Chapter 356

In the Jingzhou Prince's Mansion, the candlelight was heavy.

The Prince of Badong's trusted aides gathered, sitting in solemn rows, the atmosphere oppressive, with not a hint of joy from victory on their faces.

All this was because of the Recording Aide Xue Shao (Chief of the Military Office), who was kneeling on the ground pleading guilty; he had lost the Prince's bride-to-be.

Xue Shao represented the Prince of Badong to welcome the bride, and the return journey was initially smooth, but when they reached Yingzhou, the bride seemed unwilling to enter Jingzhou early and intentionally delayed the itinerary. If it were just that, it would be nothing, but the most fatal thing was that he discovered Yingzhou was repairing its city defenses and strengthening its guard. The number of fast boats patrolling the river was nearly double what it used to be, they encountered several waves of garrison troop movements on the road, and there were inspections at every water route pass.

Xue Shao had a guilty conscience and was like a bird startled by the mere twang of a bow. Seeing this formation, he thought something had happened in Jingzhou, so regardless of whether the timing matched, he made a decisive decision, changed his disguise, abandoned the wedding procession, and took a small boat to flee back to Jiangling.

Disciples of noble families value their own lives, and in times of trouble, they mostly prioritize self-preservation; there are many examples of even abandoning the army to flee during wartime. Behavior like Xue Shao's was not strange according to the customs of the gentry at the time. But the Prince of Badong's trusted aides were mostly commoners, and they had little empathy for this kind of high-gate mentality.

More importantly, people are often accustomed to overestimating themselves and looking down on others. Although life-and-death tests are difficult, as long as they don't happen to oneself, there is still enough room for imagination to continue feeling good about oneself and continue looking down on others.

Although they despised Xue Shao, how to deal with him was also a problem. First, one had to admit that his gentry status was a very good protective talisman. Although the Hedong Xue family was not some pure and noble lineage, especially since Xue Andu of the previous dynasty led the whole clan to rebel against Wei, the family status was not as good as before, but after all, it was an old noble family, and he had followed the Prince for many years. The mistake he made fell into the category of the Prince's family affairs rather than public business, and now was a time when people were needed, so too heavy a punishment seemed inappropriate?

But it wouldn't feel right to let him off lightly either. After all, losing the bride and just letting it pass so lightly, didn't the Prince need face? Besides, with so many eyes watching, the Prince's great cause was just beginning; if rewards and punishments were unclear, how could he convince the masses?

Of course, this was just the private speculation of individual aides. The Prince of Badong's actions could not be inferred by common sense; he even killed the Zhang family member of the Gu, Lu, Zhu, and Zhang families (Zhang Jue), so the Hedong Xue family was not worth much. It was not impossible that in a fit of rage, he would execute Xue Shao on the spot.

While listening to Xue Shao's humble plea for guilt, the Prince of Badong walked up to eight maids holding trays and picked up the new clothes to look at them. Although his back was to Xue Shao and his expression could not be seen, this action was enough to make Xue Shao tremble with fear and break out in cold sweat.

Because the clothes on the trays were the attire prepared for the Prince of Badong's wedding, three sets in total: one for the wedding ceremony, one for the banquet after the ceremony, and one for daily wear after the wedding. Now that the bride was gone, the wedding was naturally gone too, so wouldn't these clothes have been made in vain? The Prince of Badong was still looking at the clothes at this time, I'm afraid it's going to be bad...

Xue Shao finished speaking, prostrated himself again, his forehead against the ground, his body motionless, not even daring to breathe, waiting in agony for the final verdict. Everyone else was also silent, heads bowed and eyes lowered, quietly waiting for the Prince's disposal.

Finally, the Prince of Badong spoke.

"Are you new here? Why haven't I seen you before?"

Xue Shao was stunned and looked up, only to see that the person the Prince of Badong was talking to was not him, but a maid holding a tray.

The maid was caught off guard, her voice as thin as a mosquito's:

"Re-returning to the Prince, this servant has been in the mansion for three years."

The Prince of Badong twisted the fabric in the tray with his fingers, his gaze lingering on the maid's face for a moment:

"Three years, then that doesn't count as new. Just right, my bride is gone, you take her place."

The tone was as relaxed as casual chat, as if he were talking about a trivial matter.

Everyone was shocked!

The maid was almost scared to the point of fainting!

At the critical moment, it was Kong Zhangyu who dared to step forward:

"Prince, how can this be—"

"What, you don't want to?"

The Prince of Badong didn't care what Kong Zhangyu said and stared at the maid, asking.

The maid's legs went weak, and she knelt directly on the ground. The tray in her hand tilted, the front corner touching the ground. It was only by the last bit of instinct that she clutched the edge of the tray tightly that she didn't let the gold-woven cloud-beast robe with black satin and red lining drag on the ground.

