Chapter 519 - Chapter 519: Sell For A Good Price
Chapter 519: Sell For A Good Price
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
After Prince Yu left the Imperial study, Xiao Jin sent more people to keep watch on the palace for temporary stays. Prince Yu was not allowed to leave the Chu State before the Nan State sent the things over.
If the compensation payable by the Nan State for their surrender had not been sent over but the people who came to negotiate peace had run away, this would be a slap in the face for the Chu State. As the victorious kingdom, Xiao Jin would never allow such a thing to happen.
Winter in the capital came earlier than in Sky Alpha City.
Su Ying and the children had just received their winter clothes when the temperature dropped that night.
During this period of time, Su Ying visited the academy a few times to check on its situation. Zhou Xiangrong had managed the academy very well. Every time Su Ying dropped in, the students would be in class. After seeing how serious and hardworking they were, Su Ying left in satisfaction.
When winter came, the things from the Nan State finally arrived in the capital city.
As the things were being carried into the palace, all the officials were present. They felt extremely gratified when they saw the envoys of the Nan State had been made to stand in the middle of the hall.
Didn’t the Nan State think that they were very powerful? Now, they had no choice but to obediently send these things here to make peace.
That same night, Xiao Jin hosted a banquet for everyone in Prince Yu’s entourage.
Prince Yu took the opportunity to bid farewell to Xiao Jin to test him.
This time, Xiao Jin did not stop him. Instead, he straightaway toasted him a farewell drink. This signaled Xiao Jin’s agreement to let Prince Yu leave the capital city.
Happiness came too quickly, and Prince Yu almost didn’t come back to his senses. He thought that his ears were playing tricks on him.
After the banquet ended, Prince Yu immediately ordered his men to pack their luggage and leave the next morning. He didn’t want to stay here a moment longer.
However, before he left, Prince Yu still begged Xiao Jin to let him go to the palace prison to bid farewell to Princess Pingling.
During this period of time, Princess Pingling had been locked up in the palace’s prison. Xiao Jin ordered his men to guard her closely and did not allow anyone to visit her.
Although she was in prison, Xiao Jin didn’t let anyone mistreat her. After all, she still had to marry Xiao Li.
“Prince Brother, why did you only show up now?” These few months had almost completely worn down Princess Pingling’s will. Her eyes were bloodshot as she grabbed Prince Yu’s hand. It was as if she was clutching onto her last life-saving raft.
Prince Yu saw that she had lost so much weight that her face had turned ferocious and her complexion looked terrible. However, he could not even protect himself right now, and he also could not take her away.
“I will be leaving the capital city tomorrow. You should be careful after you marry into the Third Prince’s Residence.”
Princess Pingling panicked when she realized that he was not here to rescue her. “You’re leaving me behind?”
Prince Yu’s face tensed up as he said, “I’ve also been trapped in the palace for temporary stays for a few months. If I don’t leave as soon as possible, I’ll die here. At that point, no one will come to save you! You are betrothed to the Third Prince after all. On the surface, they won’t dare to do anything to you. You should be smart and wait for Emperor Father to think of a way to rescue you.”
Princess Pingling was not such a naive young girl to believe everything Prince Yu said. She knew that she was already an abandoned pawn. They would no longer care about her life or death.
“You can’t just leave like this. You have to leave something for me.”
Prince Yu’s heart softened when he saw her thin appearance. He took out quite a number of banknotes from his robe and shoved them into her hands.
However, Princess Pingling grabbed his hand and said in a low voice, “I also want the contact information of the spies.”
Prince Yu frowned. The contact point for the spies was very secretive and should not be revealed so readily to outsiders.
Princess Pingling held Prince Yu’s hand tightly. It was as if she wouldn’t let him leave if he refused to tell her.
Prince Yu felt that she wasn’t stupid and might be of some use if he kept her, so he quietly told her how to contact the spies.
“You have to be careful. If you can get a firm foothold, certain things are not impossible.” Although the possibility of overthrowing Xiao Jin’s regime and allowing the Third Prince to ascend the throne was very small, but what if?
Princess Pingling did not respond.
The next morning, Prince Yu left the capital city and didn’t even bid farewell to Xiao Jin in person.
As soon as Prince Yu left, Su Ying also went out of the city. It had already been so long, and she had already studied those charred corpses thoroughly. She had extracted all the data she could, so these corpses were no longer of much use.
After keeping those corpses for so long, Su Ying decided to find a place to bury them.
To avoid the possibility of people misunderstanding her instructions, she decided to get out of the city to settle the matter personally.
After burying the bodies, Su Ying wiped her hands and dusted herself off as she descended the mountain.
Zhou Qing looked curiously at the dirt on Su Ying’s clothes. She did not understand why Her Imperial Highness had gone up the mountain alone.
“It’s almost noon. Let’s return to the city first.”
“Yes. Do you wish to return to the palace directly, Your Imperial Highness?”
“Mm-hmm. Let’s go back.”
Su Ying boarded the horse carriage and returned to the city. It was already close to noon, and she was a little hungry. She thought she might as well go to the restaurant chain in the city that she had visited twice before and have lunch before going back.
When Su Ying arrived outside the restaurant, a horse carriage brushed past her as she alighted from it.
Su Ying seemed to have vaguely heard someone calling out to her. She turned to look at that horse carriage, but she didn’t see anything unusual. Perhaps she was mistaken.
In the horse carriage that sped past, Moon looked away with a disappointed expression.
She had seen that Big Sister she met earlier and called out to her, but Big Sister did not seem to have heard her.
Moon was immersed in her own thoughts and did not notice the change in the expression of the person sitting in the horse carriage.
After she saw Moon sitting quietly again, the tightly clenched fists in her sleeves gradually relaxed.
“Student Affairs Teacher, is the place we’re going far from here?”
The Student Affairs Teacher was someone who provided assistance to the students in their daily lives. If the students faced any problems in their daily lives, they could approach the Student Affairs Teacher to help solve them.
The Student Affairs Teacher forced a gentle smile. “It’s not far. We’ll be there soon.”
Moon didn’t doubt her. She had been in the academy for quite a while now and had learned many words. She had also heard many stories about the sages, which made her feel that studying was a wonderful thing.
Today, the Student Affairs Teacher said that the Empress wanted to see the results of their studies during this period of time, so the students had to go out and get tested one by one. Today, it was her turn.
Moon was so nervous that her heart almost jumped out of her throat. She was worried that the Empress would be disappointed if she had not learned well.
After traveling for an unknown period of time, the horse carriage finally stopped.
The Student Affairs Teacher got off the horse carriage first. “Come down. We’re here.”
Moon got off the carriage with some trepidation. She quickly swept her gaze around. This looked like a back courtyard. She did not know where the Empress was.
The Student Affairs Teacher led Moon into the building. As soon as she entered, she smelled a strong scent of rouge and perfume.
Moon was a little puzzled. As she looked at the colorful lanterns hanging in the middle hall, she felt that something was not quite right. However, she trusted the Student Affairs Teacher and so did not think too much about it.
The Student Affairs Teacher Fang brought Moon to the last room and summoned two maidservants who looked about the same age as Moon.
Teacher Fang’s smile had completely disappeared at this point. With an icy face, she said, “Clean yourself up so that you can be sold for a good price tonight.”
Moon’s expression changed at once..