Chapter 908: For You, I Would Stop at Nothing

Old Madam Liu had been unhappy for some time.

Then, not long ago, Prince Pingxi Residence gained an Heir Prince, and she became happy for a while.

But now... she was unhappy again.

The root of her unhappiness was simple.

More than twenty burly Barbarian men had stolen her territory!

Yes.

Stolen it outright.

And they had stolen it so shamelessly that she could not even argue!

Ever since the days of Snow Sea Pass, the street beside Prince Pingxi Residence had been Old Madam Liu’s responsibility.

After the Residence moved into Fengxin City, the streets became broader and her district expanded, but one thing never changed: the street directly outside Prince Pingxi Residence still belonged to Old Madam Liu.

Quite a few old sisters worked beneath her.

None came from poor households.

Either their sons served in the army or their sons-in-law worked under Prince Pingxi Residence.

Even street sweeping here was not a job just anyone could obtain.

Every month it paid silver, along with rice, flour, grain, cooking oil, and other subsidies.

Of course... those old sisters did not particularly care about the money.

Their families already lived comfortably.

What they wanted was something to do.

A sense of purpose.

Originally... everyone had lived quite pleasantly.

They performed their duties properly.

Whatever needed checking was checked.

Whatever needed sweeping was swept.

Old Madam Liu was easy to talk to, but never careless with work.

The streets under her responsibility were kept spotless.

Then... after the Prince returned from his last journey... a group of Barbarian men unexpectedly picked up brooms and started sweeping too.

They did not even bother greeting anyone.

They simply occupied the street in front of Prince Pingxi Residence.

Was that merely a street?

That was the Residence’s face!

Old Madam Liu and her sisters practically counted the days until it was their turn to sweep that particular stretch.

But now these rough Barbarian men watched it every single day and refused to give up even an inch.

There had to be a limit to stealing someone else’s territory.

Even an auntie had dignity!

Old Madam Liu herself remained relatively calm.

She knew her son-in-law served as one of the Prince’s personal guards.

That made him one of the Prince’s intimate people.

But precisely because he was close to the Prince, it was even less appropriate to trouble him with petty outside affairs and waste that personal favor.

Old Madam Liu did nothing.

But quite a few of the old sisters beneath her could not endure it.

Several asked their sons or sons-in-law to pull strings.

One woman’s son-in-law happened to be a clerk in the City Patrol Office.

He actually brought several City Patrol men over to clear the street for his mother-in-law.

The Barbarian sweepers responded by beating the hell out of them.

The City Patrol men were badly outnumbered.

Their sabers were snatched away almost immediately.

Then they were given a thorough thrashing.

They suffered a humiliating loss.

That was when the matter grew serious.

Men from the City Patrol Office had been beaten.

How could that be tolerated?

A large group of armored City Patrol soldiers immediately marched toward the street.

This time... they came aggressively enough that even their crossbows had been raised.

The Barbarians finally stopped acting recklessly.

Their leader gathered his men.

Then he ripped open his own clothes... revealing the scars covering his body.

He roared:

“I bled for the Prince!”

“I risked my life for the Prince!”

The scars were real.

And that iron-blooded bearing... could not be faked either.

The City Patrol Office was not entirely staffed by fools.

For one thing... if some group of unidentified Barbarians had truly spent every day wandering in front of Prince Pingxi Residence with brooms in their hands, did anyone seriously think the Residence’s Brocade-Clad personal guards were there to eat free meals?

At first, the City Patrol men had only heard their own people were beaten and rushed over hot-blooded to recover face.

Now... they did not dare push the matter any further.

So at least no blood was spilled.

But the incident spread.

Memorials and reports began moving upward through layer after layer.

Eventually... one of them landed on the Prince’s desk.

...

Prince Pingxi Residence.

Rear garden.

Zheng Fan was holding a large pair of shears and trimming flowers and shrubs.

Qu Peiluo stood behind him.

“You joined him in this nonsense too.”

Qu Peiluo took half a step backward and said apologetically:

“Your Highness, this subordinate had little choice. He came to my door personally and asked for help. This subordinate could hardly refuse him face. Your Highness also knows that my position here is, in truth, rather awkward.”

“Wouldn’t that make it easier for you to be absolutely impartial?” the Prince asked. “Become a solitary minister beholden to no faction.”

“Yes. In other matters, this subordinate can certainly be impartial. But this particular man is, after all, one of Your Highness’s favored generals. Otherwise Your Highness would never have arranged for him to sweep the street directly outside the Residence. How could this subordinate refuse one of Your Highness’s favored men a little face?”

“Oh. So in the end this is my fault.”

“This subordinate did not mean that.”

“Enough. I put you in a difficult position. Let there be no next time.”

“This subordinate understands.”

