Leaving the gambling house, Su Yourong's face suddenly broke into a smile.
"Young Mistress, why are you smiling?"
Chi Chi looked at Su Yourong curiously.
"Silly girl, if I don't smile, should I cry?"
Su Yourong lightly patted Chi Chi, "The way I acted at the gambling house just now was deliberate!"
"Ah?"
Chi Chi was surprised, "Deliberate... deliberate?"
"Of course it was deliberate!"
Su Yourong smiled, "If I didn't pretend to be angry, would anyone dare to accept such a large bet?"
Listening to Su Yourong's words, Chi Chi couldn't help but be stunned.
"Alright, don't worry!"
Su Yourong comforted Chi Chi, "Shen Jing is a smart person, and a lucky one. He won't be in trouble! Let's just wait and watch these bastards cry!"
"Mhm!"
Chi Chi nodded heavily, "The Young Master is a blessed man, he will definitely be fine!"
"Definitely!"
Su Yourong also nodded heavily.
She was comforting Chi Chi, and also herself.
"Su Yourong!"
Just as they were about to get into the carriage to leave, a voice suddenly called out to Su Yourong.
Su Yourong looked in the direction of the voice, only to see Ye Xian riding towards them.
"Greetings, Young Master."
They all bowed.
Ye Xian stopped them, subconsciously glancing at Hengyun Gambling House, "You didn't come to the gambling house to place a bet, did you?"
"Young Master has sharp eyes."
Su Yourong nodded, "I heard that someone was betting on Shen Jing's life, and I was so angry that I specifically came to bet one hundred thousand taels of silver!"
Ye Xian's eyelids twitched. He quickly dismounted, leaned closer, and whispered to Su Yourong, "You didn't place your bet at Hengyun Gambling House, did you?"
"Yes!"
Su Yourong nodded lightly, "Young Master, is there a problem with that?"
"Oh dear, I say, you don't understand gambling. You could have asked me!"
Ye Xian was very warm-hearted, and then whispered, "It's fine that you placed a bet, but you shouldn't have come to this Hengyun Gambling House! Aren't you afraid you won't get your silver even if you win?"
Hmm?
Su Yourong frowned, immediately casting an inquiring look at Ye Xian.
Ye Xian didn't speak, but just opened his mouth to form a word.
Two!
Su Yourong recognized his lip-reading.
Second Prince?
Su Yourong understood instantly.
The boss behind Hengyun Gambling House is the Second Prince!
No wonder Ye Xian was worried that they wouldn't get their silver even if they won.
However, even if the boss behind Hengyun Gambling House was the Second Prince, it wouldn't be that easy for them to default on their debts!
"Thank you for the reminder, Young Master."
Su Yourong bowed, and then casually asked, "Where is the Young Master heading?"
"I'm going to place a bet, of course!"
Ye Xian winked at her and said with a chuckle, "I brought two hundred thousand taels of silver to bet!"
"How... how much?"
Su Yourong's eyes widened suddenly, feeling as if her tongue was getting tied.
Two hundred thousand taels of silver?
The reason the Su Family could produce one hundred thousand taels of silver was because Shen Jing had swindled one hundred thousand taels from the Song Family when he was in Luochuan Prefecture, and also earned a lot of silver from white sugar.
Otherwise, at most, they could only come up with ten or twenty thousand taels of silver.
Ye Xian just mentioned two hundred thousand taels of silver?
Where did he get two hundred thousand taels of silver from?
Ye Xian showed a mysterious smile, "Alright, I won't tell you yet, I need to hurry and place my bet!"
With that, Ye Xian quickly mounted his horse and, full of excitement, left with his retinue.
Su Yourong gave Ye Xian a grateful look and also left quickly.
Upon returning home, Su Yourong told Madam Su what Ye Xian had told her.
"Bet, we'll still bet at Hengyun Gambling House!"
Madam Su said bitterly, "Anyway, we've already bet one hundred thousand taels, so betting a bit more won't hurt! At worst, we'll blow the whole thing up and take it to the Emperor! If he, a dignified Prince, isn't afraid of being punished by the Emperor for running a gambling house, then this old woman isn't afraid of losing face either!"
...
The next day, Emperor Zhou presided over the morning court as usual.
"Victory report, victory report! Great victory at Yuping Pass..."
Suddenly, a messenger with three red flags on his back rushed towards the main hall.
The messenger hadn't even reached the main hall when Emperor Zhou and the assembled officials inside already heard his voice.
