Chapter 291: Want to Win Favor by Looks? Get in Line!

【Zhoufu, it seems, is utterly different from what I had previously imagined.】

Amidst the tense atmosphere of drawn swords and bent bows, Liu Ji felt this thought drift up in his mind.

The three envoys before him remained calm and composed, while the surrounding brothers continued to argue:

"What damn princess! I've never heard of her!"

"Exactly, we don't recognize her! Even if the Heavenly King and his old father came, they'd still not be as good as our big brother!"

"Why must our big brother go to Zhoufu over just a few words? What exactly is waiting for our big brother in your Zhoufu?"

The clamor rose, swords drawn and bows taut.

But actually, Liu Ji knows well that the brothers thinking this way is hardly surprising.

After all, it is precisely because of him that they are able to stand here now.

Previously, they were merely a bunch of idle vagrants in the countryside, with no livelihood, loafing about all day.

Not to mention lacking even a meager estate; even if they had a shaky old house, among them it would still be considered 'wealth and honor'.

They spent their days together stealing chickens and dogs, cheating and deceiving......

Indeed, indeed.

I, Liu Ji, have never been a good person.

In my earlier years of poverty, I have committed many wicked deeds.

Had it not been for the newly increased poll and grain tax, Liu Ji would still be a despised vagrant in Chuncheng, hated by people and ghosts alike.

The family's farmland had already been reclaimed by the landlord in my grandfather's generation due to inability to pay rent.

The sole tiled house had collapsed early in a heavy rain years ago; my parents died, and my grandparents and I spent over a decade borrowing a woodshed from others.

No farmland, no house, and because I often had to care for my sick grandparents, I could not find a steady livelihood.

Although I grew a decent face, I am still over thirty and unable to find a wife.

In the town markets, many women, young and old, had once shown affection for my appearance. But they......

They merely wanted to have an affair with me, not to marry me.

This matter troubled him day after day.

However, once the poll and grain tax arrived, everything changed.

The upper authorities imposed tyranny, levied harsh taxes, and drove the common folk who wanted to settle down to death.

At the corner of Yincheng's Horse-Drinking Street there is a pancake maker named A Ye, whose skill in making pancakes is superb; no one knows his surname or where he came from, and the townsfolk only know that he has been selling pancakes at the end of the long street since they can remember.

That A Ye guards his day-and-night stove, selling thin‑filled pancakes for five cash each, big and filling, a rare treat that our band of vagrants can afford to splurge on.

Yet even this A Ye, whose skill is so fine, was one day beaten to death by government soldiers who came to collect tax grain.

Liu Ji......

Liu Ji was an eyewitness.

That day he happened to be wandering another alley of Yincheng Street, hearing the commotion and intending to watch the fun, when he realized it was nothing of the sort.

Rather, the sky had collapsed.

Rather, the sky had collapsed.

A twisted mass of corpses mingled with overturned stove flames, blending into a semblance of fallen daylight.

The sky had collapsed.

The sky had already collapsed long ago.

Liu Ji could not hold back; when he came to his senses, the soldiers dragging the corpse out the door had already been pressed by him into the embers of the stove.

That day's events were chaotic.

To say that long‑standing resentment had boiled over into popular uprising is no exaggeration.

Those three or five troublemaking soldiers were beaten to death, and he, together with his agitated brothers who had taken up arms, fled Chuncheng completely, seeking refuge in the mountains.

Fortunately, he has a quick wit and a daily band of brothers who wholeheartedly follow him.

As the situation teetered on chaos, multitudes of common folk fled and took to the roads, looking for a new foothold; under his secret shelter, their numbers gradually grew, and their momentum swelled.

And it was precisely on that road of becoming outlaws, with no return, that one day he again encountered the county magistrate on his way to take office in Hengcheng......

Is that the county magistrate?

No, that is his stepping stone, his ladder to the clouds.

That is the chance to turn his life around that he has waited thirty years for, and also the wealth and power he has waited thirty years for.

And precisely because he fled from Chuncheng, after disguising himself as the magistrate of Hengcheng, he then swaggered back to attack Chuncheng......

That is the place where he grew up; he must always return there.

If he does not go back, would he not have wasted such wealth and honor in vain?

Now that he holds both cities, with mountainous terrain shielding their surroundings, who would dare not weigh his worth?

The brothers' reluctance to let him leave is actually quite simple——

As long as he does not leave the two cities of Hengcheng and Chuncheng, he remains that 'Mountain King'.

Mountain King, Mountain King, once away from the mountain, how can he still be a king?

At most he is merely a monkey whose fur has been plucked.

According to reason, the brothers thinking this way, he ought to think the same,

However......

hearing that the prefect now in power is a female leader, Liu Ji's naturally restless heart once again stirs with agitation.

"Getting back to the point, may I ask the envoys one matter......"

A simple sentence spoken, the quarreling men on the practice platform instantly ceased their movements, all turning toward their elder brother.

Even the previously silent envoys lifted their eyes, awaiting Liu Ji's next move.

Liu Ji reached out, stroked his freshly shaven clean chin, and said with a smile:

"How old is the Princess? Has she ever been married?"

The moment he said that, the atmosphere turned a little delicate.

Liu Ji was indeed a vigorous young man, and with that flirtatious, playboy look, he blurted out such a private question to the Princess...

He said he had no ulterior motive, but not even a ghost would believe it.

But it's precisely this motive that leaves one unable to refute it——

Although no one knows which Princess she is, her status is noble, and she now holds Yongzhou Prefecture—something anyone can plainly see!

With Liu Ji's appearance, if he could manage to marry the Princess on looks alone, wouldn't his future then soar even higher?!

Princess......

After all, she's just a woman!

On the martial arts stage, the atmosphere was subtle; the men who had been brimming with resistance exchanged glances, their expressions ambiguous, and in the end said nothing further.

Everyone's gaze burned toward the envoys.

By rights, the envoys opposite should have stayed tighter-lipped about this, but after taking a few more looks at Liu Ji's appearance, the lead envoy reflected a moment, ended up hesitating, and spoke:

"Your Highness is naturally already married; it so happens they wed last winter..."

"However, the couple's relationship isn't exactly harmonious; they live apart in two places, and that's no secret."

Liu Ji's brow jumped; he was about to speak, but the lead envoy gave him no opening, just kept talking:

"But if you want to push him aside and become the prince consort yourself, that's a mistaken idea."

"I have seen the Princess's husband before; when they married, he even handed out sweets to the locals—his looks and temperament are first-rate..."

The lead envoy furrowed his brows, looked down from his lofty stance at Liu Ji, still seated in the recliner, his whole being radiating 'flirtatious playboy'.

"Someone like that, the Princess wouldn't even give a glance..."

"And you, you're still far short."

?? Right, for now the common folk say the Princess wields tremendous power, Yu Baobao has abandoned her husband, and Chinu is untraceable...... Don't hit me, don't hit me, really it's just for now! (〃＞皿＜)