Ties of Love, Ruan Wan

From Ruan Wan, Lou Qianyuan learned of Liang Kun's situation. Lou Qianyuan couldn't help but sigh, "I underestimated Liang Kun before; I never expected him to be so resilient."

Ruan Wan smiled and said, "I found it strange when he volunteered to come to the capital. Since he's already here, he must be determined to make a name for himself."

Lou Qianyuan had barely taken a few bites of his meal when Cui Mo rushed to the door. "Young Master, a servant from the Seventh Prince's residence has come to deliver a message, requesting that you come over later to discuss some matters."

"Okay, I'll go over after dinner."

Ruan Wan looked at Lou Qianyuan with a resentful expression. Lou Qianyuan slowed down his eating and immediately tried to please Ruan Wan by serving her food.

Looking at the mountain of small bowls piled up in front of her, Ruan Wan couldn't help but chuckle, "Alright, hurry up and eat, don't keep him waiting."

Lou Qianyuan dared not, and began to chew and swallow slowly.

Ruan Wan couldn't help but ask, "What exactly is going on? Why are you so busy? Isn't the reconstruction of Qingzhou almost finished?"

Lou Qianyuan sighed, glanced at Qiu Shuang and Cui Lu beside him, and the two of them immediately understood and went out.

Lou Qianyuan looked at Ruan Wan and asked, "Do you still remember Duomuhe?"

Ruan Wan searched her memory for the name. "You mean the second prince of Dongyi, Duomuhe?"

Lou Qianyuan nodded.

Ruan Wan had forgotten about this person; she had never heard his name since leaving Liuzhou.

Duo Muhe followed Zhang Ming to Liuzhou, intending to travel from there to the capital to discuss treason with Zhang Lucheng.

Later, Ruan Wan and Lou Qianyuan fled all the way back to the capital. By then, the Zhang family's schemes had all failed, and the matter was left unresolved.

"Why are you suddenly bringing up Domuhe again? Is he planning something?"

Lou Qianyuan said with a solemn expression, "He's dead."

"Ah! When did this happen?"

"I've been busy with his affairs these days. On the sixth day of last month, Duomuhe was murdered by having his throat slit."

Ruan Wan was somewhat puzzled. "The death of the Second Prince of Dongyi has nothing to do with our Great Xia."

"Duomuhe was actually imprisoned in Daxia for the entire year."

Ruan Wan was so surprised she couldn't close her mouth; Duo Muhe had actually been imprisoned in Da Xia.

However, after thinking about it carefully, Ruan Wan could understand it. After all, if Duo Muhe and Zhang Lucheng's affair was exposed, Duo Muhe would naturally be arrested as well.

Ruan Wan asked, "Could it be that our Great Xia killed Duomuhe?"

Lou Qianyuan sighed again, "These past few days, we've been trying to find the murderer of Duomuhe. Tell me, if our Great Xia wanted to kill him, why did we imprison him for a year before taking action?"

It turned out that on the ship that day, Xia Ziru had switched Duo Muhe with another person and sent him to the prison.

The emperor wanted to use Duomuhe to negotiate with the emperor of Dongyi, hoping to achieve a balance similar to that of the Chu state and reduce warfare.

After another year of negotiations, the terms of the alliance were finally agreed upon. The Great Xia kept its promise and returned Duomuhe to the Eastern Yi.

Envoys were also sent on this trip to discuss the alliance between Qin and Jin and to exchange imperial edicts.

Xia Ziru captured the man, so the task of being an envoy naturally fell to him. As a result, when the group passed through Qingzhou, the man was killed without a sound.

Unexpectedly, so much had happened in the capital while they were away. Ruan Wan said, "Killing Duomuhe is tantamount to destroying diplomatic relations between the two countries. Who least wants to see the alliance between the two countries? Who is most likely the murderer?"

"Changfeng and I are also investigating in this direction, but we haven't left any clues whatsoever, so we have almost no way to investigate. We can only investigate the Dongyi people and Miao people who have entered the country in the past few months."

The Great Xia has now formed an alliance with the State of Chu. Having another country as an ally can only bring benefits and no harm. The State of Chu is more than happy to have the opportunity to establish trade relations with the Eastern Yi by connecting with the Great Xia.

