032 Southern Yue prince, party struggle begins

  As soon as Gu Yunxi's voice fell, the tall horse became more and more frantic, and the person on its back was thrown about, almost falling in front of the horse's hooves. Gong Sun Chenglin, who was riding behind Gu Yunxi, saw this situation and furrowed his brow, shouting loudly as he spurred his horse forward. Gu Yunxi only felt a white shadow flash over her head, shooting straight towards the frantic horse.

  Gongsun Chenglin's martial arts skills were already extremely high, and with his horse-riding technique, he landed on the horse's back, pulled the reins tight and stopped the galloping steed in just a few moves. The young man in green shirt on the horseback was very weak, and as he slowly slid off the horseback, he fell to the ground and started vomiting after taking only a few steps.

  Gu Yunxi furrowed his brow, exchanging a glance with Gong Sun Chenglin, both of them unsure what had happened. Just as they were about to approach and ask the young man in green, a group of horseback riders suddenly appeared before their eyes.

  A group of young masters in fine clothes and jade crowns saw the gradually subsiding spirited horse's eyes shine brightly, and when they saw the green-shirted youth lying on the ground, they were even more excited to whistle. Gong Sun Chenglin jumped back onto his horse with a beautiful movement, immediately attracting the attention of the group of young men.

  "Look at this wretched creature!"

  "But riding a horse is nothing, in my opinion even the young girls from Yunxiu Workshop are better than that!"

  "No wonder Southern Yue sent him as a hostage. With his ambition, even if he stayed in Southern Yue, he would have ended up like the small tribes of Xixia and Jiudan!"

  The eyes of the young men mostly fell on that green-shirted youth, as if they were shocked by his ferocity. The young man was lying on the ground, panting heavily and unable to come back to his senses. Gu Yunxi naturally knew not to make a big deal out of it, but unfortunately, the leading young master mentioned two words that he shouldn't have!

  Gu Yunxi lightly jumped off the horse and walked in front of the young man, "Here!"

  Lu Xiao raised his head and saw a very thin small face, with a pair of dark and large eyes that had no prejudice or hostility, just quietly looking at him. The wind was still howling, pouring into his slightly disheveled collar, the whole scene was eerily cold. In an instant, he felt as if the world was about to come to a standstill. His gaze followed Gu Yunxi's arm down and saw that between her slender fingers, she was holding a snow-white handkerchief.

  Gu Yunxi only felt that the young man in front of her was slender, but his face was very delicate. His eyes seemed to have a dazed look, and she didn't know if he was extremely tired or what. After a moment, he slowly took the handkerchief from her hand.

  "Halt! Who are you, daring to hand a handkerchief to this guy in front of me!" It was still the young man with the jade crown on his head, whose slender eyebrows and eyes were narrowed at this moment, as if he wanted to see through Gu Yunxi.

  Gu Yunxi's gaze swept across the back of the galloping horse, where a dagger was inserted, and it seemed to be the handiwork of this group of people. She raised an eyebrow, "I don't know what identity you are, but as the young prince of Nanyue is being held hostage in Yan territory, his status is equivalent to that of a king. You few are teasing him like this, aren't you putting the emperor's orders beneath your notice?"

  When that person's eyes sank, the corner of his mouth hooked up again with a cold smile. "Ah, interesting, who are you? Do you know that my father is the Minister of Works? You say Luo Xiao is a prince? Ha! It's really funny. Don't even mention he isn't one, even if he were a real prince, he would still have to show respect to me!"

  Gu Yunxiu raised an eyebrow, "So it's the young master of the Minister of Works' household——"

  That young man in Huafu attire raised an eyebrow, and a hint of arrogance emerged in his eyes. "What you said is right, I advise you to put away your handkerchief. If not, this prince will not let you off easily in this imperial palace."

  "Or what?"

  Gu Yunxi's voice was laced with a hint of probing, and the young man in the magnificent attire felt that she was afraid. He also seemed to be at a loss for what to do, looking around before his eyes landed on the whip in his hand. His eyes narrowed slightly as he said, "Otherwise, this young master will give you a good whipping!"

  A cold wind blew by, Gu Yun Xi tightened her collar and hooked the corner of her mouth, "So that's how it is, but what can be done about things that have already been sent out? Young master, you might as well reward me with a horse whip instead!"

