Can I say that I regret using this chapter title? Not a bit of foundation.

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  Out of Tianjing, Song Chuyi washed up in Zhu Heng's villa and followed him into the palace to see the King of Shu.

  The winter and spring of Shu are not much different, slightly wet and cold, which is exactly the opposite of Longxi.

  Two men waited outside the hall, a servant went in to report and returned after a moment to let them enter.

  As soon as Song entered the hall, he was startled. In the originally intact great hall, a large pit had been dug and transformed into an elliptical pool, with lotus leaves floating on its surface and fish swimming beneath. Beside the pool, a soft couch was placed, upon which the King of Shu reclined, fishing rod in hand, angling for fish in the pool. Two maidservants knelt before him, gently massaging his legs.

  It seems that Shu Wang's rough face has become much more prosperous than before.

  Zhu Heng didn't dare speak out of turn, and Song Chu Yi naturally wouldn't rashly go pet the tiger.

  The hall was warm, and Song ChuYi felt a little drowsy. Unaware of how long she had been standing, just as her sleepiness was at its strongest, she suddenly heard a "slap" sound, which startled her so much that she almost lost her balance. The fish in the pool splashed out a loud noise, covering up her slight loss of composure.

  "These stupid fish actually don't know how to get hooked to amuse me! Take them all out and expose them to the scorching sun!" The King of Shu shouted, sitting up from his bed.

  "Yes." The two maidservants hastily rolled up their skirts and went down into the icy pool to catch fish. The eunuch immediately fetched a fishing net and silently entered the water to help.

  At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, it was not easy to be a personal attendant of the King of Shu. In addition to being considerate and thoughtful in every way, one also had to massage his legs and help him with his toilet.

  The King of Shu saw Zhu Heng, his anger grew even greater. "Don't try to persuade me! I've already made up my mind. Tomorrow, I'll go to Xiaomeng Pass for a stroll and personally pick up the beautiful Subo."

  As soon as the words fell, his eyes widened instantly. Staring at the person beside Zhu Heng, he said incredulously, "Song Huaijin?"

  Song smiled and said, "Wang has a good eye for people. It is indeed me."

  "Have you been struck by thunder?" The King of Shu walked down the stairs, took a closer look at Song Chu, and laughed loudly, "You're all charred and blackened. I didn't recognize you at first glance just now, please don't mind me!"

  Song Chu touched his face and said, "Really? I haven't even had a chance to look in the mirror yet."

  The King of Shu pulled her along as he walked to the edge of the pond and pointed into the water, saying "Take a look."

  Song Chu looked down and saw that it wasn't as exaggerated as the Shu King had said, but compared to three months ago, the change was like heaven and earth turning upside down. She had grown a bit taller during this time, and her dark complexion had become even more pronounced. At first glance, she seemed to have grown by a large margin, but upon closer inspection, her thin face's eyebrows and eyes were almost sunken in. This made her elegant demeanor even more striking.

  Perhaps it was because she hadn't suffered as much hardship in her previous life, but with the same appearance, she looked even more beautiful than before.

  "It's going to be tough for Mr. Han from now on." Song Chu Yi sighed.

  "The steady gaze is quite good." The Shu King looked at Zhu Heng.

  The King of Shu had just said that he hadn't recognized him, so how dare Zhu Heng recognize him first? He hastily added, "Actually, until Your Majesty revealed it, I didn't dare confirm that it was really Mr. Huai. Previously, I only recognized the swordsman beside Mr..."

  Song Chu twitched his mouth and thought that this monarch and minister were really boring! But apparently the King of Shu was very happy, laughing non-stop.

  Wait until he finishes laughing. Song Chu Yi then said, "Just now, Wang Shang said he wanted to go on an outing to Xia Meng Pass?"

  "It is." The King of Shu nodded, "Since the Qin people are incapable of bringing Zichao's beautiful daughter in, I will personally go and receive her."

  "That beauty can gain such favor from the king, she must be deeply grateful." Song Chu said.

  In the morning, those ministers all went against his will and opposed him. The King of Shu was depressed for a long time, and finally found someone who agreed with his idea, so he was very happy.

  The two of them chatted on without a break, and Zhu Heng grew increasingly anxious. The King of Shu loved to go wherever he pleased, and in the past, he would often travel to various places for fun, spending more than half the year outside the palace. However, the Qin envoy couldn't be killed, not only because it was against international norms to harm an envoy from another country, but also because that man, Qi Li, was the younger brother of the Duke of Qin. If anything were to happen to him in Shu, the Duke of Qin would never let the matter rest.

  In fact, after hundreds of years, Qin and Shu have had numerous wars, but the number of times Qin has won can be counted on one's fingers, and that was decades ago. The people of Shu never took Qin seriously. But now that things are heating up in Ba and Chu, starting another war here... doesn't look good no matter how you look at it. Besides, it's not even a big deal, there's no need to make a fuss.

  "Wang Shang can you tell me why Zili is unable to bring his son in?" Song Chu asked.

  Zhu Heng let out a sigh of relief and finally got to the point.

