Zhang You was rendered speechless after hearing Mo Junyang’s words. His face turned red, livid and pale, and the colors were enough to open a dyeing workshop.
Mo Junyang smiled and asked, “Lord Zhang, what else do you want to say?”
Zhang You shook his head repeatedly and answered quickly, “No. I listen to you, whatever you say, Your Excellency.”
Compared with his life, loyalty was nothing.
Mo Junyang nodded with satisfaction.
However, Shi Qingxue was worried. “He agreed, but what if he changes his mind after going back?”
It was Zhang You’s mouth. What he would say in front of the emperor in the end was up to him.
Shi Qingxue didn’t believe that Zhang You would listen to them so easily.
Zhang You hurriedly lowered his head to conceal the emotions in his eyes and defended himself with certainty rapidly. “I will listen to you, Your Excellency. I don’t dare to disobey you. Please believe me. I swear…”
“No need.” Mo Junyang interrupted Zhang You’s pledge in a cold tone.
When Zhang You was about to heave a sigh of relief, Mo Junyang added unhurriedly, “His life is there. You can say whether he will be alive or dead in a word. Don’t need to bother.”
Zhang You was speechless once more.
The poor Lord Zhang couldn’t speak a word.
However, the fact was like what Mo Junyang said. He was a servant, no matter how much Mo Junyu valued him and protected him…
In Mo Junyang’s eyes, Zhang You’s life was worthless like an ant’s, and Zhang You could almost be sure that Mo Junyu wouldn’t have conflicts with Mo Junyang because of him.
If Zhang You wanted to stay alive, he could do nothing but hide the cause of Yan Xu’s death.
Otherwise, when Mo Junyu knew the truth, Zhang You could hardly escape from death.
Zhang You acted flatteringly and expressed several times that he wouldn’t say anything randomly after going back to the capital. Moreover, in order to win Mo Junyang’s trust, he gave Mo Junyang the right to deal with Yan Xu and didn’t allow his people to get close to Yan Xu, so they didn’t know the fact that the magistrate had died.
Seeing that everything was arranged, and it remained peaceful on the surface at least, no matter how turbulent it was in secret, Shi Qingxue finally sighed with relief.
The next day, they started preparing to return to the capital, and Ye Zhixin came to visit them again.
Since Ye Zhixin entered the room, she looked as if she wanted to say something but didn’t say it all the time. She just peeped at Mo Junyang with shyness.
Shi Qingxue looked at her and felt awkward for her. She asked patiently, “Miss Ye, what made you visit us suddenly?”
Because Ye Zhixin had helped them in the end, Shi Qingxue was nice to her.
However, Ye Zhixin was too weird. The question was so clear, while she opened her mouth several times but didn’t say anything serious. Instead, she stated bashfully in a low voice, “My Lady, please call me Zhixin.”
Shi Qingxue was almost amused by these words. This girl was so laughable. Did she come here just to tell them to change the form of address?
Could she be more bored?
Shi Qingxue took a deep breath. “Okay. Zhixin, what do you want to say?”
Ye Zhixin was forced by Shi Qingxue and had no choice. She bit her lower lip and said haltingly, “My…My Lady, please don’t get mad. I just…want to have a word with His Excellency.”
Her big bright eyes became red at once and she raised her head, looking at Mo Junyang with tears in her eyes, as if she were bullied by Shi Qingxue yet couldn’t complain.
Shi Qingxue was speechless.
Enough!
She restrained her impatience and expressed, “Just say whatever you want.”
Ye Zhixin seemed to be scared by Shi Qingxue’s tone, and she cowered. “I didn’t mean it. I…I…”
Shi Qingxue could do nothing because of Ye Zhixin’s cautious attitude.
“Fine, fine. I make room for you. Take your time to have a talk.” After speaking, she went out.
“Qingxue.”
Mo Junyang remained silent all the time and even felt happy when he saw that Shi Qingxue seemed to be jealous.
However, when Shi Qingxue waved her sleeve to leave, Mo Junyang realized for the first time that he overdid it, but when he regretted it, she ignored him.
“Your Excellency,” Ye Zhixin called in a delicate tone.
Mo Junyang was always expressionless, and he was more distant because Shi Qingxue left, so he wasn’t friendly to Ye Zhixin. “What’s up?”
Ye Zhixin was like a frightened rabbit and quivered, stuttering, “Your Excellency, do you…hate me?”
She looked pitiful again, as if she were bullied.
Unfortunately, this trick didn’t work in front of Mo Junyang. He uplifted his brows and asked in reply indifferently, “Didn’t you know that?”
Even though Ye Zhixin was prepared to cope with Mo Junyang in all kinds of ways, she had nothing to say because of his straightforward reply.
After a long time, Ye Zhixin swallowed the humiliation and looked weak again. She said pitifully with a grievance, “I apologize to you. Please forgive me once because of my sincerity.”
Mo Junyang ignored her and coldly looked at her doing her one-man show.
Ye Zhixin didn’t get his pity, so her face was paler.
