Chapter 54

Xue Jin'an looked at the Fifth Prince, who was wearing a black cloak, covered in dirt, and with a gloomy face, and said with certainty, "You crawled in through a dog hole."

"Pfft—" Fu Lu couldn't help but burst out laughing with schadenfreude.

The Fifth Prince looked at him with his usual sinister gaze, but it didn't frighten him.

It's no wonder that Fu Lu was so gloating; there was a reason for it.

He had arranged with his informant to trade the crystal cakes at this time, and he had been squatting in front of the dog hole since early morning. When he heard the code of three long and two short lines, he immediately responded. Then he lay down on the ground and carefully looked outside through the dog hole. He clearly saw the informant throw the wrapped crystal cakes not far from the hole, but when he twisted his neck and stretched out his hand to touch them, he couldn't reach them no matter what.

Left with no other choice, Fulu had to painstakingly adjust his posture and stick his head out of the hole to find where he had put the crystal cake.

However, what he didn't expect was that while he found the crystal cake, he also found the Fifth Prince hanging on the branch.

Fu Lu was startled by the Fifth Prince's startling entrance and accidentally got stuck in the hole. His shoulders were chafed so badly that he couldn't pull his head back out.

Meanwhile, the Fifth Prince, the instigator, sat on a tree branch, eating the crystal cake he had prepared for his master while watching him thrash around like a turtle that couldn't turn over. What was most infuriating was that this man even said the crystal cake was disgusting!

How could the master's favorite crystal cake be unpalatable? What tasteless Fifth Prince! Fu Lu grumbled inwardly, but on the surface, he remained humble and smiled, saying, "Fifth Prince, could you please help me?"

“You said it.” The Fifth Prince raised an eyebrow, revealing an unsettling smile. He jumped down from the tree and kicked Fu Lu like a football.

Believe it or not, that kick really sent Fulu flying back, though the spot where he was kicked hurt terribly.

However, the Fifth Prince's karma came quickly. When he said he wanted to come in to find his master, Fu Lu almost burst out laughing on the spot. "Your Highness, if there were any other way out here, this servant wouldn't have been so foolish as to crawl through a dog hole."

"Perhaps... you know martial arts? Just climb over the wall, but don't let the Imperial Guards find you," Fu Lu said deliberately.

In the past, scaling a wall wouldn't have been a big deal; if you were fast enough, no one would notice. But now it's different. Or rather, ever since the assassin incident in the palace, the Imperial Guards' night patrol routes are no longer limited to the ground; there are also people specifically waiting on rooftops to ambush people who know martial arts.

Moreover, the most important thing is that the Fifth Prince's lightness skill is not up to par. It would be quite a commotion to climb such a high palace wall from flat ground, and he would definitely be discovered.

With Fu Lu here, the Fifth Prince couldn't touch him even if he was angry. He was quite fearless. He cleared his throat and said indifferently, "Fifth Prince, the Imperial Guards will be patrolling here soon. You don't have much time left. Why don't you come again tomorrow? Just go through the main gate to announce your arrival. If my master is willing, you can say a few words at the gate."

Fu Lu's words were not unfounded. Xue Jin'an's confinement was a double confinement, meaning he was not allowed to go out, nor were outsiders allowed to visit him. However, with the Empress Dowager as a powerful figure, the Imperial Guards could turn a blind eye to some extent.

Otherwise, the message wouldn't have been transmitted so smoothly. It's also because Fu Lu knows the rules; he didn't come out himself, nor did he let anyone get too close.

If anyone really insists on speaking to the Seventh Prince, the Imperial Guards will pretend not to see them and won't let them in; they can only talk at the entrance.

If the Fifth Prince's matter could be discussed directly in front of others, he wouldn't have stayed up all night, running out in a black cloak to scare people.

"So you crawled through the dog hole, and you'll have to crawl back through it later," Xue Jin'an concluded. "You're more capable than a real dog."

Xiazi, the real dog of Zhaoyang Palace, is an adult eunuch. Without the bone-shrinking skill he had practiced since childhood, he would have no way to squeeze through such a small hole. It would probably be difficult to even squeeze through his head. Fortunately, the Fifth Prince was still young and had practiced martial arts since childhood, so his bones were relatively flexible. He was also ruthless and dislocated his shoulder to get through faster and easier, and then bent it back after he got in.