  "Why?" At the mention of Ji Li, the King of Shu's smile gradually faded, and his eyebrows furrowed.

  Song Chu was slightly surprised. If it were just because of that one sentence, the King of Shu would not have hated Zhu Li so much! She thought to herself and quickly glanced at Zhu Heng.

  Zhu Heng felt her gaze and lowered his head, staring at the hem of his clothes.

  Upon seeing this, Song Chuanyi immediately understood and silently cursed "Bastard". He then continued the previous topic, "A beauty's skin is delicate and vulnerable to damage, horseback riding will inevitably cause some harm. Furthermore, with wind and sun exposure, even if the king doesn't mind a beauty like Hua Jin being treated this way, I'm afraid the Qin state envoy would also find it unacceptable!"

  "That's also true." The King of Shu found it amusing, but thinking of Zhu Li, he couldn't help but sneer, "That Zhu Li, the son of a bitch, I've had my eye on him for a long time, and I must chop him off!"

  As expected, Song had a grudge against him. After some deliberation, he asked, "What unforgivable thing has this person done?"

  The King of Shu was indignant, he had never suffered such humiliation in his life, "Don't mention him again, it's a headache for me."

  "The Shu Road is difficult to travel." Song Chu quickly changed the subject, "If you want the beauty to enter safely, Your Majesty only needs to build a plank road at Xiaomeng Pass. Once the beauty's carriage enters, it can proceed along the waterway."

  "Absolutely not!" Zhu Heng immediately spoke out to stop him. "Is setting up a plank road not paving the way for the Qin people to enter Shu? Your Majesty, this is absolutely impermissible."

  Facing the suspicion of the two, Song Chu was calm and smiled, "General Heng is overthinking, it's just a plank road, not a new mountain road. Building a wooden plank road for horses to pass through won't take much time. Such a narrow plank road, how can many people pass through? Even if the Qin people want to use the plank road, as long as we destroy a section in time, it will become a dead end."

  "This..." Zhu Heng was speechless, and Song Chu's words were indeed reasonable. But it would exhaust the people and waste money! Just for a woman, isn't this kind of thing a lack of wisdom?... But such thoughts, Zhu Heng absolutely dared not speak out loud.

  "It sounds like a good idea. Constant, let the Crown Prince handle this matter, and you assist him." said the King of Shu.

  The crown prince of Shu is already sixteen years old this year, and he was not born to the queen. His mother was the queen's younger sister with a different mother but the same father. However, that lady died of puerperal fever after giving birth to her son, so the queen took the child in and raised him as her own. As the queen had no children for many years, the king of Shu made him the crown prince.

  "Yes." Zhu Heng could only nod in agreement.

  Next, King Shu was enthusiastically discussing with Song Chuyi about going out for a trip.

  At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, various hints were dropped that it would be necessary to wait until the plank road was completed before seeing a beautiful woman. The king of Shu listened with great interest and felt that even if he went to Xiaomeng Pass, he wouldn't be able to see the beauty for the time being. He decided to choose a place with the most beautiful scenery to build a palace for the beauty.

  "Let's call it Wang Fei Palace." The Shu King said, and was almost shocked by his own ingenuity, with a fluttering expression.

  Zhu Heng listened quietly beside him, silently calculating the cost in his heart. A wharf, a luxurious palace... The national treasury would probably be depleted by two-thirds...

  "We plan to build another large ship and sail on the water route steadily," said the King of Shu.

  Zhu Heng didn't dare make a sound... thinking in his heart, this matter must be reported to the queen quickly... otherwise who knows what else will happen later!

  At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, one word was not encouraged or discouraged. But Zhu Heng didn't see it, and the expression on her face, which was sometimes yearning, sometimes admiring, and sometimes shocking, was more provocative than any language.

  From morning till noon, Shu King set a banquet to entertain Song Chuyi.

  Having dinner, the Shu king actually still wanted to pull her to continue discussing the details of building a palace, scaring Song Chu into hastily sending a pleading gaze towards Zhu Heng.

  Zhu Heng also felt that they couldn't continue talking, otherwise who knows when Wang Shang would get interested again and come up with something like "Longing for Beauty Temple" or "Waiting for Beauty Temple". After some persuasion, he finally managed to convince the King of Shu to let him go.

  Out of the main hall, Song Chuyi wiped his sweat with a sleeve. "The king is really spirited."

  Zhu Heng smiled and said, "You've always been so spirited."

  Zhu Heng sighed, if he wasn't always so spirited, could I have been so unspirited all along?!

  The two people looked at each other, and it was as if they had a deep understanding of each other's suffering, their relationship suddenly became much closer.

  Out of the palace. Song Chu said, "Lord Heng, Huai Zhen has an unreasonable request."

  "Sir, you may speak freely."

  "A friend's daughter has come to Bashu to look for someone, but after three months, there is still no news. I was wondering if Lord Heng could help me inquire about it." Song Chuyi said. When mentioning the friend, Wei Hou had once wanted to kill Song Chuyi to silence her, but if she were to take revenge, she would definitely target the Wei state, not just his daughter. Since Wei Jiang is so infatuated with Ji Mian, she will reluctantly lend a hand.

