Chapter 532: Look at the Bones by the Road

Still wearing that look of disdain, Shao Pingbo was just about to speak when the attendant from the State Guest Residence who had delivered the previous letter appeared at the gate again.

“Mr. Shao,” he called.

Shao Sansheng tucked the letter into his sleeve and quickly went to the gate.

After speaking with the attendant for a moment, he returned at a brisk pace and reported, “Eldest Young Master, Kang He, Wei’s envoy stationed in the Qi capital, requests an audience.”

Shao Pingbo fell silent for a moment, apparently surprised.

In the end, he nodded. “Invite him in.”

He too wanted to see what the envoy of Wei wanted with him.

Shao Sansheng returned outside to receive the guest and spoke with the guards.

Before long, an elegant man in magnificent robes arrived at the gate. Several retainer cultivators followed behind him, but the guards from Qi’s three great sects stopped them.

The men being stopped insisted on entering.

The guards refused absolutely.

The finely dressed man turned back.

Seeing how cautiously and tightly this place was being guarded, he became even more certain of his own judgment.

He smiled faintly and waved toward his men, indicating they did not need to follow.

Only then did the dispute at the gate subside.

Shao Pingbo came into the courtyard and cupped his hands in welcome. “Lord Kang. I’ve long heard your distinguished name.”

“Ah!” Kang He strode forward and looked him up and down, then cupped his hands. “Young Master Shao truly is an outstanding figure!”

“Lord Kang flatters me. Please, inside.” Shao Pingbo turned aside and extended a hand, leading his guest into the hall.

Shao Sansheng served tea.

A round of polite exchanges between host and guest was naturally unavoidable.

After several pleasantries, Shao Pingbo asked the purpose of the visit.

Kang He had no desire to keep circling around the matter and stated his intention directly.

“The Chancellor learned in the Wei capital that Young Master Shao has encountered a little trouble and specifically sent this envoy to help relieve you of it.”

Shao Pingbo smiled. “What trouble do I have?”

Inside, however, he was startled.

Was Wei’s information network truly that fast, or had news already spread?

In truth, Kang He did not know the specific situation either.

Xuan Wei knew very little herself. How much more could he know?

But he deliberately tested Shao Pingbo with a bluff.

“Young Master Shao had barely left Beizhou when Niu Youdao followed on your heels, riding a flying mount from Myriad Beasts Sect to Beizhou, only to come up empty.”

“Now Niu Youdao has already left Beizhou and is riding a flying mount toward the Qi capital with formidable momentum.”

“Is that not trouble?”

He had no idea whatsoever that Niu Youdao was actually on his way to the Qi capital.

He was simply trying to frighten Shao Pingbo.

Unfortunately, the bluff struck precisely at Shao Pingbo’s weak point.

At present, the only person Shao Pingbo truly feared was Niu Youdao.

The instant he heard that Niu Youdao had already rushed toward the Qi capital, his heart sank.

Given his understanding of Niu Youdao, the man truly might refuse to let the matter end.

He truly might exploit Shao Pingbo’s weakest moment and continue hunting him down.

Shao Pingbo had not expected Niu Youdao to possess flying mounts for transportation either.

He had now essentially lost his channels for obtaining news from the outside.

Forget Niu Youdao.

He did not even know what the current situation in Beizhou was.

“Why would the Chancellor help me out of trouble?” Shao Pingbo asked.

Kang He’s spirits immediately lifted.

It seemed the Chancellor’s judgment had been correct.

He said at once, “The Chancellor greatly admires Young Master Shao’s talent.”

“Beizhou is too small a place to display your abilities fully.”

“The Chancellor is willing to provide Young Master Shao with a far greater stage on which to display your talents.”

“If Young Master Shao comes to Wei, the Chancellor has personally promised to receive you as a state scholar!”

Shao Pingbo gave a soft sound of acknowledgment and asked, “And how exactly will she relieve me of my trouble?”

“Can Niu Youdao be made to listen to the Chancellor?”

“Or does the Chancellor intend to help me kill him?”

“Young Master Shao need not concern yourself with that,” Kang He replied. “The Chancellor naturally has means to remove your future worries.”

Shao Pingbo considered the matter for a while, then slowly nodded.

“Good. So long as the Chancellor can remove my future worries, I am willing to serve her with the loyalty of a dog or horse!”