She was embarrassed but unwilling to give up such a chance in a million. Mo Junyang and the others would return to the capital soon, and she might have no chance to see him again.
Ye Zhixin made up her mind and spoke out what she wanted. “I really love you, Your Excellency. Please give me a chance. I don’t want a title. I just hope that I can always stay with you in the future…”
In the beginning, she said anxiously and quickly, yet she was still reserved as a woman. In the end, her voice was as low as a mosquito’s.
Ye Zhixin looked at Mo Junyang with expectancy, and her eyes were like water.
Any normal man probably couldn’t bear to refuse her humble request when she looked at him in this way.
Mo Junyang frowned slightly and looked Ye Zhixin up and down carefully for the first time. Till her heart beat fast under his stare, he smiled.
His smile was good-looking, like spring breeze blowing and bringing people warmth.
Ye Zhixin blushed with shyness, but before she felt happy for long, the man’s voice turned cold suddenly. “Ye Zhixin, do you think that I am so easy to get along with?”
Ye Zhixin’s smile stiffened and she replied with difficulty, “I don’t understand what you mean.”
“It’s fine if you don’t understand.” Mo Junyang didn’t plan to explain to her.
He just gazed at her coldly and said, “This is the last advice I give to you. Stay away from me. Otherwise, I can send you to a place where you should go. A brothel or military camp to serve the soldiers, which do you like?”
Ye Zhixin was unable to smile again. Her eyes widened in disbelief.
She asked in tears, “Am I wrong to love you? Why do you humiliate me like this?”
“Humiliate?” Mo Junyang repeated this word meaningfully and then asked in reply impassively, “Do you qualify to make me use the word humiliate? Or do I need a reason no matter what I will do to you?”
Mo Junyang’s words showed that he despised and didn’t care about her.
In his eyes, Ye Zhixin was the same as an ant, and whether he would kill her depended on his mood.
Ye Zhixin finally understood what Mo Junyang thought about her and felt that her inward world was going to collapse.
Tears messed up her face with exquisite makeup, while she opened her mouth slightly yet couldn’t make a sound.
After Mo Junyang left the last warning, he didn’t care about Ye Zhixin’s reactions but walked sideways out of the room.
Ye Zhixin was too annoying, and if he didn’t deal with her, it would bring endless trouble. Otherwise, Mo Junyang wanted to look for Shi Qingxue earlier.
He quickly went out of the courtyard. For the first time, he didn’t think about where Shi Qingxue might go but walked to the gate subconsciously.
Fortunately, Shi Qingxue did stand at the gate of the magistrate’s mansion, talking with Shen Luo.
They talked in a low voice and looked serious, as if everything around couldn’t attract their eyes.
They talked as if nobody were nearby, which made the anxious Mo Junyang feel more agitated for no reason.
He walked to the two in haste and asked in a gloomy tone, “What are you talking about?”
Shi Qingxue finally noticed Mo Junyang, and she furrowed her arch eyebrows subconsciously. Soon she softened, but she didn’t look well.
“What’s wrong?” Mo Junyang asked again.
Shi Qingxue said, “Something bad happened at the northern border.”
Mo Junhao had fled to the northern border, and Shi Junhe led the Shi Army to crusade against him, so the northern border must be unstable now, but it must be something significant as it could make Shi Qingxue so nervous.
Mo Junyang asked seriously, “What trouble did Mo Junhao make?”
It was necessary to say that Mo Junyang judged Mo Junhao correctly, and his question accurately pointed out the key to the problem.
Shen Luo repeated the information that he told Shi Qingxue just now. “Mo Junhao colluded with Liang Country and occupied the fortress at the border of Liang Country with the help of their soldiers’ momentum, seeming to make himself a king. General Shi led the Shi Army to suppress the rebel army, but Mo Junhao and the soldiers of Liang Country collaborated from within with forces from outside. Now they are trapped in Huwenbei and there is no news from them. Moreover…”
Shen Luo paused for a moment and glanced at Shi Qingxue cautiously. Then he gritted his teeth and continued, “It is the information we got ten days ago. It’s hard to predict the situation at the northern border now.”
It meant that the Shi Army led by Shi Junhe might be in trouble and even have an accident or be completely annihilated…
At the thought of the last possibility, Shi Qingxue couldn’t calm down to think.
She grabbed Mo Junyang’s arm and begged anxiously, “Let’s go back. Let’s go to the northern border to save Father, okay?”
Before Mo Junyang spoke, Shen Luo sanely interrupted Shi Qingxue’s impulse. “Don’t be anxious. Now the situation at the northern border is unclear. Perhaps General Shi has led the army to break out of the encirclement successfully.
“Your and Junyang’s job is to solve the case in Jiangzhou. Even though almost everything is done, you still need to return to the capital first to report back.”
As for going to the northern border, she should just think about it, and it was impossible to realize.
“No way! If we return to the capital now and then ask His Majesty to permit us to go to the northern border, we can’t make it until half a month later. I can’t wait.” Shi Qingxue’s reason had gone, and she wished that she had a pair of wings, so she could fly to the northern border at once. How would she consider returning to the capital to report back?