Chapter 27, of course, is about my marriage to Ji Ran! ...
Biezhi hadn't expected that Jiran himself was completely different from his kiss.
It's incredibly fierce.
but--
She quite liked it.
Biezhi pursed her lips, blinked, looked up at the man, and lightly touched her lips with her fingertip: "I want to kiss you again."
Fu Huaiqing unconsciously clenched his fist beneath his sleeve. The girl in front of him had a pair of small, adorable dimples that were faintly visible. Her clear, spring-like eyes tilted up as if they were privately looking at him.
He composed himself and looked away.
She realized that she wasn't Jiran after all; she was just using an empty shell. After understanding her own feelings for her, she didn't want to deepen Jiran's impression on her too much.
He really lost control tonight.
Fu Huaiqing paused for a moment, then walked past the girl onto the path.
Biezhi's gaze followed his figure, keenly sensing his sudden chill, as if everything just now was nothing but a wonderful dream, if one ignored his slightly reddened earlobes.
A smile played on her lips as she jogged to Ji Ran's side, leaned over, and patted his shoulder: "Are you shy?"
Fu Huaiqing stared straight ahead, as if he hadn't heard a thing.
He caught a glimpse of the girl's cheerful and lively face out of the corner of his eye, and a barely perceptible smile flashed in his eyes. He stopped and waited for her to catch up.
Biezhi was in a great mood, so great that it felt like she was walking on clouds. She was both curious and pleasantly surprised. She would occasionally tilt her head to look at Jiran, and the curve of her lips grew wider and wider.
As they approached the brightly lit street, she walked up to Ji Ran, raised her hand to stop him, and shook her head, saying, "You can just drop me off here."
Fu Huaiqing looked at her palm for a moment before nodding.
Biezhi didn't leave immediately. Instead, she gazed at him for a moment, then slowly lowered her gaze half an inch until it landed on his slightly parted lips. After thinking for a moment, she quickly stepped forward, stood on tiptoe, cupped his face in her hands, and kissed him.
Fu Huaiqing's pupils suddenly contracted.
He raised his palm to mid-air, and the girl took a few steps back, her eyes burning. She turned around, waved without looking back, and left without a trace of lingering affection.
The guards, who were lying in ambush in the woods on the west side of the bluestone road, looked at each other in bewilderment.
Cheng Jin glanced at Bie Zhi, who was walking briskly, then at the prince, who was gently stroking his lips with his fingertips, and finally looked at Jiang Yue, who was traveling with him and whose expression was normal, with astonishment: "What's going on?"
"Based on what you've seen," Jiang Yue said meaningfully, "remember to call her Princess Consort from now on."
Cheng Jin paused for a moment, then blurted out his doubts, "In Biezhi's eyes, she's close to Jiran. As for herself and the Prince, they're practically unrelated, aren't they?"
Jiang Yue: "..."
He stared at Cheng Jin for a long while, seemingly speechless, and then said, "Perfect timing, I have something for you to do."
Cheng Jin asked, "What?"
“Find a suitable place to arrange for Ji Ran to leave, and don’t let her stay in Wuweipu anymore,” Jiang Yue said.
"Huh?" Cheng Jin didn't understand why this was so sudden, especially since it happened when Biezhi and 'Jiran' were making such rapid progress. Could it be— He frowned: "Master doesn't like Biezhi? Should we break off our relationship with her immediately?"
Jiang Yue's lips moved for a long time before he patted his shoulder with a headache and kindly advised, "Remember, don't say this in front of others."
Cheng Jin: "Hmm?"
Jiang Yue caught a glimpse of the prince walking back out of the corner of his eye, and hurriedly followed, not forgetting to say, "If you tell her, I can find some time to visit her in the Jingzhao Prefecture prison."
He didn't care whether Cheng Jin understood or not, and quickly followed the prince's pace.
Fu Huaiqing returned to the Prince's mansion in the middle of the night.
