15. Threat

◎This Qiu Ziye must die!◎

Chapter 15

The Jinpin Pavilion was surrounded by more than ten Yulin Langjiangs who were specially dispatched. Tian Qu led his men into the pavilion to search. The girls were frightened by the terrifying posture and dared not step forward.

Shengjing was always gloomy at this time of year. Ji Ci, who was sitting in the carriage waiting, also exuded a gloomy air. Even the coachman outside the carriage moved uncomfortably.

"Your Highness." Tian Qu stepped forward after completing the search, lowering his head to report to the carriage, "There's no sign of Qiu Ziye in Jinpin Pavilion. The secret guards went to Guihong Hall but found no trace of him."

Ji Ci's heart sank. When he first heard that the young widow had shaken off the secret guards, he suspected that this woman had hidden some kind of trap behind the scenes.

Throughout his life, he relied on his so-called intuition to avoid disaster time and time again, and was able to walk step by step from the mountains of corpses and seas of blood to where he is today.

He had always trusted his intuition, and had considered that it wasn't some logically coherent theory, nor was it a belief in metaphysics. Rather, like the illness that originated in his heart and spread to his body, it was a form of self-protection.

And this protection, at some point, turns into loss.

Just like the first time I saw her, the young widow was embodied in two words: contradiction.

But after hearing Tian Qu's words, rather than questioning her own contradictions, he felt another emotion he had felt for many years: concern for someone else. This someone else wasn't a commoner, nor was he a member of the royal family, but someone in particular.

I was worried that the three people who were following me might be related to the Zhang family tragedy.

The person who was worried about the bait in his hand might be bitten to pieces by the fish and then escape.

It's obvious that the young widow is just a bait, a tool.

Many possibilities flashed through his mind, and finally Ji Ci chose the most reasonable answer.

Because the medicinal food prepared by the young widow was quite satisfactory to him.

Ji Ci lifted the curtain of the carriage and stepped down. He glanced at the pavilion with sharp eyes and whispered, "Seal off the Jinpin Pavilion and search the whole city..."

"Your Majesty?"

A crisp and soft voice sounded from behind, and Ji Ci's eyebrows jumped.

He immediately turned around and saw Jiang Qiuye walking out of the Jinpin Pavilion with an excited look on her face. The Yu Linlang at the door blocked her from coming out.

The suppressed anger in Ji Ci's heart quietly dissipated. He raised his hand, signaling the guards to retreat, and watched the grinning young widow jump in front of him.

He secretly glanced at the confused Tian Qu and frowned, saying, "Go with the secret guards to receive the twenty military sticks."

"......yes."

Tian Qu left with his head hung, puzzled in his heart, where did this Qiu Ziye come from?

Jiang Qiuye had a slight sweat on his forehead, but he managed to catch up.

She thought the secret guards might have discovered her disappearance, but she didn't expect Ji Ci to be so fast.

When she rushed back to Jinpin Pavilion from the grove, Yu Lin Lang had already surrounded her.

So I could only climb over the wall from the next door building to enter the second floor of Jinpin Pavilion.

She turned to glance at the dozen or so Yu Lin Langs and feigned confusion, "Your Highness, what happened? Is there a case at Jin Pin Pavilion?"

Ji Ci narrowed his eyes, calmed the waves in his heart, and returned to his usual calmness. He asked, "Have you been staying in Jinpin Pavilion all this time?"

At this moment, he suddenly began to wonder whether the negligence was caused by the ignorance of the secret guards and Tian Qu?

Or the woman in front of me...

Jiang Qiuye tilted his head and said, "I've been here the whole time. I just went to the private room on the second floor. What happened?"

"Didn't you see Tian Qu in the pavilion?"

"Brother Tianqu? I've been staying in the box the whole time and haven't seen him." Jiang Qiuye's eyes gleamed, "The main reason I came to Jinpin Pavilion today is to order a ring to give to the prince."

Ji Ci couldn't help but be stunned, "Ring?"

Jiang Qiuye blushed slightly and said, "I used to see that the prince always liked to wear a bone ring. But recently, I haven't seen that ring anymore, so I wondered if it was lost. Compared to bone, the prince is more suitable for jade. So..."

Ji Ci interrupted her: "Don't worry... I am already a prince, what ring am I missing?"

Even as I said this, I didn't know why I felt a little excited in my heart.

"Oh." Jiang Qiuye pursed his lips and stopped talking.

She did have the jade ring, but she had it custom-made at Jinpin Pavilion yesterday.

But fortunately, he has been fooled now.

…

At night in the Anguo Mansion, the Duke of Anguo had not entered Aunt Qian's Chunlan Courtyard for three days, and today he let her go back to the courtyard to sleep early.

The candlelight was dim, and he paced back and forth restlessly in the study.

For some reason, there has been no news of the killer he hired to this day.

The three killers claimed to be in the top ten of some killer ranking and had never been defeated, so he paid a large sum of money to buy Qiu Ziye's life.

In fact, he didn't want to kill her, even though she had a fickle mother who committed adultery with a groom. He looked at his daughter who didn't look like him at all, and he often suspected that his daughter was the groom's bastard.

Once the inner demon is planted, it will take root and sprout, and as time goes by, you will become more and more certain of your doubts.

However, when he thought of Qiu Ziye when he was young, although he was timid, he was well-behaved and likable, unlike he is now, he still felt kind-hearted.

Until the incident at Guihongtang that day, he had never expected that Qiu Ziye actually knew about the incident five years ago.

When the current emperor was still the crown prince, he was in a fierce battle with his brothers for the throne. He helped Prince Wu'an to jointly sign hundreds of scholars and forge a blood letter, trying to slander and impeach the crown prince for selling official positions and persecuting candidates.

