"Who are the rebels?"
Wu Cangming strode inside.
The effeminate man pointed at Yang Cheng. "This man just impersonated the Crown Prince—he must be working with the rebels!"
"Your Excellency, I can testify for Young Master Yu."
The fan-holding man didn't miss his chance to perform.
Wu Cangming turned his eyes toward Yang Cheng.
At one glance, his face suddenly changed. "Yang Cheng, why are you here?"
Yang Cheng said flatly, "Wu Cangming, seems like you're very disappointed that I wasn't blown to pieces with the rest at River-Viewing Tower."
Wu Cangming's expression shifted wildly, then after a pause, he sneered. "Men, there's a rebel here daring to impersonate the Crown Prince. Kill him on the spot!"
"Wu Cangming, how dare you!"
Hu Po's voice was sharp with killing intent.
She now fully understood the saying: in Chanzhou, even an imperial edict can't outweigh a casual word from the Southern Guardian Prince.
In Chanzhou, the Southern Guardian Prince was heaven itself.
Now Wu Cangming clearly recognized the Crown Prince, yet still ordered his death.
Everyone around held their breath.
Anyone with a brain could see through the situation now.
Wu Cangming had just called "Chen Cheng" by the name Yang Cheng.
Yang Cheng—that was the Crown Prince's real name.
The person before them was truly the Crown Prince!
And yet Wu Cangming still commanded to kill him.
The Southern Guardian Prince's residence was clearly plotting treason.
At this moment, no one dared utter a word, afraid that even a wrong syllable would bring their own death.
"Kill."
Wu Cangming barked the order, retreating from the tavern at once.
He knew both Hu Po and Yang Cheng were terrifyingly strong. He had no desire to face them up close, leaving it to his army instead.
Just then, the ground trembled violently.
A massive cavalry force surged in.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—
Arrows split the air, striking the Southern Guardian Prince's soldiers with deadly accuracy.
In the blink of an eye, the troops outside the tavern were nearly wiped out.
A tall, black warhorse appeared.
Mounted upon it was a young man radiating unmatched martial might.
"Marquis Champion, why are you here?"
Wu Cangming cried out in shock.
At that same moment—
The Great Zhou's imperial inspection team arrived.
Compared to before, their numbers had been cut in half.
Most of those gone had been from the Zhuang faction.
Yun Jinghuai raised his hand, and at once his men seized Wu Cangming.
Then Yun Jinghuai entered the tavern with the inspection team.
"Yun Jinghuai pays respects to His Highness the Crown Prince."
"We ministers pay respects to His Highness the Crown Prince."
Crash!
They all dropped to one knee before Yang Cheng.
The atmosphere swept across the tavern.
Officials and commoners alike, one after another, fell to their knees in salute.
Ouyang Xue, swept up by the tide, also knelt to the ground.
People follow the crowd.
When thousands kneel as one, the momentum is overwhelming.
At a time like this, almost no one can resist it.
As her knees touched the ground, Ouyang Xue felt her heart suffer an unprecedented shock.
Tens of thousands kneeling to a single man—the force of such a scene was unimaginable to one who had never witnessed it.
Moments ago, Yang Cheng had seemed to her merely somewhat dignified.
Now, with tens of thousands kneeling in reverence, he radiated the awe of a god.
Though Yang Cheng was only ten years old and not tall, in her eyes he loomed like a mountain.
Beside her, Zhou Chong and the fan-holding man were already trembling uncontrollably.
At this moment, the two men wanted nothing more than to beat themselves to death.
So many had already said Yang Cheng was the Crown Prince, yet they still chose to believe Fang Wunian's words, convinced Yang Cheng was just a pretender, and even jumped out to play the clown.
Now, both of them felt they were truly finished.
But worse off was Fang Wunian.
After all, just now he had actually called for Yang Cheng's arrest.
Jiang Hengwu's head buzzed, her heart pounding uncontrollably.
Only now did she feel more clearly, more deeply, how high Chen Cheng—no, Yang Cheng's—status really was.
And how vast the distance between her and Yang Cheng truly was.
This was a man of immense power.
The highest figure she had ever come into contact with in her entire life.
Under normal circumstances, she likely wouldn't even have the qualification to hear such a man speak.
Yet she had not only spoken with Yang Cheng, but had been close to him, close enough to feel each other's breath.
At that thought, Jiang Hengwu's heart beat like a rabbit trapped in her chest, thumping wildly.
"Jiang Hengwu, you really have tricks. Without a sound, you've managed to latch onto such a great figure."
At that moment, Jiang Yuerou transmitted her voice to her. "If you rise to wealth and power, you'd better not forget to pull your elder sister up with you."
"Sister, there's nothing between me and His Highness the Crown Prince."
Jiang Hengwu quickly explained, transmitting her own words with spiritual sense.
Jiang Yuerou sneered. "So now that you've made it, you plan to deny me, your poor relative? Jiang Hengwu, don't forget, I know all your dirty roots. Your mother was originally just a courtesan queen of the pleasure quarters, who used her fox-like tricks to ensnare my third uncle, becoming his concubine, and then had you."
"Through my third uncle's efforts, her identity was whitewashed, so outsiders don't know the truth. But we core members of the Jiang clan know it all clearly."
"If you don't help me, one day I'll reveal your mother's true identity. How do you think His Highness the Crown Prince will see you then?"
These words hit Jiang Hengwu like lightning. Her face turned pale.
A moment ago, she had still been daydreaming about possibly gaining the Crown Prince's favor.
Now Jiang Yuerou's words poured over her like a bucket of ice water, plunging her heart into a deep abyss.
She realized the gap between herself and Yang Cheng was even greater than she had thought.
Because she couldn't even compare to a normal daughter of a noble family.
Her mother's identity could fool ordinary clans, but it could never fool the Great Zhou imperial family.
If the imperial family learned her mother had once been a courtesan, how could they ever allow her to be with Yang Cheng?
Truthfully, Jiang Hengwu hadn't had much feeling toward Yang Cheng before.
At first it was just curiosity, which grew into respect and awe as his identity was revealed step by step.
But now Jiang Yuerou had forced her to see the gap between them.
She suddenly realized she didn't even have the qualifications to cling to Yang Cheng.
Instead, this awakened a bitter unwillingness deep inside her.
And in that instant, her feelings toward Yang Cheng twisted into something new—love that could never be fulfilled.
Ding!
[Host, what did you just do?]
[System detects Jiang Hengwu's spiritual power is experiencing violent fluctuations.]
[Based on countless collected samples of spiritual fluctuations, Jiang Hengwu's current fluctuations perfectly match the state of "love that cannot be attained" toward the host.]
[Well played, host. Though you said you wouldn't accept the task, in truth you've already trampled Jiang Hengwu's heart without lifting a finger.]
[Congratulations, host. You've completed the third optional task. Reward: one mouthful of top-grade spirit spring.]
Before Yang Cheng, glowing system text appeared out of nowhere.
"…"
Yang Cheng was speechless.
What kind of situation was this?
Today he had only seen Jiang Hengwu once. To avoid more entanglement, he had refused to even sit with her.
Later, when she stood up for him, he hadn't even spoken to her.
And yet, somehow, her heart had been crushed, leaving her with unfulfilled love for him.
But now wasn't the time to worry about that.
He turned his gaze on Wu Cangming. "The Southern Guardian Prince's household has long enjoyed imperial grace, yet now dares plot against me and ruin Great Zhou's alliance with Divine Medicine Valley. Wu Cangming, your Southern Guardian Prince's residence is truly heartless and treacherous."