Chapter 343: The Draw
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
The close attendant of the Special Emissary from the Central Plain looked embarrassed as he publicly announced that the Special Envoy was suddenly caught ill and unable to get out of bed. As such, he could not meet anyone nor attend the voting that day.
The illness came so coincidentally that not many people bought his excuse. The Special Envoy of Norland was secretly delighted but he did not show how he felt; he even sent people to bring medicinal soup to the Special Emissary so as to show his concern. Shangguan Fei was greatly relieved, thinking that Dragon King’s preemptive strategy had taken effect and that the Special Emissary from the Central Plain was no longer a deadly threat.
On the other hand, the Prince of Loulan Kingdom was panicking; without the Central Plain’s support, he was like a baby who had lost the protection of its parents. He could hardly make a move, let alone compete for the position of the Emperor’s son-in-law.
Lin Tao had asked his attendant to leave a message for the Prince of the Loulan Kingdom: “Find Dragon King; he will take charge of everything.”
Therefore, not long after Gu Shenwei had returned to the courier station, the Prince of Loulan Kingdom came looking for him. His face was paler than the youth as he asked, “Dragon King, what happened? Mr. Lin… ”
“Mr. Lin encountered an emergency and has left Stone Kingdom.”
The Prince of Loulan Kingdom was shocked as he asked, “What shall I do then?”
Gu Shenwei looked the prince up and down as if trying to measure his capability. “This is a battle of life and death. Your Highness should cheer up and try your best.”
“A battle of life and death? Why is it so? Mr. Lin… he’s not trying to run away from his obligations, is he?” The handsome prince looked indignant, finally realizing that he had been abandoned by his backing.
Gu Shenwei did not answer the question, “Anyway, Your Highness has arrived at a point of no return. You have to face the issue head-on.”
The Prince of Loulan Kingdom shook his head; he had come to fight for the position of Emperor’s son-in-law at the request of the Central Plain. Stone Kingdom was far away from Loulan Kingdom, and even if he succeeded, it would not be of significance to the Loulan Kingdom. Therefore, he said, “No, I’m going to quit. I’m going out to announce that they should just let the candidate from Golden Roc Fort be the Emperor’s son-in-law. It doesn’t matter to me.”
Gu Shenwei’s expression turned cold and his tone became serious. “Even if you don’t care, the Central Plain cares. Controlling the Stone Kingdom is an important strategy of the Central Plain. If you shirk your responsibility, not only will you get into trouble, but so will the Loulan Kingdom.”
The Prince of Loulan Kingdom sat down dispiritedly. It was less than two hours before the voting would begin. Indeed, he was in a dilemma. He could not help feeling vengeful towards the Special Emissary from the Central Plains. Golden Roc Fort had sent many killers to accompany Shangguan Fei and Lin Tao must have escaped upon realizing that the situation did not look good for him, leaving the prince to die.
Gu Shenwei stood there silently while waiting for the Prince of Loulan Kingdom to realize on his own that there was only one solution available.
The prince was not stupid, but he was used to living in comfort and luxury and had competent people to take care of everything. As such, he was slow to react when faced with a crisis on his own.
After having thought for a long time, he raised his head and looked at the calm Dragon King, enlightened. He finally came up with a way to save his life. “Fight for the position of Emperor’s son-in-law, Dragon King. I will tell those involved to vote for you. You aren’t afraid of Golden Roc Fort, right? Only you… you are from the Central Plain, aren’t you? Dragon King, you must help me.”
The Prince of Loulan Kingdom was being incoherent, but his intention was relatively clear. Gu Shenwei thought briefly and said, “This is not good… ”
The Prince of Loulan Kingdom almost jumped in front of Dragon King. “Well, it’s the best way. I will tell those involved now. Even if our plan fails, it is the Special Emissary from the Central Plain that should be responsible, right? He should have remained in Stone Kingdom to oversee things… ”
Before he even finished talking, the prince turned around and ran out. He had already made up his mind and he was going to pass the hot potato to Dragon King, no matter whether he agreed to it or not.
Gu Shenwei tidied up his clothes. Everything had been under his control so far, but he did not feel relaxed; there was still something in his heart that made him uncomfortable. He pondered over his plan again but could not find any obvious flaw in it. As such, he decided to suppress the trivial doubt and stop thinking about it.
Maid Lotus came in and nodded her head at him. She had not been in the courier station for several days, during which she was out to perform another important task.
“You got it?”
Maid Lotus raised her hand and was holding a small cotton bag. “It’s here, so we can take action tonight. I have everything prepared,” she replied.
Gu Shenwei remained deeply vigilant around her, but he had to admit that there was no one who could reassure him like Maid Lotus did. “OK, let’s take action tonight,” he said.
Gu Shen was getting ready to set off when Maid Lotus suddenly asked, “Are you really going to marry the princess?”
Gu Shenwei gave Maid Lotus a surprised look. He had never told her his plan, but she guessed correctly. “I have to. The Great Snowmountain needs a place to accommodate its people.”
Gu Shenwei went out of the room after speaking, while Maid Lotus remained silent and expressionless. In her opinion, Dragon King’s answer was irrelevant to the question, as it was not necessary to marry the princess to gain control over the Stone Kingdom.
The vote was still presided over by Prime Minister Yang Dou, who first expressed regret over the illness of the Special Emissary from the Central Plain and then thanked each suitor. It was only after he finished his lengthy talk that the voting began.
To show that nobody would manipulate the votes, the voting was done publicly. Everyone who had the right to vote had to stand up and declare, “Of all the people, I think so and so was the best in terms of character and conduct.”
The King of Stone Kingdom did not show up, thus Yang Dou would vote on his behalf.
