182 – Western Barbarian Diplomatic Mission

Upon seeing the two masters coming in, the manservants quickly brought hot water and hot tea.

After Qin Mian washed his hands, he came to the table, opened the food box, and slightly smiled. This husband and wife cake was a round, evenly thick meat cake that had a straight groove pressed out from the middle and coated with sweet spicy sauce – it had the metaphorical meaning of auspicious. Plus, the taste was pretty good. It was famous in the whole Capital.

Lei Tie was still washing his hands. Qin Mian picked up a cake and tasted it. “It’s really tasty.” He picked up another one and went to Lei Tie. He leaned against the screen and sent the husband and wife cake to Lei Tie’s mouth.

Lei Tie’s eyes were fixed on him. Nevertheless, he went closer and bit the cake his wife had bitten.

They shared the six husband and wife cakes. Lei Tie talked about the information he got in the palace.

As soon as he heard it, he knew that Loyalty Prince who coveted the throne was a troublesome character. If one was targeted by such a person, one couldn’t be put in the passive position of having to receive blows.

“Wife, when you’re free, concoct some knockout drugs.” Lei Tie produced a soundproof array – people outside couldn’t hear the sound from inside.

Qin Mian was taken aback. “What are you planning to do?”

Lei Tie’s flat voice said firmly, “It can be roughly concluded from the words of His Majesty and Imperial Prince Ming that His Majesty and Loyalty Prince were in a deadlock for some reason – they did not dare to act rashly. Make Loyalty Prince unconscious and take the opportunity to see the situation.” What he didn’t finish was that if Emperor Xiaohui called him to the Capital for the purpose of putting him on the battlefield, it would be the right time after the domestic unrest was solved. He would finish the battle as soon as possible and find a way to resign afterward.

Qin Mian nodded. In any case, Emperor Xiaohui’s sovereignty came within his jurisdiction. If Loyalty Prince rebelled, the Capital would immediately set off winds carrying an offensive smell of blood. Even if they didn’t like Emperor Xiaohui, they couldn’t act against Emperor Xiaohui. They could only act against Loyalty Prince.

“I’m going in to look.”

A few days later, after the Court adjourned, Emperor Xiaohui had just left the Hall of Supreme Harmony and came to the imperial study when the palace attendant reported to him outside the door, “Reporting, Your Majesty. State Defender Duke seeks an audience.”

Emperor Xiaohui was surprised, “Permit.”

A moment later, Lei Tie came in from the door and gave a formal salute.

“State Defender Duke can stand up.” Emperor Xiaohui asked, “What brought State Defender Duke to seek an audience with Zhen?”

Lei Tie said, “Reporting, Your Majesty. Your subject ventures to ask Your Majesty – why suddenly summoned your subject back to the Capital?”

Emperor Xiaohui’s movement of intending to take the teacup paused. He laughed, “Zhen thought State Defender Duke could keep equanimity all the time.”

Lei Tie said, “Your subject has a family now. The cause of Du Shi’s death has yet been found out.”

Since Du Shi’s murderer had yet been found out, he was worried that the murderer would threaten the people he cared about, so he could not calm down – this was equivalent to putting the weakness in front of Emperor Xiaohui. Emperor Xiaohui’s smile became more sincere and he put more trust in Lei Tie.

“Li Fushou, give a seat to State Defender Duke.”

“Yes.”

Lei Tie sat down in silence.

Emperor Xiaohui asked, “My dear subject Lei, how’s the army?”

Lei Tie said, “Everything is under control, ready at Your Majesty’s command.”

Emperor Xiaohui pondered, “In half a month, a diplomatic mission procession sent by Tuluo State will arrive in the Capital and ask to marry the princess of Great Xia State for their sixth prince. As far as Zhen knows, the sixth prince is in the entourage. In recent years, Tuluo State has been in a state of unrest… In case something happens to the sixth prince while in Great Xia State — my dear subject Lei should be fully prepared in advance to meet the sixth prince. No mistake is allowed.”

Tuluo State was the country that Great Xia State called “Western Barbarian” which bordered on Great Xia State. Although the territory was wide, the winter was severely cold and there were many deserts. Since ancient times, Tuluo had been coveting the vast and abundant territory of Great Xia. That was the reason why there were many wars on the frontier.

Back then when Lei Tie was the General of the West Order, he defeated the Western Barbarian three times and greatly pleased the people. However, the Western Barbarians were fierce and bloodthirsty – they might not be reconciled.

The implication in Emperor Xiaohui’s words was obvious. He was worried if the sixth prince was actually the sacrifice of the emperor of the Western Barbarian. Once something happened to the sixth prince in Great Xia, Tuluo would dispatch troops for justice – the smoke of gunpowder would resurge in the frontier, people would be destitute.

