Chapter 157 Leaving the Capital (Part 41) Don't tell her these things. ...

It turns out that Qingque used to be a little maid in the entire household, only eleven or twelve years old at the time. Most of the servants in the household were older women, and there were very few maids her age, so Yu Qi had quite a few impressions of her. Back then, her features hadn't fully developed, and she was as thin as a bamboo pole, swaying three times in the wind. How different she was now, having grown into a graceful and charming young woman.

Yu Qi examined her closely by the candlelight on the table. The white fur on her clothes brushed gently against her chin, and her face was much fuller and fairer than before. He nodded with a smile, "You also call her Aunt Quan? I always thought you were her maid."

Qingque rested her chin on her hand, gazing at the flickering candlelight. "I have no relation to her. I entered the household a year before you. I was desperate at the time and was taken in by her. I usually worked as a little maid serving her tea and water."

"Who exactly are you, and why did she take you in?"

“My original name was Ruan Hua, and I was originally from Hejian Prefecture. My father, Ruan Hong, was once a close guard of Prince Ping.”

Yu Qi's eyes lit up, and he looked her over again. She simply smiled and asked, "Sir, have you heard of the Battle of Lanzhou twenty years ago when Prince Ping led his army against the Tatars in Gansu?"

Yu Qi frowned and nodded, "Of course I've heard of it. Prince Ping was shot by a poisoned arrow from the enemy in this battle and died half a month later. It was because of Prince Ping's death that the late emperor was depressed and his illness worsened day by day."

Qingque sighed softly, slowly rose, and walked around the table. "The poisoned arrow that struck Prince Ping was shot from my father's hand."

"Your father?"

The Tatars had a tradition of coating their arrows with black tin for use in warfare. It was said that the arrow that struck Prince Ping had black tin on its tip, and the arrow style was also a common Tatar style. Moreover, Prince Ping was shot in the front, so at the time, everyone thought he was hit by an arrow from a Tatar soldier, but they never expected it to be a "hidden arrow."

"Half a month before the expedition, the then Crown Prince, who is now the Emperor, Zhou Hao, approached my father and promised him the position of Commander of the Imperial Guard in the future, asking him to assassinate Prince Ping on the battlefield. My father did not agree at first, but later the Crown Prince used our family as a threat. My father had no choice but to seize the opportunity on the battlefield and fire that cold arrow."

Why didn't your father tell Prince Ping?

“I was young then and didn’t understand. Later, my aunt told me that the late emperor only had three sons: the crown prince, Prince Ping, and Prince Feng. Prince Ping was good at martial arts but not at literature, and was not a talent for governing the country; Prince Feng was gentle and reserved, but inevitably weak; while Prince Feng was exceptionally intelligent, with the talent to govern the country and a ruthless approach. In the late emperor’s mind, the best successor among these three was naturally Zhou Hao. So the late emperor made him the crown prince early on. Even if my father told Prince Ping, as long as Prince Ping was safe and sound, even if the crown prince found a scapegoat for himself, the late emperor would not touch the crown prince’s core. He would just reprimand him for a while. When the crown prince ascended the throne, our family would not have a good outcome either.”

Yu Qi's gaze slowly followed her. "Since the late emperor felt that the Crown Prince was the best candidate to succeed to the throne, why did the Crown Prince have to secretly harm Prince Ping?"

"The weather is unpredictable, and fortune can change in an instant. Even if the late emperor thought this way, the Crown Prince still felt extremely vulnerable. Moreover, rumors gradually spread that the Crown Prince was ruthless and vicious. At this time, some court officials began to favor Prince Feng. Of the three brothers, Prince Ping and Prince Feng had the deepest friendship. It was hard to guarantee that the position of heir would not be shaken in the future. Prince Ping would not side with Prince Feng. Prince Ping was skilled in military affairs and had many loyal soldiers. How could the Crown Prince not be afraid?"

In retrospect, Zhou Hao and Shan Heng's parting ways wasn't due to trivial matters like romantic entanglements. The two were fundamentally different, and their opinions on politics likely differed as well. It was probably the death of Prince Ping that led to their complete break, and later, they secretly had a son, Jiu Li, whom they raised in the household.

As Yu Qi pondered this, he asked, "And then what happened?"

