Chapter 60: Li Hu: Do I Have No Pride At All?

Ever since he met Li Wenxuan, Crazy Donkey had never seen him act like this.

Even when Li Wenxuan had previously gone to the Qingyun Pavilion alone to face his death, he still wore a casual, indifferent expression.

"Yes! My Lord, this subordinate right away..."

Before Crazy Donkey could finish turning around, he saw that the towering, robust giant had somehow already arrived right behind him.

"You brute! Didn't you hear my lord say—"

"Third son, even if you hate me, no matter what, am I not still your father?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Crazy Donkey and the others were instantly dumbfounded.

What on earth?

This was My Lord's father?

The other two informants from the Eastern Depot also perked up and hurriedly crowded closer.

Princess Sirou, however, was well aware of this.

After all, Chief Steward Li had already detailed Li Wenxuan's family background to her beforehand.

So why on earth had this Li Hu come here today?

The Princess's slender eyebrows gradually furrowed, and a trace of displeasure lingered on her pretty face.

"You still have the nerve to utter the word 'father'? Do you think you're worthy?"

Li Wenxuan strode forward, blocking the doorway. He looked at Li Hu with cold eyes and suddenly sneered, "Or are you saying that since you failed to kill me the other day, you've come back to finish the job today?!"

Hearing these murderous words, Crazy Donkey and the two Eastern Depot informants instantly raised their guards.

Even though they knew they were no match for the towering giant before them, they surrounded Li Hu without a moment's hesitation.

This unusual movement almost instantly caught the attention of the hidden elite imperial guards outside.

Among these people, some were mingling as minor foremen at the construction site, while others had rented houses and opened shops nearby.

Almost instantly, a dozen figures slowly reached for the weapons concealed on their bodies, preparing to pounce forward.

Unaware of all this, Li Hu simply looked at Li Wenxuan's stance and understood that in the eyes of his third son, this so-called father truly meant nothing at all...

He had brought this upon himself!

Li Hu had nothing to reproach him for.

He knew very well that he had never been a qualified father.

"I didn't come here with malicious intent. I'm here to ask a favor of you."

Li Wenxuan mocked, "Well, that is truly a surprise. The famed General Suppressing the West actually has something he needs to ask of a mere hundred-man commander like me?"

Li Hu gave an awkward laugh, "Your help won't go unrewarded this time. There is compensation!"

"Oh?" Li Wenxuan narrowed his eyes and smiled. "And what might that compensation be? Is it another arrangement like the one at Qingyun Pavilion, where you sent a wave of assassins to wear me down through a war of attrition?"

Li Hu was choked to the point of being almost speechless.

"It's a mine, an entire mining mountain!"

"A mine?"

Li Wenxuan's expression shifted, and he suddenly recalled what the landlord's daughter had told him earlier...

The Cui family's mine had been beating people, detaining them, and withholding their wages.

Huh?

Could it really be such a coincidence?

"Let's hear it." Li Wenxuan's expression softened slightly.

"Well... those two cousins of yours, Guangwu and Guangzong, were arrested for corruption and bribery and are about to be sent to the Eastern Depot for interrogation. The Cui family is willing to trade an entire mine just for your protection over those two. What do you say..."

"Hahaha—"

Li Wenxuan laughed up to the sky. "So it's about this matter."

"How about it? The Cui family is showing real sincerity, offering an entire mine right off the bat!" Li Hu laughed along awkwardly.

Yet Li Wenxuan's face suddenly darkened, and he said coldly, "General Li, please return the way you came. There is nothing to discuss about this matter!"

"Bang—"

Li Wenxuan slammed the door shut heavily, completely ignoring Li Hu.

Crazy Donkey already knew who the towering giant outside was, and seeing Li Wenxuan's reaction, he could only brace himself and speak up:

"General Li, please leave!"

Unwilling to give up, Li Hu called out through the door, "If it's truly necessary, I can make that wicked woman come and kowtow in kowtow-apology to you!"

"Lady Cui?" From behind the closed door came Li Wenxuan's voice, tinged with interest.

And so, the door swung open again.

