Chapter 495: Masters Sparring, the Art of Weighing

The Sun King spoke unusually slowly, slowly enough that everyone present could hear that the king's words had a hidden meaning.

Of course, none dared to speak it outright; they could only remain silent like cicadas in winter, quietly observing how the situation unfolded.

It was not until the atmosphere at the dinner table had been pressed to its lowest point that the Sun King finally said something neither salty nor bland.

"So you, as a junior, must definitely look after your father for this king, understand?"

This show of force ended.

Heinz was still young; although he could vaguely sense that the king's words had hidden meaning, not knowing the antecedents, he dared not speculate wildly and could only obediently perform a salute.

"I will obey Your Majesty's teachings!"

"Hmm."

As the Sun King glumly nodded and drank a cup of wine, the air finally resumed flowing, and the nobles all unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief.

They stared at each other, clearly, but could only force an awkward smile and nod, pretending nothing was wrong, even appearing somewhat comical.

But just then, the long-silent Old Xiaguang suddenly began to cough again.

He coughed as if he were about to die, for at least two sets of eight beats, before regaining the ability to speak under the pats of his young son Heinz.

"Oh, Your Majesty is right, old fellow… I am indeed getting old…"

He lifted his increasingly cloudy drunken eyes; there was no trace of the former heroic bearing who had once trampled the capital region with iron hooves and decided life and death with a single word—just a weary old man showing his fatigue.

His breath trembled slightly.

"Your Majesty, I have eight children in my lifetime; the older ones have already been settled, and now my only worry is this youngest, who certainly cannot inherit the title."

An unsettling pause.

"I am old and can no longer manage; I only hope that before I die, I can arrange the major events of his life smoothly, so that this old fellow may rest in peace."

"Arrange it smoothly?"

"Um, are you asking me to find him a job?"

The Sun King's eyes flickered as he wondered whether this old fellow didn't want to keep staying outside the capital region, but instead wanted to stretch his hand toward the royal capital.

If it were elsewhere, a great noble from the wilds trying to meddle in the kingdom's core affairs would almost certainly be a bad thing.

But in the present Hui Guang Kingdom, this is actually a great good thing.

Anyway, under the arrangements of past Sun Kings, the share of royal power that has been distributed is just that much—it neither increases nor decreases.

If you want to get in on the cake-splitting, go ahead; I have no objection—see whether the Money Bag and the Sword Shield agree.

Moreover, I don't know the situation of the Xi guang, but I truly have only a few days left; when the three families are busy tearing at each other, it will also make it easy for the new king to firmly grasp the situation.

But just as the old Sun King was slowly calculating, Xi guang abruptly changed his tone and continued weakly.

"My youngest is fine in every way, except that sometimes he lacks initiative in his actions."

"In my view, he just lacks someone who can occasionally help him make decisions, discuss matters, and take good care of his suitable partner."

Onlookers: "Nancheng, you mean his mother?"

"The old fellow thought back and forth, suddenly recalling that, given the royal family's strict and rigorous household style, how excellent the offspring born are? So…"

By this point, the Xi guang Duke was helped to his feet by the obviously prepared Heinz, and together they performed a great bow before the Sun King.

"Please grant this, Your Majesty, considering my advanced age and years of loyal service to the nation—bestow a princess upon Heinz in marriage!"

As soon as these words left his mouth, the entire venue fell silent.

Although there was no explicit decree, after that incident twenty years ago, not to mention a princess, the Hui Guang Kingdom's real-power nobles have not even managed to marry a royal daughter from the Sun King's hand.

Was the Xi guang Duke's move intended to break this hidden rule and reopen a precedent?

Moreover, up to now, among the royal offspring who have successfully survived the tribulation, there are nine in total—five princesses and four princes; the princesses seem to have many choices, but three of them have already married.

Therefore the Sun King said nothing, but shifted his gaze to the Huguan Duke beside him, his eyes showing a Nancheng smile, as if saying.

"Here, coming for your Fiya—what do you say?"

"Ah this."

The Huguan Duke, inexplicably dragged into this, was already bewildered—just what the heck does this old Xi guang want to do!

At a time like this, being forced to pick a side in public—isn't that trying to get me killed?

Moreover, a youngster destined never to inherit the family title still wants to marry a princess who holds a fief and a title.

Do you think that's why Muxiting can earn the title of "historically strongest soft-rice king," with everyone calling him prince consort—do you really think everyone is just laughing at him?

