Novel Full “Please forgive me for arriving so late, Your Majesty!” A familiar sound rang. Murong Xue regained her consciousness and raised her head. It was general Zhang, clad in armor with a long sword bore on his waist, kneeling before the emperor, followed by hundreds of soldiers from the military camp.
General Zhang, in charge of the troops, didn’t come to the summer retreat with the emperor, but his troops were not far from here. Probably he had noticed something wrong, and commanded the armies to come as soon as possible. It was beyond his expectation that he was still late.
The emperor in his imperial robe stood uprightly with his hands clasped behind his back. His crown was tainted with a layer of dust, which couldn’t undermine his majesty and relentlessness. His face turned breathtakingly grim as he caught a glimpse of the bumpy and messy square with his bright eyes. “General Zhang, I command you to lead 300,000 soldiers and occupy Nan Jiang!”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” General Zhang lowered his voice after regaining consciousness from the shock.
Murong Xue winked. Occupy Nan Jiang? The emperor seemed to abominate Nan Jiang really much!
As the sovereign emperor, he had the ultimate power over life and death within Qing Yan Kingdom, while the youngest legitimate son of the prime minister of Nan Jiang, dared to plot against and appoint his pawns to attack him secretly. The emperor was thrown into panic and almost lost his life.
It was reasonable that he was infuriated and intended to destroy Nan Jiang for his majesty had been challenged.
“It is not that easy. They have a lot of those weird wooden snakes as weapons. So we have to ask Miss Murong to help manufacture some for our soldiers to enhance their fighting capacity,” A gentle voice rang. It was Qin Yuyan, who approached them slowly on a bamboo chair carried by her servants.
Being seriously injured, she couldn’t attend the feast, so she stayed in the yard. She dodged a bullet, while Murong Xue pushed herself forward in the battle. She had witnessed the whole combat in the yard, which made her astonished at Murong’s intelligence and fighting capacity.
With the help of Ouyang Shaochen and the other warriors, she had killed all the enemies, and saved the emperor, the empress, the civil and military ministers as well as their family members, which made her famous for her intelligence and rich knowledge. Damn!
Since she was a talented wooden snake controller, why not ask her to manufacture hundreds of them and exhaust her to death!
Everyone present fixed their eyes on Murong Xue. It had been well known that the wooden snake could not only soar in the air, but also be filled with triggers. Its novelty and breathtakingly powerful fighting capacity impressed all the audiences. If the soldiers of Qing Yan Kingdom could handle the wooden snakes, their capacity might must be doubled, which would be totally enough to tread down Nan Jiang.
“Sorry, I can’t!” Murong Xue stared back at Qin Yuyan and said softly.
Everybody was stunned as they turned to look at each other blankly. She did assembled the eight-tailed wooden snake just then. Why did she lie?
Qin Yuyan sneered at her. “Murong Xue, everybody here had witnessed you making that eight-tailed wooden snake.”
She should have found a better excuse. It was foolish to make a denial since her behavior had been witnessed by everyone.
“I only reassembled the eight-tailed wooden snake, I didn’t invent it!” Murong Xue stared back at Qin Yuyan from a commanding position.
“What’s the difference?” Qin Yuyan snorted.
“There is a huge difference,” Murong Xue retorted emphatically, “Invention means that I have to choose the suitable blocks, tailor them to the right size, polish them afterwards and put all the blocks together in the end. The whole process must be completed by myself. While reassembly means merely putting all the available blocks together and form a wooden snake.”
“What do you mean?” Qin Yuyan stared at her in complete confusion.
“The wooden snakes of Nan Jiang are made of blocks, which must be tailored and polished to the exact size. I am not a carpenter, so I cannot make such delicate blocks, let alone the whole wooden snake…” Murong Xue raised her voice.
“Just like a clever woman cannot cook a meal without rice, neither can you invent the wooden snake without suitable planks. Am I right?” Yuan Fangfei interrupted with sparkles in her eyes.
“Exactly!” Murong Xue nodded.
“It’s plain and simple! Even an uneducated girl grown up in the military camp like me can understand. And some noble princess who claimed to have rich knowledge is still in confusion. Such an idiot!” Yuan Fangfei smirked.
Qin Yuyan felt humiliated and her eyes sparkled with hatred. Is there anything worthy of being proud of? Qin Yuyan had never heard of the wooden snakes, so it was natural for her to feel confused.
Everybody was in agreement. Murong Xue did reassemble the eight-tailed wooden snake with the planks from other snakes! But now, all the snakes had been torn into pieces. They couldn’t compel Murong Xue.
“It seems Her Highness had great fun with these wooden snakes. If you can make these planks, I can reassemble them into whatever shapes you like including snakes, tigers and cheetahs.” Murong Xue giggled with contempt.
Qin Yuyan was infuriated. As the princess of Mo Bei, how could she do carpentry as those servants? Murong Xue was clearly insulting her! Such a mean bitch!
“Thanks for your kindness!” Qin Yuyan said gently, with her voice filled with enormous hatred.
“Don’t mention it!” Murong Xue answered unhurriedly, totally ignoring the spite in her voice.
Seeing the emperor was no longer staring at her, Murong Xue let out a sigh of relief secretly. Impressive as those wooden snakes were, they were defeated by her right before the emperor’s eyes. Though he didn’t say a word, his hesitant expression had shown that he hoped Murong Xue could invent snakes to enhance the fighting capacity of their army.
Murong Xue wasn’t good at handling mechanisms, let alone making the wooden snakes all by herself. Qin Yuyan deliberately put obstacles in her way, which offered her a chance to lay her cards on the table. The emperor would definitely not bother her again.
“Head back to the imperial palace!” With a wave of his sleeves, the emperor left in stride without looking back.
Attacked and nearly murdered by Cang Qiong’s snake army at the summer retreat, with the square destroyed and civil ministers, as well as their female family members being killed, the emperor was certainly not in the mood for relaxation!
Only through commanding the army to attack and occupy the capital of Nan Jiang, could the emperor give full vent to his anger!
The Empress, Madams, as well as the civil and military ministers, had to follow him back to the imperial palace. They came to the summer retreat along with the emperor, so they had to return with him as well.
As the daughter of the Country-guarding Marquis, Murong Xue didn’t need to go back to the capital. She winked at the group of people gradually fading away in the distance.