Chapter 263: The Valley of Heavenly Secrets, Xunyang Is Short of Food

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

Seeing that the group of people who were usually aggressive had become cowards, General Xiao sneered and stood up. “Your Majesty, I think we should ignore it and let it develop on its own.”

He was just short of saying what was on his mind. The Emperor didn’t care when Xunyang was in trouble back then. It would be too shameless of him to show his support now that Xunyang had survived the crisis .

However, this was clearly not what Emperor Chong’an wanted to hear. He was not a magnanimous person.

Ever since Shangguan Han was born, he had been worried every day that he would scheme with the Bulwark Duke family to force him to abdicate. It had not been easy for Emperor Chong’an to eliminate him.

Now, he had to leave Shangguan Han alone with a city in his hands. How could Emperor Chong’an be at ease?

Grand Tutor Zhao secretly glanced at Emperor Chong’an’s expression and sighed. “Your Majesty, Xunyang City has just experienced a great war. The city must be short of clothes and food.”

“I believe that since they are citizens of Great Xia, the Imperial Court should treat them equally and not ignore them.”

“Besides, resisting the Hun army is a great merit. Since they’ve done well, you should reward the soldiers of Xunyang City.”

He was prepared to pretend that nothing had happened. He only said that the soldiers had contributed and did not mention Lord An Le. He wanted to take the opportunity to rope in the soldiers of Xunyang City.

As long as they accepted the imperial court’s reward, not only would Lord An Le not trust them, but those people would also side with the imperial court.

This was equivalent to suppressing Lord An Le. If he really wanted to rebel, he would have to see if there was anyone willing to follow him.

Emperor Chong’an nodded in satisfaction. “Then who do you think should do this?”

Grand Tutor Zhao thought for a moment before saying, “I think Shangguan Yu should do it. His status is extraordinary.”

“Also, His Highness grew up with Lord An Le. The two of them have an extraordinary relationship, so they’re the most suitable.”

When Grand Tutor Zhao mentioned the Second Prince, Shangguan Yu, most of the people in the court looked surprised.

Shangguan Yu almost never appeared in the royal court, so he was naturally mentioned less often. Everyone’s impression of him was that he was low-key.

After the court session ended, Grand Tutor Zhao left the palace and returned to the residence. He changed into the attire of a butler and rode an inconspicuous carriage through the back door into a residence.

“Dead?” In the study, the man looked up at the person kneeling below him, and his grip on the brush gradually tightened.

The subordinate lowered his head and replied, “Yes.”

With a crack, the brush in the man’s hand broke. He closed his eyes and suppressed the anger in his heart. “Send a letter to the Valley of Heavenly Secrets.”

“Yes sir.”

As soon as that person left, a servant came to report, “Master, Lord Zhao is here.”

The man threw the brush into a wastebasket and narrowed his eyes. “Come in.”

There was a moment of silence.

Lord An Le had woken up. This made the citizens of Xunyang City heave a sigh of relief. At the same time, they felt even more guilty towards Young Master Shenzhi, who had saved them.

Why did they listen to those rumors back then?

However, Shen Yijia didn’t care what they thought. She only knew that if she heard those people scolding Song Jingchen again, she would beat them up.

As soon as the Hun army retreated, the citizens who were originally blocked by Liang County returned one after another.

Most of the houses in the city had been destroyed, not to mention the villages and towns around the city. Not only did the Hun army rob all the valuables in their houses, but they would also set fire to each house after they were done.

They burned the corpses of the commoners who had died at their hands before they could escape.

The dead had already passed, and the living had to continue living. Therefore, the citizens of Xunyang City were either running around for food or rebuilding houses every day.

It was unknown what Song Jingchen had been busy with these past few days. He left early and returned late every day.

Shen Yijia leaned against the window sill in boredom and looked at the sun outside. She had been here for so long, but she still did not know how to tell the time according to the sun.

All she knew was that it was almost time for dinner when the sun set.

Although Song Jingchen was busy, he didn’t forget to get meat dishes for her every day. Sometimes, it was Rooster and South Wind who took turns bringing it back, and sometimes it was Furball who brought it back.

In other words, Song Jingchen had brought Furball along, but not her.

She would never admit that it was because she was lazy and stayed in bed every day.

Shen Yijia glanced at Mo Yuan, who could follow her up close because Song Jingchen wasn’t around. She felt like they were in the same boat.

They were both pitiful children who had been forgotten at home.

Furball followed Song Jingchen in and out every day. At first, the citizens of Xunyang City were afraid of it.

However, seeing that it was very obedient beside Young Master Shenzhi, perhaps because of their trust in Song Jingchen, they stopped being afraid of it. They even gave it the name Tiger King.

This irked Shen Yijia. Every time she saw it raise its tail to the sky pridefully, she had the urge to eat tiger meat.

That’s right, those commoners trusted Song Jingchen now.

As for the reason, Shen Yijia still couldn’t figure it out. Was it because Song Jingchen had saved their lord?

She couldn’t be bothered to think about what she couldn’t figure out. As long as she liked it.

In her opinion, her beautiful husband was so good that he deserved everyone’s respect.

“Mo Yuan, what do you think he has been busy with these past few days?” Previously, she had said that she would bring him to Qilin Mountain, but she had not heard him mention it again.

Thinking of this, Shen Yijia was a little angry. The two rewards from that day had yet to be fulfilled, but her beautiful husband was already so busy. She could not find a chance.

Mo Yuan said, “Maybe it’s related to food.”

“Food?” Shen Yijia scratched her head. She had also gone to take a look. Most of the food planted by the citizens of Xunyang City this year had been taken away by the Hun Army.

Moreover, with the soil and climate here, they could only plant one crop a year. Wouldn’t they have to think of a way to survive this winter?

This was not like back in Xiagou Village. They only needed to take care of the few people in their family, now they were responsible for the commoners of a whole city.

The people here were poor to begin with. It was already a blessing from the heavens to not starve, let alone after a war.

Her beautiful husband had actually interfered in the affairs of Xunyang. He would definitely not leave it alone. Shen Yijia felt that Mo Yuan had most likely guessed correctly.

However, there were so many commoners in the city. Where could they find food for them? This beautiful husband of theirs was not a real immortal. It wasn’t like he could pull food out of thin air.

Shen Yijia suddenly regretted that she did not ask Ah Xun’s Hun army to leave their food behind before leaving.

“I heard that a few days ago, someone went into the mountains to dig up some wild vegetables, but they encountered wild beasts. More than ten people went, but only one came back. Now, no one dares to go again.” Mo Yuan told everyone what she had heard.

Shen Yijia propped up her chin with her hand. Even if they relied on digging up wild vegetables to survive, there were too many people. How could they dig up enough?

If the periphery of the mountain was stripped of food, they could only enter the deep mountains. However, were the deep mountains so easy to enter?

She did not even dare to say that she could walk back and forth without being injured at all, let alone those ordinary citizens.