Chapter 108 Qishan Fengchan 15 Alchemy Room
The deadline for solving the case of Prince Chen's death cast a heavy shadow over the atmosphere within the Zhai Palace. Imperial guards surrounded the palace like an iron barrier, forbidding entry or exit without authorization. They also deployed patrols throughout the palace, questioning everyone they encountered about their origins and destinations.
No one is exempt.
When Xun Shu accompanied Li Xuanhe to see the imprisoned Wuweizi, he looked at the guards thoughtfully.
It seemed that Li Xuanhe would be needed to pass on the message to his senior brothers. However, he didn't seem to want to let the events of the Zhai Palace spread outside, so he still needed to come up with a proper explanation.
Wuweizi was imprisoned in a courtyard in a corner of the Zhai Palace, not far from Li Xuanhe's residence. The courtyard was small and square, housing the coroner from Anle Town, Prince Chen's attendants, and now, Wuweizi. Almost everyone implicated in the case, temporarily unable to be released, was packed into this courtyard, guarded by the imperial guards.
The courtyard was peaceful, with only one room's door locked and guarded by imperial guards. It was the room where Wuweizi was imprisoned.
When Xun Shu entered the room, Wu Wei Zi was sitting cross-legged on the floor, lost in thought. Hearing the door open, he looked up at the two people entering the room, neither joy nor panic. The morning's events seemed to drain all his strength, and his eyes were as still as still water, unable to stir.
Xun Shu sat across from him, wanting to ask many questions, but hesitantly, the only thing he could say was, "Are you okay?"
Wuweizi rolled his eyes, as if finally coming back to life, and said with a wry smile, "I can't say whether it's good or bad, but at least I'm alive." He paused and sighed, "When I was in the hall, I thought I was going to die today. Now, at least I can live a few more days. In fact, it's a blessing."
Xun Shu said softly, "How could that be? You didn't kill anyone, you didn't do anything bad. Perhaps everything that happened this morning was your calamity. Now that Lord Li has helped you avert this calamity, you will definitely be safe."
Li Xuanhe, who was standing aside, glanced at Xun Shu. Seeing her serious expression and worry in her eyes, he could only swallow back the words he was about to say and decided not to tear off the covering paper for the time being.
He took a few steps forward and sat next to Xun Shu, his posture relaxed as he looked sharply at Wuweizi across from him: "What exactly happened after you returned to Xingyue Palace yesterday?"
Wuweizi glanced past Li Xuanhe and Xun Shu, relieved to see the door was closed. He waved at the two, motioning them to come closer, then lowered his voice and said, "Yesterday, when I followed that man back to Xingyue Palace, the Palace Master was waiting for me. He somehow knew that I had visited the Crown Prince's palace and met him the day before before entering the Zhai Palace. He asked me what the Crown Prince had said and done to me. I didn't know how much the Palace Master knew, so I didn't dare to say nothing, nor did I dare to tell him everything. So I only told half of the story, hiding the fact that the elixir of immortality was fake and revealing the Crown Prince's replacement of the medicine."
Xun Shu had known Wuweizi for so long that he knew he could only trust his words halfway. He claimed the Palace Master had forced him to reveal the truth, or perhaps, after seeing the Palace Master already knew, he volunteered to seek forgiveness. But none of this mattered at the moment. Seeing Wuweizi pause, Xun Shu pressed on, "What did you say? Today in the palace, I saw that the Palace Master was unaware of our relationship. Did you conceal this?"
Wuweizi looked pleased: "Of course! I can't offend everyone at once, I have to leave myself a way out. If I hadn't betrayed you today, how could Lord Li condescend to save me? I'm afraid I would have fallen into the hands of the Palace Master by now, and my life would be worse than death!"
"A life worse than death?" Xun Shu seemed to have heard something strange. "Even if he wanted to punish you, at most he would give you a beating and starve you for a few days. At worst, he would find a reason to drive you out of the Zhai Palace. After all, this is the royal villa. The ceremony is about to end. Even if he wanted to kill you, he wouldn't choose this time and place. What is there to be afraid of?"
Wuweizi said with a sad face, "Miss, you don't know that the way Changsheng Palace tortures people is different from the government. Did you know that there's an alchemy room built to the south of Xingyue Palace? It's right next to the rockery we visited last night."
Xun Shu hummed softly.
"The Palace Master has many ancient secret recipes, and he tries to restore them every day to refine all kinds of strange elixirs. Even in the Zhai Palace, this is no exception. However, after many elixirs are refined, no one knows the effectiveness, so they naturally cannot be directly consumed by people. Someone needs to test them. The people who test the elixirs are the disciples in the Palace who have made mistakes. Some people are lucky, and after taking the elixirs, not only are they harmless to the body, but they can also nourish the body and prolong life. Some people are less fortunate, and after taking the elixirs, they will have diarrhea for a few days and then be cured. But many people experience various reactions after taking the elixirs. Blindness and disability are minor issues, and they may even bleed from all seven orifices until all the blood in the body is drained and they die. Or their whole body feels like it is being bitten by thousands of ants until they can no longer bear the pain and die."
Xun Shu gasped, "Doesn't that depend a lot on luck? Some people make serious mistakes, but they take a good pill and benefit from it. Others make only minor mistakes, but unfortunately choose a poisonous pill and lose their lives."
