Chapter 139

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Protagonist:

Shaowei

Liu Qi

The unfolded silk fabric was delicate and smooth in texture, but what instantly captured Shaowei's attention was the divine writing upon it.

This was a one-sided reply letter from Liu Qi; yesterday Shaowei had asked Dou Shiyi to help convey a message to Liu Qi on her behalf, as she had a matter she wished to entrust him with.

She had only given a verbal message, yet Liu Qi took it seriously and wrote this entire scroll in reply; the divine writing on the letter was strikingly eye-catching.

Shaowei had once seen Liu Qi write; back in Wuling Commandery, the poisoned Liu Qi had copied down the antidote prescription she dictated; at that time his script was the most common clerical script of the era, yet compared to the crude clumsiness of others' brushwork, his divine writing was especially vigorous and neat, clearly a new clerical style improved by a calligraphy master, which had already made Shaowei feel a jealousy of 'others have it, I do not'.

The divine writing on this silk at this moment was different from that time; it fused cursive script and clerical script into one, possessing both the brush intent of clerical script and a character structure that was agile and changing, light and brilliant, truly beautiful.

Shaowei was not lacking in appreciation ability; startled by this calligraphy at first glance, for a moment she did not even bother to look at what content he had written.

Upon returning to her senses, Shaowei suspected this person was deliberately showing off, but she had no evidence.

And since she had a request of him, she would treat it as showing off and let him show off this once.

Shaowei suppressed that trace of feeling provoked, and seriously read the meaning within the characters.

The matter she entrusted Liu Qi to help with was to inquire about the whereabouts of Qingwu and Ji Jin; although she did not know the full extent of Liu Qi's hidden factions, she already knew his information network was keen, clearly he had no few secret agents under his command.

But these were merely her reasons for asking his help, not reasons to coerce him; after Shaowei described the origins, ages, and appearances of the two from Qingwu, she further instructed Dou Shiyi to supplement that if Liu Qi found anything inconvenient, he should simply refuse outright, and she would not hold a grudge for it.

Liu Qi did not refuse; he stated clearly in the letter that today he had already sent someone to deliver a letter to Chenliu Commandery to investigate the traces of these two.

Additionally, he spoke to Shaowei of various recent movements of factions in the capital, so she could understand the situation; through his straightforward sharing between the lines, Shaowei could even vaguely discern the distribution of his secret agents in the capital.

Finally, he mentioned himself in one sentence, saying recently all was well, the mansion's spies emerged endlessly, today catching ghosts, tomorrow killing thieves, quite lively.

This one sentence was to respond to the greeting Shaowei conveyed through Dou Shiyi; the motive for the greeting was not wanting the topic to be too dry and make her appear ignorant of etiquette and human nature.

Setting down the silk, Shaowei took up brush and ink and rough paper herself, sat cross-legged writing and drawing, organizing the information and thoughts she had gained recently.

Not mentioning other incidental news, the only one she cared most about was Chiyang; since the Shangsi Festival Grand Sacrifice, this person rarely appeared before people, only going to Xian Tai Gong every other day to handle affairs, the rest of the time staying in the Immortal Master's Mansion; it was said the spring pollen and sunlight were too strong, making his body and skin fragile and prone to illness, requiring more rest.

But the house slaves had another plain view; they believed Chiyang had a relapse of his strange illness from being angered by the flower fox.

The house slave analyzed that this person appeared without sorrow or joy on the surface, but behind the scenes his methods were ruthless, showing an arrogant nature of 'those who oppose me perish'; the flower fox won a victory at Changling, and although Chiyang retreated unscathed, his originally foolproof scheme had also completely failed; just the fact that the flower fox did not die was enough to give him the shock of an unexpected loss of control.

Failing to anger him into a serious bedridden illness was truly a regret, but from this Shaowei began to pay attention to his strange illness; the house slave found out Chiyang's strange illness required daily medicine to suppress, so Shaowei had the house slave try to see if they could obtain the prescription Chiyang was using.

She did this only to overcome the enemy; regardless of whether the means were high or low, as long as it was the opponent's weakness, she had to try to grasp it; this was the instinctive olfactory nature a predator must possess.

