Chapter 291 - 236: Deliberate Befriending, Alliance and Betrayal (Part 2)

Chapter 291: Chapter 236: Deliberate Befriending, Alliance and Betrayal (Part 2)

"Alright then. When we get back to the Xu family’s place, we’ll have your brother-in-law make a few dishes, and then we can have a drink!" Wu Liangchen said with a smile.

Jiang Feng’s eyes lit up. "For real?!"

"Why would I lie about something like this?"

"That’s fantastic!" Jiang Feng was so overjoyed he could barely contain himself.

After all, he’d been craving this medicinal wine for a long, long time. But Jiang Minghai was usually so strict with him that he never got the chance to try it.

Now that he’d heard Wu Liangchen say they would drink as soon as they returned, he was ecstatic, walking with a newfound spring in his step.

Soon, the two of them returned to the Xu family estate.

But before they even stepped through the gate, they heard the sounds of a quarrel and cries for mercy coming from within.

"Honey, don’t hit me! We can talk this out! OUCH! Can you not hit my face?"

The pleas for mercy and pained cries were clearly coming from Xu Kai.

Wu Liangchen and Jiang Feng exchanged a glance, then pushed open the courtyard gate.

Sure enough, they saw Xu Kai, his face bruised and swollen, running in circles around the courtyard.

Behind him, Jiang Xiu was chasing him with a rolling pin, murder in her eyes.

Under a nearby tree stood several maids—some glamorous, others delicate—with their hands folded demurely.

The other servants of the household didn’t dare to intervene, watching from a safe distance.

Xu Kai, who was being chased and was screaming his head off, saw Wu Liangchen and reacted like a drowning man spotting a lifeline. He dropped to his knees with a THUD, grabbed Wu Liangchen’s leg with both hands, and choked out a sob.

"Master Wu, save me!"

Wu Liangchen was taken by surprise, but he quickly composed himself. A faint smile played on his lips. "Lord Xu, what is all this?"

Seeing that Wu Liangchen and her younger brother had returned, Jiang Xiu no longer dared to cause a scene. She dropped the rolling pin, stood panting for a few breaths, then pointed at Xu Kai.

"Master Wu, this old coot went out for a bit and came back with all these beauties! Says they’re a gift from Prince Jing. Bah! I don’t buy it for a second. He bought them himself, I’m sure of it."

"I’ve been framed, Master Wu!" Xu Kai cried, proclaiming his innocence to the heavens. He turned to Wu Liangchen. "Master Wu, these maids were a gift from Prince Jing to *you*. I tried to refuse, but he forced them on me."

Xu Kai then recounted the whole story.

Jiang Xiu was dumbstruck. Realizing she had wrongly accused Xu Kai, she lowered her head in embarrassment.

Wu Liangchen just laughed heartily, then bent down to pat Xu Kai on the shoulder.

"I’m in no position to enjoy the company of these beauties. Didn’t Prince Jing say that if I didn’t want them, they would be gifted to you? Well, now they’re all yours!"

Xu Kai was horrified. "Please no, Master Wu, I..."

But before he could finish, Wu Liangchen had already turned to Jiang Feng. "Come on, let’s go have that drink inside."

Jiang Feng, of course, had no objection. He nodded eagerly, shot his brother-in-law a sympathetic glance, and followed Wu Liangchen, leaving Xu Kai standing there in a daze.

"Ahem... my dear," Xu Kai’s mind raced. He slowly turned to face Jiang Xiu, who stood with her hands on her hips. "What if... we have these maids specialize in needlework? Don’t you think we could make a lot of money?"

Knowing Jiang Xiu’s personality as well as he did, this move was both precise and ruthless.

Sure enough, at the mention of money, a look of both excitement and confusion washed over Jiang Xiu’s face, her anger instantly forgotten.

"How would we do that?"

"First, help me up. Then, you can listen to your dear husband explain everything."

As Xu Kai began spinning his tale, Wu Liangchen and Jiang Feng were already sitting down to drink.

The food was simple—just a dish of peanuts and a platter of cold roast chicken—but it was more than enough.

Especially for Jiang Feng. His attention was entirely focused on the jar of medicinal wine; he couldn’t have cared less about the food.

When poured into a cup, the liquid was a rich amber color and gave off a potent, medicinal fragrance.

"Master Wu, this one’s for you!"

With that, he downed the cup in one gulp and smacked his lips.

