Chapter 10

It’s over, Li Mu thought. How could she outrun this one-against-many murderer with a sprained ankle?

If there were only corpses, Li Mu wouldn’t be so scared. The problem was that the person who made those corpses was right in front of her.

The fear of becoming the next corpse caused Li Mu’s body to freeze, preventing her from immediately turning and running. This gave her more time to notice that the corpses were all wearing unusual black clothing.

Maybe the problem was with these black-clad people?

Having grown up watching various martial arts dramas, this thought helped Li Mu calm down.

At that moment, the man who had his back to her seemed aware of her presence and turned to look at her.

The man had a face that didn’t belong to someone who slew in the woods. Or rather, someone with that face should be weak and scholarly, holding a pen or a musical instrument, not a blood-stained sword.

There were a few drops of blood on the man’s cheek, and his silver robe was stained with blood.

As Li Mu looked at Lin Que, Lin Que also looked at Li Mu.

A girl with no expression, seemingly unafraid. Unlike him, standing in the shadows of the trees, the girl stood in the sunlight, wearing a bamboo-green short shirt and an ivory floral skirt, holding a brightly colored pinwheel.

Lin Que guessed she lived in the temple’s guest quarters and, without much courtesy, asked, “Is your residence nearby?”

Li Mu tilted her head slightly: “…?”

He raised his blood-stained hand as if it were just dirt from the forest and asked, “May I borrow some water to wash my hands?”

As someone with social anxiety, the first thing Li Mu forced herself to learn was how to refuse. The criteria for refusal were simple and straightforward—not whether the other person would be unhappy, but whether she was willing.

This unexpected turn of events made Li Mu’s thinking revert to this most basic template. She opened her mouth and succinctly said, “Far, no.”

After speaking, Li Mu regretted it. She shouldn’t have confronted him directly without confirming whether he would harm her.

Unexpectedly, the man was quite reasonable and asked, “Then can I borrow a handkerchief?”

He really didn’t like the sticky feeling on his hands.

Li Mu didn’t want to anger him, but she also didn’t want him to use the excuse of taking a handkerchief to get close to her. So she softened her words, “I don’t have a handkerchief.”

This polite conversation felt off, unlike the exchange between a murderer and a witness.

More like…

Damn! Why did they look like they were in cahoots?

Li Mu cursed inwardly.

At that moment, Qianyun’s voice came from behind Li Mu, “Miss!”

Li Mu’s heart tightened, hoping that Qianyun had brought more than just Nanny Zhao, preferably a monk from Mingtai Temple.

Li Mu’s luck seemed to rebound after the previous three mishaps. She turned around and saw that besides Nanny Zhao, Qianyun had indeed brought a monk and a woman carrying a medicine box.

Li Mu unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, then heard the man’s voice, “So, you’re not unafraid.”

Li Mu’s back tensed with fear. She didn’t respond or look back, limping towards Qianyun and Nanny Zhao, who ran towards her. She kept an eye on her surroundings, ensuring no footsteps were behind her, and maintained a steady pace.

It’s time to slip away.

Qianyun reached her side. From a distance, the trees had blocked her view, but now she saw the corpses on the ground and Lin Que holding a sword. She turned pale and screamed, almost collapsing if Li Mu hadn’t supported her.

Nanny Zhao was also terrified, chanting “Amitabha” repeatedly while pulling Li Mu behind her.

The monk, looking displeased, asked Lin Que, “Benefactor Lin? Why are you here? What happened?”

“Brother!” As if the scene wasn’t chaotic enough, Gu Chi arrived with more people.

When Gu Chi and his men entered Mingtai Temple, they sent someone to contact the Jinyiwei spies inside. However, they couldn’t find any, and upon hearing that the abbot was giving a lecture in the Dharma Hall, they realized something was wrong and rushed over.

The monk, perhaps fearing that Li Mu would be implicated, instructed Nanny Zhao and the others to take Li Mu to the pavilion to check her ankle. The woman with the medicine box was someone they had hired from a nearby family that ran a pharmacy. She knew some medical skills and stayed at the temple to help female pilgrims who might feel unwell, as it was inconvenient for the monks.

Li Mu was helped back to the pavilion. When she sat down, she hesitated for a moment and deliberately chose a spot where she could see the black-clad corpses from a distance.

The last time Li Mu encountered a corpse in reality was before transmigrating. She had gone to the hospital for a check-up and accidentally walked into the morgue.

