Fang Zhengzhi had no intention of answering the questions in everyone’s mind. He felt a sense of dejavu when he saw the anger on Shan Yu’s face. It reminded him of the time he accidentally slapped her.
After more than a year…
Was her go to threat still death?
“If you think that there is an issue, you can retake your seat.” Fang Zhengzhi pointed at the carriage behind her.
“What?”
“How dare he talk to the Queen of the Southern Region like that?”
“Does he think that the Queen of the Southern Region is still the same princess he violated over a year ago?”
The eyes of the crowd were about to pop out of their sockets. The person on the White Jade Stone Elephant was the Queen of the Southern Region!
“How dare he?! This is ridiculous!” The officials were all enraged when they heard this.
They felt that none of the Southern Region soldiers would be able to tolerate such rudeness.
However, none of the soldiers raised their spears.
They continued to stand in their positions silently, almost as if they didn’t hear what Fang Zhengzhi had said.
The expression of Crown Prince Lin Tianrong changed at that moment. He didn’t want this conversation to continue. He knew the relationship between Shan Yu and Fang Zhengzhi.
If not for Fang Zhengzhi rejecting her…
Actually, if not for the fact that Fang Zhengzhi had claimed that he did not have very long to live, he would have already been Shan Yu’s husband by now.
“Father, this is a disgrace to the Great Xia! He is ruining our reputation!” Crown Prince Lin Tianrong pleaded.
The officials prepared to fall to their knees once again.
At that moment…
Emperor Lin Mubai waved them off and rubbed his temples with his hands. He seemed rather tired.
“The Emperor is tired, bring him a chair for him to rest.” Eunuch Wei told the servants standing beside him.
The servants disappeared to get the chair.
Before long, a throne was carried over and placed behind Emperor Lin Mubai. Then, two servants placed a soft cushion on the throne.
Emperor Lin Mubai took a step back and sat down. He closed his eyes and rested.
The officials looked at each other in confusion when they saw this. They decided to keep their mouths shut.
There was a light breeze.
It caressed the face of Crown Prince Lin Tianrong.
He was rather pale, embarrassed, and helpless.
Crown Prince Lin Tianrong wanted to step forward as he watched the Emperor. However, he could not say anything until the Emperor did so.
All he could do was wait.
King Duan smirked when he saw this. At that moment, he saw the look that Chi Hou was giving him.
“This time?” King Duan shook his head slightly when he saw Emperor Lin Mubai resting.
Ping Yang straightened her back when she saw Emperor Lin Mubai sit down. She felt a wave of confidence.
She looked at Bai Qi, the deputy commander of the Royal Guards, with crystal clear eyes.
“What are you waiting for? Stand down!”
Bai Qi shuddered when he heard this. He instinctively looked back at the figure on the walls of the palace. That figure nodded.
“Yes, ma’am!” Bai Qi replied and stood down.
The crowd was confused to see this change of events. Why did the Royal Guard stand down after Fang Zhengzhi had been that rude to the Queen of the Southern Region?
The courts…
Politics was complicated.
Since Emperor Lin Mubai was taking a break, the attention of the crowd turned back to Shan Yu.
No one bothered with the actions of the officials and the royal family.
Shan Yu didn’t reply to Fang Zhengzhi. It felt as though she had been muted by Fang Zhengzhi’s words.
Five minutes passed…
15 minutes…
Princess Shan Yu bit her lip, her black eyes glittering in the sun. She seemed to have made her decision.
“How confident are you?!”
“Before you came, 30%.” Fang Zhengzhi replied calmly.
“And now?”
“Still 30%.”
“Rubbish…” Princess Shan Yu clenched her fists as her chest heaved. She was about to berate Fang Zhengzhi when she realized something.
She had not been this agitated over the past year.
As the leader of the Southern Region, she had to remain calm and composed even under the most stressful of circumstances.
However, for some reason…
She couldn’t keep calm when she saw Fang Zhengzhi. She nearly lost her temper twice in such a short period of time.
She was slightly taken aback by this.
This was not a good thing, but Shan Yu felt quite good about this. She enjoyed bickering with Fang Zhengzhi. She felt like that was a channel for her to vent her frustrations.
What was happening?
Princess Shan Yu didn’t quite understand it, but she felt like there was something about Fang Zhengzhi’s words that she hadn’t quite figured out.
30% before she came!
And now…
It was still 30%?
“I see!” Princess Shan Yu’s eyes brightened. She finally understood what Fang Zhengzhi was thinking and what she had to do.
This was not the first time Fang Zhengzhi had told her about his confidence level in a plan.
She remembered her time in the Southern Region with Fang Zhengzhi. Back then, when she asked Fang Zhengzhi how confident he was about a certain battle, his answer would always be…
100%!
As such, she knew for a fact that Fang Zhengzhi would never do something in which he only had a 30% confidence level. That meant that this 30% was not firm.
In other words…
The other 70% was not up to him.
She stared at Fang Zhengzhi.
Then, Princess Shan Yu chuckled. She laughed so hard that she trembled in her spot.
“Hahaha… 30%?! You dare to step forward with only 30% confidence?” Shan Yu chuckled and leaped off the White Jade Stone Elephant.
She landed lightly on her feet.
The wind caused her leather robe to fly and this revealed her slender legs.
“Yes!” Fang Zhengzhi nodded.
“Don’t you think that you are too naive?” Shan Yu’s gaze was icy as an aura of fury circled her body.
“No.” Fang Zhengzhi replied.
