Chapter 93: Nie Hao

Chapter 93: Nie Hao

After Xiao Ce ran two laps around the Temporary Palace, it was exactly ten kilometers.

He returned sweating profusely and found that Yin Pan’er was already awake.

There were several soldiers beside her.

Before Xiao Ce could ask, Yin Pan’er hurriedly stepped forward: “Prince, it’s bad. Mosi Ashina has been rescued.”

Hearing this, Xiao Ce had to pretend to look surprised: “What! Rescued? How?”

Yin Pan’er turned to a soldier Captain on the side with a grim expression: “Quick, what happened?”

The soldier Captain said with a troubled face: “Prince, yesterday General Yan Jia needed to move some silver, so he had all of us go help. We figured the security here was heavy, so we left two men on duty and went to help. Later, after we finished moving the silver, we were kept there by the Prince and ended up drinking too much. This morning when we came to change shifts, we found the two guards knocked out, and Mosi Ashina was already gone!”

As he spoke, the soldier Captain said with a pained expression: “Prince, it was my negligence in supervision. I beg the Prince to grant me death.”

Yin Pan’er worriedly tried to persuade from the side, afraid that Xiao Ce would start killing: “Prince, now is not the time to assign blame. We should first go look for him.”

“Good, I’ll listen to you!” Xiao Ce said to Yin Pan’er with a smile.

Yin Pan’er was surprised by Xiao Ce’s gentle attitude, but then she remembered Xiao Ce’s affectionate sweet talk last night. So it wasn’t strange that Xiao Ce was so obedient now.

Xiao Ce said: “Since the Princess Consort has pleaded for you, you may go back first. This Prince will send people to capture him.”

Then, Xiao Ce said to Da Lei: “Da Lei, you go. Have Yan Jia organize some men to conduct a full-scale search for Mosi Ashina!”

Da Lei understood and clasped his hands in agreement.

After saying that, Xiao Ce waved his hand, telling them all to leave.

Xiao Ce looked at Yin Pan’er with a smile and said: “Pan’er, it was This Prince’s fault!”

Yin Pan’er had a face full of question marks.

“This Prince should have had people take better care, disturbing your rest. Why don’t you go back and sleep a little longer?”

Hearing Xiao Ce say this, Yin Pan’er’s face turned red: “Prince, that’s not necessary. But, why don’t you look worried at all?”

Xiao Ce smiled: “He’s already gone, what’s there to worry about! And, don’t you really think those Turks would obediently bring a ransom to exchange for him?”

“Him running away actually saves This Prince trouble. After all, it’s not easy to kill him in a short time, and we’d have to feed him, wasting food.”

When Xiao Ce said this, Yin Pan’er looked at him suspiciously, then said softly: “Prince, you didn’t intentionally let him go, did you.”

Xiao Ce didn’t answer directly and said: “Pan’er, you haven’t had breakfast yet, have you? Let’s go have breakfast together.”

Then he asked Xiao Jiu: “Xiao Jiu, is breakfast ready?”

Xiao Jiu nodded.

Xiao Ce took Yin Pan’er’s hand and walked over.

Yin Pan’er was smart. Since Xiao Ce didn’t answer directly, she guessed that all of this was planned by Xiao Ce.

Because, if he didn’t want Mosi Ashina to leave…

General Yan Jia, no matter how short of men, wouldn’t specifically call upon the guards who were guarding Mosi Ashina.

He was one of Xiao Ce’s most trusted generals and wouldn’t make such a low-level mistake.

Along the way, Xiao Ce was a person of meticulous thinking, the type who thinks a hundred steps ahead for every step taken.

Anything unusual surely has a reason!

…

The news of Mosi Ashina’s rescue soon spread.

Following Da Lei’s indication, Yan Jia sent people to first search the noble clans’ areas.

After they heard the news that Mosi Ashina had been rescued,

the people of the noble clans immediately became agitated.

“Look, I said the Prince is no match for the people of the Northern Desert. The Northern Desert people actually managed to rescue someone without anyone noticing. Our King of Northern Desert is still too young!”

“Now that the Turks have no worries holding them back, will they attack us?”

“That’s for sure! Turks have always been ones to return an eye for an eye! What should we do now? If the Turks really attack, it’s us who will suffer again. The King of Northern Desert just extorted a large sum of money from us. If we go back and get attacked by the Turks, wouldn’t that be losing the Madam and breaking the troops!”

“What are you afraid of? Haven’t you all seen the King of Northern Desert’s elite troops? If the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up! Besides, this money is for saving our lives. Dare you not pay? Those soldiers outside are all howling for action; they seem much scarier than the Turks!”

“Exactly, the King of Northern Desert’s methods… Dare you not pay? Isn’t Cai Tianming a lesson from the past! Patriarch Kan, isn’t that right?” Liu Xuan looked at Kan Zongye who was silent off to the side and asked.

Hearing this, Kan Zongye chimed in: “You are all worrying in the wrong direction! The King of Northern Desert’s army, everyone has seen it. That was prepared for him by the Prince of Zhenguo! Even if the King of Northern Desert were useless, the Prince of Zhenguo would still support him! If a fight breaks out with the Turks, we actually don’t need to worry too much!”