Keyan Dongge and his men had spent many years stationed at Snow Sea Pass.

Their relationship with Fengxin City had therefore resembled that between a provincial garrison and the center.

Some distance and separation naturally existed.

But it was nowhere near the point where the former Chief Commander of Snow Sea Pass could return to Fengxin City and find himself completely alone.

Ever since the Standard Household system was implemented, the various garrison armies under Prince Pingxi Residence had already undergone numerous internal rotations through that structure.

The upper ranks of command remained broadly stable.

But the middle and lower ranks had long since been thoroughly intermixed.

One major reason the Prince had dared enter Snow Sea Pass and Zhennan Pass almost alone and directly strip two Chief Commanders of military authority was precisely this.

Zheng Fan had built his power through personal troops and military fiefs.

Naturally... he understood better than most how to prevent his own subordinates from reproducing the same situation beneath him.

So Keyan Dongge still had former subordinates and even members of his old tribe living in Fengxin City.

The whole affair had really begun because some foolish clerk below had allowed his mother-in-law to use him as a spear.

Keyan Dongge seized upon the “accident”... made a bit of noise... and loudly displayed his grievances.

His real purpose was simply to remind the Prince—who had been staying inside the Residence every day ever since acquiring both son and daughter—that he, Keyan Dongge, was still outside sweeping streets.

Of course...

Qu Peiluo controlled Fengxin City’s internal defenses.

The City Patrol Office was one of the yamen beneath him.

Clearly...

Keyan Dongge had warned Qu Peiluo in advance.

“The situation around Zhennan Pass is still somewhat complicated,” Zheng Fan said. “You are Chu-born, true, but if I send you there now, the men below will have difficulty accepting you. I would not be entirely at ease either.”

“This subordinate understands. This subordinate is very satisfied with my current post.”

“Heh. There are plans to establish two new prefectures in the west. Eastern Jin began again from empty land. We cannot keep rotating forever among the same three places. But those western areas are still being built from scratch. I feel throwing you there would waste your talent. Still... I remember what I promised you. Give it another two years. When our finances are looser and we expand the army, I will form a separate Chu Battalion for you.”

“This subordinate will obey every arrangement Your Highness makes.”

Zheng Fan closed the shears and handed them to Qu Peiluo.

Qu Peiluo placed them on a nearby rack.

The Prince stretched lazily.

“Forget it. I’ll go see that dog bastard.”

“This subordinate takes his leave.”

Qu Peiluo saluted and prepared to withdraw.

“You haven’t seen Big Girl yet, have you?” Zheng Fan suddenly asked.

The children were still small.

Apart from the old subordinate generals receiving one opportunity to see them when Zheng Fan carried them out, they normally remained inside the rear residence.

They were not suitable for frequent appearances outside.

Qu Peiluo clearly did not belong to the old-retainer circle.

His identity itself was unusual.

One could call him aloof and prestigious.

He managed the City Patrol Office and was famous for being impartial enough that ordinary people did not dare provoke him.

Yet there truly was not any social circle willing to casually invite him in.

Qu Peiluo smiled.

“Go see her,” the Prince said.

Qu Peiluo drew a deep breath.

He cupped his hands solemnly.

“Thank you, Your Highness!”

...

“Your Highnesses, this is how the thousand-li rush to Snow Sea Pass unfolded.”

Jin Shuke stood beside a sand table.

He had just reconstructed the entire battle from those years.

Tian Tian and Ji Chuanye stood nearby and listened attentively.

When that battle occurred...

Ji Chuanye had not yet been born.

Tian Tian had barely been able to speak clearly.

Yet the battle’s influence had been extraordinarily far-reaching.

One could say it laid the foundation for the present order of Prince Pingxi Residence.

Capturing Snow Sea Pass did more than drive the Savages out and secure the Three Jin lands for Great Yan.

Once Marquis Pingxi controlled Snow Sea Pass, his influence over eastern Jin became firmly established as well.

It completed the most necessary link in the later transfer of authority when Prince Jingnan departed and Marquis Pingxi entered eastern Jin as its master.

“I am describing this campaign to Your Highnesses today not because I expect to teach some brilliant military method through a single battle. I want Your Highnesses to understand how much risk the Prince accepted when he launched that long-distance strike. One mistake... and his isolated force would have been surrounded with nowhere to escape. In military affairs, caution is essential. Our Prince has won battle after battle, but what this general understands better than most is that every time he commands troops, the Prince thinks through every possibility with tremendous care. He uses the most cautious and meticulous calculations... to execute what outsiders later call the most dangerous moves. He has never sought danger merely for the thrill of acting bold and heroic. Your Highnesses... please remember that.”

Tian Tian and Ji Chuanye bowed together.

“This disciple has learned.”

