you are fine, the one who’s not is Gu.”
Sui Heng’s voice contained hatred.
“It’s fun to deceive and tease Gu like that, isn’t it?”
“Look at Gu standing across the street, not suspecting a thing, not knowing your identity at all, and still enthusiastically meeting and competing with you, you feel a great sense of achievement, don’t you?”
“Jiang Rongyu, you are really despicable and hateful. Gu tells you, Gu will never forgive you, let alone feel sorry for you. You deserve to get hurt and suffer.”
“Gu was really—blind. Gu fell in love with a despicable and hateful person like you. That day, Gu should have left you and escaped from the cliff alone.”
Sui Heng breathed lightly, as if a huge torrent was surging in his chest, wanting to break through the constraints of his narrow chest and rush out.
Jiang Yun extended his finger, probing and touching his face.
As soon as his soft fingertips touched the corner of his eye, Sui Heng ordered, “Take it away.”
“Don’t touch Gu.”
Jiang Yun withdrew his hand and felt the wetness on his fingertips. He wrapped his hands around his neck, lowered his head, and lightly kissed the eyes that were also wet. He used his tongue to lick away the wetness from the corners of his eyes.
“Sorry.”
Jiang Yun spoke softly and then went to kiss his other eye.
Sui Heng felt the cold, faint lotus fragrance. Starting from his eyes, he brushed the corners and sockets of his eyes all the way down to his cheeks, lips, and neck, lingering and captivating. He couldn’t help it anymore. He grabbed the slender waist in his palm, turned around, and pressed the person against the pillow, saying coldly, “You’re trying to set Gu up again, so that Gu will be confused and at your mercy?”
That spring day was the same, he was like a beautiful little demon, seducing him for the first time, talking love language to him, tempting him to sink, tempting him to get lost, and then taking advantage of that when he was lost and fled.
“Gu tells you, Gu will not fall under your spell again.”
Sui Heng withdrew his hand and left again.
Jiang Yun completely lost his drowsiness and rubbed his wrists, which were slightly sore from his grip. He read a book for a while, but Sui Heng suddenly turned back and reached out his hand with a gloomy face, “The things.”
As dawn approached, Sui Heng returned to the Sui army camp.
Xu Qiao was yawning and flipping through the book with dark eyes when he saw Sui Heng come in with a gloomy face and a box in his hand. He said strangely, “Where did Your Highness go?”
“Nearby.”
Xu Qiao looked at the extra box out of thin air and couldn’t believe it. “Your Highness… did you go to the other side again?” That’s a lot of traveling, and two trips in one night too.
“What the other side?”
“The Jiang Empire’s main camp.”
Sui Heng firmly denied it.
“Why would Gu go there? To give himself a hard time?”
Sui Heng opened the box while speaking.
When he saw what was inside clearly, his expression suddenly froze.
Xu Qiao also leaned over curiously, “What good things has Your Highness picked back…”
When he saw it, his expression was also a bit eerie.
“Isn’t this—the white elk antler of the Yun Kingdom? Where did Your Highness get it from?”
There are about ten pieces of elk antlers that have been cut into small pieces in the box, with a piece of paper attached to them.
According to that despicable little lover of his, the recipe recorded on paper is for the little baby, a tonic soup that the little baby must drink since he is in his belly.
Is it, in fact, soup made from white elk antlers?
Sui Heng’s forehead veins jumped fiercely.
In the past two years, due to the famous white elk dispute in the south and north of the Yangtze River, the price of white elk antlers has skyrocketed, and they have almost disappeared in the Yun Kingdom. To obtain white elk antlers, one can only spend a huge amount of money to purchase them from other vendors.
Sui Heng took out the paper, unfolded it, and found the paper with elegant handwriting. He wrote the daily amount of milk that the little baby needed and the recipe for elk antler soup.
Sui Heng grabbed the note in his palm and felt heartache.