“A month after the matter was settled, my grandfather received a letter from my father saying that he had bought a house in the capital and that our whole family should move there. So we packed our things and moved as a family. When we got to Dong'an County, my family thought I was too young and that my grandmother was not feeling well, so they left my grandmother and me with a distant relative in Dong'an. They went to the capital first and then sent a carriage to pick us up. But on the third day that my grandmother and I stayed in Dong'an County, we heard that someone had died on the way to the capital. A whole family of seven had died. Besides my grandmother and me, there were exactly seven of us who were going to the capital!”

As she spoke, she abruptly slammed her hand on the table and sat down, taking a slow, deep breath. "Grandmother rushed to the Dong'an County government office to identify the body, and indeed, it was someone from our family. The office said that they had encountered robbers on the road, who killed them and stole their valuables. We temporarily buried our family in Dong'an County and then went to the capital to find my father. But when we arrived in the capital, we heard that my father had fallen into the river and drowned. Later, Grandmother also fell ill and died a month later."

"So how did you find Quan Shanheng?"

Qingque slowly shook her head. "It wasn't me who found her, it was her who found me. Back then—"

Suddenly, Yu Qi gestured for her to be quiet. Qing Que quickly swallowed her words and followed him to look out the window. She could only vaguely see flowers fluttering in the night, and silver and jade reflected in the window, but she couldn't see anyone. Unexpectedly, Yu Qi got up and quietly walked to the door of the outer room. He lifted the thick curtain and saw Jiu Li's back trembling by the window.

Yu Qi coughed, startling her awake. Her face flushed with embarrassment for a moment, then she raised her chin high. "What? Can't I even go for a walk?"

"You're out walking around in the snow?" Yu Qi glanced around and saw that the light was still on in the corner room. He called out, "Mama Li." The old woman opened the door and came out. He threw down the curtain and went down to the corridor. He ordered the east wing to be heated up and gave her some money as a reward.

After saying that, she turned her head and gave Jiuli a sideways glance, "Aren't you going to sleep yet?"

Jiuli had no choice but to leave, snorting angrily as she passed him. He had no time to coax her and went back to his room to close the door.

Qingque sneered, "Apart from her face, this girl is nothing like Aunt Quan in terms of temperament. She is petty and arrogant. Aunt Quan is a beautiful and intelligent daughter of a military family, well-educated and reasonable. But she is like a wild girl."

Yu Qi smiled and said, "She grew up in the countryside, and I haven't read many books myself, so how could I teach her those things about etiquette, music, poetry, and literature?"

Qingque pouted, her eyes darting over him, then she chuckled, "I never expected you would raise her. I remember when you lived in the whole mansion, no matter how close she was to you, you didn't like her. You said you've always hated children."

"Back then, I was just a young boy myself," Yu Qi said with a smile, then sighed softly. "People change. Didn't you also go from a little girl to the renowned dancer of the capital you are today?"

Qingque smiled bitterly, "If it weren't for Zhou Hao, how could I have ended up in prostitution? Back then, Aunt Quan heard that not long after Prince Ping died, one of his guards suddenly drowned. She became suspicious and secretly investigated the guard, eventually finding me. At that time, my grandmother had died, and I was wandering the streets. Aunt Quan put me in the Quan family as a maid. A year later, you and your master Bai Qian came."

"But you left the manor before me, why is that?"

"At that time, I didn't know either. Aunt Quan said that the late emperor was seriously ill and the crown prince was acting as regent. It wouldn't be safe for me to stay in the Quan family mansion, so she asked someone to rent a house for me and let me move out. She also told me the real cause of my family's death. She said that when I grew up, whether I took revenge or not was my business, but I had to know the truth. I never expected that only three months after I moved out, the Quan family mansion would catch fire, and Aunt Quan would die. Later, I ended up in a brothel and grew up slowly. Only then did I hear about the 'Huang Liang Incident.' I thought it was Zhou Hao. He must have killed Aunt Quan!"

Yu Qi nodded. "My master, Bai Qian, also died in this 'Huang Liang Rebellion.' Some people in the court accused Quan Shanheng of deliberately recommending this itinerant doctor to delay the late emperor's treatment, which made people even more convinced that Quan Shanheng colluded with Prince Feng to tamper with the imperial edict and seize the throne. After my master died, I returned to Quan's residence, but I unexpectedly encountered a fire and even met several masters at the scene. You're right, that fire was indeed not an accident."