The sound of that kaba ka was particularly eerie in the night. Fulu stared at him in disbelief, and even Fuling, who was on night watch, couldn't help but touch her own bones when she saw this.

The Fifth Prince was unaware of the existence of Poria cocos and Ganoderma lucidum, nor did he know that he had been locked onto from the moment he appeared at Zhaoyang Palace. However, his intuition told him that if he acted too recklessly here, something bad would happen.

So the Fifth Prince, unusually quiet and obedient, allowed Fu Lu to lead the way to see Xue Jin'an, where he was even mocked.

The Fifth Prince, determined to escape the fact that he would have to crawl out through a dog hole, bluntly stated, "Xiao Shu is dead."

"...?" Wasn't Consort Rong dead long ago? Fu Lu and Shou Quan exchanged a glance and both perked up their ears.

Xue Jin'an was not surprised. He could tell from behind the palace walls that Xiao Shu was still alive, but she could only last for two or three days. The emperor probably intended to extract information about the person behind her from her.

However, Xue Jin'an glanced at the black screen of the live broadcast room in Qian Yuan Palace and guessed that they probably hadn't gotten any really shocking information out of him, otherwise, given the emperor's temperament, he definitely wouldn't be able to sleep.

"You went to the Cold Palace to see her." Xue Jin'an smelled a damp, cold scent on the Fifth Prince.

The Fifth Prince nodded. "She was interrogated and is no longer of any value. She was left in the Cold Palace, barely alive. I went to see her when I saw she was about to die."

Unlike Xue Jin'an, the Fifth Prince's feeling that Xiao Shu was not dead was purely a gut feeling. That night, he deliberately waited until the end to stand with his distraught Fourth Brother, making himself look pitiful as well. Sure enough, his father kept him overnight in a side hall of Qian Yuan Palace.

The Fifth Prince secretly observed Li Hechun's movements. He knew that these important matters would definitely pass through Li Hechun's hands. Given the importance his father attached to this matter, Li Hechun would surely carry out some tasks personally. Although Li Hechun was Lu Bingzhu's disciple, his martial arts skills were extremely poor, practically nonexistent. Careful observation would hardly be noticed by Li Hechun himself.

The Fifth Prince indeed discovered that Xiao Shu was not dead. However, she was not thrown into the Cold Palace, or rather, she was dragged to the Cautious Punishment Department after only a short time there. However, the Cautious Punishment Department was heavily guarded, and he could not sneak in.

He could only wait, wait for an opportunity. That opportunity came when Chu Wenwan's body was being burned. Chu Wenwan's body was kept in the Shenxing Division, and it was going to be taken out in front of everyone, so the Shenxing Division's gates were naturally wide open. He took advantage of this time to go in and search, and successfully found Xiao Shu.

At that time, Xiao Shu was hung on a wooden frame, covered in blood, her muscles twitching involuntarily. Three days and nights of torture had left her unrecognizable. The Fifth Prince originally thought he would feel great satisfaction, after all, every day and night he suffered unbearable pain as the Gu worms gnawed at his heart and internal organs, he had fiercely chewed on his mother's name between his teeth, his hatred running deep in his bones and impossible to erase.

However, upon actually witnessing Xiao Shu's true nature, the Fifth Prince found it difficult to contain his emotions. He still harbored hatred, but in addition to hatred, there were other inexplicable feelings.

When the Fifth Prince turned to leave the Department of Punishments, he thought he had let go and was at peace. However, after discovering that the people of the Department of Punishments had thrown her into the Cold Palace to fend for herself, he suddenly decided to go see her one more time and ask her one last time.

It was probably a last burst of energy before death. Xiao Shu, who was barely alive before being dragged in, seemed much more relaxed now. She even rushed over to grab his hand and call out his name.

Then Xiao Shu said, "Jue'er, Zhuo'er is still young. He's your younger brother. You should help him out more in the future and be more considerate of him..."

"...The Cold Palace is really cold." Although he was wearing enough clothes and had internal energy to dispel the cold, from the moment he stepped into this place, the coldness crept up his spine inch by inch, piercing his bone marrow and making a heart-wrenching hiss. His teeth even seemed to tremble.

