Holding the game
A few stars were visible overhead.
Liu Xu chose another small path, bypassing his home, and headed straight for the Dali Temple.
The night was dark, and occasionally a shrewd black shadow would flash by. He was filled with unease, but he endured the pain and rushed out for several miles. Only when he saw that there was no tail behind him did he slow down.
At midnight, everyone in the Dali Temple had dispersed, leaving a scene of quiet peace. However, to be cautious, Liu Xu still slipped in through the side door. He saw the dark red lantern hanging overhead, like a red silk ribbon in the desolate night, and his heart skipped a beat.
For some reason, his mind was not clear, and he ran to this government office—perhaps he had overheard that the deceased was Cui Sanlang, or perhaps he was harmed by that cup of medicinal tea.
It must be a drug.
He had just run several miles and used his internal energy to expel some of the medicinal properties. Now, apart from feeling foggy in his mind, he had no other discomfort.
Cui Sanlang died; it was the princess's doing. If he wasn't the scapegoat, then someone else would have been.
But was the deceased really Cui Jue?
Thinking of this, he went straight to the clean room, only to find it filled with a dim yellow light, and he knew something was wrong.
The next instant, a long sword flashed out from the crack in the door, aimed straight for his head—
!
Xiao Yin exclaimed alertly, "Who goes there?!"
The sword was held across the man's neck, like a white ribbon in mid-air.
It seemed to be another ray of moonlight.
Facing northwest from southeast, Xie Lingxi first saw Liu Xu's face and suddenly stood up, "He is my husband."
"Chengzhi?"
Xiao Yin sheathed his sword and saw Liu Xu limping into the door, his hair disheveled, his face deathly pale, and the hem of his clothes torn into strips by wild grass. "What happened to him?"
He then looked at Xie Lingxi, who was gently moving her waist, his brow furrowed. "One or two of you, getting yourselves into this state?"
He hadn't noticed Xie Lingxi sitting there, but now he saw that the woman seemed unsteady on her feet, clinging to the wall as she barely managed to get to Liu Xu.
The two embraced, which made him quite envious.
Neither Xie nor Liu expected to meet each other in this completely unrelated place. The scenery at dawn and dusk were drastically different within a single day.
In the morning, after the flowers were washed and the mist cleared, she was still the healthy Lady Xie, and although Lord Liu was busy with official duties, he still had a chance to catch his breath; but by nightfall, before the day was over, this upright couple was not only plagued by illness, but they were also almost turned into murderers.
After these two bizarre stories were told, all three fell silent.
After a long while, Xiao Yin spoke, first mentioning Xie Lingxi's illness, "This morning you suffered from this inexplicable pain, and at dusk the princess came to visit you and took you to that brothel?"
—And then someone died.
Xie Lingxi: "Yes. But I said first that I wanted to go out and enjoy the scenery."
“It’s only human nature,” Xiao Yin nodded, then pointed out, “but there are many sunset views. Why would she insist on taking you to a brothel with your crippled body?”
Everyone knows that although the Qilou is different from the Jiaofangsi, it is more famous and more elegant. The people there are unrestrained and unconventional, which is really not suitable for people who are suffering from illness to recuperate and relax.
Xie Lingxi simply kept quiet.
Her initial request was even to ask Yan Ying to take her to Cui Wenying's study for a look, and after a few incense sticks burned, Cui Wenying's son fell to his death in front of her.
After Cui Jue's death, the Dali Temple came to investigate the case. Yan Ying led Xiao Yin to find the trail, and in the middle of the night, a carriage took him back to the Dali Temple.
...to meet her.
What exactly does Yan Ying want to do?
The dim candlelight cast long shadows on each of them. Seeing that no one spoke, Xiao Yin turned to Liu Xu and said, "Chengzhi..."
The young man had his face down, seemingly in pain, and appeared rather dim-witted.
He swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue and turned off all the lights.
The carriage was still outside the yamen, and the horse neighed softly—"Since things have come to this, please come to my house, change out of your clothes, and find a doctor to take a look at you."
...
Fortunately, Liu Xu's lower leg was not seriously injured, and once the bone healed, it would not hinder his running, jumping, or walking.
Xie Lingxi's dull pain came in waves, beyond her control, and even the imperial physicians could not find a solution. She felt a little better then and quietly leaned against the table, saying, "Meeting Lord Xiao is never a good thing."
