Chapter 115 When the Wind Arrives 2 True and False
Xun Shu looked bewildered, as if he truly believed this was the underworld. Li Xuanhe seemed helpless, unable to utter harsh words. He spoke softly, "What underworld? This is the Princess's residence in the capital. You're lying in the courtyard where you once lived."
Xun Shu finally recalled what happened outside Anle Town, her chaotic memories sorted out. She touched her chest where the sword had pierced it, feeling no pain at all. She wondered, "You said this isn't the underworld? I clearly remember being stabbed through, so how come there's no wound here?" She shrugged, desperately trying to sense her invisible, intangible back. Her breath came faster from her weakness. "My back doesn't hurt... How could it heal so quickly?"
Li Xuanhe placed a pillow behind her and helped her sit up. He then took the warm porridge from the side and scooped a spoonful to her lips. "You haven't eaten in a long time. I'm afraid you can only have some easy-to-digest noodle soup these days. I'll ask the kitchen to make you a bowl of noodle soup with chicken broth. It tastes better than white noodles, and you should like it." He paused, worried that Xun Shu still didn't want to eat, and added, "A Shui has learned a lot of skills recently. I'll ask her to make it for you. Is that okay?"
"A Shui? Is she okay now?"
"Very good, you have become Mr. Huang's most capable disciple. I will let her come and talk to you later."
Xun Shu ate his porridge while pondering Li Xuanhe's words. The more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. He said incoherently, "Don't interrupt me. Wasn't I in Anle Town? Why did you suddenly bring me back to the Princess's Mansion?"
Li Xuanhe lowered his eyes and looked at the porridge in the bowl, and his mind unconsciously recalled the day when Xun Shu was assassinated.
When Chi Xiao went to the Zhai Palace to ask for the imperial physician, Li Xuanhe brought Xun Shu back to the courtyard and carefully placed her on the bed, exposing the wound on her back.
Xun Shu was breathing in more than out. The wound pierced his back and chest. After the assassin pulled the sword out, blood gushed out from his back, soaking his clothes. Li Xuanhe searched the room for some medicine to stop the bleeding, and surprisingly found a bottle of high-quality gold medicine in a conspicuous place in the cabinet. He didn't know any medicine, and he didn't know whether the sword had hit Xun Shu's vitals. He only knew that if the blood continued to flow at this rate, it would not be long before it was all gone.
At that time, he didn't care about the distinction between men and women. He carefully cut open the clothes on Xun Shu's back and poured half a bottle of hemostatic medicine on Xun Shu's wound.
Too much blood flowed and the golden medicine was soon washed away. Li Xuanhe was not discouraged and poured another half bottle, finally managing to stop the bleeding.
The imperial physician was quickly summoned to the small courtyard to treat Xun Shu. The two doctors, along with their herbal assistants, toiled for a day, administering acupuncture and decocting herbs, barely managing to save Xun Shu's life. The physician explained that the priceless golden medicine Li Xuanhe had given her had stopped the bleeding, otherwise they would have been powerless. However, the sword strike had damaged Xun Shu's heart meridian, and no one could predict whether she would awaken, or what would happen if she did.
Anle Town was a small place, after all, not suitable for recuperation, and it was difficult to find good medicinal herbs. Li Xuanhe acted decisively, borrowed a carriage from his mother, padded it with a thick mattress, and brought Xun Shu back to the Princess's Mansion in the capital.
When I returned to Beijing, the leaves were still yellow, dangling from the branches, precariously teetering. When the wind blew, they fluttered down, soon piling up on the ground. Now, the branches were bare, not as vibrant as they were in spring and summer, but as if wrapped in a grayish-white film, adding a touch of melancholy.
Li Xuanhe didn't want to dwell on the events of the past few months, saying gently, "Anle Town is too cold and gloomy, not suitable for recuperation, so I brought you back to the capital. You've slept for a few months, so your wounds must have healed long ago. Let's not talk about this anymore, just eat a few more bites to fill your stomach."
She'd actually been sleeping for months? Xun Shu had regained some strength, and unused to being fed constantly, she tried to take the bowl and spoon from Li Xuanhe's hands, but he dodged aside. Li Xuanhe gently advised, "You've just woken up, so you must be weak. Ah Shu, be good and don't move around. I'll tell you what happened these days, okay?"
Xun Shu was stunned, withdrew his hand, and looked at him eagerly.
Seeing that Xun Shu no longer fought for it, Li Xuanhe breathed a sigh of relief and told her the important things that had happened in the past few days.