Therefore she not only had to try to obtain the prescription, but had also sent people to the vicinity of Chiyang's master's sect to carefully investigate his background and everything related to him.

Shaowei was certain that besides recuperating, Chiyang must also be pondering how to deal with her; his strike with victory in hand had failed to win, so his next move would only be more cautious and more fierce.

While doing her utmost to guard against him, Shaowei's goal was clear: gain the Emperor's greater trust as soon as possible, divert more power from Chiyang, find his weakness, choose the right moment to act, no matter what means, she must drive him into an absolute situation.

The brush tube in Shaowei's hand as she wrote and drew was like a blade body; her brushwork lacked no bloodlust, but upon returning to her senses, her gaze turned to that silk, and she could not help but make a comparison; the result made her knit her brows, and she crumpled both the rough paper and the silk into a ball, threw them into the copper basin, lit a fire and burned them, whether beautiful or ugly, all burned into flying ash.

Just as the silk was about to burn out, at the end only the four characters 'all is well' remained; yet the person who wrote these four characters, three days later, suddenly 'was not well'.

Recently, Shaowei was busy in the Shen Ci familiarizing herself with the various sacrificial matters the Tai Puzhe needed to preside over.

She was still recuperating from injuries, so Yu Si Wu had not actively urged her, fearing she would exhaust her mind and spirit and affect the subsequent spirit descent; anyway all trivial matters had this Si Wu to arrange.

The usually strict Yu Si Wu displayed unprecedented reverence and doting toward the flower fox.

Shaowei did not comply; she insisted on thoroughly mastering all affairs as quickly as possible; before, when she first arrived knowing nothing, it was fine, but now she was already the Tai Puzhe; others could indulge her, but if she continued feigning ignorance and stupidity, over time people would surely think her incapable beyond spirit descent, and determine she was easy to bully.

Moreover, only by mastering all matters and grasping them in her heart would she not be deceived and calculated against; this Shen Ci she also had to tame without fail, so as to make it serve her as much as possible.

The first matter was to investigate and clear out the spies planted in the Shen Ci by various sides; Yu Si Wu highly cooperated with this, personally leading people to screen and redeploy personnel everywhere; anyone who might come into contact with the flower fox would inevitably be screened repeatedly.

The flower fox's safety was Yu Si Wu's primary concern; besides the Shen Ci, Yu Si Wu's gaze also repeatedly turned toward Jiang Zhai; the three slaves the flower fox bought back made her feel at a loss for words, so she said nothing, only silently sent two healthy martial maids, treating it as a housewarming gift.

When those two martial maids arrived at Jiang Zhai, the most delighted was undoubtedly Xiao Yu.

The house slave and Mo Li were often busy and unseen; one day, the house slave returned from going out and discovered Xiao Yu, eager to practice martial arts, had secretly gone to the front courtyard to ask two healthy male slaves for kung fu advice; the house slave brought her back and punished her by making her kneel for half an incense stick's time.

The house slave said she had two faults: one, she should not have contacted the front courtyard people without permission; two, she should not have contacted strange male slaves alone.

Now with these two martial maids, Xiao Yu had daily companions as martial arts teachers.

The personnel investigation and transfer in the Shen Ci was still ongoing; Shaowei specifically requested two people from Yu Si Wu; they were two older Wu Nu she had noticed very early on; these two were responsible for the Shen Ci's external affairs and often dealt with people from the various offices under the Taichang Temple.

The two went to see the Tai Puzhe with trepidation, thinking their usual loose talk had aroused the Tai Puzhe's suspicion; unexpectedly the Tai Puzhe valued precisely their loose talk; from then on every two days she would summon them to speak of news from everywhere — confirmed, rumored, proper, improper — all must be heard.

For the flower fox's extremely large and miscellaneous curiosity, Yu Si Wu did not understand but still doted on and respected her.

And seeing the Tai Puzhe truly loved listening to these, the two Wu Nu grew more earnest day by day, turning loose talk from a hobby into a duty, and secretly developing a competitive heart, only seeing whose news was more timely and more novel.