At that time, Prince Wu'an had great power and many people defected to him. Naturally, he followed suit like a fence-sitter, thinking that if he could get the credit for following the king, he would be worthy of the honor of being a duke inherited from his ancestors.

Unexpectedly, the late emperor passed away before the crown prince could be punished for the blood letter incident. Prince Qi, with ruthless tactics, swiftly eliminated Prince Wu'an and his followers, facilitating the crown prince's ascension to the throne. After ascending the throne, the emperor, acting on the forged blood letter, sentenced over 200 people to death. These executions were followed by widespread wailing and bloodshed, a truly alarming event.

If he had not found an opportunity to decisively tear off his page in the blood letter, if he had not been just an unknown pawn in King Wu'an's service.

He died five years ago.

But Qiu Ziye actually knew about this.

It is clear that Qiu Ziye was only twelve years old five years ago and lived alone in Wuzhou. How did he know about this?

The inner demon makes him terrified. This Qiu Ziye must die!

"Dad, why don't you rest so late?"

A strange yet sweet voice sounded. Duke Anguo stopped and turned to look at the door of the study. His pupils dilated and his teeth chattered uncontrollably.

Qiu Ziye was actually still alive, and he quietly entered the Duke's Mansion as if he was in an empty place.

"W-How could you..."

Jiang Qiuye looked at the trembling An Guogong and felt amused. "What's wrong with me?"

Duke Anguo avoided her gaze, rubbing his hands together, and said, "No, nothing. Ye'er, I came back home suddenly without telling you."

Jiang Qiuye walked forward slowly, his eyes fixed on the Duke of Anguo who lowered his head, and sat on his armchair.

Tsk, this cheap dad is so timid that he dares to do something like hiring someone to kill someone.

"Oh, I came here today just to share an interesting story."

Duke Anguo looked nervously into Jiang Qiuye's peach blossom eyes and her two shallow dimples.

Why didn't he notice the dimples on his daughter's face when she was little?

Jiang Qiuye continued, "You know that His Royal Highness Prince Qi surrounded Jinpin Pavilion today, right?"

"I know." He knew about this, but he didn't know the reason, so he was so nervous today.

"In order to catch the murderer of the Zhang family's massacre, His Royal Highness Prince Qi has been secretly following me since he released me from the Ministry of Justice."

Duke Anguo's legs went limp, and he used his hands to hold on to the desk to avoid falling: "Follow, follow you."

"Yes, that's right. Because I'm the new bride of the Zhang family, and I'm the only one who escaped the net of this family extermination case. His Highness Prince Qi suspected that the murderer might attack me again, so he has been sending people to follow me, waiting for the murderer to attack, so that they can catch the real culprit."

"So, anyone who tries to kill me these days might be the murderer."

Jiang Qiuye swept his cowardly and useless cheap father aside and continued mercilessly, "Prince Qi's men discovered that three people have been following me recently."

Duke Anguo felt like he was in an ice cellar, unable to move. He looked at his daughter in front of him, waiting for the death sentence.

"However, after those three were arrested, I realized they weren't the murderers in the Zhang family case. So I told His Royal Highness Prince Qi that perhaps they just had lustful intentions, and since they couldn't carry out their crimes, I gave them a light punishment... and let them go!"

"That's good. Ye'er is fine, Daddy will be relieved."

Jiang Qiuye watched as Duke Anguo suddenly came back to life, he exhaled, and tried to stand up straight, but he didn't expect that even more terrifying words were yet to come.

"Father, have you noticed that there is something very important missing from your study?"

Duke Anguo was stunned and looked at the secret compartment behind the bookshelf. Without hesitation, he immediately stood up and walked over.

Under Jiang Qiuye's mocking gaze, he opened the secret compartment.

The empty secret compartment made him climb out of the ice cellar and fall into hell again.

Jiang Qiuye smiled and lowered her head. This old man was really the stupidest person she had ever seen.

"You—a rebellious girl!" Duke Anguo turned around angrily, murderous intent spreading in his eyes.

Jiang Qiuye acted as if he hadn't noticed. He raised his index finger to his lips, hushed softly, and said, "Dad, be quiet. It wouldn't be good if someone heard you."

"If anything happens to me, the contents of the secret compartment will be revealed to the public."

Five years ago, Duke Anguo secretly tore up the blood letter and kept it with him instead of destroying it. Leaving such a huge handle in the world, there is no one more foolish than him.

"But don't worry, father. After all, I am Qiu Ziye now. Although I am married, I will always share the honor and disgrace with the Anguo Mansion. As long as father doesn't cause me any more trouble, we will all be fine."

The reason for this trip is that I don't want to waste time getting involved with Duke Anguo.

All her energy is now focused on Ji Ci, so she doesn't have so much time to mediate with this stupid family.

This guy is as timid as a mouse, and this method will definitely make him behave himself.

"Do you understand, Dad?" Jiang Qiuye asked with a sweet smile.

This appearance made him shudder. Why did his daughter become so weird? Her soft voice was like a maggot attached to the bone, difficult to dissipate, gnawing at his flesh.

He could only nod stiffly.

Seeing this, Jiang Qiuye was very satisfied and got up and left.

Looking at the closed door and the flickering candlelight, Duke Anguo relaxed all over and could no longer stand, so he sat down on the ground in dejection.

A heavy rain immediately began to fall outside the house, violently hitting the chrysanthemums outside, and the petals fell to the ground in pieces.

At the same time, in a grove outside Shengjing, a pale and twisted broken arm slowly emerged from the rain-washed soil.