Chapter 33 Suspicion

Chapter 33: Something's Amiss

Yin Yuxie opened his eyes and found himself in an unfamiliar place. He wasn't seriously injured, but his neck still ached.

Rubbing his neck, Yin Yuxie thought to himself that those two had really hit me hard.

Had he been kidnapped?

He jumped up and realized his hands and feet weren't tied, so he immediately put on his shoes and made to escape.

Just as he stepped outside, Yin Yuxie felt something was off... This place looked like the Eastern Palace.

"Young Master Yin, why are you running so fast?" Lu Jiming stopped him, worried that there might be lingering effects that might kill him.

"Lord Lu, it's you!" Yin Yuxie said. "Hold on, I should be calling you Your Highness now. I thought I'd been kidnapped."

"You almost were," Lu Jiming said. "But coincidentally, His Highness and I left the palace today. We had just entered the Tangdi Pavilion when we saw you staggering into the courtyard. By sheer luck, we managed to save you."

Only then did Yin Yuxie breathe a sigh of relief, having almost suspected Lu Jiming was in cahoots with those two from earlier.

"His Highness the Crown Prince still has some official business to attend to and has gone to the study first. You'll stay at the Eastern Palace tonight and return home tomorrow. Your attendant has already gone back to your residence, and your family has been informed, so there's no need to worry."

Yin Yuxie offered no objection and followed Lu Jiming back into the side hall.

"What exactly happened today? I'm still pretty much in the dark," Yin Yuxie said.

Lu Jiming was amused. "I wanted to ask you, and yet you're asking me instead?"

Yin Yuxie scratched his head, wanting to give Lu Jiming a detailed account of what he'd seen and heard, but Lu Jiming refused.

"Let's wait for His Highness. We can go over it in detail then. You'll have to explain it again sooner or later anyway; wouldn't it be tiring to repeat it over and over? You've had quite a scare, so have dinner first." After saying this, Lu Jiming stood up and told him to get some rest.

But Lu Jiming didn't leave immediately. He stood in the corridor, waiting until the end of the Hai hour and the beginning of the Zi hour (waiting until well past midnight) before finally relaxing completely.

His heart hammered in his chest. Whether it was severing ties with the Lu family or joining the Eastern Palace, both were step-by-step processes. But Yin Yuxie was different—this was a life.

In Lu Jiming's view, saving a life would create much greater consequences than changing an event. He had never been so acutely aware that he had truly altered the future.

Wei Yan finished his duties and emerged from the study with Cui Chi and Eunuch Chen. Noticing no one was in Lu Jiming's courtyard, he went to look for him.

"Xuping, not sleeping at this late hour? Standing guard for Yin San here?" Wei Yan was also in high spirits today. Saving Yin Yuxie not only fulfilled their friendship but also repaid the debt of loyalty he owed Huan Zixiao.

In their past life, after Lu Jiming's death, Wei Yan once asked Huan Zixiao what he would do if he got another chance at life. Huan Zixiao didn't answer, just turned away with tears in his eyes.

Now, he was answering for him.

Let my person return to me, and your person return to you. The two red threads that were severed and haphazardly tangled together in the previous life—this life, I'll straighten them out for you.

Don't lose him again.

Wei Yan grabbed Lu Jiming's hand. "Since we're here, and I see the lights are still on inside, let's go in and grill that kid."

Lu Jiming glanced at his and Wei Yan's joined hands.

It seemed that ever since a certain day in Mingzhou, Wei Yan had taken to holding his hand. Whenever there was an opportunity, he would seize it, as if afraid Lu Jiming might vanish.

He had never noticed Wei Yan being so attached before, but it felt rather nice. Holding Wei Yan's hand also made him feel at ease.

Wei Yan went over and knocked on the door, giving Yin Yuxie a start. Upon hearing Wei Yan's voice, Yin Yuxie exclaimed, "Your Highness, you nearly scared me to death."

"Surely no one would dare come to the Eastern Palace to kill you?"

"So I got scared, what of it?" Yin Yuxie said.