Kang He was secretly delighted.

He had not expected the man to agree so readily.

Just then, a report came from outside.

“Princess Consort Ying has arrived!”

Shao Pingbo rose at once.

Kang He stood as well.

He stepped forward and quietly warned him, “This matter must not be leaked, lest someone interfere.”

“I will arrange things for Young Master Shao immediately. Wait for my news.”

“Since the Princess Consort has come to visit her elder brother, I will not disturb your reunion. I’ll take my leave.”

“I will await Lord Kang’s good news.” Shao Pingbo cupped his hands and saw him off.

Outside the courtyard, a carriage stopped.

Shao Liuer descended, her jade ornaments chiming as she entered in magnificent, stately dress.

No guard at the gate attempted to stop her.

She was a princess consort of Qi and Shao Pingbo’s younger sister.

Naturally, no one stationed here dared block her.

She had just entered the courtyard when she happened to meet Kang He on his way out.

Shao Liuer could not help giving him a second look.

Kang He cupped his hands in greeting, then quickly departed.

“Greetings, Princess Consort.” Shao Pingbo had come out as well and saluted.

Her present status was what it was.

Before so many eyes, public hierarchy came first. Their relationship as siblings belonged to private moments.

“Brother!” Shao Liuer smiled sweetly.

Brother and sister entered the hall.

At a gesture from Shao Liuer, a maid placed a small box on the table.

All unrelated attendants then withdrew.

The hall became somewhat quiet.

The sound of Shao Sansheng pouring tea and water seemed especially clear.

“Did His Highness give some instruction?” Shao Pingbo asked, breaking the silence.

There was a faint thread of expectation in his heart.

“Yes.” Shao Liuer nodded.

She lifted a sleeve and pointed at the box on the table. “This is a small token of His Highness’s goodwill. He asked me to bring it to you.”

Shao Pingbo asked, “Were there any other instructions?”

Shao Liuer answered calmly, “His Highness has always been an upright man. He cannot bring himself to use authority for private ends.”

“You are my elder brother, and thus his elder brother-in-law. His Highness truly finds it inconvenient to employ you. He fears people will gossip.”

“He also did not know how to say this to you directly, so he had me convey the message.”

Shao Pingbo stared coldly at her for a while.

Suddenly he said, “I want to see His Highness.”

“There’s no need, is there?” Shao Liuer said. “Why put His Highness in a difficult position?”

Shao Sansheng, standing nearby, looked complicatedly between the two siblings.

The Young Lady had changed.

When facing Eldest Young Master now, there was no longer any trace of her old fear.

Shao Pingbo said, “Is His Highness unwilling to see me, or are you unwilling to let him see me?”

“Even if I am taking my leave, am I not permitted one meeting according to courtesy?”

“Brother, let me ask you one thing.” Shao Liuer looked at him directly. “Tell me honestly.”

“Did you disregard Father’s life and death, use him to lure the enemy, then throw him behind and flee?”

Anger appeared faintly on Shao Pingbo’s face. “That is not disregarding Father’s life and death. It is preserving the greater situation.”

“Father holds Beizhou’s military power.”

“No matter who intervenes in Beizhou, they will not sit by and watch the province fall into chaos. Naturally, they will not make things difficult for Father either.”

“What about Niu Youdao?” Shao Liuer asked. “Does he need to preserve Beizhou’s greater situation?”

“I’m afraid he would be delighted to see Beizhou under the Shao family collapse into chaos.”

“Aren’t you afraid he’ll kill Father?”

Shao Pingbo fell silent briefly, then argued, “Impossible.”

“Dachan Mountain will not let him act recklessly.”

“If Beizhou falls into chaos, Dachan Mountain itself will lose its road of retreat.”

“I don’t understand these things.” Shao Liuer rose and paced slowly through the hall. “This has already happened, and I myself live every day with caution. I truly have no ability left to concern myself with such matters.”

“At first, His Highness wanted to protect you.”

“He even wrote Niu Youdao a letter specifically for that purpose.”

“But after Niu Youdao replied, His Highness immediately changed his attitude.”

“His Highness deliberately showed me the letter as well, testing where my heart stood...”

She recounted the contents of the letter.

Her memory was excellent.

Though she could not repeat every character without error after seeing it only once, she reproduced nearly all of it.

Shao Pingbo’s chest rose and fell rapidly as he listened, and his face flushed red.

