Chapter 36: Live or Die

"I asked someone to look it up in the historical records. When you married in, he had already sent back the news of his death."

Jing Youzhen glanced at Jing Beian quickly.

"Legally speaking, you married a dead man, then spent three years as a widow for him, praying for his afterlife.

Now the time has come, and you can leave on your own."

Jing Youzhen continued, "I will testify for you that you have fulfilled your obligations over the past three years."

"I won't prove it." Jing Youan objected loudly, "Sister-in-law, please stay. If you go out there, you'll be all alone and your life will be hard."

"Shut up." Jing Youzhen kicked her brother.

It seemed that the brother and sister were about to fight.

"Calm down, all of you." Qiu Xuan advised.

But Jing Beian suddenly laughed.

"Whose wife is Qiu Xuan?"

Jing Youan immediately dared not say a word.

Qiu Xuan noticed that You Zhen's expression seemed to be struggling, and the latter turned to look at Qiu Xuan.

"You make the decision on this matter yourself, don't just let us have the say."

Without waiting for Qiuxuan to speak.

Jing Beian then interjected, "Or you can listen to my opinion."

"Speak, my lord."

Jing Beian glanced lazily at Youzhen and her brother: "We're just having a few private conversations, and you're still getting in the way?"

"You!" Jing Youzhen frowned.

"Youzhen," Qiu Xuan quickly advised, "You've been tired these past few days. Go get some rest early."

"What about you?"

Qiu Xuan smiled and shook her head: "Don't worry, I will have a good chat with the Marquis."

Jing Youan tripped when he went out and woke up the cat sleeping at the door.

The little tortoise-shell cat flew into Qiuxuan's arms with a whoosh.

Staring at Jing Beian warily, he meowed.

"You are loyal." Jing Beian said sarcastically.

"Is the Marquis going to chase it away too?" Qiu Xuan held the cat. "What does the Marquis want to say?"

"Haven't you always wanted to know what I'm doing in Dadu?"

"I don't really want to know now," Qiu Xuan said immediately, "I need to hear what the Marquis is talking about first."

"I can divorce you, and you can take one-third of the old lady's dowry and my share of the property in the Marquis' Mansion."

"What's the premise?"

"The premise is that you help me sneak into the palace and kill the witch."

The room suddenly became quiet, even the crackling of the lamp stopped making any sound.

Qiu Xuan rubbed the cat's ears and blurted out a sentence after a while.

"Why?"

"Because they are out of control." Jing Beian explained.

"We were originally bandits from outside the Great Wall. We sent them into the Great Wall only to bribe a few dignitaries from Liang Province so that they would allow us to trade with the people inside the Great Wall and rob the foreign merchants who came and went.

I didn't expect that they were capable enough to enter the palace."

"So in order to kill them, you killed the real Jing Bei'an?"

"Ha." Jing Beian shook his head, "Why do you always think the worst of me?"

"Jing Bei'an really died in the desert, and I was chosen by the Fourth Prince simply because I looked like him."

Seeing Qiuxuan's doubtful look, Jing Beian added, "If you don't believe this, you can ask Feifei."

"You may not tell her everything you discussed with the Fourth Prince."

Jing Beian said nothing, just smiled and nodded.

"How about you join us?"

Jing Beian turned and asked.

"Then again, the witches are your enemies, aren't they? Without them whispering in the emperor's ear, with the Qiu family's reputation in Dadu, your family would have returned long ago."

Qiu Xuan was silent for a while, then said softly:

"What's your plan?"

Jing Beian showed a triumphant smile on his face: "Think carefully, there is no turning back once the arrow is shot. It will be difficult to get off once you get on this pirate ship."

"Stop talking nonsense."

"It's simple. You help me join the Northern Army. I'll secure the opportunity to enter the palace, and then I'll poison the witch."

"So simple?"

"The simpler the plan, the less likely it is to go wrong."

Jing Beian is very confident.

"Besides, they were chosen only for their good looks and cleverness. As for their martial arts skills, they are naturally not as good as mine. Besides, they are already very old."

Wu Zhuang may be over 40 years old, but Ji Zhuang may not be.

Qiu Xuan thought of the corpse that was as big as a hill.

There has been no news of Xi Zhuang's death in recent days.

According to Jing Youzhen, Ji Zhuang even came to the Marquis's Mansion to pay his respects.

"He looks thinner."

When Qiuxuan asked, Zhemei recalled carefully.

"However, these mages looked very scary in their black robes. I didn't dare to look closely. They must have been a little thinner."

Qiu Xuan couldn't help but suspect that the Ji Zhuang had been passed down for several generations.

If this is the case with Ji Zhuang, will it be the same with Wu Zhuang?

"What do I need to do?" Qiu Xuan asked.

"Come with me into the palace."

Jing Beian stretched out his hand to tease the tortoiseshell kitten, and the kitten opened its mouth to bite, but he dodged it.

"Originally, Lu and I wanted to convince Feifei to do this, but it's obviously not appropriate right now."

Jing Beian used the same trick again, and the kitten reached out to swat it, but still missed.

Qiu Xuan used his arm to stop the cat from falling.

"In other words, I want to be your shield and share the risk of being executed by His Majesty after killing the Imperial Preceptor?"

"Lu Dongfeng has developed a medicine that will cause sudden death three days after taking it."

"Then I'll just help you take the medicine. As for whether the witch lives or dies, it has nothing to do with me."

Jing Beian smiled.

"You write the divorce agreement in advance, and we can get the divorce right after we leave the palace. That should be fine, right?"

"On weekdays, the shamans would still be out and about, but the witches always stayed in the Qingyun Palace."

Qiu Xuan dipped a little tea in the water and drew a simple map of the palace on the table.

"The place where banquets are usually held in the palace is here, which is quite far from Qingyun Palace."

Then she circled another area between the two.

"Every year on the first day of the first lunar month, the emperor would offer sacrifices to the heavens here, and all the shamans would be present. However, at this time, all the civil and military officials are present, and the guards are tight, so it would be difficult to take action."

"From what you said, I have no chance at all?"

Jing Beian's smile turned cold.

"The best way is still..."

Qiuxuan drew an arrow and threw it far away.

"Outside the palace."

Qiu Xuan looked up at Jing Beian.

"You'd better pray that the shamans can calculate an auspicious date this year. If the autumn hunt can be held, the shamans will accompany you, and your chances of success will be much greater."

*

"It was raining yesterday, but it's sunny today."

It was a rare opportunity for Jiang Jinhan to have nothing to do, so he stood in the yard holding the cat and taught it to identify the stars in the sky.

After just a few words, the cat became impatient, swept his chin with its big tail, and jumped to the ground and ran away while he was dodging.

He had only run a few steps when he bumped into the eunuch who had returned to report.

Jiang Jinhan took the cat from the eunuch.

"Little fool, can you run away?"

"Your Highness, there is news from the North."

The eunuch handed an envelope to Jiang Jinhan.

"It's definitely someone from the Qiu family."

"The person who told me this worked in the Qiu family's sewing room for several years. I think it's correct."

Jiang Jinhan reached out to pat the cat in his arms, and he quickly put the cat down.

"You are not allowed to touch this."

Then he turned to the eunuch.

"What did the Imperial Observatory say?"

"There will be a lot of good weather after autumn."

"It's been a few years since the last autumn hunt, so there should be one this year."