Chapter 56: The Method to Save the Crown Prince

Xie Shouzheng shouted: "Dami, come and report on the situation of the Gu family."

Dami immediately flipped through a stack of documents to find the content related to the Gu family:

"The Gu family are Imperial Merchants, the largest tea merchants in Great Qi. The head of the Gu family, Gu Huai, originally named Sun Huai, was born into a humble family. At twenty, he married into the Aristocrat Gu family, changed his surname to Gu, and was later enfeoffed as the 'Marquis of Literary Commerce,' joining the ranks of the Aristocrats."

"The deceased, Gu Nianxue, was Gu Huai's eldest daughter by his legal wife. At 16, she married into the former Secretariat Chancellor's residence as a secondary wife, and at 26, she was divorced and sent back to her maiden home."

"Since then, she had been insane. When her madness was at its worst, she even raised a knife, intending to kill her whole family."

Speaking to the end, Dami even sighed: "Alas, what a pity. I heard she was the greatest beauty in Jingcheng back in the day!"

Xie Shouzheng looked solemn: "This is likely quite tricky; I must make a trip there myself!"

As he spoke, he grabbed his black gauze cap and was about to leave in a rush, when he suddenly remembered Lin Qingyue and turned his head to ask:

"Deputy Envoy Lin, what was it you just said you wanted to tell me? How about we talk after I finish handling the Gu family's matter?"

Lin Qingyue sighed: "Forget it, let's talk when you're done. I'll go back and change into casual clothes first; these ceremonial robes are not convenient for office work."

Xie Shouzheng didn't think much of it, gave a response, and then hurried away.

Lin Qingyue returned to the Wangfu first.

Seeing her return, Xiao Hua immediately trotted up and meowed.

Bi'er said with a smile: "This cat, Xiao Hua, is very haughty. When we tease it, it ignores us. But as soon as you arrive, Princess, it's like a completely different cat."

As she spoke, she crouched down and poked Xiao Hua's forehead: "Stinky Xiao Hua, don't forget that it's me, Bi'er, who feeds you every day!"

Xiao Hua felt helpless and had no choice but to turn his head and chirp at the little maid.

Bi'er felt her heart was about to melt and immediately transformed into a cat slave: "Alright, alright, I'm just teasing you! How could Sister Bi'er bear not to feed you? After I serve the Princess and change her clothes, I'll go to the kitchen and get you something delicious!"

Although Xiao Hua was worried about the matters in the Imperial Palace, hearing that Lin Qingyue was going to change clothes, he immediately and tactfully stepped out.

Bi'er said to Lin Qingyue with a smile: "This cat actually knows how to avoid suspicion; it's so smart! I specifically asked Steward Zhao the other day how to tell a male cat from a female one. Steward Zhao told me..."

She covered her mouth and smiled: "I just checked, Xiao Hua is a little male cat!"

Xiao Hua had almost jumped over the threshold of Qi Wu Dian when he was suddenly shocked by these words: "Checked? Checked where? It couldn't be..."

With just that moment of distraction, he was tripped by the threshold and took a big tumble.

Bi'er, you truly bully cats too much!

By the time Lin Qingyue changed her clothes, Xiao Hua was still hanging his head in dejection, hiding in the grass in the courtyard, feeling he had no face to see anyone.

He heard Lin Qingyue calling: "Xiao Hua, Xiao Hua!"

Xiao Hua sighed, then pretended as if nothing had happened and stepped into the hall with an elegant posture.

Bi'er had already been dismissed, and there were no other servants in Qi Wu Dian.

Xiao Hua relaxed slightly, but suddenly felt Lin Qingyue's gaze looking at him intentionally or unintentionally.

He hurriedly tucked his tail and asked: "What are you looking at?"

Lin Qingyue said: "I am looking at the soul in your body; it is indeed only the Earth Soul."

Hearing this, Xiao Hua finally resolved his previous gloom and jumped onto the chair next to Lin Qingyue to sit down: "How did it go in the palace today?"

Lin Qingyue said: "Everything that needed to be said was said. Your father wants to see you. If you are willing, enter from the West Palace Gate tonight. He will arrange for someone to bring you into the palace."

