“If you are done running, leave your life behind.”
Wei Lian returned to the Spiritual Palace fuming with unbearable anger. He sat on the imperial daybed with a chilling expression.
Seeing that he was in a bad mood, Chang Shou carefully offered a cup of tea. “Young Master, something troubles you?”
Wei Lian lowered his eyes. “No.”
After so many years of peace of mind, he was repeatedly disturbed into a great mess by one person called Ji Yue.
This was very unlike him.
“You can turn in for the day.” Wei Lian massaged his temple, closed his eyes and added, “Call Chang Sheng here.”
“…Understood.”
Chang Shou went out to call for Chang Sheng. Wei Lian was now rubbing both of his temples with his fingers. He opened his eyes and entered his chamber.
The adorable rabbit lantern was hanging on the wall opposite the headboard.
He stared at the lantern for a long time.
“Young Master.” Chang Sheng appeared beside him.
Wei Lian looked away from the lantern and murmured, “Go and check all the envoys’ whereabouts for today.”
Since Ji Yue outsmarted the culprit and took advantage of the situation to deal with the country of Chen, it did not mean he would let the real killer roam freely. Wei Lian did not care if Ji Yue would take further action on his side, because he himself was going to thoroughly investigate this.
Wei Lian would not be someone else’s chess piece.
During this critical moment, he could still use Chang Sheng. Not only was his servant’s martial arts skill excellent, but his information gathering was also top notch.
Chang Sheng accepted and executed the order.
Wei Lian raised his eyes to look at the rabbit lantern again, and Ji Yue’s face flashed into his mind.
After a long hesitation, he went out.
Out of sight, out of mind.
Not long after his rest in his palace, Chang Shou came back and said a female medical officer requested a meeting.
Wei Lian said, “Let her in.”
It was one of the female medical officers who examined Princess Chonghua’s body.
When she entered the palace, she knelt down to perform a formal greeting. “This subject pays respects to the young master.”
“Stand.” Wei Lian had somewhat of an idea why she was here. Before the medical officer could say anything, he took the lead to dismiss the other palace workers. Once others were gone, he said, “Is what you want to report in relation to Princess Chonghua?”
The female medical officer was slightly surprised. What she wanted to report was indeed not suitable for others’ ears. She did not expect the young master to be sharp enough to correctly guess it.
“The young master is very wise.” She got up and respectfully lowered her head. “His Majesty ordered us to prepare the Princess’s body for the coffin, while cleaning up, this subject found that there were burned letters in the Princess’s chamber inside of her incense burner. Only two bits remained legible.”
She presented the two fragments. “This subject dares not conceal the evidence and came here to report as soon as I found them.”
Wei Lian took a closer look. A good chunk of the letter was burned. There were only two words, ‘joy’ and ‘meet’, which weren’t enough to form a sentence. And a half-burned word, ear, as the signature.
“I see.” Wei Lian looked at these words and said slowly, “You are dismissed. Do not mention this to others.”
The medical officer saluted again. “Understood.”
Wei Lian sat alone in his palace, looking at the three only words left on the letter. After a long time, he whispered, “My heart sings in joy for you during our certain meeting…Yollıg Dan.”
What he said may not be accurate, but using those words, he could determine that this was a lover letter.
If it was an ordinary letter, there was no reason for Princess Chonghua to burn it.
The word ‘ear’ in the signature was very small, indicating that it was a radical. Going through the list, the only person with an ear radical in their name was Yollıg Dan.
During his time thinking, Chang Sheng returned after finding the following information—
—Wei Yan had been lying in his room all day. He had not recovered from his injury and had been showing his face, when necessary, all of the while enduring his unbearable pain. Otherwise, he was lying quietly on his daybed.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
—Hljb Lbcuofl lr mbcrlvfgfv tjio ojwlis obg Qfl Oljc, rb tf mbeiv geif atf wjc bea ja atf wbwfca.
—Ktf Jgbkc Uglcmf bo Wlj tjv yffc rajslcu lcvbbgr. Dflcu atf kfjxfra mbecags, fzmfqa obg atf mjqlaji ktfgf atf gbsji ojwlis gfrlvf, fnfgs qlfmf bo atflg ijcv yfibcur ab atf mbecags bo Hlc, rb tf vlvc’a vjgf ab ralg eq agbeyif. Vlcmf atf jgglnji bo atlr Jgbkc Uglcmf, tf tjv cba rafqqfv bea bo atf tberf fzmfqa obg cfmfrrjgs yjcdefar.
—The other Xia envoys had no odd movement either. They all stayed inside and kept quiet to protect their lives.
—Huyan Kemu went to the imperial kitchen at noon and asked the imperial chef to send a cup of horse milk wine to the Moon Gazing Tower. As for the time before Wei Lian’s challenge to tame the horse, which was during the period when Princess Chonghua lost her virginity, Chang Sheng did not find any trace of Prince Huyan. He could only confirm that Huyan Kemu was not at the Sandalwood Pavilion.
