Chapter 30: We can take action now that we've stumbled upon it.
Xie Yunying, whose legs were so sore that she had moved slightly, causing a book to fall and hit the cabinet door, was now screaming internally, "Damn it, system, I'm doomed!! Help me, help me, help me!!"
System: "Don't panic, host! I have some beginner items I haven't used yet that can help you!!"
The bright window casts a clear shadow; outside, the weather is fine and sunny. The afternoon sun streams in through the open door, making the latticework shimmer. The hem of a dark robe is bathed in the light and shadow streaming through the window, its embroidery sparkling.
Xie Qingyu walked step by step to the bookshelf.
Xie Yunying was practically terrified: "Isn't it ready yet, System?!"
System: "Coming, coming right away, host!"
Suddenly, a plump rat scurried out from under the bookshelf, its long tail swishing wildly as it swept out several crumpled sheets of paper, then squeaked and ran away from Xie Qingyu's feet.
Xie Qingyu stopped in his tracks. He lowered his eyelashes and looked at the fat rat that had already disappeared. The shadow cast by his eyelashes turned into a dark patch under his eyes.
He turned around and smiled gently at Xie Zhi: "It must be the sound of rats. It seems there's been a rat infestation in the house recently."
"I just heard the coachman say that Father is going to the Governor's Mansion later? Is he going to discuss matters with Governor Sun?"
"Hey, it's all that year-end financial stuff." Xie Zhi seemed a bit annoyed and didn't want to talk about it anymore. As they reached the door, he added, "And that's your Uncle Sun. You don't need to address him so formally at home."
Xie Qingyu's smile remained unchanged: "Yes, Father."
The door closed. The footsteps gradually faded away, but Xie Yunying was still shaken and remained huddled in the bookcase for a while.
Xie Yunying was on the verge of tears: "I was so scared... I was just a hair's breadth away from being killed by the system!"
The system reassured, "It's alright, host. They seem to have gone far away. Let's leave here quickly."
Xie Yunying quietly opened the door a crack and climbed out from behind the bookshelf. Because she had been squatting for too long, her legs were trembling like two noodles stuck in the ground.
Xie Yunying had originally planned to leave immediately, but as she passed the stove, she hesitated: "System, do you think there might be any unburned pieces of paper?"
System: "Master, you can try putting out the fire and looking around; maybe you can find it."
Xie Yunying did as instructed. There happened to be half a pot of leftover tea on the table, so she poured the tea into it. The extinguished fire turned into a thick plume of smoke that billowed up, almost making her eyes water. "Cough cough cough! What's going on? Why is there so much smoke..."
The system hesitated, then said, "...Host, this isn't how you extinguish a furnace."
Xie Yunying: "Huh?"
System: "This type of furnace is also called a gold-filled furnace. There is tin powder prepared in advance on the upper layer. You can extinguish the fire with the powder by simply lifting the gold sheet on one side. It burns charcoal inside, and extinguishing the fire by splashing water will definitely produce a lot of smoke."
Xie Yunying: "...Why didn't you say so earlier?!" How would she know if she hadn't even used it!
Xie Yunying picked up the metal clip and searched for a while, but only found some fragments without any writing. She said dejectedly, "There's nothing here. It seems like all my efforts have been wasted."
System: "Master, completing the plot won't affect the development of the original story, so I think instead of spending time on investigation, we should focus on completing the mission. What do you think?"
Xie Yunying: "I don't think it's very good."
system:"......."
Xie Yunying searched in vain and finally gave up: "Forget it, there's nothing here, let's hurry up and leave."
Xie Yunying opened the door. The courtyard was empty and desolate, and a cold wind brushed against her cheeks. As soon as she stepped out of the threshold, she heard a soft laugh beside her.
Her mind went blank for a moment. She turned her head and saw Xie Qingyu, dressed in plain clothes and a black robe, leaning against the door on the other side. She was smiling, but there was no smile in her eyes.
She instantly bristled, collapsing against the door with a thud, her legs trembling. She raised her trembling hand, pointing at him: "You...you...you..."
Xie Qingyu said softly, "I'm still wondering if I'm being too suspicious."
“Normally, no one in the family, except my father and I, ever sets foot in this place. The bookshelf is messy and dirty, and hasn’t been cleaned in a long time. How could someone really hide inside without making a sound?”
As Xie Qingyu spoke, he reached out and grasped the door behind Xie Yunying. Xie Yunying retreated step by step into the house, and he approached step by step until the two of them were inside. He then closed the door behind him with a soft click.
The warm sunlight was shut out, and the dappled light and shadow were completely blocked by the tall figure in front of him. The study, which was originally a place of refined elegance, was now inexplicably filled with a chill.
Xie Qingyu asked gently, "Second sister, how much did you hear just now?"
Xie Yunying said tremblingly, "Big brother, I really didn't hear anything, I didn't see anything, and even if I knew something, I would never tell anyone..."
Xie Yunying was on the verge of a breakdown. What was she even saying?!