At this moment, Xu Qiao felt as if he was about to have a headache and quickly asked, “Your Highness, are you alright?”
Sui Heng took a deep breath and said, “Gu has one thing to ask you.”
Xu Qiao nodded hastily, “Your Highness, please speak.”
Sui Heng said, “Where are all those elk antlers that Gu asked you to purchase with a lot of money on that day?”
“Has Your Highness forgotten?”
“Forgotten what?”
“The same day after purchasing the elk antlers, the subordinate specially asked people to pack and carry them to the private courtyard. The subordinate asked Your Highness what to do with them. Your Highness said it was too unsightly and asked the subordinate to use it as a supplement and share it with the soldiers in the battalion.”
“……”
Sui Heng couldn’t believe it: “Not a single box left?”
“Yes.”
Xu Qiao was puzzled and said, “Why did Your Highness suddenly think of this?”
Sui Heng took a deep breath again.
“Nothing.”
Xu Qiao looked at him, he didn’t look like there was nothing. After thinking for a moment, he suddenly said, “If Your Highness really needs it, the subordinate knows a place that should have it, and there should be a lot of it too.”
Sui Heng immediately came to his senses and asked, “Where?”
“In Lan Guifei’s Palace.”
“When she heard that Your Highness and the young… the Crown Prince of Jiang across the river raised the price, causing the value of the white elk to double, at a time when it was popular, Lan Guifei also asked the Lan family to spend a lot of money and privately buy many white elk antlers into her private treasury, hoping to replenish Xiao Junwang’s body. Unexpectedly, Xiao Junwang’s physique was somewhat inferior to that of the white elk, after drinking it, he had nosebleeds on the spot. Lan Guifei dared not feed him again, so those antlers were also idle.”
Sui Heng’s mood instantly became joyful.
“Gu understands.”
“You keep an eye on those elk antlers for Gu, don’t let them fall into other people’s hands.”
“By the way, what did you just want to say to Gu?”
Xu Qiao said, “Regarding the war, the subordinate has read some books but hasn’t found any good precedents. Why don’t Your Highness call the advisors to ask about such an important matter?”
Sui Heng said there was no need.
Xu Qiao said, “Has Your Highness come up with a good solution?”
Sui Heng didn’t answer, but instead asked, “As a man, if your wife’s life is in danger and you have to kneel down first to save her, what would you do?”
Xu Qiao said, “Then I can only kneel down. I will only lose my dignity if I kneel down, not a piece of meat. But if I don’t kneel down, I’ll lose my wife’s life.”
“Any man with a little conscience in the world has no other choice.”
Sui Heng nodded proudly and said, “Gu has the same thoughts as you.”
Xu Qiao reacted and exclaimed in surprise, “Your Highness intends to make concessions first and withdraw directly?”
“Who says?”
“……”
Xu Qiao was puzzled. “So what does Your Highness plan on?”
“Naturally doing something that conscientious men from all over the world would do. Notify them that at dawn, Gu wants to discuss matters in the tent at Maoshi.”
**
This seemingly calm night was a sleepless night for many people.
Before dawn, Zhao Yan served Jimo Qingyu and stood up, asking, “Master, do you think the Crown Prince will continue to attack Muyun Pass today?”
300,000 troops cannot remain stationary like this.
Moreover, the snow has stopped today, and the Crown Prince cannot delay the war due to weather reasons any longer.
Jimo Qingyu said, “This old man is not a worm in his stomach. How could this old man know? However, if the Crown Prince of Jiang is someone else, it’s fine. Since it’s him, even if we really go to war, this battle is bound to be bloody and extremely brutal. It’s not easy to fight the Muyun Pass.”
“He is actually the Crown Prince of Jiang, no wonder…”
No wonder he has such extraordinary talent and an exquisite mind.
Zhao Yan whispered, “Since we came back yesterday, Master has said ‘no wonder’ no less than thirty times.”
Jimo Qingyu sighed. “That’s because this old man was a bit surprised.”