At that moment, someone outside reported:

“General Jin, His Highness summons you.”

Jin Shuke pointed toward the sand table.

“Your Highnesses may continue the simulation yourselves. This general will go see the Prince first.”

...

In the front hall, Keyan Dongge knelt on the floor tiles.

Tea had been properly placed on a side table beside him.

Clearly... he had not dared touch it.

At the moment...

Keyan Dongge was exceptionally obedient.

The Prince entered and sat in the chief seat.

Before long...

Jin Shuke arrived as well.

He saw Keyan Dongge kneeling there but said nothing.

First he saluted the Prince.

Then, at Zheng Fan’s gesture, he sat to one side.

Although Jin Shuke and Keyan Dongge were both Barbarians... one Barbarian was not necessarily the same as another.

Keyan Dongge’s Keyan Tribe had lost its struggle with the Royal Court and been forced to migrate out of the desert.

But even so... it had once been a mid-sized tribe.

Jin Shuke, by contrast... had been born among a penal tribe.

To outsiders, both men were Barbarians.

In reality, the difference between their backgrounds was no smaller than the difference between a Chu noble and a commoner of Yan.

Moreover...

Jin Shuke’s military talent had always been beyond question.

He constantly told people that he had learned the art of war from the Prince.

That was not flattery.

He genuinely believed it.

He believed he had learned to command armies because the Prince had influenced and guided him.

He had honestly never realized... that he himself was simply a military genius.

And where conduct was concerned...

Jin Shuke had always been exceptionally careful as well.

If Keyan Dongge had already gone to Qu Peiluo for help, there was no chance he had not also approached Jin Shuke, another Barbarian by birth.

But Jin Shuke had clearly ignored him.

They were both Barbarians... so they should automatically band together?

Would that not amount to deliberately forming a faction beneath the Prince’s nose?

At that moment... the Prince slowly turned the teacup in his hand.

He asked:

“I hear you’ve been crying injustice outside?”

Keyan Dongge immediately answered:

“Your Highness, this subordinate general only wanted to see you.”

“You’ve only swept streets for how long? And you already can’t endure it?”

“No, Your Highness. It isn’t that this subordinate cannot endure sweeping. It is that everyone else has already seen His Highness the Heir Prince. They’ve even attended His Highness’s one-month banquet. But this subordinate has not seen His Highness even once. This subordinate is anxious, Your Highness! In the future, all those fellows will be able to stand before His Highness the Heir Prince, puff out their chests, and say, ‘I watched Your Highness grow up from the time you were little.’ But this subordinate won’t be able to say a damned word like that. Wouldn’t I be unable to hold my head up forever?”

“Hold your head up before whom?”

“Uh... this subordinate spoke poorly, Your Highness. What this subordinate means is... I am willing to keep sweeping. I am willing to continue tempering my disposition. I only beg Your Highness to let me see His Highness the Heir Prince and grant me one cup of the one-month wine I missed. Beyond that... this subordinate asks for nothing else.”

The Prince continued slowly turning his teacup.

He said nothing.

In truth...

Keyan Dongge’s request was extremely direct.

He wanted to recognize the young master.

That impulse came partly from Barbarian custom.

But the people of Xia could understand it perfectly well.

It was the same principle behind calling someone an old minister who had served through several reigns.

Jin Shuke rose and reported:

“Your Highness, Dongge has behaved foolishly before. He has also harbored selfish thoughts. But this subordinate believes his loyalty to Your Highness has never wavered. I ask Your Highness to grant his request.”

Keyan Dongge immediately nodded frantically.

He was not afraid of temporary obscurity.

He was not that stupid.

So long as he still remained remembered by the Prince, he would rise again someday.

He had never doubted that.

Office could be stripped away.

Military command could be taken.

But affection... could not be severed!

Jin Shuke was not truly trying to intercede for Keyan Dongge out of personal sentiment either.

The Prince had specifically summoned him here.

Clearly... he expected Jin Shuke to say something.

If not to plead for mercy, what else could Jin Shuke possibly say?

That Keyan Dongge had grown arrogant from favor, refused to repent, and ought to be beheaded?

“Since Jin Shuke has spoken for you, I will grant your request. Ten days from now, my Princess will hold her Grasping of Fortune ceremony. You and those men under you may enter the Residence to observe. I’ll also let all of you see my Heir Prince. And I’ll make up the one-month banquet you missed.”

The Grasping of Fortune was the same ceremony ordinary people used to divine a child’s future by letting the child choose among symbolic objects.

Among common households, it was usually held when the child reached one year old.

Official and noble families often held it earlier... because they wanted to determine the child’s future direction sooner.

There was another matter as well.

The name of Zheng Fan’s son had to be finalized at that time.

Zheng Fan himself had already thought of several possibilities.

