Chapter 168: Children

Shao Sansheng paused for an instant, but still answered, “Yes.”

Shao Pingbo continued, “Regardless of whether Niu Youdao actually goes to the Ice and Snow Pavilion, send word to the Song family in Yanjing. The Song family should know how to deal with it.”

His chest still simmered with suppressed anger.

He had no idea how much damage the children’s rhyme might cause on his father’s side. For the moment, it had become the most urgent matter before him.

Everything he did now had to be more restrained.

If some unexpected situation arose, Dachan Mountain’s attitude would be extremely important.

Before confirming whether Niu Youdao would actually go to the Ice and Snow Pavilion, Shao Pingbo did not want to mobilize Dachan Mountain’s people casually.

If they made a wasted trip, or if some accident occurred, he worried it might create resentment toward him.

Once the children’s rhyme appeared, he had no choice but to begin acting more cautiously.

Shao Sansheng said, “Speaking of the Song family in Yanjing, there is another matter I was about to report. Wang Heng, one of the Grand Commanders of the Yanjing capital region, has taken back the daughter he married into the Song family. The Song family also issued a document permitting her to remarry. Wang Heng has made the matter public. The political winds around the Song family in Yanjing seem to have shifted somewhat.”

“Oh?” Shao Pingbo sounded surprised. He considered the news, then said hesitantly, “Song Jiuming is one of Tong Mo’s trusted men, yet Wang Heng has chosen to sever relations with the Song family. It seems something has changed at the court of the State of Yan. I wonder whether it has any connection with Song Long’s death. Keep watching the matter.”

“Yes,” Shao Sansheng replied.

Then he asked, “Should we still inform the Song family about Niu Youdao?”

“The court of the State of Yan also wants him dead, and the court’s power is greater.”

Shao Pingbo shook his head slightly. “I studied the confession details from the relay-station arrests. The State of Yan used those intelligence operatives very cautiously. They were not ordered to do anything that might arouse suspicion. Their only task was to transmit information. How, then, did Niu Youdao manage to understand the relay-station situation so clearly? I suspect someone may have leaked information to him. There are too many people in the court of the State of Yan and too many mouths. We do not understand what is happening there. Better to let the Song family handle it. No matter how weak the Song family has become, it still understands the situation inside the State of Yan better than we do.”

“Understood.” Shao Sansheng nodded.

“And one more thing,” Shao Pingbo said. “For the immediate future, make the security arrangements around me more meticulous.”

There was no choice.

The children’s rhyme had pushed him directly into the eye of the storm.

Whether in the State of Yan or the State of Han, those who wanted to eliminate the self-entrenched Shao Dengyun might now begin watching Shao Pingbo instead.

The matter left an indescribable feeling in his chest.

Niu Youdao had casually made one move and brought pressure against him from every direction.

Yet all Shao Pingbo himself could do in return was think about how to hunt the man down and kill him.

The contrast left him with an uncomfortable sense that superiority and inferiority had already been decided.

He hated that feeling.

“Yes,” Shao Sansheng replied.

Seeing that Shao Pingbo had no further instructions, he reminded him, “Eldest Young Master, you should wash and go over quickly. It would be inappropriate to keep the Provincial Inspector waiting too long.”

Shao Pingbo came back to himself and strode out of the hall, heading directly for the bathing room.

Once inside, he stripped naked without hesitation, lifted the gauze curtain, and went behind it to rinse himself.

Afterward he lowered himself into the warm water filling the bathing pool.

Outside the gauze curtain, maids came and went, laying out clean clothes.

After they withdrew, a graceful figure entered.

She was a radiant woman in a long emerald-green dress, carrying a guqin in her arms.

She placed the instrument horizontally on a table, sat beside it, and let her slender fingers fall across the strings.

Elegant notes rang out, clear and gentle.

Her hair was arranged in cloudlike coils, her beauty capable of eclipsing the moon and shaming flowers.

A charming smile rested on her face as she turned toward the vague silhouette soaking behind the gauze curtain.

The woman was named Su Zhao.

She was also Shao Pingbo’s older cousin and, among the Shao family’s side, the only cultivator.

