"Since Your Highness is in such a refined mood, wouldn't we be failing to appreciate your kindness if we refused?" Yang Qing replied.
"I have always liked those who know how to read the times," Mo Yi said. "With you being so accommodating, Master Yang, this special trip of mine has not been in vain."
"Thank you." Yang Qing bowed, then withdrew to one side without another word.
Mo Yi, meanwhile, stepped out of their carriage, brimming with satisfaction, and returned to his own private carriage.
Once he had left, Pei Buji spoke. "Yang Qing, do you truly intend to join forces with this Second Prince? As far as I know, he is a smiling tiger."
Yang Qing waved a hand. "Great Hero Pei, it is only a temporary expedient. There is no need to take it to heart."
"Now that we are in the Western Regions, we are like a slab of fat meat on someone else's chopping block, entirely at his mercy. If we refuse, who knows what tricks he might use?"
"Better to keep his men right before our eyes, where we can guard against them."
Beside him, Jiang Zhizhou said, "Yang Qing is right. A spear in the open is easy to dodge; an arrow from the shadows is hard to guard against. We have only just arrived and do not yet know how deep these waters of the Western Regions run. We cannot act rashly."
"Now that we have openly established friendly relations with the Second Prince, whether his goodwill is genuine or feigned, Mo Yi certainly won't stand by with his hands tucked into his sleeves if something happens to us."
As they spoke, Pei Buji's ears twitched. Then he smiled. "Those troublemakers outside certainly arrived quickly."
No sooner had he spoken than the