Translated by Mianbao
Edited by RED
After feeding her close to half the bowl of jujube congee, Zhu Minglang thought of a certain matter, and he thought it was better to tell Li Yunzi about it.
“I met your younger sister at the Academy,” Zhu Minglang said.
“Who?” Li Yunzi asked.
“Do you have many younger sisters?” Zhu Minglang asked back, puzzled.
“What did she talk to you about?” Li Yunzi asked.
“I met her the first time at the head of the bridge. She was buying peaches beside me, and I thought she was you, and so I talked to her. She didn’t say much, though. Afterwards, I met her at the library. She pretended to be you, and I fell for her disguise.” Zhu Minglang related the incident to Li Yunzi.
After that incident, Zhu Minglang did some asking around. Everyone in the Dragon Tamers Academy knew Nan Lingsha, but not many people have actually seen her before, just that the people said she was a great beauty.
As for the smithy and the market nearby, not many people there knew about Nan Lingsha, and no one had seen her appearance before. The exception, however, was when Zhu Minglang was testing Nan Ye. He seemed to understand the situation.
Naturally, Nan Ye was a descendent of the Nan Family, and his status shouldn’t be low. It appeared he was the only one to know Li Yunzi and Nan Lingsha’s relationship.
“You’ve seen them all,” Li Yunzi seemed to have understood something and nodded. After a short while, she continued, “They probably didn’t take part…”
After saying this, Li Yunzi seemed to be a little confused, hints of melancholy showing between her eyebrows.
-Take part?-
Zhu Minglang didn’t understand what Li Yunzi meant by that.
“You suspect your sister and the Nan Family were also involved in setting you up?” Zhu Minglang asked, surprised.
“I have many enemies,” Li Yunzi replied.
Even now, Zhu Minglang didn’t have a good understanding of the situation in Li Yunzi’s clan. Naturally he wasn’t able to help her analyze the situation. That foxy woman who addressed Li Yunzi as sister back in the dungeon, however…
She was apparently killed by Luo Xiao. So, what was her identity? Zhu Minglang could tell she used to be one of the people close to Li Yunzi, and was most likely only executing the plan. Who was the one behind everything?
She had many enemies; did that mean many people had taken part in her being overthrown in Wutu? Close family, old enemies, or distant enemies?
Thinking about it carefully, Li Yunzi originally had many subordinates, and her own military guards, not to mention her godly strength. How could an ordinary woman turn her into a captive? This matter was much more complicated than what he had seen so far…
“What can I help you with?” Zhu Minglang asked.
“Protect yourself,” Li Yunzi said.
Zhu Minglang scratched his head awkwardly.
“Some of my enemies are still hidden in the dark. They’ll probably make a big deal out of you, and you’ll need to be even more careful going forward,” Li Yunzi told him seriously.
Zhu Minglang nodded.
Luo Xiao had obviously realized the identity of the man who slept with Li Yunzi in the dungeon. Luo Xiao was already a huge threat to Zhu Minglang. Those who didn’t want to see Li Yunzi make a comeback would spare no effort in making use of this matter for their cause!
Li Yunzi’s circumstances in her clan should have improved. On his side, however, he had probably become her weakness.
At this moment, Zhu Minglang recalled what Nan Lingsha said to him.
With regard to Li Yunzi, the best way of healing that wound was his transformation!
“You don’t need to worry about me; I’ll take care of myself. You, on the other hand, it’s better if you don’t do this kind of self-harm. It’s very dangerous if you don’t have someone as upright as me to take care of you after you faint,” Zhu Minglang reminded her about this point.
Li Yunzi chewed on the jujube in the congee carefully, her beautiful eyes looking elsewhere, probably because she felt a little bit of hypocrisy in his words.
At that moment, the sound of footsteps was heard from the courtyard.
It was Zheng Yu. In fact, he had come earlier. Believing the two needed some time alone, Zheng Yu purposely took a stroll around the streets and consoled the Glory Valley City citizens.
“Crown princess. Brother Zhu.” Zheng Yu maintained the etiquette expected of a scholar strictly every time.
“What’s the matter, Brother Zheng?” Zhu Minglang’s greeting in return was much more casual. In any case, he never considered himself an intellectual.
“The supplies the crown princess brought this time are abundant. Even though we haven’t finished distributing them to the people, according to my calculations, it’s enough for eight thousand more families to live on for a season. Chief Zhang Tuo is also someone with many ideas; he discussed things with me, expressing that the surplus of rations and clothing shouldn’t be given to the Wutu citizens. Rather than giving a man a fish to feed him a day, it is better to teach the man how to fish. Since they are currently organized, and are feeling a sense of crisis, we can employ some of them to help us mine the iron in the mountains to the north of East Dawn Stronghold and pay them wages by the day,” Zheng Yu proposed.
