Chapter 119: Breaking the Cocoon
The carriage tracks crushed the blue stone slabs, and thunderclaps tore through the ink-black night sky.
As Gu Jie was helped onto the carriage by Ping Le’s attendants, the strong scent of alcohol and impulse still boiled in his blood, refusing to subside.
“The Gu family has been loyal for generations; are you truly willing to raise Li Yan’s bastard?”
“As long as you do my bidding, this Palace will not mistreat you. When the deed is done, I will make Li Yan kneel before you and beg for forgiveness…”
“Why would Your Highness help me?”
“The mark you left on Xue Liu’s lower back back then, this Palace saw it clearly… Heh… Now she is a thorn in both our sides, what do you say?”
Crack!
Lightning split the sky.
Raindrops struck the carriage roof, and a few stray drops seeped in through the gaps in the carriage curtains.
Ping Le’s words echoed repeatedly in Gu Jie’s mind, like a viper’s forked tongue.
“It wasn’t me, I didn’t want to brand her… Princess Ping Le forced me, they forced me…” he muttered to himself, his hands on his knees trembling uncontrollably, his teeth chattering with a soft clicking sound.
At this moment, he felt as if he stood at a crossroads of fate.
Left or right, his next decision could overturn his destiny, even pushing his family into an unknown abyss…
Cowardly as he was, he struggled, wavered, raged, felt a stir of ambition, yet was also afraid…
–
The sound of rain outside was incessant.
Inside Tan Qiu Courtyard, a candlestick illuminated Xue Sui’s profile.
Under the hazy light, her fingertips traced the mortise and tenon of the gilded box.
The mechanism sprang open, revealing a layer of green velvet inside the box. Beneath the velvet lay a sandalwood box—that was the “Luban Lock” Li Zhao had given her in You Huang Ju back then.
Xiao Zhao, seeing her gaze fixed for a long time, couldn’t help but ask, “Why don’t you throw away something poisonous, Young Lady?”
Xue Sui replied, “The Qing Dai Sand refined by Xizi originates from the same source as this poison. After the Qing Dai Sand is buried in the underfloor heating for three months and fused with the jade pendant, its toxicity will slowly dissipate.”
Her fingers slowly touched the gilded box, and a hidden compartment was revealed.
She took out a finely ground powder from within and poured it onto the Xuan paper used for calligraphy and paintings. Under the lamplight, it seemed to emit a crystalline, ethereal glow.
Xiao Zhao was startled and before she could speak, the window lattice suddenly vibrated. Whether it was the wind or a wild cat hitting the flower stand under the eaves, it made a crisp sound.
The candlelight flickered violently for a moment, followed by a piercing shriek that cut through the silence of the rainy night.
“Assassin!”
“Help! There’s an assassin in Cui Wei Pavilion.”
Cui Wei Pavilion was located to the east of Tan Qiu Courtyard.
Xue Sui quickly walked over and pushed open the window to look.
Fine raindrops pattered down, and a figure leaped over the roof eaves, as light as a ghost, moving with extreme speed towards the distant roof ridge. In the blink of an eye, it vanished into the intermingling of rain and dark tiles…
Several guards from the Prince’s Mansion gave chase.
Could that person be Li Zhao?
Her pupils contracted slightly, and she closed the window with a flick of her wrist.
Suddenly, as if struck by an idea, she pushed the window open again…
A dark figure flashed under the eaves, agile as a civet cat, and agilely climbed through the window.
The bamboo tube for feeding Spirit Feathers below the window clattered to the ground.
Startled by the sudden noise, the Spirit Feather let out a dissatisfied squawk.
“Young Lady, be careful!” Xiao Zhao reacted with extreme speed. Before she could clearly see the intruder, she had already drawn the long sword hanging on the wall hook, its blade pointed directly at the intruder.
“Xiao Zhao.” Xue Sui’s expression was calm. She gently pushed aside the sword blade and looked at Li Zhao, who was smiling leisurely.
“You go and stand guard outside.”
Xiao Zhao responded, sheathed her sword, cast a worried glance at Li Zhao, and slowly retreated.
The rain had already soaked Li Zhao’s dark, close-fitting attire, and his hair clung wetly to his handsome, heroic face.
