Quan Ning looked up at the person sitting opposite him.
Indeed, the other person was extremely handsome and very dignified. His beautiful phoenix eyes were slightly raised with a sharp arc, his demeanor was extraordinary, and his aura was overwhelming, as if he were born to be a ruler.
Usually, he didn’t like dealing with such people. It made him feel very insecure, and he couldn’t even muster the desire to conquer them, after all, they didn’t look like they could be subdued by anyone.
If the other person were even crazier, it would make people want to keep their distance even more.
He looked at the other person with mixed feelings as he took out a golden buyao and a crumpled veil from his sleeve, solemnly placing them in a bundle. He couldn’t help but ask, “Do you have a mistress?”
(TL: “步摇” (bù yáo) refers to a type of traditional Chinese hair ornament worn by women. It typically consists of a decorative piece, often made of gold or silver and adorned with pearls, jade, or other precious materials. The ornament is designed to sway or “shake” with the wearer’s movements, hence the name “步摇,” which literally means “step shake.” This graceful movement adds an elegant and rhythmic quality to the wearer’s appearance.)
Otherwise, where would these women’s items come from?
“Liang Ye gave them to me,” Wang Dian said calmly as he tied up the bundle and lazily leaned back against the carriage, his brows and eyes exuding joy.
Quan Ning stared at him for a long while with a pained expression, once again affirming his preference for normal people. It was best not to provoke such a madman who could even get involved with his own brother.
“Did the Emperor Liang let you leave?” Quan Ning asked uncertainly.
“Of course not,” Wang Dian said with a smile. “I ran away on my own.”
“…” Quan Ning fell silent for a moment, then lifted the carriage curtain, about to jump out.
“If you jump out, you’ll lose the rest of the silver,” Wang Dian said unhurriedly.
Quan Ning gripped the door frame and took a deep breath of Northern Liang’s cold air, then flung the curtain back and sat down again. With only half his face visible, he couldn’t bring himself to smile and said gloomily, “I only agreed to do business with you. I didn’t intend to risk my life.”
Wang Dian said curiously, “Aren’t all you jianghu people supposed to put righteousness first? We’ve been through life and death together, after all.”
Quan Ning folded his arms. “No, I just want to make money.”
“What a coincidence,” Wang Dian said happily. “I like making money too.”
“If the Tower Master knew I was taking private jobs, he definitely wouldn’t spare me,” Quan Ning said numbly.
“This isn’t taking a private job. This is called going out on your own to start a new business,” Wang Dian said with a smile. “The Nine Star Pavilion is already halfway prepared, Pavillion Master Quan.”
Quan Ning raised an eyebrow, having to admit that Wang Dian was indeed skilled. In their few brief encounters before, the other party had not only silently obtained what he wanted from the palace but had also persuaded him to jointly open the Nine Star Pavilion. The only downside was that he always had the feeling of working and running errands for him.
“How did you manage to leave the imperial palace so smoothly?” Quan Ning really couldn’t suppress his curiosity. That madman Emperor Liang had an almost perverted desire for control, and the entire imperial palace was like a vast net. Even he couldn’t be sure of escaping.
Yet Wang Dian had not only gotten out but even had the leisure to eat breakfast.
“I was an emperor for a few months in a daze,” Wang Dian said modestly. “How could there be free labor in this world?”
Although Liang Ye’s people were watching, as long as he wanted, he could still cultivate some power. Though not very useful, it was more than convenient for deceiving others. After all, even the fiercest tiger wouldn’t bother to watch how many crumbs of pastry the ants under its eyelids had moved.
He wasn’t just good at reviewing memorials.
Quan Ning cupped his hands towards him, “I admire you.”
Wang Dian smiled and humbly said, “Of course, I only dared to take such a risk because I had Pavilion Master Quan to back me up.”
“No need for pleasantries. As long as you give enough silver, everything is negotiable,” Quan Ning raised his hand, showing five fingers. “Our Feixian Tower usually charges this much to protect someone. Given your special circumstances, it should be five times that. But since we’ve been through life and death together, I’ll give you a discount – three times.”
