Except for the Muhe family, all other aristocratic families and royal relatives were immersed in the joy of hunting. No one would have any sympathy for this matter, as people were secretly delighted and gloating. Mu Hexifeng had been guarding the border for many years. He was arrogant, domineering, cold and cruel, and had long been unpopular. Moreover, everyone believed that he was just lost in the jungle. After all, no one would murder the imperial nobles under such a tight siege and blockade.
Of course, this is just their idea.
At this moment, in a hidden cave in the dense forests of the northwest, Yan Xun looked at Mu Hexifeng, who was covered in wounds and blood, curled his lips coldly, and said slowly in a low voice: "Mr. Mu He, are you okay?"
Mu Hexifeng suddenly raised his head, his eyes like a ferocious wolf. He stared at Yan Xun sharply and said in a cold voice, "Yan Xun, I will return what you gave me today. One day, I will make you regret being born into this world."
Yan Xun smiled slightly, a faint smile with a hint of amusing sarcasm.
Mu Hexifeng gnashed his teeth, his voice was hoarse like a drake, his eyes were filled with madness, and he said in a deep voice: "Just wait, I won't let you go, I have already slept with your sister, and in the future your woman will also be under me. Yanbei is dead, your family has been beheaded like a dog, and only you, a cowardly and incompetent bastard, are left, lingering on and living in shame. Do you dare to kill me? You don't dare, as long as I die, the entire hunting ceremony will be interrupted, and everyone will start investigating. We, the Muhe family, will not let you go, and you won't even be able to survive these last few months. Don't you like that little slave girl very much? At that time, you can only take her to the underworld to reunite with your family, you can only..."
Before he could finish his vicious words, Mu Hexifeng's pupils suddenly dilated, and a line of blood shot up into the sky and slid down his pale neck.
Yan Xun glanced at Mu Hexifeng's frightened face with disdain, and said with disdain: "You are already a prisoner but you still speak so shamelessly, you good-for-nothing!"
With a bang, Mu Hexifeng's body suddenly fell down. Yan Xun wiped the blood on the dagger on his clothes and said to the servant beside him: "A Jing, feed it to the tiger, leave a clue to attract Mu He's family."
"The girl has made preparations to frame Zhao Che and Wei Jing. Is this okay?"
Yan Xun nodded, walked out of the cave, got on his horse, and said, "Just do as she says." After that, he turned around and rode towards the camp.
"Miss," Jiahe walked into the tent and said in a sonorous voice, "The prince is back."
Chu Qiao nodded, "Have you dealt with the rest?"
"Everything is done according to the girl's instructions, and nothing will go wrong."
"That's good," Chu Qiao nodded and said, "You all go down and rest."
"yes."
The curtain of the tent was suddenly lifted, and Yan Xun walked in with a head full of white snow. Chu Qiao stepped forward to sweep the snow off his hood and asked, "Is everything going well?"
"Not bad." Yan Xun took off his outer robe and sat in front of the brazier to warm himself. "I'm afraid there will be chaos tomorrow morning."
"So what?" Chu Qiao shook her head. "There is a kind of person in this world. If he dies, no one can be sure who killed him. Because he has done too many evil things and offended too many people. Let's not talk about whether we are weak on the surface. Let's just say that we haven't done anything in the seven years in Beijing. Why should we take this risk under such strict precautions in this troubled time? Zhao Che and Wei Jing have just returned to Beijing. Compared with the grudge between Zhao Che and him, and the hatred between the Wei clan and the Muhe clan, it would be too far-fetched to say that we were the ones who killed him."
Yan Xun turned his head, smiled gently, and said, "Did he bully you last night?"
Chu Qiao was stunned, shook her head and smiled: "No, when have I ever been bullied?"
Yan Xun nodded, "That's good."
It was snowing heavily outside the window. Yan Xun picked up a yellowed piece of white paper and heavily erased Mu Hexifeng's name. There is one less person on Yan Bei’s list of enemies.
On the second day of the spring hunt, Muhe Xifeng, a leader among the younger generation of the Muhe clan, died in Xibailin. His body was eaten by a tiger, his stomach ripped open, his head shattered and his chest split. When the body was discovered, most of it was already incomplete. If Mu Hexifeng's mother had not been present, no one would have been able to recognize that the blurred pile of flesh and blood on the ground was the youngest son of the eldest branch of the Mu He family, who was usually high-spirited, noble and ostentatious.
The hunting atmosphere suddenly dropped to freezing point. Muhexifeng had been leading troops outside for many years and had superb martial arts. Thirty or fifty ordinary people could not get close to him. A tiger could not kill him at all, and there was no sign of a fight at the scene. Muhexifeng's sword was not even unsheathed. Full of doubts, Muhexifeng's father, brothers, uncles and uncles immediately submitted a petition to Emperor Xia De, requesting the Shanglu Court to accept the case, insisting that Muhexifeng was killed by someone.
From then on, the situation suddenly became out of control. Muhe now had connections everywhere and controlled most of the power in the court. In the Council of Elders, the Lingnan Mu family has never liked to get involved in the struggles in the imperial capital, the Zhuge lineage has always kept a low profile, the Helian family has begun to decline since the previous generation and has long been a foil in the Council of Elders, the Dongyue Shang family started out as a sect and has little influence on the government, and the Batuha family in the north is entrenched in the northwest and has little power in Beijing, and has always relied on the Muhe family for survival. Now, the Wei clan, the only clan that could fight against the Muhe clan, made another big mistake. Wei Jing was stripped of his post as prefect of the capital. The Muhe clan, which had produced one queen and three imperial concubines, naturally became the most popular family in the world.
