"What's that guy doing in Xiaocheng?" Shen Tang had a vague guess, but still asked aloud to make sure.
Xun Ding replied, "Qiu Wenyan offered him a high price."
Force might not sway Gongxi Chou, but money could.
Hearing this, Shen Tang said enviously, "Money really is a wonderful thing... But did he even do a background check before hiring Gongxi Chou? He had Gongxi Chou guard Xiaocheng, then provoked me into attacking Sibao Prefecture. This—ha ha! What a marvelous twist of fate!"
Quite a few people under Shen Tang had inexplicable ties to Sibao Prefecture, and Xiaocheng was where those ties ran deepest. At the same time, the place was a knot in her heart. Though she had never mentioned it all these years, whenever she thought of it, she felt a pang of regret.
Who would have thought—
She sighed, "Fate has a wicked sense of humor."
Her eyes darkened. "Perfect. I'll wipe away the shame of the past!"
If her opponent had been Qiu Wenyan alone, it really would have been dull.
Add Gongxi Chou to the mix, and things got a lot more interesting.
If Qiu Cheng heard that assessment, who knew what he would think? But even if he did hear it, he probably wouldn't have the energy to dwell on it. His side had been utterly crushed in the battle at Linshan County. Of the officers under his command, one had died in battle defending the city, in addition to those lost in the two duels. The rest had suffered minor injuries. His forces had lost sixty percent of their men in the battle, and nearly half of the remaining forty percent had scattered along the road. Watching his men stumble about like dogs who had lost their home, Qiu Cheng seethed with fury.