Priceless: A widow with a baby asks the prince to marry again

In a wealthy place, in a mansion with carved beams and painted rafters, a man who looked somewhat frail was leaning on a small couch, surrounded by beauties who were massaging his shoulders and legs.

After listening to the report from his staff, King Kang raised his eyebrows and smiled, and asked: "Do you think this bandit is really a bandit?"

"It shouldn't be that. I'm afraid they are someone else's private soldiers." The aide kept bowing his head.

"Then tell me, is my third brother's injury the same as my illness?" King Kang asked again.

The staff thought for a moment, then said, "It shouldn't be. That day, more than a dozen people in Prince Duan's entourage escaped and fled to Jinyan City. Among them was our hidden man. Prince Duan was hit by an arrow and two knives, and blood flowed out on the spot."

Although there were many miraculous doctors in the Great Xia Dynasty, no one could guarantee that such a serious injury would not be life-threatening.

From Liu Rusi's perspective, even though the Great Xia Dynasty had no concept of microorganisms, wounds were mostly not sutured, and there were no antibiotics, so most people who died from knife wounds actually died of infection. Of course, without the support of modern drugs, she could not guarantee that she would not die from the wounds she treated, but only said that the probability was smaller.

"It's not my man, it's not my third brother playing himself, that bandit..."

"They must be the Eighth Prince's men. The Fifth and Seventh Princes' tentacles cannot reach the southwest."

"In that case, let them play by themselves. I will watch and add fuel to the fire if it is appropriate."

As King Kang was speaking, he raised his hand and pulled a beauty into his arms to play with her. The beauty was frightened and opened her mouth but no sound came out. It turned out that she could not hear or speak.

And deep in the high-walled courtyard somewhere else in the capital.

"Grandpa, please think of a way. My troops outside Jinyan City cannot be treated as bandits!" The young man dressed as a prince said anxiously.

"Who told you to send people to kill Prince Duan privately? It would be fine if the killing succeeded, but now it has helped Prince Duan's arrogance!" The old prime minister was very disappointed with his good performance.

Chu Shiqi also had an annoyed look on his face: "Who told him to only bring a hundred people with him and pass by the place where I hid my troops?!"

Then, his face was puzzled again. "That day, a spy startled his horse and ran away from the group of people. Chu Shiyu was shot by an arrow and fell off his horse. He was also stabbed twice in the back. Three thousand soldiers and horses surrounded the forest. He couldn't escape even if he had wings. But who knew that he disappeared into the woods!"

"After that, my people searched everywhere. If there were any injured people looking for doctors to treat their injuries within a radius of 100 miles, we would immediately send people to kill them. But he had no trace for more than ten days. He appeared a few days ago and his injuries had healed. His people have also arrived. I can't act rashly in Jinyan City..."

The old prime minister couldn't understand what was going on. If only the killing of Prince Duan was considered, Chu Shiqi's arrangements were already detailed. However, the past was settled, and the killing was not carried out.

"Now that things have come to this, just abandon those three thousand people and wipe out all your traces."

Chu Shiqi was immediately unhappy. He came to the Prime Minister just to protect these people. He said angrily: "I am not yet fifteen and cannot set up a residence. It will be troublesome for me to leave the palace. These are the people I have accumulated with great difficulty!"

"What do you want to do with these soldiers? What can those 3,000 men do? I didn't approve of raising private soldiers from the beginning. If you raise too few, they won't be of much use. If you raise too many, do you think the people in power have no eyes or ears?"

"But Prince Kang Chu Shikun and Prince Duan Chu Shiyu have both commanded troops! As for the other two brothers, I have the upper hand because they are older. Who knows if they have private soldiers? If I don't make preparations, won't I be at the mercy of others in the future?!"

The old prime minister smiled instead. The eighth prince was indeed scheming, but he was too young to be tempered. He said calmly, "You only look at your brother, but forget who controls the world. Your Majesty is young and strong, and they have the upper hand because of their age, but they may not be feared by Your Majesty."

Chu Shiqi calmed down a little after hearing this. "What does grandpa mean?"

"They are old and have grown into tigers, but your biggest backer is still stable, so just sit back and watch the tigers fight!"

The Prime Minister then asked seriously, "You must make sure that you have no connection with those three thousand men, or else you will let Prince Duan get hold of the evidence!"