Wuweizi waved his hand. "How could it be so easy? The Palace Master will later decide how many pills each person needs to try based on the severity of their mistake. Some will only need to try three or five pills, and the Palace Master will feel that the punishment is sufficient, and the mistake will be completely erased. Others, whose mistakes are serious, will need to continue trying until they die of torture." Wuweizi slumped his shoulders, his head hanging low. "I betrayed the Palace Master by giving the elixir to the Crown Prince, helping him replace the pills, and even trying to conceal and deceive the Palace Master. This was already my biggest mistake. I'll probably have to take seven or eight pills. But the Ningyuan Village incident can't be kept secret forever. This is an emergency, and the Palace Master doesn't have time to send anyone to investigate. After the Fengshan Ceremony, he will definitely send someone to confirm it. By then, he'll know the secret passage has long been blown up, and I'm afraid he'll immediately realize that the pills I brought to Anle Town were fake from the beginning. If they follow this clue and reveal my connection to you, I'm afraid I'll end up taking pills... Sigh."
Xun Shu understood and said slowly, "So we didn't actually save you, we just delayed your torture."
"...Miss Xun, there are some things that everyone knows, so there's no need to say them out loud." Wuweizi's gaze swirled between the two of them, finally stopping at Li Xuanhe's face. "Master Li, I know you hold a high position of power and influence. You'll definitely find a way to save me, right?"
Wuweizi's eyes were full of hope, as if he had grasped at the last straw. Li Xuanhe raised an eyebrow, a smile tinged with sarcasm on his lips. "You seem quite clever on weekdays, so how could you betray the person you shouldn't betray? In the entire palace, the only one who could protect you and was willing to confront the Imperial Master was the Crown Prince, and yet you betrayed him." Li Xuanhe sighed and pretended to be distressed. "Well, considering we've known each other for a long time, I can go to the Crown Prince and explain a few things for you. But you need to provide more useful information to help me, help the Crown Prince find the real murderer of King Chen, and prove your worth. Only then will we help you. Don't you agree?"
Li Xuanhe's willingness to help him was already a pleasant surprise, not to mention his willingness to plead his case with the Crown Prince. Regardless of success or failure, Wuweizi seemed to have come back to life, his eyes brightening once more. He cleared his throat and said earnestly, "I wonder what else you two would like to know? I will tell you everything I know."
"I want to know, on the day His Royal Highness Prince Chen died, did you witness anything? Or, did you ever see His Royal Highness Prince Chen come to look for the Imperial Preceptor? What was the relationship between the two?"
Wuweizi's thoughts went back to the day he first entered Saigū.
That night, he was placed in a room across the courtyard from the Xingyue Palace, living with several other people, but he couldn't fall asleep after nightfall.
So many things happened that day, starting from meeting Xun Shu in the morning, then entering the Zhai Palace to meet the prince, where the elixir of immortality was replaced by the prince, then meeting the palace master and offering the replaced elixir of immortality, and finally to this moment lying on the hard bed. Everything seemed so unreal.
He couldn't sleep, so he tiptoed out of the room and wanted to go for a walk in the yard.
The Star-Moon Palace was quiet. The small courtyard was mostly populated by young Taoists like him, unattended, yet unable to leave at will. It was at that moment that he vaguely saw a dark figure moving hurriedly from north to south, traversing eaves and walls. He wanted to call out, but the shadow vanished in a flash, and he couldn't help but wonder if exhaustion had blinded him. He stood in the courtyard for a while longer, seeing nothing unusual. He dismissed the incident as a complete illusion and never mentioned it to anyone again.
At this moment, Wu Wei Zi told this story to Li Xuan He and Xun Shu, but he was still a little uncertain at the end: "I only told you this because you asked me. I'm not sure if this is my illusion or a real thing. I have no evidence to prove it, and I don't know if this is related to the case. As for the relationship between Prince Chen and the Imperial Preceptor, I don't know much. I just heard that His Highness Prince Chen respected the Imperial Preceptor very much, but he didn't come to Xingyue Palace on the day of the crime. As for what the Imperial Preceptor thought of His Highness Prince Chen, or whether they had a close relationship before, I have been staying in Ningyuan Village for the past few years. It's not that I intend to hide it, but I really don't know."
Li Xuanhe pondered for a moment and then asked, "What happened next? On the morning of the second day, after His Royal Highness Prince Chen's body was discovered, was there anything unusual in Xingyue Palace?"
"No one came to inform the Xingyue Palace of the discovery of the body, and the Imperial Master didn't learn of it until midday. Afterward, the Imperial Master returned to his courtyard and summoned two of his trusted associates into his room. The door was locked tightly, and it's unclear what they discussed. When the door was opened again after a long time, their faces were grave. It's unknown if Prince Chen's death had anything to do with the Imperial Master or the Hall of Eternal Life."
Wuweizi had just finished speaking when he suddenly seemed to recall something and quickly said, "There's one more thing I don't know if it might be helpful to you. On the afternoon of the day the body was discovered, the Imperial Master had gone to the alchemy room with a few others, refining elixirs as usual. I don't know what happened that day, but there was a huge commotion in the alchemy room, as if the Imperial Master was angry and loudly scolding the others. I happen to live near the alchemy room, and because of our agreement, I've been carefully observing the surroundings, so I was able to hear it."
"The noise lasted for about an incense stick of time, then it died down. Later, I saw the Imperial Master in the corner, his face gloomy, returning to the main hall. He didn't come out for a long time. The time we agreed to meet was approaching, so I took the opportunity to slip out of the Star-Moon Palace. You all know what happened next."
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