Murong Jie let out a cold laugh and said, "Yes! You've seen how the Murong family treats me, and you've seen how they treat your Lu family. Do you think my imperial father would take your father's loyalty to the Murong family seriously?"
Lu Yunqi gave a casual "Hey" and said, "Since you've been so candid with me, I can't very well hide things from you, right? My father's loyalty to the Murong family—wasn't that all an act? Life is a play, and it all comes down to acting skills. You hate the Murong family, and my father doesn't like them either. Hey, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. What do you say we join forces and bring your imperial father down? When that happens, you take the throne, and just grant me the title of Iron-Cap Prince so I can live a life of wealth and leisure."
Shoot an arrow even if there's no target—you might get lucky. Although judging by what the original owner of this body had done to Murong Jie, there was absolutely no way Murong Jie would let him off the hook, but what if, just what if?
Sure enough, Murong Jie gave a cold snort and said, "Lu Yunqi, this is the first time I've seen someone wipe away all the past as if it never happened and interact with another person as if nothing was wrong. Don't forget—if it weren't for you back then, I wouldn't have soaked in the cold pool for a full two hours. I was unconscious for seven days, ran a fever for three, and could never practice martial arts again. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have had my left lung pierced through, leaving me dependent on medicinal soups ever since. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have had my right leg broken, and everyone in the capital would call me the Lame Prince. If it weren't for you…"
Murong Jie turned his head to look at Lu Yunqi: "I wouldn't have…"
At that point, he closed his eyes, as if he couldn't bear to continue. If he went on, even he himself couldn't help but feel sorry for himself.
But Lu Yunqi knew exactly what he was going to say next—if it weren't for the original owner, Murong Jie wouldn't have risked his life to cultivate the Nine Deaths One Life Divine Art.
As the name suggested, cultivating this art meant nine deaths and one life. But if he hadn't cultivated it, his body wouldn't have miraculously recovered.
When one reached the second stage, Body Tempering, the meridians, bones, and flesh throughout the body would be reshaped—but the process of reshaping was extremely agonizing.
It was a pain like soaking every cell in the body in disinfectant alcohol and washing it all over again—not everyone could endure it.
Lu Yunqi cleared his throat, thinking to himself, The person who did those things wasn't me—I'm really just suffering in someone else's place.
But he was bound by the system and couldn't reveal the truth, or the seduction mission would fail again.
Forget it. He knew that getting Murong Jie to forgive him was impossible. From everything Murong Jie had said, he owed him at least three lives.
For Murong Jie, he had died three times—and all three times were because of Lu Yunqi.
No, it should be more than three times. Those legitimate princes of the Murong family had bullied him plenty behind the scenes too—just the constant stream of "bastard" insults alone would be enough to drive a person to depression.
Lu Yunqi cleared his throat and said, "Alright, alright, don't forgive me then. It doesn't matter anyway, since you're in my hands now. What difference does forgiveness make? You still have to serve this young master however I please. If you serve me well enough, who knows—maybe I really will hand over those six hundred thousand elite troops to you."
Murong Jie said nothing. There was no way he could believe a word from Lu Yunqi's stinking mouth.
He had never been reliable with his words in the past, and under these circumstances, believing him was even less likely.
As the saying goes: better to believe in ghosts in this world than to trust a man's stinking mouth.
Back at the Lu residence, Lu Yunqi called for the household physician to examine Murong Jie's wounds again. He was currently in the weakened phase of the Nine Deaths One Life Divine Art, so his condition was certainly not good.
Lu Yunqi instructed four maidservants to take good care of him and arranged six shadow guards to protect his safety.
Then he said in a sarcastic tone, "Don't forget—you're Prince Cang now, not that powerless Sixth Prince with no one to rely on. Use your own power well. Stop moping around like a little bride all day. Anyone who didn't know better would think you're playing the victim to win sympathy."
Murong Jie's ghostly pale face revealed neither joy nor sorrow. The four maidservants came and went, carrying out basin after basin of bloody water.
Lu Yunqi couldn't bear to watch any longer. He thought to himself, Murong Yu is, after all, Murong Jie's older brother. To treat his own half-brother so cruelly—he deserves to be shot dead by Murong Jie's arrow later on.
After the wounds were cleaned and the physician had applied the medicine, Lu Yunqi instructed the maidservants to bring a bowl of chicken shred congee: "You're badly injured, so you need proper nourishment. This congee has ginseng in it—make sure you finish it all."
With that, he didn't stay in Murong Jie's room any longer and turned to head back to his own courtyard.
Liubao trotted along behind him and asked, "Young Master, you gave all your shadow guards to Prince Cang. What about yourself?"
Lu Yunqi clicked his tongue and said, "Are you stupid or what? Your young master has been confined to the residence by the Emperor for half a month. What would I need shadow guards for?"
Liubao let out a foolish laugh, scratched his head, and said, "That's true. The young master is clever after all."
Lu Yunqi went to the dining hall for dinner and happened to run into his elder brother and his father. His father shot him a glance and scolded, "Utterly disgraceful! Even if you don't give the Emperor a second thought, you should at least show him face on the surface. Galloping through the imperial palace on horseback—what kind of spectacle is that?"
Lu An gave a casual "Hey" and said, "Righteous father, little brother had his reasons. He was rushing to save his wife—any true man would do the same."
