Chapter Ten: Re-encountering the Crown Prince

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  At night...

  Lying in bed, Yun Qi tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep, his mind constantly replaying the conversation with Zhu Zidao from earlier that day. He didn't know why he had said those things; as a special forces operative in the past, national interests would have been unconditionally prioritized above all else - without a country, there could be no family. This was not a principle he didn't understand. Annoying! Yun Qi saw that he couldn't sleep anyway, so he sat up, pulled out a cigarette from under his pillow, lit one, and held it between his fingers. He bent one leg and wrapped his arm around it, while the other leg was bent and stretched out to the side, maintaining this sitting posture. Leaning against the wall, Yun Qi felt a wave of frustration in his heart.

  Protecting the family and defending the country, this phrase has become too distant from himself after changing the world. He is also familiar with his current identity, a humble book boy. "Being a book boy is pretty good." Yun Qi comforted himself. Now he is considering whether to tell the prince about the bow and crossbow, if he says it, even a fool can see that he is doing this for the country's military strength, which means telling the prince, telling the emperor, I, Yun Qi, am not just a small person, I also have great talent, casually inventing something that can improve the overall strength of the army, which means pushing myself to the forefront faster. But if he doesn't say it, thinking about the future, soon Shu Guo may launch an attack on Nan Guo's homeland, without one attacking tool, the number of casualties among Nan Guo's soldiers will be much higher, this is also something he doesn't want to see.

  A cigarette that had only been smoked a few puffs was still clutched in his hand, the ash having formed a long strip after burning out. Yun Qi didn't notice, and merely said softly: "I originally just wanted to keep the Yang family safe during the war, but if the country is destroyed, where can the Yang family go to take refuge?" As he spoke, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his fingers, and realized that the cigarette had burned down to the filter. Panicked, he threw away the cigarette butt, blew on his fingers a couple of times, spat out some saliva and rubbed it on them, feeling a bit better, then lay down with his clothes still on.

  He thought for a long time and still felt confused in his mind, he thought it was better not to think about it at all, everything would be decided after meeting the prince tomorrow. His mind went blank, and soon he felt drowsy, falling asleep in no time.

  The second day early...

  Today, Yang Ziting didn't have to attend the morning court session, so he was idly feeding birds and tending to flowers at home. Yun Qi was woken up by a servant early in the morning and knew that she still had to enter the palace again today, but this time it was to meet the Crown Prince. Silently lamenting the helplessness of life, Yun Qi, while dressing herself, couldn't help but chuckle to herself: "I wonder when I, old Yun, will be able to complete my mission of entering the palace three times."

  Everything was ready, when it was time to leave, Yun Qi went through careful consideration and still brought the bow and crossbow on his body.

  "If all else fails, if the prince asks me about it, I'll just shift the blame onto Yang Wenguang, hehe."

  Yun Qi stepped onto the horse carriage, and in the carriage, he secretly pondered that if he really couldn't push it off, he would attribute the invention of the crossbow to Yang Wenguan. After all, that kid was always either going into battle or fighting wars, so when the time came, Emperor Laoer might be pleased and grant him a small general title, and Yun Qi estimated that he could be proud for half a day. However, he didn't consider that if he did this, Yang Ziting's resentful gaze would probably follow him forever, and even drive this culprit out of the Yang Manor.

  Before long, they arrived at the palace gate. Yún Qī got down from the carriage and saw that eunuchs were already waiting there. He gave some instructions to the coachman, then walked towards the eunuchs. Before he had gone halfway, the eunuchs came forward to greet him.

  "Cloud brother, it's been a few days since we last met. Your complexion is looking even more radiant than before, making me feel quite envious."

  The eunuch in front of him greeted Yun Qi with a sharp voice, which made Yun Qi feel very uncomfortable, but it was much better than the one from yesterday. At least, if he didn't look at his identity and just looked at his appearance, Yun Qi could easily mistake him for a normal man. Looking again at the eunuch in front of him, Yun Qi felt that his face was somewhat familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere before, but couldn't think of where for the moment.

  "Hey mister, haven't we met somewhere before?"

  Yun Qi looked up and down at the eunuch, his intuition telling him that he must have seen him before, but wasn't familiar with him. Otherwise, why would there be a vague sense of familiarity?

  Taijian's eyes rolled over, and he forced a smile: "Ha! Cloud brother is indeed a nobleman who forgets things easily. The other day, the prince ordered our house to send you a letter and some gifts of gold and silver. Could it be that Cloud brother has forgotten about us?"

  He listened to the eunuch's tone and felt somewhat uneasy, so Qī Yī patted his head, and indeed it was him. He also had some impression, but last time he put all his attention on those two hundred taels of gold, and naturally didn't pay much attention to a eunuch. Thinking of this, Qī Yī hurriedly smiled and said: "Hehe, ah, please don't blame me, sir. I've been busy with too many things lately, my mind was muddled, how could I not remember you?"