Hearing the music, Shao Pingbo opened his eyes in the water and looked toward the blurred figure beyond the curtain.

He smiled.

“Sister Zhao, when did you return?”

The music stopped.

The shadow outside rose.

Her voice was soft and lovely. “I had only just returned to the State of Han when I heard a children’s rhyme harmful to you. I hurried straight back to Beizhou.”

“What happened?”

Shao Pingbo splashed water over his face.

“You have heard of Niu Youdao, haven’t you? The one who killed an envoy of the State of Yan...”

He briefly explained what had happened.

Su Zhao paced outside the curtain. “This Niu Youdao is truly vicious!”

“You need not concern yourself with this matter,” Shao Pingbo said. “Put most of your energy into opening the channels toward the States of Qi and Wei. If Beizhou intends to accomplish anything in the future, large numbers of warhorses and immense quantities of grain and fodder will be indispensable. Once Beizhou survives this disaster and our finances loosen somewhat, I will begin moving on that matter. Sister Zhao, Beizhou’s future depends on it. Your responsibility is enormous.”

“I know, I know.” Su Zhao sounded amused. “You have repeated it so often my ears have calluses. I have been working on it constantly and have never relaxed. You can rest assured.”

After finishing his bath, Shao Pingbo went to the dressing table outside and sat down.

Su Zhao waved the maids away and personally began arranging his hair.

“We have not seen each other for so long.”

She smiled as she spoke.

“Do you have nothing private to tell me, apart from official business?”

“Later,” Shao Pingbo replied. “I have only just returned and still need to report to Father.”

Su Zhao fell silent for a while.

Then she suddenly asked, “Will you marry me?”

“Is there any need to doubt it?”

“Good. Then give me a definite time.”

Shao Pingbo frowned. “Are you joking? If I marry you now and your identity becomes public, how will you continue handling affairs in Qi? Have you forgotten the blood feud of your parents?”

Su Zhao said, “I think you have fallen for that Tang Yi.”

Shao Pingbo sighed. “Tang Yi is a married woman. You know why I pursue her. Do I really need to explain Zhao Xiongge’s value to you again?”

Su Zhao smiled faintly, though worry lingered in it.

Her hands continued working through his hair.

“I understand the reasoning.”

“But I truly have no confidence in my heart.”

“The work I do is filthy.”

“If the day really comes, will you still be willing to marry a woman like me?”

Shao Pingbo raised a hand and took her soft fingers in his.

Looking at her reflection in the mirror, he said, “Do not overthink it.”

“Why have I remained unmarried all these years?”

“Sister Zhao, in this lifetime, I will marry no one but you.”

Su Zhao gave a long, quiet sigh.

“I hope so.”

At the Provincial Inspector's Residence in Beizhou, the dust-washed Shao Pingbo strode through the gates.

Steward Yang Shuang came to meet him personally and led him inside.

The two were speaking as they walked when a cheerful young girl came skipping out from the garden.

She was pretty and bore some resemblance to Shao Pingbo.

This was his younger sister by the same mother, Shao Liuer.

The moment she saw her elder brother, all the spring in her step vanished.

She immediately became proper and demure as she approached.

She was obviously somewhat afraid of him.

“Elder Brother.”

Shao Liuer dipped into a half-curtsy, then straightened and tried to slip past him.

“Stop.”

Shao Pingbo’s cold voice froze her in place.

Shao Liuer shrank slightly. “Does Elder Brother have some instruction?”

Steward Yang Shuang smiled faintly.

All the younger siblings feared this eldest brother.

Shao Pingbo looked at her coldly.

“I hear you recently formed some sort of poetry society. You seem to spend every day mixing with a group of powdered-faced dandies. Do you still remember how a young lady should conduct herself?”

Shao Liuer protested, “Elder Brother, must you make it sound so ugly? We only exchange poetry and songs. How does that become ‘mixing with dandies’?”

“Can poetry and songs fill your stomach? Can they kill enemies on the battlefield?” Shao Pingbo’s tone sharpened. “Do you even understand what sort of time this is? How many people in Beizhou cannot even eat their fill? Yet all of you spend every day drinking, feasting, and parading around. What are the common people supposed to think when they see that?”