Qin Xiao and Su Ci, who had been waiting in the courtyard of the Prince's Mansion for a long time, noticed the displeasure in his eyes. They looked away and stared at each other for a moment before getting up and following him.
A cool night breeze drifted in through the window, and the lamplight beneath it swayed in the wind, casting dappled shadows. The study was quiet, save for the soft rustling of pen strokes across paper.
With the final stroke, Fu Huaiqing slightly raised his eyes, looked at the two figures standing in front of the desk, calmly folded the Xuan paper, handed it to Jiang Yue who was waiting beside him, and said calmly, "Today it's Xu Wenche, tomorrow it will be someone else."
“Since Xu Wenche agreed to meet him, he must have something to ask of him,” Su Ci had heard about Zhang Yan’s meeting with Xu Wenche before she came. This was within their expectations, so it was not surprising. “With you in the capital, he wouldn’t dare to act recklessly.”
Fu Huaiqing's expression darkened slightly, and he remained noncommittal.
Whether one can or cannot, whether one dares or not, is all a matter of a single thought.
He shifted his gaze slightly to the side: "What's your opinion on the case in Hezhou?"
“Currently, all the evidence points to the bandits.” Qin Xiao flicked his sleeve, took out the dossier that Dali Temple had specially sent to the Qin family not long ago, and handed it to Fu Huaiqing, whose thoughts were hard to read. “It is no different from what I have found out, however—” He paused for a moment, his fingertips falling on the drawing at the bottom of the first page of the dossier, and looked up at the man.
Fu Huaiqing's gaze swept over the spot his fingertip was pointing at, and he instantly understood what he meant. The methods and knife techniques used in the Hezhou case were quite similar to those used in the Suzhou family massacre eighteen years ago.
In the dead of night, a wealthy businessman massacres his entire family with knives and axes, decapitating them.
Moreover, all the evidence pointed to the bandits, and the verdict in the Suzhou massacre case was ultimately handed down to the bandits.
The massacre of the Bian family in Suzhou caused a great stir in the Li Dynasty back then. The Bian family, who suffered a tragic fate, and the current Xu family were known as the two richest families in the Li Dynasty. The Bian family had also established their business in the capital long ago. However, just half a month before they were about to move to the capital, their business suddenly ceased to exist overnight.
The entire Bian family, consisting of thirty people, men, women, and children, had their heads chopped off. Even infants in swaddling clothes were not spared. The two wolfhounds and four raccoon dogs they kept were also brutally murdered in the mansion.
Fu Huaiqing stood before the desk, frowning slightly as he approved his idea: "Connect the two cases and investigate them together. Tomorrow, you will report back to the court about the Hezhou case, and someone will bring up the Suzhou matter."
“It’s also possible that the person in charge of the Hezhou case learned the modus operandi from Suzhou.” Su Ci said thoughtfully. Qin Xiao had mentioned this to him before he came. He didn’t think the two cases were committed by the same group of people, nor could he see any key connection between them.
Su Ci pointed to the next memorial with neat and powerful handwriting and said, "At the time of the massacre of the family in Suzhou, Zhang Yan had not yet entered officialdom, and he did not have such great power to bribe officials and subordinates."
“If one learns the methods used in the Suzhou massacre, there will inevitably be flaws.” Qin Xiao had been working at the Dali Temple since entering officialdom. He had witnessed countless tragedies and solved many cases, including some where people used the methods from other cases. “Eighteen years have passed since the Suzhou incident, and the files in the Dali Temple are incomplete, let alone the methods he has heard about.”
Fu Huaiqing tapped his knuckles slightly.
Su Ci and Qin Xiao were silent for a moment before looking at him.
Fu Huaiqing closed the file expressionlessly and handed it back to Qin Xiao: "Whether he had power back then is not something that you or I can decide."
Su Ci frowned, not understanding what he meant.
