Chapter 85: Undercurrent The woman smiled with her eyebrows and lips curved. ...

Inside the majestic palace, the white jade floor tiles shine brightly, and on the towering golden pillars sit flying dragons with outstretched claws. Layer upon layer of caisson ceilings spiral up to the palace ceiling. The square and round painted decorations are decorated with coiled dragons, all of which are vibrant and lifelike. A bright red carpet inlaid with gold stretches from the palace door to the jade steps. Everywhere you look, you can see carved railings and jade bricks, shining with gold and jade.

On the throne made of pure gold, a young man in plain clothes was reclining leisurely. His pure white clothes were incompatible with the splendor of the whole hall. There was an unremovable gloom in the young man's eyes, but a smile was on the corner of his lips. However, the smile was always on the surface, revealing a bit of coldness.

It was the current emperor of Daying, Jiang Zhi.

Jiang Zhi nonchalantly played with a jade ring on his finger. He asked in a tone that was hard to discern, "Miss Shangguan, did you kill Lords Li Xuan and Wen Shi?"

The surname "Shangguan" was wiped out when her clan was overthrown. When she heard this, her heartstrings tightened, but she suppressed her emotions without showing any emotion.

Chenghua knelt below and kowtowed deeply upon hearing the words, knocking her smooth forehead against the white jade brick without knowing how hard it was. Bright red blood beads rolled down from her forehead and hit the brick surface that had been wiped clean by the palace maids. At first glance, it looked like a petal of red plum blossom blooming on the white snow field.

"Your Majesty, it's Li Xuan and Wen Chang."

The leader was silent for a moment, scratched his head and said, "Oh, I see."

After three years on the throne, he only roughly memorized the titles of the ministers in the court. If he remembered the names of all the officials in the court, would they want to tire him to death? The teacher just needs to remember them.

Jiang Zhi said indifferently, "But he's dead, so a surname or name is dispensable... I think the name Wen Ce is very good. From now on, Master Wen will just be called Wen Ce. Cheng Hua, you can also call him Wen Ce, is that clear? Send down the decree, ordering that when the Wen family holds the funeral, only the two characters Wen Ce can be engraved on the tombstone. If you dare to engrave Wen Chang..."

"Hahahahahaha..." Jiang Zhi suddenly burst into laughter on the throne. After a long while, he finally stopped laughing, but there was still a hint of laughter in his tone. "You haven't answered me yet, why kill them?"

Chenghua slowly raised his head, but did not look at Jiang Zhi, but glanced inconspicuously at the four Flying Dragon Guards standing solemnly on both sides of the throne.

She lowered her head again, resting her forehead on the bloodstained white jade bricks, "Your Majesty, Lords Li Xuan and Wen Xi deserved to die."

Jiang Zhi propped up his chin and leaned forward. "Then, please tell me where these two should die."

"Your Majesty should have learned from the Censor that Li and Wen were secretly discussing state affairs in the brothel. Not only that, they even attempted to support the late emperor's heir to replace him. I was furious..."

"I'll find a reason to kill all the remaining useless and capable brothers and sisters, and naturally put an end to the thoughts of these traitors." He changed the subject and said thoughtfully, "You are so considerate that you saved me the opportunity to interrogate them personally."

The wit in his words was obvious.

The hall was silent for a moment, with only the sound of the clock. Holding the flower, he raised his head and said respectfully, "Your Majesty, I have something to report. I hope Your Majesty will listen."

Jiang Zhi said nothing, but picked up a peeled iced lychee from the hand of a palace maid kneeling on the side of the doorstep. The flesh was as white as jade, round and plump, in contrast to the fingertips he had been chewing since childhood.

Chenghua understood what he meant and stopped beating around the bush. After another bow, she said, "I met Yu Shu in the Imperial Master's Fengzhai."

Jiang Zhi's fingers suddenly clenched, and the crystal-clear juice of the lychee dripped through them. He tilted his head lazily, the corner of his mouth curved, and said with a smile: "I ordered people to dig up the bodies from the mass grave the other day. General Yu... they found them. What's more, I saw you pour the Gelsemium elegans poison into his stomach with my own eyes."

"Your Majesty is wise. Perhaps I am blind and have mistaken you." Chenghua wiped the blood from her forehead that was about to seep into her eyes. She smiled faintly and said, "If Your Majesty has no other instructions, I will take my leave. Or... I must pay for the lives of Masters Li and Wen."

Jiang Zhi didn't answer the question, but said, "Oh, but General Yu's face is already rotten and hard to distinguish. Only his clothes and body size match."

"Where is the person?" the young emperor asked with great interest.

"Wait outside the palace."

"Xuan."

