Chapter Thirteen: Beyond Expectations Amidst Reason and Emotion

  The rain came down as soon as it was said, pattering and pounding on the roof tiles, gathering into strings of pearls that fell to the ground.

  Qin Lei recalled when he first arrived, that stormy and rainy night, things had improved a lot now, he told himself.

  He adjusted his mood and ordered Iron Eagle to invite Shen Luo.

  The conversation with Guantao came to an end, and the drunken Guantao went to sleep in the side room. Today at the banquet, the Prime Minister had already given the order to dismiss the guests, but he was free now, and even his luggage had been moved over.

  The rain grew heavier and heavier, and it was dark as if it were night. When Shen Luo arrived, Qin Lei had already lit the lamp.

  He took over Shen Luo's umbrella and saw that more than half of his body was wet, handed him a towel and said apologetically: "If it weren't for the sudden change, I wouldn't have put Uncle through this ordeal."

  Shen Luo smiled and said: "Your Highness underestimates me, in the past I traveled south and north, often sleeping in the wind and rain, hugging ice and sleeping in snow, not so delicate."

  Qin Lei lifted the teapot from the small mud furnace and handed it to Tie Ying, who poured out a thick ginger soup. Qin Lei first handed a bowl to Shen Luo, then gestured for Tie Ying to drink some too.

  Qin Lei had Shen Luo and Tie Ying change out of their wet clothes, then had them drink three large bowls of ginger soup before recounting his conversation with Guan Tao in detail.

  Shen Luo sank into thought for a moment, furrowed his brow and said: "According to your lordship's meaning, our people will not set out for the time being?"

  Qin Lei nodded and said: "Since the Bai Sheng army has intervened, the original plan can no longer be used. We cannot let our people die in vain."

  At this time, the iron eagle guarding the door gestured, and Mr. Guantao woke up.

  Qin Lei looked at Shen Luo and nodded. He instructed Tieying: "Go invite Mr. Guantao."

  After Guan Tao arrived, he exchanged greetings with Shen Luo, and the two of them introduced themselves. Qin Lei only then learned that Mr. Guan Tao's real name was Zhang Jianzhi, a native of Yunzhou, and a disciple of the Cloud State Wanderer, Godly Mechanism Sublime, who was three years younger than Shen Luo.

  Time was pressing, and the conversation quickly turned to the main topic.

  Qin Lei said to Shen Luo: "Uncle may as well tell our plan to Mr., so that Mr. can help us discuss it."

  Shen Luo nodded to Guan Tao: "Half a month ago, the palace decided on a plan and personally communicated with Hui Neng's first disciple, Monk Zishan. My foolish brother visited the chief secretary of the prime minister's mansion, Lu Mingde. Adding to that, my elder brother Li Shaoyi from Great Qin had previously visited the eunuch Huang Gonggong who was close to the Emperor of Qi. Using some underhanded methods, they communicated with Empress Dowager of Qi, the monk and the Prime Minister in the name of the Empress Dowager of Great Qin missing her grandson."

  Tie Ying sighed in his heart, these people were too hypocritical. Just the three thousand East pearls given to Huang Taijian cost one million taels of silver. If this was a small trick, he wondered what a big trick would be like.

  Under the prince's efforts, we first met Huineng. The Chan sect was trying to preach in our Great Qin territory, but once war broke out, his efforts would be in vain. We promised him that once we returned home, we would help spread the teachings of Chan Buddhism and contribute 100,000 taels of gold to cast a golden statue of his Buddha. Finally, he agreed to speak on our behalf to the emperor.

  Later, a coral screen was used to open the way, and Qi Chengxiang was met, who explained the disadvantages of starting a war at this time; today, finally, a thousand-year-old ginseng was used to meet Qi Taihou, stirring up the old man's family feelings. This is what made Qi Guo unify its opinions and send us back to our country. As soon as Shen Luo mentioned the screen and ginseng, his face showed a painful expression, this was an effect that even 100,000 taels of gold couldn't achieve earlier.

  He talks a bit too much, whoever spends so much money and meets such big shots will have a strong desire to talk about it.

  Mr. Guantao, Zhang Jianzhi, had always been living in straitened circumstances, and he never had more than a hundred taels of silver on him. He also didn't have any feelings about Shen Luo's description. He lightly tapped the table and said softly: "So, it seems that Your Highness' return is near. Are there any arrangements for the journey?"

  "We're worried that we might provoke the Great Qin military, so we've prepared a plan to disguise ourselves as assassins from the Qi state and attempt to kill you on the road, giving them an excuse to go to war."

  Guan Tao smiled and said: "Now the state of Qi will send someone to destroy us, it's not that we don't have a reason."

  Shen Luo smiled awkwardly and said, "We still have other arrangements, but if you want to confront the military, it's just a fantasy."

  Guan Tao thought for a moment and asked: "Has the assassin who attempted to kill the Crown Prince last month been found?"

  Shen Luo nodded and said: "Found it, it's a black flag spy from South Chu."

  Qin Lei chuckled and said, "I didn't expect I'm still quite popular."

  Gong Tao also began to get used to the prince's erratic personality, his fingers lightly tapping on the table as he analyzed: "The state of Chu will certainly be willing for Qin and Qi to go to war, and it is very likely that they will also take action."

