The days passed, one by one.

Autumn gave way to winter, and Shangjing City welcomed its first snow of the year.

What’s the best thing to do on a snowy day?

Hole up at home and eat hotpot, of course!

The spicy, numbing red broth bubbled and rolled, making a GURGLING sound.

Thinly sliced beef was swished in the soup for a moment, then pulled out and given a good swirl in the dipping sauce.

The taste in your mouth was simply divine!

If she could have a pot of wine to go with it, things would be even better.

Unfortunately, the body Hua Manman inhabited had a terrible alcohol tolerance. She would get drunk after a single drink, and when she was drunk, she would get all dizzy and was easily tricked into spilling secrets by a certain dog of a man.

Resigned, she could only refuse the wine cup offered to her and focus wholeheartedly on eating.

Li Ji and Feihua Zhenren held their wine cups, chatting as they drank.

Outside the window, snowflakes drifted down, while inside, it was warm and cozy.

Feihua Zhenren had been staying at the Prince Zhao Mansion recently.

The food here was so good that his weight kept climbing.

Now, he had once again become a fair-skinned, chubby Taoist master.

Neither Li Ji nor Hua Manman asked him when he planned to leave, and he himself seemed to have forgotten all about it. He happily ate and drank with Hua Manman every day, living a life that couldn’t be more pleasant.

Perhaps finding Prince Zhao a bit too idle, the Emperor assigned him a temporary task: to lead troops to welcome the Xiliang Delegation.

The Second Prince, Li Hao, coveted this assignment. He also wanted to represent the Great Zhou Dynasty in welcoming the Xiliang Delegation.

Li Hao was a straightforward man. If he wanted something, he would take action.

He immediately ran to beg his Imperial Father, hoping he could join Prince Zhao in welcoming the delegation.

The Emperor thought it would be good for Li Hao to go with Prince Zhao and gain some experience. It would also allow Li Hao to keep an eye on Prince Zhao and prevent him from stirring up any trouble, so he nodded in agreement.

This infuriated the Fifth Prince, Li Yan.

He wanted to represent the Great Zhou Dynasty and welcome the delegation too!

’Why did such a glorious assignment fall to Prince Zhao? And how could the Second Prince have the audacity to ask their Imperial Father to let him tag along? The nerve!’

Sour water bubbled up in Li Yan’s stomach, nearly drowning him in his own jealousy.

He ran to his mother, the imperial consort, to complain about his grievances.

Consort Liu felt sorry for her son. She deliberately waited for a moment when the Emperor was in a good mood to request that the Fifth Prince also be allowed to join the welcoming party.

Unfortunately, the Emperor did not agree.

In the Emperor’s view, having Prince Zhao and the Second Prince lead the welcoming party was enough. Adding the Fifth Prince would make the Great Zhou Dynasty seem overly eager, as if they were lowering their own status.

The Emperor saw no need for it.

When Hua Manman learned that Prince Zhao was going to welcome the Xiliang Delegation, the plot points related to them immediately came to mind.

In the original text of "Palace Intrigue," the Xiliang Delegation not only brought a large amount of tribute but also the one they called the "Desert Pearl," Princess Longzhu.

In this kind of palace struggle novel, whenever a princess or commandery princess from another country appeared, it would inevitably involve a marriage alliance.

This time was no exception.

Xiliang wanted a marriage alliance with Great Zhou, and the intended groom was naturally the Emperor.

None of this had anything to do with Hua Manman.

What she was more worried about was Prince Zhao.

Back then, it was during a battle against the Xiliang army that Li Ji had unfortunately been ambushed. His legs were crushed by a giant rock, and he was struck by a poisoned arrow.

Although Xiliang was eventually defeated and voluntarily offered to submit as a vassal state, and the Emperor of Great Zhou accepted the letter of surrender from the King of Xiliang, for Li Ji, Xiliang was still an enemy with whom he had a blood feud.