"After the Fengshan Ceremony that day, His Majesty announced the late emperor's passing to the world, saying that the late emperor, inspired by the divine command of the heavens, had attained immortality on Mount Qishan. The Imperial Preceptor accompanied the late emperor in his ascension, returning to heaven."
Xun Shu couldn't believe it. "That day in the Zhai Palace, I heard the Crown Prince say—no, Your Majesty, when he talked about this, I felt something was amiss. Even if the people of the world believed in his immortality, how could the civil and military officials believe it? Wouldn't they question it? I didn't expect that they would use this excuse in the end."
Li Xuanhe chuckled. "The reason isn't important; it depends on who's giving it. Do you remember back in Ningyuan Village, when you and I, through the mouth of the goddess, advised the people of Ningyuan Village to end the century-long cult of the Saint? Back then, if you or I, or even the village head or the village head, had said this, the people wouldn't have believed it. But when the goddess spoke these words, they had no choice but to believe it. They dared not disbelieve it. If they didn't, the century-long cult would become a joke, and their past beliefs would lose their foundation in an instant. So they had no choice but to believe and do as the goddess said."
Xun Shu argued, "But back then, we were just deceiving the people of Ningyuan Village, hoping they wouldn't hurt others and maintain that ridiculous and bloody tradition. Our intentions were good. But this time is different. The Crown Prince—Your Majesty—is trying to deceive the entire world. I don't understand. The late emperor died of an illness. Why can't you just tell the truth?"
Li Xuanhe scooped up another spoonful of porridge. Seeing Xun Shu eat it obediently, he continued, "Doesn't the world include Ningyuan Village? Why can the people of Ningyuan Village be deceived, but others can't? Your Majesty simply chose the best excuse for the world and the court. If the news of the late emperor's death on the eve of the Fengshan ceremony were to spread, how would people in the world discuss the late emperor? Would some restless people use this to make a fuss? Would the people no longer trust their king? Would the court be in turmoil? Ah Shu, sometimes the truth is not that important. What matters is how to prevent fewer people from getting hurt."
Xun Shu's head ached slightly, and she lost the mood to eat the porridge. She pushed away the spoon that was offered to her lips and said stubbornly, "But some people never lie in their entire lives, and all they seek is the truth. Do such people deserve what they get?"
Li Xuanhe looked at Xun Shu and suddenly felt a little annoyed.
She had been lying in bed for months, from August to December, relying on medicinal herbs to keep her alive. She had become so emaciated that she was practically a skeleton. The imperial physician had come a few days earlier and had said that if she didn't wake up, even if her wounds were not serious, she wouldn't be able to hold on for much longer.
Fortunately, he was very lucky and his Ah Shu finally woke up.
I had clearly been whispering in her ear yesterday that if she was healthy, I would do whatever she wanted; I had clearly been thinking about saying something to make her happy and cheer her up, but how come I ended up talking about these unimportant topics in the blink of an eye?
"You're right. The truth is important." Li Xuanhe put the bowl aside. "Let me help you lie down. If you still don't want to sleep, I'll tell you about Uncle Jiang's case."
This man always knew what she wanted to know most.
Xun Shu clutched the quilt tightly, his eyelashes trembling. "Uncle Jiang's case... have they found the murderer? Was it really not that Qin Yuan who did it?"
Li Xuanhe ignored Xun Shu's address to Qin Yuan and said gently, "I'm only telling you what I've found out. As for whether it's true or not, and whether you can believe it, you can verify it yourself when you recover."
He stood up and walked to the door, said a few words to the servants guarding outside, then closed the door, returned to Xun Shu's bedside, and started telling the story of Jiang Zheng's case from the beginning.
"Uncle Jiang's case began in Chaozhou a few months ago. That day, you left the coffin shop, and I was too busy with the disaster relief case to return to the shop to have dinner with Uncle Jiang as promised. That night, Uncle Jiang prepared a table full of delicious food. Although he didn't see you or me, he did see another guest. For that guest, Uncle Jiang even took out the fine wine he had hidden in his room for many years and drank it with him.
"Not many people are willing to dine at the coffin shop, and Uncle Jiang is willing to share his fine wine. After you and I left Chaozhou, the Chaozhou County Yamen and the Dali Temple questioned these people one by one, verifying their identities in detail. Every one of them provided a clear alibi, except for one. That person's alibi was that he was at a banquet at the government office the night of the crime. There was indeed a banquet at the county yamen that night, but someone saw that person quietly leave halfway through the banquet. If he had rushed to the coffin shop immediately after leaving, he would have made it in time."