Chu Shiqi analyzed the pros and cons and could only give up reluctantly. He said without any worries: "It has been arranged long ago. At most, we will take away a county magistrate from Jinyan City. The county magistrate thought those were his people and used them as bandits on weekdays. They did a lot of robbery."

Various forces in the capital were surging, and Jinyan City far in the southwest was also in turmoil.

Since the arrival of the 50,000 soldiers, Prince Duan no longer concealed his identity and announced the plan to suppress the bandits. Most of the officials and wealthy people around him were uneasy and tried their best to get in.

Jinyan City is an ordinary small county town, far from the capital and a little far from the border. Although the land is good, there are many mountains and it is difficult to cultivate. If it weren't for the accident of Prince Duan here, I'm afraid many officials in the capital would not know that there is such a city. People here will never have the opportunity to meet royal relatives in their entire lives, let alone a prince who has been crowned as a king.

But precisely because of the huge difference in status, the people of Jinyan City could not even hand over a visiting card to Prince Duan, and could only wander around the inn where Prince Duan was said to be staying temporarily.

At this time, Prince Duan was not in the city. He was checking the forest where the accident happened that day.

How did he run from the mountains and forests west of Jinyan City to the mountains east of Jinyan City?

This forest is nearly a hundred miles away from Dongshan Village. He was seriously injured that day and fell off his horse and lost it. Even if someone carried him, he could not run so far.

Thinking about how he appeared beside Qin Lie's grave on the anniversary of Qin Lie's death, he didn't really believe in ghosts and gods, but now he couldn't help but wonder, could it be that Qin Lie's spirit in heaven saved him?

But he and Qin Lie have no connection at all. If one has to point out their similarities...the only thing he can say is that they are both men, and they are of similar stature, and he is a little thinner. Even if Qin Lie really has a spirit, why would he save him?

Chu Shiyu couldn't help feeling guilty as he thought about it. Would Qin Lie know that he had fallen in love with his wife and children?

But Chu Shiyu narrowed his eyes again. There was another possibility. That was that Qin Lie originally wanted to take over his body and move him to the grave, hoping to occupy his body and renew his relationship with his wife, but failed.

After thinking this way, he felt at ease. Since you failed to take over my body, you can't blame him for wanting to usurp my position...even though he also failed.

"General! We have explored dozens of surrounding hilltops and found two bandit strongholds. We estimate that the number of bandits will not exceed 4,000. Do we want to attack the stronghold directly?" A burly deputy general reported.

Chu Shiyu came back to his senses, looked at the lush green forest in front of him and said calmly: "Just siege it, find a few places with suitable terrain to set up camp, and prepare for a long-term garrison. Send a message to the mountain stronghold, the first two thousand who surrender will not be killed, but sent to the border to do hard labor."

"Long-term garrison? Will His Majesty agree to this?" The deputy general hesitated.

"This place is only three days away from the border, and the food and supplies allocated to the border often pass through here. The garrison can deter bandits and support all parties at any time. I will report this to my father in the future, and he will agree."

"Yes!"

As long as there is no problem with the higher-ups, the deputy general will have no objection to Prince Duan's decision.

The entire Southwest Army highly admires Prince Duan's ability to plan and strategize. Last year, the Southwest Army had an internal traitor and joined forces with the Burmese enemy. The enemy went around the rear and broke through the border, and 80,000 soldiers died in battle.

Prince Duan volunteered to lead 100,000 troops to help the southwest. In three days, he broke through the enemy's line, brought food and supplies to join the border troops, and reorganized the 300,000-strong army at the border. He not only drove the enemy out of Daxia, but also pursued the victory, killed several generals of Myanmar, and fought all the way to the outskirts of the city of Myanmar King, forcing the Myanmar King to surrender and sign a treaty, and Myanmar became a vassal state.

Of course, when Prince Duan was attacked on his way back to Beijing, the entire army was filled with indignation. A few days ago, Prince Duan dispatched troops to suppress bandits, and the entire army volunteered to follow. Unfortunately, Prince Duan clearly ordered that only 50,000 troops would be dispatched.

Regardless of what the high officials and nobles above thought about Prince Duan's suppression of bandits, the people in Jinyan City and the surrounding areas all applauded. Especially in the villages on the west side of Jinyan City, almost every family had their money robbed or young women were abducted. Previously, many villages and towns spontaneously organized militias to resist the bandits, but unfortunately, the scattered soldiers could hardly even protect themselves.

