When he entered the palace, it was Li Heng who brought Chen Chao into the palace. Now, it was also he who was leading Chen Chao out of the palace. This was considered to be seeing things through to the end.
However, this time, there was someone else by their side, Xie Nandu.
Going back along the same route they took to enter, Li Heng smiled and took the initiative to speak, "The Empress has already retired for the night. Otherwise, she would have summoned Commander Chen into the palace to have a chat."
When Li Heng mentioned the empress, there was an inexplicable emotion in his eyes. Except, it was hard to tell what it was.
Chen Chao replied calmly, "We naturally shouldn't disturb the Empress."
Li Heng nodded and said, "Tonight's matter is just a small episode before the Myriad Willow Convention. At present, the whole of Great Liang is watching Commander Chen, so I hope that Commander Chen will treat the Myriad Willow Convention seriously and earn some face for the Great Liang Dynasty."
After tonight, it was only natural that Chen Chao would become the person that everyone in the entire Great Liang Dynasty would look at. Countless people would place their hopes on him and he was shouldering many people's hope. This hope was a driving force, but of course, under many circumstances, it was a true pressure too. He was very likely to be crushed too.
This sort of thing was always a double-edged sword.
Chen Chao forced a bitter smile and said, "It was just luck that I won that daoist tonight. If Lord Eunuch says this, I'll really be trembling in fear."
Li Heng did not continue talking to Chen Chao, but turned to Xie Nandu and said profoundly, "I heard that Miss Xie has been studying at the academy these days?"
Xie Nandu raised her head and looked at this young eunuch. After a moment of silence, she nodded and said, "Yes."
Li Heng said with vicissitudes of emotion, "Studying is good. Of course, the disciple of the academy's dean should study."
This sentence was somewhat incomprehensible, but Xie Nandu was rather silent.
Chen Chao also did not understand what Li Heng's words meant, so he just remained silent along with Xie Nandu.
The three soon arrived at the gates of the imperial palace. Those horse carriages had already left, even the carriage that had brought Xie Nandu to the palace had disappeared at this moment too. It seemed as if the palace had assumed that these two were going back together, leaving only a shabby horse carriage parked there alone, like a lone wandering ghost.
Weng Quan leaned against the carriage, yawning.
Li Heng stopped. Chen Chao and Xie Nandu bowed before leaving the palace.
Weng Quan saw Chen Chao walking out and waved rather excitedly, saying, "This subordinate heard that the deputy Commander killed someone at the imperial banquet!"
Chen Chao was stunned and the corners of his mouth twitched. "Who told you that?"
Weng Quan replied with an honest look, "I heard it from the palace maids over there. They said deputy commander was incredibly powerful at the banquet, even the foreign cultivators were no match for you, Deputy Commander. By the way, which one did you kill at the banquet?"
Chen Chao did not want to talk. He knew how dangerous rumors could be and how they could quickly spiral out of control. But he did not expect that the rumors had already become so outrageous even before he had left the imperial palace. In this short while, there were already rumors that he had killed someone at the banquet. Who knows, maybe later, someone would say that he ate people at the imperial banquet?
"Stop gossiping and send us back to the academy."
Chen Chao lifted the curtain and motioned for Xie Nandu to get on the carriage.
After Xie Nandu got into the carriage, Chen Chao turned his head to look at Weng Quan and asked, "Is it sturdy?"
Weng Quan nodded honestly. Pondering seriously for a moment, he said, "Although this carriage was converted from that carriage, the craftsmen of the Left Guard's office did a good job. There's definitely no issue."
Chen Chao was somewhat surprised and praised, "I didn't expect you to be quite smart." [1. referring to the fact that he didn't mention it was a shit wagon.]
"That's of course. This subordinate isn't my second uncle who is a blockhead."
Weng Quan was quite happy, likely because someone praised him.
Chen Chao thought deeply and said, "You're right, I'll tell your second uncle."
Weng Quan's expression became ugly.
The carriage headed towards the academy. In the quiet night, the sound of horse hooves became particularly loud.
This horse carriage of the Left Guard was not spacious. The two sat facing each other, not too far apart; only a few feet away.
The two looked at each other but did not speak.
Looking at the thin lips of the girl in front of him, Chen Chao was a little dazed for a moment.