Regarding that memory, Li Mu felt fear but didn’t have nightmares. It was just… unforgettable, and sometimes she couldn’t help but recall it- like someone with megalophobia feeling uncomfortable seeing huge objects but unable to stop looking again and again, seeing the corpses now felt similar. The bodies were intact, with no particularly gruesome wounds. If it weren’t for the blood on Lin Que’s sword, she wouldn’t even be sure they were dead.

There wasn’t much visual impact; it was the concept of “he’s already dead” that stirred something in Li Mu. After confirming her life wasn’t in danger, she couldn’t help but look again and again.

The woman said her ankle wasn’t seriously injured; it was just swollen and a bit scary-looking. She advised against walking for a few days and to apply a hot compress starting tomorrow. It would heal gradually. She also gave Li Mu two bottles of external medicine, one for the sprained ankle and one for the scraped knee, to be applied twice a day.

The woman had other matters to attend to, so she left with her medicine box after giving instructions. Before leaving, she told them her address and where she usually dried herbs, saying she could generally be found there if not out on a call.

Nanny Zhao and Qianyun profusely thanked her, and Li Mu, feeling brave, joined in with a “thank you.”

After the woman left, Qianyun’s nose turned red. She was clearly still frightened, and she couldn’t stop crying once she calmed down.

Li Mu felt guilty. If she hadn’t accidentally fallen, none of this would have happened. She didn’t dare to comfort Qianyun verbally, so she clumsily took out a handkerchief and wiped her tears.

This only made Qianyun cry harder, leaving Li Mu at a loss.

After calming Qianyun, Li Mu put away the handkerchief and glanced towards the corpses, only to see they had been removed. The remaining people were also preparing to leave, and her gaze fell on the most conspicuous person in the group. That person happened to look over and saw Li Mu putting away the handkerchief.

Caught in her lie, Li Mu awkwardly turned her head away.

“What are you looking at, brother?”

Lin Que’s voice carried a strange amusement: “A liar.”

With unfinished business, Lin Que took his brother and the monk to the Dharma Hall to see the abbot.

They left Mingtai Temple about an hour later.

Back at King Yan’s residence, many messages arrived via pigeon post, one of which identified Li Mu, who had coincidentally witnessed Lin Que killing someone.

Lin Que was surprised and asked another question, learning that bringing many servants to the temple was difficult, so Feixing stayed at the Li residence. If Feixing had been there, Lin Que could have identified Li Mu sooner.

Lin Que was tired from the outing. After reading the scattered intelligence reports, he felt a headache and prepared to lie down and rest. Unfortunately, someone from the palace arrived, saying the emperor had organized a plum-tasting banquet with the various types of plums offered this year and invited some officials to the palace.

Lin Que refused to go. Shortly after lying down, another messenger arrived from the palace, but after waiting for a while without seeing Lin Que, they left.

When the palace sent messengers for the third time, Steward Wu went to wake Lin Que. Lin Que got up from bed, holding his forehead and muttering incoherently, “The emperor finally wants to kill me, trying to wear me down with this method?”

Steward Wu thought to himself that the emperor’s murderous intent had always been there. Wearing him down might not be the goal; it was more likely that the emperor feared not summoning him multiple times would show a lack of respect.

“Should we send the second master instead?”

“Ah Chi is very busy. With this free time, why should he go to the palace to drink and act with the emperor? Is he crazy, or am I?” If it weren’t for Gu Chi insisting on accompanying him to Mingtai Temple, Lin Que wouldn’t have wanted his brother to take the time for this trip.

“Then…”

As they spoke, the third group of messengers hadn’t left yet, and the fourth group arrived.

Lin Que’s face looked terrible, but he smiled and said, “Change clothes, enter the palace.”

Lin Que was in a bad mood, and Emperor Gu Youxun wasn’t feeling any better.

The first and second summons were tolerable, but the third and fourth had already given enough face. If Lin Que still didn’t come, it would be as if he didn’t respect the emperor at all.

Six years had passed, and Gu Youxun had long forgotten how he became the ultimate winner on the dragon throne. He no longer treated Lin Que with the same obedience as when he first ascended. There was still fear, but beneath that fear, other thoughts had emerged. This led him, under the pretense of changing clothes, to dismiss the palace maids and eunuchs around him and smash everything in sight in the side hall. When Eunuch Duan arrived, Gu Youxun had already vented his anger. Eunuch Duan quickly brought in wine and skillfully coaxed him, pouring him a drink.

