Chapter Nineteenth The Crown Prince Arrives

  I went out of town for the past two days and didn't have time to update, I apologize to everyone here. Let's get straight to the point.

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  For several days, nothing happened. Yun Qi continued to serve as a comfortable book boy. Young Master Yang Wenguang still studied with Zheng Shu in the morning and practiced Wing Chun alone in front of the wooden dummy in the afternoon. As for Yang Wenxi, she had given up learning martial arts. Although Yun Qi told her that learning Wing Chun had many benefits, she was shut down by one sentence: In this era, women do not learn martial arts. Seeing that everyone said so, this cheap master could no longer continue. The order in the mansion remained tight and peaceful.

  However, the war in the world did not stop. The small land of the southern country was not affected yet. At the border of Shu and Chu, the beacon smoke had risen, and the two armies had been fighting continuously for many days. The first group of 150,000 troops from Shu went north through the Longhu Pass and encountered an ambush by Chu when crossing the border between the two countries. They fought fiercely in the Shui area for three days and nights but were forced to retreat. Of the 150,000 soldiers, countless were killed or injured. After retreating back to the Longhu Pass to take stock of their numbers, they found that only over 80,000 remained. Several days later, small groups of troops who had been scattered during the battle returned one after another, but the total number was still less than 100,000. This battle was also the first battle between Chu and Shu, with Chu emerging victorious. As a result, their morale greatly increased, and their army marched forward to the Longhu Pass.

  In addition, there were several other large-scale battles. In the southeast of Chu State, there was a pass called Tongguan, which was strategically located with steep cliffs and precipitous walls surrounding it on all sides, leaving only one route for advance or retreat. The general in charge of defending the pass was named Yuan Zhongde, a brave warrior with exceptional martial arts skills, who commanded an army of 30,000 elite soldiers. The Shu army also knew that Tongguan was easy to defend but difficult to attack, and it was a crucial location that had to be taken if they were to advance further. If they could capture Tongguan, they would then be able to take the counties of Langzhong, Pingyuan, and Xuzhou, which would lead them directly to the capital city of Chu State, Changbang. Along this route, there was only one pass, Tongguan, and the Shu army had assembled a massive force of 300,000 soldiers outside the pass, waiting for the order to attack. Upon learning of this, the ruler of Chu State immediately dispatched an army of 150,000 soldiers to reinforce Tongguan, leading to the outbreak of a fierce battle.

  There were dozens of small-scale wars in various places, not to mention that there are wars and casualties, and countless refugees have no place to return, the most bitter ones are still the common people.

  Nanguo Si Nan...

  Since the last Yang Fu night raid, everything has been peaceful, but today an unexpected guest arrived. Before noon, a horse-drawn carriage stopped in front of the Yang Fu gate, with armored guards holding long spears behind it, indicating that the visitor was not ordinary. The attendants lifted the curtain and a man with clear eyebrows and eyes got out, but his face showed a strange and eerie aura. The visitor glanced at the signboard above the main gate, smiled, and stepped up onto the steps first.

  Yang Ziting received the news early and led all the people in the mansion except for the women to wait at the gate. After waiting for a long time, they finally saw the arrival of the convoy and hurried out to greet them.

  "The old minister welcomes Your Highness, the Crown Prince!" Yang Ziting was the first to kneel down, and the rest of the people followed suit.

  The young man was delighted to see Yang Zitong come to welcome him in person, but when he saw the old man kowtowing to him, he couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed. He rubbed his nose and quickly stepped forward to help Yang Zitong up, saying softly: "Teacher, there's no need for such courtesy. I'm here this time also at the behest of my imperial father to stay for a few days and understand the people's sentiments. If you behave like this, how can your student be any good?"

  "The prince spoke too heavily, although the prince is an old minister's student, but that was only during class hours. At other times, the etiquette between monarch and subject should be maintained, which the old minister will do." Yang Ziting saw the prince somewhat embarrassed, not knowing what to say, also not good to continue speaking, waved his hand making a please gesture: "The prince please follow the old minister into the inner house!"

  Yun Qi looked at him with a hint of excitement in his heart, never expecting that he would meet the prince of Nanguo within a month of arriving at Yang Fu. Not to mention anything else, just looking at the prince's handsome face made Yun Qi feel a little uncomfortable. The maids beside him were all infatuated, and Yun Qi thought to himself: "I'm also very handsome, with a strong masculine aura, why do they only look at that pretty boy with a 'to-die-for' expression? Why don't they ever look at me like that?" But thinking about it, being able to meet the prince of Nanguo, who would one day become the emperor of Nanguo, was no small thing. In modern times, this would be equivalent to being received by the country's prime minister, which was enough to make people excited. Thinking of this, Yun Qi felt that he should try to get close to the prince and build a good relationship with him. Who knows, maybe in the future, he could even become an official or something, and wouldn't have to be a lowly servant anymore. But the problem was, how could a lowly servant like himself possibly have the opportunity to get close to the prince?

  Yun Qi followed the crowd to the outer hall, where all the ladies of the Yang family were present. When they saw Yang Ziting bring in the prince, Mrs. Yang was the first to stand up, with Yang Wenxin behind her, and they curtsied: "Your humble wife and daughter pay their respects to Your Highness!"

  Xiaobai quickly stepped forward to help Yang up, saying: "Master's wife doesn't have to be like this, hurry and get up." He took another glance at Yang Wenxin, but it was just a glance, then he moved on without any feeling. However, Yang Wenxin's pretty face turned slightly red, but seeing that Xiaobai only looked at her once without any other intention, she returned to normal.

  Yang Ziting waved his hand to dismiss the servants, and Yun Qi was also among them. It seemed that the old man wanted to chat with the prince about family matters, leaving only Mrs. Yang as a companion, and even Yang Wenxin also retreated together.

  Yun Qi was just about to follow everyone back when he heard someone calling him from behind

  "Wait! Hold on!"

  "Ah! Miss!"

  Yang Wencheng walked up to Yun Qi and said, "The prince has arrived at the mansion, so you should stay in the servants' quarters for the next few days. Don't go running around unnecessarily." Among the servants in the mansion, Yun Qi was the one who made people worry the most. Yang Wencheng's words were not unreasonable - when Yun Qi had nothing to do, he liked to wander around the mansion, looking here and there, touching this and that, thinking these things would be antiques of the future! This was how other servants reacted, but normally, Yang Wencheng wouldn't mind. However, now that the prince was visiting the Yang Mansion, some rules had to be followed, as it concerned Yang Ziting's reputation. Yang Wencheng was being kind and didn't want Yun Qi to get scolded by his father, so he called out to him.

  Yun Qi wasn't stupid either, and immediately understood Yang Wenjin's meaning. He pretended to be obedient and performed a servant's courtesy: "Yes! Miss! Your humble servant remembers your orders!"

  "Hmph..." Yang Wenjin found it somewhat amusing to see Yun Qi suddenly become so serious, and said: "Alright, never mind, just leave it at that. You go take care of your business."

  After finishing, she turned around and walked towards her boudoir. Yun Qi gazed at her back for a while, then whispered to herself: "Actually... this girl is still quite pretty when she smiles!" Afterwards, she added another sentence in her heart: She's beautiful even when she doesn't smile!

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  I was in the internet cafe next to the hotel, insisting on posting a chapter. I'm really busy, otherwise I wouldn't have failed to update yesterday. I'm afraid that if I don't update today, people will wonder if I've abandoned it... So... I endured my fatigue and sent out an update!