"My lord is inside. General, please come in." The guard leader spoke coldly. He was a master cultivator, exuding an unmistakable aura of murder. His inner strength resembled Mi Wen’s somewhat; they must have cultivated the same or similar technique. It appeared that this guard leader was likely a descendant of the royal family of Chu State, even though his face was covered, Ye Shikai couldn’t see his appearance, but his aura was unmistakable.

"I would like to ask, what does my lord mean by this? If all you wanted was to meet me, why make such a big fuss?" Ye Shikai looked at the people whose hands were gripping their sword hilts tightly, as if they were ready to draw their weapons at any moment. Even if they were elite guards, there was no need to be so ’nervous’.

"As for the reason, General should ask the lord himself."

"Hmph, out of the way." Ye Shikai walked straight into the hall. Mi Wen was seated, polishing the sword in her hand, her careful gaze appreciating it more as an artwork than a lethal weapon.

"Mi Wen, what is the meaning of this? Not letting my subordinates enter the city and confiscating my weapons, what exactly are you trying to do?" Ye Shikai ignored the ’way of the monarch and minister’ and questioned directly.

Whoosh.

In the blink of an eye, Mi Wen suddenly stood up from her seat, flashed, and directly appeared in front of Ye Shikai.

"Are you trying to kill me?" Ye Shikai looked at the blade next to his neck and said indifferently.

"Of course not." Mi Wen suddenly smiled, twisting her wrist to retract the sword.

"You wouldn’t be fickle by any chance, would you?" Ye Shikai was momentarily unable to react. First, Mi Wen arranged the ’Banquet’, and then she met him with a smile, making it difficult for him to fathom her intentions. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Come in." Mi Wen didn’t answer him but called the guards into the hall.

"My lord, what are your orders?"

"Take men to Mr. Chen and Lord Zhang’s houses, accuse them of spreading rumors, and execute them on the spot. Bring their heads back here." Mi Wen said coldly.

"Understood."

"What... What is the meaning of this? Killing people for no reason." Ye Shikai retorted.

"A few days ago, did you meet Wang Li at White River?" Mi Wen smiled faintly, starting to explain.

"Indeed, he sent a messenger to me, inviting me to meet him at White River."

"Do you know that this matter has reached Linxiang City?"

Upon hearing Mi Wen’s words, Ye Shikai’s heart sank. He vaguely guessed what was going on; a few days ago, Wang Li had warned him at the banks of White River.

Beware of those who stab you in the back.

"The matter reached my ears and those of the civil and military officials, so... quite a few people are impeaching you."

"Now I finally understand." Ye Shikai chuckled bitterly, surprised to find himself entangled in such a situation. As the commander of the Chu Army, meeting Wang Li, the commander of the Qin Army, was not unusual. But if they seemed like close friends, it would naturally lead to speculation, particularly from those with ill intentions.

"Many ministers are accusing you of collusion with the enemy, and some have even presented ’evidence’."

"Utterly absurd." Ye Shikai sneered. If he had any thoughts of rebellion, he could simply lead tens of thousands of troops to attack Chu Territory. Mi Wen couldn’t possibly resist, given that these were all elite of the Chu Army under his command. Naturally, there would be people who can’t stand seeing him, and upon hearing that Ye Shikai and Wang Li secretly met at White River, they exaggerated and lied, falsely claiming that he had thoughts of treason.

"Don’t tell me you believed it." Ye Shikai looked at the sword in Mi Wen’s hand and stepped back sharply, feeling disheartened. So many brothers were risking their lives at the front for Mi Wen’s great ambition, only for her to turn around and doubt him.

"If you had turned to leave just then, I might really have acted. But since you are straightforward and open-minded, how could you possibly leave with a guilty conscience?"

"Talk nonsense, you have so many people surrounding me; if I didn’t know you, I wouldn’t have entered the city."

"My lord, the heads of the two men have been brought." At this point, several guards handed over two wooden boxes.

"Take a look. These are the two who maliciously smeared your name, spreading the news in the city that you colluded with Qin Country and plotted rebellion. Now, I’ve killed them for you as a warning to the rest." Mi Wen looked at the heads in the box and smiled faintly. "So, how about this result? Are you satisfied?"

"Take them away, take them away. Just returned and already stained with blood, how unlucky." Ye Shikai waved repeatedly, showing a despised expression, urging the guards to leave quickly.

Speaking of which, Mi Wen acted swiftly and decisively, killing two ministers without hesitation. But because she killed them ’unexpectedly’, she instead ’blocked’ Ye Shikai’s mouth.

Indeed, since the slandering ministers were killed, Ye Shikai could neither blame Mi Wen for doubting him nor not thank her for her ’trust’.

Using the lives of two ministers, Mi Wen traded for one sentence from Ye Shikai’s mouth, "Thank you, my lord, for the trust."

"Satisfied, satisfied. I’m very satisfied." Ye Shikai clapped his hands, "So, do you have anything else? I’m leaving."

"Wait a moment. What are you in such a hurry for?"

"Of course, to go home to see my wife." Ye Shikai rolled his eyes, "It’s been a long time since I saw Ling’er. Finally coming back, you arranged heavy guards to welcome me. Now that it’s settled, I’m leaving."

"Don’t rush, sit down first." Mi Wen quickly stopped Ye Shikai; she knew she had gone a bit overboard this time, but she had to act given her position.

"Come, serve tea." Mi Wen called for the attendant to steep tea, while ’comforting’ Ye Shikai.

"Since we’ve already repelled the Qin Army at Nanyang, we should discuss the next moves," Mi Wen stated.

"The army Wang Li commands is gathered from various counties of the Central Plains. Now he’s been defeated, the Central Plains will become even more chaotic." Ye Shikai said calmly.

"The Central Plains may lack military strength, but they have numbers. We cannot invade yet. Therefore, we should take this time to capture Ba County and Shu County, using them as a base. In this way, of the entire realm, we hold one-third." Ye Shikai analyzed.

"Then, who do you think is most suitable to conquer the Ba Shu counties?"

"Who knows, it’s definitely not me." Ye Shikai waved his hand apathetically. He deliberately said this in response to Mi Wen’s expression, which showed she wanted him to lead the troops to attack Ba Shu. However... before Ye Shikai set off for Nanyang, they had agreed that if he repelled the Qin Army, Ye Shikai could have a period of ’leave’.