October fourteenth, East Flower Gate, Wei Residence.
Tomorrow, Wei Shouzheng would bear the imperial credentials out of the Capital and travel west to the Tanguts.
Night had fallen deep, yet the lamps in the Wei Residence's hall still burned.
Wei Mingde stood in the hall, clutching his eldest son's sleeve in a death grip, his voice choked with tears:
"Shouzheng!! I beg you-Tangut territory is a land of tigers and wolves!
You'll have only one chance in ten of surviving... I cannot stand by and watch you go to your death!"
"Father." Wei Shouzheng lowered his eyes.
"This journey is His Majesty's command. It is Great Zhou's business.
As a subject, how could I flee a deadly danger merely to preserve my own safety?"
Cui Shi sat nearby, covering her face as tears streamed down it, her voice thick with sobs:
"Shouzheng... if anything happens to you, how are we supposed to go on living..."
Wei Shoucheng clung to his elder brother's legs, crying so hard he could barely breathe. "Don't go, Brother... I haven't finished memorizing the Classic of Filial Piety...
You promised you'd teach me to read the Analects next..."
Wei Shouzheng crouched and wiped his little brother's face, softening his voice. "Little brother, I'll come back."
"Finish memorizing the Classic of Filial Piety first.
When I return, we'll read it from the beginning."
Wei Shoucheng nodded through his tears, but still refused to let go.
Seeing his eldest son like this, Wei Mingde paced in frantic circles:
"Shouzheng, if you insist on going...
Then, then!!! I-I'll go beg Ni Sheng!"
Wei Shouzheng's expression jolted. He turned to stare straight at his father in disbelief.
"He's His Majesty's favorite now, and the Crown Prince's teacher!" Wei Mingde spoke urgently, his voice low.
"If he would speak up and