Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

The Second Prince smiled bitterly and dismounted, then dragged a black-faced Tenth Princess off her horse. On the other side, Zhangsun Wuji had dismounted as well, then pulled Meng Fuyao off her horse as well.

Upon touching the ground, King Meng squatted down and started wailing, “My legs are swollen from running, they've already gone numb, I can't stand up, aiyo…”

Meng Fuyao rubbed her legs and raised her head to look at an official who looked extremely sheepish. Sighing, she said, “You, Xuanji, must cure this…”

She shook her head, and everyone present rolled their eyes and face-palmed.

However, King Meng wasn't done. She sighed again and continued, “The people of Xuanji have questionable morals…”

Everyone's faces fell as she pouted without continuing her sentence. However, her expression was even more tortuous than listening to her.

King Meng seemed to be oblivious to other people's feelings as she continued to be engrossed in her monologue, “You…”

The Second Prince suddenly interrupted and said, “Since King Meng is unable to walk, then please return to your horse.”

Meng Fuyao seemed not to have heard him as she continued, “… King Meng has been chased by murderers and robbed, I am currently in post-trauma stress, and both of my legs have gone soft. I'll have to apologize for my lack of respect, I'll be squatting here, if it doesn't obstruct you, you guys go ahead, go ahead.”

All of the Xuanji officials looked up at the sky in disbelief…

'With you like this, how are we to continue?'

Only the honorable and calm Crown Prince Zhangsun seemed not to mind at all, pulling the Second Prince and Tenth Princess along as they completed the ceremonial greeting, completely apathetic to King Meng who was still squatting on the ground. However, the Tenth Princess had not managed to reach Zhangsun Wuji's level of apathy, and after every few sentences, she would glance at Meng Fuyao uncomfortably.

If Meng Fuyao simply squatted there and kept quiet, it would have been easier, but even when squatting, she refused to remain quiet. She suddenly raised her head to face Xuanji's Prime Minister and said a few lines.

Her mouth was moving, yet no sound came out. The Prime Minister couldn't hear her clearly and glanced at her questioningly. Meng Fuyao “said” a few lines again, and the Prime Minister could not stand it any longer, hurrying towards her and bowing slightly as he asked, “Dare I ask what requests the King of Han has?”

However, Meng Fuyao cupped her hands around her ears and said loudly, “Ah? What are you saying? Ah? I can't hear you.”

The Prime Minister's mouth twitched again as he bent down a notch lower and repeated his words in a louder volume, but Meng Fuyao still tilted her head and asked, “Ah?”

All the officials looked sympathetically at their Prime Minister, who was by now nearly kissing the floor, recalling that he seemed to have a back problem? Tsk tsk, they had heard that whoever offended King Meng would receive tenfold in revenge, and the higher the position, the more she liked to go against them, sigh… The Prime Minister's role was indeed not something anyone could take on.

“I'll say, your position is way too prestigious,” Meng Fuyao finally said after “listening” for half a day. She raised her head and smiled. “However, I'm a guest, so how could you look down on me while speaking? Is Xuanji used to speaking down to diplomats coming to discuss international affairs?”

Such a heavy accusation seemed too much for the Prime Minister to bear.

Hence, under the stares of everyone around, the number one most respected Prime Minister of Xuanji grimaced and squatted down carefully and faced Meng Fuyao, waiting for her to speak.

The two of them squatted facing each other, extremely quiet.

Half an hour pa.s.sed by as the two of them stared at each other in silence.

Meng Fuyao: “…”

Prime Minister: “…”

After staring at each other for a long time, the Prime Minister couldn't stand it any longer and asked, “Does King Meng have anything to say to me?”

“Ah?” Meng Fuyao stared at him, “Didn't you come here to speak on your own accord? Why aren't you speaking anymore?”

The Prime Minister's face flushed red as he explained, “King Meng, you were the one who wanted to tell me something, that's why I…”

“Did I?” Meng Fuyao looked surprised and innocently raised her hands in front of her, “I didn't make a single sound, since when did I speak to you?”

Thud.

Xuanji's treasured Prime Minister… fainted.

After standing under the sun for half a day, bending his back and squatting for half a day, then getting embarra.s.sed so viciously, the Prime Minister couldn't stand it anymore.

Anyone who was human wouldn't be able to stand it.

The Xuanji officials rushed over and immediately carried the Prime Minister away, not daring to stay in front of Meng Fuyao a second longer. They were deathly afraid of her opening her mouth and making them squat with her.

However, Meng Fuyao casually stood up and glanced in the direction where the Prime Minister was being carried away and said regretfully, “Aiya, I wanted to have a good conversation with the Prime Minister, if the conversation went well, I would have written off everything that we have suffered on the way here out of goodwill, but now it seems… Tsk tsk, there's no sincerity at all.”

The Xuanji officials collapsed for the third time…

However, Meng Fuyao simply shook her head ignorantly and returned to her horse. Suddenly, her legs were no longer aching, her neck no longer sore, and even her movements became swift and light. When she was still several meters away from her horse, she gracefully leaped onto it, even giving a beautiful pose in midair. When the Xuanji officials saw it, their faces darkened.

The fourth blow…

Truly… shameless to no end.

The extravagant procession was precisely to compensate them for the “attacks” they had “suffered” during their “disappearance,” and the Xuanji officials had intended to make them feel guilty under their warm and generous hospitality. Unfortunately, before any of their plans could take action, the other party had not given them even a chance to speak before shutting them down completely.

