Chapter 109 Qishan Fengchan 16 Alchemy Furnace
It was already dusk when he returned to the small courtyard. The courtyard that had felt so cramped and unfamiliar to Xun Shu yesterday had become familiar today. Even the moment he stepped through the gate, he felt a sense of peace.
Xun Shu stood in the courtyard, stretched his body, and sighed, "Small courtyards are still better. They are safe and quiet."
The speaker may not mean it, but the listener takes it seriously. Li Xuanhe stood behind her, staring at her back. His head ached, like a hammer hammering down on it again and again. He pressed his forehead, each word coming out through gritted teeth, a plea that was almost naked: "Ah Shu, I'll buy you a small courtyard in the capital. From now on, I'll live there with you. Is that okay?"
Chi Xiao and Yu Chang looked at each other, walked lightly, and left the courtyard tacitly, closing the door and leaving the courtyard to the two people in it.
This is not the first time Li Xuanhe said this to Xun Shu. Last time, Xun Shu agreed to his proposal. What about this time?
Xun Shu froze, sighed for a long moment, and lowered his eyelashes to hide the helplessness and sadness in his heart: "Between you and me, where is there any future?"
There was a wind blowing through the sky above the courtyard, and the branches of the old tree in the corner of the courtyard rustled, as if it could penetrate the skin and flesh, hitting the hearts of the people in the courtyard, causing a dense pain that did not stop for a long time.
Li Xuanhe choked up a bit. "Ah Shu, I know I've done a lot of wrong things and hidden a lot from you. Can you give me another chance to explain?"
Xun Shu turned around and looked at the person in front of him. He seemed to be back to half a year ago when he was still in the coffin shop.
They had just met at the time, and she simply thought he was handsome, cheerful, and easygoing, someone who could get along with anyone. Whenever a neighbor encountered trouble, he was always the first to help. He was sincere and kind, truly the most dazzling young man in the entire market.
Later, she found out that he had hidden many things from her, but after more than half a year of being together, she was still willing to trust him again.
She thought she knew him well and knew what kind of person he was, but what she got in return was another shock and deception.
For a while, she hated him to death.
Until I met my senior brothers and sisters.
Many questions that she had never thought about before were finally answered that night. The clouds cleared and the moon shone brightly. She finally understood that perhaps both she and Li Xuanhe were not wrong in all the things they had experienced along the way that had caused disagreements and disputes between them and had forced them to go their separate ways.
It's just that from the beginning to the end, they were not suitable.
Xun Shu lowered her head and drew a small circle on the ground with her foot. She whispered, "This is my world." She drew a large circle next to the small circle and said, "This is your world." She tapped the tiny area where the two circles intersected with her toes. "And your world and mine only intersect on the small piece of land where the coffin shop is." She sighed, and when she raised her head, her eyes were extremely calm. "Third brother, in fact, you and I have never been the same kind of people. I used to think that if we could compromise with each other, I would stay in the capital, and you would live with me in a small courtyard, and we would be able to grow old together and go to the end. But after so many things happened, I suddenly realized that the biggest obstacle between you and me is not Qin Yuan, not Si Tian Pavilion, but that we should not force each other."
Li Xuanhe's eyes tinged with red, and his voice grew anxious. "How did we force each other? Ah Shu, I did make a mistake, but could you please not sentence me to death? Before sentencing, the prisoner still has a chance to defend himself. You should give me that opportunity."
Xun Shu looked at him steadily, enduring the dull pain in his heart, and stabbed out the sharpest knife: "Third brother, I don't like the capital. I don't like living in a place I am not familiar with. I don't want to deal with people wearing masks. I don't even know if they are human or ghost behind the mask. I am willing to run around for what I want to do, and I am willing to run around with you, but I want to finally settle down in a place that makes me feel at ease. The capital is too big, Pingyang Marquis Mansion is too empty, and the people around you are too complicated. I don't like any of them.
"Third brother, are you willing to leave the capital for me, leave the Pingyang Marquis' Mansion, leave the Princess' Mansion, leave everything you're familiar with, and accompany me back to Chaozhou, back to the coffin shop, just like a few months ago?" Xun Shu revealed the small dimples on her cheeks, but they were filled with bitterness. She didn't cling to his answer, but answered the question for him, "Third brother, you don't want to either, don't you?"
Li Xuanhe did not answer immediately.
Xun Shu looked at his expression. Although she had expected it, she was still sad. She tilted her head slightly and looked at the dark sky and the remaining glow of the sunset. She remembered the night when she first arrived at Pingyang Marquis Mansion. He accompanied her to watch the sunset on the roof and promised a future that could never be reached.
How nice it would be if time could stay at that moment forever.
Li Xuanhe was about to say something when Chi Xiao's voice came from the doorway. He paused, realizing Chi Xiao's sudden interruption must have meant something serious had happened. He looked at Xun Shu and said hurriedly, "Ah Shu, give me a little more time. Trust me, I'll definitely be able to handle this."
Before Xun Shu could respond, Chi Xiao had already pushed open the door and entered the courtyard. Chi Xiao lowered his head, his gaze fixed on the three-foot-tall ground beneath his feet, never looking elsewhere. He lowered his voice and quickly reported, "Sir, Lu Jiang and his men have sent word back, saying they've helped the three Liangqiu men break the formation. Hidden within the formation are ten thousand troops, under the command of King Chen."
When Xun Shu heard Liang Qiu's name, he didn't have time to think about anything else and hurriedly asked, "How are Liang Qiu and the others?"
Chi Xiao nodded. "Everyone is fine. Although the formation was broken, they did not alert those within it. Instead, they quietly returned to Anle Town, leaving only a few astute individuals to guard it. The army hidden in the mountains and forests is too numerous. We have less than a hundred men, and we are outnumbered. We dare not act rashly. I'll leave the next step to you, my lord."