Fu Huaiqing looked at him for a moment, then shifted his gaze to Qin Xiao, his voice as cold as winter: "Overturn the verdict of the Suzhou massacre case and handle it together with the Hezhou massacre case."
Upon hearing this, Qin Xiao straightened up and bowed, saying, "Yes."
It was getting late; the morning court session would begin in two hours. Su Ci and Qin Xiao didn't linger. One returned to the Su residence, while the other went to the Dali Temple alone.
After they left, the study in the Prince's mansion became even quieter.
Jiang Yue, who was grinding ink at his desk, caught a glimpse of a figure carrying a new oil lamp as he entered. He turned around and took the oil lamp from Cheng Jin, replacing the wicks of the lanterns on both sides of the desk.
Half an hour later, it will be the hour of Chou (1-3 AM).
Cheng Jin glanced at the prince, who was still reviewing memorials, and frowned as he gestured to Jiang Yue.
Jiang Yue shook his head slightly; he had already given that warning.
At this moment, Fu Huaiqing, who had been sitting quietly on the chair for a long time, paused slightly in his writing and asked in a low voice, "Has Ji Ran's place been arranged yet?"
Cheng Jin was taken aback. He had never seen the prince inquire about such trivial matters before. He replied, "It has been arranged to inform Wang Chuan that Ji Ran will set off from the capital for Jingzhou tomorrow. The guards in Wuwei Shop will also spread the word to the regular customers that he has left Wuwei Shop."
Fu Huaiqing put down his pen and hummed in agreement.
Only by leaving quietly will Biezhi focus her attention on others, and only then can he, as Fu Huaiqing, get close to her.
As the night deepened and the dew grew heavy, Fu Huaiqing did not fall asleep, nor did Biezhi.
The moment she closed her eyes, she saw the figure of Ji Ran suddenly pressing down on her. The man's cool, thin lips brushed against hers, teasing and tracing them, his hot breath penetrating through the gap between her lips, carrying an irresistible invasion.
The thought of this kept Biezhi awake at night.
When she woke up the next day, it was already noon. She left Hua Chao to go to the storeroom with Granny Zhang to deal with the congratulatory gifts sent by various families at the announcement banquet the day before, and then left the Qin family through the small gate of the main courtyard.
When Biezhi stepped into Baidinglou, the senior brothers disguised as servants inside couldn't help but glance at her a few more times. She yawned, took out a piece of silver with the Xianyunlou mark, handed it to the shopkeeper, and said, "Baihua Pavilion on the second floor of the detached courtyard, Little Dragon and Phoenix Troupe."
The shopkeeper paused slightly as he gathered the loose silver, then calmly pushed it back: "I'm really sorry, but due to the recent torrential rains outside the capital, travel has been difficult, and Baidinglou has no Little Dragon Phoenix Buns in stock."
Biezhi was not surprised. Her master was always elusive, and if he hadn't summoned her, no one in Xianyun Tower could have found him. She pondered for a moment and asked, "You should have West Lake Longjing tea, right?"
"Of course we have it." The shopkeeper gathered the loose silver in front of the counter, called over a servant to lead her to another courtyard, and said, "Qingyin Pavilion."
Stepping into the Baidinglou Courtyard, Biezhi easily ascended the steps, walked to the door of Qingyin Pavilion, knocked on the door, and pushed it open to go inside: "Master."
Ling Feng remained silent, picked up the teapot, poured a cup of West Lake Longjing tea, and handed it to her: "Master, I have been waiting for you here for two hours."
"Huh?" Biezhi asked in surprise, looking at him suspiciously. "How did Master know I would come today?"
"My master has already told me about Prince Su's visit to you yesterday." Ling Feng glanced at his disciple, whose expression was slightly tense, and pushed the paper in front of her with his fingertips, saying, "Xu Wenche can only keep you by his side, so you will also take over Prince Su's affairs. From now on, you will be responsible for reporting to Prince Su about the officials who have had dealings with Xu Wenche."