"Ser-servant is not worthy..."

The maid hugged the tray tightly, her body shaking like a fallen leaf in the autumn wind.

The Prince of Badong looked at the maid with great interest, leaning forward slightly, his tone as if he were teasing a bird that had fallen into his palm:

"What? Do you want to be the bride?"

The maid was about to be scared to tears!

She hurriedly put the tray aside, threw herself on the ground, and while kowtowing, tears gushed out uncontrollably:

"This servant dare not! This servant absolutely dare not..."

The Prince of Badong straightened up, his tone lazy:

"It's good that you dare not."

His gaze slid slowly over the maid's body, which was trembling with fear, and a smile appeared on his face:

"As for you, naturally you are not worthy to be the bride—"

Saying this, his tone paused, but the smile on the corners of his mouth deepened:

"However, being the bride for one night is still possible."

Kong Zhangyu and the others breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. Initially, the matter of letting a maid be the bride was too sensational. None of those present were mediocre people; how could they believe everything they heard? It was just that the Prince of Badong acted too boldly, and no one could grasp his pulse. Therefore, just now when he said to let the maid replace the bride, both Kong Zhangyu and Li Jingxuan subconsciously believed it at the first moment, thinking that the Prince of Badong was shocking the world and was about to do something big...

"That's it. Go down and find the steward, and prepare."

The Prince of Badong's voice turned cold, and he no longer looked at the maid.

The maid tremblingly replied "Yes." Although she was in a daze, she still remembered her duty. Using all her strength, she picked up the tray and was just about to leave when she heard the Prince of Badong's voice ring out again:

"Where are you taking my robe? Put it on the table."

The maid shuddered, hurriedly placed the tray on the table, not daring to look again, and at the same time helplessly hoping that no one was looking at her, she took small, stiff steps and quickly exited the room.

This interlude attracted everyone's attention, except for Xue Shao.

He hadn't passed his own difficulty yet, so how could he have the leisure to care about other things? Just as he was burning with anxiety, the light in front of him suddenly dimmed. A brocade boot appeared at the edge of his lowered line of sight.

Xue Shao's heart jumped wildly, fearing that this boot would step on him in the next moment!

But the terrible scene did not happen. Instead, the Prince of Badong squatted down and put his arm around Xue Shao's shoulder:

"Recording Aide Xue, am I good to you? You lost my bride, and I didn't even make you replace her..."

Xue Shao was hugged by the Prince of Badong, and his brain went 'boom'. Replace? How to replace???

Prince, don't scare me!!!!

Only to hear the Prince of Badong continue:

"Now my maid has replaced you, so shouldn't you pay her reward?"

Xue Shao felt as if he had been granted amnesty! He hurriedly said:

"It should be so! It should be so!"

The Prince of Badong's tone was gentle:

"How much is 'so'?"

Xue Shao immediately reported a generous reward:

"This subordinate offers ten thousand coins in thanks—"

The Prince of Badong frowned: "Ten thousand coins?"

Xue Shao then realized that ten thousand coins was a generous enough reward for a maid, but the "reward" the Prince of Badong spoke of was actually not aimed at the maid.

"Whatever the Prince says to reward, this subordinate has absolutely no second words!"

Xue Shao immediately expressed his stance, already prepared to bleed money.

The Prince of Badong squeezed Xue Shao's shoulder:

"Of course you are the one to decide when you give the reward. Anyway, she is going to be the bride tonight, her status is here, you just reward as you see fit."

Xue Shao gritted his teeth:

"This subordinate offers one hundred thousand to reward—"

The Prince of Badong's face turned cold:

"Is my bride only worth one hundred thousand?"

Xue Shao hurriedly changed his words:

"Two hundred thousand! This subordinate is willing to offer two hundred thousand—"

The Prince of Badong sighed and said in realization:

"I understand now why you lost the bride at the slightest sign of trouble, because in your eyes, the bride is cheap."

Xue Shao's face turned pale, half of his soul scared away, and he hurriedly kowtowed:

"Prince, please see clearly! This subject absolutely dare not have this intention! The bride is incomparably precious! Even if this subject offers all his family wealth, it is not enough for one ten-thousandth of the bride! It's just, it's just that recently the family's turnover has been poor, and this subject is, is indeed—"

The Prince of Badong didn't bother to listen to Xue Shao crying poor and stretched out his palm:

"That's it, I know you're having a hard time, and I won't cheat you, one price, five hundred thousand."

Xue Shao's head was congested with blood.

Five hundred thousand was not a small amount for him. He had to maintain the appearance of a noble family, and his expenses were already not small. Especially in the current situation, money was needed everywhere, and taking out five hundred thousand in cash was enough to hurt his bones and muscles.