The Fifth Prince adjusted his cloak, blew warm air into his palms and rubbed his hands together, then suddenly smiled and said, "I rejected her."

Not only did he refuse, but the Fifth Prince also revealed a rare, sunny and cheerful smile, leaned close to Xiao Shu's ear, and said in the softest voice, "Mother, have you forgotten? Have you forgotten that I am your disgrace? Have you forgotten that you wanted to strangle me when you saw me? — These are the words you said yourself, have you forgotten?"

The Fifth Prince said many other things, which he himself did not remember, but judging from Xiao Shu's distorted expression in his memory, what he said must have been unpleasant.

"In the end, Xiao Shu was so angered by me that she died with her eyes wide open." The Fifth Prince clenched his fingers, his gaze unfocused, his voice sounding like he was both recounting and questioning himself, "Isn't it ridiculous? I clearly wanted Xiao Shu to experience the torment of Gu worms, and for that, I even used silver needles to collect and purify the Gu poison that hadn't been completely cleared from my body every day..."

But in the end, the silver needle failed to pierce Xiao Shu's heart. The Fifth Prince didn't know what he was thinking; the exhilarating feeling he should have felt before, after seeing Xiao Shu die with her eyes wide open in anger, instead sank deeper into his heart.

The Fifth Prince slowly recounted Xiao Shu's aftermath, "She was already dead. She was beaten to death with sticks outside the Qian Yuan Palace. No one will collect her remains, there will be no funeral, and no one will mourn her. The people of Ningguo Mansion will only hate her. In the end, she will probably be wrapped in a straw mat and thrown into some mass grave."

"Are you satisfied with this?" The Fifth Prince looked at Xue Jin'an.

Xue Jin'an remained noncommittal. All he wanted was for Xiao Shu and Chu Wenwan to pay with their lives; he had no interest in how they died or what their feelings were before they died.

"A living Buddha." The Fifth Prince saw through the thoughts behind his expressionless face and chuckled softly, but then suddenly brought up the matter of their first encounter. "The first time I took the initiative to contact you, it was just because I thought you were a really interesting person. You can turn black into white and you don't hesitate to kill people... Later, I went to find you again because she warned me, but I am a rebellious person by nature. The more you tell someone not to do something, the more I want to do it."

"I never imagined that one day you would be the one to free me from that controlled situation." The Fifth Prince suddenly changed the subject and said, "Xue Jin'an, do you want connections in the Imperial Hospital? I can give you that."

The Fifth Prince's men went to the Imperial Hospital to get medicine and saw Fu Lu or Shou Quan loitering around the entrance, talking to the imperial physicians or apprentices. At the time, everyone assumed that no one was willing to treat the Seventh Prince, so the two eunuchs tried to build a good relationship with the people at the Imperial Hospital. Even if they still couldn't persuade them to treat the Seventh Prince, they could at least learn something from them.

However, the Fifth Prince, who was aware of Xue Jin'an's capabilities, did not think so. He personally observed once and immediately realized that Fu Lu wanted to establish connections in the Imperial Hospital to find a trustworthy imperial physician.

He thought this was Xue Jin'an's intention, but little did he know that it was actually Fu Lu's intention.

Fu Lu still remembered the time when his master stopped breathing in his sleep at night. This made him able to let go of anything else, but he always took care of Xue Jin'an's night watch himself. Fortunately, his master never had that creepy problem again, and he never had a high fever at night again.

Of course, Fulu also noticed his master's unusual behavior. For example, when his master closed his eyes to sleep, he would fall into a deep slumber and was very difficult to wake up. The incident of the Fifth Prince's first night visit to Qifeng Courtyard made Fulu extremely nervous. He got up several times at night to check on his master's condition and woke him up.

After that, the master never woke up at night again. He would always wake up after sleeping for four hours and rarely overslept. The most recent time was the day he entered Zhaoyang Palace, when he slept until lunchtime.

Logically speaking, Fulu should be happy that his sleep quality is good, which is much better than when his master always took a long time to fall asleep and was easily awakened by nightmares.

However, Fu Lu had a seed planted in his heart. The more stable his master was, the more worried he became. He urgently needed an imperial physician to examine his master carefully so that he could be completely at ease. However, his master's condition was special, and if there were any abnormal problems, the imperial physician had to be someone he could trust.

