Chapter 21 Clam recipe exposed

"What did you say? Feifei is injured!"

Jiang Jue jumped up and ran outside.

"Your Highness, Your Highness," the eunuchs on both sides hurriedly stopped him, "You must calm down. Her Royal Highness the Princess said that there has been chaos outside these days. You cannot leave the palace, Your Highness."

"No!" Jiang Jue rolled up his sleeves and pushed the two young eunuchs away. "Fei Fei is still pregnant. How can I not go see her when she's hurt?"

The eunuch who had brought the news hurriedly advised, "Perhaps it's a rumor. Your Highness is so powerful and extraordinary, how could she be... We must have misheard. Your Highness, why don't you consult the imperial physician first?"

"What are you asking?" Jiang Jue stretched out his hand and said, "Hurry up and change me into some inconspicuous clothes."

Several young eunuchs looked at each other in bewilderment and could only change Jiang Jue's clothes with sad faces.

"Your Highness, you must come back soon."

"None of you are allowed to go to Auntie to complain. If I find out, I will punish you by not letting any of you eat!"

"But Your Highness..."

"If anything happens to Feifei, you won't be allowed to eat!"

*

Feifei sneezed so loudly that Qiuxuan was so frightened that he almost dropped the cat in his hand.

"Hehe," Feifei smiled sheepishly, "Jiang Jue must be thinking about me."

"That must be very loud." Qiu Xuan comforted the cat. The kitten had just been weaned and was already sleeping when Xu Sheren brought it to him. Now it was still sleeping soundly with its head resting on Qiu Xuan's legs, unaware of anything.

"The eldest princess sent someone to see me, but she refused to tell me about Jiang Jue." Feifei was a little discouraged.

"Didn't Sheren Xu say that the princess is busy today?"

Feifei shook her head blankly: "What do you mean? I don't understand."

"When you're busy, you can't keep your eyes on other things."

"Fei Fei, Fei Fei!" An urgent voice came from far away.

"Jiang Jue?" Feifei stood up and ran out, "Jiang Jue!"

Qiu Xuan picked up the cat and left the small warm room to the man and woman who were snuggling together at the moment.

"Madam, you are truly amazing," Gan Tang ran up to Qiu Xuan to claim credit. "You asked me to wait at the gate, and you actually managed to keep the Fourth Prince here."

"He dismounted in a panic and nearly got into an argument with the gatekeeper. If Xu Qi hadn't pointed him out to me, I wouldn't have dared to recognize him as the Fourth Prince."

"Why are you arguing?"

"He claimed to be the Fourth Prince, but he didn't have a badge." Gan Tang covered his mouth and chuckled. "After what happened yesterday, the gatekeeper didn't dare let him in. I brought him in quietly through the side door."

"well done."

Gan Tang's eyes turned and he suggested, "Madam, should we go back and listen to what they have to say?"

"You clever little devil." Qiu Xuan gently pinched Gan Tang's cheek. "Go and watch over it. Don't let anyone get close to the warm room. Also, keep an eye on the time. Don't let the Fourth Prince stay in the mansion for too long."

The wind was already very cold, and the cat turned over in Qiuxuan's arms and curled up.

"It went pretty smoothly." Qiu Xuan put his hand on the furry head to block the wind.

She carried the cat back to her own residence. Liu Hui, who was staying in the west room, heard her return and hurried to the main room to ask.

"Did Ji Yao get beaten when he returned?"

Qiu Xuan pulled out a letter from her sleeve. It was delivered this morning along with the Ji family's apology gift.

"Take a look."

Liu Hui didn't bother to find a knife to open the letter and opened it with her bare hands.

"It's him, it's his handwriting." She didn't bother to sit down, but stood and read it over and over again.

"He said he was fine and his family didn't punish him."

This is not surprising, after all, it cannot be made public.

Qiuxuan stroked the cat's fur. The kitten had a coat of snow-white fur, which looked very cute.

Liu Hui put down the letter.

"Ji Yao said, let me follow your arrangements."

Qiu Xuan looked at her in surprise.

This is strange. What is the Ji family planning? They want her to solve this hot potato.

"He said you can save my life." Liu Hui held the letter, her tone uncertain.

"That depends on how much truth you tell." Qiu Xuan asked her to sit down. "You're not a mage?"

"Last month, the Imperial Master promoted me to the rank of shaman."

"That's why Ji Zhuang wants to see you, and that's why you want to see the Second Prince."

Liu Hui nodded. "The Second Prince came to visit the Shaman in the middle of the night. I took the risk of eavesdropping on their conversation. The Imperial Preceptor asked if he needed a few shamans, and the Second Prince said he would consider it."

Liu Hui stroked Ji Yao's signature on the letter and said, "I was afraid of being chosen, so I asked Ji Yao to help me escape from there."

She looked at Qiu Xuan again: "I never thought of asking him to elope with me. I know we are worlds apart, and his family would not accept me."

"Let you discuss this matter among yourselves." Qiu Xuan interrupted Liu Hui.

"You saw what those believers did yesterday."

"Those two men were killed by them."

Liu Hui's face turned pale. "Yes... but I didn't ask them to kill me. I didn't even know they knew what my father and cousin looked like."

"Maybe they often use your name to cheat people." Qiu Xuan stroked the kitten's back.

"They talk about appeasing God's wrath, and how to appease him."

Liu Hui was silent for a long time, then shook her head with difficulty: "No... no one can explain it clearly."

"I've asked this question before." She laughed self-deprecatingly. "The shaman who taught me was stumped by my question, so he took me to the Imperial Master's deputy. I thought I could get the answer..."

She pulled up her sleeve to show Qiu Xuan the scar on her hand.

"With a horsewhip."

"What happens if the God you're talking about continues to be angry?"

Liu Hui was stunned. “We must continue the blessing ceremony and offer more elaborate tributes… until the oracle appears in the Imperial Master’s dream.”

"A better tribute." Qiu Xuan murmured. The white cat in her arms had woken up and was whimpering.

Liu Hui looked at Qiu Xuan, and from her trembling pupils, Qiu Xuan saw the fear after sudden enlightenment.

What is a better tribute than a human being?

*

"Meow."

The nimble cat pounced on the crows that came to steal the food. The crows fluttered up into the trees and watched the wild cats and dogs lick the blood and meat.

Ji Tiao could smell the pungent smell of blood from afar.

"Captain Ji, please watch your step." The officer from the capital reminded.

"Have you caught the criminal?"

The officer had a complicated expression on his face: "I heard from the neighbors that this family... volunteered..."

"Voluntary?" Ji Tiao looked at the officer in disbelief.

People kept gathering around, and the officers roughly stopped them at the periphery, but they could not stop the sound of them chanting scriptures from entering Ji Tiao's ears.

"Please send the shaman back, please send our shaman back..."

The bone collectors, their faces covered with linen towels, carried the corpse wrapped in a straw mat and filed out of the small door, passing between the officers and Ji Tiao.

“Pah.”

The rope of a rolled straw mat broke and a severed hand fell out from inside.

The bone collector calmly picked it up, stuffed it back into the straw mat, and carried the corpse away.

Only the gradually disappearing bloody footprints remained, like a string of bloody letters, and the blood spots made by the falling severed hands stamped it with the red seal of the case.