076

On the third day of the Lunar New Year, while the Yunzhou Prefectural Government was bustling with activity, a heavy dark cloud seemed to hang over Luoyang City, creating a tense atmosphere as if a storm was brewing.

Su Yunruo felt the invisible giant hands above press down even further, making it hard to breathe. A sudden panic began to grip her.

What caused her even more distress was that she realized her period was long overdue...

Only after secretly calling a doctor did they realize that she... was pregnant.

“It’s his.” He Tingfang’s eyes were a little red, and he closed them, unsure how to look at her.

If the dates don't match, and it's not yours, then it can only belong to the Second Prince.

He knew this day would come sooner or later, but he still didn't know how to face it. He had to admit that he was insanely jealous.

This child was like a mountain weighing on their hearts, and all their nighttime fantasies about escaping the mansion seemed like a joke.

The Second Prince has only one son. With this child, the Empress will be able to establish a firm foothold in the inner court, which is much better than following him and hiding from him.

For Su Yunruo, this seemed like a cruel joke played on her by fate. She had clearly been taking contraceptive medicine all along, except when she was with He Tingfang... she had been using it constantly.

Why must she still have a child? Why add another layer of shackles to her?

Suddenly, her eyes reddened, and she pounded her lower abdomen.

"What are you doing!" He Tingfang grabbed her hand, gripping it tightly, almost pleading, "Don't do this, Yunruo... don't hurt yourself."

"What should I do..." Su Yunruo was somewhat stunned and asked him helplessly, "Tingfang, tell me, what should I do?"

He Tingfang pulled her into his arms, gently patted her back, and spoke in a hoarse voice as if tearing his heart out: "If you want to keep it, that's fine. If you want to leave, I'll take care of it..."

"If you are not pleased, I will go and find a doctor for you..."

A hint of gloom crept into Su Yunruo's eyes: "Let me think about it."

At the same time, the Second Prince pushed open the gate of the Marquis of Wu'an's residence again and strolled leisurely into the main hall as if he were in his own courtyard.

One of the owners of the mansion had been waiting for a long time.

Zhou Zihe was surrounded by well-trained soldiers, whose eyes flashed with murderous intent when they saw Zhou Chengyu.

"Why is Fourth Sister on such high alert?" Zhou Chengyu approached her with a smirk. "Why is it worth all this fuss, Your Majesty, coming to see your sister?"

“Your Majesty is overthinking things.” Zhou Zihe didn’t want to waste any more words on him, so she directly exposed his thoughts: “For many years, Your Majesty has never thought about any of your younger sisters, but these days you have been stepping into my Wu’an Marquis’s residence one after another.”

"Your Majesty, you might as well state your purpose directly. There's no need for pretense."

“Heh,” Zhou Chengyu’s eyes turned cold for a moment. He really is a bastard born of a bastard. He has forgotten his status as a princess not long after getting married.

“Your sister-in-law has been a bit bored lately and would like to invite your younger sister over for a chat.” With that, Zhou Chengyu raised his hand.

Commander Yuan led his men in and instantly surrounded the courtyard.

As a group of people gradually approached, those guarding Zhou Zihe were forced to join the fight and resist. Taking advantage of this opportunity, just as Commander Yuan was about to drag Zhou Zihe away, a dagger was suddenly pressed against his neck.

He had underestimated the Fourth Princess. Commander Yuan sneered, "Does the Fourth Princess really think this little dagger can harm me? Princess, don't forget my status. If you dare to hurt me..."

As he spoke, his hand quietly reached for the longsword beside him.

Zhou Zihe sneered: "Commander Yuan, have you ever heard the saying? 'The wicked die from talking too much'..."

Before she finished speaking, she swiftly exerted more force, and the dagger, as if it obeyed her, plunged into Commander Yuan's neck. Blood gushed out, staining half of her face.

With trembling wrists, Zhou Zihe drew her short blade, kicked the man aside, and approached Zhou Chengyu like a ghost, pressing the dagger against his heart: "Brother, don't provoke me. You've seen it yourself, I'm not afraid of death. Otherwise, I don't mind taking someone down with me."

"Then it was worth dying for."

Recalling Commander Yuan's words, Zhou Zihe scoffed. What status? Her father was dead, and the court and the world were in complete chaos. What ethics and moral principles, what pillars of the court? Who would recognize them?

"My sister has been pretending to be weak for so many years, but now I am truly impressed."

As Commander Yuan's body was dragged away, Zhou Chengyu only paused slightly.

He raised his hand, pinching the tip of the short blade between two fingers. When he saw the pattern on it, his eyes darkened for a moment, and then he smiled in a cryptic way.

"This dagger is quite good; it can cut through iron like mud and is a deadly weapon."

Just as Zhou Zihe was wondering why he suddenly changed his expression, Zhou Chengyu forcefully broke her wrist and grabbed her neck with his other hand, forcing Zhou Zihe to take a few steps back.

"Clang—"

The dagger fell to the ground unnoticed.

Zhou Chengyu used a vicious technique, choking Zhou Zihe until she could not breathe properly and her face turned red.

His eyes were bloodshot as he demanded, "Who gave it to you?!"

"Speak up!!"

Zhou Zihe's eyes widened, one hand almost numb with pain, the other hand slapping his arm hard: "Madman..."

Only when his men's faces turned pale and they were about to die did Zhou Chengyu release them, the initial amusement gone from his eyes.

All that remained was the scrutiny of the person breathing heavily on the ground.

"Surround the Marquis of Wu'an's residence and forbid anyone from entering or leaving."

He bent down slightly, picked up the fallen dagger, and toyed with it for a moment. His lips curled slightly, but his eyes were dark and brooding, as if a storm was brewing.