The branches remained silent, and the unpleasant sound of a water buffalo bell rang in their ears.
If she were to report back, wouldn't she be attacked by Prince Su's demonic voice every few days?
Why should she?! She doesn't want to!
Biezhi simply couldn't accept that the sound of the water buffalo had tainted Prince Su's face. The two shouldn't exist on the same person at all. She refused, her voice both righteous and defiant: "Can't we use someone else?"
Ling Feng looked at her with a puzzled expression.
He might not understand others, but others might.
She, who was so fond of money, did not ask about the reward. Moreover, she must have already met Prince Su when she was in the Qin family. How could she, who had such a fondness for handsome men, refuse?
Ling Feng couldn't understand why she would refuse: "Why?"
“His voice is awful,” Bechi said without hesitation.
Ling Feng: "...?"
He stared in astonishment at his young apprentice.
Biezhi pouted: "Master, do you understand that feeling? The demonic sound echoes in my ears, the ghosts wail in the underworld. I would rather he were mute, so I wouldn't be attacked by his voice."
As the head of Qingyin Pavilion, Ling Feng naturally knew that the person in charge of Xianyun Tower was Prince Su. He had never disguised his voice before, and over the years, no one had ever mentioned that his voice was unpleasant. So why did he suddenly criticize his voice after they met?
Suddenly, Ling Feng remembered Qing Shan's visit to the mountain retreat the day before.
He fell silent, then coughed lightly, saying, "You have no choice but to comply. The master has already given the order; you must follow his instructions."
For a fleeting moment, Biezhi just wanted to look up at the sky and howl.
Why is it that good things never happen to her, but bad things always seem to come her way?
Seeing her resentful expression, Ling Feng comforted her with a wry smile, "I've heard that His Highness Prince Su is handsome, so he should be to your liking. Just bear with it for now."
“Master, you don’t understand.” Biezhi sighed. Such a handsome face paired with an extremely unpleasant buffalo voice was simply the most tragic thing in the world, bar none. However, she knew from the beginning that she had no right to refuse, and this was just a complaint to her master.
Moreover, she came here today on a serious business.
Bie Zhi picked up the wooden stool and shuffled over to Ling Feng's side, her bright almond-shaped eyes fixed on him: "Master, do you still stand by what you said last time?"
Seeing this, Ling Feng looked his quirky and unpredictable little disciple up and down, picked up his teacup and blew on the foam floating on the tea: "What did I say?"
"It's about my marriage to Ji Ran!" Bie Zhi exclaimed excitedly.
A mouthful of scalding hot tea rushed into his mouth. Ling Feng hurriedly swallowed the tea, which scalded his palate and caused blisters. However, he didn't care about that at the moment and said, "You rejected me last time, and it hasn't even been half a month. How come you changed your mind?"
“Master also said that it’s been almost half a month, things are bound to change by now.” Bie Zhi pinched his sleeve with her fingertips, the light in her eyes dimmed a little, and she frowned in dissatisfaction, asking, “Could it be that Master has changed his mind before half a month has even passed?”
“Of course not,” Ling Feng said.
"That's perfect!" Biezhi's lips curved into a smile, her small dimples appearing again. She said, "Now that I'm willing, Master, please help me prepare for the rest!"
Ling Feng asked curiously, "Jiran also agrees?"
Biezhi: "..."
She hadn't asked Jiran about that yet, but—
"Didn't Master say that you would help me regardless of whether he agreed or not?"
Looking at her self-righteous expression, Ling Feng couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Alright, alright, your master will take care of it for you."
However, he was all alone, and there was no precedent for the wedding in Xianyun Tower. He was unsure about the wedding arrangements, and since he was going to do it, he wanted to do it in a grand and spectacular way.
He pondered for a moment, then said, "Let me discuss with my master and see what would be the most appropriate course of action."
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