"What, isn't she a supreme noble lady of the Great Wu Kingdom whose titles take a hundred words just to recite? She'd actually come to kowtow and apologize to me?"

"Oh, Third Son, times have changed!" Li Hu gave an awkward smile. "Not only can that woman kowtow to apologize to you, but there's also a mine! That's endless wealth!"

Li Wenxuan narrowed his eyes in thought for a moment, then suddenly burst into a smile.

"General Li, go back and tell your esteemed wife to first go to my mother's grave and kowtow to repent. Last time, she actually spat on my mother's grave."

"Sigh, that foolish woman!"

Li Hu gave a helpless, bitter smile.

"Aside from that, I also want her to rebuild my mother's tomb and erect a new stele. Once she has finished all of this..."

Li Hu said excitedly, "Third Son, don't worry, we'll definitely use the finest stone for it!"

"Don't be so hasty, General Li, I haven't finished yet. Once your esteemed wife has completed all of these, I might consider her request."

"What?"

Li Hu nearly choked on his own saliva.

"Oh? If General Li disagrees, then forget it. Just pretend I never said anything!" Li Wenxuan smiled faintly, looking completely unconcerned.

Li Hu gritted his teeth, thinking to himself: "The Cui family lost all their face long ago, a couple more times won't make a difference. As for my own face..."

The General felt conflicted for a moment.

Given what a spineless coward he had been all these years, what face did he even have left to lose anyway!

"Deal!"

Li Hu said without a moment's hesitation.

Watching Li Hu's decisive, departing back, Li Wenxuan suddenly chuckled.

"My husband, did you never actually intend to let those Cui Guangwu and Cui Guangzong go right from the very beginning?"

Princess Sirou covered her mouth and smiled gently.

Li Wenxuan turned around, sat down, and raised an eyebrow with a smile, "My wife, why do you say that? Your husband only said that *after* Lady Madam does all those things, I would *consider* it."

"As long as my husband is happy!" Princess Sirou's expression shifted slightly. "I just wonder..."

"I was simply at a loss for where to begin for a moment." Li Wenxuan mistakenly thought Sirou was merely curious about his background.

"I have no intention of forcing my husband. If you don't wish to speak of it, then don't. Whenever you feel like telling me, you can tell me then."

Princess Sirou was clever and immediately went along with Li Wenxuan's words.

What she had actually wanted to ask was when her husband would return to his official duties.

After all, her foolish Crown Prince brother truly needed someone to carry him and lead the way.

"Hahaha..." Li Wenxuan laughed heartily. "This was never any state secret, what is there that cannot be spoken of?"

"My birth mother was a woman captured by General Li during his military campaigns back at the Shanhai Pass expedition."

"General Li's principal wife, Lady Cui, always regarded the two of us—mother and son—as thorns in her side. She wished she could use every vicious method imaginable to torture us until life was worse than death."

"Six years ago, my mother could no longer bear the torment and hanged herself, leaving me alone to live a miserable existence."

"Not long ago, heavy snow fell from the sky. I was wearing only a single layer of clothing and couldn't bear the freezing cold, so I went to Lady Cui to beg for a cotton-padded jacket."

"To my surprise, not only did she refuse, but she ordered her servants to throw me into a water well to freeze through the entire night. Who would have thought the heavens would protect me, and I somehow survived."

"After that ordeal, my heart turned to ash, and I completely severed ties with General Li, making a pact with them..."

In truth, Princess Sirou had already heard all about Li Wenxuan's background from Chief Steward Li.

Moreover, Princess Sirou flattered herself that she knew even more details than Li Wenxuan did.

For instance, his mother was actually a princess of the Jin Kingdom.

However, Princess Sirou assumed Li Wenxuan was unaware of this, whereas Li Wenxuan actually knew full well.

He had simply overheard it by chance during a secret conversation between Emperor Wu and Li Hu when he accidentally regained consciousness inside the carriage; it was just not a matter he could bring up directly.

"This is bad, Lord Li—"

At that exact moment, a disheveled Jiang Xiaoxiao burst through the door with a look of absolute terror on her face. Clutching a blood-stained dossier in her hands, she stumbled and fell flat onto the ground...