This afternoon, after Shaowei finished reading two scrolls of documents, she propped her chin and yawned, so she summoned these two.

The two performed rites and knelt; the very first news they spoke made Shaowei startle awake: "Has the Tai Puzhe heard? Just now it was heard that the Wuling Commandery Prince, the Sixth Prince, was poisoned by someone; now his life hangs by a thread!"

Shaowei instantly sat straight, but dared not let her voice sound too unusual: "How so sudden?"

"These nobles, they say are precious..." one Wu Nu sighed: "But in this Chang'an City, historically it has also been a case of trouble happening the moment it's spoken of."

The following words, Shaowei could no longer hear clearly; she looked toward the half-open window, suppressing the impulse to immediately rise and leave.

However, her interactions with Liu Qi could not see the light; if she left the moment she heard he had an incident, would that not expose the fact that she cared about him?

She now cared very much about his life and death; Shaowei realized this point, yet also felt it was perfectly normal.

Even though Liu Qi had admitted many actions were only because he intended to cooperate with her, thus showing goodwill to win her over, indeed he had already won her over.

Liu Qi treated her with what could be called frankness, listened to her words, and had practically helped her; the two had only drunk alliance tea under the moon; how could he suddenly be at death's door?

Shaowei's emotions surged chaotically; in her haste a messy thought surfaced: if he met with mishap just like this, he would die even earlier than in the previous life; and in the previous life before he died he went on a killing spree, at least venting a breath of resentment; in this life to just be poisoned to death like this, would it not be aggrieved and stifling?

Thinking again of the experience of dying together in the previous life, Shaowei could not help falling into a kind of ominous anxiety of 'the rabbit dies, the fox grieves'.

Finally waiting until the end-of-shift hour, she hurried back to Jiang Zhai; Shaowei originally wanted to ask the house slave, but the house slave was not in the residence.

The house slave had many matters to attend to, and also had to train new subordinates; sometimes she simply stayed overnight in the small courtyard.

Dou Shiyi was not nearby, but Liu Qi, for ease of passing messages and to keep watch around Shaowei, had already set up two of Dou Shiyi's men at a marrow cake stall on a back street not far from Jiang Zhai.

Mo Li returned early today, and Shaowei immediately sent him to ask for news at the stall.

Mo Li moved quickly and soon returned, with no specific news, but he had bought a large stack of marrow cakes.

Those two did not know the Sixth Prince's specific condition now, only that a poisoning had indeed occurred.

Today the Sixth Prince's Mansion was in a flurry of activity; besides the coming and going of Doctors, Crown Prince Cheng had personally come to visit.

The course of the poisoning had been investigated: someone had tampered with the Suyao bestowed by the Imperial streamer. The Sixth Prince's rod wounds had already scabbed and were healing, but after applying this poisoned Suyao, signs of poisoning suddenly appeared, the wound changed color and festered anew, and he fell into a coma.

The poisoner was quickly ferreted out: a palace attendant allowed to serve only in the front courtyard, who had tampered with the medicine while inventorying the Imperial streamer bestowals.

When this attendant was caught, he had already taken poison himself. He claimed it was for revenge, saying his grandfather had been targeted and framed merely for being dissatisfied with the new policies Ling Empress implemented, his grandfather died in prison, and he himself was subjected to Yanmen and made a slave. Ling Empress was dead, so he could only take revenge on her youngest son.

The attendant died when the poison struck. Tang Jia, who had investigated this matter, rushed into the Imperial streamer to seek an audience, fell to his knees before the Emperor, and wept with tears and voice together.

"That poisonous slave, borrowing a half-true, half-false old pretext to vent his spite... the Sixth Prince is now someone everyone wants to kill, everyone dares to bully!"

"These past years, Tang Jia knows all too well that the Sixth Prince has been like a startled bird, guarding against everything he uses daily. This time, only because that Suyao was bestowed by his Sovereign Father did he feel joy and trust, not having anyone specially inspect it... who would have thought such methods would be used!"