Lu Tong drank a cup of wine with a worried expression, knowing full well this son of his was beyond saving. But he couldn't blame him—it was all his own spoiling that had done it.
Lu Yunqi, however, couldn't care less. He sat down and started eating, saying between mouthfuls, "Father, I want to give my wife a few tens of thousands of troops to play with."
The moment Lu Tong heard this, he slammed his wine cup onto the table and barked, "Nonsense! Tens of thousands of troops aren't something you just 'play with'! Besides, he's a powerless prince who's now your wife—what use would he have for tens of thousands of troops?"
Lu Yunqi stuck his neck out stubbornly and said, "It's precisely because he has no power that I want to give him troops! Look at how those three brothers of the Murong family have been bullying my wife! Today they dared to beat my wife half to death—were they hitting my wife? No! They were clearly slapping the face of our Nine Thousand Years Estate! Mark my words, tomorrow they'll be daring enough to stand on your head and shit, Father! I don't care what anyone says—I'm giving my wife tens of thousands of troops! I'm a proud seven-foot man—if I can't even protect my own wife, what kind of man does that make me?"
Normally, whatever Lu Yunqi wanted to do, Lu An would always support him. But today's matter was truly beyond the pale.
He opened his mouth to advise, "Little brother! Tens of thousands of troops is no small—"
"Excellent!" A sudden bang startled Lu An so badly that the steamed bun in his hand dropped to the floor.
Lu Tong rose abruptly and praised, "Truly a son worthy of me, Lu Tong! Back in the day, your mother and I were deeply in love! Your mother refused to be confined to the inner chambers—she wanted to pursue freedom and her life's ideals. Your father, without a second word, let her go! What of it? A real man should be madly devoted to love! Back then, she had just given birth to you, and your father couldn't bear to part with her either…"
At this point, Lu Tong wiped away tears, but then continued with impassioned fervor: "But for the one you love, what does it matter to pay some price? Son, you take after your old man! Say no more—as your father, of course I'll support you unconditionally! First, I'll give your wife fifty thousand troops to play with! If that's not enough, come ask your father for more!"
With that, he produced a Wolf Tally and placed it into Lu Yunqi's hands.
The corner of Lu Yunqi's mouth twitched. Having known his father for nine lifetimes, this was indeed exactly the kind of thing his endlessly indulgent father would do.
Perhaps it was also because of his overly self-pursuing mother that his father had poured all that pent-up affection onto his son instead.
Lu Yunqi picked up the Wolf Tally, grinned at his father, and said, "Thanks, Father! You're the best, Father. I love you, Father."
With that, he stepped forward, planted a big smack of a kiss on his father's forehead, and dashed off.
Lu Tong's tiger eyes brimmed with tears. He slapped Lu An on the back and choked out, "Did you hear that? My son… he said he loves me! Wuwuwu, An'er, your father is truly… so blessed!"
Lu An choked up as well: "Indeed! Little brother has really grown up."
Lu Yunqi returned to his room and placed the Wolf Tally into a brocade box, thinking about giving Murong Jie a surprise tomorrow.
In this life, he didn't need to scheme for power or exhaust himself raising troops. He would place all of it into Murong Jie's hands.
Before his feigned death, he would give everything for Murong Jie—live for him, die for him, and elevate him to the highest position.
That way, even if they happened to meet again in the future, perhaps—mindful of all he had done for him—Murong Jie might forgive him just a little?
Holding onto this wish, Lu Yunqi lay down on the bed and fell asleep.
For the past two days, he hadn't gone to Wanping Wasteland. Instead, he had brought Murong Jie to the military training grounds.
The Wolf Battalion garrisoned fifty thousand troops, and those fifty thousand had now been handed over to Murong Jie. Of course, the Lu family army still swore loyalty to the Lu family.
Lu Tong was highly skilled at commanding troops. Under his governance, not only was military discipline strict, but every soldier was also fierce and battle-hardened.
Today, Lu Yunqi had brought Murong Jie here because he was worried the Lu family army wouldn't accept him—he wanted his princely status to help bolster the occasion.
Who would have thought? The Lu family army not only refused to accept Murong Jie—they didn't even accept him, the spoiled princeling heir.
The current general of the Wolf Battalion was named Zhan Shou. He was so powerfully built he could uproot a willow tree with his bare hands, and could shoot an arrow through a coin's hole from a hundred paces away.
Upon seeing Lu Yunqi, the idle good-for-nothing princeling, and Murong Jie, the sickly weakling, he gave them a direct show of force: "Young Lord, Sixth Prince—you two are noble personages, so don't mind us rough soldiers! We men of the ranks can barely read a few characters—we only recognize one word for courage, one for strength, and one for loyalty! We are the bravest in the army, the strongest in arms, and loyal to the Nine Thousand Years. The Nine Thousand Years gave the Wolf Tally to the Young Lord and the Sixth Prince—and I, Zhan Shou, do not accept it!"
Lu Yunqi turned to look at Murong Jie and said, "He says he doesn't accept it."
Murong Jie hadn't expected that although Lu Yunqi said he would come to back him up, he would end up tossing the difficult problem right back at him.
But at this moment, despite being too weak to truss a chicken, Murong Jie was not without his wits. He turned to look at Zhan Shou and asked, "General Zhan, what would it take for you to be convinced?"