"Of course it is, why wouldn't it be? Now that we're all here, and Lord Cui is also present, tell us exactly what happened." Wei Yan pulled out a stool for Lu Jiming, gesturing for him to sit, then tapped the table, indicating for Cui Chi to sit as well.

Eunuch Chen stood guard outside, closing the door tightly.

"Those four were captured and taken back, but you didn't get any results from interrogating them? You have to come ask me in the middle of the night?" Yin Yuxie asked.

Cui Chi smiled. "Young Master, those two dressed as Jianghu figures bit their tongues before they could even be brought back. Lord Feng died under mysterious circumstances soon after entering the Imperial Guard prison."

"Now there's only that one surnamed Chen left, from the Hu'an Chen family. We don't dare interrogate him casually; we need to report to His Majesty tomorrow before we can do anything. So we came to ask you first."

"The Hu'an Chen family?" Yin Yuxie frowned. "Chancellor Chen's Chen family?"

"Exactly," Cui Chi said. "Chancellor Chen isn't the issue, but we have to be mindful of Consort Chen's position."

Yin Yuxie nodded. No wonder that "Brother Chen" looked familiar; he was from the Chen family.

Yin Yuxie recounted in detail everything he saw and heard during the day at the Tangdi Pavilion. He was completely baffled and didn't understand what those two were so nervous about.

After listening, Lu Jiming spoke up. "So, Feng Zheng recognized you." Feng Zheng was that Lord Feng.

Yin Yuxie nodded.

"Then this is definitely no small matter," Lu Jiming said.

"Why is that?" Yin Yuxie asked.

Wei Yan understood what Lu Jiming was hinting at and explained to Yin Yuxie, "He clearly knew who you were and also knew that harming you would bring great trouble, yet he still did it. It means he believed the trouble from their conversation getting out—through you—would be worse than the trouble from killing you."

Yin Yuxie: "He might not have meant to kill me. He just knocked me out!"

Wei Yan realized his slip of the tongue and stubbornly explained, "In short, they intended to harm you." Indeed, from a normal perspective, one couldn't be certain Feng Zheng meant to kill Yin Yuxie.

But he knew, and Lu Jiming beside him knew, that if they had arrived a moment later, Yin Yuxie would have been thrown into the courtyard well.

"Then let's assume the worst," Cui Chi said. "Let's go through it sentence by sentence. What was the first sentence again?"

"At the beginning, those two said that a certain matter was almost resolved thanks to a formula provided by the one surnamed Chen, and that Chen's clan elder brother would thank him," Yin Yuxie said. "Lord Feng met with the one surnamed Chen to ask him for a formula."

Lu Jiming stood up, went to the adjacent study to fetch paper and brush, and wrote the words "Chen family, clan elder brother, formula." He circled "clan elder brother."

"Why don't we first guess who this clan elder brother might be?" Lu Jiming said with a smile.

The Hu'an Chen family rose through military achievements, after which their descendants began pursuing the imperial examination path. They were somewhat similar to the Lu family, but the Chen family hadn't completely abandoned their military influence. Their clan members were skilled in both civil and military affairs, far more powerful than the Lu family.

However, having lived through a previous life, Lu Jiming knew a bit more than others.

In their previous life, before the emperor passed away, he appointed Chancellor Chen as a regent to assist Wei Yan. But Chancellor Chen was not content with remaining a subject; he controlled the court for many years until he was finally dealt with in the third year of Qingjing.

However, with Consort Chen in the palace, Wei Yan considered his father's consort and his third brother's feelings to some extent. The Chen family didn't collapse completely; only Chancellor Chen himself was punished.

Knowing that Chancellor Chen was not a virtuous man, Lu Jiming now couldn't help but suspect him first.

Wei Yan also smiled. "I'll guess Chancellor Chen."

"Why not guess Consort Chen?" Yin Yuxie, unaware that the two before him were answering with prior knowledge and not skilled in convoluted thinking, looked utterly confused.

Cui Chi said, "Forgot to mention, that man is called Chen Yijun, of the same generation as Chancellor Chen. Consort Chen is the niece of both men."