"How is it?" Wu Liangchen asked with a smile.

"Good..." Before he could get the word "wine" out, Jiang Feng’s face turned visibly red, his eyes rolled up into his head, and he passed out cold.

Watching Jiang Feng, now sprawled on the table and snoring like thunder, Wu Liangchen shook his head with a resigned sigh.

He now understood why Jiang Minghai was so dead set against letting him touch the medicinal wine.

The reason was simple: the wine was incredibly potent, far too strong for an ordinary Martial Artist to handle.

Wu Liangchen estimated that only a Martial Artist at the Third Realm, or perhaps even the Minor Fourth Realm, could withstand the wine’s kick.

Jiang Feng’s Cultivation was somewhere above the Second Realm but not yet at the Third. Naturally, he couldn’t handle it and was knocked out by a single cup.

Wu Liangchen didn’t bother moving Jiang Feng.

The room was warm, so no harm would come from letting him sleep it off there.

So, he got up and headed toward the back of the house.

Wu Liangchen planned to practice with his saber in the rear courtyard.

He had just acquired a treasured saber, and the novelty had yet to wear off. He had to take advantage of the free time to practice with it.

While Wu Liangchen practiced with his saber in the rear courtyard of the Xu family estate, a conspiracy was unfolding in a secret chamber within the Imperial Capital.

"That is the situation," the man in the pig mask said gravely. "Wu Liangchen managed to repel Dong Zhenlei, even with Yan Hao present. It seems our previous assessment of his strength was too low."

"Indeed," the man in the dog mask remarked. "The man’s talent is extraordinary. To be able to fight a renowned expert like Dong Zhenlei to a standstill so soon after becoming a Grandmaster... it’s truly incredible."

"You two have said your piece. Now, what’s our next move?" the woman in the fox mask snapped. "What if Wu Liangchen decides to interfere? How will we deal with him then?"

"Judging from his past behavior, it’s highly unlikely Wu Liangchen will get involved," the pig-masked man stated with conviction.

"And why is that?" everyone in the secret chamber turned to look at him.

"Because Wu Liangchen has no love for Great Yan. In fact, in his eyes, Great Yan is a dynasty that should have fallen long ago."

"So, when we make our move against the nobles of Great Yan, he’ll most likely turn a blind eye, even if he knows."

Hearing the pig-masked man’s analysis, the others nodded in agreement.

"But what if he *does* decide to oppose us?" the fox-masked woman asked, still unconvinced.

"That won’t be an issue either," the pig-masked man said confidently. "As long as our plans are sound, he won’t be able to stop the tide of events, even if he does intervene." He then turned to the man in the dog mask.

"How are the preparations?"

"Everything is in place. We’re just waiting for the curtain to rise," the dog-masked man replied.

Hearing this, the pig-masked man immediately turned to another masked man at the end of the group. "When does Yan Jun plan to hold the banquet?"

"It should be in the next day or two," the masked man said. "He’ll be holding a simple enthronement ceremony. Nearly all the Great Yan nobles in the Imperial Capital will be there, even the two from the Martial God Temple."

"Good. Do you have a way to get the ’package’ inside?"

"I’ll give it a try. It shouldn’t be a problem."

"’Shouldn’t be a problem’ isn’t good enough," the pig-masked man said sternly. "It has to be ’no problem at all’."

The masked man hesitated for a moment, then gave a firm nod. "No problem."

"Good. Then we will all move out and begin setting the stage for the grand performance in a few days’ time!"

"Understood!"

"For the Monarch!" the pig-masked man suddenly shouted, rising to his feet.

"For the Monarch!" the others chorused, rising as one.

For the next two days, the Imperial Capital was unnaturally calm. Even the curfew was lifted.

At first, people ventured out hesitantly, but after seeing that everything was normal, they breathed a collective sigh of relief and returned to their daily routines.

As the saying goes, even though the emperor was dead, it meant little to the common folk. It wouldn’t put an extra scrap of food on their tables.

But the more discerning, however, could feel the chilling stillness—the calm before a storm.

Beneath the seemingly placid surface, countless undercurrents were churning.

Conspiracy and betrayal, alliances and cooperation, all played out in turn in every corner of the city.

In this atmosphere, time slipped quietly by.

And so, the day of Prince Jing Yan Jun’s enthronement—a day awaited by countless people with either anticipation or dread—finally arrived.