Song Chuyi slept extremely restlessly that night. The next morning when she woke, her under-eyes were covered with a faint layer of bluish shadow. Nanny Xu thought it was because her words had weighed on Song Chuyi’s mind. Both distressed and sighing, she said to Nanny Xu, “I know that right now the young miss and His Highness are in their honeymoon phase, sweet as can be, but…”
Nanny Xu knew she also had Song Chuyi’s best interests at heart. This matter was originally something Nanny Xu herself worried about. Imperial family affairs—how could they ever be straightforward? She thought for a moment, then said in a low voice, “Sooner or later it has to be said. The young miss is sensible and knows what’s what in her heart. Let’s not bring it up recently and add to her troubles.”
She watched the servants below prepare breakfast and led people in to arrange everything. Just as she was about to serve Song Chuyi her morning meal, Qing Ying came rushing in, looking completely out of breath. With great difficulty she finally caught her breath, and without stopping for even a moment, told Song Chuyi, “They caught them! They caught the people!”
Nanny Xu listened with a completely bewildered expression, having no idea what Qing Ying was talking about so early in the morning with all this catching business. But Song Chuyi had already immediately risen to her feet and instructed Nanny Xu to go report to Qingning Hall, “Tell Mother that I’m feeling unwell and won’t be coming to pay respects today. Please ask for her understanding.”
At the same time, she was already calling for Ziyun to fetch her cloak as she prepared to go out. Nanny Xu was extremely anxious, agreeing to her instructions while trying to persuade her, “No matter what, you should at least eat something first…”
Song Chuyi shook her head, letting Qing Ying arrange the ties of her cloak. “There’s no time. I have urgent matters. Nanny, don’t forget to go to Qingning Hall to inform them on my behalf. You need say nothing else—just that I’m feeling unwell.”
Snow had fallen all night. Outside, a layer of silvery white carpet had already been laid down. Everywhere the eye could see was dazzling white. Song Chuyi raised her hand to shield against the sunlight and this excessively white snow carpet, and quickly left the palace.
With the Crown Princess and Zhou Weizhao there, the Internal Servant Bureau always arranged her palace departures without any objections.
Song Chuyi quickly boarded the carriage. Seeing Qing Ying and Ziyun also following up, she first asked Qing Ying, “When did the message arrive?”
“This morning. Luo Gui sent it through Qing Zhuo very early, saying there was news from that side. Ma San and the others caught people very smoothly and are waiting for you to come over.”
The carriage traveled at top speed. In just over half a day, Song Chuyi had already arrived at the location. The flat-roofed houses in the outskirts were piled thick with snow. The branches of the originally bare white birch trees were also heaped with snow. Looking from afar, it had its own particular charm, but Song Chuyi had no time to appreciate it. She crossed through this grove of trees and entered one of the rooms, smoothly seeing the people who had been tied into bundles and thrown in the corner.
There were over a dozen of them. It seemed they had invested heavily in this.
Song Chuyi raised her eyebrows and sat on the stool Ma San had moved over. After looking at that group of gagged people for a while, she asked Ma San, “Have you questioned them yet?”
Yesterday she had deliberately brought up old matters at Qingning Hall, mentioning again the matter of sending Prince Gong’s two sons out of the capital. She had verbally hinted that once they left the capital for the imperial mausoleum, it would be a dead end. And because of Prince Gong’s previous escape, the imperial mausoleum had additional heavy troops guarding it. Previously, the Heir of Marquis Guangping had died due to lax supervision. Now it had been changed to the fourth-rank Luminous Ceremony General from the Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s family standing watch. To put it without exaggeration, at this time, not even a fly could get in.
Fearing that Prince Gong’s two precious sons would really be killed, and fearing that once they went to the imperial mausoleum there would be no more opportunities to act, wouldn’t they have to make their move on the road? The capital was definitely out of the question—who would dare act in the capital now, having eaten the heart of a bear and the gall of a leopard? Before even making a move, that hand would certainly already be chopped off, and it would implicate others too. They also couldn’t get out of the capital’s city gates.
That only left this halfway point on the road. Song Chuyi had long ago had Ma San and the others scout out the locations. Where it was suitable to act, they were crystal clear about it in their hearts and had long been prepared.
Sure enough, yesterday afternoon after leaving the city gates and traveling into the night until reaching this wilderness grove halfway along the road, something happened. A gang of black-clothed people surged forward trying to snatch the prisoners.
Being already prepared, and Ma San’s group originally all being extremely skilled in martial arts, that gang lost eleven people dead and four captured. In any case, not a single one escaped—all were tied up in this room.
Following Song Chuyi’s lead, he kicked one of the uncooperative ones and shook his head. “Haven’t laid a hand on them yet. Waiting for you to arrive.”
Song Chuyi acknowledged with a sound. Looking at the several people who remained completely silent as if dead, her face showed no particular expression as she said, “Then begin the questioning.”
Ma San crisply agreed and, together with Chang Gui and Chang Rong, took one person each. They brought out the skills they had when working under Cui Shaoting, even thinking to use the methods from their bandit days of cutting flesh with dull knives. Piece by piece they carved off flesh from arms and thighs, yet still no one made a sound.
At a glance, these were clearly not ordinary ruffians.
Song Chuyi waved her hand to call a halt, knowing that nothing could be gotten from this approach. After quieting down, she looked them over one by one. These people’s gazes seemed frozen, barely even moving their eyeballs.
Eyes like these—Song Chuyi had seen them before. It was at the hunting grounds that time. Prince Duan’s group of people had this kind of gaze. These people were death warriors.
Prince Gong still had death warriors remaining in the capital! Song Chuyi’s heart gave a slight start. But even at the final moment of his escape from the imperial mausoleum, he hadn’t deployed these death warriors. Could it be that these death warriors normally weren’t under his command but were dispatched by someone else?
Then, the person Prince Gong had left in the palace beside Empress Lu, who could poison Empress Lu and could also command his death warriors—exactly who was this person?
She had previously seen Shen Qingrang training death warriors too. Those times were very chaotic. The newly ascended Prince Duan was originally a bloodthirsty man. Han Zhi, this Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, was even more ruthless in killing, a pervert who dared to use people to fight fierce beasts for entertainment. Shen Qingrang, following behind Prince Duan’s rear and getting meat to eat, naturally also grew close to Han Zhi and began learning to train a batch of death warriors, saying it was just in case.
These people would not protect themselves. Once they received orders, it was fight to the death. These people also never divulged their master’s secrets. If the handkerchiefs gagging their mouths were pulled away now, they would probably immediately bite off their tongues to commit suicide. This was also why Ma San and the others had gagged their mouths.
Fortunately, Song Chuyi just happened to have also learned a few tricks for dealing with them. She had Ma San take a pendant and wave it before their eyes while she herself carefully watched each person’s reactions.
Good thing there was one who finally couldn’t hold out after half an hour, and his eyeballs followed that pendant’s movement.
Song Chuyi smiled slightly, stretched out her hand to point him out. “Take him to the adjacent room.”