Time passed from summer into winter.
When the first snow began to fall, Xiniang suddenly brought me some news as I sat by the window watching it:
“The Sixth Prince of Changle City has rebelled!”
First he rebelled against the Fourth Prince, and now he’s rebelled against the Emperor. I really don’t know which screw in his head is loose. And yet, the old emperor’s first reaction wasn’t to mobilize all his forces to hunt down the rebels. Instead, he urgently summoned Prince Luo, who was far away in the west, back to the capital, Changle.
From the perspective of balancing power, Emperor Xi’s decision was actually very wise.
At present, military power in Houming was in the hands of three people: the Emperor and the Sixth Prince openly, and the Fourth Prince in secret. Normally, the open forces could restrain the hidden ones, using the Sixth Prince’s troops to balance the Fourth Prince. But now that the Sixth Prince had rebelled, if the Emperor scattered his forces to suppress the rebellion, he would likely be attacked from both front and rear.
So the best solution was to use another force capable of countering the Fourth Prince—not military power, yet stronger than military power: the so-called “jianghu” (martial world) forces, led by Prince Luo.
From this, it seemed that Emperor Xi wasn’t as incompetent as Shou’er had described. He actually had some strategy and insight.
Looking at the winter plum blossoms outside the window, I sighed.
Seriously, what does any of this have to do with me?
In fact, this matter had nothing to do with me at all.
When I first heard about the Sixth Prince’s rebellion, my only reaction was:
“Wow! This guy is addicted to rebelling!”
Who knew that this rebellion-addicted guy would soon bring me a mountain of trouble?
Houming
Qiuyue City
Prince Luo’s Residence
Minmin’s Room — Evening, Lamps Lit
“Pack up. Tomorrow, you’ll come with me to Changle.”
Prince Luo sat calmly at the table and issued his order.
Two angry voices shouted at the same time—
“Why does Kitty have to go too?!”
“Did you two break in while I was changing just to say that?!!”
I trembled as I grabbed my inner clothes and curled up on the bed. Qingqing and Xiniang hurriedly covered me…
I’ve been seen… I’ve been seen… T_T
This place has no human rights and beasts everywhere… 55555…
“I’ve decided. We leave at sunrise tomorrow. Prepare,” Prince Luo said impassively.
“If she goes, I’m going too!” Luo Cheng leaned lazily against the door, staring at me—until my furious glare forced him back.
“No. You stay in Qiuyue City.”
“Fine~ Kitty stays~”
“No. Minmin must go with me to Changle.”
“Why? And besides, how could Kitty bear to leave me?” Luo Cheng flashed to the bed and sat down. “You don’t want to go either, right?”
Prince Luo also looked at me.
“Hm.”
I lowered my head, put on my coat, and answered coldly, “I’m not going to Changle.”
I slapped away Luo Cheng’s suddenly beaming face and gritted my teeth:
“It has nothing to do with you!”
The reason I didn’t want to go was that I needed to supervise the excavation of the ancient temple. A few months ago, I had finally convinced Prince Luo to seal off that street. The digging had only just begun. If anything went wrong with that temple, I might never be able to return home.
At a critical time like this, how could I leave?
“The headquarters of Weiyang Sect is in Changle,” Prince Luo suddenly said.
“So what? Why change the subject?”
“The Chaos Pearl is indeed in the Prince Luo residence, but the Qiuyue residence is only a branch.”
“You… you mean… the Chaos Pearl is in Changle?!”
“Yes. Although the one-year deadline hasn’t arrived yet, let’s make a bet. If you can find the Chaos Pearl, it’s yours. How about it?”
“What if I can’t?”
“Then after one year, I’ll give it to you as agreed.”
“This…”
I widened my eyes. This was completely in my favor! If I won, I’d profit. If I lost, I lost nothing!
Why would such a huge free gift fall from the sky?
“Why are you using such generous terms to lure me to Changle?”
“You’ll know when you get there.”
“I hope I’ll still be alive by then.”
So, tempted by the Chaos Pearl, I agreed to go to Changle with Prince Luo like a donkey chasing a carrot.
I don’t know what method Prince Luo used to restrain Luo Cheng, but ever since he was dragged out of my room that night, I never saw him again…
The next day, when the sun rose, Prince Luo’s procession set off grandly.
As for me, I was rolled up and taken on the road while still half-asleep…
Hmm… This situation seems familiar…
While Qingqing was poking my head and wiping my face, the convoy suddenly stopped!
“Huh? What happened?”
I stuck my head out of the towel.
Qingqing lifted the curtain to look outside. Since ours was a carriage for the inner household, it was protected in the center of the luxury convoy, with very limited visibility.
We both leaned on the window and stared for a long time, but still couldn’t tell what was going on.
“Sigh… If only Xiniang were here,” I sighed. “Her loyalty to Prince Luo is unbelievable. Of course, she didn’t come this time.”