Zhou Chengyu, who had just stepped out of the Marquis's residence, turned back to look at the imperial gold characters on the plaque and gave instructions word by word:

"Smash the signboard."

"Go to the palace."

In his shock and anger, Zhou Chengyu was so focused on verifying his suspicions that he was completely unaware of the people secretly following behind the carriage.

Zhou Chengyu's face was solemn, but his hurried steps betrayed the turmoil in his heart. As he rushed into the imperial study, he kicked aside the eunuchs who were there to greet him at the door and took out a box from a hidden compartment in the corner of the study.

Inside was a secret letter, a letter that had yellowed with age over the years. He had found it in the Eastern Palace, in the study of his elder brother, the Crown Prince, who was favored by the old man but died young…

The envelope was nowhere to be found, and the edges of the letter were torn and tattered, as if it had been read many times...

Zhou Chengyu's brow twitched when he saw the first sentence.

"With a heart full of pain, I write this, for I have failed the sincere friendship of Qin Zi, and I am also ashamed of the extraordinary contributions of the wise men of Huailai who sacrificed themselves to assist me in establishing the empire..."

"As I write this, my chronic illness has become incurable, and my days are numbered..."

"How can the Zhou dynasty's foundation, which has stood for thousands of years, be allowed to crumble halfway? I entrust this blood-soaked secret to my descendants."

"As for the land of Huailai, I know very little about it. In the past, the Qin rulers kept it a secret. I have only been able to glimpse it... Huailai is hidden in the mortal world, having witnessed the rise and fall of four dynasties, Qin and Song. It emerges in times of chaos, choosing its master amidst the turmoil, and the one chosen is the one destined by Heaven..."

...

"If one day our Zhou dynasty's empire is in turmoil and our nation is on the verge of collapse, you will surely find a man from Huailai to assist you. Only he can bring peace and stability to our land, secure our rivers and mountains, and continue the ancestral sacrifices of the Zhou clan."

"No, they must be executed rather than allowed to fall into the hands of a different family. Otherwise, the ancestral temples will crumble, the state will be lost, and the descendants of the Zhou family will have no place to be buried..."

"Please be extremely careful and cautious, and never divulge this lightly..."

Even though it wasn't the first time he'd seen it, Zhou Chengyu had never been so flustered and shocked. Initially, he thought it was just something his ancestor had casually written after waking from a dream, never suspecting it might be true.

On the back of the paper was a somewhat distorted drawing, written with trembling strokes, just like the previous text, suggesting that the ancestor was indeed terminally ill at that time.

Zhou Chengyu gripped the dagger and placed it aside, comparing them one by one.

The bamboo pattern, peach blossoms, and dagger are exactly the same as those in the picture. Our ancestors said that "Qin Zi" possessed a dagger identical to this one. The bamboo and peach blossom patterns are the hallmarks on all the tokens of the Huai Lai Sect Master…

Qin Zi, Qin Zi, we only know his surname is Qin, but we don't know his given name.

The white-robed emperor lived during the Qin and Song dynasties, spanning four generations.

Zhou Chengyu suddenly slammed the dagger to the ground, furious: "Then what am I!"

A single letter, seemingly insignificant, told him that the master of the world had already been decided. What then did his painstaking efforts of the past ten years amount to?

"Chen Hejun, Chen Hejun... You Chen Hejun!" Zhou Chengyu tore the letter in his hand, which had been passed down for countless generations, into pieces, scattering them all over the ground.

"No wonder you were in such a hurry to come back. You're forced to seize my position..." Zhou Chengyu tried to calm himself down and smoothed his sleeves. "Heh, I'd like to see how your so-called Huailai can compete with me..."

He doesn't believe in destiny; he, Zhou Chengyu, is destiny itself.

The study fell into darkness again, and the dagger sat alone in the corner, among countless fragments.

The eunuch who had been kicked to the ground at the doorway trembled as he respectfully saw the Second Prince off.

Not long after, a senior eunuch suddenly came over and sighed, "This is an undeserved disaster for you. I'll guard this place for you. Go to the Imperial Medical Bureau quickly and get checked out, lest you have internal injuries."

The young eunuch, wincing in pain, turned deathly pale upon hearing this: "Thank you, Eunuch Liu..."

Half an hour later, the window on one side of the imperial study was opened.

A figure nimbly leaped in.

Zhou Yuanrong glanced at the scraps of paper on the ground, gathered them all up, put them in the pocket he was carrying, and finally picked up the dagger.

Upon seeing the pattern, Zhou Yuanrong paused, a strange light flashing in his eyes, before putting it into his pocket and jumping out of the window.

As the various powerful families in Luoyang sensed the increasingly strange atmosphere, Marquis Wu'an arrived outside the city, weary from his journey. Accompanying him were several thousand elite troops hidden behind him.

With the situation inside the city still unclear, they had no choice but to rest in the woods outside the city.

Suddenly, a sharp arrow shot towards Chen Hejun. The man, who had been resting with his eyes closed, suddenly opened them and turned his head to dodge it.

Ding—

The arrowhead pierced several inches into the wood, demonstrating the skill of the person who came.

"Alert!" The bodyguard beside him immediately pulled the arrow out: "My lord, there's a note tied to the arrowhead."

Chen Hejun took it and unfolded it; there were only two sentences inside.

"My lord, shall we cooperate?"

"It's not too late to find out what the Second Prince has done before making a decision."

The guard standing nearby looked puzzled: "Could they be from Luoyang?"

"Send someone to investigate what Zhou Chengyu has been up to lately. The main thing is to find out if Madam is alright." Chen Hejun gave the order in a cold voice, then threw the note into the fire, where it was burned to ashes in an instant.

The firelight reflected in his dark eyes, and no one knew what he was thinking at that moment.