Upon hearing this, Mo Jiuye understood a lot more.
To put it simply, the reason why He Zhiyuan could get involved with Prince Rui was because the intermediary was He Meiyu.
He had also heard that the family background of Prince Rui's consort was nothing special. She was just from an ordinary merchant family in the Capital city.
And not long ago, there was news spreading around the Capital city that Prince Rui's consort had fallen ill and died.
Judging by He Zhiyuan's expression now, he did not seem to be lying.
Mo Jiuye continued asking, "What happened after that?"
"Afterwards, Prince Rui took Meiyu along with him to secretly meet me, using the excuse that she missed her family.
As we continued to meet, Prince Rui and I gradually became more familiar with each other, and he took the opportunity to tell me about recruiting me."
Mo Jiuye asked insistently, "What benefits did he promise you?"
He Zhiyuan smiled self-deprecatingly, "Naturally, it was the position of empress for Meiyu. Prince Rui said that as long as he could smoothly take that position, Meiyu would definitely be the future empress.
By then, he would announce Meiyu's true identity in front of all the civil and military officials of the court, making me the father-in-law who stood above tens of thousands of people, second only to the emperor."
Mo Jiuye sneered coldly, "Too bad your daughter had a short life."
He Zhiyuan sighed.
"It was all because I was not a good judge of character. I thought Prince Rui would keep his promise to me. But after I was demoted by the emperor, his attitude towards me changed dramatically.
It was not until the news of Meiyu's death came out that I completely gave up the dream of becoming the emperor's father-in-law.
Prince Rui was also not worried that I would reveal his matters, because by doing so, it would be equivalent to me directly admitting that I had detained the border troops' rations."
Having said that, He Zhiyuan bowed deeply to Mo Jiuye.
"Young Master Mo, now that we have both fallen to being exiled, I'm telling you all this in the hope that you can let go of past grudges and take care of my family a little.
I was able to get to where I am today with Prince Rui's maneuvers behind the scenes. After experiencing exile for this period of time, I have seen through many things and will no longer have any improper thoughts."
Mo Jiuye put his hands behind his back, his gaze still cold.
"You and I were never on the same side to begin with. Moreover, your actions back then almost cost the lives of so many troops at the border. No matter what, I will never forgive you for that.
Considering that you told me all these today, as long as you follow the rules and don't provoke me in the future, I guarantee I won't take action against you on my own initiative."
Mo Jiuye had thought that after arriving in the northwest, he would find an opportunity to take He Zhiyuan's life and avenge the border troops whose rations were withheld by him that year.
If it were not for the border troops not losing their lives due to his withholding of rations, Mo Jiuye would have taken his life long ago.
For him to be able to make such a guarantee to He Zhiyuan today was already the greatest concession.
Upon hearing this, He Zhiyuan suddenly straightened up. He stared at Mo Jiuye in disbelief.
He had never imagined that Mo Jiuye had intended to kill him.
He probably only held back because there were still those officials present.
Thinking of this, He Zhiyuan suddenly felt a chill down his spine, and cold sweat involuntarily broke out on his forehead.
His intention in voluntarily telling Mo Jiuye these things was not to earn the other party's forgiveness, but to make his whole family live a little better.
Even if it was just one or two of those fruits to satisfy their cravings, it would still be good.
Unexpectedly, things did not go according to plan at all, putting him in a dilemma.
After thinking for a while, He Zhiyuan gritted his teeth and said, "Young Master Mo, I told you all these in good faith. You can't go back on your word!"
Mo Jiuye sneered coldly.
"You took the initiative to tell me. I didn't ask."
This almost angered He Zhiyuan to the point of fainting. He was not entirely without a temper either.
"People in court all say you are a gentleman, but I see you have the face of a petty man."
Instead of getting angry, Mo Jiuye smiled.
"Whether one is a gentleman or has the face of a petty man depends on who one is facing. What reason do I have to be a gentleman when dealing with a thoroughly petty man?"
These words left He Zhiyuan speechless. He also realized that Mo Jiuye had a personality that could not be persuaded no matter what. In the end, it was pointless for him to say any more.
Finally, He Zhiyuan flung his sleeve and walked away angrily.
At the same time, Mo Jiuye also fell into contemplation, thinking about how to deal with it in the future if what He Zhiyuan said was true.
He had just figured out a solution for Nan Heng's matters when another hidden figure like Nan Rui popped up.
Zhi Ran was eating fruit with the women and did not think too much when he saw He Zhiyuan come over. He assumed it was just a behavior to curry favor with Mo Jiuye.
Seeing that the women were almost done eating, Zhi Ran urged everyone to go rest.
There were not too many fruits left, enough to give each of the Mo family two.
So Zhi Ran took the initiative to have everyone take two and leave, keeping them to eat on the road tomorrow.
Everyone left happily with two fruits each, returning to their own tents to rest.
Zhi Ran let Old Lady Mo sleep in the carriage with Mo Hanyue.
The inside of the carriage was soft and cushy, certainly more comfortable than the tents.
Considering her son's injury, Old Lady Mo insisted on sleeping in the tent.
Now that Mo Jiuye knew the secret of the space, Zhi Ran was even less demanding about the lodging arrangements. No matter where they slept, they would ultimately enter the space anyway.
Mo Jiuye also understood this principle. He helped Zhi Ran persuade Old Lady Mo.
In the end, Old Lady Mo could not refuse the two of them and obediently took Mo Hanyue with her into the carriage.
Now that Mo Jiuye knew about the existence of the space, Zhi Ran no longer intended to wash up outside. They could take care of it once back in the space.
When she returned to the tent, she saw Mo Jiuye had a pensive look.
Zhi Ran subconsciously thought it must have something to do with He Zhiyuan.
Afraid that the walls had ears, to be safe, Zhi Ran directly pulled Mo Jiuye into the space with her.
The two sat down at the dining table tacitly.
Zhi Ran asked, "What happened?"
Mo Jiuye did not hide anything at all and told Zhi Ran what He Zhiyuan had just said.
"I can't confirm whether what He Zhiyuan said is true or false, but I still have to be vigilant."
Upon hearing this, Zhi Ran's mind started searching for the records about Prince Rui in the history books.
However, in her knowledge, Prince Rui's presence was very insignificant. If not for Mo Jiuye's mention today, she might have completely ignored this person altogether.
To verify the authenticity of the matter, Zhi Ran brought over several history books in front of Mo Jiuye.
Seeing a pile of books on the table, Mo Jiuye asked, "What are these?"
Zhi Ran specifically handed over a traditional Chinese edition of a history book to Mo Jiuye.
"This records some things about the Da Shun Dynasty. It might help us."
Without hesitation, Mo Jiuye immediately started flipping through it.
Zhi Ran was not idle either. Since her transmigration here, she had read through the history books multiple times. Most of the contents were superficial descriptions. If one really wanted to discover some unknown matters, one still had to dig deeper into unofficial historical records.