But his expression was relaxed. He casually brushed away the water from his forehead, then picked up Xue Sui’s handkerchief to wipe himself dry before casually sitting down.
Twisted smoke curled upwards from the incense burner.
The gilded box on the wooden desk instantly caught his attention.
He had seen something similar in the Emperor’s sleeping quarters in Zichen Hall.
Li Zhao asked no further questions, merely leisurely poured a cup of tea, his eyes holding a smile that didn’t quite reach them: “So Madam has kept the token of love so meticulously, preserving a Luban Lock to this day.”
Xue Sui replied, “I remember very well everyone who has offended me.”
Revenge is a dish best served cold.
Li Zhao gently curved his lips, a playful expression on his face, and looked around the room, “Your Tan Qiu Courtyard is becoming increasingly difficult to enter. It seems Prince Duan is quite attentive to you…”
Xue Sui offered no comment.
“Your Highness braves danger late at night; you wouldn’t have come just for idle chatter, would you?”
Li Zhao raised an eyebrow and, with a half-smile, picked up the Xuan paper with a name written on it from her table.
“I came to see the grand display of Prince Duan keeping his treasure hidden away.”
His tone carried a hint of mockery.
Of course, Xue Sui had also noticed Li Huan’s spies planted in Tan Qiu Courtyard.
Because of this, she felt even more that Li Zhao’s actions were reckless and truly worrying.
Xue Sui said, “The situation in Shangjing is tense. A single misstep could lead to utter ruin. Both you and I must act with caution.”
Li Zhao laughed freely, “Are you worried about me?”
Xue Sui: “I fear Your Highness will ruin my plans.”
Li Zhao: “I was innocent and didn’t want to fight, but you dragged me into it.”
Xue Sui looked into his deep eyes and snorted, “There are no innocents in this war, only swords that haven’t had time to be stained with blood…”
Li Zhao smiled, “You see things quite clearly.”
Xue Sui snorted and remained silent.
Li Zhao narrowed his eyes, looking at the powder on the Xuan paper, a playful smile curving his lips, “Ping An indeed has some skill. It’s a pity that the fake jade pendant still alerted Li Huan…”
As expected, a fox.
Li Huan was, and so was Li Zhao.
Xue Sui’s expression was calm, and she said unhurriedly, “Gains and losses, success and failure, are common. The chess game is not yet over; there’s no need to panic.”
Li Zhao tugged at his damp sleeve cuff and chuckled, “I told you that day, instead of beating around the bush, why not be direct—accuse Princess Ping Le of colluding with the Xizi people? Plotting rebellion?”
Xue Sui frowned slightly, “The Emperor will not believe Ping Le is a traitor.”
Li Zhao chuckled, his eyes as cold as a deep pool.
“A lie only needs three parts truth to be deadly. If you add a drop of poison to those three parts truth, it becomes utterly ruinous.”
Xue Sui looked at him, a complex expression flashing in her eyes, “Crown Prince, you are truly ruthless towards your own Imperial Sister and Brother.”
Li Zhao’s lips curved slightly, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.
“Imperial blood is a sword or a shield, but never a sibling.”
Amidst the rain, his voice was as light as a sigh.
It sounded indifferent, yet also helpless.
Xue Sui wondered how many treacherous palace struggles one had to endure to lose hope in family affection and become stone-hearted.
Li Zhao was like that, and so was she.
Were Xue Qingzhi and Xue Yueying not also her kin…
“Yes. Power is a demon-revealing mirror; the longer you stand before it, the less you recognize the demon in the reflection… Supreme power will not stop greed from growing; it will only breed more demons and inflate desires.”
“Ping An saw through this, which is why she wanted to send the Xue family to the altar, wasn’t it?” Li Zhao chuckled, picked up the wolf hair brush she had placed on the desk, and leisurely sketched on the paper.
A graceful and beautiful lady, with a gentle demeanor, came to life, covering the name on the Xuan paper…
“In three days, a Xizi Merchant Caravan will arrive in Shangjing…”
Before he could finish speaking, a sharp bird cry suddenly came from the night sky.
It pierced the firmament abruptly, like a sharp blade slicing through the night, a mournful sound.
Li Zhao looked up at her, the corners of his eyes curving.
“Li Huan is here.”
