Rebirth: The Journey of an Heiress-Chapter 242 - 240 Oblivious_1
Chapter 242: Chapter 240: Oblivious_1
Chapter 242: Chapter 240: Oblivious_1
“Bai Qingyan, I see you as one of our own, so I won’t beat around the bush! King Liang forged letters between the King of Zhen and the Prince of Nanyan conspiring with the enemy. Although the case has been tried, shouldn’t you avoid suspicion and stay away from Nanyan? Why did you send your foster brother to Nanyan? Or perhaps… your foster brother went to Nanyan without your knowledge?”
Bai Qingyan suddenly understood.
“Your Highness doubts me?” Bai Qingyan’s tone was calm, neither anxious nor angry.
The Crown Prince looked at her with disappointment, raising his voice, “If I suspected you, would you still be standing here talking to me? If Father Emperor asks, will you answer him like this too? Do you still want to keep secrets from me?!”
A young eunuch shuffled into the tent, saluted, and said, “Your Highness, General Bai’s foster brother has arrived…”
“Let him in!”
Xiao Ruojiang heard the Crown Prince summoning Bai Qingyan and him, fearing he would be questioned, and knowing Bai Qingyan was avoiding suspicion. So, he quickened his pace to avoid giving different answers to the Crown Prince’s questions. He nearly ran while dressing to arrive promptly.
Xiao Ruojiang, breathing heavily, hurried in, knelt, and saluted, pretending to be terrified, speaking in a low tremulous voice, “Commoner… pays… respects to Your Highness!”
Seeing Xiao Ruojiang kneeling and seemingly trembling with fear of the Crown Prince’s authority, the Crown Prince felt a slight relief. He just feared encountering a hard-headed person, from whom he could extract nothing.
The Crown Prince exuded authority, glaring down at the kneeling Xiao Ruojiang, “I ask you, what were you doing in Nanyan some days ago? On whose orders?”
Xiao Ruojiang, scared by the Crown Prince’s raised voice, trembled, and glanced in Bai Qingyan’s direction.
“I am asking you a question. Why are you looking at General Bai?!” the Crown Prince fumed.
Xiao Ruojiang immediately bowed his head to the ground, not daring to raise his eyes, “Commoner… commoner…”
Bai Qingyan sighed, “Your Highness, my foster brother is timid and meeting you for the first time, pardon his rudeness. Since Your Highness wants to know…”
She paused, cupped her fists, and saluted the Crown Prince, “This concerns my reputation. Please, Your Highness, dismiss everyone else.”
Xiao Ruojiang, bowing his head, understood Bai Qingyan’s hint about reputation, meaning she would claim this matter as involving a maiden’s honor.
The Crown Prince raised an eyebrow at these words, motioning for Fang Lao and Quan Yu to leave.
Soon, only Bai Qingyan, the Crown Prince, and Xiao Ruojiang remained in the hall.
“Foster brother, don’t be afraid… the Crown Prince is protecting me. Otherwise, we’d both be held in Dadu right now,” Bai Qingyan softly reassured Xiao Ruojiang.
The Crown Prince, upon hearing this, felt inexplicably pleased and added, “Speak the truth.”
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“Your Highness, I went to Nanyan on our eldest lady’s orders. I went to find the wealthy merchant Xiao Rongyan!” Xiao Ruojiang’s voice was fearful, hurriedly raising his head to explain, “But Your Highness, there’s no affair between my eldest lady and that Xiao Rongyan! Please judge fairly! It’s Xiao Rongyan who has been pursuing my eldest lady!”
Xiao Ruojiang anxiously finished speaking and quickly bowed his head again, seeming very scared.
The Crown Prince’s eyebrow twitched, Xiao Rongyan?!
Since separating from Xiao Rongyan in Wanping City, and heading to Pingyang City, he’d lost all news of him. Xiao Rongyan went to Nanyan? And Xiao Rongyan… was infatuated with Bai Qingyan? Pursuing Bai Qingyan?
The Crown Prince looked at Bai Qingyan standing under the lamp, his brows relaxed…
No wonder; Bai Qingyan’s appearance was indeed stunningly beautiful. Since ancient times, heroes loved beauties. But… shouldn’t the beauty Xiao liked be a bit too fierce?!
A beauty who would burn and kill tens of thousands in Xiliang, who could bear it?
“That Xiao Rongyan is indeed a scoundrel! First, he sent our eldest lady a horse… the one named Pingan, which our fourth lady liked, so our eldest lady kept it for her. Then he sent letters, filled with obscene and lewd words!” Xiao Ruojiang’s voice grew louder in anger, “Our eldest lady burned the letters in front of the messenger! Yet Xiao Rongyan’s men still sent more! To escape his harassment, our eldest lady ordered me to find Xiao Rongyan in Nanyan, to make it clear she swore a lifelong vow of celibacy! Even if she married, it wouldn’t be to a scoundrel like him, with his lowly merchant status!”
So, it was a romantic entanglement!
“Your Highness, I didn’t want to make things ugly with Mr. Xiao, given his friendship with you, so I sent my foster brother. Who knew such a misunderstanding would arise! To tell the truth, my foster brother is very timid and extremely cautious in his actions. If he had really gone to Nanyan for treason, no one would have discovered his tracks!”
Bai Qingyan looked at Xiao Ruojiang and added, “Just like this time in the Southern Territory, my foster brother went ahead alone to find out where Xiliang’s granary was. Yet the people of Xiliang didn’t discover it.”
The Crown Prince’s eyes brightened, looking at the docile, kneeling Xiao Ruojiang. Bai Qingyan was right, the more timid a person, the more cautious they were!
This time, Bai Qingyan went to the Southern Territory with just her foster brother, and the Crown Prince thought Bai Qingyan had no death warriors with her because all the Bai family death warriors had gone to protect the seventeen sons of the Bai family on the battlefield!
Unexpectedly, Bai Qingyan’s foster brother had such skills.
“I have another foster brother Your Highness should have seen during the expedition. He scouted the Xiliang army’s defenses during the battle at Jinghe. He should be at Tonggu Mountain now to prevent Xiliang from planting spies before our Jin Kingdom’s garrison can take over.”
Instead of being questioned by the Crown Prince later, Bai Qingyan decided to explain now.
“The Bai family indeed has many capable people!” the Crown Prince could not help but exclaim.
“Now it is just my two foster brothers who are useful. Your Highness is a great judge of talent, surrounded by people of exceptional skills…” Bai Qingyan lowered her eyes to hide her smile, “Whether it’s Fang Lao, Mr. Qin, or Mr. Ren, any of them are unparalleled individuals of great wisdom and strategy.”
If someone else had said this, it might have sounded like flattery. But coming from the resolute Bai Qingyan, the Crown Prince found it very pleasing.
However, Bai Qingyan seemed a bit oblivious! Shouldn’t she have offered her two foster brothers to him since he praised them?
Never mind, Bai family people are resilient and not the kind to curry favor. Even if Bai Qingyan dared to offer them, he might not have dared to assign them important tasks.