—However, Huyan Kemu didn’t have an idle nature. He usually went out and about every day, rarely staying in the Sandalwood Pavilion.
—Myrna slept on one of the trees in the Plum Blossom Garden since morning and had little time to commit a crime. The Saintess never liked to sleep on the daybed. The palace maids could usually find the Saintess on one of the trees in the palace every day.
—Aslan spent a great deal of his time looking for her, probably had no time for anything else.
—Yollıg Dan’s…whereabouts were unknown.
Wei Lian asked, “How so?”
Chang Sheng replied, “Prince Yollıg was not in the Jade Dragon Pavilion today, and his subordinates did not keep tabs on their Prince, however…”
“However, what?”
“However, when Prince Yollıg returned to the Jade Dragon Pavilion at noon, he requested hot water to be prepared. For a bath maybe.”
Bathing in the middle of the afternoon?
Noon was also the time when…Princess Chonghua lost her innocence.
The time matched.
Wei Lian recalled Yollıg Dan’s look when the maid reported the Princess’s death.
It was with surprise and regret.
Very normal reactions.
But that did not mean anything. Those who could be among the envoys, other than the good-for-nothing Wei Yan and useless Huyan Kemu, should be someone with decent diplomatic and acting skills, enough to fool most people.
Wei Lian slowly pieced clues together.
At present, Yollıg Dan was the biggest suspect.
Using the Chi Yan poison, he brought the country of Liang into the mess and turned the incident around using horse milk wine, nailing the country of Chen as the killer.
No one was aware of the oriole behind, so focused on the mantis stalking the cicada, which allowed the real murderer to conceal better…
“Young Master .” Chang Shou was back.
Wei Lian, whose thought was suddenly interrupted. “…What now?”
“Imperial Chef Wang requested a visit with you.”
Wei Lian remembered Wang Shou.
The man had taught him how to cook an entire afternoon after all.
Although, the teaching was not successful.
“Let him in.”
Wang Shou pulled a seven- to eight-year-old boy in. As soon as he saw Wei Lian, he knelt down and said, “This servant pays respects to the young master.”
The little boy remained standing in a silly manner until he was pulled down by Wang Shou to kneel with him.
“Paying respects to the young master.” The child spoke in a low muffled voice.
Wei Lian raised his eyebrows. “And this is?”
Wang Shou immediately retold the matter.
_
It turned out that the little boy is the son of a cook in the imperial kitchen. He would usually assist in the kitchen. The cooks found him cute and would sometimes give him samples of yummy dishes to eat.
When the kid saw the remaining horse milk wine that was sent back after the Princess had taken a sip, he secretly tried it to satisfy his curiosity, having never tried horse milk wine before and thinking that it was going to be poured out anyway.
He did not find it tasty, so after one sip, he put it back.
When Wang Shou was back from his summon to the Moon Gazing Tower, the little boy complained to Wang Shou, “Wang-bobo, that horse milk wine doesn’t taste good at all.”
Wang Shou had his soul scared out of his body. “How do you know it doesn’t taste good?!”
The child naively replied, “Because I took a sip in secret!”
_
“…That’s what happened.” Wang Shou was distressed. “This servant was negligent in his duty and did not properly watch Yang Yang. Even so, Yang Yang is only eight years old, he can’t die now! I heard that the wine was poisoned, and it would not kill him immediately, but death was inevitable! Young Master, please show kindness and save Yang Yang!”
He also took a big risk. Ordinary royalty doesn’t care about the life of a servant’s child, but he believes that the young master is different.
The young master has always been a kind-hearted individual.
The light in Wei Lian’s eyes flickered as he said, “Yang Yang, come here.”
Yang Yan was young and grew up in the marketplace, he did not know that royalties in the palace were not to be offended. Seeing that this beautiful immortal gege had called him over, tossing the other person’s interest or social ranking out of the window, the kid rushed and buried into the youth’s arms with his dirty clothes.
Wang Shou was even more frightened.
How could he allow Yang Yang to act this presumptuous to the spotless young master!
Wei Lian did not care in the slightest. He brought the child on his knee, quietly grabbed Yang Yang’s wrist and checked his pulse.
…The child was not poisoned.
Now that was interesting.
Princess Chonghua died from Chi Yan, but not from the one in the horse milk wine.
Yang Yang drank the leftovers from the Moon Gazing Tower after they were sent back to the imperial kitchen. At that time, the horse milk wine was not poisoned. When Princess Chonghua drank it, it was even less likely to be poisoned.
The country of Chen’s suspicion was completely ruled out.
“You have really helped me a great deal.” Wei Lian put the child down and spoke very gently to Wang Shou.