Qingque suddenly glared at him, "Since you went back, why didn't you save Aunt Quan?!"

"It's not that I didn't want to save her, but when I arrived, most of the servants in the mansion had already been killed by those experts. She was barely alive, and I could only save Yu'er."

Qingque's eyes were bloodshot with hatred. "Zhou Hao killed people first, then set fire to the bodies. What a vicious heart he has!" As she spoke, she suddenly let out a cold laugh. "It serves him right that he has been plagued by illness all these years and is childless!"

Hearing a hint of smugness in her tone, Yu Qi couldn't help but scrutinize her. "After Zhou Hao ascended the throne, he first enfeoffed the princes as kings before appointing the Prince of Lu as crown prince. You used to be a dancer in the Prince of Lu's residence. Could it be that the death of this crown prince is related to you?"

Qingque stood up and laughed, "If you want to blame someone, you can only blame himself for being so obsessed with alchemy and consuming so many pills. It would be strange if he didn't die young."

She must have played a part in persuading him, thankfully no one knows about it. He then asked, "What about the other prince?"

"That's his own bad luck, it has nothing to do with me." Qingque couldn't help but laugh again. "It's also Zhou Hao's retribution. He killed without hesitation, not even sparing his own brothers and women. Heaven has eyes, how could it let him get away with it! Hmph, now he only has Prince Zhao, an adopted prince, and although there is a fourth prince, he is still young. Even if he ascends the throne in the future, he will only be a puppet of the Chen family. The empire he painstakingly acquired will eventually fall into the hands of others!"

Speaking of the Chen family, Yu Qifang remembered to ask, "Why did Chen Jia send you here?"

Upon asking, Qingque realized the same thing and pulled her skirt back to sit down. "He heard that you went to see that Eunuch Shun and even went to Fuda Money House to inquire, so he guessed that you had already found out that the Chen family had bribed Eunuch Shun to give false testimony—"

"What, is he scared?"

"He's not afraid of that. Even if they bribed witnesses, with the power of the Chen family, it's not a serious crime. He sent me here to find out if you've found out if the princess is the real culprit. Didn't that phoenix say that she really saw the dagger in the princess's room? Even if the princess is the murderer, they can still find a way to implicate Prince Zhao."

Yu Qi paused for a moment, then said, "So, the Chen family has nothing to do with Shuqiang's death?"

"I don't think it's relevant at all. It's just that the Chen family wants to use this opportunity to demote King Zhao. Anyway, that's irrelevant. What's important is that you find a way to tell King Zhao what I said today, so that he knows who really killed his father!"

"You still want revenge?"

"Don't you want to avenge Aunt Quan?!" She paused slightly, her eyes darting across his face, and chuckled to herself. "That's right, you and Aunt Quan are not related. How she died and who killed her is none of your business. In that case, I'll tell Jiu Li and see if she wants to avenge her mother."

After saying this, he stood up and made a move to leave, but Yu Qi said, "Stop, don't talk to her about these things."

Qingque smiled with her back turned, "Why?"

“She shouldn’t live with these old grudges on her shoulders.” Yu Qi stood up. “Let me think about it.”

Firstly, after all these years, he had begun to distrust her; secondly, even if he didn't tell Zhou Yu, she was already preparing to launch a military coup and was determined to fight Zhou Hao to the death. The only problem now was how Zhou Yu would escape her predicament.

He pondered for a moment, then looked at Qingque's back and said, "There's an empty room in the west wing. I'll ask Mother Li to tidy it up a bit. You can rest here for the night, and we'll talk again tomorrow."

As soon as he finished speaking, Yu Qi opened the door and went out. However, Jiu Li was in the east wing. Although he had extinguished the candles, he was still awake, his ears perked up, listening to the sounds coming from the main room. He heard the door creak open and thought that Yu Qi was going to send him away. But instead, he heard him calling for Li Mama to come and tidy up the room from the corridor.

Although he wasn't friendly, he didn't let people leave either. Was he too embarrassed to turn them away? Hmph, this wasn't Yu Qi's usual personality. What was he embarrassed about? He must still be a little shy tonight, so he wanted to chat and get intimate for the night and talk about it tomorrow? Damn it! She felt a surge of hatred in her heart and wanted to open the door and go out to yell at him, but she was too proud to admit it and could only turn over and close her eyes tightly.

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Author's note: Thank you for reading.