Chapter 155
Book 14 Chapter 09 – Blessing In Disguise
When Xiang Shaolong and Guan Zhongxie arrived at Lu Buwei’s tent, he was seated outside the tent and enjoying the singing of two stunning courtesans. With him are Mo Ao, Lu Chan and ten over escorts. Zhou Zihen and Lu Niang Rong are not around.
Lu Buwei pretended to be happy to see him and instructed Xiang Shaolong to sit beside him. For the first time, he introduced Mo Ao and Lu Chan to him.
As Xiang Shaolong exchanged some meaningless conversation with Mo Ao and Lu Chan, Lu Buwei dismissed the courtesans and leaned towards him, revealing: "Tian Dan is leaving tonight. What does Shaolong plan to do? If you want to go after him, I will fully support you. He actually tried to harm me by trying to a.s.sa.s.sinate you. I will not protect him anymore."
Everyone stared at Xiang Shaolong, waiting for his reaction. Xiang Shaolong felt like he is an animal being surrounded by tigers and wolves.
They must be laughing inside that he is still ignorant about being poisoned by them.
Thoughts raced through his mind at the speed of light. If he decides to give up his decision to pursue Tian Dan, Mo Ao may be suspicious and deduced that he has a secret plan. But it would be ridiculous for him to chase after Tian Dan now. He was in a dilemma.
Recalling his determination to ‘achieve his goals at all costs’, he acted awkward and divulged: "Actually, I wanted to kill Tian Dan because he killed a female friend that I got to know in Handan City. It turned out to be a misunderstanding as I received a letter from her yesterday. I am not really out to kill him but just wanted to scare him. This fellow has always been trying to kill me and it is lucky that he has failed in all his attempts."
It is a complete lie to prevent Lu Buwei from forcing him to pursue Tian Dan and also give him an excuse not to pursue him himself. Fortunately, Tian Dan has left and there is no one to validate his words.
Lu Buwei, Mo Ao, Guan Zhongxie and Lu Chan all have a strange expression on their faces after hearing his words. After they exchanged glances, Guan Zhongxie began: "Why did Official Xiang think that the lady has been killed?"
From his words, Xiang Shaolong deduced that Tian Dan did not tell them the full details. He was secretly delighted and told them about the weak-looking eyes in the painting compared to Shan Rou’s usual energetic eyes. He bitterly laughed: "I may have been too rash and concluded too early that she was killed without further thinking. When I received her letter yesterday, I realised that it was a complete misunderstanding. She did try to a.s.sa.s.sinate Tian Dan but managed to escape with her life. Naturally, I will not tell these things to Tian Dan!"
Lu Buwei shook his head and sighed: "We already know it is a misunderstanding. In actual fact, Tian Dan was puzzled that you concluded that she was dead based on the painting. He saw that you were furious and did not clarify things with you."
Mo Ao cut in: "The painting is drawn by one of Tian Dan’s artist from his memory. It is not unusual to draw the eyes incorrectly due to the short interaction." Now, it is Xiang Shaolong who trembled strongly and he exclaimed: "What?!"
As everyone is staring at him with astonishment, he tried to cover up and asked: "Since Premier Lu knows about this, why didn’t you tell me earlier?" He tried to suppress his emotions so that his joy will not show up on his face.
Heavens!
So Shan Rou is really not dead. It is really a misunderstanding.
Lu Buwei leisurely replied: "I thought Tian Dan is spouting nonsense and is trying to use me to scare you so I did not bring it up. Now, we have proven that he has been lying all along."
Xiang Shaolong acknowledged that it made sense. But under those circ.u.mstances, there is no need for Tian Dan to lie to Lu Buwei. Moreover, it is not Tian Dan’s style to showcase his weaknesses. Thus, there is a high probability that Shan Rou is indeed alive.
Lu Buwei saw that he cannot persuade Xiang Shaolong to pursue Tian Dan and disappointment is written all over his face. He stood up and asked: "Shaolong! Will you visit Niang Rong in her tent? You may be able to persuade her to change her mind."
Xiang Shaolong is not in the mood to see Lu Niang Rong at all. He stood up together with Mo Ao and the rest and replied: "There is an early morning hunt tomorrow. Let Third Mistress have a good rest! I will see her again when she is feeling better tomorrow."
It may be due to his failure to cajole him that Lu Buwei is in a terrible mood. He did not hold him back and allowed him to leave.
Xiang Shaolong returned to the Cavalry Camp near the Royal tents and saw Teng Yi, Jing Jun and Liu Chao in the middle of a secret discussion.
He pulled Teng Yi to one side first and told him about Shan Rou’s likelihood of being alive.
Teng Yi was mad with joy. He then frowned: "Then are we still going after Tian Dan?"
Xiang Shaolong resolutely decided: "We must kill him to avenge the injustice done to the Shan Family. Moreover, Tian Dan has tried to kill me several times and is in cahoots with Lu Buwei. It is time to eliminate this threat once and for all! This present opportunity is once in a lifetime chance to kill him. If we missed it, it will be gone for good. No matter what, we must never allow him to return to Qi alive."
He added with a smile: "Moreover, I made a vow that day to change my name to Long Shao Xiang if I did not kill him. It is such an ugly sounding name!"
Teng Yi broke out into a smile and waved Jing Jun and Liu Chao to join them. He instructed Liu Chao: "Go ahead and explain your findings."
Liu Chao reported: "We have discovered Lord Gaoling’s men building rafts secretly at the river upstream and are collecting large quant.i.ties of firewood and dried gra.s.s. I am sure that they are preparing to burn the bridges."
Jing Jun added: "If they build shelves on the rafts and spray the entire raft with oil, it is tantamount to a live volcano speeding down the river towards us. Its destructive impact will be tremendous. Shall we attack them first to prevent this from happening?"
Xiang Shaolong explained: "This time round, we need to put up a show to allow the Crown Prince to show off his G.o.dly ability in leading an army to