One night had pa.s.sed and a new day had begun...

Yao Ying had a really blissful night and he woke up with a happy mood, even though his wound started to bleed once again. For him, the pain was worth it. When Yao Ling was coming, she accidentally kicked the wound open. Fortunately for Yao Ying, Yao Ling didn't realize this point. He quickly asked Xiu to help him change his bandage the night before and today, it was as good as new.

He was afraid to be scolded by Yao Ling ah~!

Lin Jian looked at the cheerful Yao Ying and the bashful Yao Ling, knowing that the former must have been bullying the latter ah~! When he came back from the local magistrate's house, he also saw Xiao Yu's red face and of course, he understood what happened inside the room. Lin Jian could only shake his head while laughing.

Lin Jian needed to tell Yao Ying what he had found out the previous night and he called all of the personnel. They decided to meet up in Lin Jian's room.

"What did you find out? Did I make a correct guess?" Yao Ying asked smugly.

Lin Jian scowled at Yao Ying's conceited look, but he had to admit that the latter was indeed correct. Lin Jian could only nod his head under Yao Ying's proud look. "You are correct. He will sacrifice two of bandit groups that bribed him to avoid being punished by the Han Emperor," Lin Jian answered.

General Hu said, "That local magistrate is so corrupt and disgusting!"

Xiao Fang sighed. "We can see that from how his mansion looks like. It looks so luxurious, in contrast to the poor people that surround his mansion."

Yao Ling murmured her agreement, but she reminded the others, "We shouldn't involve ourselves with this matter." She gave a pointed look at Yao Ying, Lin Jian, and Xiao Fang. They were involved with the original robbery and she didn't want to risk anything, besides, the three of them weren't even Han people to begin with.

Yao Ying, Lin Jian, and Xiao Fang naturally understood her reasoning. However, General Hu didn't. He asked, "Why?" His perspective about the Han Emperor had changed, but he still loved his kingdom. How could he let such a corrupt officer away?

Yao Ying shook his head and said, "You are the one who guarded the first bridal dowry and the local magistrate didn't recognize you because you put on a disguise. What if he knows that you are here? He will choose you as a scapegoat..."

General Hu indeed had been wearing disguise after Han Xiang's death, after all, he would be the first one that had to take responsibility... the local magistrate welcomed him and the princess at that time, so he knew perfectly clear General Hu's face.

General Hu naturally understood Yao Ying's point of view. Rather than sacrificing the bandits that were actually the local magistrate's source of money, the local magistrate would certainly prefer to sacrifice General Hu. General Hu sighed in defeat, "I don't feel good for abandoning the people."

Yao Ling said, "General Hu, I don't think it means that you are fully abandoning the people. By sacrificing these two bandit gangs, it means there would be less citizens being robbed by them. Just think of the positive side!" Yao Ling tried to persuade him.

They weren't saints and they couldn't help everyone... Survival was the basic instinct of every human...

General Hu naturally understood this point and he knew that there was nothing he could do. He couldn't even protect his head, so how could he try to protect the others? It was just his own arrogant self talking...

It seemed like this result was quite good. No war and two bandit gangs were eradicated. They didn't bother to continue staying longer in that small city and start their trip once again. Before that, Yao Ying and Lin Jian wore a disguise and deliberately hired a group of storytellers and performers to spread the news of Han Xiang's death and her blood letter to every place that they pa.s.sed by.

That group had just come back from the Shu Kingdom and planned to go to the Han Capital. Of course, they were at a slower place than Yao Ying's group, after all, they needed to earn money by performing in each place that they stayed at. They had heard about the princess' sad life story and felt touched, thus, they were willing to do it despite the risk.

They wanted the whole kingdom to know about their Emperor's misdeeds. Yao Ying and Lin Jian gave the storytellers' group a hefty sum of money, but they didn't forget to remind them... if there was a danger, they should stop spreading the news first before continuing when it was safe. After all, the Han Emperor must have wanted to silence them to save his reputation.

General Hu and Xiao Fang didn't object their plan, after all, their loyalty to such Emperor had been gone... If possible, they really wanted to change such an immoral Monarch. However, it was easier said than done. This Han Emperor was quite popular for his bravery and iron fist when ruling the kingdom --- so, it wouldn't be an easy feat.

They spent the next few days on the desert and it was a tiring journey. The trio wasn't accustomed to the weather and they were tormented because of it. The Shu Kingdom had never been this hot and the sun pierced their skin, making them feel dehydrated all the time. It made their pace become slower.

The water was limited and they kept feeling thirsty. General Hu and Xiao Fang didn't mock their condition because they understood their difficulty. They had accustomed to the weather, but it was still harsh on them too. They were the one who acted as the water guardians, so the water would last longer. There was no big city in a few hundred li, only small nomad tribes which were quite narrow-minded. They wouldn't welcome them, so they had no other choice to build a camp themselves to spend the night.

Yao Ying had inquired the wonderful place in details, so he knew that soon... they would arrive there after they pa.s.sed by the desert. After this wonderful place, they would pa.s.s through another desert before they finally arrived at the Han Capital.

However, they didn't know... Before they reached the wonderful place where Yao Ying planned his confession... they would find out another big secret that would shake their world once again...

Another truth...

At the desert, they were targeted by a bunch of bandits. Due to their tiredness, they weren't as alert as usual and it became a chance for bandits to try to rob them. If they were careful enough, they should have been notice the bandits' presence a long time ago. The bandits had been following them for the past few days before deciding to make a move.

They were attacked in the middle of the night. At that time, the ones who guarded their tents were a few of Xiao Fang's hired guards. They fell asleep and were killed easily by the bandits. Nothing happened before so they thought that the place was fairly safe. They didn't seriously do their duty. Fortunately, Lin Jian woke up due to the nature calling and he found out about the abnormality of the camp.

When he opened his eyes, he found that the camp was too quiet. The one who guarded the camp usually would chat to avoid falling asleep. He saw a few shadows that didn't belong to their group --- the shadows were of those big and burly guys. The body shape was too different than the Shu people and more like General Hu's.

Lin Jian quickly gave a signal to the other with a loud whistle, making his ally wake up and know that they were being attacked. However, he also made the bandits alert at the same time. Fighting was unavoidable. General Hu had briefed them about the possibility of being robbed, so they had prepared a plan beforehand.

Once an emergency like this happened, the women needed to quickly hide while the men would fight to the death. This was actually a disadvantage to them, after all, the bandits had gotten used to with the desert's weather so they were in full power. On the other hand, they were weaker due to the vast different temperature between day and night. At night, the weather was very cold.

However, they still needed to fight!

The women quickly hid behind a big rock, but they had to be vigilance just in case there were other bandits. The men quickly pulled out their swords and fought. The bandits smirked when they saw that there were only a few men in the camp and the bandits' number were two times more than their target's. Thus, they felt more confident.

It would become a long night for Yao Ying's party and not to mention, another big revelation that would make them unable to sleep!