Lei Tie’s heart turned cold. Emperor Xiaohui’s plan wouldn’t be so simple. Could it be……

“Yes, your subject at Your Majesty’s command.”

Emperor Xiaohui expressed concern, “As for Du Shi’s case, Zhen will investigate with the force of the Ministry of Justice. My dear subject Lei should not worry too much.”

“Yes, your subject thanks His Majesty.”

Lei Tie had no other words to say. He asked for leave and left the imperial study.

“Reporting, Your Majesty. Loyalty Prince is critically ill!”

Eunuch Li raised his eyebrows, extremely suspicious. Loyalty Prince is His Majesty’s sore point, how coincidental that he is critically ill at this time?

“What?” Emperor Xiaohui was shocked and slapped the table. He successfully restrained his inner joy and said angrily, “How can that be? Isn’t every three days the Imperial Doctor will go to check pulse? Why did Loyalty Prince suddenly become critically ill?”

The palace attendant was quick and eloquent, “Reporting, Your Majesty. About an hour ago, Loyalty Prince was walking in his garden and somehow suddenly fell unconscious. The Loyalty Princely Heir immediately invited doctors. Unexpectedly, even the four doctors could not see what ailment he was suffering from.”

Emperor Xiaohui sat down slowly and asked about the details. “Suddenly fell unconscious, like a deep sleep? It sounds more like poisoning than an acute ailment. How’s the Loyalty Prince Establishment?

The palace attendant said, “The Loyalty Princely Heir also suspected that Loyalty Prince was poisoned. He interrogated with torture all the people who were together with Loyalty Prince within four hours before the incident. None of them was suspicious.”

Emperor Xiaohui was surprised and looked at Eunuch Li, “This is indeed odd. Could it be a strange ailment?”

After a moment of pause, he said, “At once, order Imperial Doctor Qin to go to the Loyalty Prince Establishment.”

“Yes.” The palace attendant withdrew in a hurry.

Emperor Xiaohui pondered for a while. “Come.”

A dark shadow loomed in the imperial study. It had a mask on and knelt in front of the imperial table, wordless and uncommunicative.

“Where is State Defender Duke?”

The voice of the person in black was monotonous and plain, “At the South Gate.”

Emperor Xiaohui calculated in his heart how long it had been since Lei Tie had left. He said to himself, “It can’t be him…” Then he asked, “What’s Lady of the State Defender Duke doing lately?”

The person in black answered, “He went to Ruyi Pharmacy and Jewel Pavilion every day. Besides that, he seldom went out. There’s also nothing unusual about the people in the State Defender Duke Establishment.”

Emperor Xiaohui nodded. He completely trusted the secret guard he had cultivated himself – not in the least suspicious.

“Withdraw.”

After the secret guard withdrew, Emperor Xiaohui gave a meaningful glance at Eunuch Li.

Eunuch Li bowed with understanding and hurriedly left……

When Lei Tie returned to the State Defender Duke Establishment, he saw Qin Mian practicing martial arts on the training ground. He stood there quietly, watching until the last move ended.

As the couple spoke, they walked into the inner courtyard side by side. In fact, they were communicating in mind at the same time. What they talked about in mind communication was the most important thing.

“How is it, A-Tie?”

“Everything is going well. The emperor said, in half a month…(bla-bla)… in case something went wrong with the sixth prince in Great Xia.”

Qin Mian was surprised, “Why do I think Emperor Xiaohui and the emperor of Tuluo have the same plan?”

Lei Tie nodded, “I thought so too.”

“So to speak, Emperor Xiaohui certainly has to sacrifice a princess.” Qin Mian said, “As far as I know, only Princess Yanqing and Princess Duanning are left.”

He burst out laughing, “Is Emperor Xiaohui going to have Princess Yanqing marry for peace?”

“Does the sixth prince like her?” Lei Tie doubted it.

“Hahaha…” Qin Mian couldn’t help laughing. Why didn’t he find out that his family’s poker face had such a poisonous tongue? After drinking a big mouthful of water, he confidently analyzed, “Princess Yanqing and Princess Duanning are both the legitimate daughters of the empress – their identities are both honorable. But Princess Duanning’s mother is the current empress; the empress will try her best to protect her. So, she has more advantages than Princess Yanqing. The possibility of the emperor letting Princess Yanqing marry for peace is not low.”

Two days later, a piece of definite news spread out in the Capital: After Loyalty Prince’s strange ailment was cured by a mediocre doctor in the Imperial Institute of Medicine, he went crazy.

