Chapter 69: Not Now!

Bai Yao said nothing. It was difficult for him to say anything. Although he agreed that this matter needed to be settled before Feng Ruonan kept making trouble and eventually ruined something important, he was still on her side. He could step in and restrain her, but he could hardly stand there in public and openly favor Niu Youdao. Still, his silence was an attitude in itself. It amounted to tacit approval.

Niu Youdao naturally understood. He continued, "Perhaps everyone is wondering what exactly this is about. Many of you probably don't know the causes and consequences behind it. The Princess Consort says I owe her money. That's right. I was short of funds and did borrow a sum from her. Not a small sum either—ten thousand gold coins! It's only natural for the Princess Consort to collect a debt, and I've never said I wouldn't repay it. But there is one thing I need to make clear. I borrowed that money for His Highness. I didn't spend a single coin of it on myself. As for the debt, the Commandery Governor has already spoken and said it was waived. The Commandery Governor may have waived it, but if the Princess Consort insists on collecting anyway, then I have nothing to say. Senior Bai, please judge this for us. At present, I truly cannot produce that much money, and neither can His Highness. Could the Princess Consort grant us some time? Once we reach the next city, His Highness can sell his warhorses and will certainly be able to raise enough to repay the debt. How does that sound?"

Shang Chaozong and the others were speechless. Shang Chaozong in particular looked awkward. Once again, Niu Youdao was saying the money had been borrowed for him, and he had no way to deny it. Worse, they were back to selling his warhorses... The corner of Bai Yao's mouth twitched. Feng Ruonan nearly coughed blood from rage.

Listening to Niu Youdao's solemn, righteous tone at the beginning, she had thought his request for more time meant he was finally going to repay the debt with some dignity. After all that talk, he was actually planning to sell warhorses again. If word reached Feng Lingbo, it would be strange if he did not lose his temper. In the end, all that high-sounding talk was nonsense. Put plainly, Niu Youdao still had no intention of repaying the money. And indeed, he had never intended to.

It was not that Niu Youdao made a habit of refusing his debts. He simply had not spent a single coin of this money himself. Shang Chaozong had spent all of it. Now Shang Chaozong and Feng Ruonan were husband and wife besides. Why should Niu Youdao repay it? There was no reason at all. Bai Yao gave Niu Youdao a sidelong glance. This man could be shameless with the perfect confidence of someone entirely in the right. The others, however, did not know the full story.

Some began muttering inwardly that Feng Ruonan did seem to be making trouble without reason. If the money had been borrowed for Shang Chaozong, and she was now Shang Chaozong's wife, continuing to demand repayment really did seem excessive. Some of Shang Chaozong's personal guards were especially troubled.

Sell the warhorses?

Were they supposed to walk to Canglu County? That was one reason Feng Ruonan nearly choked on her anger. Somehow, she had become the unreasonable one. Worse, she had no respectable argument with which to press the matter. The more she argued, the more it would look as though she were throwing a tantrum. The frustration lodged in her chest was almost unbearable. Her inability to stop making trouble was also tied to Niu Youdao.

From the moment she had first met him at the military camp, her streak of bad luck had begun. Not only had she failed to vent her anger even once, humiliation after humiliation had been piled on top of her. Anyone would have found that impossible to swallow. For a straightforward female general like Feng Ruonan, accustomed to acting openly and decisively, it was even worse. When had she ever suffered this kind of stifling grievance? Bai Yao finally spoke.

"Since the Commandery Governor already said the debt was waived, let the matter end there."

He could see it clearly now. If they kept clinging to the money, given Niu Youdao's shamelessness, the man might genuinely go sell the warhorses again. If news of that reached Feng Lingbo, the Commandery Governor would certainly become furious. The one left unable to step down gracefully would be Feng Ruonan herself.

"Very well! Since Senior Bai has spoken, this junior will say no more about it."

Niu Youdao cupped his hands in thanks. Lan Ruoting could not help raising a hand to his forehead, his face full of helplessness. He had realized that Niu Youdao was now deliberately locking horns with the Princess Consort. How was this solving the problem? He was plainly trying to anger her to death. Feng Ruonan ground her teeth, seized by the urge to draw her sword and kill someone.