  Shen Luo bitterly smiled and said, "If the Great Qin army finds out that the Qi people have released our princess, they will likely take action as well. Adding to that, our Great Qin imperial spies have six or seven factions entangled in chaos."

  Guan Tao stopped his drumming, his hand on the table said: "The more chaotic the better, chaos is good for muddying the waters. If it were only us and the Bai Sheng army, we would not be able to escape."

  Qin Lei stood up and took a few steps, saying firmly: "Mr. Jian is right, we must make the situation chaotic. Uncle, tell us to take action, stir up trouble there and turn everything upside down."

  Shen Luo stood up and accepted the order, Qin Lei pointed to a certain place on the map, instructing him in detail. Guantao listened on the side, increasingly admiring that this fifth prince had meticulous thinking, detailed planning, and what was even more rare was that he combined the unusual with the normal, not just taking risks, really not like a sixteen-year-old youth.

  ~~~~~~~

  The rain stopped, Shen Luo left, and Guantao also went to rest.

  Qin Lei immersed himself in the darkness, carefully wiping down each and every one of his strange equipment. The matter with the Bai Sheng Army had put a lot of pressure on him; in the face of absolute power, any schemes or plots were exceptionally fragile. Zhang Jianzhi said that the Bai Sheng Army was invincible because General Bai only fought battles he was certain to win. Therefore, when the time came for the army to surround and kill him, they would definitely have an overwhelming advantage in both numbers and quality, making it impossible for him to rely on luck to break through.

  He inserted a small crossbow bolt into the arm guard, and suddenly sneered: "If I don't do these movements, I can still drag on for a while. Now I've become an old immortal eating arsenic, thinking my life is too long."

  Afterwards, his mood inexplicably improved and he even started humming a popular tune.

  The iron eagle still stood guard outside the door.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Three days later, the yellow imperial envoy who had eaten two million Xiaokang households' annual grain ration came to proclaim the edict, saying: The Qin Emperor has a son named Lei, whose nature is gentle and virtuous. He is diligent in his work for the sake of both countries. Now, feeling his sincerity and pitying his filial piety, the imperial grace is vast, bestowing gold and sending him back to his country...

  As soon as the old eunuch left, Qin Lei took down Huang Can's imperial edict from the desk and carefully examined it, gently stroking it. He smiled at Tie Ying and said: "This is a good thing, look at the workmanship, look at the material. In a thousand or two years, it will be worth a lot of money."

  Tie Ying automatically ignored this sentence and said to Qin Lei: "Your Highness, the matter you instructed has been handled."

  Qin Lei heard this and rolled up the imperial edict with a wave of his hand, throwing it into a porcelain vase with a feather duster in it. He laughed loudly and said: "Quickly bring it over."

  Iron Eagle waved his hand, and four Shen family guards carried in a black iron box. The box was five feet long, two feet wide, and three feet high, with iron hoops around it. What's even more surprising is that there were over a dozen lock eyes on top of it. Iron Eagle stepped forward, took out over a dozen keys, and then pulled out a piece of paper. Following the sequence on the paper, he opened all the locks one by one, and the box finally popped open with a "click".

  Inside was a wildly shaking sack. Qin Lei kicked the box with one foot, and the sack finally stopped moving. He asked Tieying: "What is this thing?"

  Tie Ying and the four guards exchanged a smile, and Tie Ying said to Qin Lei: "This is the nephew of the national teacher. This kid was wandering alone on the street, saw the box we were carrying, and insisted on seeing what's inside. We deceived him into a deserted place and brought him to see you."

  Qin Lei's face lit up with a happy smile, and he ordered the guards to bring out the sack. The iron eagle kicked it twice, and from inside, there were mournful cries like those of a slaughtered pig.

  Qin Lei Iron Eagle snarled: "This won't do, hurry up and let this young master out."

  Tie Ying didn't refute, drew out his waist knife, and with a 'whoosh' sound, cut open the sack, revealing a young man with a terrified face, his hands and feet were bound, and his mouth was stuffed with a smelly sock, looking extremely miserable.

  Qin Lei examined him for a moment, lifted his leg as if to kick the horse's face, and the man curled up into a ball, trembling with fear. Qin Lei said to Tieying, "Nothing can be seen through the sack, it's better this way..."

  ~~~~~~~~~~~

  The horse's head kept nodding, tears and snot gushing out together, apparently frightened.

  Qin Lei said warmly to him: "Young master, don't be afraid. Anyway, you'll get a beating, so it's better to come quickly and comfortably."

  The horse's mouth was making a low humming noise, as if it were begging for mercy.

  Qin Lei drew out a guard's waist knife, waved it in his hand a few times, and said to Iron Eagle: "When you're tired of playing, chop it up and feed it to the dogs. Don't make a mess like last time with blood everywhere."

  Tie Ying smiled and took the knife, nodding heavily and said in a rough voice: "Young master, watch closely, let's first smash all the bones of this little guy, he'll be honest then."

  The horse-faced youth finally fainted...

  Qin Lei exchanged a look with Iron Eagle and had the guards drag Horse Face away.

  "Tie Ying leaned in and asked: 'Your Highness, are you really going to chop it off?'"

  Qin Lei glared at him with a bad temper, then turned happy and said: "Originally wanted to play till the end, this kid actually took the bait himself, ah, heaven doesn't give it to you, must receive heavenly punishment."