Chapter 110: Return Journey

The barrage clattered, buzzing in the ears.

Wan Tang wore a faint bitter smile on her face and took a deep breath.

"Xiao Shunzi," Wan Tang called softly.

Xiao Shunzi immediately walked to the lady's side and said, "Summon General Xu."

"Yes!"

Wan Tang's gaze fell on Li Ping'er once again.

Li Ping'er, seeing this, hurried, "Master, I will go to the carriage behind right away; whatever you call, I will be there immediately."

Wan Tang's eyes darkened, and she said meaningfully, "Ping'er, can I trust you?"

Li Ping'er, her tone a bit urgent, nodded quickly and said, "Of course."

"Master, you are my benefactor; I would never harm you. If any thought even slightly adverse to you arose, I should be struck down by heaven and die a bad death."

Wan Tang reached out and covered Li Ping'er's mouth.

Though her eyes were still somewhat complicated, she solemnly nodded, "Very well, I entrust you."

"Then you need not leave; stay nearby and listen!"

Xu Yanchuan rode his horse, alongside the lady.

His hooves shattered the thin ice on the official road, and Xu Yanchuan's black armor glimmered coldly in the dusk.

The sedan curtain fluttered slightly, and Wan Tang's voice, mixed with the crackle of charcoal, came, "We can see we're about to reach the Capital; how much do you actually know about Xu Chengyuan?"

"Heh," Xu Yanchuan abruptly halted his horse, "Your Highness, are you trying to trap me?"

The young general leaned forward to the sedan window, "Your seal is the Phoenix Insignia, not the Tiger Tally."

Wan Tang's fingertips brushed the warm stove, the copper cover reflecting her calm brows, "Speak now; everything can still be negotiated."

"Negotiate?" Xu Yanchuan suddenly laughed loudly, startling a cold crow on a dead tree, "When you fooled me back then, you never thought about negotiating!"

The horsewhip cracked hard against the roadside ice pillar, "Make me a fool, selling my life for an enemy. I have lived in self‑indulgence; no matter how others bully me, I always think blood is thicker than water."

"I even thought that as long as I performed well enough, I could change the other side."

"Yanchuan," Wan Tang's voice deepened threefold, "The situation is urgent."

"Why the hurry?" the youth tilted his head, the scabbed wound at the corner of his eye oozing blood beads, "Seeing me being toyed with, shouldn't Your Highness be pleased?"

"Not so!" Wan Tang's voice pressed down.

"At this moment, between us, there is finally someone to negotiate," Wan Tang's voice was almost pleading.

"No need," Xu Yanchuan mocked, "How could Lady Wan, so extraordinarily clever, need to negotiate with anyone?"

"Moreover, I'm merely a clumsy, worthless waste. Having something in my heart also helps me not feel like a fool who has been kept in the dark."

"Yanchuan!" Wan Tang called lightly.

"What? I bear everything alone; don't you feel moved?" Xu Yanchuan actually laughed.

Wan Tang's heart felt as if a huge hand had squeezed it hard.

She said bitterly, "I didn't tell you the conditions back then."

"Then now, I trust no one," Xu Yanchuan replied without mercy.

He abruptly turned his horse, "Farewell!"

The black‑armored figure sped away, the spray of snowflakes pelting the sedan.

Wan Tang looked at his silhouette, then coughed lightly, "Ping'er."

"I—I'm here!" Li Ping'er almost dropped her brazier.

Wan Tang's fingertip traced the icy pattern on the window, "Would Zhou Su dare to face Xu Chengyuan?"

"Of course!" Li Ping'er suddenly straightened her back, "Lord Zhou is upright and incorruptible, a man who cannot tolerate a grain of sand in his eyes."

"What he cares about has never been rank or title; he cares about right and wrong."

"One could say he is very steadfast; when it comes to reasoning, he is unbeatable!"

His words abruptly stopped.

Wan Tang turned slowly, "You, however, are clear."

The stove snapped shut the copper lid, "I recall Zhou Su was only transferred back to the Capital last month?"

Li Ping'er's face turned ashen, and she quickly lowered her head, "Master, I have also heard that."

"It doesn't matter; as long as he can become Xu Chengyuan's opponent, that's enough!"

Wan Tang leaned on the cushion and closed her eyes.