Xun Shu hesitated: "Is that person Fang Yan?"
This time it was Li Xuanhe's turn to be surprised. He had thought that Xun Shu, who cherished the people around her and trusted them unconditionally, would not accept this so easily and might argue with him again. However, he had not expected that she had already suspected Fang Yan.
Li Xuanhe nodded. "Yes. I infer that Fang Yan went to the coffin shop that night and drank with Uncle Jiang. After they got drunk, Fang Yan was walking Uncle Jiang back to his room when he saw the mirror hanging in a conspicuous place and the Si Tian Pavilion logo on it. He suspected Jiang Zheng was a member of the Si Tian Pavilion. After all, after the disciples of the Si Tian Pavilion left the mountain, they disappeared into the mortal world and were difficult to find. Seeing this logo, he was afraid that the night would be long and full of dreams, so he immediately kidnapped Uncle Jiang in the dark and took him away from the coffin shop. Uncle Jiang may have woken up, and the two had an argument, which caused Uncle Jiang to be injured, leaving a pool of blood at the door of the room."
Xun Shu pursed her lips and expressed her suspicions about Fang Yan. "That day, I went to the shrine outside the capital. When I was leaving, I met Fang Yan. He took me to the yard where Uncle Jiang's body was found. At that time, I was wondering how he knew where I was. Moreover, he not only knew my whereabouts and where Uncle Jiang was imprisoned, but he even knew that Uncle Jiang had been murdered. How could such a coincidence happen in this world? If it wasn't a coincidence, Fang Yan would not have been able to accomplish all of this alone. He must have had helpers around him, perhaps more than one.
"After discovering Uncle Jiang's imprisonment, he didn't report it to the Jingzhao Prefecture or give me the news in advance. He only came looking for me after Uncle Jiang died. If he had chosen to report it to the Jingzhao Prefecture, or found a doctor, or shouted loudly the moment he saw Uncle Jiang being harmed, the murderer might not have been able to escape smoothly, and Uncle Jiang might not even have died... But he didn't. At the time, I suspected that he was inextricably linked to Uncle Jiang's disappearance and imprisonment, and even wanted to use Uncle Jiang's death to achieve other goals. For example, after taking Uncle Jiang away for interrogation and learning that he had no connection with the Sitian Pavilion, he turned his attention to me, suspecting that I was actually the owner of the mirror. But I have never understood why Fang Yan did this. If Uncle Jiang's disappearance has nothing to do with the Dali Temple, it can only be the work of the Changsheng Palace. Fang Yan and I grew up together. When did he become associated with the Changsheng Palace?"
Xun Shu spoke so much at once, a trace of fatigue appearing on her face. Li Xuanhe helped her lie down before speaking, "I have no solid evidence regarding this matter, only a guess. Fang Yan once studied at a Chaozhou academy for a year, and the teacher there, upon investigation, was indeed a member of the Hall of Eternal Life. I suspect he discovered Fang Yan's potential and orchestrated a scheme to have County Magistrate Zhao recognize Fang Yan as a talented person. Afterward, Fang Yan hid in the Chaozhou County Office, becoming an insider for the Hall of Eternal Life. This was not only to locate the former disciples and treasures of the Si Tian Pavilion in the area closest to it, but also to secure the disaster relief funds."
Xun Shu was astonished: "That disaster relief money is also related to the Hall of Eternal Life?"
Li Xuanhe nodded. "There are no real gods in the Hall of Eternal Life, so naturally, they need things to maintain it. Do you remember, back at the Zhao residence, County Magistrate Zhao's concubine, Madam Zheng, once mentioned that her father was very close to a Taoist priest from the Sitian Pavilion. Sitian Pavilion disciples don't reveal their family background after leaving the mountain, so that person is probably not from your school, but someone from the Hall of Eternal Life using the Sitian Pavilion's name to do things. That person must have predicted that there would be a flood disaster a few months later, so he took action in advance, told the news to County Magistrate Zheng and others, and proposed the plan to dig a pond. But who could have imagined that County Magistrate Zheng would eventually notice something was wrong and move the money. The governor and his men were concerned about this money, and so were the people from the Hall of Eternal Life. So they placed their hopes on Fang Yan, hoping that he could find out the truth before everyone else."
Xun Shu's expression gradually became serious, and he couldn't help but ask, "Where's Fang Yan? Did you find him? Bring him back to the Dali Temple and ask him. Many questions should be answered."
"Fang Yan disappeared." Li Xuanhe said calmly, "On the day you left the capital."
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