The candle flames in the hall flickered violently. Ripples of uncertainty washed across Mo Daoyun’s face.
He said in a bland tone, “What the Marquis speaks of—this humble one truly understands less and less…”
“I asked Second Young Master Fu—the night of the assassination, they rushed Prime Minister Fu down the mountain in a state of anxiety. Fortunately, they encountered the Academician passing by and took your carriage back to the Prime Minister’s Manor, which allowed him to receive timely treatment…” Ye Qi said. “At that time, the people beside Prime Minister Fu were Second Young Master Fu, Madam Bi, and the imperial physicians. They were all soaked by the rain. The half folding fan in Prime Minister Fu’s chest pocket wasn’t placed there by them. If not them… it could only have been you, Academician.”
“Ha, I merely happened to pass by. I’ve never seen any folding fan you speak of…” Mo Daoyun said. “If the Marquis is investigating something, I’m afraid you’ve found the wrong person.”
Upon hearing this, Ye Qi laughed lightly. “How strange—Academician Mo hears about the ‘half folding fan’ matter yet shows not the slightest curiosity?”
Mo Daoyun’s form stiffened. Then he heard Ye Qi say, “After all, when Young Master Yue gave me that half folding fan, you were present. Even if this matter has nothing to do with you, hearing that a half folding fan appeared in Prime Minister Fu’s chest pocket—not even asking a single question about it, doesn’t that seem a bit… like a confession without torture?”
“What?” Mo Daoyun laughed coldly. “Since when did indifference become grounds for the Marquis’s wild fantasies?”
Seeing that he was determined to deny everything to the end, Ye Qi continued with a self-satisfied smile, “In Prime Minister Fu’s chest pocket was half of a fan I’ve desperately sought for years. For this person to place the fan there with Prime Minister Fu, two prerequisites were needed. First, he knew I needed this half folding fan. Second, he knew this fan originally belonged to Prime Minister Fu…”
He paused and pulled out a folding fan from his chest, snapping it open with a flourish. In the middle of the fan surface were traces where thin paper had been glued together. “Otherwise, he couldn’t achieve his purpose.”
Mo Daoyun’s gaze involuntarily drifted over. “Purpose?”
Ye Qi gently shook the fan. “Making the fan whole was his purpose. But if it united immediately, I would definitely go in person, and that person would have no way to know where the folding fan pointed. However, if the clues were unclear, I would naturally dispatch several groups of people to search… This person only needed one or two informants in the He family’s intelligence network to learn the secret behind the folding fan… And moreover, without being suspected.”
He folded the fan and stood up, staring fixedly at Mo Daoyun. “Eleven years ago in the cave at Beiming Peak, only you and I survived. In other words, the only person who knew I had the folding fan in my hand and that I was to give the folding fan to Fu Liujing—that was only you, Academician Mo.”
Changling’s fist clenched imperceptibly, exercising extreme restraint to avoid revealing any telltale signs.
However, upon hearing this, Mo Daoyun could no longer contain himself. “Even if I knew, so what?”
“There’s one thing I’ve always found very strange. Fu Yangui himself is proficient in medicine. If he knew traces of thorn poison remained in his body tissues, how could he allow himself to fall into such a dangerous situation?” Ye Qi slowly paced forward a few steps, speaking unhurriedly. “Besides this, there’s an even stranger point—Fu Yanyang has lived in Jinling for a long time and knows little of jianghu affairs. How did he know that Elder Xiao’s prepared spiritual medicine could save his brother’s life? Unless… someone told him.”
Mo Daoyun’s expression changed.
“Before visiting tonight, I asked Second Young Master Fu. He said that when you sent them back to the manor that day, you mentioned before leaving that Elder Xiao’s spiritual medicine had marvelous effects in removing decay and expelling poison, and told him to inquire who in Jinling City might have any in storage. But at that time, even the imperial physicians hadn’t detected the poison in Prime Minister Fu’s wound. Why would you mention this?” Ye Qi clicked his tongue. “Alas, Prime Minister Fu is such a cautious person. If he knew the thorn poison on his body wasn’t left over from years ago but was deliberately administered by someone, he’d probably be quite furious.”
Mo Daoyun’s eyes underwent several changes. Finally, he stopped pretending to hide anything. “Young Marquis has come tonight—are you here to threaten me?”
“No, I’ve come to discuss an alliance with the Academician.” Ye Qi shook his head with a smile. “Academician Mo should be very clear that I’m seeking the fan to save my life. Now with little time remaining, if the Academician can tell me what’s missing from that half folding fan, I can share the results with the Academician. In the future, I’ll gain new life and the Academician will cultivate the supreme martial arts under heaven. Wouldn’t that be a win-win situation?”
This proposal was tempting enough, yet Mo Daoyun showed no sign of being moved. He only said, “Why doesn’t the Marquis ask how that folding fan fell into my hands?”
“Old matters that have already occurred—what’s the point of pursuing them?” Ye Qi said. “Academician Mo need only say—will you cooperate or not?”
Mo Daoyun glanced at him and also stepped forward. “On what basis should I trust you? If what you say is true and I’ve planted informants in the He family, then I’ve already grasped those general locations. After the Marquis meets his end, if I spend several years slowly searching, I’ll find it eventually, won’t I?”
Ye Qi laughed lowly. “Academician Mo wouldn’t truly think Wu Run’s folding fan is merely a location, would he? Without the other half of the poem, without the jade ring the Young Master gave back then, even if the fan riddle were revealed to you, it would be futile.”