Xiao Yin scoffed: "The Dali Temple is in charge of criminal trials. Do you expect to find some sensual amusement from me?"
"well."
"So what should we do now?"
Liu Xu sat on the couch.
He had just drunk a bowl of calming soup, and his thoughts finally returned to normal. He said, "Of the three people talking, one is Liu Rumei, the owner of Qilou; another sounds very much like the wingman who was with Cui Jue that night; and the last one..."
He paused, then said, "He should be a martial artist."
Unless a martial artist intentionally conceals their voice, it is always more solid than that of an ordinary person. Having seen and compared many, he can naturally distinguish them to some extent.
"Wu Ren?"
This matches the person from Jingzhou last year. Xie Lingxi hurriedly asked, "Age?"
Liu Xu: "Over thirty or forty years old."
He then added, "It should be someone in a high position."
Could it really be him?
If that's the case, then Cui Jue's advisors must not be this foolish young master, or even the Cui family... Cui Wenying would never abandon her third son.
Then the person behind it can sever ties with the Cui family.
Xie Lingxi breathed a long sigh of relief.
There was no such discord between the Xie and Cui families. It was truly a good thing that the Grand Secretary had not fallen into the Ink Pool and was forced to kill his own kind.
She still dared not draw any conclusions.
Putting that aside, the most important thing right now is the death of Cui Sanlang. The two of them have been dragged into this for no reason and cannot stand idly by. So they said, "Yan Ying brought this matter up to us in the open, which seems to be her way of trying to profit from both sides."
Xiao Yin repeated the princess's words, "Why kill Cui Sanlang..."
"Why kill Cui Sanlang?"
Why?
He shook his head in realization, “No, she’s trying to lure us into finding an answer.”
Xie Lingxi asked, "So kind of you?"
She never doubted that the princess would associate with the people who harmed her Xie family and caused chaos in Jingzhou.
Although the princess was arrogant and domineering, she was truly a pure and graceful peony. Yet she couldn't believe that this person would so openly and brazenly display his intentions before them.
"What kindness?"
Liu Xu held Xie Lingxi's hand with concern, "Does your body still hurt?"
The person he cherished most was pushed into the public eye by that princess, causing his wife, who was frail and sickly, such a shock and fright. She was truly unruly!
He revealed what the two had been keeping hidden: "They're just using us to do their dirty work, trying to achieve their goals through us."
...
What is the princess's wish?
Yan Ying smiled but remained silent.
Today, she was invited to Xiao Yin's private residence as scheduled. After meeting everyone, she was surprised to see that the person in the wheelchair had changed from a wife to a husband: "Lord Liu, is... injured your leg?"
Liu Xu: "Thanks to the princess."
His leg injury was caused by three things: first, Liu Rumei's insidious poisoning; second, Xiao Yin's shifting the blame to the Ministry of Revenue, forcing him to enter the brothel; and third, the culprit was this princess, who caused all the trouble.
Yan Ying listened quietly, then said apologetically, "Alright then."
But nothing came of it.
Beside her, Xie Lingxi calmly tied her puffed-up sleeves, clenched her fists as if she were about to strike the princess in the face at any moment. She stared at Yan Ying and asked, "What's so good about it?"
"What exactly are you trying to do? Is it really necessary to keep people guessing?"
This woman rarely got so angry; her anger was hidden beneath her composed exterior, as vibrant as a flower.
Yan Ying clapped her hands and laughed as if she had seen something new and interesting: "Interesting! Interesting! It's rare to see you like this, I want to take a few more glances."
Xie Lingxi coldly replied, "In the next life."
"Why be so heartless? I have found a renowned doctor for you." Yan Ying turned to the side, revealing the face of the obedient princess behind her.
Today, Yan Yun carried a square cloth bag. She picked out a thin book from it, the title page of which was yellowed. She nodded to Xie Lingxi: "Lingxi, you have been afflicted with a love potion."
The malevolent Gu poison is called "Tongxin".
The practitioner used blood as a guide to invade Xie Lingxi's bones and blood. The two were of one mind and connected by blood. If the person infected with the poison had any disloyalty, they would suffer unbearable pain all over their body until death.
It's written in black and white, and it's clear at a glance.
