kidnapping
The snow had been falling all night, and the sky was blanketed in white, shrouded in the coolness of morning dew. A white figure staggered to his feet, holding onto a tree trunk. Fine particles of ice fell from his clothes as he moved.
"Master Imperial Master."
Hearing the sound, the white figure paused. He lowered his hand and looked up, a strand of hair slipping from beneath his hood. Like the world around him, it was pure, lifeless white.
"It's you." The voice was as clear as a Buddhist chant. "Is everything cleaned up?"
Cen Xiaying walked out from behind the tree, her dark red boots making a teeth-grinding sound as they stepped on the snow.
"Of course," he replied with a smile. The Imperial Master before him was dressed in pure white, and it was impossible to tell if he was injured, so he asked, "Is the Imperial Master alright?"
The Imperial Master, He Xuanli, snorted coldly, "No problem." His tone was icy, "Is He Chang dead?"
Cen Xiaying lowered her head and said, "Don't worry, my lord. I am already dead and cannot die any more."
"How's the person you were assigned to look after?"
Cen Xiaying opened her mouth and said, "As usual."
He Xuanli's expression lightened up a bit, "Let's go."
Since the last time the foreigners passed through, the gates of Yunchuan City had been left open and unguarded. He Xuanli and Cen Xiaying encountered a group of traveling merchants and swaggered in to an empty carriage. Despite the stranger's intrusion, no one in the group noticed and continued to chat casually.
"I'm glad I listened to you and consulted the oracle before leaving the city. Otherwise, we brothers would have been killed by those bandits."
"Yes, thanks to the Goddess of Fate. I think we should go to the store first to fulfill our vows, burn some incense, and thank the Goddess for her blessings."
He Xuanli paused calculating on his knees and murmured, "Fate...Mother?"
Cen Xiaying explained to him at the right time: "A fortune-telling shop opened in Yunchuan City a while ago. It's called Destiny."
"Fate." He Xuanli snorted, "Woman?"
"It's Fang Li, the one the Imperial Master asked me to pay attention to." Cen Xiaying said, carefully examining He Xuanli's expression, hoping to discern something useful. However, He Xuanli didn't question her any further, but instead stared into space, lost in thought.
The fate-telling shop was at the end of the street, and people were already coming and going. The snow at the door had been swept clean, and rising steam escaped from the doors and windows, creating an ethereal, otherworldly atmosphere.
The shop was quite empty, with only brownish-red wooden boxes covering all four walls. There were a few tables with papers and pens scattered on them.
Someone walked over, took out a pen and paper and started writing and drawing. He then took out something from a large wooden box, rolled it up, and bowed devoutly towards the altar in the back of the store. Then he found a wooden box and carefully placed the paper roll in it.
He Xuanli stood by and watched carefully for a moment, realizing that everyone here was very familiar with this process. It was very similar to burning incense and worshiping Buddha.
But they weren't worshipping Buddha, but rather a crudely crafted, faceless statue. Made of ordinary materials, it was barely recognizable as a woman. Offerings were placed before it, and incense smoke drifted in the air, conveying a sense of otherworldly fate.
The room was filled with a hazy fragrance. He Xuanli listened to the whispers of the people around him and suddenly felt an unfamiliar power of faith.
The goddess of fate.
He hadn't left Beijing for only half a year, yet a "god descended to earth" had appeared in this small southern city?
He Xuanli's hands were hidden in his sleeves, calculating casually. After a while, the nonchalant look on his face faded, and he looked solemnly at his empty palms.
He walked to the huge wooden box and drew a lot like everyone else.
Expand at will——
It was a symbol that he couldn't understand at all.
"Oh, this can't be opened. If you open it, it won't work."
Someone nearby spoke up to remind him.
He Xuanli paused and tilted his head to look at the speaker. Seeing that he had listened, the speaker's persuasive tone intensified, explaining carefully, "Just write down what you want to ask. The master will leave the interpretation of the divination. You can come back the next day."
"I see." He Xuanli said, "So the master comes to the shop every day to interpret the divination?"
As soon as the speaker nodded, He Xuanli looked at Cen Xiaying and said, "Drive them out."
Cen Xiaying drew his dagger from his side, and with a clang, he was a tall man with obvious scars on his face, which was extremely scary when he looked cold. Without him saying a word, the crowded shop emptied in an instant. Cen Xiaying went out and drove away the people who wanted to enter the shop.