Niu Youdao continued, "Now for the other matter. This can be considered the source of today's conflict. Perhaps everyone is wondering why all this happened. The truth is simple enough. On the day His Highness and the Princess Consort married and entered the bridal chamber, the Princess Consort refused to consummate the marriage. So the men she just seized made a small adjustment to the situation, allowing the Princess Consort to submit and His Highness to display a man's prowess. The Princess Consort couldn't swallow that grievance, so now she wants to settle accounts with us."

As for the fact that someone had drugged her, he passed over it lightly. The troops confronting one another on both sides exchanged looks. There had been something like that behind the wedding? His Highness had only managed to consummate the marriage because outsiders had helped? Some people could barely suppress their laughter. Shang Chaozong's expression twitched. His teeth almost itched with rage. How could anyone drag something like this out and discuss it publicly?

"Shameless!"

Feng Ruonan instantly flushed with humiliation and fury. She had never expected Niu Youdao to publicly reveal this disgrace for her. Who knew how long people would discuss it behind her back now? With a hiss of steel, she drew her sword and charged directly at him. Bai Yao tilted his head. Mei, Lan, Zhu, and Ju flashed forward together, blocking Feng Ruonan and pinning down her struggling body.

Niu Youdao said, "Senior Bai, you were there on the wedding night as well. Others may not know what happened, but you do. I won't say anything more than necessary. In short, today's affair arose from what happened that night. If the Princess Consort truly wants to settle accounts, she can go directly to His Highness. Why insist on making things difficult for the people beneath him? I ask Senior Bai to uphold justice."

Then he turned toward Shang Chaozong.

"Your Highness, you spent the borrowed money. You married the Princess Consort. You were also the one who enjoyed the bridal chamber. Surely the people beneath you shouldn't be made to bear the consequences. This matter needs to be settled today. Letting it drag on serves no purpose. What do you think should be done?"

Having said his piece, he washed his hands of the matter. He beckoned Yuan Gang, Yuan Fang, and the others backward, leaving Shang Chaozong at the front of the confrontation. For Niu Youdao, the principle was simple. When your strength was insufficient, know when to retreat after gaining the advantage. Standing at the very front and stubbornly taking every blow was not appropriate. Shang Chaozong wanted to leap over and bite Niu Youdao to death. How could anyone say a man needed help to manage his own bridal chamber?

His dignity as a man had been swept clean. Even Bai Yao found Niu Youdao a little unbearable.

How could anyone have the face to bring such a ridiculous private affair out in public and even ask him to "uphold justice"?

Niu Youdao did not care. These two had already done everything husband and wife could do. Why should one of them remain silent while the other took her anger out on unrelated people?

"I swear I'll kill you!"

Feng Ruonan roared. Today she had not only lost face. She had also forced her subordinates to confront one unmistakable fact. She was a woman. A woman was still a woman. That could affect her authority as a commander. In truth, over the years Feng Ruonan had deliberately downplayed the fact that she was female. This was the army.

Men might not say aloud what they thought about women going onto the battlefield to kill enemies, but inwardly their reaction was still a dismissive "heh."

The meaning hardly needed explanation.

"Enough!"

Bai Yao shouted.

"This matter ends here. No more trouble from now on. Whoever keeps dragging it back up should not blame me for being impolite!"

His cold gaze swept both sides.

"Disperse!"

Lan Ruoting hurriedly waved toward Shang Chaozong's personal guards. Before long, both confronting groups lowered their weapons and dispersed. Most walked away suppressing laughter. There had never been much killing intent here in the first place. To them, it had simply been an entertaining spectacle. Once everyone around them had scattered, Feng Ruonan remained red-faced with fury, leaning on her sword and breathing heavily.

"Stop making trouble."

Bai Yao stepped forward and warned her, then moved closer and lowered his voice.

"I know you feel wronged after suffering humiliation again and again, but you know what matters and what doesn't. If the important affair is delayed, neither you nor I can bear the consequences. I'll give you a promise here. Once that thing is found, you may do whatever you want to them. But right now, no!"