The honest and loyal minister knocked his head down, choking with speech: "In those years, I was entrusted by Your Highness to advise and teach the Sixth Prince. These past years, I know I have failed to make the Sixth Prince let go of the obsession in his heart, and I am truly ashamed before Your Highness! I once felt powerless and thought of simply giving up, yet I could not truly bring myself to ignore the Sixth Prince's utmost affection, utmost nature, and utmost grief..."

"My strength is slight and my words light, yet I must speak the truth..."

"And so Tang Jiadou dares to risk death to speak a word: if this matter is not thoroughly investigated, I fear the Sixth Prince's situation in the Capital will become even more difficult in the future!"

Looking at Tang Jia weeping on the ground, the Emperor sighed: "Alright, rise."

At this moment, the Director of Taiyi Shu entered the hall quickly, knelt and saluted: "Reporting to Your Highness, fortunately the Sixth Prince is blessed by Heaven, and because treatment was timely, his life is now out of danger."

The Emperor looked toward the twilight outside the hall and slowly nodded.

Before Tang Jia entered the Imperial streamer, all unrelated people in the Sixth Prince's Residence, including the Doctors of Taiyi Shu, had been taken away by the house steward.

Before entering the Imperial streamer, Tang Jia had a fit of madness, finally flicking his sleeve and speaking in a trembling voice: 【If any petty rat from any Road dares to attempt assassination while I am in the Imperial streamer, just come and try! I, Tang Jia, even if I sacrifice this life, will surely make him have nowhere to hide and make him repay tenfold or a hundredfold, not leaving his family a single soul!】

An honest man going mad carries a kind of resolve to risk everything; the house steward dared not be the slightest bit careless and soon cleared this Courtyard.

Night deepened, completely shrouding this Sixth Prince's Residence where hearts were restless.

A black shadow like a flying sparrow leaped over the Courtyard Wall of the Prince's Mansion's Back Courtyard, in a few bounds flew straight down from the Wu Lou, and at the same time struck first, drawing a Short Knife and pressing it against the side neck of a patrolling guard, saying: "One of our own, call Deng Hu."

Only someone trusted by Liu Qi could patrol here at Midnight; the guard saw that Short Knife and already believed this swift and strange newcomer was a friend, not a foe.

Even so, several guards quickly surrounded him, until Deng Hu arrived.

The newcomer pulled down his face cloth, and Deng Hu, surprised, saluted with clasped hands.

Bringing the guest hastily into the Master's Inner Chamber, Deng Hu barely stopped him in the Outer Room, then entered the Inner Chamber to announce: "Your Highness, a guest has arrived... it is Jiang Tai Zhu."

The youth lying on the Bed, face pale, opened his eyes and turned to look at Deng Hu in disbelief.

Deng Hu pointed to the Outer Room and said softly: "He is outside right now."

Liu Qi immediately tried to prop up his upper body, wrapped only in Bandages, but A He hurriedly gestured to stop him, took an Outer Robe, and draped it over the youth.

Things happened suddenly; Liu Qi still felt his appearance was a sorry sight, but dared not keep her waiting long, so he again reached out and pulled down the Gauze curtain before letting Deng Hu bring the person in.

Through the semi-transparent Gauze curtain, the visitor was seen in black clothes and black braid, walking quickly, her voice also quick: "Liu Qi, are you alright?"

Liu Qi unconsciously answered her quickly: "Alright. How did you come over?"

Shaowei stopped five steps from his Bed, and hearing his voice sighed in relief, her speech pace also normal: "My skills have recovered, so I thought I would come."

This unique answer made Liu Qi smile silently, then he heard her say frankly: "Outside rumors say your life or death is unknown; I could not tell true from false, so I had to come see for myself."

A He brought over a Hu Bed, and Shaowei sat down, listening to Liu Qi answer: "Rest assured, I won't die yet."

Though he said so, his voice indeed sounded weak; Shaowei stared at the figure inside the curtain: "You really were poisoned? Are you putting on a suffering-the-body scheme?"

?? (This year promoted to Great God, all the way here, in short: thank you everyone, thank you everyone, thank you everyone very much! Deep bow.)

? 【The handwriting of Six Seven this time is chapter grass script】

? 【The "not leaving his family a single soul" that Tang Master curses with translates to plain speech as the whole family dies.】