The rice may be soft, but the bowl is not easy to hold!

Therefore, both emotionally and rationally, he could not possibly just hand over the granddaughter he had painstakingly elevated to princess status, then carelessly give her away.

Thus the Huguan Duke also put on a drunken act, leaning on the table to rise.

"Old Xi guang, your words are off the mark!"

He swayed a few steps, then tremblingly lifted the wine cup.

"Now I've caught you, huh? I knew you all were eyeing my Fiya, all with ill intentions!"

In this contest, the interests of the king, the Money Bag, and the Sword Shield are aligned, so the Xiguang Duke also rose and slapped the table.

"What do you mean by ill intentions? Hey! It's not me saying it—your hands as a grandfather are too long, wanting to meddle even in your granddaughter's marriage."

"How can I not manage it? I mean, I'm still a family elder—how could I not be allowed to manage?"

"Oh, so you can manage it after all? Then what you said earlier—that if my little grandson speaks up, you'd be willing to matchmake—does that still count?"

《Huguan: Dazed Again》

"Come on, man, are you serious or just changing the subject?"

But since things have come to this, we can only grit our teeth and proceed.

"When did I say that?"

Xiguang geezer slapped the table.

"Shameless!"

Ah, you...

Just tell me, are you being shameless?

Maybe slamming the table is his warm-up before casting a spell; anyway, Lord Xī slapped the table again, then turned his head.

Moonlight old brother, come out and bear witness for my younger brother—did he say that back then?

Ouch...

As the oldest old-timer at the table, the old man's eyes were almost covered by wrinkles, looking aged and muddled, his mind unclear.

But back then he was at least a tough guy who had crossed swords with Deep Forest in the kingdom's western border; he knew the situation well, so he just waved his hand.

I don't know!

Then he tilted his head again.

He probably said it, right?

Typical fence-sitting!

But that's exactly what everyone wants now—fence-sitting!

Moreover, their usual bickering has developed some tacit understanding; this brute king and smiling tiger play off each other, really dragging the topic away.

Melon-eating crowd: Who cares about proposals or not—is watching the old man argue fun?

Excellent, best to start a fight!

But unfortunately, just as Xīguāng and Húguāng felt their performance had reached perfection, ready to enter the final act and prepare to exit.

What's the fuss? I wasn't talking about your family's princess!

Huh?

With Xīguāng's weak utterance, the people present, after being surprised, fell silent again.

Not Fiya?

Are there any other princesses of marriageable age?

Marlen, Eva, Kasha, Fi...

It couldn't be her, could it?

Now it was Xīguāng and Húguāng's turn to look at the Sun King.

Your Majesty, it's for you.

Sun King: 'f**k!'

He took a sip of wine to hide his embarrassment.

Hahaha, Duke Xīguāng, you're quite the joker; you couldn't be talking about Elinor, could you?

Duke Xīguāng naturally nodded.

Exactly.

What the hell!

He restrained the urge to smash his wine cup on this old brat's face, the Sun King suppressing anger, suppressing anger, suppressing anger again.

Duke Xīguāng, Elinor is... rather special; you need to think it through.

Duke Xīguāng didn't reply, instead turning sideways and lifting his chin.

Heinz, although his coordination with his father wasn't great, still reacted, immediately kneeling on the ground and kowtowing.

Your Majesty, I haven't concealed it—I've loved Princess Elinor since the first time I saw her, thinking of her day and night, it's truly painful; please grant your blessing!

As soon as those words left his mouth, not only those present, but even the young viscounts at the neighboring table could barely hold back.

Because of Elinor's special nature, this young lady has never left Qixia City since childhood.

Previously, following the archbishop south to Yangguang City, that already counted as her first trip far from home, a fact well known in the Royal Capital.

As for the youngest son of the Xīguāng family... well, he's just the last in line to inherit.

He might even be a love child born of a concubine, a nobody in noble circles, and likely this is his first time entering the Royal Capital in his life.

And yet he fell in love at first sight...

Buddy, let's not talk about how ridiculous that is; first, have you guys ever seen it?

But unfortunately, the most powerful weapon in this world is thick skin.

Maybe Heinz is younger, so when he acts shamelessly his face still reddens a bit, but old thief Xīguāng is utterly shameless through and through.

He also feigned helplessness and sighed.