Wang Dian’s eyebrows twitched slightly, and he said, “I’ll give you ten times.”
Quan Ning was stunned, looking at him as if he were looking at a big spender.
“In case the gu worm acts up, you can help me suppress it a bit,” Wang Dian said calmly as if talking about a trivial matter.
Quan Ning frowned, pondering for a while before saying seriously, “It’s possible, but if Liang Ye really wants to take your life with the gu worms, I won’t be able to stop him. The best solution is either for him to undo it himself, or for you to make him eat that pill, but you’re not willing to do that.”
Wang Dian sighed, “He won’t take my life.”
Quan Ning was puzzled. “You’re so sure?”
“Hmm.” Wang Dian stroked the blue gu worm on the back of his hand, which had been restless for half a day. “But I guess he won’t be able to stand it for a day before he tries to force me back with the gu worm.”
“What game are you two playing?” Quan Ning clicked his tongue. “He won’t kill you, he treats you well, and you like him so much. Why do you still want to run away?”
Wang Dian lowered his eyes and chuckled softly, “There are some things that can’t be compromised no matter how much you like them. Staying any longer wouldn’t be good for either of us. There’s no need.”
He didn’t like to drag things out when it came to feelings. The plan was to leave cleanly. In one’s lifetime, who knows how many people one will meet? Even if Liang Ye was special to him, with time, he would get over it. The same applied to Liang Ye. Two people who were too similar and equally extreme would only hurt each other if they stayed together, ending up in a mess that would be too ugly to see.
The only unexpected thing was that he had accidentally slept with the man.
Wang Dian’s eyes were half-closed, as if he could still smell Liang Ye’s scent, the burning skin when they touched, and the taut neckline during their intense entanglement… He took a deep breath, opened his eyes, and rubbed his fingertips for a while. He still reached out to stuff the red veil back into his sleeve. As he gathered his sleeves, he used the wide sleeve as a cover to tightly wind the thin red veil around his fingers until he felt pain. Only then did he pull the corner of his mouth into a pleasured smile.
But quickly, he cruelly forced himself to let go, suppressing the sudden surge of madness and impulse.
He was unwilling to delve into the reasons behind it. Thinking too deeply would only make it harder to leave.
However… Liang Ye must be furious by now.
Liang Ye was indeed furious. He stared at the kneeling shadow guard, coldly curling his lips into a smile, and said, “Zhen left for just a moment, and a perfectly fine person has disappeared. What are your eyes for? Do you want Zhen to dig them out for you? Hmm?”
“Master,” Chong Heng raised his head to persuade, but was met with Liang Ye’s almost terrifying gaze. He broke out in a cold sweat, but still said bravely, “Wang Dian must have left the capital through the secret passage under the Wang mansion. Even if he’s riding a fast horse, he couldn’t have gone far. We can still catch up to him.”
Liang Ye laughed in extreme anger, “Wang Dian is cunning and resourceful. How can you be so sure he has run away?”
Chong Heng was suddenly at a loss for words. With Wang Dian’s mind, he really couldn’t be certain whether the other was still hiding in the capital waiting to lure the tiger away from the mountain, or if he had guessed they would think this way and simply ran. But the exit of the secret passage was in the outskirts at a mass grave, where the master would burn every year. The bare mountain was now accessible from all directions, so it was really impossible to determine which way he had gone.
“Seal off the capital and the palace. No one is allowed in or out,” Liang Ye said coldly. “If Cui Qi and Liang Huan are found, kill them without mercy.”
To think they could use Cui Qi and Liang Huan to restrain him was nothing but a fool’s dream.
Chong Heng was startled, “Master?”
Liang Ye’s head was splitting with pain. He stared fiercely into empty space for a while, then said, “Prepare the horses!”
He had a strong feeling that Wang Dian had already left the capital, and if he was really running, he would definitely head towards Hexi Prefecture.
