Pei Rumo had a sharp mind. After hearing Bai Luochu"s question, he naturally knew that Bai Luochu was suspicious about the old emperor"s sudden desire to conquer the Desolate Region.

“Will you believe me if I said that I didn"t detect anything strange with my Emperor Father?” Pei Rumo immediately replied.

Bai Luochu didn"t immediately follow up with another question. Instead, she nodded and replied, “Of course I will. Your First Highness might use some underhanded methods to achieve your objective from time to time, but you are not a liar. Moreover, we are both in the Desolate Region now, you have no reason to lie to me.”

Pei Rumo was surprised by her reply. It was obvious he didn"t expect Bai Luochu to believe him. After a long while, Pei Rumo placed his chopsticks down and sighed before saying, “Sigh... Honestly, I feel that it is somewhat strange...”

“What do you mean?” Bai Luochu placed her chopsticks down and patiently waited for Pei Rumo to explain himself.

“My Emperor Father isn"t a militaristic person. He once mentioned that he isn"t someone who had G.o.dly strategies or overwhelming might. The only thing he wanted to do was to carry on the ancestor"s bloodline and ensure stability in the empire. Unless other nations come and provoke us, he will never choose to send out the army. When Emperor Father suggested expanding the territories for the first time, I felt that it was rather strange. I didn"t say anything about it due to his status. I thought that he picked the Desolate Region as there was no one to oppose us. We won"t suffer great losses even if a war breaks out. But from the looks of it now, it isn"t as simple as we think.”

“It is indeed the case. There is truly no way of knowing His Majesty"s true objective. If you can"t figure out His Majesty"s true objective, there is probably no one who can. This matter is getting really troublesome.” Bai Luochu felt that Pei Rumo didn"t doubt the old emperor"s orders as he knew what was going on. From the looks of it, he was clueless as well.

They stayed silent for a long time as they stared at each other. Bai Luochu could no longer endure the awkward atmosphere and she broke the silence, “Could it be...” Before Bai Luochu could finish her statement, Pei Rumo already knew what she was going to say.

“Are you thinking that Eunuch De Quan influenced Emperor Father"s decision?” Pei Rumo finished Bai Luochu"s question.

Bai Luochu felt that they were both thinking in the same direction. However, this made her even more uncomfortable. She felt like someone was peering into her mind.

Seeing that Bai Luochu was nodding her head, Pei Rumo quickly denied the possibility. “Being mediocre doesn"t mean that Emperor Father is muddle-headed. Even though he favors Eunuch De Quan, he will never let his subordinates influence his decision, much less a palace eunuch. De Quan is merely adept at a.n.a.lyzing my Emperor Father"s thoughts and is able to change his words in order to please him. Emperor Father is the person holding all the authority and it is basically impossible for De Quan to do anything.”

“You should know that this matter isn"t as simple as it seems. His Majesty"s thoughts definitely aren"t as simple as expanding the Cloud Water Nation"s territory.” Bai Luochu stated.

“Of course I know that. Since we are already here, we can only cross the bridge when we get to it.” Pei Rumo could only pacify her for the time being.

It started off as a pleasant meal but the topic became increasingly serious. In the end, the food started to taste bland in their mouth as the topics got increasingly flavorful.

...

Nightfall... The Desolate Region"s weather was pleasant and it was a rare occurrence. The wind was calm and the clouds weren"t covering the moon. From the looks of it, this was a sort of sign from the heavens.

A secretive shadow flashed into Bai Luochu"s room and it was none other than Qin Feng. The reason why Qin Feng was acting secretively was because he didn"t wish to alert Pei Rumo and the others. After all, his mistress" ident.i.ty of the true commander of the Palace of Brilliance Resurgence should be kept secret. The fewer people that know about it the better. Right now, his mistress wasn"t strong enough and if she attracted attention from the wrong party, things would go south really quickly. Moreover this was an instruction Ying Lan gave her before he departed.

“Something unexpected occurred. We need to have an urgent discussion.”

“What is the matter, Mistress? If there are any urgent matters, please go ahead and give the orders.” Qin Feng knew that Bai Luochu was a person who didn"t wish to trouble others. Even if she was the mistress, she would basically do everything personally. Now that she was requesting for help, the situation should be extremely dire.

“Do we have anything that can deliver messages?”

Qin Feng didn"t understand what Bai Luochu wanted to do but he still replied quickly, “There is. Commander Ying Lan gave this subordinate a messenger bird. Previously when I found Mistress, I sent a report back to him. It is able to make a round trip within a single day. Does Mistress need to deliver a message back to the capital city?”

Bai Luochu nodded and gave her instruction, “That"s right. Deliver a message to Ying Lan and ask him to rush over immediately after he settles everything at the Palace of Brilliance Resurgence. Tell him that the situation is worse than we expected. We need more manpower in order to achieve our goal.”

“Won"t Commander Ying lose all sense of reasoning if I say that? What if something happens to him on the journey here?” Qin Feng was rather worried. After all, when he was sent to the Desolate Region, Ying Lan gave him detailed instructions as he was afraid that he would be inconsiderate when serving Bai Luochu. Qin Feng was afraid that Ying Lan would lose his cool if he were to make an urgent report.

Bai Luochu shook her head and said confidently, “That won"t happen. Don"t worry about it.”

Bai Luochu understood Ying Lan very well. After all, he was Bai Luochu"s capable subordinate in her previous life and Bai Luochu was clear about his steady personality. He would be unfl.u.s.tered when facing all sorts of situations as he knew that if something happened to him, his mistress would lose a capable subordinate.

“Yes, this subordinate understands. Are there any other orders?” Qin Feng immediately asked.

Bai Luochu considered for a moment before adding, “There is. Remember to discuss the disguise with Ying Lan in advance and don"t reveal anything by mistake. Prepare a skin mask for Ying Lan as well.”

Qin Feng knew what Bai Luochu meant and immediately acknowledged before leaving the room.