Chapter 71: The Branding of the Female General

  The night is cool as water.

  The path was not long, and the two of them walked one in front of the other, just like the silence of their first meeting.

  Tang Guan remained silent behind Shangguan Wan'er, who also seemed to be lost in thought.

  The road, having walked less than half of it, she finally stopped in her tracks.

  "Little lord, can you help me with something?"

  She turned her head to look at Tang Guan, and Tang Guan also raised his head, but didn't answer immediately. After a moment, he said, "You speak."

  Shangguan Wan'er heard this and was overjoyed. She took out an object from her sleeve, and before Tang Guan could see clearly, the thing had already appeared in front of him.

  It turned out to be a handkerchief, and this handkerchief was actually a bright yellow color. Tang Guan's eyelids jumped involuntarily, and this was clearly an imperial object.

  "Top Scholar, would you help me return this to Emperor Ruizong?"

  Her voice was very soft, but these words fell into Tang Guan's ears and his eyebrows furrowed involuntarily.

  He took over the handkerchief and examined it carefully, only to see that there were faint bloodstains on it, and the style looked quite old.

  Shangguan Wanyou looked at Tang Guan with some expectation, knowing that only he could help her now.

  Ke Tang Guan hesitated for a moment before directly saying: "No way."

  Shangguan Wanyou was taken aback, although they didn't have a close relationship, the two of them got along quite well, but she didn't expect Tang Guan to refuse directly without even asking.

  She wasn't one who liked to beg either. Seeing Tang Guan's refusal, her expression didn't change as she stretched out her hand and said, "Return it to me then."

  Tang Guan heard this and smiled at her, saying directly: "No."

  "You..." As soon as these words came out, Shangguan Wan'er's face finally changed color.

  "I'm just short of a handkerchief, give me one."

  Tang Guan smiled slyly, of course intentionally. In his view, this handkerchief was undoubtedly a valuable object, and he would never agree to be the backup plan for those two while helping them with their romance.

  Shangguan Wan'er originally had some good feelings towards Tang Guan, thinking he was a trustworthy person. Now seeing him in this state, her heart skipped a beat. If the Empress found out about this matter, she would likely be worried about the consequences.

  At this thought, her face turned pale, and Tang Guan laughed and said: "Miss, you want to be a concubine?"

  Shangguan Wanyou was taken aback by his words and immediately rebuked him, saying: "What nonsense are you talking about? I helped you get nominated in the first place!"

  "It's really her." As soon as these words came out, Tang Guan secretly thought to himself that it was indeed the case, and he had been wondering all along who could imitate his handwriting so similarly.

  Ke Shangguan Wanyi after all is a person who pays attention to rules, staring at the thing in Tang Guan's hand, but not daring to take it by force, even if it was originally her own.

  Tang Guan also expected this, and became even more arrogant, saying: "Sister is a close attendant of the Empress, yet she can have a deep private relationship with Your Majesty, no wonder she's the daughter of a Prime Minister."

  Actually, I'm now 30% annoyed and 70% frustrated. The annoyance is due to inexplicable jealousy, while the frustration comes from things getting out of control.

  He searched through numerous historical records and never thought that these two people would have a relationship, which makes things a bit complicated. There is no record of the relationship between the two in history.

  There is a record that Ruizong restored the position of Shangguan Wan'er after he ascended to the throne again. If there was no relationship between them, why did Ruizong do this after Shangguan Wan'er's death?

  Shangguan Wan'er was shocked when he mentioned his family background, and then became even more annoyed, with her good impression of Tang Guan instantly disappearing.

  The atmosphere suddenly turned cold, but Tang Guan still had a smile on his face. He was determined to get to the bottom of things. This clever woman had been foolish for a moment and handed over the goods to him. If he didn't make good use of them, then he wouldn't be Tang Guan.

  Tang Guan saw that she wasn't speaking and bowed to say: "Thank you, sister, for the gift. The road ahead is familiar to me, so there's no need for you to guide me."

  She said and suddenly turned her sleeve to leave. It wasn't until Tang Guan brushed past her shoulder that Shangguan Wan'er finally spoke up, "That's my dad's! Give it back to me!"

  This shout was completely out of her usual calm and composed demeanor, just like a little girl who had been robbed of her beloved treasure, glaring at Tang Guan with hatred.

  Tang Guan's eyes lit up with excitement as he heard the news, but his smile suddenly froze. This matter was indeed complicated, and now it seemed to involve her father as well.

  But they still stopped in their tracks, and the two young men hesitated on this palace path, fortunately there was no one around, otherwise another disaster would have occurred.

  Tang Guan looked at the handkerchief again, apparently taking good care of it, with a faint scent on it, seemingly carried with him every day.

  It's old and worn out, one look and it's obviously an old thing from years ago. Tang Guan carefully distinguished it again, and looked at Shangguan Wan'er who was only 13 or 14 years old now, shaking his head in his heart.

  Shangguan Wanyou saw him stop in his tracks, her pretty face flushing red. She had indeed shouted out of character just now, but she was still glaring at Tang Guan with a lingering sense of injustice.

