Chapter 91: Shadows Become Twins
"So that's how it is. Young Master Yan was also forced to leave." Qian Deng looked at him with a hint of self-mockery on his face. "I wonder if Young Master Yan is willing to leave us? I remember that day Shangluo disappeared. When Cui Shaoqing and I searched the backyard and came to your Zhaoying Pavilion, the palace flower on my head accidentally fell into the water. Normally, in this situation, we could just ask the servants to retrieve it, but you, the young master with a known obsession with cleanliness, jumped in without hesitation and personally helped me retrieve the palace flower, handing it back to me in the water."
After hearing the county lady say this, Ling Tianshui and Cui Fufeng, who were witnessing the incident, looked at each other in silence without saying anything.
The other young men all had unnatural expressions on their faces, especially Xue Xiyang and Jin Tang, who were filled with jealousy and resentment.
After finally finding a strong enemy, why did the county magistrate say such ambiguous words at the moment of parting?
You don't still want to keep him, do you?
Yan Penglai looked up at her, his face filled with hesitation and confusion: "County Lady..."
"Also, that day, a sudden downpour came pouring down, and I took shelter in your Zhaoying Pavilion. I had originally assumed you would stay in the backyard of the Taibu Office as usual—after all, the reason you stayed in my backyard was because of the sudden downpour. But you suddenly came back that day in the rain, and told me... because there was someone you cared about here."
Qian Deng stared at his expression and asked slowly, "Lord Yan, I took shelter at your place just by chance. So, it seems that the person you were worried about and had to come back to check on wasn't me, right?"
"In the County Master's backyard, besides you, who else would be there?" Yan Penglai looked at her with a slightly fluctuating gaze, a hint of obscure sadness. "I came back in the rain because I'm attached to the County Master's backyard; I helped the County Master get the palace flowers because... In this life, I've only ever felt love and admiration for the County Master. For the County Master, perhaps I haven't even realized that I've lost my normal state."
"But I feel like all your unusual actions are not so much for me as they are for the Reflecting Pool—or rather, you're constantly keeping an eye on the water level."
Yan Penglai's expression changed slightly, and the words that came out of his beautifully shaped lips were a little stiff: "I don't understand what the county lady means."
"Don't you understand? Then I have to remind you again." Qiandeng turned around and asked Shangluo, who was leaning against Ji Linyou with a dazed and sad face, "Shangluo, tell everyone again about the situation when you were killed."
Shangluo nodded and recounted what happened to him after he was captured.
Everyone was furious when they heard how he was masked and stuffed in a box during the day, and was only woken up occasionally at night to take a bite of drugs laced with sleeping pills and to be allowed to defecate and urinate.
Ji Linyou punched the pear tree beside him, sending petals scattering like a snowstorm. "How despicable! Princess Changyi is simply inhuman!"
"Luckily, the place wasn't stuffy. Shangluo told me that when he occasionally woke up, he could vaguely hear the sound of running water and rain. The sound of raindrops hitting the water was very close to him. Even though the box didn't leak, it was still damp."
Qian Deng said, looking at Yan Penglai thoughtfully: "Isn't this very strange? Princess Changyi said that Shangluo was imprisoned in the secret room of the study. After she escaped through the secret room, we did find Shangluo under the carriage. But in the secret room of the princess's mansion, let alone water flowing, it is located in the thick ground, and the sound of rain is difficult to hear."
Shangluo exclaimed, "Ah!" and asked in confusion, "So where am I being held?"
"You are not in the princess's residence, but have been in the backyard of the prince's palace." Ignoring the surprised cries of the young master and the maids, Qian Deng stood up and said, "Let's go and see where Shangluo is being held."
Following the winding stream covered with fallen pear blossoms, she led the men, each with different but somewhat confused expressions, forward.
The water flows in a winding way, bypassing the Yilan Pavilion, turning around the rockery, and merging into the Reflection Pool.
The corridor on the pond leads to Zhaoying Pavilion, where Yan Penglai lives.
Everyone subconsciously turned their eyes to Yan Penglai, all of them were shocked and confused.
Yan Penglai lowered his eyes, avoiding everyone's scrutiny, and spoke in a nonchalant tone, "I remember that after the incident in Shangluo, the county lord led people to thoroughly search the backyard, including my residence. Zhaoying Pavilion isn't very big, and the interior is visible at a glance. How could it be possible to hide a living person?"
"Yes, Zhaoyingxuan is simply furnished. On the surface, it seems that there is indeed no place for Tibetans. However, there is a place that we usually overlook. It is only separated by a thin layer of wooden barriers. We have even passed by it many times, but no one noticed. Shangluo is there." Qiandeng said, lifting the hem of her skirt and stepping onto the wooden corridor beside the pool.
The footsteps were gentle, echoing softly on the water.
She walked to the middle of the wooden corridor, turned around and looked at the gentlemen standing solemnly outside the corridor. The breeze blew gently on the water, and her plain white spring clothes floated like mist, swaying on the water with her hair.
"We even had a big incident here, but no one expected that Shangluo was right next to us at that time."
Mingjiu, the biggest victim of the turmoil, suddenly jumped up and pointed at the wooden corridor under Qiandeng's feet and shouted, "Underfoot!"
"Yes, right under my feet, at the bottom of this corridor. To prevent the water from rotting the wood, the corridor has left ample space, two feet above the water surface, enough to hide a large wooden box—the same box we found under Princess Changyi's carriage."
"Brother Penglai...?" Shang Luo, who was carried by Ji Linyou, stared at Yan Penglai with a pale face.
Yan Penglai avoided his gaze and flatly denied it, "County Lady, you have no evidence, how can you make such a rash judgment? I live with Shangluo in the backyard together, and I treat him as my own brother. How could I be so cruel as to attack him?"
"Of course it's not without evidence. Young Master Yan, the incident started when I was caught in a rainstorm and temporarily sought shelter in your Zhaoying Pavilion. Fearing I'd catch a cold, Liuli brewed a pot of tea for me on the tea stove, using water from a small jar nearby. Then, I unexpectedly fell asleep in an unfamiliar place, even groggy and drowsy until the gentlemen arrived and clashed in the corridor, only then did I finally wake up." Qiandeng said coldly, "Young Master Yan, didn't you impersonate Mingjiu, leaving footprints behind, and steal the 'Dream of the Dead' from Meng Lanxi? I believe the water I used was the one you prepared specifically for Shangluo, laced with 'Dream of the Dead'."
Shangluo's eyes widened in shock, staring at Yan Penglai in disbelief: "Brother Penglai?"
Meng Lanxi uttered a low "Ah": "No wonder, I've always found it strange. The county lady has always had trouble sleeping, so I often help her with her sleep. But that day, she actually slept so soundly in Zhaoying Pavilion. I thought..."
He thought that the county lady felt safe and comfortable with Yan Penglai, so she acted like this... This thought had been making him secretly unhappy, like a lump in his throat, but now he finally felt relieved.
Yan Penglai looked bewildered. "My Lady, are you being overly suspicious? You've been busy investigating these past few days. I wonder if you were too tired, and the wind and rain helped you sleep, so you slept for a while at my place... Can this be used as evidence?"
"You deny it? You rushed back in a hurry on a stormy night. Wasn't it because the rain was too heavy and the Reflection Pond was too small, threatening to flood Shangluo under the corridor and put him in danger?" Qian Deng looked at him with a slightly cold gaze. "Then, when Master Yan abandoned his mysophobia and went into the water to retrieve the palace flowers for me, wasn't it because he was afraid to take the risk, fearing that someone trying to retrieve the flowers might accidentally see the box beneath the wooden corridor and cause trouble?"
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