After Zhao Mian determined the general direction, the envoys from Nanjing conducted negotiations with Dongling and Beiyuan for several days respectively. The three countries signed a series of peace treaties that could be made public or only known to the two parties.
Dongling paid compensation, handed over the people, and apologized. Beiyuan took out Gu Ruzhang's keepsake, and every move in the future to find the Xixia relics would be constrained by Nanjing.
At this point, the turmoil caused by the male and female Gu came to an end. On the surface, Nan Jing was the party that benefited the most, but only Zhao Mian knew that he had also paid a price.
Influenced by the teachings and deeds of his two fathers since childhood, Zhao Mian always maintained a beautiful fantasy of "one life, one couple" for his future Crown Princess. However, he did not expect that his father died halfway through his business, and his dream of becoming a Crown Princess was ruined by Wan Huameng and Wei Zhenfeng.
On the second day after the signing of the peace treaty, Wei Zhenfeng delivered a token of trust from Gu Ruzhang as promised—the seal of the Prime Minister of Western Xia.
In the last years of Western Xia, Gu Ruzhang was the actual ruler of the country. Every imperial decree and military order issued by the court could not avoid the seal of the Prime Minister. Some soldiers even ignored the seal of the emperor and only recognized the three characters "Gu Ruzhang".
After the fall of Western Xia, the seal of the Prime Minister disappeared along with Gu Ruzhang. It is rumored that whoever can find the seal can summon all the remaining people of Western Xia in the name of Gu Ruzhang to jointly fight against Yuan and restore Xia.
Zhao Mian didn't expect Wei Zhenfeng to be so generous. He looked at the seal, which was the same size as his palm and carved from gold and jade. Thinking of how it had witnessed the demise of a country in Gu Ruzhang's hands, he seemed to see a young man with white hair and a gentle face, wearing a purple Xixia official uniform, writing furiously under the dim light.
Zhao Mian raised his eyes and looked at Wei Zhenfeng: "You're giving this to me too?"
Wei Zhenfeng disagreed: "Western Xia died a long time ago. If you can restore the country with a seal of the Prime Minister, what are the past ten years of Beiyuan? No one's token is no different from waste paper. 'Reverse Yuan and restore Xia', huh, only fools will believe it."
Zhao Mian said indifferently: "Oh, you admit that what you gave me was just a piece of waste paper?"
Wei Zhenfeng said with a smile: "This thing may be just waste paper in other people's hands, but it will be very useful in your hands."
Even though Zhao Mian knew that Wei Zhenfeng was only saying nice things that he wanted to hear, his expression still eased a little.
Damn it. He knows that honest advice hurts, but he still likes to hear people praise him.
Zhao Mian ordered Shen Buci to put away the seal. At this time, Bai Yu came in and reported: "Your Highness, the carriage is ready and we can set off at any time."
Zhao Mian nodded and said, "Let's go." He turned to Wei Zhenfeng, "Do you want to come with me?"
"I have to." Wei Zhenfeng said, "How can I miss such a good show?"
According to the peace treaty, Dongling should have escorted Wan Huameng to the Nanjing Embassy, and then the Nanjing side would escort him to Nanjing. However, Wan Huameng was too sinister and cunning. Even though his martial arts skills were not very good, his trick of secretly poisoning people was unparalleled in the world. Zhao Mian had been tricked by him twice because he underestimated the enemy. This time, unless he was fully prepared, he would never let his people get close to Wan Huameng to avoid any accidents.
Therefore, before the additional experts sent by Qianji Academy arrived, Wan Huameng had been under house arrest in Nangong Mountain and was guarded by Dongling. Zhao Mian had the power to interrogate him at any time.
This was the second time that Zhao Mian and his companions came to Nangong Mountain. Looking at the Nangong Mountains again, there was no longer the gloomy and oppressive feeling they had when they had been there day and night. Instead, there was the spacious and pleasant snowy scenery in the mountains.
In fact, the scenery is still the same, the only difference is the mood of the visitor.
An old eunuch named Fu An had been waiting for them for a long time. It was said that he was the old man who served Lu Wang personally: "Master Xiao, young prince, please follow me."
Zhao Mian and his party followed Fu An through many secret passages and arrived at the door of an empty palace. Zhao Mian was just wondering why this palace was not on the map of Nangong Mountain drawn by Bai Yu, when he heard Wei Zhenfeng say, "We should be right below the platform of the main hall now."
Fuan was surprised and said, "The young prince has good eyesight and a good memory."
When Zhao Mian first arrived, he didn't notice that there was such a large space under the platform. He remembered the bamboo forest that trapped him and Wei Zhenfeng that day... How many traps in Nangong Mountain were there that he didn't know about.
In this underground palace which is exactly the same size as the Chiyue Platform, a huge and gorgeous birdcage stands in the middle. The birdcage is surrounded by black water, and there is only a two-person-wide path leading to the door of the birdcage.
Fu An told Zhao Mian that every golden thread on the bird cage was made of poison. Even if a skilled fighter was trapped in a bird cage, he would not die for a while, but he would become weak and disabled.
As for the black water around, it is also extremely poisonous. In Wei Zhenfeng's words, if you accidentally fall into it, you will immediately see your great-grandmother coming to pick you up.
Fu'an also said that this birdcage was a gift specially presented to the Empress Dowager by Wan Huameng on her 40th birthday.
Wan Huameng was locked in a golden birdcage that she made herself.