  The eunuch saw Yun Qi's respectful demeanor and didn't mind, he nodded to the guard beside him and said: "Brother Yun, the prince has been waiting for a long time, I'll take you there now."

  "After you, sir."

  Yun Qi followed the little eunuch, winding and twisting along the way, feeling dizzy and disoriented. Even if he were a special forces soldier in his past life, Yun Qi could only admire the ingenuity of the builder for this terrifying maze-like path. Along the way, the eunuch kept chatting with Yun Qi, saying things like "if you rise to a high position in the future, don't forget about me" and "the prince is a good person, especially towards those with real talent and learning, he is even more generous". This made Yun Qi's head spin, and the route he had just memorized became completely confused.

  After walking for a while, passing through an inner wall, I finally arrived at the destination. Looking up, I saw a hall that was slightly smaller than the imperial palace's grand temple in front of me. On the gate above the main hall, blue background with golden letters read: Dong Gong (East Palace). It seems this is where the crown prince lives and works. In previous TV dramas and movies, similar scenes often appeared, but the East Palace was always portrayed as a negative example, making Yun Qi click his tongue and think to himself: "TV dramas really are poisonous to several generations!"

  The eunuch stepped forward a few steps, whispered a few words to the guard standing at the door, and then gently pushed open the door, leading Yun Qi inside.

  The main hall inside the palace was empty, and the eunuch said: "Brother Yun, wait for a moment, I'll go invite His Majesty to come down."

  "Sir, you may go ahead, Yun Qi will wait here."

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  After the eunuch went in for a while, Yun Qi had nothing to do and began to look around the interior of the hall. Although the main color was still the golden yellow of the imperial palace, it was much less than the imperial study, making people feel less oppressive when they looked at it. Perhaps it was because the space was larger, making it seem more spacious and bright. In front of the hall, there was a vacant lot with several red wooden chairs carved on both sides. In front of the main seat, there was a desk covered with golden brocade, behind which was a soft couch. On either side of the soft couch stood several standing incense burners, with fragrant incense still burning inside, filling the air in the great hall with a refreshing and pleasant scent. The floor of the hall was paved with bluestone, with each piece weighing at least a thousand catties. Yun Qi couldn't help but admire the ingenuity of the ancient architecture, and he also liked this feeling of being grounded, so he walked back and forth several times.

  "Cloud Seven!"

  Yun Qi was lowering his head and looking at the green bricks on the ground when he heard the voice of the crown prince coming from behind him.

  Turning around, he saw at a glance that it was the crown prince who had not been seen for several days.

  "Yún Qiī, it's been many days since we last met, I'm so glad to see you here today!"

  The crown prince quickly walked forward and grabbed Yun Qi, saying excitedly.

  "Thank you, Your Highness! Yun Qi is deeply grateful!"

  These official phrases were taught by Yang Ziting to him in the study last night, teaching and learning at the same time. Yang Ziting did this because he was frightened by Yun Qi's strange and inexplicable words during the early court meeting yesterday morning. It wasn't until later that he remembered Yun Qi had never been to the palace before, so he didn't know how to speak properly in the palace. Therefore, after dinner last night, Yang Ziting took Yun Qi to the study and started teaching him phrase by phrase, also fearing that Yun Qi would cause trouble in the future.

  "Yun Qi, you're just in time, uh... is there still any left over there? Hehe..."

  The prince spoke while his index and middle fingers were pinched together in a smoking gesture.

  Damn it! Has something gone wrong? The first thing I want to do is smoke, isn't that too much? Yun Qi was unhappy in his heart, but he still obediently took out the remaining half pack of Chinese cigarettes from his clothes and handed one to the prince with respect.

  Yun Qi brought seven boxes of cigarettes, the prince smiled and lit one with an incense burner. He took a deep breath and said: "Ah... Yun Qi, you don't know that I gave all the cigarettes you gave me last time to my father, so I really miss this thing. Now that I smell this long-lost flavor, it's really refreshing."

  Yun Qi was speechless for a moment, and the emotional prince was smoking more than himself, but looked even more like a smoker. Thinking of this, he took out one from half a pack of cigarettes and handed over the rest to the prince.

  The crown prince, seeing this, was naturally delighted and smiled as he accepted it. In an instant, he had taken it into his arms and warmly held Cloud Seven in front of the chair, saying: "Sit down, I want to have a good talk with you." After speaking, he himself walked to the soft couch and sat upright at the table.

  "What changes have occurred in Xizhou since Gu's departure?" The crown prince asked while smoking his pipe.

  "Replying to Your Highness, everything in Jiangnan remains as it was before, with no great changes." Yun Qiuzi answered truthfully.

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