Miao territory has always been peaceful and pacified. Even though it borders Dongyi territory, Dongyi dared not easily offend Miao territory. It is hard to imagine what reason Miao territory would have to kill Duomuhe.

"Changfeng and I concluded that it must have been the pro-war faction within Dongyi who sent someone to kill Duomuhe and sabotage the alliance between the two countries. The eldest prince of Dongyi, Ali, is the most suspicious, as he has always advocated expansion."

This made things difficult. The second prince of Dongyi died within the territory of Daxia. It was neither a death from illness nor an accident; he was definitely murdered.

The only suspect here is the eldest prince of Dongyi, Ali. No one would believe that someone would try to shift the blame to their own brother who is thousands of miles away.

Moreover, there is not a single piece of evidence.

Ruan Wan asked, "What's the reaction from the Dongyi people now?"

Lou Qianyuan's face was full of worry. "The Eastern Barbarians have directly launched a large-scale military offensive, demanding an explanation from Great Xia."

Perhaps because she was in the capital city and in this secluded mansion, not only Ruan Wan, but also anyone who went out on the street today, did not feel the slightest tension of war.

Ruan Wan began to worry, "Could it really be going to be a war?"

Lou Qianyuan shook his head. "Now that Xia and Chu are allied, the Eastern Yi dare not act rashly. However, Father has still been sent to the border to await orders."

"Ah! So Father won't be coming back for the Mid-Autumn Festival this year?"

Since the alliance between Xia and Chu, the large army stationed in the north has been gradually withdrawn, and Duke Zhenguo Lou Yingyuan will also return to the capital in July.

Now he has been sent to the border of the Eastern Barbarians, which means things are not as simple as Lou Qianyuan said.

Lou Qianyuan hurriedly finished his dinner, bid farewell to Ruan Wan, and rushed to the Seventh Prince's residence on horseback.

Ruan Wan had been thinking about this matter. Duo Muhe died in Qingzhou, but Ruan Xiuzhu's letters made no mention of it.

There was another point that Ruan Wan realized after Lou Qianyuan left. It was very strange that the route taken to send Duomuhe back to Dongyi would pass through Qingzhou.

Just like when Duomuhe went to the capital, he took the route through Liuzhou; taking the route through Qingzhou would have been a much longer detour.

This explains why this route must pass through Qingzhou, a city still under reconstruction. What is the reason that it is so important to go there?

Ruan Wan couldn't understand it, there were many things she couldn't understand, she only knew that once war broke out, it was the innocent people who would bleed and sacrifice.

Ruan Wan had actually thought about it. This continent, though not very large, was divided into four countries, and there had been constant conflicts for hundreds of years.

Countless soldiers and civilians have perished under the weight of war. If these four nations could be unified into one, this continent would be free from conflict.

However, this is just wishful thinking; hundreds of years of conflict have failed to annex any country.

Southern Xinjiang, in particular, is a completely closed-off country.

Although she was worried about war breaking out, Ruan Wan was still relieved.

Since learning that her father-in-law, whom she had never met, would be coming back to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival with her, Ruan Wan had been feeling anxious since April.

Although it is said that an ugly daughter-in-law must eventually meet her parents-in-law, Ruan Wan was still a little uneasy, as the etiquette of serving one's father-in-law in ancient times was very complicated.

Ruan Wan is used to being free and easy, and she is worried that she will have to spend every day with her father-in-law in the future.

However, Lou Qianyuan comforted Ruan Wan, saying, "I wrote to my father and explained our story. He found it very interesting and admires you greatly."

Even so, Ruan Wan still found it hard to imagine that she and her father-in-law were getting along so well.

She can get along well with her sister-in-law and the others, but she absolutely cannot get along well with her father-in-law.

Inside the Seventh Prince's residence, Lou Qianyuan and Xia Changfeng were looking at the letters sent back by spies from various places via carrier pigeon.

Both of them had their brows furrowed, reading each letter word by word, afraid of missing a single detail, trying to find some clues from the slightest clues.

However, after observing for half a month and investigating hundreds of foreigners who entered the country, they still couldn't find a single clue.