Xie Lingxi's expression grew increasingly grim, the veins on the back of her hands bulging, her fingers clenched so tightly they left red marks. Seeing this, Liu Xu came over and pulled her away, but Xie Lingxi let out a soft "uh" and curled up.
"!"
It's starting to hurt again?
Liu Xu was shocked and was about to kneel down to hug her, but the princess pushed him away in the next instant. Yan Ying pulled the two apart, dragging them to opposite sides of the soft couch, "Does Lord Liu not want his legs anymore?"
On the other side, Xie Lingxi's furrowed brows relaxed, she caught her breath, and tears welled up in her eyes, "What exactly is going on..."
...Why does Liu Xu feel unbearable pain whenever he touches her?
"What exactly does this Gu poison, 'having two minds', mean?"
She and Liu Xuzheng had been a proper married couple for over a year, yet she harbored feelings for her husband. Is that considered 'having a divided heart'? Who was the scoundrel who cast the curse, with such a shameless face?
Xie Lingxi looked up at Yan Yun and saw that the princess nodded, seemingly having something difficult to say. She rubbed her forehead and said, "Your Highness, please speak frankly. Is there any way to break this Gu poison?"
Yan Yun paused for a moment, then said, “We need to obtain the blood of the person who cast the spell to lure out the Gu worms and kill them.”
Who can perform this technique? Chang'an is full of talented people; where should we even begin to search?
She intended to offer Xie Lingxi a few words of comfort, saying that this matter was a long and arduous one, and that the best course of action was to avoid close contact with Lord Liu. However, she heard Xie Lingxi seem to breathe a sigh of relief, "Is there anything else?"
Yan Yun shook her head.
"That makes things easier."
The aroma of tea filled the air. Xie Lingxi turned to look at the figure in sapphire blue, who was leisurely sipping tea and watering flowers, seemingly detached from the situation. She said without any hesitation, "Then I'll trouble Lord Xiao to make the trip."
Xiao Yin: "On what grounds?"
Xie Lingxi said, "About what you told me before..."
"Lingxi would do me the honor of helping me?"
Xiao Yin straightened up, stroked the tassel on the dark scabbard of the sword on the table, and chuckled, his meaning ambiguous, "Alright, it's really wrong of Yan Ji to try to scheme against you."
"As the eldest brother, I should give him a good talking-to."
Upon hearing this, Yan Ying raised an eyebrow: "Yan Ji?"
Xie Lingxi clearly didn't want to talk. Her thin eyelids were lowered, and faint floral shadows were cast across her long, fan-like eyelashes. She was elegant and unrestrained, and she picked up a writing brush in her hand, which was just enough to create a picture of a lady in front of her desk.
She then looked at the two men standing in front of her and behind her, but they both remained silent.
Xie Lingxi slightly raised her eyelids, "When did Your Highness begin to enjoy listening to such trivial matters?"
Yan Ying: "Is it not even allowed to ask Third Sister for a story after I saved your life?"
"No, that won't work."
The sunlight outside was intense, streaming into the room through the window lattice and illuminating everyone's faces. Xie Lingxi's face was radiant and beautiful, strikingly white, like a jade mountain.
Although she was suffering from illness and looked haggard, she possessed a refined and elegant air, a beauty that shone through her understated elegance. "I already know Your Highness's purpose in coming. Do you also understand the purpose of our coming?"
—Why did Cui Jue die, and who killed him?
"Does Third Sister expect me to tell her everything?"
Yan Ying chuckled, straightened her clothes, casually picked up a fallen petal from the table, and crushed it into a puddle of red mud with her fingertips. She tossed the mud into a basin and said, "Cui Sanlang, you useless son, yet you have such a flower."
Xie Lingxi: "Is that all?"
"Could there be something else? For example... that someone in the court is dissatisfied with Lord Cui's policies and is using Cui Sanlang's death as a warning to others?"
Yan Ying asked, "Guess?"
"You were just talking about Yan Ji. There's no need for you to do this, Lord Xiao. I can take care of it for you. His Majesty is getting old, and the Prince of Jin, once a 'rising star,' has fallen, leaving only the Prince of Chu and the Prince of Qin as imperial heirs."
"Qin King Yan Sheng is my own elder brother, but I do not want him to ascend the throne. Does Third Sister understand what I mean?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