【Xiao Chuan kept silent for Tangtang's sake, after all Xu Chengyuan's secret is truly enormous, even shaking the foundation of the nation.】

【Palace intrigue is merely a few women fighting, but once it involves the court, it's not that simple. I can see Xiao Chuan truly wants to protect Wan Tang. After all, Xu Chengyuan has been secretly recruiting soldiers, buying horses, skimming military wages, training troops in secret. Now his military authority subtly exceeds that of the Duke of England.】

【The point is, now he claims the snow disaster is severe; to prevent the disaster‑stricken from causing trouble, he has already stationed a large army camp near the Capital. Thinking carefully, if the matter is mishandled, even a slight slip could trigger a mutiny. The Duke of England is far in the Northern Border; the Imperial Guard in the Emperor's hand may not hold out until the Duke returns.】

Wan Tang was secretly surprised, never expecting Xiao Chuan's heart to conceal such a huge matter.

She also did not expect Xu Chengyuan had become this reckless.

Thus, if they return to the Capital, they might be in danger of death even without passing through the city gates.

What does Xu Chengyuan intend to do?

Become the Emperor?

【In the original work, Xu Luoyan successfully gave birth to a prince. Under Xu Chengyuan's pressure, she was titled Crown Prince.】

【Indeed, in the original, Xu Luoyan is the ultimate winner. Her own son is the Crown Prince, making her the Empress Dowager. Xu Chengyuan is the Regent King, and the Xiao Family is completely suppressed.】

【Now that Wan Tang appears as a variable, it's uncertain whether the plot will still develop as before.】

What?

So, regardless of whether she takes her own medicine, will Xu Luoyan eventually bear a son?

Wan Tang gave a bitter smile.

If she were still in the Imperial Palace, with enough confidence to guarantee it, Xu Luoyan becoming Empress Dowager could only be a fantasy before death.

But at this moment, Wan Tang was still outside.

Whether she could return to the Imperial Palace was uncertain.

Wan Tang's hand lightly covered her lower abdomen.

She must stay alive.

All must stay alive.

Xiao Shunzi!

Wan Tang called Xiao Shunzi, her gaze much more solemn.

"Send a signal." Wan Tang's fingertip lightly knocked the car window, and a red Firework instantly surged into the overcast firmament, bursting into a blood‑colored plum amid the falling snow.

Outside the Capital.

The gale whirled snow particles, striking the carriage pole, and the honor guard's lanterns had long been extinguished.

Suddenly a rapid clatter of hooves burst through the snow, and more than ten sweat‑blood steeds tore the snow curtain like red flames.

"Who dares block the carriage!" Xiao Shunzi's face, blue with cold, peered out from behind the car curtain.

A plump man wrapped in sable fur rolled down from the horse, and the accumulated snow instantly vanished up to his knees.

Li Chongyi fell to his knees before the phoenix sedan, ice crystals rattling on his official hat: "Junior Minister of the Imperial Stable Temple Li Chongyi, here to welcome the Empress Dowager's imperial carriage!"

His thick chin bore three layers of laugh lines, "This damned weather wouldn't dare let the Empress Dowager's sedan travel the official road."

His words abruptly halted.

Xu Yenchuan's black‑armored warhorse suddenly emerged from the snowstorm, the young general's brows frosted, and the blood‑stained bandage at his waist was strikingly vivid.

"Mother, Empress Dowager!"

Li Chongyi fell backward into the snowdrift, looking like a startled mole, "This... this..."

He shivered, pointing at Xu Yenchuan, his official boots digging two deep pits in the snow.

His voice instantly became thin and feeble: "This is the young master of the Xu Family."

Wan Tang lifted the sedan curtain, and snow instantly smudged her full lashes: "Lord Li need not panic; the general is a person personally dispatched by the Emperor."

"But... but..."

Li Chongyi was still greatly frightened.

Wan Tang then said, "He is on the same page as you."

Li Chongyi suddenly understood, casting a meaning‑laden glance at Xu Yenchuan, a puzzling smile curling his lips.

"Who is this now?" Xu Yenchuan's voice was like a sword drawn from its sheath.

Wan Tang replied succinctly, "The one who can get us smoothly into the City."

"Him?" Xu Yenchuan's tone carried doubt.

Li Chongyi, hunched and leaning in, snowflakes clinging to his trembling beard, "Though I am merely a horse‑raising place, the entrance to the city gates is convenient, so we need not take the official road."

"There is a small gate, exactly for me to let horses in and out."

He glanced at Xu Yenchuan as if eyeing a hanging knife, "How about letting the Empress Dowager switch to my carriage?"