“Yeah, that walking gossip hub,” Qingqing agreed. “Fast mouth, wide connections, knows everything!”
Honestly, I felt that Xiniang perfectly embodied Weiyang Sect’s specialty—intelligence gathering.
Which meant… Prince Luo, who always acted like the boss, was basically the head of a spy network!
Thinking of this, I couldn’t help giggling.
“Yo~ Miss Minmin, Miss Qingqing, what’s got you so happy?”
A young man in blue rode up to the window, smiling mischievously.
“Lian You!”
I grabbed his collar and yanked half of him off his horse into the carriage.
“Perfect timing! What’s going on ahead? Why did we stop?”
“Ow! My lady, let go! I’m going to break! Hey! Horse! Don’t go forward! I’m breaking! Aaah!”
Ignoring his screams, I held on tighter.
“Tell me, and I’ll let go.”
Lian You and I were friends forged through conflict.
This kid was sly and nasty. When we first met, he stole some nobleman’s clothes and pretended to be a pervert to harass me!
Didn’t he realize his master was a top-tier pervert and I could still handle him? Compared to that, he was nothing!
I didn’t even blush—I just knocked him flat.
If Lian Zuo hadn’t saved him, he’d have been dismantled already.
Since then, he worshipped my fists.
Don’t be fooled by his looks—he’s actually very talented in literature and poetry, especially “Huajian” style.
Back then, I plagiarized half of the Tang and Song masters just to beat him into submission!
After that, he became my first underling.
Author: Cut! Flashback ends.
“I… I really don’t know… Ah! Sister Qingqing, spare me~~”
“Brat! If you don’t know, who does?”
Qingqing’s deadly fingernails were poking his ear.
“It’s the Fourth Prince.”
Guo’er rode up on the other side.
“Huh?”
“His Highness is ordered to suppress the rebellion in the south. Until we reach Yaodu, we’ll travel together.”
He looked at me, hesitated, and sighed.
“…Miss Xiaotao is also in his convoy.”
“Huh?!”
I instantly broke into a huge grin and pounced on him.
“Really? Really? Really?!”
“I wouldn’t lie to you,” Guo’er said softly.
“That’s great! That’s wonderful!”
I grabbed Qingqing and jumped out of the carriage.
“Let’s go see Xiaotao!”
“Hey! Miss Minmin! You can’t go! Slow down!”
Lian You shouted anxiously behind us, but with all the carriages, he couldn’t move easily.
Guo’er said nothing, rode ahead, and cleared the way for me.
Passing carriage after carriage, we soon saw that the front convoy was different from Prince Luo’s blue-and-silver banners.
They were flying purple banners with golden dragons.
It was Big Fox’s (the Fourth Prince’s)?
“Where are you going?”
Prince Luo suddenly appeared and blocked our way. Lian Zuo also stopped Guo’er’s horse.
“To see Xiaotao!”
“No.”
“Why?! You even control this?!”
“Go back.”
“I won’t!”
So I cupped my hands and shouted:
“TAO—!!! TAO—!!! XIAO TAO—!!!”
The other convoy stirred. A curtain lifted. Xiao Tao appeared.
I dodged, leapt, and flew over.
“Flying Squirrel Hug!!!”
We collided and hugged tightly.
“I missed you so much!”
After a long reunion, I realized we were surrounded.
The Fourth Prince sat inside, smiling faintly.
Jiwen glared at me.
Guards stood everywhere.
“Uh…” I blinked innocently.
The Fourth Prince laughed. “Since you miss each other so much, let them talk for a while.”
Prince Luo said coldly, “Then bring Miss Tao to my carriage.”
“She’s weak lately. Better not move her.”
Their gazes clashed like lightning.
Prince Luo finally said to me, “I’ll come get you at Yaodu. Don’t say anything stupid.”
I zipped my mouth.
Back in the carriage…
“Xiao Tao, are you really weak?”
She glanced at the Fourth Prince awkwardly.
“Hey! Why are you still here?!” I glared.
“This is my carriage.”
“…Then we’ll go elsewhere!”
“They’re all full.”
He proved it—guards instantly filled them.
“…Fine. You win.”
Life in the Carriage
Chatting: I bragged about my “heroic deeds.” Everyone laughed.
Jiwen: “Your Highness, are the documents that funny?”
Fourth Prince (staring blankly): “Yes… very funny…”
Board Game:
Everyone queued to challenge me.
Fourth Prince joined too.
Eating:
I hated celery. Qingqing forced me to eat it.
I choked. Grabbed a teacup.
Fourth Prince: “That’s mine.”
“…”
“You drank where I just drank.”
Pff! I choked again.
Snacks:
He peeled pine nuts silently and piled them up.
Then held them out.
“Meow… come here…”
Everyone: …
And so, under the Fourth Prince’s constant psychological torment, I still happily traveled east with Qingqing and Xiao Tao.
Ahead lay Yaodu, the City of Medicine.
What awaited Minmin there?
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