Chapter 1104 – Across the Nine Provinces, I Demand One Hundred Percent (Part Three)
【Purple Wing’s Crystal】: Hehe—Having seen the plastic friendship between the streamer and Huang Song, I can no longer believe in friendship.
【Elegant Coolness】: If a real friend stabbed me in the back, I would definitely cut ties. I just don’t understand how the streamer and Huang Song continue to play friends without any awkwardness. Maybe that’s why the streamer can thrive in ancient times, while I only make it one episode before getting taken out.
【Fantastical Purple Starfall】: Of course, it’s for personal gain, #sigh.
【Moonlit Shadow】: Naturally, it’s about maintaining connections, so they can stab each other hard next time, #hilarious.
【Overbearing CEO Li Dui Dui】: Two drama queens in a meeting, after watching too much, I feel like everyone in the world is out to get me.
Through the livestream, the audience observed the myriad expressions of those inside the tent, their hearts stirred.
These people harbored ulterior motives, hiding daggers behind smiles; no one outside could guess the dark schemes they were plotting.
【Innocent Angel Zhou Qiluo】: Sigh, I feel the streamer’s dark value is rising higher and higher.
【Stowaway Non-Money】: I’m the first in the audience to follow this livestream, and I can responsibly say—the streamer’s persona is definitely not in vain!
Jiang Pengji glanced at the live comments, her eyes shimmering with a light smile.
To outsiders, it seemed she had swept her gaze across everyone in the tent and nodded towards Nie Xun with a bright smile, warming like spring flowers blooming.
In the past, this action wouldn’t have made Huang Song think twice, but this time was different.
“Lan Ting really admires Cheng Yun, huh—”
Huang Song murmured softly, the noise in the tent growing a bit boisterous, and he lowered his voice intentionally so only Jiang Pengji could hear.
Jiang Pengji paused for a moment, seemingly startled awake by Huang Song’s words, forcing herself to regain her focus.
“Cheng Yun? After all, he is Xi’s cousin, so it’s natural to feel a bit closer, don’t overthink it, Ber Gao.”
Huang Song said “don’t overthink,” but in his heart, he felt a tightness.
Once the seed of doubt sprouts, it is hard to uproot.
Just like a broken mirror leaves an undeniable crack, pulling out a sprouted seed will also leave a faint pit.
With Yuan Xin, the meddlesome relative, lingering beside Huang Song, Nie Xun finding himself as a solitary minister was no easy feat.
Noticing Huang Song’s somewhat strange expression, Jiang Pengji’s smile deepened at the corners of her mouth.
There was already a rift between Huang Song and Nie Xun, but this little rift wasn’t enough to turn them against each other; she wasn’t anxious.
However, she felt somewhat disappointed with Feng Jin and Feng Jue, these two brothers—
If only she could use Feng Jin to stir up a trust crisis between Feng Jue and Huang Song, that would be the year’s major drama.
Feng Jin said, “Lord, a tactic used once can’t be repeated.”
Meng Heng had already planted doubts in Huang Song’s mind about Nie Xun, and if the same situation were to recur with Feng Jue, Huang Song wouldn’t fall for it again.
Not only that, but he would also quickly regain clarity and dismiss any suspicions towards Nie Xun.
If that were to happen, Jiang Pengji’s efforts would go up in smoke, rendering her previous hard work futile.
“Huai Zhen is very wary; this kind of instigation won’t work on him.” Feng Jin knew his younger brother well, “His friendship with Huang Song isn’t ordinary. Ordinary provocations will not shake their relationship. Nie Xun’s position in the Zhong Zhao is due to his insufficient trust from Huang Song.”
If these words were heard by Nie Xun, he would probably feel stabbed in the heart.
After the banquet, Huang Song began to get busy.
Cangzhou’s two prefectures had already been handed over to Jiang Pengji; this became her territory, and as an outsider, Huang Song naturally couldn’t stay long.
More importantly, he needed to head to Chenzhou to deal with the aftermath and had no extra time to waste here.