The Jiucheng Yamen entered the hunting ground to investigate, take samples, and interrogate everyone. Xibailin was blocked and outsiders were strictly prohibited from entering or leaving. Even the incoming and outgoing letters must be closely monitored to prevent the criminals from lurking and escaping. The Daxia royal family expressed great sympathy and support for the Muhe family's grief over the loss of their son, and supported them in doing their utmost to find the murderer and arrest the criminal. As a result, the hunting was forced to be interrupted.
Yan Xun's camp, located in the southwest of the hunting ground, was now plunged into the tranquility of the night. When the heavy bearskin curtain was lifted, a cold wind blew in through the door. The light on the desk flickered, and a man in a moon-white robe raised his head, his eyes were dark and deep.
"Sir, the girl is not here?"
A Jing's eyes moved around the tent, then he turned around and was about to leave. Yan Xun raised his eyebrows and asked loudly, "What's the matter?"
"His Highness the Thirteenth Prince just sent this over, saying it's for the girl."
Yan Xun frowned, put down the scroll in his hand, and said, "Oh, then put it here first."
"yes."
Ah Jing agreed and retreated. The wind outside the tent whistled against the roof of the tent, cheering it up. Yan Xun looked at the slightly moving curtain for a long time without moving. His brows were furrowed, his eyes glanced at the bundle on the desk, and he remained silent.
The bundle was very bulging. It was made of Subei Gu embroidery with purple gold silk, a blue and white brocade base, and a pattern of clear moon and white lotus. The two ends were tied with knots, so one could not see what was inside.
Yan Xun only took a glance and turned back to continue reading as if nothing had happened. The room was so quiet that even the footsteps of the soldiers passing by outside could be heard clearly. But for some reason, in such a quiet environment, the man suddenly became annoyed and couldn't bear to watch anymore.
He stood up, walked to the tea table beside him, and poured a cup of tea. The tea had a light fragrance. It was tribute tea newly sent from Lingnan. Zhao Zhengde didn't like drinking tea, so he distributed it to everyone in the palace. Lingnan is rich in silk tea. This tea is called Hongnu. According to legend, it was picked by a dignified virgin with her tongue in the early morning. It is extremely precious. Although the taste is not much better than ordinary tea, the good thing is the feeling when tasting the tea.
With Yan Xun's status, he naturally had no right to enjoy the tribute, but what no one knew was that the man behind the current major tea shop in Lingnan was none other than the Prince of Yanbei who lived in seclusion in the deep palace. Even the Mu family, the local tyrant of Lingnan, did not know this.
Yan Xun took the tea and returned to the desk. The fragrant tea seemed to make him calm down again. Yan Xun narrowed his eyes slightly, his face was calm, and his steps were steady, but the moment he sat down, his palm suddenly tilted, and the water in the cup poured out.
With a "plop" sound, all the tea spilled onto the bag and quickly seeped into it. The man had a calm expression, watching the tea spread bit by bit quietly, without any sign of panic. After a long while, he suddenly said to himself: "I got it wet, I should open it and deal with it."
Chu Qiao came back late at night. After hearing what Ah Jing said, she came to Yan Xun's tent and said, "Yan Xun, are you looking for me?"
"Oh." Yan Xun put down the book and stood up. His moon-white robe glowed softly under the light. "You're back. It must be cold outside."
"Not bad," Chu Qiao walked to the brazier, took off the fox fur hand warmer, and roasted it in front of the charcoal fire, looking up, "What do you want?"
"Nothing. Yu Hetian came over just now and tried to find out where I went yesterday."
Chu Qiao smiled coldly, "They are now ants on the hot pot. Yu Hetian has been stationed in the north for many years, starting as a small lieutenant general. He has some friendship with Zhao Che during the years he was exiled to the border town. If it weren't for Zhao Che's enlightenment, how could he have risen to fame with his family? Now that Zhao Che is in trouble, he naturally wants to help. But I don't think Zhao Che sent him here. Zhao Che is arrogant and disdains to do such a thing."
Yan Xun nodded, "When he was in Northern Xinjiang, he had some contact with my father and brother."
"Yu Hetian is a villain. He offered the topographic map to the capital and betrayed Yanbei. Now he is here to steal our territory. If you don't want to bother with him, leave it to me."
"Well, I don't want to see him again."
The lights flickered. Chu Qiao moved her feet closer to the brazier and said, "That's easy. We just need to find a suitable way to let Zhao Che know that Yu Hetian came to our camp tonight. With his arrogant and suspicious personality, he will definitely be on guard and won't care why Yu Hetian came. It's better not for us to do this ourselves."
"Well," Yan Xun nodded, "You go and arrange it."
"By the way, Yan Xun, is this what you are looking for me about?"
"No," Yan Xun stood up, walked to the back desk, took out a white jade box, and said, "Wenting sent a piece of clothing yesterday. I must have taken it by mistake in a hurry. It turned out to be a women's dress. I'll give it to you."
Chu Qiao took it and frowned, saying, "Ji Wenting has been giving you gifts all day long, why was he so careless this time?" She opened it and her eyes lit up. What was neatly placed in the box was a large white fox fur coat. It was not made of a whole piece of fur, but was made entirely of sable tails. The fur was smooth without a trace of other colors, and it was soft and smooth all over, like the finest silk. The cuffs were decorated with white snow-carved chest and abdomen fur, and the collar was dazzling with sparkling Black Sea pearls. It was obviously a top-grade product.