Turning around, she saw that He Xuanli had turned his head back to continue looking at the paper roll on the ground. Cen Xiaying walked a few steps to the corner, raised her hand to call someone over, and handed something over.
After doing this, he sheathed the knife and turned back to the store.
"Open this." He Xuanli pointed at the wooden box.
The surface of the box was tightly closed, with only a round hole on the front side for people to reach in and draw lots.
Cen Xiaying didn't ask the reason and just slashed with the knife. The wooden box shattered with a bang, and countless paper rolls flew out, covering their heads and faces.
He Xuanli's face was expressionless as he casually picked up a piece of paper and unrolled it. The note contained symbols similar to the ones he had just seen. He compared them carefully and found that the symbols were slightly different. With his current abilities, he couldn't even guess what the symbols meant.
He unfolded dozens of sheets in a row, and the soft paper rolled up again after leaving his hands, piling up at his side like withered petals.
He Xuanli was frustrated for the first time in divination. He looked unhappy and glanced at Cen Xiaying who was waiting behind him: "Go and bring her here."
Cen Xiaying agreed, glanced at the statue above her, and then pushed the door open and left.
As more and more scrolls were opened, He Xuanli finally discovered a pattern.
Just as he was about to take a closer look, he heard the sound of a door being pushed open behind him. Accompanied by a woman's soft, questioning voice, He Xuanli turned around and saw a woman standing at the door.
The woman was wearing a pale pink coat, with a circle of soft white fox fur around her neck. Her chin was blocked, and only a hint of white mist could be seen floating around her nose as she exhaled.
Behind the white mist were her pale pupils. Those almond-shaped eyes, originally devoid of any particular emotion, flickered slightly when He Xuanli turned his head.
Snowman? Su Fangli thought at first sight.
The shop was empty, shrouded in smoke and dust. A white figure sat on the ground, atop a wave of white paper. His wide robe was spread out, surrounded by countless white paper rolls and scattered splinters of broken wood. His hood completely obscured his face, revealing only a sliver of his pale neck.
Seeing the "Tarot Cards" that he had spent several days drawing being ruined like this, Su Fangli's first reaction was not anger, but that he felt that the person in front of him was very kind.
Why? She didn't even see the man's face.
"You're here as expected." Piaomiao's voice was so light that it sounded like a sigh.
"What?" Su Fangli was puzzled. The man in white took off his hood, his pure white hair flowing down his shoulders. He raised his head, and the two of them were finally face to face.
"You..." Su Fangli's body swayed and she held onto the door to avoid falling.
She only saw that the other person was very white and pale. But when she wanted to see his face clearly, her vision was blurry and she couldn't focus no matter how hard she tried.
Eyebrows, eyes, nose, and lips—each one is clearly visible, but when they are put together, they become an indistinct mist, like the lingering spot of light after staring directly at the sun.
A sense of crisis filled his heart, and Su Fangli looked straight at the other person's head.
A thick, gray fog completely obscured the astrolabe. Su Fangli glanced at it and immediately tilted her head. A sore, swollen feeling forced a tear to form, which clung to her tightly closed eyelashes, dangling as if about to fall.
Get out of here. Quick.
With only this thought in her mind, Su Fangli took a few steps back and touched the door behind her. She turned around and pushed it open with force.
He bumped into someone's arms.
Su Fangli raised her eyes and saw Cen Xiaying, who had said a few days ago that she was going back to Beijing.
"Save me." Su Fangli grabbed the man's arm, which was supporting her. Her fingers trembled as she exerted force. "Take me away from here."
She didn't know who the person in the store was, so she just followed her instinct and sent out a signal for help.
But the person in front of him didn't move. Behind him, the sound of clothes rubbing against paper could be heard.
He Xuanli kicked away the withered paper roll at his feet and walked over: "Where are you going?"
Su Fangli's breathing stagnated, and the fingers holding Cen Xiaying loosened their grip.
Her rationality gradually returned, and she heard Cen Xiaying let out a long, shallow sigh in her ear.
She felt a pain in the back of her neck and fell limply into Cen Xiaying's arms.
"Don't do unnecessary things." He Xuanli looked dissatisfied.
