Luo Wei stopped there. Long Xiang had already been provoked to anger by him, and his purpose had been achieved. So, Luo Wei finally said to Long Xiang, “Think it over.” After that, he took the five Dragons and left.
Long Xuan, after seeing Luo Wei back, looked at Long Xiang kneeling stiffly under the steps of Changming Hall’s main hall.
“What are you doing?” Long Xuan said. “Are you trying to make trouble for yourself?”
Long Xiang knocked his head heavily towards Long Xuan. “Imperial Brother!” He loudly said to Long Xuan, “You’ve also heard what Luo Wei think of me. If I don’t go to the battlefield once, win a battle, and come back to confront him, what face do I have to stay here in the capital?!”
“Luo Wei always speaks like this,” Long Xuan said. “Can’t you just ignore him?”
“I wanted to ignore him,” Long Xiang said. “But what he said is true!”
“You,” Long Xuan was somewhat helpless. He said to Long Xiang, “Luo Wei said something mean, and you still think what he said was true? Do you want him to scold you? Long Xiang, what are you thinking about all day long?”
“As a general,” Long Xiang felt deeply ashamed at this moment. “I have never been to the battlefield. As someone who hasn’t even fought a single battle, what face do I have to call myself a general?”
“You are the Prince Yu of Great Zhou!” Long Xuan said. “What kind of general are you?”
“But I only want to hold the position of a general in this life!” Long Xiang yelled at Long Xuan. “I’d rather not be this prince!”
“You idiot!” Long Xuan almost couldn’t help but kick him.
“Brother!” Long Xiang pleaded with Long Xuan. “Just give me a chance. I don’t want to go on like this anymore. Or is it true, as Luo Wei and you think, that I’m just an incompetent person who can’t be of any use?”
“I just don’t understand,” Long Xuan said. “Why do you care so much about Luo Wei’s words? You’ve scolded him many times too, but I haven’t seen him care about it.”
“I can’t be inferior to Luo Wei!” Long Xiang shouted. “I can’t let him look down on me!”
“If you want to kneel, then just keep kneeling!” Long Xuan lost his patience. He couldn’t understand why Long Xiang was always at odds with Luo Wei. With a major battle looming, he didn’t want to bother to ask anymore.
“Your Majesty!” Long Xiang watched Long Xuan walk up the steps and shouted at him again.
“If you can’t kneel, then leave,” Long Xuan didn’t turn back, facing away from Long Xiang. “I don’t need you for the war against Southern Zhao!”
The ministers in the hall had heard the conversation between the two imperial brothers outside the hall, but after Long Xuan entered the hall, no one asked further.
“Where were we just now?” After sitting down on the throne in the hall, Long Xuan asked Xie Yu.
The deliberations in the hall continued.
Outside the hall, Long Xiang remained kneeling stiffly.
After Luo Wei returned to the Yi Jin Garden, he told Imperial Physician Wei that his wound was hurting a bit.
Imperial Physician Wei hurried to check Luo Wei’s wound. After seeing the wound, both of them breathed a sigh of relief. The wound was only slightly reopened, and it would be fine after rebandaging.
“Let Ten and his men come in,” Luo Wei said to Zhao Fu after the wound was re-bandaged.
After Ten and the others entered the room, they asked Luo Wei about his injuries.
“It’s just a minor injury,” Luo Wei let the five of them sit down and said nonchalantly, “It’ll be fine in just two days.”
After hearing Luo Wei’s words, Imperial Physician Wei rolled his eyes. If this person’s injury could really be healed in two days, then he would truly be a miracle worker.
Ten spoke up again to thank Luo Wei.
Luo Wei waved his hand. “What thanks are you giving? After leaving the city yesterday, did you let the patrolling officers find anything?”
“We encountered them shortly before dawn,” Ten said. “We led them to search a forest and found something – the blood-stained clothes I left in the woods.”
“It seems that Ten is quite clever,” Luo Wei smiled with satisfaction and said, “You should stay in Yi Jin Garden these days and not go out.”
“Your Majesty,” Eleven whispered, “Will His Majesty come looking for us again?”
“I can’t guarantee that he will not think of you again,” Luo Wei said, “If you don’t go out, you will be fine. Don’t worry too much.”
At this moment, Ten asked Luo Wei, “Your Highness, will Master Fuyi really keep Long Yi’s death a secret for us?”
“He hasn’t entered the palace after a day, so it should be fine,” Luo Wei replied. “This master is outside of the mundane world; he won’t meddle in the affairs of us ordinary people.”
“Is he truly a living Buddha?” asked Twelve.
Luo Wei replied, “In this lifetime, we can’t become Buddhas anyway, so there’s no need to bother about Buddhist matters.”
“That’s true,” said Ten. “If I can be reborn as a human in my next life, I wouldn’t want to be a monk.”
They all laughed together.
Before long, Imperial Physician Wei brought medicine for Luo Wei again and urged Ten and his men to leave. “Let the young master conserve his energy, all of you go outside and rest.”
“I asked them to stay for a chat,” Luo Wei said to Imperial Physician Wei after finishing the medicine.
“Young Master,” Imperial Physician Wei said bluntly to Luo Wei, “I know you don’t care about having a long life, but think about us too. If something happens to you again, won’t the emperor take it out on us?”
“Can’t you speak more politely?” Ten retorted to Imperial Physician Wei. “What do you mean by him not having a long life?”
“Alright, alright,” Luo Wei intervened. “I’ll go lie down for a while. Ten, you guys didn’t rest yesterday either, go rest now. I can sleep here during the day.”
Imperial Physician Wei hurriedly said, “Come on, heroes.”
Ten and his men bowed to Luo Wei, then all glared at Imperial Physician Wei before leaving.
“Can it be said that you have a good relationship with them?” Luo Wei asked Imperial Physician Wei.
“It’s so-so,” Physician Wei replied. “I don’t have much to talk about with martial artists.”
“You and your mouth,” Luo Wei shook his head.
Imperial Physician Wei helped Luo Wei stand up. “Young Master, you should lie down. I’m not as good at guessing your intentions. If you don’t tell me, I won’t ask.”
“If you asked, I wouldn’t say anyway,” Luo Wei remarked.
Physician Wei pursed his lips and carefully helped Luo Wei onto the bed.
“You may leave,” Luo Wei, half lying and half sitting on the bed, said to Imperial Physician Wei. “Zhao Fu isn’t here right now, please inform him that the Emperor will have dinner here tonight, so ask him to prepare some meat dishes.”
“I understand,” Imperial Physician Wei covered Luo Wei with a blanket, took his pulse once more, then left.
Luo Wei closed his eyes for a while but couldn’t sleep. He opened his eyes and looked at the canopy of the bed.
After about half an hour, Zhao Fu walked in. Seeing Luo Wei awake on the bed, he whispered, “My lord, Prince Yu is still kneeling at Changming Hall.”
“Let him kneel,” Luo Wei said coldly. “This time, let’s see which of the brothers bend first.”
Zhao Fu said, “This servant found out that Prince Yu had a quarrel with the Emperor and insisted on going to Southern Zhao.”
Luo Wei looked at Zhao Fu, “They killed so many eunuchs at Changming Hall, and you still manage to get information?”
Zhao Fu hurriedly said, “Your Highness, with so many people, you can always find a few who are greedy for money and loose-lipped.”
Luo Wei just smiled at this. Winning the hearts of the people is more important than ruling the mountains and rivers. Long Xuan’s attempt to win people’s hearts through killing seems to be in vain.
Boundless Dao 
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