Hui Qingping, who had been sitting across from Niu Youdao drinking tea in the pavilion, set down her teacup, rose, and left.
Holding his teacup, Niu Youdao slowly turned his head and watched Hui Qingping leave Thatched Cottage Manor.
Yun Ji came upstairs just then and placed a secret letter before him. "A message from the Prince. He says he received a letter from Yang Shuang, Shao Dengyun's steward. Yang Shuang said that Shao Dengyun now has only Shao Pingbo left as a son and hopes the Prince can show mercy and spare Shao Pingbo's life. Yang Shuang says Shao Dengyun knows nothing of this, but the Prince cannot be sure whether this is truly Shao Dengyun's intention."
Niu Youdao set down his teacup and picked up the letter to read it. Once he had finished, he understood. Whether it was Shao Dengyun's intention did not matter. What mattered was that Northern Province had made this request. As a regional lord, Shao Dengyun had rendered great service in supporting Southern Prefecture before. With only this one son left, Shang Chaozong clearly could not bring himself to leave Shao Dengyun without descendants. Setting everything else aside, many of Shang Chaozong's men were Shao Dengyun's old comrades, and so many pairs of eyes were watching.
But Shang Chaozong also knew about the grudge between Shao Pingbo and Daoist Master Niu. Shang Chaozong could not make this decision himself, so he was clearly asking for Niu Youdao's opinion.
And for Northern Province to make this request, they had clearly seen that Jin Kingdom's great momentum was spent and that it was no match for Shang Chaozong. Shao Pingbo was over in Jin Kingdom, and once Shang Chaozong broke Jin, he likely would not spare Shao Pingbo for stirring up trouble in the Western