Cen Xiaying deliberately ignored the implication in his tone, pretending to be obedient and holding the unconscious girl in her arms.
-
The messenger, holding the letter he had received from Cen Xiaying, rode back to the camp at full speed. As soon as he entered, he saw a group of people gathered inside.
"How come you have my young lady's earrings in your hand?" Xu Qiao looked at Ye Zhihui suspiciously.
Ye Zhihui was being pulled by him, and seemed to have not yet reacted. He repeated Xu Qiao's words: "Your young lady's?"
Xu Qiao nodded. "This was specially made by the Prime Minister's wife, and I hired the craftsmen myself. There's only one pair of them in the world. I can't be mistaken. Tell me, how did this thing end up in your hands?"
There was obvious surprise on Ye Zhihui's face, as if he had not yet reacted.
He Chenghuan heard the argument and came over. His eyes fell on the earring in Ye Zhihui's palm, and he was startled and asked, "What's going on?"
He understood the whole story. It turned out that Ye Zhihui had accidentally dropped the earring while picking up something, and it was later noticed by Xu Qiao who was talking to him.
This item belonged to Fang Li, and Fang Li was the Crown Prince's fiancée. How could Ye Zhihui keep her personal jewelry so close to him? When Ye Zhihui was questioned, he hesitated, clearly hiding something. This led to an argument.
He Chenghuan frowned and asked Xu Qiao: "Are you telling the truth?"
Xu Qiao was dissatisfied with His Highness's current attitude, but he nodded and said, "Of course, it's absolutely true. If my young lady hadn't been here, we wouldn't have gone to him. Your Highness, this matter..."
"I will explain this matter to you all." He Chenghuan said in a deep voice. After speaking, he looked at Ye Zhihui who was standing beside him and said, "Follow me."
The two returned to He Chenghuan's tent.
"Where did you get this thing?" He Chenghuan's voice showed no emotion.
"I found it in Miss Fang's bag the time the foreigners came up the mountain," Ye Zhihui said. There was nothing to hide. If He Chenghuan knew, then so be it. As he thought this, his hand tightened, the earring sinking into the lines of his palm.
He Chenghuan frowned and moved his lips, but now was not the right time to dwell on such matters. So he simply glanced at Ye Zhihui and returned to his desk. Under his gaze, he lifted the letter that was blocking his view, the same earrings remaining quietly on the table.
"This is..." Ye Zhihui murmured.
He Chenghuan: "Yes."
He looked at the earring with gentle and distant eyes, as if he was back to the night when he was lying on the floor of Su Fangli's room.
"So, Miss Fang is actually Fang Li, the daughter of Prime Minister Fang?" Ye Zhihui couldn't believe it. They had been with Su Fangli for so long, and even let her pretend to be Fang Li.
Unexpectedly, she was the real culprit.
Thinking of this, Ye Zhihui couldn't help but glance at He Chenghuan, who was also kept in the dark like him.
"But she doesn't act like it," He Chenghuan said. If she really was Fang Li, then her disguise was too good.
When He Chenghuan suddenly learned that the other party was the fiancée he had been looking for, an inexplicable emotion surged in his heart.
He suppressed the other clamoring voice in his body and reviewed every detail of his previous interactions with Su Fangli.
"Is her divination ability true or false?" Ye Zhihui suddenly thought of something and asked.
He Chenghuan pressed his brows together. This matter had clearly become more complicated. When he first met her, he had asked Su Fangli to tell his fortune. And it was Su Fangli who had suggested disguising herself as Fang Li. If she knew her true identity, what was her intention in suggesting this?
"In short, He Xuanli cannot be allowed to see her for the time being." He Chenghuan gave up his unfounded guesses and said solemnly.
The Imperial Master had altered Fang Li's fate before, so he must have seen her before. The Imperial Master lived in seclusion and rarely went out, so he wouldn't alter the fate of an unrelated person for no reason. Fang Li was more important in this than they thought.
Just to be safe...
He Chenghuan waved his hand and called over a man, saying, "Take a few people with you and go to the city to ask Miss Fang to come back."
After the men took orders and left, the two people in the room each held an earring in their hands in a daze.
An hour later.
"Your Highness, Miss Fang was not found in the city," the returning servant presented the letter, "but someone found this in Miss Fang's room."
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