Xie Qingyu had been looking down at her, listening quite attentively. But the smoke in the room was so thick and unpleasant that his gaze gradually shifted away. As he turned his head, he happened to see the stove that Xie Yunying had extinguished.
Xie Qingyu smiled noncommittally.
Xie Yunying stopped talking halfway through her sentence.
Her inner thoughts: It's over.
Xie Qingyu looked at her with her back to the door, her smile lingering, yet it only grew more chilling: "I believe Second Sister knows nothing. However, I am very curious as to why Second Sister is in Father's study?"
Xie Yunying felt a glimmer of hope and quickly said, "It's...it's Second Brother! I saw him sneaking in here when I was passing by. I wanted to know what he was doing, so I sneaked in after he left. I didn't mean to eavesdrop on your conversation! I was just afraid that Father would catch me sneaking into the study, so I hid in the bookshelf..."
Xie Qingyu's smile faded, a slight ripple appearing in her eyes: "You mean, Xie Lianquan was here just now too?"
Xie Yunying nodded vigorously: "Yes!"
Xie Qingyu seemed to understand, then smiled slightly and said, "Okay, I understand."
"I ask my second sister to keep the matter I discussed with Father today a secret. By keeping it a secret, I mean that I hope she will not let anyone other than the three of us know about this—including Mother."
“This is a very important matter. If word gets out,” Xie Qingyu chuckled, and Xie Yunying trembled in fright. He then slowly continued, his tone incredibly gentle, “the consequences would be more than you, sister, can bear alone.”
After saying this, Xie Qingyu pushed open the door and left. The hem of her dark robe brushed across the threshold and slowly disappeared from Xie Yunying's sight.
The air seemed to freeze for a moment, until Xie Yunying let out a sharp, explosive sound.
Xie Yunying: "System, he's so scary!!!"
system:"......."
Xie Yunying was so excited she was almost incoherent: "I just opened the door and turned around to see him standing there! You know why I don't play horror games? Because I'm terrified of being suddenly killed! I almost screamed out loud!"
"I thought he really believed it was the rats, but it turns out he didn't leave at all and was just waiting for me to walk right into his trap! This guy is terrifying!"
System: ".......Host".
Xie Yunying, who was interrupted, was speechless.
"What?"
System: "Don't you think Xie Qingyu is strange?"
The system's tone was complex, seemingly cautious, yet tinged with shock and bewilderment: "Did he speak like this in the original book?"
Xie Yunying was speechless: "You just realized? Didn't I already say something was wrong when I was hiding in the closet?"
"Xie Zhi couldn't see at the time. He had a heartbroken expression, but then he suddenly laughed! It was really creepy! Now that I think about it, my premonition was right. He definitely has a problem!"
System: "But there's no technology in this world that can change one's appearance. Xie Qingyu's appearance matches, which means he can't be someone else impersonating him. Could it be that his personality changed because of what happened during his disappearance?"
Xie Yunying's intuition told her that Xie Qingyu was more like a completely different person than simply a change in temperament. But she didn't voice her unfounded suspicions. Instead, she said, "System, I always feel that the reason why the original plot was changed is because of Xie Qingyu."
Seeing Xie Yunying's increasingly resolute expression, the system had a bad feeling: "Host, what do you want to do?"
Xie Yunying said, enunciating each word clearly, "I want to secretly investigate Xie Qingyu."
“What he told Xie Zhi might not all be true. If I could find out what he did and where he went after he disappeared, maybe I could understand why the plot changed.” After explaining her plan, Xie Yunying didn’t forget to take a jab at the main system, “It’s better than just waiting here for your feedback. There’s still no response. I might as well wait for it to collect my corpse.”
system:"......"
Finding itself unable to refute the argument, the system had no choice but to agree: "What the host says makes sense. However, Xie Qingyu is meticulous, so the host must be careful during the investigation. If he discovers your scheme, then..."
Xie Yunying's legs finally regained some strength. She breathed a sigh of relief, lowered her hands from the edge of the table, and slowly stood up straight: "Do you think I'm stupid? Of course I'll be careful."
......
On the seventh day of the first lunar month in the seventeenth year of Jiahe, auspicious snow suddenly came.
The swirling snowflakes danced in the air, the world was draped in silver, and the Creator was truly unrestrained, with jade phoenixes soaring for thousands of miles.
The next day, when Yue Yining woke up and opened the window, she saw a courtyard covered in snow.
The breakfast on the table was still steaming. Yue Yining dressed and sat down at the table. Just as she was eating a scallion pancake, a girl in yellow knocked on the door: "Master Celestial, the Princess said she wants to summon you to the martial arts training ground when you wake up."
Yue Yining recognized the person as Su Yue, the princess's personal maid, and nodded: "Okay."
On a clear, snowy day, her slender waist and jade-like figure were bathed in the glow of snowflakes, which carpeted the white stone steps. She followed Su Yue along the way, passing pavilions, towers, artificial hills, and icy ponds, until she could faintly hear the clanging of metal.
At a glance, Wei Yihua, dressed in a crimson, narrow-sleeved samurai outfit, was gripping a longsword and attacking her opponent. With a single slash, her expression was sharp, the sword flashes like an inverted silver river, and her movements were like a dragon soaring through the air.