Qin Mian immediately guessed what Emperor Xiaohui did. It was not hard to deal with the knockout drug he concocted. The purpose was to win an initiative for Emperor Xiaohui. But he didn’t expect that Emperor Xiaohui would take this opportunity to drive Loyalty Prince crazy. Loyalty Prince was Emperor Xiaohui’s half-brother. If Emperor Xiaohui killed him, his reputation would be damaged, so he chose to make him crazy, no longer a threat.

On the afternoon of the day when Loyalty Prince went mad, another news spread in the Capital: A plague broke out in a secret iron mine ten li outside the Capital with nearly one hundred death.

Qin Mian heard from Lei Tie that these people were actually soldiers cultivated by Loyalty Prince in secret. The main ringleaders were all captured by Emperor Xiaohui with nearly 20,000 loyal people. The Loyalty Prince’s faction was greatly undermined.

The common people didn’t notice the undercurrent in the Capital. Simply after hearing about the plague, some people were in a panic. After three to five days, they calmed down when they saw that the officials and dignitaries in the Capital didn’t make a move.

It was the 7th lunar month when the Tuluo diplomatic mission arrived in the Capital.

The frontier army escorted the diplomatic mission to Misty Mountain City, which was ten days away from the Capital. The diplomatic mission was successfully handed over to Lei Tie, who would be escorting the diplomatic mission to the Capital.

Two days before arriving in the Capital, on the streets of the Capital, a dispatcher rode on a fast horse to the Imperial Palace and reported to the emperor on the latest movement of the diplomatic mission every hour or so.

Upon hearing this movement, the people in the Capital all knew that Tuluo diplomatic mission was coming. They had no good impression for the Western Barbarians in their hearts, but on their faces, they tacitly smiled politely to show their welcome to the diplomatic mission of another country. The main street of the Capital was decorated with lanterns and festoons as though it was a festival.

On the day of the diplomatic mission’s arrival in the Capital, Qin Mian specially asked for a leave of absence for Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin to watch in the crowd. It was not that he didn’t attach importance to the two children’s studies, but he didn’t want the children to miss some interesting experiences in their childhood so that they could have more beautiful memories when they grew up. It wasn’t a serious matter if one day’s school lesson was delayed.

Qin Mian, Qin Ruiqi, and Lei Ruilin rode on the back of Golden Fur, so no one could jostle them. Such a big bear, at least a thousand jin, and also extremely fierce, who dared to jostle it? Besides, there was an imperious giant wolf nearby.

The father and sons were all dressed in handsome camouflage. The people around them only stared at the city gate for some time and mostly stared at the dazzling father and sons.

The festive sound of gongs and drums was getting closer and closer.

Some people shouted, “It’s here!”

Both Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin raised their heads in expectation.

Amused, Qin Mian touched the heads of the two little boys. He didn’t expose their thoughts that what they wanted to see was their Old Dad. Well, he admitted that what he wanted to see most was also the children’s Old Dad.

The procession was getting closer and closer, headed by two men riding on tall and big horses. The man on the left was about 22~23 years old, young and handsome, and luxuriously dressed – the jewels on his crown dazzled under the sun. He was the Sixth Prince of Tuluo, Li Qingman. The man on the right had dashing eyebrows with bright eyes, cold and resolute bearing, dressed in a suit of armor, mighty and imposing. Who else if not Lei Tie?

“Dad, it’s Old Dad!” Both Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin cried out excitedly.

Lei Ruilin even jumped up, so excited that his small face was flushed. “Old Dad is so mighty!”

“Shh, keep your voice down. You can’t steal the limelight from the guests.” Qin Mian gently reminded his son, while his eyes obsessively watched the man who was getting closer.

Lei Tie saw his wife and sons in the crowd. While there was no expression on his face, his tender eyes looked at his wife and the two sons in turns for a long time.

Qin Mian, Qin Ruiqi, and Lei Ruilin all understood that he meant to say that he was alright during their parting days.

The father and sons nodded to him with a faint smile.

Lei Tie only withdrew his gaze when the horse passed by.

Golden Fur walked out of the crowd and followed the procession.

Across the street, Chen Mufeng looked at the father and sons on Golden Fur’s back, envied them from the bottom of his heart. He had clearly seen the interaction of the family of four just now.

“Mufeng?” Zhangsun He followed his line of sight and looked over. With a controlled expression, he gentle asked, “What?”

Chen Mufeng lightly said, “Nothing.”

“Envious?” Zhangsun He stared straight at him. “We can be like them.”

“My princely father only has me as his son [heir],” said Chen Mufeng in a light tone.

At once, Zhangsun He’s face gloomed.