When the princess sister and the girls returned, Cheng Jinyang pointed to the household robot lying on the ground and recounted the whole story to everyone.
"Besides Jinyang, has anyone else recently received a similar contact from Wuchang?" Princess Nankang asked the young ladies of the noble families, her gaze fixed on the android as she pondered for a moment before turning her head to them, her tone serious.
"No," Xing Yuanzhi answered straightforwardly. "First, we all live in Jinyang's house, so there's no other way Wuchang could contact us."
"Second, the contact surely wasn't simultaneous but rather sequential. For families like ours, which hire household androids for cleaning every day, it's obviously the easiest point of contact. They just need to hack into the housekeeping company's network."
"On the contrary, if it were those who stay within their clan's territory, living reclusively and only using the family's intranet instead of the internet, it would be much harder to contact them. I lean towards the idea that they must be contacting people in batches, first selecting those who are easier to reach among the noble children."
"In this case, wouldn't someone among these children exposing the matter hinder Wuchang's subsequent contacts with other families?" Chu Qingqing asked in confusion.
"No," Wang Wanrou replied calmly. "Exposing the matter... is exactly Wuchang's goal."
Xing Yuanzhi and Chu Qingqing were momentarily taken aback upon hearing this, then they were suddenly struck with fear: Oh no, this is a strategy to sow distrust!
"This is a ploy to make the entire aristocracy suspicious of each other!"
"Such a despicable tactic just exposes Wang Chuzhong's bluster," Princess Nankang sneered. "At his age, his bloodline concentration has long since declined, yet he forcibly elevated himself to the third grade. How many more years can he possibly live? As soon as Duke of Wuchang dies, the Longxiang Army will collapse without a fight. If the aristocracy of Jiankang chooses to pledge allegiance to Wuchang at this moment, it would be like adding fuel to the fire, an act of utter stupidity."
That's right!
With the princess's reminder, Cheng Jinyang realized that Wang Chuzhong, being from the previous generation, must be at least in his fifties.
With his bloodline concentration decreasing year by year, how could he possibly break through to the third grade suddenly?
He must have used some secret method!
"Does the Taiyuan Wang clan have a method to forcibly increase someone's bloodline concentration?" Xing Yuanzhi asked in astonishment.
"They do," Wang Wanrou replied coldly. "But it causes great harm to the body. Once used, the person's remaining lifespan will be less than three months."
"So, as long as we can hold out for three months, the Duke of Wuchang is bound to die, and the crisis in Jiankang City will naturally be resolved," Cheng Jinyang thought excitedly.
However, Xie Yuanzhi had a different perspective: "In other words, in order to race against time, the Duke of Wuchang will definitely use thunderous and ruthless methods to quickly crush the spirit of the people in Jiankang, right?"
"What you can think of, how could my uncle not think of?" Wang Wanrou sneered coldly. "Just wait and see."
"Hey, isn't Wanrou from the Taiyuan Wang family? Why does it seem like you're not worried at all about being implicated in Wang Chuzhong's rebellion?" Chu Qingqing asked curiously.
"The Wang family that Miss Wang comes from has long since severed ties with Wuchang," Cheng Jinyang explained on behalf of Miss Wang. "Different paths do not lead to the same destination."
"I see," Chu Qingqing said, showing an expression of realization but feeling contemptuous inside.
Drawing boundaries—is it really that simple? Not to mention others, would the emperor believe it? Would Yu Yuanrui believe it? Even if they genuinely believed that the Taiyuan Wang clan had no issues, political animals would never miss such a good opportunity to pressure Wang Maohong to avoid suspicion, retreat, and cede power.
Naive!
...But being naive is also great. I can totally go for a sweet and simple guy!
Everyone's expressions varied, and the scene fell into a silent stillness.
Although they had long known that war was imminent, when the layers of dark clouds before the storm really pressed down on them, the girls couldn't help but feel a bit panicked.
"Sister Xinnan!" Cheng Jinyang finally made up his mind and asked, "Do you have time recently?"
"Yes, I do," the princess sister replied in surprise.
Although her schedule was already full starting tomorrow, she had no problem skipping work for her brother Jinyang.
"I want to become stronger," Cheng Jinyang said earnestly.
The girls were slightly taken aback by his words.
"Alright," the princess sister pondered for a moment before nodding with a smile, "Tomorrow morning, we'll go to the Luo Hall of the Shendu Cheng family and use the Tianluo equipment for brain domain development training."
"Mm-hmm," Cheng Jinyang breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the other three girls, "You will come too, right?"
"Jinyang, are you suggesting..." Xing Yuanzhi asked hesitantly.
"Since war is imminent, the most urgent task is to improve our strength," Cheng Jinyang said frankly, "Everything else must take a back seat to becoming stronger. What do you think?"
This was undeniably true, leaving the girls speechless.
It's just accepting training from this Princess Nankang feels a bit unsettling—could she be using the guise of training to harm us?
However, on second thought, since the equipment being used is from the Shendu Cheng family and Cheng Jinyang will be present, this princess probably won't dare to play any obvious tricks.
As for abusing us under the pretense of training... what a joke. We've been killed by demons countless times in the nightmare; in this kind of brain domain development environment without any real pain, what would we have to fear?
So, Chu Qingqing was the first to agree:
"Sure, sure! As long as I'm training with Jinyang, I'm in!"
"Since my Jinyang wants me to go, I have no reason to refuse." Xing Yuanzhi sighed and said firmly.
The intelligent and brave Miss Yuanzhi would never give any scheming woman a chance to take advantage!
Miss Wang didn't respond, still in a daze, until everyone's eyes were on her. She then faintly replied:
"Doesn't matter, whatever works."
"Alright, let's meet tomorrow at 9 AM," the princess sister said with a smile, raising her finger. "No one should be late, or there will be special punishments for the latecomers~"
"We won't be late, since we all live together," Cheng Jinyang responded. "Unless everyone just happens to oversleep."
"That's true," the princess sister nodded. "But Jinyang, there's one thing you need to remember..."
"What is it?"
"I don't care how you guys play at night, but you must not cause any accidents," the princess sister said seriously. "Don't think that if someone gets pregnant, you can keep it a secret. The families behind you all aren't fools. If such a scandal happens, it will be nearly impossible to cover it up."
Everyone: ...…
"Alright, I'm leaving now," the princess said as she stood up, declining Cheng Jinyang's offer to see her off, and left on her own.
"She really cares about you, Jinyang," Chu Qingqing said tentatively after Princess Nankang left.
On one hand, she had already guessed and could be certain of this person's royal status; on the other hand, Chu Qingqing was strongly perplexed about why this royal highness was so exceptionally kind to Cheng Jinyang, caring for him attentively, and even willing to extend this favor to the girls around him.
"Of course, after all, she is my sister," Cheng Jinyang answered ambiguously. "She is a top expert in Tianluo. This time, she is willing to help train you all, thanks to my influence. You must cherish this opportunity."
Still pretending!
Chu Qingqing silently cursed in her heart, but outwardly she obediently said, "Okay, I will definitely work hard."