Chapter 284: Luo'er and Prince Su, Amidst Flowers and Moon

Zaina cried out in pain, shouting: "I thought she still felt some familial affection, but she simply doesn't deserve it!"

"And you, why do you aid Zhou in his tyranny? Why also persecute Guli? She is, after all, your paternal aunt!!"

Pei Sanlang, whose injuries were already severe, began to vomit blood mouthful by mouthful.

Li Qingluo saw this and quickly walked over: "Enough! Guli is indeed still alive!"

"Moreover, when the dungeon collapsed, I together with Prince Su rescued her from the dungeon."

"Nowadays, she resides in our Xiuli Jiangjun Fu."

"If you wish to see her, I can have someone bring her out of the city immediately."

Zaina, upon hearing this, turned and grabbed Li Qingluo: "Really? She really isn't dead? How is she now... still... alright..."

Zaina couldn't even utter those words.

Li Qingluo: "Her mental state is indeed not like that of an ordinary person. Moreover, she cannot speak, nor walk like a normal person; she moves like a small animal, crawling on all fours."

"She has never seen the outside world, the blue sky outside, never seen white clouds, never seen flowers and butterflies."

"Moreover, she has never tasted those worldly delicacies. She is indeed very pitiful."

"However, aside from that, she has no other discomfort."

"Although seeing men does indeed cause her to go mad and lose control, I have placed her in a courtyard where all men are now prohibited from approaching; only a group of maidservants attend to her."

"I suppose she will not encounter any further mishaps for the time being."

"By the way, her current name is Hudie."

Zaina: "Hudie? What a lovely name... better than Guli. From now on, she should be a free-flying butterfly."

"Moreover, it turns out that just doing this... can also let her live more freely."

After saying this, Zaina turned and knelt before Li Qingluo, kowtowing heavily several times.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you——"

"I owe you this kindness; I can only repay it in the next life."

"If possible, could you please continue to look after her?"

"Just... just pity her; my request may be shameful, but I have no one else to rely on!"

"In this world, even her closest sister now exploits her to the bone, not sparing even her own flesh and blood; she truly has no one left to trust."

After saying that, Zaina didn't wait for Li Qingluo's response, glanced at the Old Duke, then revealed her final secret: "It's my older sister who coerces Pei Lang into writing a book of the Pei family's military tactics; otherwise she will exterminate the entire Pei clan. By then, not only will there be the silk-thread lure, but even more vicious methods..."

"Pei Lang had no choice; to save the clan's lives and also for me, who has been imprisoned by my sister, he thus, whenever lucid, begins to write the military manual."

"However, my sister promised that if the military manual is completed, she will give the antidote for the silk-thread lure!"

"Otherwise, even if my sister were killed, the Pei clan would still be unsalvageable..."

Li Qingluo suddenly recalled the words spoken by the person who dismembered Shi'erniang after she said she would die.

'"Although his mind has been poisoned these years and is now not very sharp... yet it has not been completely abolished... it is still useful to Your Highness..."'

"Your Highness, just who does this 'Your Highness' refer to?"

"Moreover, whose hand did the Western Regions' 'Maitreya Poison' that harmed Shi'erniang come from—Princess Qinyu or Zaina's sister?"

"Could the person who dismembered Shi'erniang be Zaina's sister?"

Li Qingluo turned and walked toward Pei Sanlang.

"The one who killed and dismembered Nanjia—who is she? Is she perhaps Zaina's sister?"

Pei Sanlang looked at Li Qingluo, eyes full of shock.

"You—how could you know?"

Li Qingluo: "I say Nanjia appeared in a dream; do you believe me?"

Pei Sanlang: "Miss Li, why would you deceive me?"

Li Qingluo: "I truly haven't deceived you. I also know that when Nanjia was dismembered, you were in that dungeon chamber."

Pei Sanlang froze completely on the spot.

He looked at Li Qingluo suspiciously, wondering how she could know this as if she had been there herself.

"Could it be... that Shi'erniang's wronged spirit lingers and sent her a dream?"

He recalled that painful memory, his face ashen as he lay on the ground.

Li Qingluo: "I ask you, who exactly is the masked person!? Do you know or not!?"

Faced with Li Qingluo's pressing aggression, Pei San likewise unwillingly growled angrily: "Yes! It's her!"

"She has been wandering about our Pei mansion, the Crown Prince's residence... even the Lotus Sect bears her traces!"

Li Qingluo looked at Zaina: "So, it really was your sister who sent you to the Lotus Sect. What exactly does she intend to do?"

Zaina also shook her head, bewildered.

"I, I truly don't know... otherwise I wouldn't keep hiding it from you!"

The Old Duke slowly regained consciousness and heard these words.

"What she said... is it really true?"

"Sanlang, you really... teamed up with others to kill a fellow clanswoman... what about Shi'erniang?"

Pei Sanlang gave no answer, yet that silence was already the most cruel response at this moment.

Li Qingluo turned again and entered the room: "Yes, Great Maternal Uncle. Because Shi'erniang inadvertently overheard him speaking with a masked person—now known to be your own sister, Zaina—and they said they would kill Pei Yuan, lest this imperial close minister in the future bring harm to the Pei family."

"Thus Shi'erniang was also captured by them, her limbs and head chopped off, and all her blood drained out to be made into a congealed blood pill for you to eat."