  Zhu Heng put down his heart, "Sir, put it down, I will definitely search for it with all my might."

  At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, a general named Ji Meng wrote down the background and appearance of his sleeping beauty in detail and handed it over to Zhu Heng.

  Ji Meng is a legalist, entering Bashu to seek opportunities, and will not conceal his identity. He must think of ways to get in touch with the ruling powers. If he is familiar with Bashu, it won't be too difficult to find him.

  "I still have some things to attend to, the carriage will take you to another garden, sir. You can rest assured and stay there until I find out about Ji Wu Mei." Zhu Heng suddenly thought of going to see Wang Hou.

  Normally, a subject would need to request an audience with the king and then wait for the king's summons, but Zhu Heng was the younger brother of the King of Shu and the uncle of the queen, so he did not need to go through such formalities.

  "Thank you, Lord Heng." Song Chu said.

  Zhu Heng got off the carriage and rode his horse back to the palace.

  As soon as Song sent him off with a glance and had just lowered the curtain, he heard a familiar voice outside saying, "Is that Songzi in the carriage?"

  Speaking in the Wei dialect, Song initially was taken aback for a moment before suddenly lifting the curtain. Under the midday sunlight, that person was gazing at her with a hint of a smile. He wore a cyan robe, about twenty-seven years old, with a short beard on his chin that was neatly trimmed, fair skin, eyes like autumn ripples, smooth eyebrows, soft facial features, and an air of refinement all over him.

  "Brother Zhang!" Song Chu was overjoyed and pushed open the door, rushing out of the carriage.

  The two men sized each other up for a while before bursting out laughing, drawing curious glances from passersby.

  "Brother Zhang, I hope you're doing well?" Song Chu's eyebrows and eyes were all smiling.

  "Unharmed, unharmed! Only two temples are frosted!" Zhang Yi also smiled at her and teased, "It's actually Huai Jin who has changed a lot!"

  Two people met by chance in a distant place, overjoyed, and held hands to find an inn to sit down and talk.

  "Brother Zhang, how did you end up in Shu?" Song Chu gave Zhang Yi a bowl of wine.

  "Thanks also to Huaijin!" Zhang Yi smiled and said.

  Song Chuanyi suddenly understood, Zhang Yi was an official in Qin, now he's probably following Shi Li to be an envoy to the Shu State. Song Chuanyi raised his wine cup, "Then let's toast to Zhangzi's great achievements!"

  "Let's work together!" said Zhang Yi.

  The two men raised their heads and drained their cups, exchanging a smile. Zhang Yi began to talk about the affairs of Qin, using the dialect of Yishui, "Three months ago, Xizhou entered Qin, last month Qin and Wei started war, Xizhou was the commander-in-chief, sweeping across more than ten cities in Wei, killing 100,000 enemies, Qin and Wei clashed, Qin won for the first time, it's really a good omen."

  Xī Shǒu is also known as Gōng Sūn Yǎn, a strategist who excels in both literature and martial arts. People say that Gōng Sūn Yǎn is sharp and unstoppable, like the horn of a rhinoceros, so everyone calls him Xī Shǒu (Rhinoceros Horn).

  "It seems the rumors are true, Xi Shou is indeed sharp and unstoppable." Song Chuyi also spoke in the dialect of Yiqi.

  Yi Qu is in the north, with many ethnic groups, and languages are also different, and completely uncommunicative with Ba Shu, and the people of Shu have no one who can understand Yi Qu language.

  "Qin Gong has already appointed Xi Shou as Da Liang Zao," said Zhang Yi.

  The Qin state did not have a Chancellor, only a Supreme General and the Grand Minister who were combined into one position, which can be said to be truly "one person under whom all people are below".

  "Zhang brother seems to be disliked." Song Chuyi had a brief encounter with Gong Sunyan in the state of Zhao, and her impression of him could be summed up in two words - sharp. So she could vaguely guess why Zhang Yi was disliked.

  "The benefit of being the first in line is not to be shared with others!" Zhang Yi directly pointed out his intention to harm.

  One mountain cannot contain two tigers. Gong Sunyan indeed has talent, but his personal intentions are too strong. When he becomes the great craftsman, it is impossible to accommodate other strategists' ideas unless someone is willing to abandon their own direction and follow him as a helper. However, this is precisely something that a strategist with ideals and ambitions cannot tolerate.

  Zhang Yi was frustrated for the first time in Qin and left dejectedly. This time, hearing that there was an opportunity, he rushed over excitedly, but unexpectedly ran into Gong Sun Yan.

  "Brother Zhang, aren't you afraid of him?" Song Chu asked with a smile.

  Zhang Yi was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and said, "Indeed!"

  Although he said so, there was no intention of retreating between his eyebrows. Since one mountain cannot accommodate two tigers, let's see who laughs last!

  In fact, the relationship between Zhang Yi and Song Chu was also like this. The two temperaments got along well, with little connection to political goals. Now working together, suddenly there is a major crisis with Gong Sun Yan, contradictions are not yet apparent, if they can't find a balance point, one day they will end up like this too.