After looking around for quite some time, he found Prince Hu. It seemed like Prince Hu was talking to Gan Manxiang.
"Everythingâs fine on that front. We havenât seen any activity today from the other side either," Gan Manxiang told Prince Hu.
"Thatâs good, but it might be the silence before the storm. Keep an eye on them and inform me if thereâs any activity," Prince Hu told Gan Manxiang as he nodded his head.
Gan Manxiang started at Prince Hu for quite some time.
"Is there something you want to say? Say it. Donât be formal," Prince Hu said as he noticed Gan Manxiangâs gaze.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
"Ah, Your Highness, is the Royal City not going to send any back-up? It had been so long. We are really on thin ice here," Gan Manxiang asked Prince Hu after thinking for some time.
"I told you many times, donât call me Your Highness. Iâm your General here. Also, the title of the Prince is already useless for me. You can call me General if you really want to give me respect. As for your question, I donât know. I sent the request for resources and reinforcement two weeks ago, but thereâs no response," Prince Hu replied.
"Ah, General. There have been rumors going around in the army that the Capital has abandoned us. They have abandoned this town and left us to die. This rumor has been catching fire. If we donât get any reinforcements soon, people might start believing it and lose their Morale," Gan Manxiang sighed as he informed Prince Hu.
" I know about the rumor, but thereâs nothing that can be done about it. Iâll be honest, though. It seems highly unlikely that weâll get any reinforcement. We canât depend on them. All we can do is try our best and win," Prince Hu said as he patted Gan Manxiangâs shoulders. " Still, Iâll send another letter to the Capital and demand for them to send reinforcement at the earliest."
" That would be good," Gan Manxiang nodded his head.
"Hmm? Li Man?" Gan Manxiang muttered as he saw Long Chen standing behind them.
Prince Hu also turned back to see who Gan Manxiang was calling.
" Ah, Master Gan, we meet again," Long Chen said as if it was a coincidence.
"Right. Oh, let me introduce yourself. This is our General Hu! He is our supreme commander here, the one whoâs keeping this place safe," Gan Manxiang introduced Prince Hu to Long Chen.
" General, this is Li Man. He just arrived in this city today for vacation," he introduced Long Chen to Prince Hu.
"Nice to meet you, Young Master Li. I must say you choose the wrong town to spend your vacation in," Prince Hu said as he reached out his hand to shake Long Chenâs hand.
Long Chen did the same as he shook Prince Huâs hand.
"I donât think so. I feel like it was worth it. I got to meet Prince Hu after all," Long Chen said with a smile on his face.
"Oh? You already know about me?" Prince Hu asked with a surprised look on his face.
"I heard praises about you all throughout the town. Also, I am staying in the same hotel as you. I heard the receptionist call you His Highness. Thereâs only one Prince who would come so far from the capital and live in such a modest hotel without any fanfare, and thatâs the Eldest Prince Hu. It was obvious," Long Chen replied.
"Interesting. Well, it was great meeting you, Young Master Li. I need to be going now since Iâm doing a little survey of the town. Have fun in the town. Itâs small, but the people here are really nice. As for the security of this place, leave that to us," Prince Hu smiled as he said to Long Chen before he turned back to leave.
"Ah, Prince Hu, Can I walk with you? Since youâre already going to go around the town, I might as well give you company," Long Chen suggested.
"Hmm? You want to come with me? Sure. Thereâs no problem in that," Prince Hu said, nodding his head.
Long Chen left with Prince Hu.
****
"Ah, Prince Hu, there was something that I wanted to ask," Long Chen let out with didnât hesitation.
" I donât think I have the title of Prince anymore. Also, youâre not in the army, so you donât have to call me General. You can just call me by my name," Prince Hu told Long Chen. "Also, you can ask me anything. As long as itâs not something troubling, Iâll answer you."
"Ah, right then. Master Hu, I was really curious about something. Back home, when I heard about you and what happened to you, I always felt like you were framed and punished wrongly. Is that right?" Long Chen asked Liang Hu.
"If I had actually done it, do you think I would tell you that I did it? It doesnât matter if I was innocent or guilty; I would have said Iâm innocent in both cases, so thereâs no reason for anyone to believe whatever I say about that. Iâll just leave that to your feeling," Liang Hu replied in vague terms.
"If itâs about my feelings, then I believe youâre innocent. That leads me to my second question. You are innocent, yet you were accused wrongly and punished. If there was anyone else in your position, they might have been filled with hate. Hate for the ones that did wrong to them. But I donât find that to be the case. After talking to you and after hearing about you from others, I can only believe that youâre filled with nothing but compassion. Why is that? Why donât you hate anyone?" Long Chen asked Prince Hu.
" Hah, I guessed that you were an intelligent person, but youâre a bit too intelligent. You found out all that just from your feelings and a little bit of information. Thatâs commendable. Youâre right. I was innocent. I was accused of scheming against my brother, whom I loved. I was accused of lusting after the crown, which I didnât even like at that time. The ones I thought were my family didnât believe me; instead, they Punished me. Still, I donât hate them. As for a reason..." Prince Hu told Long Chen while taking a pause at the end.
"... Itâs because theyâre my family. Even if they donât treat me like family, I can never abandon them and hate them." he continued.
âSigh, I couldâve used him if he had even a shred of hate towards his family, but he would never go against them. Itâs useless to spend time on him,â Long Chen thought after hearing Prince Huâs words.