Xiao Hua thought for a moment and said: "That is fine, I will go see the Emperor."

The Emperor is always cautious; he might not fully believe it based solely on the content of a relayed message.

Lin Qingyue added: "There is a piece of good news and a piece of bad news: the good news is that your physical body is intact, and the soul residing in the cat's body can return to its original vessel. The bad news is that you are still missing a sliver of your Heavenly Soul; if you cannot find it, you will only live for three more months."

Hearing the good news, Xiao Hua's ears perked up and his tail raised high. Upon hearing the bad news, his tail instantly drooped.

"That sliver of Heavenly Soul... is there any trace of it?"

When Xiao Hua was a human, he had dabbled in such mysterious matters. But now, as a party involved, he was blinded by his own situation; he couldn't see his own state, so he had never known he only had a remnant soul.

He had originally thought that as long as his physical body was there, his soul could return and he would recover as usual. Now he knew that while he could recover, he would die very soon after.

Lin Qingyue toyed with her hanging long hair and said: "Your father is quite concerned about you. Over this past year, he has sent many extraordinary people to help you search for your soul. They couldn't find it within the borders of the country, so they went to the Chiying Land, but all the teams that went disappeared."

Xiao Hua said: "That day, I went to Chi Xia Jun to inspect the border troops. Past Chi Xia lies the Chiying Land, where sinister winds wreak havoc all year round. Sometimes they blow filthy things to the border of Qi Guo, so we have to set up protective arrays at the border to prevent evil spirits from invading."

"The border troops guarding Chi Xia actually live very hard lives. I stayed in Chi Xia for two days and was preparing to return. Just as I was about to leave Chi Xia, I was suddenly attacked."

"I always thought there might have been a traitor in my team; after all, within Qi Guo, there are still quite a few people who want my life."

"But looking at it now, this matter might be related to the strangeness in the Chiying Land."

Lin Qingyue nodded: "So, to retrieve your lost sliver of soul, we still have to go to Chi Xia and Chiying to look for it. It's a pity that the people your father sent were likely just useless sacks of wine and rice; they didn't get the job done and got themselves killed in the process."

Xiao Hua raised his glass-like eyes to look at Lin Qingyue: "So, did my father entrust you to go to the border to help me search for my soul?"

Lin Qingyue raised an eyebrow and smiled: "Do you not want me to save you?"

"I do." As the Crown Prince, being trapped in this cat's body was naturally stifling; of course he wanted to return to his original body!

"But..."

He paused before continuing: "But you might not know what kind of existence the Chiying is. It is the place where the Yin and Yang realms intersect, a realm of ultimate Yin and ultimate evil; ordinary people cannot approach it at all."

"I heard that in ancient times, it was a place where heinous monsters and evil spirits were exiled, and later it gradually became a country of its own."

"Fortunately, although the evil things there are powerful, once they adapt to the realm of ultimate Yin and evil, they can no longer adapt to the Yang energy in the normal world. So they dare not offend the outside world easily. But if a living person breaks into it, the consequences would be unimaginable."

"Therefore, unless you have absolute certainty, do not take risks easily. After all, it is full of dangers, unlike Jingcheng, where even if there are evil spirits, they cannot stir up trouble. You never owed me anything, and you even once saved my life; I do not want you to lose your life for no reason."

Lin Qingyue did not expect that at a time like this, Xiao Hua would not be begging her to save him first, but instead analyzing the pros and cons. He even suggested she not take risks easily.

Lin Qingyue asked him: "But you don't have much time left to wait. Once the Heavenly Soul is lost, the physical body cannot hold on for too long. Do you want to be a cat forever?"

Xiao Hua gave a bitter smile: "If that sliver of my Heavenly Soul has truly fallen into the Chiying Land and there is no possibility of it returning, then since there is no hope of life, why drag you into danger?"

"You are quite open-minded."

"Since that is the case, rather than being despondent, it is better to accept reality. Anyway, I have gotten used to being a cat."

Used to it?

He had just been hiding because of Bi'er's words, afraid to see anyone. Did he think Lin Qingyue didn't know?