Wang Shou murmured, “Eh?”
Wasn’t it supposed to be the opposite? He did bring this child to the young master, hoping that Wei Lian would summon an imperial physician and treat Yang Yang.
How did he help out instead?
“This is the antidote His Majesty gave me. It can treat many poisons.” Wei Lian put a pill into Yang Yang’s mouth. “He will be fine. Take him back. Chang Shou, go to the storage and give the child two silver pieces for him to buy new clothes with.”
Wang Shou was stunned. First, Wei Lian used the antidote pill given by His Majesty on Yang Yang, then he gave money for the child’s clothes. This instantly moved Wang Shou to tears, completely convinced that Wei Lian was a very good man.
“Young Master, thank you so much!” Wang Shou was greatly moved and kowtowed. “Young Master, you are really a very kind-hearted man!”
Wei Lian murmured, “…Sure.”
The so-called antidote was just an ordinary candy, something he wasn’t going to disclose.
After Wang Shou and Yang Yang left happily. Wei Lian remained seated and suddenly asked Chang Sheng, “Are the night clothes still in the box?”
Chang Sheng was caught off guard by the question. “Yes.”
Wei Lian nodded.
Thankfully, when the King of Chu asked him to assassinate the King of Qin, he considerately prepared a set of dark clothes.
There were certain things he had to look into himself.
_
In the middle of the night.
A figure quietly sneaked into the Moon Gazing Tower.
Standing beside the coffin, Wei Lian focused his internal energy on his palm. With a slight touch, the heavy coffin cover was pushed open, revealing Princess Chonghua’s stiff pale face.
A very horrifying sight during dark nights.
Wei Lian’s face remained unchanged. He gently lit a candle with a flame stick.
With the candlestick in one hand, he inspected the Princess’s body and closely checked her eyes.
Her eyes…
His expressionless face was covered with a black scarf, only his restrained dark eyes were visible.
“Wait? Why is there light here?” The royal palace’s patrol team suddenly saw the yellow candle lights in the Moon Gazing Tower and posed the question.
“Let’s go and have a look.”
Wei Lian reacted very quickly. He blew out the candle, put it back to its original spot, quickly closed the coffin, jumped out of the window from the other side and leaped up to the roof.
When the patrol came, the leader said, “There is nothing here. You sure you weren’t seeing things?”
The person who first saw it was uncertain, “Er…maybe.”
“Then move, let’s continue the patrol.”
A line of patrols went in the other direction.
Just above their heads, Wei Lian half-squatted on the roof tile and quietly put away the short sword in his hand.
He stood up, looked into the distance and blended into the dim light of night instantly.
He had to hurry back to the Spiritual Palace.
Otherwise, it would be hard to explain himself in this outfit if he was to be found.
The other side.
Ji Yue was holding a porcelain bottle with blue flower patterns. He thought about what he should say when given the antidote to Wei Lian.
He was being unfair to Wei Lian on this, but he didn’t think he would fall in love with Wei Lian as well.
He was feeling nervous, like what he did was not good.
As he was walking, he suddenly heard a faint sound from the roof.
The sound was very quiet. Ordinary people or incompetent martial arts practitioners would not detect it.
But Ji Yue was neither.
He heard it loud and clear. It was the sound of footsteps passing over the roof.
Who dared to run on the royal palace’s roof at night?
His first thought was assassin.
And the direction the assassin was heading was…the Spiritual Palace.
Heading to Wei Lian?!
He would never let anyone get near Wei Lian.
Panic and anger instantly filled his heart as he immediately put away the porcelain bottle and ordered someone to bring his bow and arrow.
Wei Lian was in a hurry to return to the Spiritual Palace when a sharp arrow suddenly flew from behind him.
He dodged it with great agility and drew out his short sword to cut off the second arrow.
Turning towards the direction of the arrows, he saw the ruler in blank standing on the ground with a cold expression.
Ji Yue had found him.
Wei Lian furrowed his brows and ran in another direction in determination. He was so fast that he left behind only his residual shadow.
When Ji Yue saw the individual making an escape, he immediately used his light movement skill to leap up to the roof and pursued the assassin ahead.
They ran and chased each other on the palace roof, shuttling between the eaves and tiles. Both were masters of their own unique light movement skills.
Wei Lian was no match with Ji Yue’s familiarity with the terrain as the distance between them was getting shorter.
Once he ran to a remote building, Wei Lian saw that he had lost his pursuer behind him. He remained full on guard, then a sharp longsword was placed against his neck.
Wei Lian tightened his hand that was holding his weapon.
Ji Yue’s tone was chilling and ruthless.
“If you are done running, leave your life behind.”
Thank You for the chapter ｡✰✧(♡´❍`♡)✧✰｡
Is it time ???