Yin Yuxie nodded, suddenly recalling that the two men had indeed mentioned something about "Lord Chen" (referring to Chancellor Chen)—it definitely couldn’t have been referring to Consort Chen.

"Now, about the prescription," Lu Jiming continued, tapping his pen under the words "prescription." "A prescription must be used on someone. That means it’s either for saving lives or harming them. Can we all agree on that?"

"If it were meant to save people, there'd be no reason to keep it secret," Cui Chi remarked.

Wei Yan said, "Rather than the prescription itself, I’m more curious about what the Chen fellow meant when he told Feng Zheng that he saw the prescription's effects every day."

"At the very least, it's not being used on Feng Zheng himself or anyone close to him. Otherwise, Feng Zheng wouldn’t be asking for the prescription—he’d be demanding an antidote," Lu Jiming replied. Wei Yan's line of questioning was unusual, and Lu Jiming hadn't picked up on that detail before.

"What office does that Feng Zheng hold?" Wei Yan asked casually, unable to think of anything else.

Lu Jiming smiled, about to reply that he was the Vice Minister of Works, when he suddenly remembered—this was Zhaohe 7, and Feng Zheng’s position as Vice Minister of Works was from Qingjing 20. He hadn’t been back in this time for long and hadn’t been active in official circles, so he had no idea what Feng Zheng was doing now.

Cui Chi answered, "Your Highness, Feng Zheng is currently in the Chancellery, serving as a Diarist."

Lu Jiming looked at Wei Yan, whose expression instantly changed. Wei Yan said to Cui Chi, "Forget about Consort Chen's status for now. Go find the Chief Commissioner immediately and interrogate the Chen fellow overnight. Make sure to find out exactly what this prescription is."

Realizing the gravity of the situation, Cui Chi excused himself and rushed out of the room.

Yin Yuxie was still completely in the dark. "What’s going on?"

Lu Jiming: ...

Lu Jiming suddenly felt that Yin Yuxie’s death in his previous life had been a terrible injustice. Even if they had let him go, he wouldn’t have realized what was happening. Killing him would have posed a greater risk.

"Why aren’t either of you saying anything?" Yin Yuxie pressed.

Wei Yan stood up and patted Yin Yuxie’s shoulder. "Turn in early. Tomorrow, leave the palace and go straight home. Until the New Year, don’t go anywhere except the Eastern Palace."

Yin Yuxie shrugged, thinking how much he hated it when people only told him half the story.

The night had dragged on far too late, and Yin Yuxie fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. The next morning, he sweet-talked the palace attendants into bringing him some pastries he hadn’t tried before, eating his fill before leaving the palace.

At the palace gate, his family’s servant was already waiting outside, with a carriage prepared. Yin Yuxie looked closely and saw Huan Zixiao was there too.

Seeing Huan Zixiao, Yin Yuxie forgot all about the chaotic events of the previous day and excitedly ran over to him.

Just as Yin Yuxie was about to speak, Huan Zixiao suddenly pulled him into a tight embrace, holding him fiercely.

Yin Yuxie was at a loss, unsure where to put his hands. "What’s gotten into you now? You’re going to squeeze me to death," he said, sticking out his tongue and making a face as if he couldn’t breathe.

Huan Zixiao didn’t loosen his grip at all, tears streaming down his closed eyes. Sensing something was wrong, Yin Yuxie asked, "What’s the matter? Did I do something to upset you?"

"No," Huan Zixiao said. "I don’t know what’s wrong either. I just feel inexplicably uneasy."

"Don’t be uneasy," Yin Yuxie said urgently, reaching into Huan Zixiao’s embrace. "Where’s the bead bracelet you brought me? Is it amber or agate? Hurry up and give it to me!"

Author’s Note: Well, their roles are basically over. From now on, they’ll only make cameo appearances or become part of Wei and Lu’s play. Let’s congratulate this semi-new, semi-old couple. We still don’t know which of them is the top or the bottom.

-----------------------