“Hexi Prefecture?” Quan Ning glanced at the darkening sky outside, then turned back to look at the map on the table. “You want to go to Southern Zhao?”
Wang Dian pointed at the Yunshui area between Southern Zhao and Northern Liang on the map. “Cui Qi and Liang Huan may not be able to distract Liang Ye. If I were him, I would certainly guess that I would head towards Hexi Prefecture, and then chase after me on horseback.”
Quan Ning’s face, half covered by a golden mask, reflected a piercing light in the candlelight. A glimmer of interest flashed in his eyes, “Then why are you still running towards Hexi?”
“We must go through Hexi,” Wang Dian’s finger traced from the capital northward. “The northwest is Loufan territory. Not only is the language barrier a problem, but it’s also bitterly cold. Towards Eastern Chen, Liang Ye is still holding the princess of Eastern Chen hostage. With my face, if I get caught, it would be like voluntarily delivering myself to Shen Yao.”
Quan Ning nodded, looking at his face that was identical to Liang Ye’s.
“Moreover, my fleet is also in Hexi,” Wang Dian drew a straight line from the capital, landing on the location of Guangyuan County in Hexi Prefecture. “It’s the shortest distance, and the road is the easiest to travel. From here, we can take the waterway, cross Yunshui, and directly enter the central state of Southern Zhao. Of course, this is the best-case scenario.”
“And the worst-case scenario?” Quan Ning asked.
“If Liang Ye catches up, we’ll have to go east to circumvent him,” Wang Dian stared at the map. “He doesn’t have that much time to waste with me. If he can’t catch up within ten days, he must return to the capital. Then it would truly be… a case of ‘the mountains are high and the emperor is far away’.”
“Why ten days?” Quan Ning found this person’s words puzzling.
“At Cui Yuxian’s birthday banquet last time, my people accidentally overheard some news… Anyway, I estimate that Loufan and Eastern Chen will start a war in these few days.” Wang Dian pointed to the intersection of Loufan, Eastern Chen, and Northern Liang in the northeast. “Shen Yao is old and cunning, he will definitely try to drag Northern Liang into the water. After Cui Jin’s death, the Northern Army is a mess, Wei Wanlin is at his wit’s end. They absolutely can’t fight now. Liang Ye is holding onto Shen Yueli to negotiate with Shen Yao. It just depends on whether they can reach an agreement or not, but without a doubt, Liang Ye must stabilize the situation in the capital.”
Quan Ning suddenly understood, “So that’s why you chose to run these few days, not earlier or later. But wouldn’t it be better if you ran a few days later?”
“I wanted to delay until just before Loufan and Eastern Chen started the war… but there was a small accident.” Wang Dian subconsciously wanted to touch the red veil in his sleeve, but he forcibly stopped himself. His fingertip pressing on the map turned slightly white.
He even thought leaving on the night before the grand wedding would make Liang Ye remember him for a lifetime.
Wang Dian paused for a good while before saying, “So we don’t need to confront Liang Ye head-on at all. As long as we drag through these few days, he’ll have to go back on his own.”
Liang Ye knew he would go through Hexi, and he also knew Liang Ye would chase after him. It all depended on when the war would start, and whose luck was better.
As for Cui Qi and Liang Huan, he never intended to take them away from the beginning. They were just used to delay time. With this father and son in the capital, Liang Ye would definitely deploy more men to seal off the palace and the capital. When Liang Ye made his judgment, he would psychologically tend to think that he might still be in the capital. This would delay his departure by a day or half, naturally reducing the number of people coming out to chase him. Why not take advantage of that?
What ultimately bound Liang Ye was his empire. Wang Dian was certain of this point – between the country and him, Liang Ye would definitely choose the former.
He wanted Liang Ye to watch with his own eyes as he crossed Yunshui.
“…You’d better not be caught by him in this lifetime,” Quan Ning paused. “If I were the emperor, and the person by my pillow so blatantly provoked and schemed against me, I’d want to flay his heart out.”
Wang Dian gently pulled at the corner of his mouth.
