Masquerade in Bridal Attire and Marry the Prince

58. Hard Evidence

Translator: Antonia

Shan Zhongli had never seen such an eloquent but bitter-tongued person. After Du Chuxuan finished, he only wished to come up and tear him into pieces. However, in the very end, he could make no complete sentence to defend himself. He was beaten so utterly that once his lost the game, even if he borrowed a hundred tongues, he could never bring himself to argue against Du Chuxuan. At once, he felt very much dejected.

“Hahahah, I only knew the reason why His Highness is so respected is because the imperial family of our Shenglan treat the officials with courtesy all the time. Now, I’m confused. Since when can a woman chatter in the barracks?” The Mister, kneeling next to Shan Zhongli, said contemptuously.

Du Chuxuan wasn’t affected by his words. He took an amused glance at the man, “The son of Duke Ningyuan, given his rank, won’t face severe punishment even if he has committed so much sin. He has His Highness’s benevolence. But you—” Here he deliberately prolonged the sound.

“I guess it’s you who gave him the solution. I’m wondering where did you get the lame solution for him to fight against the formation?”

The solution had finally been obtained by Du Chuxuan, who, having worked out the true solution with his own wit, could certainly discern at one glance that something was wrong with the other semi-finished one.

The semi-finished one could only detect the flaws of the formation based on a thorough knowledge of it. And this solution exactly pointed the flaws in the previous version of the formation so that the Turks had improved the formation by eliminating the flaws. It was also on this account that at the first, the battle had seemed to tilt toward them but later struck a stalemate.

The Mister hadn’t expected Du Chuxuan to dwell on this point and became restless at once. After all, he, as an advisor with private means though, shouldn’t publicly resort to unpresentable sources. If the fact that he had arranged spies among the Turks was known to others and used as a proof against him, he would by no means get cleared of the charge of treason!

“Your Highness is really an excellent orator. I’m an advisor and it’s my duty to serve Lord Shan with my brains. Shame that I didn’t have the wit to work out the complete solution. It’s indeed my fault in this regard.” Finishing this, he lowered his head, shamefaced.

Yuxing Tiarnui frowned, and reached out his arm to stop Du Chuxuan. It wasn’t different to tell this Mister wasn’t a kind person. He worried Du Chuxuan might run into a filthy pit if he confronted this man head-on.

“I happen to have a copy of your version.” Yuxing Tianrui did it straightforwardly, giving Ada a look. Ada quickly presented another scroll on the desk before everyone.

“As soon as His Highness learned that there were Turkic spies in our barracks, he has had a batch of trustworthy people arranged in the Turks’ barracks. His Highness allows me to reveal this fact to you today because all of you here are important mainstays of our country. I believe you understand what confidentiality is.”

Ada gave a warning glance at the senior generals before returning to his position to stand still. Du Chuxuan lowered his head and took a glimpse at Yuxing Tianrui. The stern face of his made him inclined to laugh. He supposed that he was the only one in the world who had ever seen the Crown Prince with a flushing shy face. The thought gave Du Chuxuan a sense of sweetness.

“Your Highness, this—” One of the generals immediately saw the defects. Previously, he had sat on the fence and, when learning the news of Yuxing Tianrui’s disappearance and getting the instruction from his family, begun to support Shan Zhongli at once.

He had never expected such an outcome. If Shan Zhongli’s followers were proven to be connected with the Turks on a private term, none of Shan Zhongli’s supports could rid of the accusation.

Yuxing Tianrui slowly rose to his feet from the seat and walked over, “I got this from the Turks, which is exactly the same as what you saw before. I’m just curious that even if a formation only has one single solution, different person should have his own particular version, so—”

The rest was needless to spell out because everyone could fill in the blank on their own. How could this advisor think exactly in the same way with the Turks? The only possible explanation was that he was connected with the Turks! The only difference was this connection was friendly to themselves or the enemies!

“Your Highness is really wronging me!” The Mister understood now there was no way to defend himself. However, he knew more than well that once this accusation was confirmed, Shan Zhongli wouldn’t fail to discard this chess piece to protect himself. “I really didn’t know their way of solution, but there are still many other versions I’ve worked out in my room.”

“Are you referring to these?” Du Chuxuan motioned to Ada, who took out a pile of waste paper. “These were found in your tent. I’ve checked them, but these are merely primitive ideas. To reach this final version, there should be a great deal to be solved in between.”

On Du Chuxuan’s words, everyone here with a little brain gave a knowing gasp of shock.

They could reasonably criticize her if Her Highness wasn’t a woman, but could never again talk ill of her if the right solution was figured out by her, which was a humiliation on all the men here.

Yuxing Tianrui, with his smiling eyes, paced to Du Chuxuan and took his hand, “This time, Yue has worked very hard to solve the formation. After we return to the capital, I’ll ask for the credit you deserve from father.”

Since His Highness had said so, the rest of the others had no reason not to believe it. All stood up to chant praises to Her Highness’s wisdom and congratulations to His Highness for having such a resourceful Crown Princess for their country.

Shan Zhongli stood far, with a flash of gloom in his eyes, but didn’t care. He was smug to himself at the thought of his plan. Let just Yuxing Tianrui be happy for another while. He would like to see whether the Prince would be able to laugh after he was out of the current dilemma.

Hence, Shan Zhongli was unwillingly grounded on the order of Yuxing Tianrui. But no matter what, he was still the son of a Duke, so except the deprivation of his freedom to hang around, he was provided with good food and service and for a time, became the most leisurely person second to Du Chuxuan.

For the next three days in a row, Shenglan Army and the Turks only had minor frictions, but they were under control. Supposedly, there had been enough time for the news to reach that cryptic master cultivator that Shan Zhongli was imprisoned.

“Will this work?” Yuxing Tianrui gazed at the bottles and cans in Du Chuxuan’s hands and doubted.