0p0 Chapter 512
Chapter 512
"Jiuchen..." The emperor's voice suddenly became hoarse and sinister, "You shall investigate immediately. If it is true, then clean house for me!" His violently heaving chest tugged at the gold thread on his dragon robe, making the embroidered five-clawed golden dragon seem to struggle in a pool of blood.
Meanwhile, in a secret chamber of the Lu family manor, candlelight flickered. Lu Mufeng's aged hand stroked the yellowed map, his fingertips lingering on the location of the capital. "Pass down the order," he said, glancing at the generals under his command, a sharp glint in his cloudy eyes, "Contact the old subordinates. At midnight three days from now, proceed according to plan." Suddenly, a flame burst from the bronze lamp, causing the late emperor's edict hanging on the wall to sway slightly—the four large vermilion characters "Loyal and Brave, Commendable" flickered in the swaying light.
As night deepened, the distant sound of the watchman's drum echoed from the palace's corner tower. Ye Jiuchen emerged from his bedchamber just as Li Yanran's personal maidservant hurried past, carrying a food box. The girl caught sight of him, and in her hasty bow, the food box tilted, revealing a corner of a blood-stained handkerchief. The wind ruffled his robes, carrying a faint medicinal scent that strangely mingled with the stench of blood from the bedchamber. He gazed at the churning dark clouds outside the palace walls, his hand unconsciously reaching for the sword at his waist—this storm was far more turbulent than he had imagined.
The night was as dark as ink, and the carved palace lanterns swayed in the breeze, casting dappled light on the hem of Ye Jiuchen's dark robes. He had just stepped out of the library when he caught a glimpse of a figure staggering out from around the corner of the corridor. The dark red bloodstains on the plain handkerchief clutched in her arms made his pupils shrink sharply.
"Halt!" The black iron folding fan slammed heavily against the vermilion pillar, startling the copper bells on the eaves into a tinkling sound. The palace maid's handkerchief was almost soaked with sweat from being clenched; her pale face was covered in cold sweat in the moonlight, and her Adam's apple bobbed violently: "It's...it's Miss Li who vomited blood; this is the blood she coughed up."
Ye Jiuchen's fingertips traced the congealed bloodstains on the handkerchief, a chill spreading from his fingertips. Li Yanran rarely even caught a cold, so why was she suddenly coughing up blood? He looked up at the end of the corridor, where a few wisps of dim candlelight shone through the carved wooden window. He suddenly remembered the faint bitter almond flavor in the pastries sent by the imperial kitchen three days ago.
As Ye Jiuchen walked through the winding corridor, his thoughts were a jumbled mess. Half a month ago, Lu Mufeng had suddenly started frequenting the Imperial Hospital; the copy of the *Poison Classic* had been stolen from the Crown Prince's study the day before yesterday; and this morning, the Empress had inexplicably fainted… These seemingly unrelated fragments rapidly pieced together in his mind. When the bamboo curtain embroidered with twin lotus blossoms came into view, he practically burst through the carved wooden door.
The scent of sandalwood mingled with the stench of blood wafted through the air. Li Yanran leaned against the gold-threaded couch, her lotus-colored nightgown soaked with cold sweat, and blood still clung to her pale lips. Ye Jiuchen rushed forward, his cool fingertips touching the pulse points on her wrist. The pulse surged like a raging storm in his palm. It wasn't ordinary poison, but a carefully crafted "Heart-Eating Powder" made from eighteen herbs. The poisoner was well-versed in medicine, able to make the poison coil around her heart like threads, its effects lasting only half an incense stick's time each day, completely undetectable by ordinary imperial physicians.
"Prepare warm water!" Ye Jiuchen tore off the jade pendant from his waist, revealing a celadon medicine bottle hidden in a lining. This antidote pill was the result of three months of painstaking effort, refined with snow lotus from Tianshan Mountain and mermaid tears from the South China Sea. Yet, fine water droplets seeped from his palm—he suddenly remembered yesterday in the Imperial Garden when Li Yanran's teacup was "accidentally" knocked over by Lu Mufeng's personal guard.
A thunderclap boomed outside the window, and large raindrops pounded on the glazed tiles. Ye Jiuchen watched Li Yanran's face slowly turn pale, and suddenly remembered his master's dying words: "The most vicious poison is often hidden in the most tender medicinal ingredient." He crushed the last half of the pill and dissolved it in water, his gaze sweeping over the untouched bowl of ginseng soup by the bedside. The goji berries floating on the surface of the soup gleamed an eerie dark red in the candlelight.
