Hu Xiaotian said, "I'm not entirely sure what she was thinking. As for whether she wanted to kill Li Chenzhou at the banquet, she never discussed it with me beforehand. I actually thought she wanted to borrow someone else's hand to get rid of me." Everything Hu Xiaotian said was true. Whether he or Li Chenzhou was wounded or killed, Xue Lingjun would lose nothing.
Yan Dongsheng sighed. "Now I finally understand. I was mistaken about this whole affair from the start."
Hu Xiaotian said, "A friend of mine entrusted me with a letter for Your Majesty." He handed Yan Dongsheng the letter Yan Tianlu had asked him to deliver.
Yan Dongsheng unfolded the letter and read it by the lamp. When he finished, he could not help letting out a lonely, drawn-out sigh. All these years, he had regarded Yan Tianlu as a maggot clinging to his bones, a thorn lodged in his marrow, and had longed to be rid of him. He had even sacrificed his own interests to seek help from Great Yong, yet this time he had nearly invited a wolf into his house and committed a disastrous mistake.
Although Yan Dongsheng was not a capable ruler, he was no fool. As the ruler of a small kingdom, survival had to come first; only then could he consider anything else. His greatest fear had always been that Yan Tianlu would overthrow his rule. Only now did he realize that the truly dangerous enemy was Great Yong.
Yan Dongsheng said, "Reply to him on my behalf. I grant his request."
Hu Xiaotian smiled. "Your Majesty is truly an enlightened ruler of our age."
Yan Dongsheng shook his head. "Though I am no sage sovereign, I know how difficult it has been for Bohai to endure to this