In just a moment, a disheveled figure was half-dragged and half-pulled into the palace by the palace guards. The man had disheveled hair like wild weeds, and from a distance, one could not make out his features. His clothes looked as if they had been rolled in mud, dragging along the way, staining the originally bright and flawless white jade bricks with a grayish-black hue.

"Miss Shangguan, you really hate my teacher to the core." Jiang Zhi casually handed his hand stained with lychee juice down. The palace maid kneeling in front of the emperor immediately held it and wiped each joint of his fingers carefully with a soft towel.

“Back then, the Shangguan family was full of people…but the teacher placed you in Fengzhai.”

"Is he helping me? It's just that the Shangguan family is still somewhat useful. He's pretending to be kind, and what he's really after is those rich and cheap things..." Chenghua laughed softly, but his eyes were cold. "Of course I hate him, how could I not hate him? Song Lang pretends to be kind, does he really think he's a virtuous gentleman? Do I have to be grateful to him?"

Jiang Zhi looked at the man curled up on the ground, trapped by the hemp rope. He couldn't make out his face, so he only glanced briefly before looking away. Jiang Zhi said in an ambiguous tone, "Just because of this, you hate him so much? Yet, I have issued an order to exterminate Shangguan's entire family... And you, in fact, turned against me? Betrayed your teacher?"

"Miss Shangguan." Jiang Zhi was only sixteen or seventeen years old, his voice still slightly hoarse from the teenage years. "As expected... you still have to die. Keeping you here will only cause endless trouble. Chenghua, you can understand me, right?"

"When Your Majesty has a clear understanding of Yu Shu and the Imperial Preceptor, I will follow the Shangguan clan and leave."

Jiang Zhi sneered, emphasizing each word, "Teacher, you see clearly? Teacher, you are devoted to the country and have devoted all your energy to me. Why do you need to clarify for me? You, who are you?"

After saying that, Jiang Zhi's gaze fell back on Yu Shu. The man was disheveled and had a grimace. Even at the bottom of the stairs, his face was still hard to discern.

"look up."

The people below the steps straightened their necks when they heard the voice. Their faces were covered with dirt and dust, and they could only vaguely make out his outline, but not be able to distinguish him clearly. The Flying Dragon Guards on both sides of the throne were not the ones on duty when Yu Shu went to court, so naturally they did not recognize him. Looking around the hall, he and Chenghua were the only ones who had seen Yu Shu's true face.

Jiang Zhi's gaze moved down to the hemp rope that tied up Yu Shu. It was thick and strong, so there should be no problem.

He kicked the woman who was crouching down under the seat aside. Jiang Zhi stood up slowly and walked down the jade steps step by step, inadvertently sweeping away the flowers.

With just one glance, she understood what he meant. Since he ascended the throne, he had been cautious every day, and very few people were able to get close to him.

There are so many people cursing him to death, but he clearly hasn't done anything yet.

Chenghua retreated more than ten steps silently.

Four Flying Dragon Guards came down from the jade steps, all of them wearing silver armor, with cold and fierce eyes, and their eyes were sharper than blades. The Flying Dragon Guards were the emperor's personal guards carefully crafted during the reign of the previous emperor. It was said that one person could defeat a hundred people.

But what about the emperor's personal guards? As the saying goes, the emperor's body cannot be trespassed, and must be kept three steps away.

Yu Shu slowly raised his gray face. Jiang Zhi stood at an arm's length away. He estimated that the distance was still safe.

He leaned forward slightly, his eyes roaming back and forth across that gloomy face. Jiang Zhi chuckled softly, "Teacher, why did you save him? Oh, does he also want to find my brother? I'm not stupid, but he's still not satisfied with me?"

"General Yu." His voice rose. "Tell me, why did the teacher save you?"

The hall was silent.

Chenghua continued, "I believe that the Imperial Tutor's private rescue of the General is intended to harm His Majesty. I'm afraid he, like the two Lords Li and Wen, is plotting a rebellion and intends to use the Emperor to control the other lords."

"Wrong." Jiang Zhi said coldly, turning and walking towards the jade steps, "Teacher's heart can only hold one city."

As the last word fell, the young emperor's figure suddenly shook. In a trance, he saw lychees rolling under his feet, and the white flesh was crushed on the jade bricks, causing him to slip.

"His Majesty!"

The hall was immediately in chaos. The Flying Dragon Guards were agile and swooped down in silver armor. Chenghua had also stood up and was running towards where Jiang Zhi was.

Jiang Zhi's pupils suddenly shrank.

At the moment of falling, Yu Shu, who was supposed to be trapped in the ropes, stood up straight, and a cold light suddenly appeared in his sleeves.

"Protect the emperor!"

…

In the Grand Princess's residence, Mei Lianjun sat in front of the window with her hair in simple buns. The incense in the burner had burned out and the lingering fragrance had dissipated, but her soul had not returned.