Fu Lu has been locked in a fierce battle with the Imperial Medical Academy ever since.

The Fifth Prince was fed Gu worms since childhood, and every physician in the Imperial Hospital treated him. He also consciously studied pharmacology with the physicians. The wound medicine and hemostatic medicine he always carried with him were self-prepared.

The Fifth Prince knew the habits of every imperial physician like the back of his hand. He was undoubtedly the prince who knew the Imperial Hospital best. With his information, Fu Lu's progress in conquering the Imperial Hospital would be much faster.

"You want that position, right? I can help you, Seventh Brother, how about we cooperate?" The Fifth Prince extended his hand to Xue Jin'an. Seeing that the latter was just looking at him without saying a word and was not angry at all, he even shared some information with him for free, "Seventh Brother, Third Brother's leg will never get better. No one will want him to get better."

When the Third Prince fell from his horse, he injured both legs. However, most of the injuries to his left leg were superficial, with some bone dislocation. The imperial physician immediately put him back in bed, and after a day, his leg was back to normal. In just three days, he was able to walk around with crutches.

However, the injury to his right leg was quite serious. Although it wasn't quite to the point of being "cut in half" as some medical websites describe, the leg bone was fractured in several places and twisted beyond recognition. It took several hours for Dr. Hu to personally put the bones back in their original positions.

Even Dr. Hu couldn't guarantee that the bone would heal completely, or rather, he could guarantee that it wouldn't heal completely and that there would be some degree of lameness, it was just a matter of how obvious the lameness would be.

However, the Third Prince was a stubborn man. The first thing he did upon waking up was to ask if his leg was still there. Upon hearing that it was, he immediately ordered his men to carry the bed out, saying he was going to settle accounts with the Seventh Prince. Unexpectedly, a major incident occurred at Qian Yuan Palace, and it took Hu Yuanzheng two days to finally recover.

Hu Yuanzheng wanted to explain the illness to the Third Prince. Here, it must be said again that the Third Prince is a stubborn person who only listens to what he wants to hear. In addition, Consort Xian interfered, saying things like, "A bunch of quacks who can't cure my son's leg. If anything goes wrong, I'll make you all pay with your lives."

To be honest, it's rare throughout history for a royal physician to be executed for failing to cure a patient, but there have been instances where royal physicians were punished or killed by an enraged emperor or concubine for failing to cure a patient.

Hu Yuanzheng wasn't afraid of being implicated. Not to mention that his status and rank couldn't be changed easily, he was just an old man over sixty years old. If he died, so be it. But he couldn't watch the other two young imperial physicians lose their lives or futures.

Hu Yuanzheng took on the task of treating the Third Prince all by himself. He treated him with great care. The Third Prince was in good health and had a remarkable ability to recover. Hu Yuanzheng never expected that in just three days, the Third Prince would be able to run around on his own with crutches, seemingly unaffected by his leg injury.

Hu Yuanzheng had more confidence in a complete recovery. Even if the final result was still unsatisfactory, he could make the Third Prince's limp invisible.

Hu Yuanzheng had a good plan, but he didn't know that the Third Prince was destined to be a lame prince.

Xue Jin'an was somewhat surprised by the Fifth Prince's words. He wasn't surprised that the Third Prince's leg couldn't possibly heal—that was a possibility he had anticipated—but rather that the Fifth Prince's sharing of this information implied that someone had already taken action.

They couldn't even wait for the day when the Third Prince's leg injury was diagnosed, and they acted so hastily.

Decisive and ruthless. This is the description Xue Jin'an's database gives of the person who took the action.

"Is it the eldest prince or the second prince?" These two are the most likely and capable of taking action.

"My son is about to turn fifteen and enter the court to participate in government affairs. Wouldn't this be an obstacle to the eldest prince's path? So you might as well go all the way and kill my son before he has gained enough power, then there will be no one to compete with you for the throne!" - Consort Xian's guess about the murderer was inaccurate, but her words were very much in line with the thoughts of the person who did it.

The Fifth Prince curled the corners of his lips and said cryptically, "Who knows? Anyway, they don't get along."

The Third Prince's fiery temper meant he couldn't possibly get along with anyone. The First and Second Princes were only brothers in name; they acted as brothers in public, especially in front of the Emperor, but in reality, they were at odds with each other.

