A rebellious minister forced me to be a foolish king

Chapter 538 538 The Persian Cat

After a pause, Xiao Tongyan's voice suddenly rose and he said sarcastically,

"The ruler of Zhou is weak and incompetent, and is a puppet with little influence. The regent ministers in the court are neither good at civil nor military affairs. The only one who can plan and fight is Wei Xiaokuan. On the surface, the Northern Zhou is still weak."

"That's just the surface. In reality, Northern Qi was tyrannical and full of treacherous officials. Northern Zhou followed the way of the king, Confucianism, and inherited the will of China, but it lacked an orthodox identity."

"Oh? What is hegemony? What is the kingly way?"

"The kingly way is: I will beat you if you don't obey. The tyrannical way is: I will beat you even if you obey! And the Confucian way is: I will tell you before I beat you."

Xiao Tongyan smiled and said, "This is in line with the style of the Northern Zhou royal family and the court. I have met the Emperor of Zhou several times, and I feel that he is more like a reserved and elegant Han Chinese than the Gao family. The people around him are also quite well-behaved and polite."

For some reason, Yuan Wuyou felt quite proud when hearing others praising Yuwen Huaibi.

As the night deepened, many thick clouds gathered.

With the sudden heavy rain, Yuan Wuyou and Xiao Tongyan split up. She first went back to Guanyi with Jialuo to unload the carriage, and then came out to accompany her to plan.

But Xiao Tongyan refused, fearing that she would never return and bring troops to attack him, so they came to a stalemate. Finally, it was decided to leave the Chixiao Sword with Xiao Tongyan, and use the pastry shop in front of the two as the meeting point. She must come back to redeem the sword within an hour.

Yuan Wuyou looked up at the "Bao Ji" pastry shop in front of him and asked in surprise, "Is there anyone with the last name Bao?"

But she still wrote down the name of the shop, and then took Jialuo and drove the carriage back to the inn.

***
The rainy night is cold.

After a heavy rain passed through Bowang City, the bluestone bricks on the streets were washed away and people slipped when walking on them.

All the stalls without sheds had packed up and left, leaving only some shops with lanterns, lighting up the streets for miles.

At that time, Yuan Wuyou, who had just returned from the inn, was walking on the slippery street with her sister Jialuo, holding the oil-paper umbrella she had asked for from Gao Changgong, to find the agreed pastry shop.

I saw Xiao Tongyan standing alone at the side of the pastry shop to avoid the rain. She was wearing a red short robe, her braids were loose, and she was holding a white bundle in her arms.

Only when I got closer did I hear a "meow——!" from her arms.

Yuan Wuyou was immediately frightened and took a step back, only to find that there was a living creature in Xiao Tongyan's arms.

"Wow! What is that? You don't bring your subordinates with you, but bring wild beasts as hidden weapons instead?"

Xiao Tongyan said helplessly: "What are you afraid of? Have you never seen a cat?" As he said that, he raised the white flour bun with both hands to show her.

She then came closer to take a closer look, "Where did you get the cat?"

It was a skinny little white-haired ball, which looked like a steamed bun from a distance. When curled up in the woman's arms, it was not much bigger than a palm. When it was lifted up, its limbs stretched out, and its body was completely white, with long, smooth and shiny fur.

Xiao Tongyan said, "Just now, a Western Region envoy recognized me. After I killed him, I found out that he was going to pay tribute. When I snatched the tribute, this living creature ran out from the stolen goods."

Hearing her talk about "silencing" and "robbing stolen goods" so lightly, Yuan Wuyou didn't realize anything was wrong and was still smiling.

"You guys are so powerful. You killed an envoy in public and even caught a cat?" Yuan Wuyou laughed as if it was a joke, then he realized something was wrong. His smile froze and his eyes showed fear.

"Wait, which country are you paying tribute to? Qi or Zhou? Aren't you going to cause trouble for me?"

Xiao Tongyan said disapprovingly, "Then don't worry about it. I wanted to kill the cat, but it ran away and stole cakes from someone's cake shop. I could only lie and claim to be its owner, catch the little thief, and pay for the cakes it wasted." As she said that, she rudely stuffed the white flour bun in her arms into Yuan Wuyou's arms, "Here you go."

Yuan Wuyou raised his right arm to take it, and held the cat in one hand, only to find that the kitten's paws were dirty, and the pink pads were covered with mud. He immediately looked painful, "Oh, it's so dirty?"

Xiao Tongyan jokingly said, "Then you see, why else would I pay for it?"

Seeing the two of them standing against the wall arguing for a long time over a white bun, Jialuo, who was standing by to keep watch, also became curious and came over to take a closer look at the little dirty cat in Yuan Wuyou's arms.

"Young Master, what kind of cat is this? It's born with heterochromia?"

Yuan Wuyou lowered his head and took a look. Indeed, this white bun had golden and blue eyes.

Xiao Tongyan, who was standing next to him, answered without hesitation: "It's a Persian cat with two mandarin duck eyes and white fur. It's a hot commodity from Persia."

This is not “goods” at all…it’s clearly “stolen goods”!

Thinking of the Persian envoy she had just silenced, Yuan Wuyou suddenly felt a chill down her spine. She looked down at the sleepy Persian cat in her arms helplessly, "Wait, you give me the evidence. Are you trying to pin the crime of killing the Persian envoy on me?"

Xiao Tongyan nodded sincerely, "Yes. Why, when the king heard that he was going to take the blame for me, he didn't even dare to take the blame?"

"Why not? I didn't kill the man anyway. The cat belongs to me. Let's give it a name."

Seeing the little empress tilt her neck back, she immediately entered a state of responsibility for the little life. Xiao Tongyan said jokingly,
“People, it’s best not to name things casually, because that will create a bond between you and them. Once things have life, your thoughts about them will have meaning.”

"Dedede..." Yuan Wuyou interrupted her casting impatiently.

"Why are you being so sour? You people in the Southern Dynasty are just sentimental. This cat has its own life. What I think is that since I gave it a name, it belongs to me. It's like stamping a seal on a contract."

Looking at the girl in red shirt who was playing with the kitten, Xiao Tongyan smiled and said, "Oh? What are you going to call it?"

Miss Yuan said seriously, "I found it in a pastry shop, so let's call it a shop."

Xiao Tongyan's face was immediately filled with disgust.

"Is this the cat's name? As the young master of Western Wei, can you please be a little more talented? It's better not to name it."

Yuan Wuyou turned his head and glanced at Jialuo who was looking curiously at the side, "Aluo, what do you think is a better name?"

Jia Luo said smoothly: "I think the young master is well named."

“……”Okay, no need to ask her.

Yuan Wuyou choked and stared at Jialuo's eyes that were extremely bright in the night, and asked with a soft smile, "Do you like it? If you like it, I'll give it to you. I'll take the blame if there's any."

Jia Luo shook his head. "I don't like it."

"Then you were just...staring at me without blinking..."

"I was wondering how the young master was going to raise this thing."

Yuan Wuyou nodded secretly. This was indeed a good question. But she also had a solution instantly.

"Since you don't like it, I want to give the cat to Gao Yanzong or Gao Changgong. They have big families and can afford a bite of cat food. Especially Gao Yanzong, he has been unemployed for many years, so he must have time to keep a cat."