Gu Youxun, panting heavily, drank several cups and coldly asked where he had been.

As the emperor’s most trusted eunuch, stepping away for a moment wasn’t a big deal. Eunuch Duan knew Gu Youxun wasn’t angry at him but was only looking for someone to vent his frustration. He smoothly put on a panicked expression, begging Gu Youxun to calm down, and bowed, saying, “Your servant saw that Your Majesty liked the Yuhuang plums from Hubei, so I went to get more for the banquet. On the way back, I accidentally bumped into Lord Li, which is why I was late.”

Eunuch Duan subtly turned the emperor’s question of “Where did you go?” into “Why were you so late.”

During the late emperor’s reign, eunuchs held great power, with the Eastern and Western Depot extremely influential. But since King Yan took power, he had killed many eunuchs, controlled their numbers, and stripped them of their authority. He established the “Inner Court” to manage eunuchs, allowing them only to do chores and not interfere in court affairs. This delighted the officials who had experienced the tyranny of eunuchs. Many who despised eunuchs couldn’t resist showing their disdain towards the palace eunuchs. A few years ago, this attitude was even more severe, but it had improved in the past two years, especially for the eunuchs serving the emperor. Although they had no power to interfere in court affairs, they could still make life difficult for officials who deliberately troubled them by whispering a few words in the emperor’s ear.

Eunuch Duan often used this method to trip up officials who had offended him. Seeing those officials suffer brought him satisfaction, and the courtiers’ attempts to curry favor with him only inflated his ego. Even someone like Li Wendao, who merely showed disdain after being bumped into by Eunuch Duan, would be remembered and resented.

Suppressing the coldness in his eyes, Eunuch Duan told the emperor, “It’s all my fault for being careless. I should go and apologize to Lord Li.”

“Which Lord Li?” Gu Youxun couldn’t remember the names of his courtiers.

“Assistant Minister of War, Li Wendao. I heard that King Yan’s residence recently sent a basket of potatoes to the West Garden, which was delivered to Lord Li’s residence.”

When Lin Que had Steward Wu send the potatoes, he forgot to give more instructions. Even the Li family thought the potatoes were from the Princess’s residence. Only Eunuch Duan, trying to please the indulgent emperor, had dealings with the West Garden and learned of this incident.

Gu Youxun’s eyebrows shot up: “King Yan specifically sent someone to deliver potatoes from the West Garden to a mere assistant minister? Why?”

Eunuch Duan, knowing the emperor was blind and deaf in the palace, made up a story: “This… this servant doesn’t know. I only heard that Princess Kangning is friends with the Li family’s daughter. Li Wendao has a daughter, who is seventeen this year and is still unmarried…”

Eunuch Duan smiled: “Since King Yan likes her, why not issue an edict to marry the Li family’s daughter to King Yan?”

Gu Youxun reacted as if pricked by a needle: “No, absolutely not!”

Gu Youxun had long suggested marrying King Yan off to a controllable woman, hoping to poison him through her. But the Grand Tutor had said that King Yan must not marry and have children with his bloodline. Thinking of the Grand Tutor, who died in the assassination plot, Gu Youxun’s hatred and fear of Lin Que grew.

A few days after the Dragon Boat Festival, Lin Que dragged him to interrogate officials, forcing him to issue decrees to convict those involved in the assassination. Even the Grand Tutor’s execution was ordered by him.

Gu Youxun’s face twisted with rage. He even threw a wine jug at Eunuch Duan, but his voice was suppressed, not wanting anyone to hear: “You dog, are you also in league with King Yan?”

Eunuch Duan quickly knelt, kowtowing and begging for mercy. He urged the emperor not to harm his health and reminded him of the many Jinyiwei spies. He pleaded not to let King Yan know of the emperor’s outburst.

Gu Youxun, ultimately more afraid of King Yan, forced himself to calm down, feeling utterly humiliated as if his organs were being twisted.

Eunuch Duan continued, “Your Majesty, please calm down. It’s all my fault for not explaining clearly. That Li family’s daughter fell ill last year and burned her brain. She’s a fool.”

“What? A fool?” Gu Youxun thought for a long time, then suddenly asked, “Do you think… a fool’s child would also be a fool?”

Eunuch Duan didn’t know but knew no one would want to marry a fool. Letting King Yan suffer such humiliation, the Li family’s daughter would likely die before marriage, and King Yan would surely despise Li Wendao.

He can manipulate the emperor’s thoughts and actions, so why can’t he do the same with King Yan?