Chapter 11613 — What Is There to Panic About

Wei Zhao promptly summoned Wei Baizhan and the others and set off for the Prince of Han's estate.

Throughout the Inner Royal Court, from top to bottom, countless eyes were fixed on Wei Zhao's every move; seeing him head for the Prince of Han's estate, the great figures of every faction could not help but breathe a quiet sigh of relief.

The Son of Heaven of Zhou above all.

What he feared most now was Wei Zhao coming to his door to settle accounts; should Wei Zhao take offense at a word and simply overturn the table, with the little foundation he had, he truly did not know what he would do.

Now it was fine—with the Prince of Han's estate standing in front of him, whatever happened, he could at least breathe easier.

Every faction waited to see the spectacle.

The Prince of Han's estate, by contrast, was in utter chaos from top to bottom at the sight of Wei Zhao and his party arriving, every heart seized with panic.

No good could come of this visit!

Anyone with eyes could see that much.

From Wei Zhao's standpoint, the Prince of Han's estate was the very model of returning kindness with enmity; now that the reckoning had come after the autumn harvest, it was only reasonable that they should be the first dragged out to wet the blade.

"What is there to panic about! Would Wei Zhao really dare lay a hand on the likes of us?"

Han Jiechen cursed furiously.

For all his words, terror churned in his own heart as well.

In reason, no one should yet be so arrogant as to come to one's door and wipe out an entire princely estate—but given Wei Zhao's string of audacious deeds, he had done things even more arrogant than this; would he shrink from destroying the Han estate, weakest of the seven great princely estates?

If things went badly, the Han estate might truly be exterminated, root and branch, this very day!

Racing against Wei Zhao's arrival, Han Jiechen hurried off to knock open the doors of his family shrine once more.

All seven great princely estates had ancestral forebears holding watch; the Han estate was naturally no exception.

Yet the result was the same as before: the several forebears enshrined within the shrine gave no response at all, not for the longest while.

"Can it be that Heaven truly means to destroy me..."

Han Jiechen was at a loss.

Just then, the calm voice of the Han Chancellor sounded suddenly behind him: "Your Highness need not panic. It is only one Wei Zhao; he can be settled easily enough."

Han Jiechen was half doubtful, half convinced: "You are truly certain?"

The Han Chancellor nodded composedly: "Rest easy, Your Highness. Leave everything to me."

He did not know where the man found such confidence, but meeting his eyes, Han Jiechen felt himself grow calm for no reason he could name.

"With those words from you, this prince is much reassured."

Han Jiechen suddenly found something odd and pointed at the black cat cradled in the other's arms: "Since when did you start petting cats?"

Chief Administrator Han smiled faintly. "A small hobby of mine, nothing more."

Han Jiechen did not press further, and in an instant his spirits soared again. "All right, then—let us go and meet this Wei Zhao, and see what other tricks he can possibly pull!"

The two of them promptly made their way to the estate's main gate.

Just then, Wei Zhao and his party arrived.

"Lord Prince of Qi, it has been far too long."

Wei Zhao's greeting shut Han Jiechen down on the spot.

I only finished kneeling to you yesterday, for hell's sake—and already it has been "far too long"?

Han Jiechen gave a sheepish laugh. "Far too long indeed."

Wei Zhao's gaze then shifted to Chief Administrator Han at his side. "Chief Administrator Han, it has been a while."

Chief Administrator Han smiled and cupped his hands. "Brother Lin, it has been a while."

The two exchanged a look.

Wei Zhao was quietly puzzled. Though the man's identity as a mole for the gods had indeed startled him, the Chief Administrator Han before him gave him a feeling that went well beyond merely being a mole.

His impression was the same as that of everyone else in the Prince of Qi's estate—it was as though the man had been swapped for another person entirely.

Could it be that the situation with Chief Administrator Han, this mole, was not quite what he had previously imagined?

Wei Zhao's gaze then fell upon the black cat in the other's arms.

"That is a fine doll."

Everyone present was struck dumb at once.

Where was the doll in this? Was this not a perfectly real, living cat?

A flicker of shock passed through the depths of Chief Administrator Han's eyes, though his face bore a smile as he said, "Brother Lin truly has a keen eye. At first I took it for a stray cat, and only later discovered it was a doll. I never expected Brother Lin to see through it at a glance."

Han Jiechen and the others grew all the more astonished—so it really was a doll after all?

Wei Zhao looked Chief Administrator Han up and down anew. "I never noticed before—it turns out Chief Administrator Han has such a childlike side. Rare indeed."

Chief Administrator Han answered with a smile. "Brother Lin jests. This way, please. My prince has already prepared a banquet for Brother Lin. It is a rare honor for Brother Lin to visit our Prince of Qi's estate, and a fine occasion for us to reminisce at length."

"Then I shall impose upon your hospitality."

With that, Wei Zhao entered the gate, flanked and ushered along by the crowd.

The two sides took their seats at the banquet, and Chief Secretary Han gave a snap of his fingers. At once exquisite dancing girls emerged to perform and enliven the gathering.

The whole of the Prince of Han's estate presented a scene of song and dance, of peace and prosperity, without the faintest trace of the powder-smoke tension that had filled the air the day before.

Everyone quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Embarrassing as it might be to speak of, if they could muddle through this day's crisis by feigning ignorance, that would be a stroke of luck the Prince of Han's estate could only welcome.

After all, they were the weaker party now.

Some even privately let their imaginations run wild: if they could seize this chance to climb back aboard Wei Zhao's ship, then disaster would have been turned into blessing.

The Prince of Han's estate might truly be headed for a second spring!

But matters were plainly not so simple.

The moment the two sides raised their cups for the first time, Wei Zhao remarked meaningfully, "A year apart, and the Prince of Han has changed a great deal."

Han Jiechen's face darkened.

Nothing offended him more than others dredging up his past—especially face to face with Wei Zhao himself, before whom he was already a head shorter.

After all, without Wei Zhao's help, far from sitting in the Prince of Han's seat, he would long since have been bones in the ground.

The more it was mentioned, the more it made him appear the man who repaid kindness with enmity.

Chief Secretary Han stepped in to smooth things over. "Let's not speak of the past. It is rare for us all to sit together like this, so we had best look ahead instead. Brother Lin, what are your plans from here?"

Wei Zhao set down his cup. "Nothing much, really—just a little expansion of territory."

A chill ran through everyone's heart.

Wei Zhao had swallowed the entire Palace of Night's End the moment he returned, and still he was not satisfied? He wanted to keep expanding?

Could it be that he truly meant to move against the Seven Great Princely Estates?

Little did they know that the territory in Wei Zhao's eyes was not on the level they imagined at all. A princely estate belonging to a single house and a single line no longer sufficed to catch his eye; nothing less than something on the scale of the Sin Realm was worth his pains.

Wei Zhao's attention had already fixed upon the Inner Royal Court as a whole.