Letter From Western Xia’s Prince

Li Yuanfeng, a prince from Western Xia, was the prince who was most likely to become the next emperor of Western Xia. He was an exceptionally capable man who was able to navigate difficult politics and full of good schemes, and also an excellent fighter. He had fought against Zhao Zhi at the border more than once, and his biggest aim right now was to kill Zhao Zhi.

Zhao Zhi felt the same way as Li Yuanfeng. He, too, couldn’t stand the sight of Li Yuanfeng. If he ever spotted Li Yuanfeng, he would definitely challenge him to a fight and fight to the very death. But Li Yuanfeng was far from his biggest aim. He had way more important people to kill. Li Yuanfeng’s head wasn’t even as significant as some of the princes from the nation of Liao.

Li Yuanfeng knew that and was very angry about it. He felt that Zhao Zhi despised him and so he hated Zhao Zhi even more for that.

It was impossible that he would write a personal letter to Zhao Zhi, but he was more than happy to do anything that would piss Zhao Zhi off.

Unlike Zhao Zhi, Li Yuanfeng was the son of the reigning emperor and enjoyed very high status in his country. His parents doted on him dearly, he knew how to do a lot of things, and he was quite well versed in romance. His interaction with Zhao Zhi only entailed fighting and he knew very little about Zhao Zhi’s private life, but during their short interaction at Night Sanctum, he could see that Song Caitang was very special to Zhao Zhi.

So… it really wasn’t difficult to make Zhao Zhi angry.

This letter was very long, spanning a full five pages. More than one and a half pages was filled with compliments for Song Caitang, describing how much he admired her and missed her, and his attempts to convince her to migrate to Western Xia instead.

He kept going on and on about how bad Da’an was, a country where women were not allowed to go out, where women had to veil their faces in public, a boring country full of rules. Women in Western Xia, however, could do whatever they liked, and they could even turn down a prince like him without facing any repercussions. Wasn’t it nice to have so much freedom?

He also talked about the beautiful scenery and people of Western Xia, and also said that Song Caitang could become an official according to her capabilities if she wished to, even though she was a woman. And he also said that he was willing to give her part of the country if she was willing to become his wife…

Zhao Zhi looked like he was about to turn into an angry ogre very soon.

Song Caitang had a hard time holding her laughter in as she tried to console him. “He wrote all that on purpose. He knew you would probably read the letter first.”

“I know.”

Of course Zhao Zhi knew! But he was still angry!

He would even look at Song Caitang from time to time, as though he was trying to make sure that she wasn’t slowly convinced by the contents of this letter.

Song Caitang nearly wheezed. “Li Yuanfeng held me captive and nearly killed me at the Night Sanctum. I wouldn’t be fooled by just a few words from him.”

Zhao Zhi pursed his lips very, very tightly.

This letter wasn’t just a few words. This was a five page letter!

After all, every human being liked hearing praise. That was how bootlickers managed to get their way.

And the worst part was… he had no idea how to even say such words.

He cursed inwardly at Li Yuanfeng for really getting on his nerves like this.

After all those paragraphs of words that successfully made Zhao Zhi hit the roof, Li Yuanfeng finally changed the subject and touched on something a lot more serious.

He talked about the time he infiltrated the Night Sanctum.

He had risked his life and secretly entered Da’an because he had discovered something terrible. Someone within Da’an was in cahoots with foreigners and a large amount of gold was being shipped across the border. The few clues he could find pointed toward Western Xia and were pointed toward him as well!

While Li Yuanfeng had to admit that he did scheme against Da’an and made plans to attack the country, so he was not really a good guy, he wasn’t willing to take the rap for something like that.

Western Xia had seen none of this money enter their country. Someone else was benefitting from this cashflow while trying to frame Western Xia for it. Li Yuanfeng wasn’t going to take that lying down!

And so, he had no choice but to start investigating this matter in secret.

He had infiltrated the Night Sanctum because of this matter. He still hadn’t figured the whole thing out, but he managed to find one suspicious person: Sang Zheng.

The letter went on to ask Song Caitang, but of course, he was also asking Zhao Zhi: Guess who he is? If you guess correctly, I’ll reward you with a candy!

Zhao Zhi nearly tore the letter up.

Song Caitang noticed and held his arm down. “So, which country is Sang Zheng actually from?”

“Liao.”

Zhao Zhi stared at the fair hand on his and couldn’t help but flip his own hand around to take hold of hers. “Nobody else would do something as disgusting as this.”