  The young man in Chinese clothes changed his face, and a thread of dark anger flashed in his eyes. "You, you think I won't?"

  Gū Yún Xī's eyes slightly chilled, the smile at the corner of her mouth also sank, "The son of the Minister of Works is used to being arrogant and overbearing, how could he not dare?"

  If it was said that the young man could still bear it before, this remark would naturally make him unbearable, and he would immediately raise his whip to strike Gu Yunxi's face.

  The expected sound didn't come, and the young man in magnificent clothes was shocked to see Gong Sun Chenglin standing behind Gu Yunxi, one hand grasping the whip without any obstruction, his eyes cold and calm.

  "You, you - what a big nerve!"

  Gongsun Chenglin looked at the young man in fine clothes on horseback, his mouth curled up, and with a sudden burst of strength, he pulled him down from the horse. The young man was originally sitting high on horseback, but at this moment, without any defense, he was pulled down by Gongsun Chenglin and fell to the ground with a thud!

  Looking at the young man in fine clothes being thrown into such a sorry state, everyone else was frightened and dismounted to help him up. Gu Yun Xi's voice was slightly hoarse as he said, "This is Crown Prince Cheng, how can you people not even know to pay your respects when you see His Highness?"

  As soon as the words came out, the talented people realized that they had made a mistake. They were originally going to help up the Shangshu public son, but they were so scared that they let go of their hands and knelt down to beg for mercy. The Shangshu public son was rubbing his sore waist and back while his face changed greatly. He seemed to have a moment of surprise and uncertainty, but after seeing Gong Sun Chenglin's extremely cold face, he reacted!

  "I pay homage to Your Majesty King Cheng, I pay homage to Your Majesty. Yang Wei did not know that Your Majesty had arrived and has committed many offenses just now, please forgive me, Your Majesty, I beg for your forgiveness!"

  Yang Wei was battered and bruised, knocking his head, Gu Yunxi felt that it was really not worthy of his name. On the other side, Gong Sun Chenglin also knew that the Minister of Works was now in a high position, he just raised an eyebrow, "Put the little king of Nanyue on your horse!"

  Yang Wei was taken aback, seemingly with a moment of unwillingness. Only when he saw Gong Sun Chenglin's gaze did he get up to help Luo Xiao, who had by now recovered from his daze. Luo Xiao mounted his horse with unsteady steps and sat on the horseback, swaying left and right in an obvious display of poor horsemanship. At this moment, his hair was slightly disheveled, and his thin clothes were also slightly torn together, looking utterly down-and-out!

  Gu Yunxi and Gong Sun Chenglin immediately got on their horses, ignoring the rich young masters kneeling on the ground. With a flick of the whip, they headed back to the imperial palace!

  They remained relatively silent along the way. As they approached the entrance of the imperial palace, Luo Xiao's eyes narrowed slightly, "Thank you both for today."

  Gongsun Chenglin nodded and rode off, Gu Yunxi glanced at Luo Xiao and followed Gongsun Chenglin to the inner courtyard. As a hostage, Luo Xiao didn't have the power to enter the inner courtyard freely. Watching the two figures disappear behind the red walls and jade tiles, Luo Xiao's calm eyes suddenly lit up.

  As soon as Gong Sun Chenglin dismounted, he saw a group of palace attendants in black clothes led by a chief eunuch heading towards the Lingbo Pavilion. Gong Sun Chenglin's eyes lit up, "The Emperor is going to summon Second Brother!"

  Gu Yunxi stood beside Gong Sun Chenglin, her eyes slightly dimming.

  "Second Brother is now among the ranks of imperial princes. This time, with the reward and promotion, he will at least receive two more imperial prince beads. At that time, the gap between him and the Crown Prince's status won't be so big. We just need to make a little effort, and success will be within reach!"

  Gongsun Chenglin was inexpressibly excited, but as Gu Yunxi's eyes swept across the long corridor, she suddenly saw another group of nobles and dignitaries hurrying towards the Starlight Palace where the Emperor resided. Gongsun Chenglin's footsteps paused, his gaze slightly frozen, "It's the Crown Prince!"

  Gu Yunxi's lips curled slightly, "The real struggle is about to begin."

  Digression

  The end of the world didn't come, everyone have a good Winter Solstice! Have you eaten dumplings? Happy Winter Solstice!