Feng Ruonan bit her lip. She had been forced into this marriage. So what if Shang Chaozong was a Commandery Prince? He was nothing but a homeless dog who had lost his master. She had never thought much of him.

She also knew Shang Chaozong had not sincerely wanted to marry her. He had only taken her as his wife because survival left him no choice. Why, then, should she wrong herself and genuinely wish to marry him?

Her original plan had been to play along for the sake of the larger situation. At worst, she would carry the name of his wife. She had never intended to become husband and wife with him in truth. Once the mission was complete, she could simply kill Shang Chaozong. Who could have imagined that she would actually lose her chastity to him?

Worse, apart from herself, no one seemed to care about the thing she cared about. Everyone acted as though Shang Chaozong sleeping with her had been perfectly natural. The grievance in her heart had nowhere to go. The farce finally seemed to end.

With everything dragged into the open and Bai Yao personally keeping matters suppressed, the affair appeared to have passed for the time being. Because of the sudden downpour, the group rested briefly before setting out once more. Wenxin had suffered an entirely undeserved calamity.

Her dislocated arm had been reset, but it was still bound to a splint and hung from her neck so she would not move it recklessly. Her face was bruised and swollen as well. This time Yuan Fang stayed close beside Niu Youdao. Anyone could see that Feng Ruonan's anger had not disappeared. It had merely been suppressed for now. Still, Yuan Fang had developed a somewhat better impression of Niu Youdao. The man had truly stood up for him.

He had genuinely stepped forward and helped him survive the danger, not merely talked about doing so. His impression of Yuan Gang had improved too. Yuan Gang had immediately rushed out and taken Feng Ruonan's personal maid hostage. He had even beaten her in public. That had unquestionably meant taking a risk on Yuan Fang's behalf. The fact left Yuan Fang rather lost. Was he really worth the two of them doing so much for him? He did not think he possessed that much value.

Although some part of him still wanted to find an opportunity to escape, Yuan Fang himself did not notice that after this incident, staying beside these two men had begun to give him a faint, inexplicable sense of security. The monks of Nanshan Temple felt much the same. Their impressions of Niu Youdao and Yuan Gang improved enormously. The two men did not seem so bad after all.

As the journey continued, the monks who had once wanted nothing more than to stay far away from them gradually began edging closer without even realizing it. Before, everyone in this group had seemed dangerous. Now, amid all those dangers, Niu Youdao and Yuan Gang somehow seemed the safest people to stand near... In Nanzhou, green mountains towered and clear waters stretched away. A small boat drifted across a lake.

Simple dishes, a flask of wine, and a low table lay between Lu Shengzhong and An Xiaoman as the two sat opposite one another drinking.

An Xiaoman was Lu Shengzhong's junior fellow disciple. Though they had not studied under the same master, both were disciples of the same generation from Wuliang Mountain. After entering Nanzhou, Lu Shengzhong had not hurried toward Qingshan Commandery. Instead, he first came here to gather information from his junior fellow disciple. Wang Heng had given him his orders, but Lu Shengzhong feared the Tianyu Sect and did not dare rush in blindly. An Xiaoman was one of the retainer cultivators serving Nanzhou's Provincial Governor, Zhou Shouxian.

The reason one of them served Wang Heng while the other served Zhou Shouxian was simple enough. Both Wang Heng and Zhou Shouxian were trusted men of the present emperor. A young man came racing over the surface of the water. He presented a small rolled intelligence report, then turned and ran across the water again. An Xiaoman unrolled the paper. After reading it, he passed it across to Lu Shengzhong.

"Senior Brother Lu, the information you wanted has arrived. Feng Lingbo is taking Shang Chaozong with unprecedented seriousness. He actually sent dozens of cultivators to accompany and protect him. Several are Golden Core Realm cultivators, and Bai Yao, an expert listed on the Golden Core Ranking, is personally leading the escort. You're only in the Foundation Establishment Realm. Trying to take Niu Youdao's head under those circumstances is probably impossible!"

[End of Chapter 69]