Chapter 212: Is It Liking

On the other side.

Before Xiao Mingyu had attacked, Shu Yu and Wu Zhui were squatting together, chatting idly.

At first, the two were just talking about their respective duties.

Shu Yu asked, "How did you end up working at the Duan Prince Mansion before?"

Wu Zhui replied, "I am from Lianzhou, and I am the only son in my family; they were all counting on me to earn silver to support the household. Originally, I went to learn blacksmithing, but the blacksmith's wife kept using the excuse of delivering water to find me, and even called me to her room. I refused every time, but my master found out about it anyway, and he beat me up and drove me away. Hearing that the Duan Prince Mansion was hiring, I just went there."

After thinking for a moment, he added, "However, the monthly allowance given by the Duan Prince Mansion wasn't much. Even after I became the Duan Prince's personal attendant, it was less than ten taels a month. My parents fell ill, and I couldn't afford expensive medicine, so I borrowed silver from the Duan Prince. Later, my parents passed away, and I still owe the Duan Prince silver."

Shu Yu listened, dumbfounded, and said, "That is too outrageous! Do you know that previously, there was someone in the Eastern Palace whose sister had a difficult labor, and the brother-in-law's family refused to pay for it? When the Crown Prince found out, he directly helped hire an Imperial Physician from the palace, a famous gynecological expert. Later, the silver for the medicine and recuperation was all paid by the Crown Prince, and he never asked him to pay it back."

This time, it was Wu Zhui's turn to be dumbfounded.

"And you know this person too; it's Wei Nian," Shu Yu said, "Because of that incident, he is fiercely loyal to the Crown Prince."

"If it were me, I would also be willing to die for the Crown Prince," Wu Zhui sighed, "No wonder the Eastern Palace is airtight, like an iron barrel. Human hearts are made of flesh; whoever treats me well, I naturally am willing to treat them well in return."

Shu Yu tilted his head, "Actually, I think the Duan Prince Mansion is also quite like an iron barrel. The Eastern Palace has tried to scout for news from the Duan Prince Mansion before, but gained nothing."

Wu Zhui waved his hand, "That is not because of loyalty, but because of fear."

"Fear? Afraid of the Duan Prince? That is also fine."

"Not the Duan Prince, it is Miss Nan." Wu Zhui's eyes were deep.

Shu Yu was stunned.

Wu Zhui smiled, "You don't know, but previously someone betrayed the Duan Prince. In fact, he had already been protected and hidden very well. But Miss Nan still spent three days finding him and killing him. Since then, no one has dared to betray the Duan Prince Mansion, because they are afraid of dying at Miss Nan's hands."

Shu Yu stroked his chin, "Speaking of which, I also think Miss Nan is very formidable; she seems to be able to do everything."

"When she was training in the past, she was the most diligent. In all these years, I have never seen anyone more diligent than her. All those skills she has now were painstakingly practiced by her own efforts."

"The Duan Prince is also quite stupid. How good it would be to have Miss Nan by his side, yet he ended up like this. Last month, I heard them say that if they spent a little silver, they could trick quite a bit of information out of the Duan Prince Mansion."

Wu Zhui snorted, "It is better this way now. He is not worthy of Miss Nan; the Crown Prince is better."

Shu Yu nodded, "That is true. The Crown Prince is the best in the world."

After thinking for a moment, he added, "The Crown Prince is the best man. Ning is the best woman in this world."

Wu Zhui glanced sideways, "I don't know why you think that, but I feel the best woman in this world should be Miss Jiang."

"You mean Jiang Lian'er?"

"Yes." Wu Zhui admitted frankly.

Shu Yu looked him up and down, curled his lips with a bit of gossip, and deliberately drew out his tone, "Oh—," he said, "Wu Zhui, do you like Miss Jiang?"

Wu Zhui felt slightly embarrassed, but he did not deny it, and nodded, "I do like her..."

Shu Yu laughed, "No wonder."

He paused, then said, "But then again, Miss Jiang is certainly good, but compared to Ning, she is still a cut below. Let me ask you, Shu Yu, can Miss Jiang make delicious pastries? Can Miss Jiang compose poetry?"

"What does making pastries or composing poetry count for? Let me ask you, can Miss Song tame beasts? If she saw Xiaoyang and Mulan, Miss Song would surely turn and run, scared out of her wits. But Miss Jiang is not afraid; instead, she can tame Xiaoyang and Mulan until they are perfectly obedient. How formidable is that."

"You..."

Shu Yu was unwilling to give up and wanted to retort.

Just as he opened his mouth, a burst of explosive sound came from the north, catching them off guard.

Shu Yu stood up abruptly.

Wu Zhui also revealed a serious expression.

A personal guard ran over quickly: "My lords! They are here! They attacked from the north gate!"

Shu Yu and Wu Zhui did not say another word and walked side by side toward the outside.

The personal guard followed behind the two, quickly reporting the situation: "The Duan Prince has not appeared; the one leading them is that Lin Bie from the Duan Prince Mansion. Beside him are a young boy and a young girl. The strange thing is, those two don't look like they are from the Duan Prince Mansion, and they look even less like Assassins."

Wu Zhui asked, "What do those two people look like?"

The personal guard recalled, "They are not very old, about ten years of age. One boy, one girl."

Wu Zhui and Shu Yu looked at each other, and both saw worry in each other's eyes.

That boy and girl were likely hostages arranged by the Duan Prince.

"Could they be people from the Duan Prince Mansion? Someone from Miss Nan's past?" Shu Yu asked Wu Zhui in a low voice.

Wu Zhui shook his head with a grave expression: "Miss Nan had no friendship with the people in the Duan Prince Mansion. If we really have to say, there were only the Bai Sheng brothers... but as far as I know, when Miss Nan left the Duan Prince Mansion back then, those two brothers were executed by the Duan Prince. I was also in the Eastern Palace in Fengdu; as for the others, I cannot think of anyone who could threaten Miss Nan."

Wu Zhui asked again, "Could it be that someone from your Eastern Palace was captured?"

Shu Yu quickly denied it, "That is impossible."

While speaking, they had already arrived at the north gate of the Armory.

Fighting had already broken out here.

Lin Bie stood where the flames of war could not reach, and sure enough, the boy and girl were standing beside him.

The boy's face was filled with panic, clearly looking terrified, while the girl was tightly furrowed in her brows, staring at Lin Bie with an unkind expression, as if she wanted to bore a hole in him with her gaze.

For some reason, Wu Zhui always felt that this girl's demeanor had some similarities to Nan Xueyin...

Just as he was staring at the two, trying hard to identify their identities, Lin Bie's gaze suddenly fell upon his face, and he greeted him joyfully: "Lord Wu, long time no see."