“Shijiu, I remember your wife is still in Haozhou’s Hede County, right?”
Jiang Pengji keenly noticed that Meng Heng’s mood was somewhat off, and connecting the dots found the key.
Meng Heng replied, “The Lord is correct, my humble wife is pregnant and it’s not suitable for her to accompany the army, so I temporarily left her in Hede County.”
Jiang Pengji and Huang Song’s relationship, while appearing strong on the surface, was already riddled with cracks that could rupture at any time.
Meng Heng was concerned for his wife’s safety but didn’t want to bother Jiang Pengji, so he had to hold back his emotions.
Now that she had noticed, Meng Heng wouldn’t hide it any longer, candidly revealing the truth.
“Oh, I see; it seems I overlooked it.” Jiang Pengji’s smile held some regret, showing a bit of her cute tiger teeth, “Cousin-in-law staying in Haozhou will inevitably disturb Ber Gao. Since she is still in the early stages of pregnancy, and the war is settled now, I’ll send a team to accompany you to bring her back. I’ll mention this to Ber Gao to prevent him from forgetting and wasting time—”
The relationship between Jiang Pengji and Huang Song was quite delicate.
If too much time passed, Huang Song could surely come up with a host of reasons to withhold Meng Heng’s wife and child.
Jiang Pengji couldn’t give Huang Song a chance to cause a stir; on the contrary, she wanted to use this opportunity to give him a bit of trouble.
After all, Meng Heng’s wife lived with Nie Xun’s spouse.
When Meng Heng took his wife home, he couldn’t avoid involving Nie Xun.
Hearing Jiang Pengji’s arrangements, Meng Heng let out a long breath.
“Alright!”
With the downfall of the Cangzhou Meng Clan, the forces within Dongqing experienced another significant reshuffle, and Jiang Pengji gained another prefecture under her governance.
Having weathered the trials of war and the disasters caused by the Meng Clan, Cangzhou buzzed back to life. With enough personnel at her disposal, Jiang Pengji temporarily didn’t need to borrow people from Wanzhou.
Yang Si saw the predicament and thought, “Time to escape.”
He still bore heavy responsibilities, overseeing the withdrawal of troops stationed in Chenzhou, and was quite busy.
Before leaving, Yang Si gallantly took Dian Yin with him.
The honest Dian Yin was deeply grateful.
Ever since he learned to read, he had been used as a half-culture man by his lord; heaven knows he was only interested in military books and strategies.
These two could find an excuse to slip away, but the others were not so lucky.
After every battle, overtime had become a routine.
Before Huang Song left, he almost took away all the gentry’s forces from Cangzhou.
The wealthy gentry left, naturally taking most of the money, grains, and various officials with them.
Now, Cangzhou was left desolate, with countless starving common people waiting for Jiang Pengji to offer sustenance.
Rebuilding after the war was her forte.
Having accumulated enough experience in the past, it was not difficult to run things smoothly now.
As long as they pulled together to get through the hardest half-year, with next year’s harvest in sight, Cangzhou would flourish again.
Of course, the blueprint painted was beautiful; behind it lay the tireless labor of Feng Zhen, Wei Ci, Feng Jin, and others.
“How to relieve worries? Only by petting cats.”
Feng Zhen absentmindedly rubbed Wei Ci’s beloved pet, and the pressure of overtime eased away.
Fortunately, the little guy was still young; if it were older, it might slap away rude people with its paw.
“I heard the Yi Clan envoy from Beiyuan was summoned back right after arriving at Yumen Pass—”
Wei Ci held a pen in both hands, multitasking.
He was dealing with two sets of documents while also having to endure Feng Zhen’s endless chatter.
“The situation in Beiyuan is more complicated than in Dongqing—even more so—the struggles for power among the gentry are incredibly unstable, with one side performing while the other waits, not wanting to be left behind. Yi Clan’s formidable adversaries are leading the resistance; naturally, they can’t spare their focus to covet Cangzhou—”