Song Caitang felt her face grow warm when she felt that warm and dry feeling around her hand. “That means this Li Yuanfeng can be gentlemanly too.”

“Gentleman, my foot,” Zhao Zhi snorted. “Someone is trying to get rid of him. If he doesn’t realize this quickly enough and doesn’t defend himself in time, he’ll lose the little territory he has by next year.”

Song Caitang fell into deep thought.

She didn’t know much about politics or foreign affairs, but Western Xia was a much smaller country compared to Da’an and Liao while being stuck in between. Their ruler had to be smart enough in order to survive.

Li Yuanfeng had sent this letter because he had no choice. It was for the benefit of his country.

After writing about Sang Zheng, Li Yuanfeng did not mention anything else. His words were filled with smugness, saying that he knew a lot of other things, including the fact that there was a traitor among the officials. If you beg me, I’ll tell you, he wrote.

He also suggested to Song Caitang to break Zhao Zhi’s arm, because Zhao Zhi broke his arm the last time and he took a good six months to heal. He promised to tell her everything if she hurt him!

Zhao Zhi suddenly grabbed the letter away from Song Caitang and stuffed it into his pocket. “That’s quite enough.”

Song Caitang did not protest. “I’ll go back to reading my book then.”

“You should rest.” Zhao Zhi hopped out of her carriage with the letter.

After he left, Song Caitang put her book down and burst out laughing.

Zhao Zhi’s reaction was simply too adorable!

Was he really a commandery prince who was heir to his father’s position? Not a child?

Meanwhile, Zhao Zhi was thinking about what to do with this letter.

The one who wrote this letter was a prince from Western Xia, someone who was considered an enemy. This letter was evidence to Zhao Zhi, but it could be seen by others as an attempt to cause infighting, an internal rift. Its credibility would suffer as a result.

He had to look further into Sang Zheng’s connection to Liao.

Since the letter had mentioned this important link, he had to think of a way to find out more.

When they were about to reach the city gates of Bianliang, Cao Zhang came to look for Zhao Zhi and said that he wanted to help.

Zhao Zhi raised an eyebrow. “You want to help with an investigation?”

Cao Zhang replied, “I don’t like to owe others favors.”

Zhao Zhi frowned as he tried hard to think, but he simply couldn’t recall any recent instance where he did Cao Zhang a favor.

Cao Zhang folded his arms with a proud look in his eyes. “I will protect my own woman.”

Zhao Zhi was still confused. What in the world was this guy talking about?

“She doesn’t need to thank you. I’ll repay the favor you’ve done her.”

Zhao Zhi finally understood what was going on. It was because of Guan Qing.

On the day Zhao Zhi left the city, he happened to notice that Guan Qing was facing some trouble at work and decided to help her out. He didn’t do very much, so he didn’t consider that a favor, really. He didn’t tell anyone else about it either, so he didn’t expect Cao Zhang to turn up.

And clearly, this was not Guan Qing’s idea.

Guan Qing was a woman, but she was a fairly independent and clever person. If she found out that he had helped her, even if she did not thank him personally, she would ask Song Caitang to thank him on her behalf. She definitely wouldn’t get Cao Zhang to come like this.

Zhao Zhi snapped, “Guan Qing is an older sister to Song Caitang.”

In other words, it was only right for him to help Guan Qing without any conditions.

“And so, if Song Caitang ever needs help, I won’t stand there and do nothing either.” Cao Zhang was a principled man after all. “You are a commandery prince, so I will certainly need your help in many areas in the future. But my woman will only be my woman.”

Zhao Zhi stared at Cao Zhang seriously for the first time and broke his silence after a long while. “Same goes for me.”

Clever people did not need to spell everything out. They had reached an agreement.

Cao Zhang then continued, “I hear that this case of yours is a little tricky. Don’t look at me like that, I did not pry into your business. Qi Yan was the one who came running to me to ask about the shipping routes over the years. Did you think you could keep this case a secret from me?”

“There are some things that are difficult for the authorities and officials like yourself to do, but it’s easy for me. I’m pretty sure you’d find me useful for something.”

Zhao Zhi paused to think and realized that he really did.

For example, to find out more about Zeng Deyong and Sang Zheng.

How good were they in martial arts? Who would use a mace to fight?

These two men were doing something illegal, so they would be more wary toward him or anybody else from the authorities. Even if he tried to disguise himself or send others to find out more, he might not get the result he wanted.

But it was much easier if Cao Zhang did this.

Since Cao Zhang was a completely different party on the other side of the law, the two men would handle him very differently.

