The Beacon of Kyushu

The next day, Wansui Mountain.

Today's weather is far from as good as yesterday's. The red sun is hidden behind dark clouds, and it is cloudy when it is about to be sunny, and it is not raining when it is about to rain. In such weather, even the wind in the wilderness is seven parts unruly and three parts lonely, blowing aimlessly over the grass and trees on the mountain, rushing to the northwest.

Chai Yuxi and Zhao Rong had already arrived at the top of the mountain with their imperial guards, but they seemed to have forgotten the agreement they had made yesterday and only searched for the golden mace on the top of the mountain, not wanting to miss even a stone or a weed. After the army had been busy for a while, Zhao Tingmei and Lu Duan, surrounded by the yamen runners, finally arrived at the top of Wansui Mountain.

"Mr. Chai, I'm here! You're so brave that you dare to challenge me. I want to see if you dare to touch a hair of mine!" Zhao Tingmei was fat and walked to the top of the mountain in one breath. He was so tired that he was already panting. In his current state, Chai and Zhao didn't need to hit him. As long as one of them stretched out a little finger and lightly tapped his chest, he would roll down the mountain.

But when Chai Yuxi heard Zhao Tingmei's voice, he did not rush to take action. Instead, he said in astonishment: "Your Majesty, why did you bring so many people to Wansui Mountain so early in the morning? I was indeed rude yesterday, but you and I are both working for the emperor and the Song Dynasty. I hope Your Majesty will forgive me for my inappropriate behavior."

Zhao Tingmei didn't expect Chai Yuxi to say that. He turned his head to look at Zhao Rong and said, "Mr. Zhao, I think Mr. Chai still seems to be in the dark. I guess you issued the declaration of war behind his back yesterday, right?"

Zhao Rong heard Zhao Tingmei questioning him, and hurriedly stopped, looking at Zhao Tingmei in confusion, "Prince...Prince, what declaration of war are you talking about? I did tell you about some of my actions yesterday, but you are a prince of a country and the prefect of Kaifeng. Even if we have a thousand heads or ten thousand heads, we dare not issue a declaration of war to you. If you don't believe me, take out the declaration of war and we will go to the emperor to sue him!"

Seeing that the two men spoke sincerely and did not seem to be lying at all, Zhao Tingmei could only ask in a deep voice: "Yi Zhi, what did you say to me yesterday? Could it be that the two masters had offended you in the past, and you deliberately made up a lie to avenge your personal grudge?"

Lu Duan quickly shook his head, pointed at the two men and said loudly: "My two lords, you clearly said yesterday that you would invite us to the Wansui Mountain to compete in Kaifeng Prefecture, and the loser would not have to investigate the golden mace case. How can you turn your face and deny it today?"

Chai Yuxi said nonchalantly: "Lü Duan, you are the one who instigated all this. Why should we admit it? We are not crazy or stupid. We actually provoked a dignified prince and issued a declaration of war. How could you think of that!"

Zhao Rong put his right hand on his waist and pointed at Lu Duan with his left hand, saying disdainfully: "Fatty Lu, I tell you, even if you don't like us and want to sow discord so that your prince can deal with us, please find a smarter excuse next time. Don't you think about it, except for a madman, who would be so absurd as to compete with the prince, ugh!"

Zhao Tingmei glared at Lu Duan and pressed him, "Yi Zhi, I have never treated you unfairly in my life, why are you using me as a pawn? What is the crime of inciting discord between the prince and the ministers in the court? As the judge of Kaifeng Prefecture, you must know better than anyone else!"

Lu Duan has always been optimistic and open-minded. No matter where he goes, his face is always filled with smiles. Only at this moment, he is full of grievances and has nowhere to vent his bitterness. He really wants to pull out the sword from Chai Yuxi's waist and kill himself. But he knows that he can't die, at least not now. If he dies, this matter will be completely unclear. His reputation is small, but the other party's design to frame the prince is big. If he dies, only the simple-minded Zhao Tingmei will be left. How can she deal with the scheming Zhao Guangyi? How can she survive in Tokyo, which seems to be harmonious but is actually undercurrents.

Zhao Tingmei became even more angry when he saw that Lu Duan didn't say anything. "Yi Zhi, if Chai and Zhao really did something wrong to you, just tell me in front of me and I will take care of it for you! But if you insist on not telling me, I will have no choice but to hand you over to the emperor and let him deal with you." Lu Duan shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, I have no personal grudge against you two adults. Even if you two adults spoke rudely the other day, they never insulted me in the slightest. Why should I talk nonsense?"

"Well, since you are so stubborn, I won't ask you any more questions." Zhao Tingmei looked at the servants around him with hatred and said, "You followed Yi Zhi to Chai Yuxi to ask for the seal yesterday. Did you hear Chai and Zhao mention the declaration of war?"

The yamen runners looked at each other, hesitating for a long time before saying, "Your Majesty, we did go to Lord Chai's residence with Lord Lu yesterday, but we never heard Lord Chai mention any declaration of war. As for why Lord Lu fabricated this, we really don't know."

Upon hearing this, the imperial guards behind Chai Yuxi also said, "That's right. When Lord Lu came yesterday, we were guarding Lord Chai. We really didn't hear about the battle."

Zhao Tingmei pointed at Lu Duan, clenched his teeth, and was so angry that he couldn't say a word for a long time. Chai Yuxi was surprised and said, "Your Highness, yesterday Lord Lu said that the seal of Kaifeng Prefecture was stolen, and I thought he was talking nonsense. But your Highness looks like this now, is this true?"

"What else? This is a serious matter. How can I joke?" Zhao Tingmei was confused by the letter of challenge. After hearing Chai Yuxi's words, he finally reacted. "Mr. Chai, whether there is a challenge or not, I will put it aside for now. Let's talk about the theft of the seal of Kaifeng Prefecture first. When are you going to return the seal to me?"

Chai Yuxi was startled and said, "Your Majesty, you are being too weird today."

Zhao Tingmei asked in confusion, "Is this king confused?"

Chai Yuxi nodded and said, "Yes, what did the prince say just now? We have issued a declaration of war to the prince and agreed to have a duel at Wansui Mountain today. This is already ridiculous. Now you are saying that we stole the seal of Kaifeng Prefecture, which is even more ridiculous. Your Majesty, we did speak inappropriately the other day and offended you. But as a prince, you are using such means to deal with us, which is not in line with your status!"

Zhao Tingmei sneered and pointed at Zhao Rong, saying, "Mr. Zhao, the day before yesterday you said that I would lose the prefectural seal, and yesterday the seal really disappeared. If you hadn't stolen it, who else would have done such a despicable thing!"

Zhao Rong said confidently, "Your Highness, you are too unreasonable! Ask the parents in the world, which one has never told their children that they would feed them to wolves when they were teaching them? Are the children eaten by wolves really taken by their parents to be eaten by wolves? By the same token, I said the other day that Your Highness had lost the seal, so does it mean that the seal was stolen because of me? How can such a thing be justified in the world!"

Zhao Tingmei's eyes widened as he stared at Zhao Rong angrily, "Zhao Rong, your analogy is too inappropriate! Even a tiger won't eat its own cubs. Even if parents hate their children, how can they bear to feed their children to wolves? But you and I are not father and son, so how can you bear to steal the seal so that you can watch me being punished by the government and avenge your scolding by me. If I believe your lies, wouldn't I be like a three-year-old child?" (End of this chapter)