Ah, Your Majesty, it's also because my youngest son begged me incessantly that I, old as I am, have thickened my face to publicly ask for your marriage grant; please forgive me.

Alright, another damn yang scheme—Xīguāng's famous dish, skewered Sun King.

If you don't forgive, then it's just Anton VI alone; how can he not get along with a junior? Truly shameless.

If you forgive, it shows Anton VI has no objection to this marriage grant, and afterward it'd be awkward to refuse.

So the Sun King didn't answer the question at all, instead activating the trap card 'I'm a barbarian too,' and jumping together with him into this dung-pit arena where only the shameless belong.

Likewise, he began with a sigh.

Ah, Duke, you know Elinor's situation—pull one thread and the whole body moves; many things aren't for us to decide.

Moreover, she's an adult with her own fief; she has her own opinions, we elders should not dictate too much.

As a result, Duke Xīguāng had prepared in advance, directly activating 'Selective Response,' discarding the Sun King's later words and latching onto the previous sentence to run with.

I understand, Your Majesty, are you worried about Deep Forest's attitude?

Actually, it's unnecessary, because according to the information I've received, the Deep Forest people actually participated in tonight's operation...

The Sun King was about to laugh from anger; they did it too, right? So why don't you say you did it as well?

Who would have thought Duke Xīguāng wasn't talking nonsense this time; he handed a report to Heinz, who then began to recount last night's thrilling story.

The gist of the story was to glorify how brave and fearless the Xīguāng intelligence network was, sparing no effort to intercept the Deep Forest scout's information.

Then how clever, and from it we analyzed the possibility that the Deep Forest people were involved in last night's incident, and we directly obtained solid evidence.

Your Majesty, although I received the news a bit late and couldn't resolve this disaster at its source, at least we now have solid evidence in our hands.

Ah, this.

Actually, according to the art of weighing, although what happened last night was big, it can also be made small.

After all, speaking broadly, the capital region was thrown into an uproar, and the economic losses alone are astronomical, worthy of being the biggest disgrace to the Hui Guang Kingdom since the Changge event twenty years ago.

But speaking narrowly, it's an undisputed fact that Deep Forest is strong and Hui Guang weak; no noble would think the initiative lies with our side, and Deep Forest has laid out many arrangements within Hui Guang's territory, continually exerting influence—a well-known secret—so it's not surprising that such a thing would happen.

Besides, the Deep Forest people at least conduct their affairs with their faces covered, which is giving face to those who do Hui Guang's dirty work behind the scenes.

But now, Duke Xiaguang has publicly spoken of this matter and even added a complete chain of evidence, which is tantamount to putting this matter, which could be big or small, on the scale, instantly giving it a weight of a thousand jin.

No, not just a thousand jin!

This concerns Hui Guang's honor and disgrace; even ten thousand jun could not stop it!

So, the Sun King now has an opportunity for symmetrical revenge before him.

Since you lack benevolence, don't blame me for lacking righteousness; I will directly tear up the promise made earlier and have Princess Ailinuo marry the heir of a powerful duke as revenge, breaking the norm.

What gives you the right not to do this?

Well now, another dilemma of a yang scheme has appeared, and it's a killing move that can be called deadly.

If the Sun King agrees, it would mean he publicly admits defeat to the Duke Xiaguang.

It also means that, as the ruler of a nation and the source of everyone's power, he surprisingly doesn't even know the movements of the enemy state within the kingdom's heartland.

It actually requires a vassal to help him find it, and to be as attentive as an old maid, helping him propose a means of revenge.

You, are you even fit to be king?

If you don't agree...

We officials were about to fight to the death; why, Your Majesty, do you surrender first?

Could it be that even our emperor is colluding with the enemy!

Perhaps it could directly fabricate for that damned Duke Xiaguang a strong claim capable of inciting rebellion and opening full-scale war within the kingdom.

Then comes the classic scheme of deposing the ruler—holding the emperor hostage to order the lords, three refusals and three yields, and finally changing the country's name to Xiaguang Silky Smooth Combo.

Even if it's not that exaggerated, the Sun King must immediately devise a countermeasure, or else his authority and appeal will definitely plummet.

But how could he come up with an idea in such a short time? He can only first try to buy time.

"What the duke said is not false; I too have indeed received the news, but the situation is urgent, so I'm handling state affairs first."

"How about this? Let's not act rashly for now; I will first summon the Deep Forest ambassador stationed in the Royal Capital, Muxiting, to see what they have to say."