Murong Jin sat at the table, her gaze fixed on the doorframe, her hand gripping the edge of the table so hard her knuckles were white. The door was open, the cold wind sweeping in. Die Man was gone.
Xue Liulan walked in softly and knelt before her, taking her cold hand. "What happened?"
She looked at him, vacant, then slowly pulled her hand away. She stared out into the desolate courtyard.
"What did she say to you?" His heart tightened.
"Yi," she whispered, her lips pale.
"You know?" He was stunned. He had just finished speaking with Li Yan in the front hall. How had the news reached the inner courtyard so quickly?
"Xue Liulan, what did you promise me?" Her eyes filled with tears. "You asked me to trust you. And this is your answer?"
"Murong Jin, listen to me. Yi…"
"There is nothing to say." She stood abruptly, backing away. "You are the master my family chose. It is normal for us to sacrifice for your ambition. You don't need to explain anything."
He stood as well. "I know you treat him like a brother…"
"Yes. You knew. And you still put him in danger. Xue Liulan, I misjudged you." She looked at him with hatred. In the end, for his throne, I am nothing.
His gaze hardened. "Misjudged me? Murong Jin, you sentence me to death without even letting me speak?"
She paused, but didn't turn back. She stood still, waiting.
"I don't care what Die Man told you. What I say now is the truth." He relaxed slightly. At least she was listening.
She looked at him, then quickly looked away.
"Yi was poisoned in Qishi Town. After handing the item to our seventh brother, he vanished. My brother is searching for him. He is missing, not dead. Murong Jin, even if you want to condemn me, wait until you see his body." He sighed.
"I'm going to Qishi Town to find him." She bit her lip.
"What?" His voice rose. "Murong Jin, this is not the time for wilfulness."
She glanced at him and turned to leave. It wasn't a request. It was a notification.
He grabbed her arm and pulled her into his embrace, locking his arms around her. "Murong Jin, just listen to me, alright?"
"I just don't want to see you right now." She took a deep breath. "Xue Liulan, let me go for a walk."
"No." His voice was firm. "Murong Jin, if I let you go now, I will regret it for the rest of my life."
"Xue Liulan, I will come back safely." She sighed, defeated. "If I stay here, worrying every day, I will go mad."
"Then go mad. I will be here with you. At least you will be safe." He held her tighter.
"How can you let me go?" She pushed against his chest, futilely.
"You really want to go?" He caught her hands, pinning them behind her back.
"Yes."
"Fine. If you insist on leaving, I will go with you."
"What?" She stared at him, shocked. "Are you crazy? Xue Feiyan is out of the capital. This is your chance to seize power. If you leave now, you'll lose everything." She gripped his arm.
"You drove me to it." He rested his forehead against hers. "Murong Jin, what exactly did Die Man tell you?"
"That Yi is dead. Trapped by Xue Feiyan in Qishi Town." She looked at him. "If she hadn't told me, were you planning to hide it from me?"
"No." He answered honestly. "You would rather be hurt than deceived. I know that." He paused. "But you believed her."
"Even if it was half true, I can't rest easy about Yi." Her eyes dimmed. "Liu and Xing already died for this empire. I don't want Yi to…" She choked up, burying her face in his shoulder, sobbing.
He listened, a spectator to her grief. He had no right to speak. Every throne was built on bones. He knew that. He knew that pawns sometimes had to be sacrificed.
Because she cared, he had tried to spare the Murong family. But in the end, they were pieces on the board. No matter how careful he was, they could be taken at any moment.
"So you don't want to see me. Because you can't choose." He stroked her cheek. "If you help me, you hurt those you consider family. But because you care for me, you can't stand by and do nothing."
She nodded, her tears flowing freely. Must I fail everyone in the Vermilion Bird Camp? Must I send them to their deaths with my own hands?
He thought for a moment, then smiled helplessly. "Alright. Since you don't want to see me, how about I bring your cousin to keep you company when this is over?"
"Yu?" She looked at him through tear-filled eyes.
"She is still in the palace. When this is done, I'll ask Father to let her come here." He wiped her tears away. "As for Yi, leave it to me. Alive, I will find him. Dead, I will find his body. Agreed?"
She stared at him. He was rarely this serious, rarely showed such pain in his eyes.
"Alright." She nodded slowly. "I will trust you one more time."
Once she was asleep, he slipped out of the room and called Ning Bi.
"Watch her closely these next few days. Don't leave her side."
"Yes, my lord," Ning Bi whispered.
He nodded and returned to his study. "Yulu."
A shadow guard appeared from behind a pillar.
"Who leaked the news from the front hall to Die Man today?"
Yulu shook her head. "I don't know. I thought it was Little Dingzi, but I followed him to the tea room. He did nothing unusual."
"Strange." He tapped his head. "Find out. I need to know who it is."
"Understood."
"And keep an eye on the Ninghe Courtyard." He knew Murong Jin. She was stubborn, especially now. She had agreed today, but she might change her mind tomorrow and try to leave.
Yulu vanished. Hanlu had been right. When it came to Murong Jin, the master missed nothing.
The room was quiet, save for the flickering candle.
"Little Dingzi!" he called.
The eunuch ran in and bowed. "Yes, master?"
"Did you send the invitation to Guo Shangzhong?" He picked up a memorial from his desk. As regent, petitions that couldn't be decided by the chancellery came to him.
"Yes. Eunuch Guo sends his thanks and says he will be here on time tomorrow."
"Good. Go."
"Yes, my lord."
Xue Liulan watched him leave, a strange smile on his lips.
He turned back to the memorial. His smile froze. His back stiffened, his brow furrowing.
He read for a moment, then set it down and began to pace, his hands clenching and unclenching behind his back. Every so often, he stopped to stare at the ceiling.
After a quarter of an hour, he stopped abruptly, sat down, ground some ink, and wrote a line of characters next to the text.
He put down the brush and exhaled, picking up the memorial to read it again under the lamp.
Black characters on white paper. An accusation of brutality against local officials. Not just one case, but across the entire capital region. The author was a minor official. How he had managed to get this secretly onto Xue Liulan's desk was a mystery.
Next to the passionate, indignant text, Xue Liulan's bold calligraphy read: Summon this official to the capital within the month. Without fail.
To find such an honest official in the dynasty was rare. Just for getting this memorial to his desk, the man was not to be underestimated.
Footsteps marched past the window. He walked to the door. "He Chengjian."
The guard stopped. "My lord?"
"Pick some men. I have a job for you." He smiled.
He Chengjian understood instantly. No one knew that He Chengjian, whose martial arts seemed inferior even to Murong Jin's, was actually second only to Hanlu in the Fifteen.