And yet, the Emperor was making Li Ji lead the party to welcome the Xiliang Delegation.

This was simply asking too much of him!

Just then, the Emperor summoned Prince Zhao to the palace for an audience.

Hua Manman saw Prince Zhao to the door. She tried to hold back, but in the end, she couldn’t stop herself from speaking her mind.

"Can’t they just get someone else to welcome the Xiliang Delegation?"

Li Ji met Hua Manman’s worried eyes and heard her inner thoughts—

’The Emperor has so many people to choose from. Why on earth did he pick Prince Zhao to welcome the Xiliang Delegation? Doesn’t he know about the feud between Prince Zhao and Xiliang? How could he not spare a single thought for Prince Zhao?’

Li Ji smiled.

When others learned he was to welcome the Xiliang Delegation, they would worry that he might deliberately cause trouble and disrupt the diplomatic relations between the two nations.

Only Hua Manman worried that he would be wronged.

Hua Manman asked, confused, "What are you smiling about?"

Li Ji replied, "It’s nothing. The Saint’s words are gold and jade; how could they be easily changed by others? Don’t worry, it’ll be fine."

He patted Hua Manman’s head, strode out of the Prince Mansion, and mounted his horse, heading straight for the Imperial Palace.

Li Ji proceeded unimpeded into the Imperial Palace and arrived at Hanzhang Hall.

"This humble subject greets Your Majesty."

The Emperor told him to dispense with the formalities.

"Come, sit. Play a game of chess with Us. It’s been a long time since we’ve played together."

Li Ji didn’t stand on ceremony. He immediately flicked his hem aside and sat in the empty seat across from the Emperor.

The Emperor took the black stones, and Li Ji took the white.

The two were evenly matched.

In the end, Li Ji narrowly defeated the Emperor by half a point.

Although the Emperor lost, he was quite pleased.

He tossed his stones aside and laughed heartily. "Playing chess with you is the most satisfying. Everyone else deliberately lets Us win. Only you don’t throw the game."

It wasn’t that the Emperor didn’t understand why they threw their games. On one hand, they wanted to please him; on the other, they feared that beating the Emperor would earn his resentment.

Little did they know that he played chess precisely to enjoy the exquisite feeling of the back-and-forth struggle during the game.

Their supposedly clever attempts at throwing the game robbed the Emperor of that exquisite feeling, making even victory feel dull and tasteless.

Li Ji said, "Your Majesty’s skill at chess is superb. This humble subject wouldn’t dare to go easy, for this humble subject also wishes to win."

The Emperor’s smile grew wider.

"Anyone who plays chess wants to win. This attitude of yours is excellent."

As he was laughing, his tone suddenly shifted.

"We sent you to welcome the Xiliang Delegation. You must have some thoughts on the matter, don’t you?"

Li Ji picked up the white stones from the board one by one, placing them back in their box as he spoke.

"This humble subject naturally has some thoughts."

The Emperor’s smile vanished. "If you have thoughts, speak them plainly."

Li Ji said, "Although Xiliang has submitted as a vassal, this humble subject feels it is all just for show.

"This humble subject has fought them on the battlefield many times and knows their nature well.

"They are not the type of people to willingly submit to others.

"It is highly likely they are merely using surrender as a pretense to quietly recuperate and secretly look for an opportunity to strike back."

The Emperor was silent.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t considered this, but he had no better options.

Great Zhou and Xiliang had been at war for years. Great Zhou had already suffered great losses in both manpower and money. If the war continued, the national treasury might not be able to support it.

And another thing: he could not give Prince Zhao another opportunity to earn military merit.

Li Ji seemed to have anticipated that the Emperor would not respond to that point. He continued as if it were nothing.

"Your Majesty must have guessed this long ago. The reason you sent this humble subject to receive the Xiliang Delegation must be to have me step forward and intimidate those West Liang people, to give them a stern warning."