War was imminent on the border with the Eastern Barbarians. The people of the previous dynasty could not come up with any good solutions and were roughly divided into two camps: one advocating war and the other advocating peace talks.

Xia Changfeng also opposed going to war. Last year's major floods had not yet fully restored people's livelihoods, and it was not the right time to start a war.

However, peace talks must have bargaining chips; at the very least, an explanation must be given to the Eastern Yi.

This time, the one who died was no ordinary person; it was the second prince of Dongyi. If Dongyi were to easily tolerate this, what would become of the king's dignity?

Lou Qianyuan's eyes were sore from looking at it. "Do you think we've been investigating in the wrong direction? It's not just those within the Eastern Yi territory and the Southern Frontier who don't want an alliance."

Xia Changfeng knew that Lou Qianyuan was referring to the people of Chu. The alliance seemed to be just a facade of peace, and he didn't know what kind of undercurrents were brewing beneath the surface.

"However, now that Xia and Chu are allied, tens of thousands of merchants and workers come to Xia from Chu every month, and not everyone's whereabouts are recorded."

All the informants they planted throughout the country were mainly tracking people from the Eastern Yi and Southern Xinjiang regions. The number of people from these two countries who came to Daxia was relatively limited, so they were able to find out about them one by one.

Lou Qianyuan tossed the letter in his hand onto the table. "This is the last batch of letters. All the Dongyi and Nanjiang people who entered the country have been checked, and there is no evidence pointing to them."

Xia Changfeng was also quite troubled, and there was one thing that he found extremely strange.

Xia Ziru, a man of meticulous mind, managed to keep it a secret all year from discovering where Duomuhe was being held.

The fact that he was sent as an envoy to the Eastern Barbarians was only known after Duomuhe's death. It is unclear how he managed to kill Duomuhe on the way.

How did the thieves manage to steal from a sealed room and an inn guarded by a group of people without making a sound?

All of this was so bizarre that Xia Changfeng couldn't help but wonder if Xia Ziru had done it himself.

But what was his purpose in doing this? He was the envoy on this mission and was also responsible for escorting Domuhe. If something happened to Domuhe, it would do him no good.

Just as the two were fretting, Linglong, six months pregnant, walked in with Yujie's help.

Xia Changfeng hurriedly stood up, frowned, and went to help Linglong sit down. "Didn't I tell you to move around less? What if you upset the baby?"

Linglong smiled and said, "Your Highness has been working very hard lately, so I've prepared a lotus seed and lily bulb soup to soothe your mind and reduce internal heat."

Yu Jie immediately took out the stewing pot from the food box, placed it on the table, and then helped Linglong up.

"I will not disturb Your Highness any longer. Please take care of yourself."

Xia Changfeng escorted Linglong to the door and watched her go for a long time before turning back.

Lou Qianyuan opened the stew pot, peeked inside, and smiled, "You're going to be a father soon, and you're becoming more and more considerate."

Xia Changfeng's teasing words stuck in his throat, unable to come out. He wanted to ask Lou Qianyuan when he would have his own child.

Lou Qianyuan wanted a child, so Xiaozhu had to get pregnant. Xia Changfeng tried his best not to think about Xiaozhu, and even sealed away those memories from back then.

Lou Qianyuan clicked his tongue twice. "My cousin's wife knows we work in the same office, yet she only prepared soup for you."

Xia Changfeng pushed the soup directly to Lou Qianyuan, saying, "If you want some, just say so. No need to beat around the bush."

Lou Qianyuan pushed the soup back, saying, "The Princess Consort went to great lengths to prepare this for you; how could I possibly accept such a gesture of kindness?"

Xia Changfeng chuckled, "Go ahead and drink. Two more servings will be delivered later."

As soon as Xia Changfeng finished speaking, Amu came in carrying two food boxes. "Your Highness, these are desserts sent by Consort Rong and Aunt Qing."

Lou Qianyuan opened the soup Bingqing had sent first and laughed, "Truly master and servant, sending only cooling and detoxifying soups."

Lou Qianyuan opened Rong Yufen's soup again, and frowned when he saw what was inside. "This is all oily and greasy. Who would drink this so late at night?"