In the distant Dongshan Village, Liu Rusi was also in a trance. Qin Lie's death was caused by a rockfall, but if he hadn't been stabbed by the bandits, would the result have been different?

The ox cart stopped at the gate of the yard. Today was the day to deliver goods to the city. The four baskets of eggs for the order were loaded onto the cart, and Liu Rusi went in and took out two more baskets.

"Uncle, I heard that many people took the initiative to send rice to the soldiers who were suppressing the bandits. Please help me deliver these two baskets of eggs."

"This... isn't it a bit too much? If the next time there is less supply, we won't be able to make up for it." Liu Ronggui is also involved in her chicken and duck business.

The egg production of chickens and ducks is not stable, there may be more or less, so when there is a surplus, some fresh eggs will be kept to make up for the shortage next time. If there are too many, they will be sold in the market. When Liu Rusi took out two baskets of eggs, it was equivalent to taking out all the remaining eggs.

"It's okay, it's just a little gift from your heart. At worst we won't eat them at home these days." Liu Rusi smiled brightly and put two baskets of eggs into the ox cart.

The ox cart swayed back into the city.

The inn where Prince Duan was staying was now guarded by soldiers, and many people who didn't know where to send their things sent their rice, flour, grain and oil here. Even if the soldiers refused to accept them, the people would just leave their things there and leave.

The ox cart mixed in with the crowd of civilians, placed two baskets of eggs near the soldiers guarding the inn, and then slowly left.

"Your Highness, there are many things sent by the people outside the inn. Your suppression of bandits has won the hearts of the people!" the scholar praised with a beaming face.

Chu Shiyu played with a bamboo stick expressionlessly, and said indifferently: "In my position, winning the hearts of the people is not necessarily a good thing, but it's just a small Jinyan City, so it's not a big deal."

The scholar suddenly looked embarrassed and didn't know what to say. He used to boast of his great talent, but after meeting Prince Duan, he realized that there are people better than him. Because he admired Prince Duan's talent, he gave up going to the local area to be a county magistrate and volunteered to follow Prince Duan to serve.

He had served Prince Duan for several years. Seeing that he was favored by Prince Duan, others would respectfully call him Mr. Sun. Only he himself knew that he was just an errand boy and a supporting actor in front of Prince Duan.

"Tell me, if a woman is infatuated with a man, will she change her mind?" Chu Shiyu suddenly looked at the scholar Sun Zhizhao while holding a bamboo stick.

Sun Zhizhao was stunned. Why did he suddenly talk about women? But he thought for a while and said, "How can it be called infatuation if one changes one's heart?"

Chu Shiyu frowned slightly and sighed softly.

"Yeah, I won't change my mind...even if I do, I'm no longer infatuated."

That's why he wanted to replace Qin Lie directly, and wanted to steal that love completely...

But now he couldn't become Qin Lie, nor could he dig a perfect dead person out of her heart.

However, he himself could not let go of Liu Rusi, and even felt more unwilling with each passing day. If he successfully replaced Qin Lie, every day of his life would be filled with love and affection.

"I need to change my clothes and go out for a walk. It's too stuffy in this room."

Chu Shiyu dismissed Sun Zhizhao, changed into a commoner's cotton cloth, and only brought two guards who were also dressed as commoners with him.

After walking out of the inn through the side door and taking two steps, his gaze suddenly returned to the rows of supplies that had been moved to the corner and stopped on two baskets of inconspicuous-looking eggs.

Walking over quickly and raising his hand to stop the guards from saluting, Chu Shiyu asked the person closest to him, "Do you remember who sent these two baskets of eggs?"

There were so many people delivering gifts recently that the person being asked couldn't remember for a moment. Then someone closer on the other side said, "It was a farmer pulling a bullock cart."

Chu Shiyu's eyes suddenly lit up, and he asked again: "Is there anyone on the ox cart?"

The man shook his head and said, "No one."

Chu Shiyu's eyes dimmed slightly, but the corners of his mouth were still slightly raised. He picked up an egg and gently squeezed it, then raised his chin to the person who answered and said, "Reward."

The guard beside him stepped forward and took out an ingot of silver and handed it over, which made everyone around him envious.

Putting the eggs back into the basket, Chu Shiyu instructed again: "Take these two... this basket of eggs in, check the other basket and other items, and send all those that are OK to the bandit suppression army outside the city."

"Yes!"

Chu Shiyu left the inn in a good mood. Although Liu Rusi might not know that he was Prince Duan, the people's hearts...are also their hearts.