The rations would run out eventually. What if the harvest next year was bad? What if the next summer had a drought, or the winter was even colder?
In Zheng Yu’s opinion, since the crown princess viewed them as her citizens, then they shouldn’t only be receiving relief, but also work!
He believed every Wutu citizen affected by the natural disaster understood how precious it was to have work, to have a harvest, and to be rewarded.
Iron ore was in demand in every major city state. Wutu would have an extra guarantee if they sold that iron ore and exchanged it for food and clothing.
“Mhm, a very good suggestion, but there’s no need to go mine in those cheap iron mines. I have a map of Wutu’s ore veins; I’ll arrange to have someone send it to you. You and Zhang Tuo take care of it,” Li Yunzi nodded in agreement.
“I have heard that there are rare ores in Wutu. It turns out Your Highness has already thought of a way for Wutu to flourish!” Zheng Yu saluted once more, expressing his respect and admiration for her.
“The Flying Birds Battalion will withdraw soon. Have Zhang Tuo keep some men with good characters in the army. Wutu needs their own military. I’ll pay for their wages for the next half year, and the proceeds from the mines will bear the cost afterward. The nine cities of Wutu will be exempted from labor tax for the next year,” Li Yunzi said very clearly.
“This humble subordinate understands!” Zheng Yu nodded. He had wanted to bring this matter up to Li Yunzi, but she had already considered it, as expected!
After this rebellion, Wutu was in chaos. It needed to be reorganized, and needed to recover.
Fortunately, everything was progressing in a good direction. Zheng Yu felt very gratified.
As long as corpses weren’t strewn everywhere and the people suffering terribly, the military, officials, and common people could work together, no longer being tormented by natural disasters to the point of them losing their humanity!
Zheng Yu knew Li Yunzi needed to rest, and thus didn’t bring up trivial matters to her. Those things should naturally be handled by them, the officials.
“Zheng Yu is a great talent,” Zhu Minglang told Li Yunzi.
When they were flying on their way here, Zhu Minglang had already told Li Yunzi the story about Zheng Yu using the water reserve to stop the invaders. Li Yunzi had expressed her intent to put Zheng Yu to good use in her words.
“Mhm, he protected Glory Valley City and stopped a tragedy like citizens slaughtering citizens from happening, leaving room for the situation to take a turn. If he can handle what I’ve told him well, I’ll let him take charge of the nine cities of Wutu,” Li Yunzi nodded.
He knew the art of war, the way of governing, seeing the big picture, and did not even neglect the minor details. Li Yunzi might be able to stop the rebellion, but the common people leading a peaceful life depended on people like Zheng Yu!
Also, citizens slaughtering citizens was an extremely unfortunate matter. Li Yunzi was one of Ancestral Dragon City State’s governors. If the people of Glory Valley City were slaughtered, and she allowed those responsible for it to walk away scot free, she wouldn’t be able to account to the people of Ancestral Dragon City State.
This result was already a great fortune within a misfortune!
Zhu Minglang was very gratified, too. At the very least, he could stay warm in this plum flower-filled courtyard and enjoy the peace. If things had ended differently, his heart would probably turn numb.
However, this peace was too short.
—
When it came time to say goodbye, Zhu Minglang suddenly felt reluctant.
“I’m going back to the Academy, then,” Zhu Minglang said.
“I won’t appear in the Academy. The person you see there will never be me,” Li Yunzi reminded him.
Zhu Minglang scratched his head, not knowing whether Li Yunzi was angry at him for mistaking someone else for her, or she was declaring that she would never take the initiative to come find him.
“Be careful of who you meet at the bridge head. It’s not a coincidence,” Li Yunzi reminded Zhu Minglang again after hesitating for a while.
“???” Zhu Minglang wanted to inquire further, but Li Yunzi had already stepped on the flying sword formed from countless silver silk threads intertwining, leaving only her beautiful back visible in the distance…
Zhu Minglang watched as she left, and soon fell into deep thought.
-It’s not a coincidence?
-Then our first encounter at the bridge was her first probing.
-Then our second meeting at the library…-
Actually, Zhu Minglang had suspected Li Yunzi might be suffering from a split personality in the beginning. The woman he had met at the bridge head and the library was truly too similar. Also, he had come to Ancestral Dragon City State for some time now, and had never heard that Li Yunzi and Nan Lingsha were twins.
From the look of things now, he was thinking too much.
Li Yunzi told him to be wary of Nan Lingsha. Was it because she was worried he wouldn’t be able to tell them apart and say unnecessary things in front of her once more, or was it because she still suspected Nan Lingsha? For some unknown reason, Zhu Minglang felt Li Yunzi was a little apprehensive of Nan Lingsha.
Perhaps they weren’t on good terms?
Usually, twin sisters would prosper and fail together. Was it because they grew up in different families? Or was it because something unhappy happened between them in the past?