“This old man would rather the Crown Prince of Jiang is, just like rumors, a despicable rascal.”
“Rumors mislead people. This time, the Crown Prince has suffered a big setback.”
Zhao Yan always felt that there was a hint of schadenfreude in his master’s words and couldn’t help but wonder, “Does Master think that His Highness the Crown Prince is no match for the Crown Prince of Jiang?”
Jimo Qingyu snorted coldly and said, “It depends on where, or at least making an article, he’s not even close to the other person. He is just slightly weaker than him in terms of physique. Otherwise, how could he just come to this place in Jiangnan as he pleases?”
“……”
Zhao Yan continued in a low voice, “But in war, we don’t rely on writing articles. His Highness has a brave and skilled Qinglang Battalion of 300,000 soldiers. If we really have the determination to fight, even the Muyun Pass may not be able to withstand it.”
“Not relying on articles, but relying on brains. Moreover, in the past two years, due to a justice platform, the three characters ‘Jiang Rongyu’ have become an inviolable belief in the hearts of hundreds of thousands of people in Jiangnan. The people even regard him as the descendant of an immortal descending to the mortal realm. Even if the Crown Prince breaks through the Muyun Pass and wants to continue southward, he not only needs to conquer those cities but also needs to conquer people’s hearts.”
“Since ancient times, the strong and the powerful have all been ten times, a hundred times, more terrible than the strong and the weak.”
“This old man really doesn’t want to see blood flowing like a river in this Jiangnan land.”
Chen Qi also stayed up all night.
He felt an unprecedented unease in his heart, and he never dreamed that Jiang Rongyu would be that Chu Yan. No wonder this person repeatedly opposed and disrupted his plans during his time in the Sui capital.
Moreover, this person was not at all ugly, like the rumors, but clearly had a skin that he could never compare to in his life.
Why are all the good things in the world taken by this hypocrite?
Chen Qi’s greatest anxiety comes not only from Jiang Yun but also from Sui Heng.
Others are not sure, but as a trusted subordinate, he knows Sui Heng’s attitude towards that old relationship. Sui Heng suddenly announced a ceasefire yesterday, and in the future, will he be tempted by Jiang Rongyu and give up attacking Jiangnan?
In that way, all his previous efforts and strategies were in vain.
At this moment, his trusted subordinate spoke outside: “Daren, His Highness has announced that we will hold a meeting and discuss matters at Maoshi, all generals and officials must be present.”
Chen Qi pressed down the protruding corners of his forehead and said yes.
At Maoshi, all Sui army generals and officials gathered at the Central Army tent.
They are all aware that His Highness may announce important orders regarding this battle. In fact, everyone also had various suspicions and speculations tonight.
Sui Heng had already put his sleeves down and stood in the tent. As everyone was gathered, he was about to speak when a soldier outside suddenly said, “Your Highness, the Crown Prince of Jiang, has ordered someone to send a battle invitation.”
Sui Heng suspected that there was something wrong with his ears.
“What did you say?”
“Battle invitation.”
The personal soldier took two steps forward, kneeled down on one knee, and presented the object in his hand.
“The person sent by the Jiang Empire said that the Crown Prince of the Jiang will lead his fierce generals to fight a battle with Your Highness and all the generals.”
Sui Heng frowned and took a look. It was indeed a standard-format battle invitation.
The generals in the tent were also stunned, and then they exploded.
“Jiang Rongyu, this hypocrite is up to no good again!”
“Your Highness, do not easily fall for this hypocrite’s trap!”
Sui Heng looked up and gave them a cold and measured glance.
The two generals simultaneously feel a chill in their necks.
Xu Qiao cleared his throat on the side, “Generals, when discussing matters, pay attention to your words and don’t give people nicknames blindly. What’s the point of spreading rumors?”
The two generals didn’t quite understand.
Isn’t this one of the three words that His Highness often says?
His Highness cursed more harshly than they did.