The Demon Kings had thought of several too.

Zheng Fan understood what this son meant to them.

So he wanted to consider everyone’s opinions and settle the matter together.

But the more everyone discussed it... the less they could agree on a final decision.

Fortunately... there was now a deadline.

“Thank you, Your Highness! Thank you, Your Highness!”

“Afterward... keep sweeping the street for me properly! If you want to keep assisting the Heir Prince in the future, then first see whether you can actually correct those bad habits of yours. I was pruning branches in the rear garden just now.”

“This subordinate understands. This subordinate knows. I will reflect properly and will never disappoint Your Highness again.”

“Get lost.”

“This subordinate takes his leave.”

Keyan Dongge rose with a huge grin.

The moment he left the front hall, he picked up the broom leaning outside and strode away with enough vigor to create wind around his feet.

“Shameless bastard.”

The Prince took a sip of tea.

Jin Shuke laughed.

“Your Highness still spoils rough soldiers like us too much.”

“I came from rough soldiers myself. I know their hardships. But sometimes... I do find myself thinking Qian’s policy of honoring civil officials and suppressing military men was not entirely without reason. Some situations become completely different merely because you replace one person. I’m not saying that because Keyan Dongge is a Barbarian. With that temperament of his, even if he were born a Yan man, without me holding him down... eastern Jin would probably have been turned upside down long ago.”

“No matter how arrogant or fierce a general may be, nobody dares behave recklessly before Your Highness.”

“You’ve started sounding more scholarly lately.”

“Your Highness once instructed this subordinate to read more. This subordinate sets aside time to read every day.”

The Prince nodded in satisfaction.

At that moment, Xiao Yibo entered and reported:

“Your Highness, General Liang has returned.”

The commanding generals of Snow Sea Pass and Zhennan Pass had both been replaced.

Liang Cheng had needed to remain with the army until the transitions were completely secure.

That was why he had failed to return in time for the child’s birth.

Now that everything had stabilized... he had come back immediately.

Zheng Fan smiled at Jin Shuke.

“Come. Let’s go welcome him together.”

...

Xiong Liqing’s courtyard was the only fully heated courtyard inside Prince Pingxi Residence.

The weather had already begun turning cold.

Yet inside this courtyard... it still felt like spring.

Xiong Liqing had originally offered to exchange courtyards with Siniang.

Siniang refused.

First, Zheng Fan himself did not particularly enjoy the feeling of heated floors all day.

Second... his son was hardly afraid of the cold.

A’Ming escorted Qu Peiluo inside.

No matter what... the stewards below could not simply allow Qu Peiluo to swagger alone into the Princess’s courtyard.

A’Ming understood that perfectly well.

So he had no complaint about being called out of the wine cellar.

Before returning to the cellar later... he could conveniently visit the child too.

When Qu Peiluo entered, the Princess herself was sitting in the courtyard.

No folding screen had been set up between them.

Xiong Liqing wore a long blue-green dress and sat there with graceful composure.

When she saw Qu Peiluo arrive... she did not stand.

She merely continued cracking sunflower seeds and called casually:

“You came.”

Qu Peiluo bowed slightly.

“Mm. I came.”

“Madam Liu, bring the child out.”

“Yes.”

The wet nurse carried Big Girl out.

For a moment...

Qu Peiluo had no idea where to put his hands.

Every part of him looked uncomfortable.

Yet he clearly did not want to leave.

He resembled a mischievous child during New Year who kept saying he did not want the lucky money relatives were pressing toward him.

“Hold her,” Xiong Liqing said.

“May I?”

Qu Peiluo looked genuinely disbelieving.

“You are her uncle,” Xiong Liqing said.

The instant he heard those words...

Qu Peiluo’s breathing became heavier.

His palms were covered in sweat.

He drew a deep breath.

Then rubbed both palms against his clothes.

Only then did he carefully accept the child from the wet nurse.

Big Girl was a few months old now.

She had reached the age when babies were at their softest, cutest, and most lovable.

More than that... she had inherited her mother’s features almost perfectly.

She was extraordinarily pleasing to look at.

Big Girl had one particular trait.

She loved smiling.

But she chose who received those smiles.

She smiled at Tian Tian.

She smiled at her biological father.

Toward the Crown Prince... she remained consistently uninterested.

But when Qu Peiluo took her into his arms...

Big Girl immediately revealed a soft, innocent smile.

In that instant...

Qu Peiluo felt his very bones melt.

As though every beautiful thing in the world had bloomed at once inside that smile.

She shared no blood with him.

Her father and mother were even tied to him by a hatred deep as a sea of blood.

But at that moment... inside his heart...

Qu Peiluo made a promise.

From this day forward... for this child... he would stop at nothing.

[End of Chapter 908]