  "There's a pair of twins in her family, Shangguan Yi is the old prime minister, and Shangguan Tingzhi is also the prime minister of the Western Court. There must be some changes!"

  Tang Guan's heart suddenly skipped a beat, and he realized that this handkerchief was probably not a token of affection, but rather the source of the grudge between his family and the imperial family.

  "Haha, then it's even more valuable for collection!" Tang Guanzhong's expression flashed by, and he laughed again.

  He immediately cupped his hands and said: "Then thank you, old prime minister, for your kindness. I will take good care of the medicine to cure my illness."

  Having said that, he took a step and walked away. This move was far beyond Yu Guan's expectations, and Tang Guan's unpredictable behavior was rare in the world.

  Even Di Renjie, who was known for his unconventional approach in Up Official Wen Er's impression, couldn't compare to him.

  Tang Guan turned his head and walked away, still playing with the handkerchief in his hand.

  Shangguan Wanyou was stunned for a moment, then came back to her senses and actually ran after him in small steps, grabbing onto Tang Guanyi's sleeve.

  "You... you shameless thing!" Shangguan Wan'er's face turned bright red as she choked out a sentence of angry abuse.

  Tang Guan was pulled back by her and didn't struggle free. He smiled and looked back at her, saying: "Sister, are you reluctant to see me go?"

  "How could you do this."

  She only then realized that entrusting such an important matter to him so easily was a mistake in itself, and that she didn't understand Tang Guan at all, having been immersed in his writings and poems, thinking he was very close to her.

  At this time, however, she was in a difficult situation. If it were usual times, being teased like this would only require reporting to Wu Zetian, and that person would be skinned alive. But the current Crown Prince Tang was different; not to mention going to report herself, even if she really did impeach him, whether or not Wu Zetian would handle it was a whole different matter.

  What's more, he also has something on me.

  Tang Guan saw her panting, and a bad taste suddenly arose in his heart. If it were the future Empress Wu Zetian who had just grasped power, even if Mount Tai collapsed before her, she would not change her expression. At that time, she was somewhat less interesting.

  "Haha, young lady, do you know why the Empress Dowager wants His Majesty to stay in the East Palace?"

  Shangguan Wan'er tightly grasped Tang Guanyi's sleeve, not daring to make another move, as this was already improper.

  When Tang Guan said this, her pretty face turned pale. She naturally understood the Empress's thoughts and knew that she had committed a great taboo by getting involved with Rui Zong.

  Shangguan Wan'er slowly released her grip, and with a somewhat disheartened expression, she lowered her head as if to hide her emotions.

  Tang Guan shook his head slightly and turned around to leave. Shangguan Wan'er didn't know whether he would hand the handkerchief over to Tian Hou or keep it for himself.

  This was no different from a betrayal to her. There is no record of what kind of girl Shangguan Wan'er was before she came to power, only records of her glory after being favored.

  "A woman with a handkerchief on her head can govern the world."

  She's probably unable to hide even her own little thoughts from Tang Guan, a man as cunning as he is.

  Shangguan Wan'er went limp and fell to the ground in the palace corridor, without noticing that Tang Guan had disappeared around the corner.

  She stared blankly at Gong Dao, her vision suddenly becoming blurry.

  "Mother, is there really no one trustworthy in this world?"

  She had always been cautious throughout her life and rarely trusted anyone, yet she met Tang Guan.

  In fact, even without Tang Guan, she would still meet countless people who would make her heart gradually harden until she became the iron-blooded female prime minister capable of measuring the world!

  Unfortunately, she is not now, sobbing sounds rose, and she actually cried out.

  A figure hid in the dense forest of the palace path, close to Shangguan Wan'er.

  He stared at the crying Shangguan Wan'er, slightly stunned, and then looked at the handkerchief in his hand, which was actually Tang Guan's corner that had disappeared.

  "Really?"

  Tang Guan's eyebrows furrowed tightly, and her mind quickly began to deliberate.

  "Tattooing on the face as punishment?"

  Tang Guan's eyelid twitched as he connected the dots of a suspicious history, and it turned out that the Shangguan family had advocated for the abolition of Wu Zetian during the reign of Emperor Gaozong, and almost succeeded.

  Shangguan Wan'er had previously been punished by Wu Zetian with the penalty of disfigurement, which refers to the destruction of her face. The mainstream view is that Shangguan Wan'er secretly peeked at a memorial, while another theory is that she seduced Zhang brothers and provoked Wu Zetian's jealousy.

  "It's obvious that the first one is reasonable but unreliable."

  "The second one is even more unreliable."

  Thinking of this, Tang Guan realized that it was very likely because of this handkerchief.

  Shangguan Wan'er secretly wiped away her tears, to be honest, she was afraid, she feared that Tang Guan would really reveal the matter to Wu Zetian. No one knew Wu Zetian's methods better than she did.

  She also hated herself for being so gullible about Tang Guan.

  "Tang, you're cured... I... I hate you!"