Yuchi Cheng looked at his aunt and nodded seriously. Then he grabbed my hand and said, "Xihe, come with me."
I was taken aback. "Aren't you going to pretend to be on Qatal's side? Then you should have already 'killed me'. It's not very appropriate for me to show up again, right?"
Yuchi Cheng stared at me and said, "With the tiger tally, there's no need for that."
Then he said to my uncle and aunt, "Please, Your Majesties, come with me to a safe place."
My uncle nodded, helped my aunt up, and followed us out.
On the way out, to avoid trouble, we still sneaked around and avoided the patrol teams. Basically, Yuchi Cheng led the way and the rest of us followed. When we really couldn't avoid someone, Yuchi Cheng would knock them out and then let us catch up.
We went out from the same place we came in. After all, it was the weakly - guarded area we had worked hard to find. Climbing over the wall and such, except for me being a burden, the others could manage on their own.
Soon, we arrived at the safe place arranged by Yuchi Cheng. After my uncle and aunt told us to be careful, I left with Yuchi Cheng.
I said, "Why did you take me out? Wouldn't it be better for me to stay with aunt and uncle? I won't be a burden to you."
Yuchi Cheng took my hand and said, "I feel at ease with you by my side."
This made it sound as if I were a peerless master. I was a bit helpless and couldn't help saying, "You're not afraid of getting lost again, are you? Uncle gave you such an important thing as the tiger tally. If you wanted to take his place, it would be easy."
Yuchi Cheng said gently, "With you here, I won't do that. I've figured it out. Power struggles don't matter anymore. A Xu has Gongzi An by his side. He will be a good king in the future. As for me, it's not bad to spend a leisurely life with you in the future."
I couldn't help but be amazed. "Is this something Brother Cheng would say? It seems that you're in a much better mood after having a heart - to - heart talk with uncle and aunt."
Yuchi Cheng said, "It's only today that I realized how happy I am." The darkness he had endured since his youth was finally slowly fading away. The sunlight in his heart had returned, and he had become much warmer.
We mounted our white horses and headed for the Chimo military camp. The camp was outside the city. When we were about to leave the city gate, we were stopped by the local thousand - household official. The official said, "Your Highness the Crown Prince, I've been ordered to wait for you here."
Yuchi Cheng laughed. "Ordered? By whom?"
The thousand - household official lied through his teeth. "Naturally, by the King of Beihan. The Chimo tiger tally is missing. I suspect it has been stolen. So I've set up roadblocks to search everyone leaving the city one by one."
Yuchi Cheng said, "What a coincidence. I've also been ordered by the King of Beihan to investigate the disappearance of the tiger tally. You, sir, were in charge of keeping the tiger tally but unfortunately lost it. According to the law, you should be executed. I have the king's token here, which allows me to execute first and report later. Since you've come to me, I won't be polite."
The thousand - household official was greatly shocked when he heard this. He said to his subordinates, "Nonsense! When did I ever lose the tiger tally? I'm talking about the one the clan chief has. Hurry up and arrest him!"
Several city - guarding soldiers were about to rush forward when Yuchi Cheng whistled. The guards hidden nearby appeared, and the two sides immediately started fighting. Seeing this, Yuchi Cheng jumped off his horse and went to capture the thousand - household official. The official saw that the situation was not good and quickly fled, but Yuchi Cheng threw a sword at him and stabbed him to death. The official seemed not to have expected to die so quickly. Before he could say any harsh words, Yuchi Cheng leaped over, pulled out the sword, and he completely lost his breath.
Yuchi Cheng took out the token again and said coldly, "Stop! The thousand - household official has been executed. If you don't want to lose your lives in vain, surrender quickly."
For a moment, everyone stopped fighting. The city - guarding soldiers put down their weapons one by one and didn't resist. Yuchi Cheng returned to my side, mounted his horse, and then took me out of the city. A cloud of yellow sand rose on the land outside the city as we headed towards the military camp.
Deploying troops was a piece of cake for Yuchi Cheng.
With the Chimo garrison, it was no problem to capture Qatal. Qatal shouted that Yuchi Cheng was unfilial and unworthy of being the eldest prince. I squeezed Yuchi Cheng's hand and said, "The eldest prince treated your mother like that. He probably didn't even know you existed. The people he left behind never really treated you sincerely. You don't know what kind of person he was. You don't have to care."
Yuchi Cheng smiled at me and said, "If I hadn't met you, I'm afraid I would have become someone unrecognizable."
I also smiled. "No. Even if you hadn't met me, you would still have seen things clearly."
...
Ao Qing was brought out during the clearance of the rebel army. When she saw me and Yuchi Cheng, she shouted that she was wronged. Yuchi Cheng had put up with her for a long time and didn't respond. I just pretended not to see her.
During the interrogation of Qatal, he was stubborn and didn't admit anything. He just kept scolding. Later, when Yuchi Cheng interrogated him in person, he just mentioned Ao Qing casually, and Qatal broke down and confessed everything.
Yuchi Cheng convicted them according to the law. Finally, he beheaded Qatal and several other leaders, completely cleared the remaining forces of the eldest prince. The flower - clothed man had his martial arts abolished and was imprisoned for life with Yue Ze. Qatal's family, including Ao Qing, were all branded and exiled.
The Chimo rebellion was thus quelled.
Gongzi An disappeared quietly after handing over the flower - clothed man and Yue Ze.
After the Chimo hunting ended and the tax supplies from Chimo were checked, my uncle and aunt took me and Yuchi Cheng back. The rebel army was sent to the extremely cold area for hard labor. Yuchi Cheng selected a group of Chimo garrison soldiers to form a bodyguard team before returning the tiger tally to my uncle. At this time, it was the bodyguard team composed of Chimo garrison soldiers that escorted us back.
My uncle sat in the carriage and asked, "Do you have a candidate for the new thousand - household official in Chimo?"
Yuchi Cheng, riding his horse outside, said, "Let's transfer someone from Beihan. There are a few candidates, but we still need to investigate and consider carefully."
My uncle said, "Good. I'll leave this matter to you. You can keep this half of the tiger tally for now."
Yuchi Cheng took it handsomely, nodded, and said, "Don't worry, Father."
My uncle had already returned the other half of the tiger tally to the clan chief when he left Chimo. The clan chief had been tortured by Qatal and had some wounds on his body, but he never revealed the location of the tiger tally. When my uncle left, the look in his eyes when he last looked at the clan chief contained many emotions. They looked at each other. They seemed like old friends but there was also a rift between them. But I still saw the pure heart in the clan chief's eyes. The past between him and my uncle must be another story.
Back at the Beihan Palace, Yuchi Cheng went to investigate the deeds of his biological father back then. I found Gongzi An and thanked him seriously. Gongzi An smiled and said, "Don't thank me. I was just following orders. You should thank Prince Xu."
Just as he finished speaking, Yuchi Xu rolled out in his mechanical chair by himself.
I looked at Yuchi Xu, whose face was a bit pale but still handsome. I stepped forward and bowed. "Thank you, Brother Xu."
Yuchi Xu slightly curled his lips. The coldness in his eyes was finally replaced by peace. He said softly, "Xihe, you don't have to be so polite. Since you call me brother, I will naturally protect you. All this time, you've only been listening to Lu An's stories. Are you interested in listening to one from me today?"