Return of the Swallow

down as well.
Save your energy and keep me company.”

Qin Yining’s wariness decreased somewhat to see the emperor this way.
She perched on a rock three steps away from him.

Weichi Yan tilted his head to look at the leaves rustling in the wind, leaning back on the tree trunk and closing his eyes.
He spoke slowly after a while.
“Have you heard? The former emperor disappeared yesterday.”

Qin Yining looked askance at Weichi Yan.

He continued tiredly, “The eunuch in charge of delivering food to my royal father found that the food hadn’t been touched.
He thought that something might’ve happened, but failed to find my father after scouring the entire residence.
My father’s just vanished into thin air.”

“Do you really believe that, Your Majesty?” Qin Yining frowned.

“What?” Weichi Yan looked at the girl.

“No one just disappears like that.
If there wasn’t someone helping the former emperor escape, that means there’s secret passages in his residence.”

“Secret passages?” Weichi Yan sat bolt upright.
“What makes you think of that?”

“Because when Grand Preceptor Cao was arrested, they discovered underground tunnels in his residence.” The wily hare has three holes to his burrow.
Which old fox wouldn’t leave a way out for himself?

Grand Preceptor Cao and the emperor emeritus had known each other for their entire lives.
As decrepit the former emperor had been, he wasn’t lacking when it came to plots and schemes.
If even the dead grand preceptor had secret tunnels, the emperor emeritus surely had them as well.

It took a beat for Weichi Yan to fully react, but he quickly grasped the crux of the issue.
“You’re right, why didn’t I think of that?” He looked back to call for a guard and whispered some instructions.
The guard bowed before flying down the mountain.

The emperor leaned back on the tree and stared blankly into the distance.
“It looks like my royal father wants to take the silver to South Yan.”

Qin Yining smiled and didn’t say anything.

If the emperor emeritus really did take that large sum to the south to make Liu Yingshi and South Yan’s new emperor accept him as their liege again, then that would be entirely too naive.
Those in the south would take the silver, and the previous emperor would lose his life.

The rebels had finally managed to occupy their lofty positions.
Even if South Yan was just a small country comprised of several former Great Yan provinces, it was still as large as the sum of neighboring Japan and Goryeo.
No one would voluntarily give that up.

During the girl’s silence, Weichi Yan went through much in his mind.
In the end, he leaned back with closed eyes and remarked quietly, “It looks like the heavens really aren’t helping me.
Everyday, that old fart Li Mian encourages me to parley.
I trusted him and made his daughter empress, but he can’t be bothered to lead the troops into battle.
He’s a lazy coward!

“He’s only met the enemy once in all this time, and that was because he fell for a trap.
Not only did he lose twenty thousand men, that old fart would’ve died in the wilderness as well if not for Grand Preceptor Qin’s timely assistance.
The heavens refuse to assist Great Yan, natural and manmade disasters abound, and we have no talent to support the nation at all!”

Qin Yining finally understood what the emperor was here for.
He’d kept all this moroseness and dejection to himself all this time.
He was here to find a sympathetic ear.

At the same time, he was thinking of retreating and wanted to sue for peace.
But conducting negotiations now was an absolute daydream.
She didn’t mind dumping cold water over Weichi Yan.

“The peace talks that the Duke of An speaks of aren’t appropriate.”

“Oh?” Eyes filled with hope turned to Qin Yining.

“Peace talks can only be conducted when the two countries are on similar footing.
We need to be able to offer terms and conditions that will satisfy both sides.
That’s what a negotiation is.
Not to speak ill of ourselves and raise the enemy up, but Great Zhou has overwhelming, one-sided advantage at the moment.
What right do we have to sue for peace? And even if they agree to talk, what can we offer that will satisfy them?”

Those simple words plunged Weichi Yan into an icy cavern.
That little bit of hope he’d nursed was crushed to smithereens.

That was right, he was a dog without a master.
Why would the other side deign to parley at all?

But if there was no hope to do so, why did the duke continuously encourage him to try for negotiations?

Unless…

“That old fart is just pretending he wants me to sue for peace, he’s actually pushing me to surrender! He wants to put me in a disloyal and unfilial position! How will I face the Weichi ancestors?? He wants me to be the ruler of a ruined nation!”

Weichi Yan thought of his father disappearing with a large sum of money and everything he’d said, and the hypocrisy of his officials in perilous times — it felt like needles jabbing at his heart.

“What can we do, being born in the wrong times? Please don’t be overly sad, Your Majesty.
There’s hope as long as we’re alive.” Qin Yining looked down and comforted softly.

Weichi Yan blinked and looked blankly at the girl.
“As long as we’re alive? You think so too?”

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