“Humph, who do you think I am? I didn’t kill you previously because I took into account your contributions to the Southern Region. However, if you continue to spout rubbish, I will kill you on the spot!” Shan Yu bellowed.
The crowd looked at each other when they heard this.
“Shan Yu wants to kill him!”
“It is true that he did contribute greatly to the victory in the Southern Region…”
“Yes, it is understandable that the Queen of the Southern Region would spare his life after what he did.”
The crowd nodded.
Over the past year, the stories of Fang Zhengzhi’s exploits in the Southern Region had spread throughout the Empire. Even though no one mentioned his name…
Everyone knew that…
Fang Zhengzhi was the key reason for the victory!
Fang Zhengzhi had convinced the Southern Region to cooperate with the Great Xia and he had single-handedly stalled till the reinforcements arrived.
Furthermore, Fang Zhengzhi had dueled the half-sage Canyang and repelled the demon army.
Fang Zhengzhi had been the key to their victory.
However, no one mentioned these exploits because of his actions thereafter. He had violated the Princess, killed Shan Ling, and injured Crown Prince Lin Tianrong.
However…
The facts remained the same.
Furthermore, the Queen’s words had reaffirmed their belief that Fang Zhengzhi was the main reason behind the victory in the Southern Region.
Crown Prince Lin Tianrong heard the discussions within the crowd. He didn’t know if Shan Yu had mentioned Fang Zhengzhi’s contributions on purpose.
Either way, that was something that he didn’t want to hear.
“Nonsense? Did I say anything that was false? Is Shan Ling’s murderer not standing in front of you?” Fang Zhengzhi replied.
“So what?” Shan Yu replied in a fit of anger.
“Whoa!” The crowd couldn’t believe their ears.
Everyone knew that the Crown Prince’s murderer was Fang Zhengzhi. However, they didn’t understand why he would admit to it so readily!
Crown Prince Lin Tianrong’s expression darkened. He knew exactly what Fang Zhengzhi and Shan Yu were getting at.
Even though Fang Zhengzhi had not pointed it out…
He was extremely uncomfortable with this. He felt as though he had just swallowed a fly.
However, Fang Zhengzhi and Shan Yu didn’t seem to notice the Crown Prince’s expression. She looked like she was ready to explode at any moment.
“Did you just say ‘so what?'” Fang Zhengzhi asked.
“Yes, I did!” Shan Yu nodded.
“Since you have admitted to saying that, let me ask you this. You are the Queen of the Southern Region, a land of courageous warriors. How can you let the murderer of their Crown Prince go unpunished?” Fang Zhengzhi pressed.
“He’s already dead. There’s nothing we can do to bring him back to life.” Shan Yu fumed.
“That is true, but how can you not avenge his death?” Fang Zhengzhi was not backing down.
“You…” Shan Yu grit her teeth as balls of fire flickered in her eyes. The aura around her became increasingly unstable.
“Is the Queen of the Southern Region really going to let this slide? Don’t the warriors of the Southern Region deserve an answer?” Fang Zhengzhi continued to press her.
“There is no fairness in this world.” Shan Yu clenched her fists.
“Yes, there is rarely any fairness in this world. However, heaven watches what we do and it is up to us to fight for justice. As the Queen of the Southern Region, how can you lead your people if you don’t even have the courage to fight for justice?” Fang Zhengzhi replied with disdain.
“Are you trying to force me to kill you?” Shan Yu’s eyes were filled with rage.
“If you really think that I am the murderer, you can kill me now!” Fang Zhengzhi replied calmly.
“Hahaha… do you think I won’t do it? My brother died within the borders of the Southern Region. There were only three people there, yourself, the Crown Prince, and Official Su. Official Su is now in the Northern Region. If you didn’t kill him, are you telling me that the Crown Prince did it?!” A column of flame shot out from her body and the cloud patterns glowed faintly on her skin.
There was a sizzling sound…
The aftermath of the column of flame.
One could only imagine how furious Shan Yu was.
However…
The crowd was stunned to hear what Shan Yu said.
“If you didn’t kill him, are you telling me that the Crown Prince did it?!”
At that moment, everyone turned to look at Crown Prince Lin Tianrong. Lin Tianrong was pale and on his knees.
All of the officials were equally shocked.
They knew that Shan Yu was furious. Furthermore, they thought that Shan Yu had already decided to pin the murder of her brother on Fang Zhengzhi.
They didn’t expect her to turn her attention towards the Crown Prince.
“Did Fang Zhengzhi and Shan Yu plan this from the… no, they didn’t even meet before this!”
“What is happening?”
“Is this a coincidence, or was this premeditated?”
The officials could tell that things were taking a turn for the worse. However, they didn’t know why this was happening.
Furthermore, the most important thing was…
It was too late.
Shan Yu had already said those words.
It may have been said on impulse, but it was also a form of doubt. She, on behalf of the Southern Region, doubted the Crown Prince and the Great Xia.
Wen Dabao was completely floored when he heard this. His eyes were on the verge of popping out of his sockets and his jaw dropped. He murmured to himself, “That works? F*ck me, how is this even working? F*ck me…”
Crown Prince Lin Tianrong’s expression darkened and his knuckles whitened. When Fang Zhengzhi and Shan Yu began bickering…
He could guess where the conversation was going…
However, he couldn’t stop them.
He was only the Crown Prince, not the Emperor. More importantly, he would seem guilty if he stepped forward to stop them.
As such…
All he could do was swallow his pride and tolerate it.
He couldn’t do anything even though Shan Yu’s finger was pointed at him…