But no matter how much it hurt, he could only nod and agree.

"Is it expensive?" the Prince of Badong asked.

Xue Shao's heart was dripping blood, but on the surface, he said decisively:

"Not expensive! The bride's status is noble, it should be so!"

The Prince of Badong smiled:

"It's good that it's not expensive."

He stood up, pulled Xue Shao up as well, stretched out a finger, pointed at the seven maids standing by the trays, who were now silent as cicadas, and smiled:

"As for the remaining seven, Recording Aide Xue, see which one catches your eye. I will also reward you with a 'bride', this time I'll give you a fifty percent discount, you take one away for two hundred and fifty thousand—"

Xue Shao's vision went black, and he almost fainted.

Five hundred thousand was already cutting flesh, and spending another two hundred and fifty thousand to buy a mansion maid? This was forcing him to sell his fields and property!

His lips trembled, and he couldn't say a word.

The Prince of Badong looked at Xue Shao's deathly pale appearance and sneered:

"Look at how stingy you are! Forget it, I said I wouldn't cheat you, five hundred thousand is five hundred thousand, I won't let you take more, as for the person, I'll let you take one for free."

A bitter smile appeared in Xue Shao's heart: spending five hundred thousand to buy a mansion maid, he was truly a sucker to the core.

The Prince of Badong was deeply moved:

"You lost my woman, and not only did I not punish you, but I also bestowed a woman upon you. Hey, I am just too kind-hearted."

Tao Rui whispered to remind Xue Shao: "Why don't you hurry up and thank the Prince!"

Xue Shao realized and, not caring to experience the bitterness in his heart, hurriedly thanked him for the grace.

The Prince of Badong's expression suddenly became serious, and he said in a deep voice:

"Get up. Actually, you did the right thing. If I lost an arm because of a woman, that would truly be not worth it! You, Xue Zijie, are much more precious to me than that bride who is ten thousand miles away."

Xue Shao raised his head abruptly, bumping into the Prince of Badong's solemn but rarely serious gaze, his heart shaken, and he even forgot to stand up.

He was not a youth ignorant of the world, so he naturally knew that the Prince of Badong's words hid false intentions, and he also guessed that this was a tactic to buy people's hearts. But he still couldn't help but be moved. Just now, he was crawling on the ground, being manipulated like a toy by the Prince, and being watched by those commoners, his face as a member of the Hedong Xue family had long since vanished! But the words the Prince said at this moment were no different from pulling him out of the mud in front of everyone! It was like someone who had been in the dark for a long time suddenly seeing a faint light; even if he knew this light might be an illusion, he couldn't help but reach out to grab it. Because this was hope in a desperate situation, comfort after a blow, and what if, what if it was true?

Xue Shao acted out his three-part emotion as nine-part, kowtowed heavily, and choked with sobs:

"The Prince's grace of magnanimity and trust, this subject will never forget!!!"

The Prince of Badong had someone help Xue Shao up. After Xue Shao took his seat, Kong Zhangyu said:

"The matter in Yingzhou is a bit suspicious. We have already sealed the Jing-Ying Road. According to the time calculation, they couldn't have received the news so quickly. Where did something go wrong?"

(Xie Xinghan said: "You depart immediately, take a boat along the Zhang River to Bian County, pass through Yongning Commandery to leave Jingzhou, and after leaving the territory, find an inn in Changshou (the border between Yingzhou and Jingzhou) to stay. Pay constant attention to the Jing-Ying Road. Once you discover that the post road is blocked, merchants are cut off, or there are unusual movements of the Jingzhou border troops, immediately report to the Yingzhou government for preparation, and then ride fast to report to Jiankang. If there is no abnormality, you just stay there until I send someone to find you." ——Chapter 284 "Good Courage")

The Prince of Badong didn't care much either. He walked up to a maid and touched the dark red ceremonial robe in the tray, saying:

"It doesn't matter, it's just a matter of a few days early or late. Perhaps it's because I made too much noise in Yongning Commandery and attracted attention."

Then he smiled, as if mocking himself:

"I fought too fiercely and lost my bride, heh."

As he spoke, he suddenly raised his hand and overturned the tray!

The ceremonial robe rolled off, and the luxurious fabric lay limp on the ground. The maid was so scared that she buried her head and knelt down. Everyone in the hall was silent as cicadas.

The Prince of Badong sneered:

"If it's gone, it's gone! The Langya Wang family, not one of them is any good!"

Just at this moment, someone reported urgently. The messenger only said a few words in the Prince of Badong's ear, and the Prince of Badong's face changed drastically. He grabbed the man's wrist, his tiger eyes flashing with brilliance:

"Say that again?"