Chapter 9: The Xiliang Princess is Worth a Fortune

With the secret agent’s shout, dozens of guards rushed out, surrounding Xue Pinggui and the other two.

Ling Xiao was still thinking about fighting to the death to protect Dai Zhan and escape, but as torches were lit on the wall and archers appeared in droves, they completely gave up resisting.

He and Dai Zhan had come to Chang’an in disguise to spy on the Great Tang, they never expected their identities to be exposed, and they never expected to walk into a trap today.

Xue Pinggui also didn’t expect this situation, he didn’t expect the Prime Minister’s mansion to be so heavily guarded.

“Who are you? How dare you trespass into the Prime Minister’s mansion?”

“Seize them!”

Xue Pinggui looked at Wang Baochuan pleadingly, “Miss Wang, you’ve forgotten that we’ve met twice, we’re not bad people!”

“Miss Wang!”

Wang Baochuan pretended to be terrified, she took a look at herself in the firelight, “You look kind, but why did you break into the Prime Minister’s mansion?”

“We were being chased by villains, and we had no choice but to trespass, please save us, Miss.”

Su Long, who had led the troops, glanced at Wang Baochuan, “Third Sister, is he telling the truth?”

“Yes.” Wang Baochuan nodded.

Su Long was about to take them away to the authorities when Wang Baochuan pointed to the jade pendant at Dai Zhan’s waist, “Brother-in-law, look at the pattern on her jade pendant and her accent, she doesn’t seem to be from the Central Plains.”

“A Xiliang person!”

Su Long had fought against Xiliang countless times, and he recognized her immediately from the pattern on her jade pendant.

That night, Dai Zhan and Ling Xiao were handed over to the palace.  Ling Xiao confessed their identities, but he remained silent about their purpose for sneaking into Chang’an.

He simply said that the princess was young and wanted to see the splendor of Chang’an, so they came in disguise.

How could the Emperor believe his nonsense?  The news that Dai Zhan, the only daughter of the Xiliang King, had fallen into the hands of the Great Tang spread to the Xiliang capital in just half a month.

The Xiliang King was heartbroken, he sent a petition to the Tang Emperor, begging him to release Dai Zhan, and promised to increase the annual tribute.

The Emperor didn’t care about the tribute, so the Xiliang King had no choice but to cede two border cities in exchange for the princess’s return.

Dai Zhan and Ling Xiao spent a month in prison before they were finally released back to Xiliang.

Because they were caught at the Prime Minister’s mansion, the Emperor was very pleased and rewarded Prime Minister Wang with a lot of gold and silver.

“Two cities!” Su Long was overjoyed, “Third Sister, you deserve the credit for this!”

Wang Baochuan was embarrassed by the praise.

“These two cities, if they were taken from the battlefield, I don’t know how much blood the soldiers would have to shed.”

“Cut it out! A blind cat caught a dead mouse!” Wang Yinchuan was very unhappy to be ignored.

Wei Hu’s face was even uglier.  He had only sent people to chase after Xue Pinggui because Wei Bao had told him that there was a fool who had provoked him.

But he didn’t expect that the person they were chasing was the Xiliang princess.  If they had known, they would have captured her beforehand no matter what!

Such a great achievement, and it had become someone else’s meal.

“Second Sister, you’re wrong, if it weren’t for Third Sister’s keen observation, she noticed the jade pendant on the Xiliang princess, I’m afraid I would have dealt with her casually.” Su Long explained for Wang Baochuan.

Wang Yinchuan was even more indignant, “What?  I know Big Sister has always favored Third Sister, now even Big Brother-in-law favors Third Sister?”

She emphasized the word “favor,” deliberately implying something.

Su Long was speechless, Big Sister pulled Baochuan over and said coldly, “Yinchuan, you have such a quick temper, can’t you stop blowing up at people?”

“Humph!”

Mrs. Wang was annoyed, “Alright! The Emperor’s reward, this is our family’s honor, if you keep arguing, get out!”

Wang Yinchuan suppressed her anger, her eyes rolled, and she suddenly thought that Wang Baochuan had shown her face to the Emperor and Empress, if she asked the Emperor to grant a marriage between Wang Baochuan and Wei Bao now, it should be a natural thing.

She went to Prime Minister Wang and flatteringly mentioned the matter, but the atmosphere immediately turned cold.

“Speaking of Wei Bao…”

“Father, Wei Bao is a good person, both in character and appearance, if he marries Third Sister, then we will be even closer.”

Prime Minister Wang completely ignored her words and started to reprimand Wei Hu, “Wei Hu, I heard that Wei Bao assaulted someone in the street a few days ago, almost beating a citizen to death, is that true?”

Wei Hu quickly stepped forward and bowed, “Father, who is slandering me?  Absolutely not.”

“It’s best if it’s not true, remind him that under the Emperor’s rule, everything must be done with caution.”

“Yes.” Wei Hu quickly nodded in agreement.