Chapter 119: Are You Asking for Death?

"Hey, I'm talking to you. Do you want me to scold you? Hurry up and take this to the bank."

Si Nuosang glared at her, and Yiyi hurriedly took the money and scurried off to the local bank.

Si Nuosang was well aware of the production costs, as everything had been meticulously recorded. That evening, she settled the wages for all the workers, presenting each of them with a generous red envelope.

"Thank you, Miss Si."

"You're very welcome. Thank you all for your hard work!"

Si Nuosang had effectively paid them double the standard wage. She wasn't actually all that greedy for money; she had only been driven by necessity in the past, as she could not have survived without it. Thankfully, that man had once offered her a shoulder to lean on. She thought of Xuanyuan Juesi, and her heart was filled with a profound, aching pain.

Her expression dimmed in an instant. It seemed she truly could not let go. She looked up at the sky; as it turned overcast, her heart mirrored the gloom. She had tried her best to forget Xuanyuan Juesi, but forgetting was far too difficult, far too arduous. How ridiculous she was—perhaps Xuanyuan Juesi had long since forgotten her, having moved on the moment she left. What was she even thinking?

*Let go, let go, let go.* She closed her eyes and commanded her heart fiercely.

Yet, the more she tried, the more impossible it felt.

Meanwhile, in Liangcheng, Xuanyuan Juesi had fallen into the midst of a battle. He had been wounded in a surprise attack and was confined to his bed.

"Your Highness, please rest."

Yuan Qianlv watched as the poisonous arrow was extracted from the Prince’s back. He needed proper rest.

"No, I cannot rest. I cannot rest at a time like this. What is the situation now?"

"There have been over a dozen breaches in the city where refugees have broken through. But the strange thing is, these people should not have been able to get in. Unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Unless they were already inside. They are the residents of Liangcheng."

Yuan Qianlv voiced this bold theory.

"Your insight is quite unique. For now, just round them up and throw them in prison. We will investigate later why they would choose to destroy their own homes."

"Perhaps it is because of the young prince of the Yan Kingdom. Many here may know of his presence but have remained tacitly complicit, using the refugees as a cover to carry out these actions. The two factions have begun to merge."

"Exactly. They have joined forces invisibly to form a resistance. However, they are thinking far too highly of themselves."

Xuanyuan Juesi struggled to prop up his body and went to the table to write a letter.

"Use the fastest horses; send this to the Emperor at once." Xuanyuan Juesi sensed that this matter would not end easily. It would be better to report it early, lest the Emperor find another excuse to punish him, which would make his eventual return even more difficult.

"Yes, Your Highness." Yuan Qianlv immediately ordered his men to ride with all haste. Yet, even with the fastest horses, it would take more than ten days.

They had to hold out for those two weeks. Although the attackers seemed fierce, the Prince would surely have his own methods. The idea of taking Liangcheng so quickly was a joke. Under Xuanyuan Juesi’s training, the warriors of Liangcheng were no longer what they once were; they would not crumble like tofu. The current crisis had only occurred because they had been unable to pinpoint the source of the attacks, as they were being breached from within, not from without.

Last time, despite the enemy possessing such formidable weapons as gunpowder, they had failed to break the city. It was only by working from the inside out that they had created this current stalemate.

They could never have imagined that so many people were living inside Liangcheng, nor that two separate factions would coordinate so seamlessly. Perhaps it was a case of extremes meeting; they had been stifled by Xuanyuan Juesi for so long that they had no room to breathe, which drove them to this. Otherwise, they never would have acted this way, for before Xuanyuan Juesi arrived, the two groups had no interaction at all. They hadn't even been aware of the existence of Yan Yun or Yan Ming.

It was Xuanyuan Juesi’s suppression that had spurred their rebellion, a desperate attempt to prove that Liangcheng did not belong solely to him.

And Xuanyuan Juesi was determined to prove that Liangcheng was indeed his. If he couldn't even manage a single city, could he still call himself Xuanyuan Juesi? He had never flinched on the battlefield, though here, he had been reluctant to use brute force for fear of harming the common folk.

There were still those who yearned for peace and were grateful for the stability and vitality he had brought. He had to suppress this uprising within five days.

After Yuan Qianlv sent the letter, Xuanyuan Juesi began to deploy his forces, organizing them into ten squads of twenty men each to carry out arrests.

Soon, the prison was so full they could barely fit another inmate. Some soldiers had been injured in the process. Large-scale violent suppression was not what Xuanyuan Juesi desired, but prolonged chaos would only make him appear incompetent and put the innocent populace in danger.

The suppression went smoothly, yet Xuanyuan Juesi felt a faint, lingering sense of a hidden power sprouting in the shadows.

If he wasn't mistaken, it was likely the Ming Tower or the Qian Sect.

As expected, taking advantage of his injury, a dozen figures in black broke into the residence. They stood in the courtyard, surrounding Xuanyuan Juesi.

"Who are you?"

"Hand it over."

The leader spoke—a woman’s voice, sounding entirely unfamiliar.

"Hand over what?"

Xuanyuan Juesi watched them. It had to be either the Ming Tower or the Qian Sect; there was no need to guess. On closer inspection, it had to be the Qian Sect—the Ming Tower answered to Qin Shuang, and this person was neither her nor one of her subordinates.

"Don't play the fool, Xuanyuan Juesi. Your residence is empty because you've sent your men out to suppress the riots. You are injured and no match for us. If you want to live, hand over the gem."

"A gem? I have plenty of gems here. Which one do you mean?"

Xuanyuan Juesi had never known fear; no matter the circumstances, he had never been intimidated. He didn't care in the slightest about their threats, even though he had only Yuan Qianlv and a few guards by his side.

"Enough nonsense! Are you looking for death?"

"Which branch of the Qian Sect are you from? I haven't yet met anyone from the Qian Sect."

Xuanyuan Juesi went straight to the point.

"That's none of your business!"

Seeming to have been struck a nerve, the woman shouted, her tone vicious. Xuanyuan Juesi didn't need her to be friendly.

"As I thought, you are from the Qian Sect. Does the Qian Sect really think someone like you is fit to challenge this Prince?"

"What do you mean, 'someone like me'?"

"I mean you are beneath notice. I haven't even deigned to look at you. You had best call your Sect Master out. Perhaps then I might consider trading a few blows."

Xuanyuan Juesi stared them down, truly unimpressed. He wondered if the Sect Master of the Qian Sect was underestimating him, or simply overestimating his subordinates.

"You—get him!" The woman was enraged and signaled her followers to attack. They charged forward one after another, but before they could even reach Xuanyuan Juesi, Yuan Qianlv stepped forward, single-handedly holding off seven or eight of them.