Besides, the gold had been shipped using the Green Gang’s routes. The death of the previous leader of the gang might have something to do with this. Cao Zhang’s involvement would not seem out of place.

Zhao Zhi thought about it for a while, then discussed it with Cao Zhang and came up with a rough plan.

Cao Zhang was a wily old fox who was an expert at ensnaring others. He already had a target and the perfect opportunity. Thinking of what to do was easy.

But Zhao Zhi didn’t expect Cao Zhang to be even more sly than he seemed.

Even though the two of them had already discussed what to do, Cao Zhang had gone begging Guan Qing for help, claiming that he was going to face great dangers and needed help. Guan Qing’s intelligence was the help that he needed very, very urgently. If she didn’t help him, he was going to die!

The concept of shame didn’t exist in Cao Zhang’s vocabulary. It wasn’t important at all. As long as he had the chance to get close to a girl he liked – if there was no chance he’d create one – he wasn’t going to let it slip by.

Guan Qing was not stupid and she wasn’t going to give in just because some man claimed to be in a difficult situation. She went to talk to Song Caitang first.

Song Caitang knew everything about the case, so she told her cousin that the team did need Cao Zhang’s help.

After Guan Qing got back, Cao Zhang was both more confident now that his words had been confirmed by someone Guan Qing trusted, but he was also very upset and aggrieved because Guan Qing hadn’t believed him.

Guan Qing felt a little bad now. She apologized in a fierce manner and agreed to help.

Cao Zhang wanted Guan Qing’s help just so that he could spend more time with her, but he would never put her in any danger. So, he just got her to come up with some ideas and perfect his rough plans. Guan Qing was a meticulous person, so every time she had a big project, she would have a plan and at least two backup plans, considering at least three possible perspectives and above. If she was in charge, pretty much nothing would go wrong with the plan.

She was only the brain behind the operation, so Cao Zhang was the one who was in front executing her plan. If he ran into anything unexpected, he would adjust accordingly.

Zhao Zhi’s side did not participate in this operation at all. But he kept close tabs on what was happening.

Guan Qing and Cao Zhang worked perfectly together. One would oversee the whole situation and patch any loopholes. No matter how difficult or awkward things became, she would ensure that it was quickly resolved and nobody would notice anything suspicious. The other was at the scene himself and was able to adapt to any situation. He was confident in everything he did and was fearless because he knew he could count on his partner to ensure everything went well.

Since it was a plan to test Zeng Deyong and Sang Zheng’s fighting prowess, it was definitely going to be dangerous. It finally came to the most nerve wracking part where they had to fight. It was exciting, but it was also extremely risky because this was a fight for real. People were actually getting killed. But there was a good reason why Cao Zhang had made it to the top of the gang. He managed to hold up and even achieved the plan’s aim at the end of it.

After the plan was successfully executed and he breathed a sigh of relief, he also had to make sure he got injured in the process as part of the plan. Guan Qing had to coordinate other parties involved to make sure this whole fight ended well. Everyone eventually thought this was just a huge misunderstanding and were willing to work together harmoniously again…

On this day, the river outside Bianliang was covered in dark clouds and fierce waves as a bloody war raged in the rain. It had been a tense and frightening day.

But in the end, everything ended well and all aims were achieved. Zhao Zhi obtained vital and accurate information that was extremely helpful to the case. At the same time, Cao Zhang used his final injury to gain pity points by shamelessly pretending to be in terrible pain, so he managed to convince Guan Qing to take care of him personally…

Everyone was happy.

Qi Yan glared at Zhao Zhi and sighed frustratedly. “Look at him! He’s so much better at this than you! Just one more step and he’d get to kiss the girl! What about you? Have you kissed Tangtang yet?!”

Zhao Zhi slapped Qi Yan right off the roof.

He sat by himself on top of Song Caitang’s roof and wondered when the room below would light up.

It was fast approaching the usual time she woke up in the middle of the night.

The moon was high up but very bright, making his shadow long and thin. But…

…that just made Zhao Zhi look even more sad and lonely.

Qi Yan shook his head. He dusted himself off and grumbled as he stood up. His Brother Zhi was beyond hope.

But there was nothing he could do anyway. He was just going to leave Zhao Zhi alone.

All preparations had been made. They would gather all the suspects the next day and do one last round of questioning. The person who killed his uncle was going to be brought to justice in no time.

Justice always prevailed.

There were evil people in the world, but there were also always people with goodness and faith in their hearts too.

And there were many more of the latter than the former.