The opponent dodged the attack, and Wei Yihua pursued him, the jewels adorning the hilt of his sword slicing through the fierce wind and bursting forth with dazzling light.
Yue Yining, who was bundled up in a ball, watched the princess practice martial arts from a distance and couldn't help but sigh, "Your Highness is truly diligent. She still gets up early to practice in this freezing weather. It's truly admirable."
Su Yue, who would beam with pride whenever she heard others praise her princess, said, "Of course, Her Highness the Eldest Princess has always been a role model for the younger generation of women in Yanjing."
"However, the Princess did not value martial arts before. I remember that Her Highness began practicing martial arts every day from the middle of last summer. Through the cold and heat, under the sun and rain, no matter how bad the weather was, the Princess never slackened for a moment and never missed a day."
Yue Yining remembered that the Eldest Princess had only returned to her residence the previous night. These seven days were all holidays for the Spring Festival, and Wei Yihua had left her residence on New Year's Eve to attend the palace's New Year's banquet. During these seven days, she had also stayed in the palace to accompany the Emperor and Consort Li.
She must have been very tired from social engagements during that time, but she still got up on time to practice diligently today and looked energetic.
The soldiers finished their practice. Seeing that the exercise was over, the maid who had been waiting nearby immediately stepped forward to wipe Wei Yihua's sweat and put on her clothes.
Wei Yihua turned around and happened to see Yue Yining standing by the corridor, wearing a dark blue crane-feather cloak. A smile suddenly bloomed on her face, like a red plum blossom blooming defiantly in the winter wind: "Yining!"
Yue Yining responded and saw that she was walking over here in a hurry without even putting on her coat properly. Feeling embarrassed to stand there and wait, she quickly went down the steps into the courtyard and said, "Your Highness, you should put on your cloak first. It's freezing cold, and it wouldn't be good if you caught a cold."
"By the way, Your Highness, is there something urgent that you wish to see me about?"
The maid was still adjusting the hem of the cloak when Wei Yihua reached out and grasped Yue Yining's wrist. Her palm was dry and warm, which startled Yue Yining slightly. She turned her head and saw Wei Yihua with a radiant smile and a face full of joy.
Wei Yihua smiled and said, "It's chilly here, let's talk in the side hall."
The two walked hand in hand to the side hall closest to the martial arts training ground and sat down opposite each other. Wei Yihua then spoke: "This morning at court, the Imperial Censor Lin impeached the Third Prince on matters concerning the succession of the state, and praised him as wise and benevolent, capable of undertaking great responsibilities."
Yue Yining finally understood why Wei Yihua was in such a high mood today.
A knowing glint flashed in her eyes: "Is His Highness the Third Prince aware of this matter?"
“He doesn’t know yet. But Lord Lin praised the painting presented by the Third Prince in public at the New Year’s banquet, which shows that he appreciates him very much. If the Third Prince knew about today’s events, he probably wouldn’t be too surprised.” Wei Yihua’s eyes sparkled. “This is all thanks to your plan.”
Yue Yining: "I dare not accept such praise. Your Highness is too kind. My suggestion was merely a bold attempt, and its success is mostly due to luck."
A few days ago, spies caused trouble in the Third Prince's residence, keeping Wei Ye up at night. He sought help from his sister, Wei Yihua, who then asked Yue Yining to devise a plan for Wei Ye.
After much deliberation, Yue Yining made a plan. She first inquired about the ministers that Wei Ye wanted to win over. Wei Ye said that he currently hoped to gain the support of Censor-in-Chief Lin. So Yue Yining went to learn more about this Lord Lin.
Lin Yuan, the Imperial Censor, came from a humble background. Over fifty years old, he was a veteran official of two dynasties and a renowned loyal minister. His position in the Eastern Xi court was quite special. It should be noted that he came from a poor family, and when he entered officialdom, there was no civil service examination system. This demonstrates that he was exceptionally talented, a paragon of virtue, in both winning people's hearts and governing the country.
Yue Yining instructed Wei Ye and several advisors to hold meetings on different days, setting the meeting place in the waterside pavilion outside the palace. She had Wei Ye falsely claim that he had formed an alliance with the Censor-in-Chief, Lord Lin, and devise various pieces of evidence and falsehoods. She also arranged for his trusted servants to monitor the gates through which servants entered and exited the mansion on a daily basis, identifying those who frequently entered and exited the mansion after the news spread. Furthermore, she dispatched guards to track these people's movements after they left the mansion.
Sure enough, within ten days, Wei Ye had a target he was almost certain of. But Yue Yining told him not to act rashly and to wait for her to inform him before finding a pretext to kick the person out of the mansion.
A series of graceful figures emerged from outside the palace gates. Su Yue led several maids forward, and the pearwood wooden table was gradually filled with various snacks and tea.
Yue Yining only drank the tea. She blew away the smoke that drifted to her nose, her voice still low and hoarse from the morning: "Please tell His Highness the Third Prince that we can begin now."
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