Shao Liuer lowered her head slightly. “Elder Brother is right. I will tell them to be more restrained in the future.”

Shao Pingbo leaned slightly toward her.

“So you still intend to keep fooling around with them?”

Shao Liuer muttered under her breath, “There is no fooling around. Poetry and song are elegant pursuits. They cultivate one’s temperament. They are simply people who share the same interests.”

“Share the same interests?” Shao Pingbo sneered. “You are nothing but an ignorant little girl who knows no fear because she knows nothing. If you were not the Provincial Inspector's daughter, try seeing how many of those people would still share your interests. You enjoy being flattered all day, do you? From now on, stay home obediently. Read. Practice your writing. Learn some things a woman ought to learn. Try running around again and see what happens.”

Shao Liuer whispered, “Second Mother agreed before I went.”

Shao Pingbo narrowed his eyes. “I hear you have become very close with that Tan Yaoxian from the poetry society. When I have time, bring him over to meet me.”

Shao Liuer’s face immediately filled with alarm.

“Elder Brother, they are all my friends. Do not do anything reckless!”

“I am telling you now,” Shao Pingbo said. “A daughter’s marriage is decided by her parents. It is not yours to treat however you please.”

“If you do not want to harm him, control yourself.”

With that, he turned and strode away.

Yang Shuang shook his head and followed.

Behind them, Shao Liuer’s eyes reddened.

Tears of grievance gathered but did not yet fall.

The Government Affairs Hall was where the Provincial Inspector's Residence handled official business.

Shao Wubo, the Shao family’s second son, was inside discussing administrative affairs with several officials.

The third son, Shao Fubo, still wore armor.

He leaned by the window with a leaf held between his lips, looking rather bored as he watched the courtyard outside.

His gaze suddenly stopped.

He left the window, went over to Shao Wubo, and tugged lightly at his clothes.

“Second Brother. He’s here. He’s here.”

Everyone in the room looked toward the entrance.

They saw Shao Pingbo approaching in long strides.

He did not enter.

Instead, he and Yang Shuang turned toward another path.

Once Shao Pingbo was gone, Shao Fubo hummed softly under his breath.

“Yun the false king, Bo the true king...”

Shao Wubo jabbed him with an elbow, shutting him up.

Beside the Government Affairs Hall stood a small tower.

The broad-shouldered Shao Dengyun stood on its upper floor.

He had seen his son approaching below.

His gaze was complicated.

Memories of earlier years surfaced.

Back then Prince Ning had still been alive.

Yet this son had tried every possible way to persuade Shao Dengyun to abandon the prosperity of the capital and voluntarily request assignment to the Beizhou frontier.

Later Prince Ning met disaster.

The court began purging Prince Ning’s old followers.

Under this son’s urging, Shao Dengyun raised troops and betrayed the state.

That rebellion allowed him to escape disaster and become a regional lord in his own right.

At the time, Shao Dengyun had hesitated deeply over whether to rebel.

Prince Ning had personally raised him from a minor Hundred-Man Commander into a general holding command over great armies.

The debt of grace was enormous.

And besides, even after betraying one’s state, there was no guarantee the enemy state would treat a defector kindly.

Yet only when the crisis arrived did Shao Dengyun discover that this son had already prepared many things for him in advance.

Only afterward did he realize that from the very beginning, when Shao Pingbo persuaded him to leave the capital, the boy had already lacked confidence in Prince Ning’s future.

He had been planning for this day even then.

This son was unlike Shao Dengyun.

He resembled his brilliant mother.

Unfortunately, extraordinary cleverness often came with a short life.

His mother had died young.

Shao Dengyun had already received news of the children’s rhyme.

He had read its contents.

The words about “Bo bringing down Shao” did not worry him much.

What he regretted instead was that he had taken concubines in those years.

That he had later fathered two more sons.

In intelligence, judgment, and ability, this eldest son was unquestionably the best heir.

What Shao Dengyun worried about was something else.

Once this son truly held great power in his hands...

Would he spare his two younger brothers?

[End of Chapter 168]