Most of the voters cast their votes according to their promises made to the two major factions over the past few days. The only change was that those who had originally pledged to vote for the Prince of Loulan Kingdom switched to Dragon King instead.
There was no more need for Gu Shenwei to remain on the fence; everyone knew that he had double-crossed the Central Plain and Golden Roc Fort and that he would vote for himself at the decisive moment.
As such, Dragon King and Shangguan Fei each won six votes, resulting in a draw.
Shangguan Fei was relieved and even began generously congratulating Dragon King; he was willing to compete in the next round, as Yang Dou had voted publicly for Shangguan Fei on behalf of the King. It was akin to declaring that he would almost certainly win the position of the Emperor’s son-in-law.
The others also held the same idea. The Prince of Loulan Kingdom privately expressed his thanks to Dragon King and had already calmy conceded defeat in the next round of competition. “We are not to be blamed; the Special Emissary from the Central Plains has fled. Of course, the King of Stone Kingdom would know which side he should be on now,” he said.
That evening, Yang Dou announced the specific agenda for the last competition. It was very simple and further convinced everyone that Shangguan Fei was bound to be the Emperor’s son-in-law. “At noon tomorrow, both of you shall report to the palace and the princess will choose her consort.”
Shangguan Fei was already beginning to accept congratulations. Everyone knew that the princess could not go against the King’s intentions. Since her brother had chosen to side with Golden Roc Fort, it was assumed that she would make the same choice.
The Prince of Loulan Kingdom began packing up impatiently. He planned to retrieve the gold belonging to his nation and leave Stone Kingdom as soon as the princess had selected her consort. Even so, he did not forget to complain to Dragon King, “I will tell the Commanding Officer of the Western Region what the special envoy has done. It’s all his fault that things have turned out like this.”
Even after the competition was seemingly over, Dragon King did not show any intent to begin killing. He remained polite with the Ninth Young Master of Golden Roc Fort just like they were friends, which made many people relieved and some a little disappointed. The Prince of Kang Kingdom seemed to be afraid that he would miss out on the commotion, and he shouted openly in the courier station, trying to stir things up, “I thought that Dragon King was courageous, but it seems that he is just someone who bullies the weak and fears the strong.”
Gu Shenwei faced defeat calmly. After nightfall, he stealthily left the courier station without anyone noticing.
Not far from the city gate, Maid Lotus was hiding in the bushes and waiting for him. They remained silent after meeting up and continued to moving forward before climbing over a high wall and sneaking into the city.
In a remote house, thirty ferocious bandits were waiting for the arrival of Dragon King and Maid Lotus.
Gu Shenwei had disappeared for four hours last night to meet up with another group of bandits. At Maid Lotus’s command, nearly 200 bandits had already entered Stone Kingdom in batches and were staying in different locations.
The leader of the bandits was He Sancai, also known as the Invincible Machete of Tianshan. He was a short, fat middle-aged man who showed great respect to Dragon King; however, he was even more afraid of the woman beside him to the point that he dared not to even look at her directly.
He Sancai led the way and invited Dragon King and Maid Lotus into an annex. There were three captives inside the room.
There was blood all over the captives; they had obviously been beaten and had undergone some cruel form of interrogation. Upon seeing that someone walked into the room, they hurriedly begged for mercy. They recognized Dragon King and knelt down in front of him as they pleaded, “Please forgive us, Dragon King. We’ll tell you everything and dare not to conceal anything from you.”
Gu Shenwei did not ask anything; he had already heard all their confessions via Maid Lotus. He came here just to see if they were the people he wanted.
Yes, they are, he thought.
On the very first night, they camped in the desert after setting off from Shuangquan Village. A dozen machetemen dressed up as merchants had rushed into the tents of the monks from the Four Truths Temple, hoping to relieve them of a valuable object; however, in the end, they failed and retreated from the scene.
The three captives belonged to the group of robbers.
They had not given up and followed the monks to Stone Kingdom. They did not dare to rob them in public and could only keep watch on the monks near Nengjue Temple. Eventually, they found an opportunity to strike.
A high-ranking monk in the temple had broken his monastic vows and was having an affair with a married woman in the city. He often went out for dates in the night and was caught red-handed by the machetemen on such an occasion. They then forced him to steal an object from Master Fayan.
The monk succumbed to the threats and could only agree to do so. After returning to the temple and observing for a few days, he finally took action in the night and stole the object before handing it over to the machetemen who were waiting outside the temple.
The machetemen were overjoyed and did not expect to have been spied on in return.
The fifteen machetemen were intercepted by a group of bandits not even twenty li from the capital of Stone Kingdom. Most of them were killed and only three were captured alive.
“They were sent by Wildhorse,” Maid Lotus said; she had already heard their confession earlier.
Gu Shenwei weighed the cotton bag in his hand as he said, “We can begin talks with them now.”
“Aren’t you going to make use of it? Wildhorse had big plans for it.”
Gu Shenwei shook his head, saying, “My plan is exactly the opposite of his.” He paused briefly, before repeating what Fang Wenshi had once said, “Sometimes, being candid is an unscrupulous act.”
They came to Nengjue Temple at midnight. Instead of climbing over the wall, as usual, they knocked on the door directly.
It seemed that there were people watching over the temple even at midnight. As soon as the door was knocked on, someone opened it from the inside.
It was not a monk who opened the door, but an imperial guard with a scimitar hanging at his waist. He whispered, “Please come in, Dragon King. The Emperor and Holy Monk have been waiting for a long time.”
Gu Shenwei entered the temple as Maid Lotus faded into the night.
Meanwhile, not far from Nengjue Temple, a figure ran into the royal palace and headed straight for the residence of the princess.