Lin Shou asked: “So you mean we can rest easy?”

Kan Zongye shook his head: “Of course not. What we should worry about now is, geographically, if the Turks move south, we will definitely be the first to face them! If the King of Northern Desert doesn’t send troops, the Turks will attack us first! When that time comes, will you gentlemen engage in battle or not?”

“Of course not engage! Why should we engage… We are Manor Guards, not soldiers.”

“Right, we are Manor Guards! How could we possibly go face the enemy?”

…

Everyone unanimously disagreed.

Kan Zongye continued: “So, we also need to make preparations early. Our new King is full of tricky ideas. It’s not impossible for him to have us go fight the Turks with our blades!”

“Patriarch Kan, what do you mean? Speak directly!” Lin Shou said to Kan Zongye.

Kan Zongye said: “Isn’t my meaning simple enough? That is, if the Turks attack and the King of Northern Desert holds his troops back, ordering us to face the enemy, what then?”

Liu Xuan said: “Patriarch Kan, there are no outsiders here, let’s speak frankly. Do you want to make contact with the Turks!”

Lin Shou warned: “Enough, this topic isn’t urgent to discuss now! Let’s talk about it after we leave here!”

Kan Zongye nodded and said: “Are your families’ people almost here? There are still two days until the Prince’s ‘State-Entry’ banquet.”

“My family’s people will arrive tonight.”

“Good, my family’s people will arrive tomorrow morning.”

Kan Zongye continued to ask: “Did you all bring the money to purchase the war bonds?”

Everyone nodded and said: “This isn’t some war bond, it’s money to buy our lives. Who would dare to shortchange? Our King of Northern Desert’s methods are ruthless enough.”

Kan Zongye said: “I hope he can be that ruthless with the Turks too!”

…

Meanwhile, Mosi Ashina, who had escaped from the Northern Desert Prince’s Mansion, left Lingxiao City overnight.

As agreed, Nie Bing went to the inn from yesterday.

After entering a room, the Mysterious Man was still behind the screen.

Nie Bing said: “What you wanted me to do, I have done! What you promised me?”

The Mysterious Man said: “We keep our word!”

As he spoke, the Mysterious Man behind the screen gently clapped his hands.

The door behind Nie Bing opened again.

A big man led in a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy wearing a cyan robe, looking bright and energetic.

When Nie Bing saw the boy, her eyes instantly turned red. Although this person looked different from the brother in her memory,

she recognized at a glance that this person was her brother!

The boy looked at Nie Bing, his eyes also turning red.

The two almost simultaneously took three steps quickly to stand facing each other.

“Xiao Hao! You’ve grown taller. Are you all well?” Nie Bing, who was usually like an iceberg and never smiled, cried her heart out at this moment.

Nie Hao nodded and said: “Sister, we are all well. The sir took very good care of us.”

Nie Bing instinctively turned to the person behind the screen and said: “The sir you mentioned is him?”

Nie Hao glanced at the person behind the screen and nodded: “Yes!”

“What on earth…”

Before Nie Bing could finish asking, the Mysterious Man behind the screen said calmly: “Nie Hao, withdraw.”

Nie Hao gave a slight bow to the person behind the screen.

“Sister, the sir is a good man. You can listen to him!”

Before Nie Bing could speak, Nie Hao gave a slight bow to the Mysterious Man behind the screen and then withdrew.

Nie Bing said: “Who are you? What is going on? You…”

The person behind the screen said to Nie Bing: “You ask too many questions. I have done what I promised you! If you want to know these things, you must become one of us. Then I will naturally tell you everything.”

“Didn’t I do a task for you? Doesn’t that count as being one of you?” Nie Bing asked.

The person behind the screen sneered: “That was just the beginning! Do you want to join us?”

“What are you? The White Lotus Sect?” Nie Bing asked warily.

The person behind the screen said disdainfully: “Hmph… You really look down on us. That unorganized rabble isn’t even worthy of being compared to us!”

“If you want me to join you, you have to let me know who you are and what you do.” Nie Bing said.

The person behind the screen said: “You are not qualified to know. If you want to join us, you need to help me with one more thing.”

“I already did one thing for you!”

The person behind the screen: “That was to see your brother. After you complete the next task, I will tell you what we do, and then you can decide whether to join or not!”

Nie Bing asked: “What do you want me to do?”

The person behind the screen didn’t speak. A page boy beside him took a note and gave it to Nie Bing.

Nie Bing opened it, looked, frowned tightly, and almost blurted out: “That’s impossible!”

The person behind the screen didn’t waste words: “Then you may leave. I misjudged you.”

Nie Bing clenched the note tightly, turned, and left!

The person behind the screen said calmly: “Even if you don’t do this, I’ll have Nie Hao do it.”

Nie Bing’s figure halted again, her face filled with resentment: “Are you from Xiao Yang’s side, or from Xiao Xiangqing’s?”