After coming back to his senses, he frowned slightly, trying to recall whether he had washed his face in the morning. There should not be any eye boogers in the corners of his eyes at the moment, right?
Xie Nandu opened her mouth and whispered, "What's wrong?"
She exhaled her breath like an orchid, as if a gust of wind blew over Chen Chao's face. The feeling was very intriguing, giving him a strange and ticklish sensation.
Chen Chao could not help but smirk, "He pulled out all the stops, but I only used 60% to 70% of my strength."
Although it looked brutal before, there were some things that Chen Chao deliberately exhibited to create the illusion of an extremely difficult battle. After all, tonight was not an important event, the Myriad Willow Convention was the one that everyone was really looking forward to.
After thinking for a moment, Xie Nandu asked bluntly, "Those injuries on your body... How many times were you injured?"
Chen Chao thought for a moment and said with a frown, "Who remembers that? Besides, I didn't die either. Also, the wounds weren't on my face, why would I care?"
After saying this, perhaps feeling that his words were a little too harsh, he toned it down and said softly, "Anyway, it's not a big deal, don't worry about it."
After saying that, Chen Chao inexplicably felt that his face was a little hot.
Xie Nandu nodded and said, "I'm not worried, I just have some other thoughts. Mhm, I won't tell you for now."
She was definitely no ordinary girl. What those ordinary girls were shy about, seemed very hard to appear on her. But being too straightforward might not be good either.
Chen Chao smiled and said, "It's a bit hot in the carriage."
Xie Nandu lifted the curtain and glanced outside the carriage. The moonlight outside was actually quite good. Her dainty face turned slightly red.
Nodding, she said, "The weather in the Divine Capital is indeed much warmer than in White Deer. It's only early summer and it's already a little warm."
Chen Chao nodded and said, "Yes, it's a bit hot."
Xie Nandu stopped talking. The atmosphere suddenly became a little weird.
Chen Chao looked at that small face, thinking to himself what was wrong?
Xie Nandu was silent and just looked at Chen Chao.
Chen Chao understood very quickly and lowered his head somewhat ashamedly. But he was still stubborn as he said, "Maybe I wasn't careful when I was cultivating and missing something."
It was naturally very hard to convince people with this, especially someone as clever as Xie Nandu.
Xie Nandu shook her head and changed the subject, "At the upcoming Myriad Willow Convention, you'll become the target of many people. You actually shouldn't have taken action tonight. Based on your personality, it doesn't seem like you would care about the face of the Great Liang Dynasty."
Although Chen Chao had already gained great popularity among the people of the Divine Capital due to the two incidents in Tianqing County and by the South Lake, he was indeed not the kind of person who would sacrifice his life for the so-called intangible face.
Chen Chao stared at Xie Nandu and said rather unhappily, "I don't believe you can't see through this.
Xie Nandu smiled with a hint of slyness in her eyes, "I can see through it, but I also want to hear the truth."
Chen Chao sighed, "It seems like you're no different from ordinary girls."[2. In case it wasn't clear, she wanted him to say that he fought for her sake.]
The horse carriage stopped in front of a small courtyard. Someone had been waiting here for a long time. It was a middle-aged steward.
Seeing Chen Chao walk out of the cabin, that steward smiled slightly as he took a wooden box from the entourage behind him and said to Chen Chao, "Commander Chen, this lowly one was sent by His Highness the Second Prince to deliver some things to you.
Chen Chao was surprised, he did not expect this. When they were at the imperial city, the Second Prince said that he was going to gift him some spirit medicines. He had just returned to the academy, and his men had already arrived. Furthermore, it seemed like they had been waiting for quite some time.
He took the wooden box and said, "Please convey my thanks to His Highness."
The steward nodded with a slight smile. After bowing, he left with his followers, disappearing into the night in a hurry.
They had come in haste, and they also left in haste
"Alright, you go back and rest too."
Chen Chao waved his hand at Weng Quan. The latter looked at him rather pitifully.
Chen Chao nodded and gave him a look that said "It will depend on your performance."
Weng Quan turned around in pain and drove the horse carriage away, whipping the horse fiercely a few times along the way. It looked like he was quite angry.
Chen Chao stood at the entrance of the courtyard and sighed, "That Second Prince is really a decisive person."
Xie Nandu chimed in, "He can't wait anymore."
Chen Chao felt there was something more to her words and asked, "What do you mean?"