"How about it? Want to cooperate with me? I'll help you reach that position, and you can bestow upon me the title of Prince." The Fifth Prince said casually.

Xue Jin'an resolutely refused: "No."

Even though the Fifth Prince had anticipated being rejected, he hadn't expected such a decisive response, and couldn't help but ask, "Why?"

Xue Jin'an glanced at him and said, "Because you are Lü Bu."

The Fifth Prince didn't react immediately, and then he heard Xue Jin'an's usually calm tone suddenly rise and fall, and he said two sentences with a very unique rhythm.

The first sentence: "If you do not abandon me, I am willing to become your godfather."

The second line reads: "A true man dwells between heaven and earth; how can he remain subservient to others for long!"

After imitating the tone and manner of Lü Bu from a classic Three Kingdoms TV series, Xue Jin'an's voice returned to calm, and he nodded seriously, "Yes, that's it. Did you understand?"

Fifth Prince: "..."

The Fifth Prince said expressionlessly, "I understand, you're insulting me."

"You have a good sense of self-awareness," Xue Jin'an praised without reservation.

The Fifth Prince felt he was being scolded even more harshly, and then his rebellious nature came out. "You're right. I said I wasn't sincere about cooperating with you at first, but I am now."

He said with a sneer, "I'm determined to be Lu Bu!"

"Oh, I understand." Without saying a word, Xue Jin'an took out a belt and put it around the Fifth Prince's neck.

...

In the end, the fifth prince was lucky enough to survive, because Lü Bu did not die in the middle of the night.

The Fifth Prince felt he had figured out some ways to deal with Xue Jin'an. He touched the marks on his neck and spoke in a hoarse voice, "I'm leaving. You see me off. I heard you have an extraordinary way of walking that allows you to avoid the guards."

He was referring to the optical illusion game that Xue Jin'an used at Yihe Palace. It happened on the day they went to the horse farm. The fourth and fifth princes met by chance on their way to find Xue Jin'an. The fifth prince noticed that the fourth prince was up to something and subtly managed to get the information out of him. However, the fourth prince quickly realized what was going on and kept quiet about the matter at Yihe Palace. After that, the two of them started arguing.

Now it seems that the reason why the fourth brother didn't mention it was because the Buddhist hall of Yihe Temple had too many secrets that couldn't be mentioned at all.

The Fifth Prince tried to persuade Xue Jin'an with both emotion and reason: "Seventh Brother, after today's parting, we won't see each other again for a year. We should cherish this last time together. After all, we've known each other for so long, and we've had a pleasant time together..."

Xue Jin'an chose to ignore his nonsense and skillfully tied a slipknot with her belt, just enough to go around her neck.

The Fifth Prince immediately spoke in plain language: "Seventh Brother, I don't want to crawl through the dog hole."

"This dagger is for you, consider it my toll fee." The Fifth Prince took out a brand new dagger from his sleeve.

Xue Jin'an felt the image looked very familiar, and an intelligent image recognition tool immediately matched it: "Fourth Brother's dagger."

"My spoils of war." The Fifth Prince was sparing with his words, conveying in just five words that he had fought with the Fourth Prince and had won.

Xue Jin'an glanced at him: "Does he know?"

"It's not important." The Fifth Prince shrugged. Xue Jin'an, for once, understood the implication. The Fourth Prince really had no idea that his dagger was a trophy, or even that it had been lost.

Xue Jin'an is now skilled in both swords and knives, so he has no shortage of daggers. However, he accepted the toll and decided to try out the new software: a map.

Maps aren't exactly big applications, but they need to connect to the global network to obtain a lot of location and road information. Xue Jin'an's previous magical power couldn't support the data import, but now that it's limited to the imperial palace, it's possible.

Xue Jin'an set the area outside Zhaoyang Palace as the destination, unchecked the normal road leading directly to the gate, and then clicked "Start Navigation".

[The map will guide you. Go straight ahead for three feet, turn left for six feet, turn right into the corridor, go straight, turn right and go straight... Go three feet ahead to enter the rear hall of Zhaoyang Palace, climb onto the roof beam, open the rightmost ventilation opening, you will see a guard above your head, jump down and knock him unconscious, you will reach your destination.]

Fifth Prince: "???"

The fifth prince, who had successfully landed, was utterly shocked.