With troops hidden in the mountains and forests, concealed by the art of Qimen Dunjia, King Chen's intentions were clear. However, the imperial guards this time were quite numerous, and relying on only 10,000 troops to purge the emperor or usurp the throne was probably insufficient.
Or do they have a trick up their sleeve?
Li Xuanhe couldn't make the decision on this matter; he needed to report it to the Crown Prince, who would make the final decision. He hurried out the courtyard gate with Chi Xiao. When he reached the gate, he turned around and saw Xun Shu, unmoved, standing quietly in the setting sun, her silhouette almost melting. Her expression was as calm as ever, as if she had anticipated what he was about to do, and knew that he wouldn't involve her in any of it.
Li Xuanhe remembered what Xun Shu had just said, that they were not from the same world.
He wanted to tell her to stay in the yard and not run around, but the words were on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't say them anymore. However, this matter was of great importance, even related to the survival of an entire country, so he really couldn't take her with him. After hesitating for a moment, he could only whisper, "I'll leave the fish intestines with you. Do whatever you want."
After saying that, he stopped looking at her and returned to his world without looking back.
-
After Li Xuanhe left, he didn't return until midnight. Xun Shu wrote a letter and gave it to Yu Chang, asking him to help deliver it to his senior brothers and sisters. She had originally only suspected that Li Xuanhe had a close relationship with the Crown Prince and was investigating Prince Chen's case, so she would definitely find a way to get the news out of the Zhai Palace, so she tested him. Unexpectedly, Yu Chang didn't hesitate at all. After taking the letter, he left immediately and didn't return until late at night.
Xun Shu had been sitting in the courtyard waiting. When he heard a noise outside the courtyard gate, he immediately rushed to the gate. When he saw that it was Yu Chang returning, he hurriedly asked, "Do they have anything they want to tell me?"
Yu Chang didn't expect that she had been waiting. After a moment's pause, he shook his head and nodded, "There was no letter, but he left a message asking the girl to be cautious and prioritize her own safety."
Xun Shu was silent.
The situation within the Zhai Palace was becoming increasingly complex, like a complex and vast mechanism, each link tightly linked, each triggering a chain reaction. Even if she wanted to intervene, she wouldn't be able to find a way. Her senior brothers and sisters were truly overthinking things.
Yu Chang suddenly noticed that Xun Shu had changed her clothes. They were not the imperial guards' uniform she wore during the day, nor were they her own dresses. Instead, they were night clothes that blended in with the darkness. Yu Chang was stunned: "Miss, are you going out?"
Xun Shu came back to his senses and nodded: "Yes, I want to explore the Star Moon Palace at night, so I'll wait for you to come back."
Yu Chang reminded, "After this morning, all gates of the Xingyue Palace will be tightly closed. There are stalkers every five steps near the Imperial Master's residence, so it will be difficult for him to enter the palace."
Xun Shu shook his head. "I'm not going to the palace. If I remember correctly, the Imperial Master's alchemy room was built later, in the very corner of the Star Moon Palace. There shouldn't be many guards there, right? I want to go and take a look at the alchemy room."
Yu Chang naturally couldn't let her go alone. He remembered what his husband had said before he left, and resigned himself to his fate. "Young lady, change back into your Imperial Guards' clothes. The Zhai Palace is heavily guarded these days, so climbing walls and climbing rooftops won't be possible. It's better to change your clothes and walk openly to the Xingyue Palace, then find a chance to enter the alchemy room."
-
The Alchemy Room is located southeast of the Xingyue Palace, outside the courtyard wall. To enter the Alchemy Room from the Xingyue Palace, one must first exit the palace through the southern side gate, circle around to the southeast corner of the palace, and then enter through the Alchemy Room's independent courtyard gate.
The courtyard of the alchemy room was small, with an octagonal pagoda in the center. It had only three stories, making it unusually small. The top of the pagoda was crudely constructed, unlike the delicate first and second stories. It was clearly a temporary cap, with the intention of continuing construction after the Fengshan ceremony.
Xun Shu's guesses about the Xingyue Palace and the alchemy room were almost entirely correct. The alchemy room was indeed sparsely guarded, with only a dozing young Taoist priest standing at the gate. She and Yu Chang entered the courtyard effortlessly, only to find the doors and windows of the main hall tightly shut, with no light at all inside.
Xun Shu was perplexed. She remembered Wuweizi saying that the Lord of the Hall of Immortality was refining elixirs daily. There was no set time for refining elixirs; each elixir took a different amount of time, and it was common for the process to take days and nights. Could it be that she was so lucky today, that the previous batch of elixirs had just finished refining, but the ingredients for the next batch hadn't yet been added to the furnace? That was why the alchemy room was so quiet, dark and empty?
Yu Chang took out a copper wire, inserted it into the keyhole and fiddled with it for a few times, and the door unlocked. He carefully removed the lock and invited Xun Shu into the hall where the alchemy furnace was placed.
There was a strange and unpleasant smell lingering in the hall. The rich fragrance of medicinal herbs was mixed with a pungent fishy stench, which was out of place and more disgusting than a simple stench.
Yu Chang blew up the fire starter in his arms and used the tiny light to survey the entire hall.
The hall was extremely spacious, housing three alchemy furnaces taller than a person. Along the walls stood several towering treasure cabinets, upon which lay boxes of all sizes and stacks of papers. Scribbled across the papers were what looked like recipes for elixirs.
Xun Shu looked around and vaguely felt that something was wrong, until she opened one of the alchemy furnaces and stared at the clean furnace belly, she finally caught the fleeting abnormality.
"This place has been cleaned."
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