“Prince Changling has arrived,” the eunuch suddenly announced.

Everyone in the royal court discussing the kingdom’s matters turned and bowed to him.

Changling walked in and his eyes immediately landed on his father.

Wu Yong smiled proudly. Changling was his mirrored image, and he couldn’t be more than happy to see him.

He stood up and walked down the steps to the throne.

Changling stopped in front of him and bowed. He stopped him from bowing and embraced him.

Changling was surprised at first. He lifted his arms and hugged him back. “Good morning, your majesty.”

Wu Yong felt a tinge of hope from hearing his words. Changling even sounded gentler than before.

Wu Yong pulled away and looked at him. “How are you?” He asked.

Changling sighed, “I’m better.”

Wu Yong walked back to his throne, almost taking Changling with him and he would have if he didn’t stand his ground.

Sitting down, he said, “I haven’t seen you for sometime.”

Changling nodded his head. He turned around and asked, “Am I interrupting something?”

Wu Yong waved his hand. “Just some matters of the kingdom.”

He nodded his head. “I’ll come back later.”

“Nonsense. You’re a prince of this kingdom. Go stand by your siblings,” he said.

Changling bowed, then walked over to the side. The princesses weren’t here and only the prince’s.

He stood beside Qiang Wu and nudged him with his elbow. Qiang Wu looked up at him with a smirk.

Changling pinched his side and whispered, “Let’s have lunch later.”

Qiang Wu nodded his head. “All of us?”

Changling looked at the others and nodded, “Yes, extend the invitation to the princesses too.”

Wu Yong had his eyes on his sons that were whispering to each other and wondered when they got so close.

“Your majesty, shall we continue?” Qiang Wu’s grandfather asked.

Wu Yong nodded his head.

Prince Lingyun stepped forward, saying, “As I have stated before, we need to strengthen the borders by sending more soldiers out to protect the nearby villages.”

General Junfeng, “Stepped forward. That is all well and said, but the soldiers are too afraid to even volunteer because they are dying at the hands of Shallow Grave.”

Wu Yong’s brows furrowed. “Is there really nothing we can do about that group? Lingyun, you’ve investigated them. Do you still not know where their headquarters lay?”

Prince Lingyun shook his head. “All my leads have come up empty.”

Wu Yong stared at his brother as he thought about it. His eyes unconsciously moved to Changling and saw that he seemed somewhat amused.

“What does Prince Changling think about this?” He asked.

All eyes moved to Changling, and his amusement disappeared. He turned to his father and bowed. “Your Majesty, I don’t understand.”

“You grew up in the mountains. I am not sure you’ve heard about the Shallow Grave bandits. They’ve been running amok, killing at will and scaring the citizens,” he explained.

Changling nodded his head knowingly and pretended to think for some time. Just as they all thought he was putting up a front, considering the situation, he said, “I’ve heard of them. Unfortunately, the leader of the Shallow Grave is one boy we trained with when we were younger.”

“What?” someone asked out of turn.

No one turned to look at the man who spoke out of turn. They were dumbfounded. How could it be that easy?

Prince Lingyun looked at Changling suspiciously, then looked at his friend. General Junfeng had the same suspicion and bowed. “Prince Changling, please. What do you mean?”

Changling gazed at him for a moment. Nodding his head, he stepped forward and said, “Mn. When we were younger, my father trained ten of us for three years. A few years later, Qinghe got into a fight and won. That same day, the leader came to visit, wanting to be taken in as my father’s disciple, but my mother was pregnant at the time and refused him. He approached Qinghe to help him and he agreed. It was later on that Qinghe found out that he was stealing from the rich and when he told our father, he put a stop to it. I think it was quiet for about two years, then we saw him again.”

Changling went quiet and looked at the two generals. 

“Why are you silent?” Wu Yong asked.

Changling turned to him and said, “He came back because he wanted to marry the twins. It was then that my parents moved us into the mountains. We’ve only heard stories after that, but I think Qinghe has met up with him on several occasions.”

Wu Yong smirked. He now had something against Qinghe thanks to Changling’s big mouth and he was going to reward him greatly for this.

Qiang Wu’s grandfather stepped forward and asked, “Does Scholar Rong have a close relationship with the leader of Shallow Grave?”

Changling shook his head with a pout. “No, it’s more like he is pestering him to marry our sisters. There was an incident when Somi was kidnapped and Qinghe knew exactly where to find her, but after that, we haven’t heard or seen the leader.”

“Who is Somi?” Prince Lingyun asked.

“Somi is short of Seung Ming. She’s the daughter after Yuhua,” he explained.

“Summon Rong Qinghe,” the emperor said.

“Why are you summoning him?” Changling asked.

He looked at his son and said, “I just want to hear from him how he is related to the Shallow Grave.”

Changling tilted his head to the side, “Your Majesty doesn’t suspect him, do you? I mean, you are looking for a reason to get rid of my brother, after all.”

All the ministers and officials looked at Changling. He right out accused the emperor.

Wu Yong sat forward and smiled at him reassuringly. “Not at all. I just want to find a weakness for the kingdom to strive.”

Changling nodded his head but couldn’t wait for the outcome.

Qinghe arrived later and the first thing he did was look at Changling. When he saw the smirk on his face, he instantly knew that something out of the ordinary was going to happen.

Wu Yong looked at him and said, “Your brother tells me that you are well aquatinted with the leader of Shallow Grave.”

Qinghe’s gaze moved to his brother and saw the mischievous look in his eyes. Bowing, he answered, “Unfortunately, that is true, your majesty. I know him as well as I know Ah-Ling.”

The emperor nodded his head. Prince Lingyun walked up to him and asked, “Do you know his name and whereabouts?”

“His name? Yes. Whereabouts, I do not,” he answered.

“I find that hard to believe. Your brother stated you knew where to find your sister that was kidnapped,” Wu Yong said.

“Kidnapped?” He repeated as he looked at the smirk on his brother’s face.

“Your sister Seung Ming,” Prince Lingyun queried.

Qinghe looked at him and smiled, “Oh that? Yes, I knew how to find her.”

He looked at the emperor and said, “His name is Long Wu. The defector of the kingdom. His goal is to create chaos in this peaceful kingdom, but he listens to reason when necessary. His whereabouts, not even his subordinates, know, so how would I? When he wishes to get in contact with me, he sends a letter, but it has been years.”

“How long exactly?” Wu Yong asked.

“Three? Four years. The last conversation we had ended in a dispute because I was entering the royal school,” he explained.

“He didn’t want you to study?” Prince Lingyun guessed.

Qinghe turned to him and nodded. “He really hates this kingdom. I don’t know what happened to him when he was a child, but he holds the kingdom responsible.”

“So there is really no way for you to get in contact with him?” Prince Lingyun asked.

“I can try, but there is no guarantee. I’m sure everyone already knows about the princess and I. Long Wu wouldn’t be an exception,” he said.

General Junfeng bowed to the emperor, “Your Majesty, I implore you to consider this idea. We could go to war with them if we try using Scholar Qinghe or if we succeed, we’d possibly need to compensate them.”

Wu Yong considered the options, then asked, “What would he ask for?”

“I told you already, your majesty. He wants to marry the twins,” Changling said, surprising Qinghe.

Qinghe knew that the two generals were after the twins and this should be one of Changling’s plots.

Qinghe looked at the emperor and saw he had a conflicting gaze.

He nodded his head, “Yes, he is very interested in the twins and they wouldn’t mind it if’s what we want.”