"Victory report?"
"Great victory at Yuping Pass?"
"Cao Yuan's troops broke through Yuping Pass?"
"That fast?"
In an instant, the officials in the hall began to discuss animatedly.
A sharp glint flashed in Yao Jian's eyes, then quickly receded.
After a brief moment of distraction, Emperor Zhou suddenly stood up from his dragon throne and hurriedly shouted to the palace guards at the entrance of the main hall, "Quickly bring the man in!"
Hearing Emperor Zhou's command, the palace guards quickly stepped forward to support the panting messenger and swiftly brought him into the main hall.
"Reporting to His Majesty, great victory at Yuping Pass!"
The messenger knelt down with a 'bang', quickly took off the dispatch tube from his back, and presented it.
Without Emperor Zhou's command, Yu Rang quickly stepped forward, took the dispatch tube, opened it, took out the victory report, and handed it to Emperor Zhou.
Emperor Zhou suppressed the excitement in his heart and opened the victory report.
Seeing the contents, the gloom in Emperor Zhou's heart vanished, and he handed the victory report to Ye Shen, "Read it to my beloved ministers, let them also share in the joy!"
"Yes!"
Ye Shen received the order, immediately took the victory report, and began to read: "Your humble subject Pei Ji respectfully reports to His Majesty: Your subject and Shen Jing arrived at Yuping Pass on the evening of the twenty-first. At dawn on the twenty-fourth, Shen Jing led his guards, Du Heng and Fan Qinghu, to open three breaches in the city wall of Yuping Pass..."
That afternoon, Cao Yuan led his troops to capture Yuping Pass, and Ning Ji led his troops to capture Prince Ji alive.
In this battle, Cao Yuan's forces suffered over two thousand casualties, killed over six thousand enemy soldiers, and captured over twelve thousand.
The rebel army at Yuping Pass, except for a few who escaped in the chaos, was almost completely annihilated.
Currently, Cao Yuan has led his army to attack the remaining rebels in Qu Prefecture. Pei Ji and Shen Jing are personally escorting Prince Ji to the capital. As Prince Ji is unwell, their escort speed will be slightly slower, and it is estimated that it will take about ten days to return to the capital...
Listening to the contents of the victory report, many officials exchanged glances.
They arrived at Yuping Pass on the evening of the twenty-first, and the city walls were breached at dawn on the twenty-fourth?
This... this was too fast, wasn't it?
Damn it!
Now, Shen Jing had truly rendered a great service!
Suddenly, countless eyes fell on the Second Prince, Ye Qing.
They hadn't forgotten that just a few days ago, Ye Qing had emphatically stated in this imperial court that Shen Jing's faults outweighed his merits.
Now that Shen Jing had achieved a great service, the most embarrassed person was probably Ye Qing, right?
At this moment, the happiest people were undoubtedly those of the Crown Prince's faction.
Ye Qing wanted to win over Yao Jian by targeting Shen Jing. Now, not only did he create a new enemy for himself, but he also made himself an outcast, didn't he?
Meeting everyone's gaze, Ye Qing couldn't help but grit his teeth in hatred.
Damn it!
Shen Jing really did achieve a great service!
Now, if the Emperor wanted to reward Shen Jing, no one would have any reason to stop him.
However, Ye Qing was not flustered.
Even if Shen Jing had merit, so what?
No matter how much the Emperor valued his relationship with Su Zai, he wouldn't promote Shen Jing to a high official, would he?
Did Shen Jing even have that capability?
Moreover, as far as he knew, many people in the betting stalls of Hengyun Gambling House had bet on Shen Jing's death!
Shen Jing didn't die, and he even achieved a great service!
The gambling stalls would definitely make a fortune!
Thinking this, Ye Qing secretly rejoiced again, then quietly looked at Yao Jian and his son.
Seeing that Yao Jian and his son's expressions were not good, his mind began to become active again.
"Congratulations, Your Majesty! Heaven bless Great Zhou!"
After regaining their composure, the officials all cheered loudly.
Emperor Zhou's face was full of smiles, but he secretly pondered in his heart.
How should he reward Shen Jing?
Although he valued Shen Jing, Shen Jing was, after all, too young. It was impossible to immediately promote Shen Jing to too high an official position.
But Shen Jing's merit this time was so great, not giving a generous reward was definitely out of the question!
Hmm...
This was a bit troublesome!