Just look up and you will see the yard full of dazzling mahogany boxes.

Mei Lianjun felt her mood becoming more and more disturbed. She asked Xian Yuexing to go to the woodshed to get a piece of dry wood as thick as her arm. Mei Lianjun took it in her hand and weighed it. It was of the right weight and had a dry texture. It was a very flammable wood.

"Xianyue, you are really good at carrying firewood."

Xianyue heard this and laughed, covering her mouth. "Princess, you're really something. You can even boast about carrying a piece of firewood?"

Mei Lianjun lit one end of the dry firewood in a few strokes, pushed the door open and walked out, letting the billowing black smoke blow across the exquisite courtyard. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and walked towards the mahogany box holding the torch.

However, before the torch touched the box, Mei Lianjun's pretty brows slightly frowned. She took half a step, steadied her lower body, and suddenly exerted force with the arm holding the torch, swinging it to the side.

Xianyue stood there in a daze. When she came to her senses, the wooden stick with swaying flames had been thrown into the air by her own princess, and tiny sparks were splashing down, like fireworks blooming in broad daylight.

The fire stick went straight to the courtyard wall, and a dark figure hidden in the shadow of the wall quickly flashed to the side. However, in the moment of moving, a sharp pain pierced the palm of his hand that was clinging to the wall, and blood flowed along the wrist bone into his narrow sleeve.

Li Qingrang almost rolled down the yard, just missing his head from hitting the ground.

He stood up, and calmly and gracefully brushed away the grass debris on his robe, and straightened the slightly tilted jade crown.

"Ayin...if you don't like it, just leave it there. Why bother burning it?"

Mei Lianjun looked at him, and in the blink of an eye, he was standing tall in the courtyard, his handsome face gentle and elegant, and he had long since cleaned up the embarrassment of falling off the wall. Li Qingrang had given up martial arts and turned to literature for three years, and the military aura on his body had dissipated, leaving only the elegance of prose.

She saw blood oozing from his palms and glanced up at the short blades that were scattered on the wall.

I've only had three years of leisure, and I can't even avoid this?

Li Qingrang saw the resentment in her eyes, touched his nose and said, "It was Princess Wanyi who allowed me to enter the palace."

"Yes." Her eyes remained still, her tone flat. "I will ask Grandmother to cancel this marriage. As for Your Majesty... I will personally plead with you. I'd also like the young marquis to speak to Mother..."

"How dare Qingrang? This is the marriage chosen by the late emperor. Besides..." Li Qingrang stepped forward and said with a smile, "I like Ayin. I want to marry Ayin."

"Oh, but I don't like you."

“…”

"Holding the moon, see the guests off."

"Young Marquis..." Xianyue lowered her head and turned sideways, "Please?"

Only after Xianyue led the annoying Xuanying and disappeared in the courtyard did Mei Lianjun look away. She stared at the betrothal gifts from the Li family filling the courtyard, and felt a dull pain in her forehead.

However, she didn't really want to burn these vulgar things. She was only targeting Li Qingrang. Mei Lianjun was about to return to her room when she heard a strange rustling sound coming from the square pond. She looked in the direction of the sound and saw that the clear water in the pond had inexplicably turned muddy.

There is an ancient well dug deep at the bottom of the pool. There are secret passages under the well that lead to many places in the city, even to Alin's bedroom. Li Qingrang also knows this.

He can't be so difficult today...right?

Mei Lianjun took out a pointed hairpin from her bun and stood quietly by the pond.

In just a moment, the pool began to gurgle and bubbles began to appear. Mei Lianjun twisted the end of the hairpin with two fingers. After catching a glimpse of a few strands of hair floating on the surface of the pool, she flipped her wrist and the pointed hairpin flew through the air.

…

Song Xieqing was dreaming again. In his dream, the woman always smiled with curved eyebrows and lips, which made him feel happy and intoxicated.

However, tonight's dream was different from the usual beautiful dreams she had with her. The woman's bright smile turned into mottled bloodstains that meandered down, sad and dazzling.

He felt an inexplicable pain in his chest, and when he woke up, cold sweat had soaked his heavy clothes.

"Hiyadama!"

A young man in tight black clothes came in through the curtains. Song Xieqing asked, "Any news?"

"No... and Sister Chenghua is nowhere to be seen..." Xiangyu lowered his head and whispered, "Ever since you and General Yu secretly visited the brothel two nights ago... Sister Chenghua has never returned to Fengzhai."

"Prepare the horses and enter the palace."

Xiangyu looked out the window at the inky night and wondered, "The palace gates have long been locked and all the officials have dispersed. I suppose His Majesty is also..."

Although, the late emperor once gave the young prince a jade token, allowing him to enter and leave the palace at any time.