Lu Wang just abandoned his only junior fellow apprentice like that.
Wan Huameng sat in the center of the birdcage, his chained hands hugging his knees, his head buried in his knees, his breathing shallow, as if he was asleep. He was still wearing the bloodstained white clothes, and he lost too much blood before his wounds healed, so he was now as weak as a dying man, and there was no trace of blood on his body.
It seems that this is what Wan Huameng himself looks like. His growth seems to have stopped at adolescence, and his height and appearance have not increased with his age. He is always thin and short.
Fuan approached the bird cage cautiously and called out, "Master Imperial Master?"
The tip of Wan Huameng's ear twitched.
Wan Huameng slowly raised his head, his eyes blank for a moment, and when he saw that it was Zhao Mian and Wei Zhenfeng, he smiled: "Hey, it's you."
Zhao Mian looked up at the unreachable cage ceiling and said calmly, "Your senior brother is willing to lock you up in a place like this."
"What do you know?" Wan Huameng lowered his head again, resting his face on his knees, facing Zhao Mian and Wei Zhenfeng. "Ameng was going to die anyway. Isn't it worth it to use Ameng's life to temporarily solve my brother's troubles?"
Zhao Mian's heart moved.
Was he going to die anyway? Was Wan Huameng talking about the poison in his body, or was he referring to something else
Wei Zhenfeng smiled and said, "I can see that you are not afraid of death. Why, do you want to go down early to accompany someone?"
Wan Huameng was suddenly stunned and subconsciously grabbed his wrist, and the iron chain made a heavy collision sound.
"In fact, you may not be hopeless." Wei Zhenfeng said seriously, "As long as you find your lover who was poisoned before November 15th, you..."
"Not my lover." Wan Huameng said in a low voice at first, and then suddenly, as if stimulated by something, she raised her voice abruptly, "Not my lover!"
Wei Zhenfeng sneered, "Okay, okay, you're not my lover. Then what is your relationship—bedmates?"
Wan Huameng seemed to be stumped by the question, with a confused look on her face: "Ameng met him at the wedding banquet, Ameng liked him, but he didn't like Ameng, but he would sleep with Ameng, what kind of relationship is this, do you know?"
Zhao Mian said coldly: "He is willing to sleep with you only because you cast a spell on him."
"That's because my senior brother told me that life is short, and if you meet someone you like, you must take him home." Wan Huameng looked distressed, like a child who was worried about not getting his favorite toy. "But he was too hard to get. He didn't want to leave Xixia. I pestered him for a long, long time before he reluctantly agreed to see me once a month. He likes bamboo and painting, so I planted a large bamboo forest for him and bought him a lot of paintbrushes..."
Having said this, Wan Huameng's eyes finally showed a glimmer of light, but it was fleeting and soon dimmed again.
"But he never painted a single picture for me. He never used those brushes."
"I don't know what Beiyuan did later. He didn't even have his monthly period. He wanted me to give him the antidote, and he wanted me to let him go." Wan Huameng pulled the corners of his mouth, not knowing whether to cry or laugh, "... He wanted me to let him go."
Zhao Mian asked: "Did you give him the antidote?"
Without the antidote, Gu Ruzhang would not have survived until now.
Wan Huameng shook his head and said, "My senior brother also said that Xixia would perish and no one could save it. He was just a little bird struggling in the sea and would be drowned by the sea one day. I refused to give him the antidote and begged him to stay with me. I said I was going to die soon and I wanted to be with him. I kept begging him, begging him... I told him that he would die without the antidote and that he could only survive if he stayed with me, in Dongling - but he still wanted to leave."
Wan Huameng stood in the birdcage, crying and laughing at the same time, tears streaming down her face, like a madman.
In other words, Wan Huameng himself is a madman.
"Then I thought, let him die." Wan Huameng suddenly put away all his expressions and smiled coldly, "Anyway, he doesn't like Ah Meng, so let him die. I will find someone else to play with me. Senior brother dotes on me so much, I can find anyone. Then... On the fourteenth of the second month, he really didn't come again."
Zhao Mian was surprised and asked, "If that's the case, why didn't Gu Ruzhang die from the poison?"
"Because I went to find him." Wan Huameng's expression was as wooden as a dead body, but her tears could not stop falling, breaking on the gorgeous floor of the bird cage. "I went to Xixia, to Gu's house, and I cured his poison."
"But he didn't say a word to me."
Listening to Wan Huameng's words, it is not difficult to see that not only has Wan Huameng's appearance remained the same for more than ten years, but his mind also seems to be frozen in his youth. He doesn't care about many things because he doesn't understand them at all.
Gu Ruzhang knew that Xixia would eventually fall. He knew from the beginning to the end that his actions could not change the fate of Xixia's fall, so he worked hard to leave the last hope for Xixia's descendants, right
"That's enough." Wei Zhenfeng felt sleepy after listening to this love-hate relationship, hatred-sea-of-love story. "According to what you said, Gu Ruzhang should hate you very much?"
"Yes." Wan Huameng suddenly stopped crying. He smiled at the two of them. "You came to me to ask me about the whereabouts of the Xixia treasure, right? You are so stupid. He hates Ah Meng so much, how could he tell Ah Meng the most important thing to him?" His smile was innocent, like a child who knows nothing about the world. "You have found the wrong person."
Zhao Mian and Wei Zhenfeng looked at each other.
Zhao Mian: Do you believe it
Wei Zhenfeng: It’s hard to say.
(End of this chapter)