The night watchman's gong sounded through the rain, and Ye Jiuchen tucked the blood-stained handkerchief into his sleeve. Lu Mufeng had been playing this game for far too long, his network stretching from the imperial concubines to the high-ranking officials, from the Imperial Hospital to the Imperial Kitchen—it had already spread throughout the capital. But after tonight, this conspiracy, using human lives as pawns, should come to an end. He gripped the silver needles at his waist, the rain outside the window like a curtain, yet it couldn't conceal the cold glint in his eyes—he would make this storm in the city a reminder of the impending doom, restoring order and peace to the world.
The candlelight flickered within the celadon lampshade. Ye Jiuchen fed Li Yanran the last calming pill, watching as her furrowed brows finally relaxed. The rain outside the window gradually subsided, and the damp night breeze, carrying the scent of locust blossoms, drifted into the room, but it couldn't dispel the gloom in his heart. Just as his fingertips were about to touch the copper bell to summon a palace maid, the window lattice clicked softly, and a dark figure slipped in, handing over a secret letter stained with subtle patterns.
The moment Ye Jiuchen unfolded the letter, his grip on the pen tightened abruptly. The hastily written characters on the Xuan paper were soaked with water: "Lu Mufeng's former troops have assembled at Tiger Wolf Valley on the outskirts of the capital, three thousand cavalry, with seven days' worth of provisions prepared." A faint scent of horse manure lingered where the ink had smudged, indicating the messenger had rushed there in the rain. The fine sand in the hourglass on his desk dripped slowly; it was three-quarters past midnight—only four hours left until the morning court session.
"Someone!" He tossed down the secret letter, his black robes sweeping the paperweight off the table. "Go and summon the Shadow Guard Commander, and have the Imperial Guard Commander lead three hundred secret guards to await orders at the Vermilion Bird Gate." The footsteps faded into the distance. Ye Jiuchen gazed at the swaying lanterns outside the window, the image of Lu Mufeng's perpetually smiling face flashing through his mind. Was that seemingly arrogant and domineering minister truly content to be a pawn?
At dawn, the capital was shrouded in a thin mist. Ye Jiuchen, disguised as a horse merchant, mingled among the refugees. The mountain wind of Tiger Wolf Valley, carrying the smell of rust, swept over him. He glimpsed a newly dug trench beside the mountain path, the mud still bearing the tracks of cartwheels. As he entered the camp, several soldiers were eating dry rations and drinking rough wine around a campfire. He pulled out some loose silver from his pocket and threw it on the ground: "Sir, could you do me a favor and have a drink?"
"From out of town?" The bearded man kicked away his loose silver. "Haven't heard anything about it lately..." Before he could finish speaking, another one-eyed soldier suddenly grabbed his arm: "Tell me about the latest happenings in the city, and I'll give you plenty of wine." By the firelight, Ye Jiuchen could see the copper whistle on the man's waist—it was the very weapon that Lu Mufeng had privately forged three years ago.
After a few rounds of drinks, the one-eyed soldier began to ramble: "If it weren't for that man in black holding my whole family's lives in his hands... heh heh, all that wealth and glory is just a business transaction at the cost of lives." He suddenly lowered his voice, "I heard that guy even knows His Majesty's daily life inside and out. Last month..." Before he could finish speaking, the sound of a clapper came from afar, and the man was jolted awake, smashing his wine bowl on the ground and hurriedly leaving.
Ye Jiuchen, tracing the teeth marks on the rim of his wine bowl, pondered the identity of the man in black when a chill suddenly ran down the back of his neck. In the instant a cold light flashed through the air, he rolled to the side, a silver needle already flying from his sleeve. Under the moonlight, the attacker's moves were wide and sweeping, powerful yet strangely familiar—the move "Swallow Returns to the Clouds" was clearly the signature technique of the Imperial Guard's chief instructor!
Shouts of battle suddenly ripped through the night sky, and torches, like crimson dragons, snaked their way from afar. Ye Jiuchen deflected a dagger aimed at his throat and caught sight of a black dragon banner fluttering at the foot of the mountain. The Emperor's Imperial Guards had deployed three days in advance; it seemed His Majesty had already sensed the disturbance. He feinted a move and leaped to the treetop, watching the soldiers and Imperial Guards clashing in the camp, when he suddenly remembered the one-eyed soldier's unfinished words.
The torrential rain poured down again. Ye Jiuchen wiped the rain from his face, his fingertips touching the blood-stained handkerchief of Li Yanran in his arms. The truths that had been deliberately concealed, the eyes lurking in the shadows, now transformed into sharp blades in the mist. As the first rays of dawn pierced the clouds, he had already ridden back to the capital, the jade pendant at his waist clinking lightly with the jolting—this conspiracy that began in the harem was finally about to unveil its bloodiest chapter.