Chapter 1225: Friend or Foe (5)

The guard took the Crown Prince’s token and letter and went to guard the General’s Residence. While the General’s Residence was quite heavily guarded, the guards in the palace were not to be trifled with either. After some effort, they managed to slip into Yuan Qing’s study without anyone noticing.

Yuan Qing’s eyes widened as he looked at the seal and letter in front of him. His palms were sweating, and it took him a long time to find his voice. “You’re saying that His Highness the Crown Prince and King Rong are both in the town?”

The guard nodded solemnly and said, “You should have read the Crown Prince’s letter, right? The Emperor of Great Yuan has entered Great Qi…”

“Wait a minute.” Yuan Qing gulped and hurriedly touched the letter to read it again. Why didn’t he see the words ‘Emperor of Great Yuan’ just now? Oh, Ogedei is here. Ogedei = Emperor of Great Yuan!

This was just a small town. Although it was a border fortress, there was no need for everyone to come here, right?

This really was just a small place!

Forehead covered in sweat, Yuan Qing wondered if it was too late to send a letter to his grandfather.

Seeing this, the guards felt some sympathy in their hearts, but it was better for everyone to share the pain. Considering the Yuan family had always been loyal, the guards unanimously felt that telling Yuan Qing was more beneficial than harmful. After all, this way, there would be another person to share the risk with, right?

Yuan Qing swallowed twice and immediately stood up to ask, “What are His Highness the Crown Prince’s intentions?”

“Control the innkeeper and assistant innkeeper they’re staying at and investigate their background. If the innkeeper and assistants are willing to cooperate, keep them. If not, think of a way to replace them quietly without attracting attention. Send someone to keep an eye on the inn and see what Ogedei and the others are up to.” The guard thought for a moment and said, “I think that’s all.”

It was not difficult to get someone to keep an eye on the inn, but controlling the innkeeper and assistants was too problematic. Yuan Qing could not help but ask, “Why must we control them?”

“Because Prince Rong is also in the inn. His appearance bears a 60 to 70% resemblance to King Rong, so he has to disguise himself. The innkeeper and assistants in the inn have all seen Prince Rong.”

Yuan Qing heaved a sigh of relief. If that was the problem, it would be simple. He patted his chest and said, “You don’t have to worry about this at all. I have a few soldiers who are proficient in disguise. It doesn’t take too much work for them to disguise one’s appearance. Those who have seen him won’t think that he has changed much, but those who haven’t seen him will definitely not be able to tell his original identity. Has the Great Yuan Emperor seen the Prince?”

“No.” The guard was very sure of this.

Yuan Qing became even more confident. “I only need a portrait of King Rong.”

“I have to discuss this with the two young masters.” The guard could not make a decision and could only ask the Crown Prince and Prince Rong.

Little Treasure and Little Bear were very interested in disguise techniques. Because it was not convenient for Yuan Qing to appear in the inn, they slipped out of the inn to go to the General’s Residence.

Yuan Qing entertained them in a remote courtyard in the inner estate. He had also summoned the soldiers he mentioned.

As the Yuan family had resisted the Jin Dynasty for more than 30 years, they had sent countless spies to infiltrate the Jin Dynasty. There was no lack of martial artists who came to help, and they’d picked up some invaluable skills from them.

This makeup technique allowing a person to completely change their appearance was one such example. One’s parents would not be able to recognize them even. One way was for a youth to be transformed into an elderly person.

Another way was to allow that person to remain mostly the same, but somehow completely different at the same time. And Little Bear was adopting this second technique.

Basically, the trick was to weaken his similarities to Qi Haoran and strengthen the differences. That would let those who knew him know that he was still Little Bear, but no one would think of Qi Haoran by looking at his face.

Little Treasure drew a portrait of his Fourth Uncle and handed it to the two soldiers. After taking a look at the portrait, the two soldiers simply applied some makeup on Little Bear’s face and trimmed his eyebrows. When they retreated, they indicated that it was done.

Little Treasure sized up Little Bear for a moment and asked, “That’s all? Why do I still feel that he’s very similar to Fourth Uncle?”

The soldier smiled and said, “That’s because you two are extremely familiar with each other. The thought of the father and son resembling each other is already deeply rooted in your mind, so no matter how you look at him, you see the resemblance. However, in the eyes of outsiders, this young master doesn’t look like the person in the portrait at all.”

Little Treasure and Little Bear looked at Yuan Qing suspiciously. Yuan Qing immediately nodded and promised, “I don’t see the similarity.”

Little Bear rubbed his chin and said, “We’ll know if that’s the case by appearing in front of Ogedei. Considering my father treated him as a trusted aide, I think he must have a deep impression of my father.”

The guards wanted to stop him. “Young Master, isn’t this too risky?”

Little Bear waved his hand nonchalantly. “This is Great Qi. Shouldn’t he be the one in danger?”

That was true. If Ogedei recognized them, they could just capture or kill him and immediately set off back to the capital.

After all, General Yuan had a 200,000-strong army stationed in Dading Prefecture, and this place was only three days away. Easily done.

Relieved, the guards calmed down.

However, Yuan Qing widened his eyes and looked at them. Could it be that all the guards nowadays were so bold as to let their master take the risk? Or did the palace guards have an especially strong mental fortitude?

The guards ignored Yuan Qing’s gaze, thinking to themselves that if Yuan Qing were to accompany these two masters for a month, his mental fortitude would also improve.

Now that there was no need to control the innkeeper and assistants, the risk was reduced a little. Little Treasure and Little Bear were very interested in Ogedei’s motive for coming here and planned to return to the inn to meet him immediately.

Yuan Qing followed behind them and persuaded them in a low voice, genuinely feeling that there was no need for the Crown Prince and Prince Rong to take this risk. If they really wanted to find out, wouldn’t it be better to capture Ogedei directly?

Just thinking about it got him excited. With the ruler of a country as a captive, who knew how many benefits Great Qi could exchange for?

However, Little Treasure saw it very clearly and said, “If you capture him, this chess piece will die. If I were Great Yuan, I would rather create a new emperor than allow myself to be manipulated by others.”

“So as long as we don’t want to start a war with Great Yuan, we shouldn’t touch him for the time being.” Little Bear instructed him, “Send someone to keep an eye on them. Be careful and don’t let them discover any traces. We’ll only capture them if they attempt to escape. But we’ve got to do it stealthily. This way, it’ll be easier for us to release them when the time comes,.”

“You intend to release him after capturing him?” Yuan Qing glared.

“Of course. If we don’t let him go, who are we going to ask for benefits from? His brother can’t wait for him to die quickly. Alright, stop following us.” Little Treasure said, “It’s not good if someone sees you with us.”

Little Treasure and Little Bear returned to the inn nervously. Coincidentally, they bumped into Ogedei and the others having dinner downstairs. When they saw a group of people coming in, they looked up and met Little Treasure and Little Bear’s eyes. This time, Little Bear did not hide but met Ogedei’s eyes openly.

Ogedei nodded at the two of them calmly, as if he didn’t notice the similarities between Little Bear and Qi Haoran at all.

Little Treasure and Little Bear walked over anxiously and asked with a smile, “Brother, is it convenient to share a table?”

While Ogedei’s subordinates were secretly on guard, Ogedei merely glanced at the two youths before agreeing with a smile. “Please take a seat.”

Little Treasure and Little Bear sat down opposite him and smiled. “Brother, are you a businessman from Great Yuan?”

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