"Great Maternal Uncle, are you truly unaware?"

The Old Duke shuddered all over, then bent over the bedside and vomited.

"Confused, you are so confused!! Sanlang——"

"It seems he simply cannot accept that he has consumed the blood of a female clanswoman of his own lineage."

Li Qingluo sneered coldly in her heart.

Prince Su stepped forward at this time.

He stood beside Li Qingluo, and together they looked toward Old Duke Pei.

After glancing at him, Li Qingluo raised her voice again with full confidence: "Who knows how many corpses and vengeful spirits are buried in that dungeon? Even some palace maids who met bizarre disappearances and could not be dealt with were secretly sent to your Pei household."

"Great maternal uncle, it turns out the common folk you swore to protect at dawn do not include these women who died because of you."

"Do you know that those palace maids you recently ate were all people the empress wanted to silence?"

"You wanted to overthrow this dynasty, yet now you are also shackled by another witch, and haven't you accomplished nothing?"

"And you've even become a tool for the empress to kill and silence!"

"Do you really think no one knows about your current situation with the Pei household?"

"I see that the crown prince and the empress are very clear about it!"

"Otherwise, they wouldn't be playing with you two like this."

Old Duke Pei's face turned completely white, inch by inch, upon hearing those words.

Zha Yina was even more panicked and defeated, at a loss what to do.

Li Qingluo showed no mercy, continuing to stare at them word by word: "Take a look at the mess you've left for the Pei family! You've even turned a fine young man into a killing monster who can even strike down his own kin—a beast, a devil!"

"Even now, do you still think you're some kind of hero? If you had died on the battlefield back then, everyone would still respect you as a hero who defended the home and country!"

"But look at what you've become! If it weren't for Prince Su's intervention this time, you would have already been dragged to death by Pei Sanlang!"

"And there's no talk of reuniting with Zha Yina or even my grandmother."

"The Lotus Sect, the crown prince's side—they're all playing with your Pei family in the palm of their hands, treating you like fools to be toyed with; don't you still not get it?"

Pei Lao Furen couldn't bear it and softly shouted: "Luo'er! Don't, don't say any more……"

Li Qingluo: "Yes, grandmother."

She finally obediently closed her mouth.

Old Duke Pei and Zha Yina inexplicably let out a sigh of relief in their hearts……

Seeing this chaotic scene, Pei Lao Furen really had nothing more to say.

Everything that needed scolding, Luo'er has already finished scolding by herself.

Everything that needed asking, Luo'er has also gotten clear answers to.

Only Prince Su, at this point, finally asked lightly: "The Pei family's military manual?"

"Perhaps the old duke has already finished writing it and handed it over to the head of the witchcraft sect?"

Old Duke Pei: "No! If I had finished it, I would long ago have become her pawn—how could I still be alive today?"

"After all, only the last few chapters remain."

Prince Su gave a faint smile: "Good."

Pei Lao Furen brought Li Qingluo back to the small courtyard of the Qingguan Temple to reside.

Old Duke Pei and Zha Yina, meanwhile, remained in the Cangsong small courtyard.

Pei Sanlang and Pei Wuniang were both locked up; as for how Prince Su would deal with them, Li Qingluo temporarily could not intervene.

At night, when Li Qingluo was about to go to sleep, Zheng Mama came in to report: "Miss, the prince has come; please go out for a while."

Why has he come to see her at this time?

Li Qingluo felt nervous, hurriedly got up, didn't bother with her hair, quickly put on her outer garment, dragged on a shoe, and went out.

At this time, Pei Lao Furen naturally also knew that Prince Su had come.

She also sat up, lifted the blanket: "Let's go take a look."

But she only stood by the window and glanced outside, seeing Li Qingluo and Prince Su standing in the courtyard, moonlight shining on them, appearing open and aboveboard, yet it was late at night……

It could also be interpreted as "under the flowers and moon"……

Cough!

Pei Lao Furen was hesitating whether to speak up and interrupt, when she saw Prince Su suddenly reach out and grasp her obedient granddaughter's little hand in his.

Huh!?

What is this for!?

This is really too rude!

Pei Lao Furen huffed in anger, and Zhang Mama quickly grabbed her: "Old Lady, look, Prince Su is examining the wound on the miss's hand!"

The bandage on Li Qingluo's hand was undone by Prince Su for a glance.

Li Qingluo quickly explained: "Your Highness, Grandmother personally supervised the Luo Shen doctor giving the commoner girl the best medicine dressing, saying it won't leave a scar."

"How is Your Highness's injury?"

Li Qingluo, while saying this, actually turned Prince Su's hand over to look at the back.

Duan Rongshi let her look, with the corners of his mouth slightly twitching up.

Her sharp tongue today is quite formidable.

Step by step, she truly managed to get seven or eight tenths of the truth about the Pei family's affairs.

Moreover, now Old Duke Pei and that Zha Yina are beginning to fall into self-doubt, perhaps never to find peace even in death.

There is only one matter.

"How is it that you know so much about the death of Pei Shierniang?"

"Although he had also investigated somewhat, she seemed to be right there on the scene, clearly seeing exactly how Pei Shierniang died."

Li Qingluo: "Oh no! How am I supposed to deal with this person who is basically impossible to fool, a near-demonic genius!?"