Putting on airs and refusing to let matters rest, Meng Fuyao and company were clearly deliberately making things difficult for Xuanji.

It was truly life's greatest tragedy to have someone that was as shameless yet politically powerful as Meng Fuyao.

It soon became clear that one could offend anyone under the heavens except Meng Fuyao. She was the only person within the Five Regions Continent to have personal and close relations.h.i.+ps with three major countries, even playing a part in resolving the civil conflicts within the three countries and oversee the replacement of a new reign. Offending her could very well mean challenging Wuji, Dahan, and Xuanyuan—such a consequence was too heavy to bear.

The Xuanji officials retreated several meters away, leaving this incredulous person to the Prince and Princess to deal with.

The Second Prince forced a smile and said, “The sun is strong, why do we have to stand under the sun… May Your Highness the Crown Prince and King Meng enter the city, we've already prepared a feast for you at Ning Xi Pavilion in the palace, may the two of you…”

“Are the dishes prepared by a lukewarm fire fit for human consumption?” Meng Fuyao's response made the Xuanji representatives' faces contort. They had yet to think of how to reply to ber disrespectful and remark when she continued, “It is only fit for the emperor.”

Some people lived to torture others…

Finally, King Meng insisted on rejecting the feast, claiming it to be “pretty but not that fantastic and that I have to keep toasting and it's just a plaything created by n.o.bles it's not something that suits Crown Prince Wuji's taste and Dahan's King Meng's commoner background.”

After listening to her speech, they began breathing heavily as they racked their brains for a solution when the Second Prince asked courteously, “Then, the two of you intend to…”

Zhangsun Wuji smiled faintly and glanced at Meng Fuyao. “Ask King Meng,” he said.

The officials secretly rolled their eyes.

'The entire world knows that you only have eyes for King Meng, pleasing him is equivalent to pleasing you, perhaps even better than pleasing you directly, asking you was but an act of courtesy.'

King Meng slapped the table and began. “I came from a humble beginning…”

The officials lowered their eyes.

'We know, the way you speak is way too common…'

“I like wok-fried dishes…”

The officials began thinking, 'XX street or XX alley seemed to have such a restaurant, but was it large enough to fit so many people?'

“… I miss my mother's gyoza the most…”

Gyoza? What kind of thing was that?

“Steamed on top and fried at the bottom, filled with vegetables, once the vegetables are cooked the gyoza is ready, the steamed part is soft and juicy, the fried part crispy, filled with the flavor of vegetables… Ahh, truly unparalleled!”

… How can something be steamed and fried at the same time? And, was it flour or vegetables?

“That's it.” Meng Fuyao clapped her hands and mounted her horse, suddenly casting a smile. “Could it be possible that this treasured nation, which claims to have the most talented individuals, not know how to make a common dish like gyoza?”

“Ah, no, no, we'll make it immediately, make it immediately!”

Meng Fuyao sat on her horse and watched as the little messenger scurried away under the gaze of his superior, probably to search the entire city for “Gyoza”. Her eyes narrowed into slits as she smiled. Beside her, Zhangsun Wuji asked softly, “What kind of thing is that?”

“You wouldn't know either,” Meng Fuyao smiled, “I'll make some for you next time.”

“That's a promise,” Zhangsun Wuji smiled, “However, I'm afraid I don't know when we can finally eat something today.”

“We've already eaten before going out today,” Meng Fuyao said heartlessly as she glanced at the starving Xuanji officials who had yet to eat anything. “After leaving the worst possible first impression, there will be less of them trying to curry favor later on.”

Since the two of them didn't know when they could eat dinner that night, they decided to retire into their sleeping quarters first. Meng Fuyao glanced at the black-faced Tenth Princess who had excused herself and shook her head. “Trouble in the making,” she remarked.

Then, she glanced at the Second Prince, who had been trying to accede to all her requests, and shook her head again. “Not an easy person.”

Then she wondered aloud, “Who is the queen exactly? We can't even see her shadow, could she really be an old acquaintance of ours?”

Zhangsun Wuji smiled and said, “Come what may, when the queen arrives, King Meng will beat her up as always.”

Meng Fuyao snorted and suddenly raised her head to look at the moon. “Why hasn't that imposter not appeared yet? Is he waiting in Tong City?” she said.

Ji Yu appeared beside her as she asked, “Where is the chef that I asked you guys to receive, Hua Yan, now?”

“After we entered Tong City, some of us stayed in the inns, the rest stayed outside the city. After that, Mister Zong's Virtuous Guild found us and relocated us to a secret a.s.sembly point,” Ji Yu was still more comfortable with using Zong Yue's old t.i.tle, “The two of them are now in a manor at Sweet Water Alley.”

“Change locations,” Meng Fuyao said, “I asked earlier, the queen's coronation will happen on the sixth day of the fourth month, that date is an auspicious date, choosing that day means that the coronation is extremely urgent and important. In other words, all activity leading up to it will be under heavy surveillance. The Crown Prince and I will be under close scrutiny, and I expect it to be extremely difficult for us to say or do anything. Even if I put on airs and make them not dare to ask anything, they will definitely watch me from the shadows or find ways to follow me. Hence, I want all of you to a.s.semble and find a way to mix the two of them among yourselves and bring them here.”