He did not doubt she was telling the truth.

This was exactly the kind of method Niu Youdao would use.

Back then, the “King of Beizhou” children’s rhyme had already shown him how viciously skilled Niu Youdao was at spreading rumors.

Today, he had learned the lesson again.

Every line in that letter struck directly at the heart.

The instant Shao Pingbo heard it, he understood.

Even if Hao Zhen wanted to employ him now, he would not dare.

One letter had severed an entire road before him.

It nearly drove Shao Pingbo mad with anger.

Shao Sansheng watched him with deep concern from the side, afraid his old illness would flare again.

Against anyone else, things were usually fine.

But the moment Eldest Young Master faced Niu Youdao, rage had a way of attacking his heart.

This proud and arrogant Eldest Young Master had rarely encountered a true opponent.

Only against Niu Youdao had he suffered defeat after defeat.

For someone so proud, enduring that humiliation was extremely difficult.

To Shao Sansheng’s relief, Eldest Young Master seemed to hold himself together this time.

Shao Liuer walked to stand before Shao Pingbo.

“Brother, we are family. Naturally, our own family helps our own.”

“If the right opportunity appears, I will certainly plead for you with His Highness.”

“But I truly never expected His Highness to have secret contact with Niu Youdao.”

“I don’t know what kind of relationship they have.”

“But I understand one thing clearly.”

“With Niu Youdao interfering from the middle, it will be difficult for me to speak for you.”

Shao Pingbo tightly closed his eyes.

At last, he drew a deep breath, opened them again, and rose.

Brother and sister looked at one another for a while.

Then he suddenly smiled faintly.

“Do you want to borrow my hand to eliminate Niu Youdao?”

“Or do you want the two of us to fight until both sides are crippled?”

Shao Liuer blinked. “Brother, you misunderstand.”

“I’m doing this for your own good.”

“If he keeps biting at you without letting go, how will you ever live in peace?”

“You need not concern yourself with that.”

“If an opportunity appears, I will naturally eliminate him.”

“From now on, live your own life well.”

“Enough. I understand both your intentions and His Highness’s meaning.”

“You should go back.”

Shao Liuer said her farewells and walked toward the doorway.

Just as she reached it, Shao Pingbo spoke again behind her.

“Liuer, whether you believe me or not, there is still something I must tell you.”

“I have never once thought of harming you.”

“I have always remembered Mother’s final request before she died.”

“From childhood until adulthood, I did everything I could to keep those filthy matters away from you.”

“I was unwilling even to let you see those disgusting things.”

“I wanted you to live a simple, happy life.”

“Many things happened during those years that you never knew about.”

“Looking back now, perhaps doing that was itself a mistake.”

“Perhaps that is what caused you and me to understand people and events so differently.”

“In your eyes, separating you from that pedantic scholar and marrying you here was me doing evil.”

“But in my eyes, in these chaotic times, for a woman, what matters more?”

“Romance?”

“Or living well?”

“Look at the bones by the road.”

“How many people die without even a place to bury them?”

“How many endure humiliation just to survive, unable even to eat their fill?”

“You and I, and countless others besides us, have no qualifications to speak of love in a world this chaotic.”

“Many of your ideas are too naive.”

“Is becoming Princess Consort Ying truly such a bad thing?”

“How many women dream their entire lives of such fortune?”

“Do you think I truly have nowhere to go except serving Hao Zhen?”

“If that is honestly what you think, then you underestimate your elder brother too much.”

“To put it disdainfully, the power Hao Zhen presently controls is not yet enough to move me, much less compel me to place myself beneath him.”

“I came here because I worry Beizhou may be lost.”

“I worry that because of my defeat, you will lose that source of influence.”

“I worry that without your maiden family’s power behind you, you may be bullied here.”

“That is why I came.”

“Liuer, everything I have done was truly only because I wanted you to live well.”

“In this world, I can harm anyone.”

“You alone, I will never harm.”

Standing at the doorway, Shao Liuer listened with her back to him.

A faint sneer touched the corner of her mouth.

Even now, he still wanted to move her with words like these?

Her skirts swayed.

Without turning her head once, she walked away.

Inside the hall, Shao Pingbo watched her leave.

Slowly, he closed his eyes.

His face looked defeated and bleak.

He stood there like a piece of rotting wood.

[End of Chapter 532]