Mo Daoyun: “After I reveal it, with the Marquis’s capabilities, if you wanted to eliminate me, how could I escape?”
“Don’t trust me? That’s fine. We’ll go together. With the Academician’s martial arts cultivation, surely you needn’t fear my scheming against you?”
Mo Daoyun narrowed his eyes at Ye Qi, trying to discern something from his gaze. “If I’m not mistaken, when Young Master Yue gave the Marquis the folding fan back then, it was to save Second Young Master Yue’s life. These years, Marquis He has moved about the jianghu also to search for traces of the Yue family’s young master… You were willing to venture into the dangerous Yan region to save several sect leaders, which shows you don’t value your own life or death. Now you say seeking the fan is to save your own life—forgive me for harboring doubts… Marquis He, who are you truly trying to save?”
This question was extremely abrupt. Changling thought to herself: Could this Mo Daoyun have seen through my identity? Otherwise, why would he suddenly bring this up?
Ye Qi froze for a moment, then suddenly burst out laughing, laughing with a flavor of “absurdity.” “Academician Mo, who told you I don’t value my own life or death? I, He Yu, have been plagued by chronic illness since childhood. If I hadn’t tried every means to survive, how could I possibly be standing here now? The Young Master gave me the folding fan—true, it was to save Second Young Master Yue. But Second Young Master Yue has been missing for so many years now. If he were alive, he would have lived long ago. How could he possibly still be waiting for me to save him?”
The Second Young Master Yue right before his eyes: “…”
Mo Daoyun asked, “What if the Second Young Master is still alive?”
Changling’s heart jumped. She involuntarily straightened her back. Ye Qi’s eyes flickered slightly as he said blandly, “So that’s what Academician Mo is worried about. Rest assured, on this matter, my thinking aligns with Academician Mo’s. We’ve both concealed the truth from back then for so long—how could we allow dead ashes to reignite?”
“Oh? The Marquis’s words—could it be you already know something?”
Ye Qi tilted his head slightly, the corner of his mouth hooking up imperceptibly. “I don’t know what the Academician refers to. Is it that the Young Master was saved by the great hero Luo Zhou of Maoshan back then, or that the Second Young Master was saved by Prime Minister Fu?”
Upon hearing this, Changling looked at Ye Qi in disbelief—what did he mean that her eldest brother was saved by Luo Zhou?
Mo Daoyun’s expression became even more spectacular than Changling’s. He blurted out, “How could you know…”
His voice suddenly stopped, but it was already too late. After Ye Qi’s probing words, he concealed the shock in his heart and looked back without leaving a trace. “I also know you’ve long been tied to the same rope as His Majesty. You created those two empty graves to deceive others, yet secretly you still worry constantly that they’ll return… Academician Mo, oh Academician Mo, let me speak honestly with you. From the very beginning, I approached the Yue family for the folding fan. Saving the Second Young Master, deathbed entrustments—those were all lies to deceive the Young Master. Eleven years ago, after I left Beiming Peak, I followed the clues he revealed and found the Second Young Master, then… killed him.”
Ye Qi smiled quite savagely. If Changling didn’t know all the behind-the-scenes details, just watching him perform this act would be convincing enough. Mo Daoyun was even more shocked. “You… you killed the Second Young Master?”
From this single question alone, Ye Qi determined the first point—Mo Daoyun hadn’t recognized Changling.
“You don’t believe me?”
Ye Qi pulled out those two jade rings from his chest—when Yue Changsheng had transferred both the jade ring and folding fan, Mo Daoyun had witnessed it. He knew both the fan and jade were key to decoding the secret, but probably wasn’t clear about the story of the He family also having a jade ring.
“This jade ring was given to me by the Young Master. The other one belonged to the Second Young Master,” Ye Qi lied quite convincingly. “Only when the two things unite can I find the other half of the folding fan in Yanling Mountain. Do you think, if the Second Young Master were still alive, how could he allow such a critically important item to fall into another’s hands?”
Mo Daoyun stepped forward two paces, wanting to examine the jade rings closely, but Ye Qi put them away.
The second point—as expected, Mo Daoyun only knew he had obtained the other half of the folding fan from Yanling Mountain, but didn’t know the relationship between the jade ring and the folding fan.
Ye Qi played this villainous role to the hilt. “Now, does the Academician trust this Marquis?”
Mo Daoyun’s jaw clenched, and he actually revealed a strange smile. “What about the Young Master?”
“I admit, after searching for so many years, I’ve never been able to find where the Young Master is hidden. However…” Ye Qi pretended not to see the shifting aura on Mo Daoyun’s body and stood with his hands behind his back. “Regarding this folding fan matter, I deliberately leaked information. The fish has taken the bait. As long as you give me a few more days, I’m confident I can ensure this venture of ours has no ‘future worries.'”
“Good, good, good.” Upon hearing this, Mo Daoyun said “good” three times. “Since the Marquis is so forthright, this humble one… finds your kind offer difficult to refuse.”
When he said the word “refuse,” he walked to the table and slowly picked up a long sword. Although his back was to them, his killing intent could no longer be suppressed and began to flow out. “However, Young Marquis, I’m afraid you’ve made one mistake… You and I are not the same kind of people.”
The next moment, silver light flashed in the hall. That long sword suddenly left its sheath and, without warning, thrust horizontally toward Ye Qi’s neck!
This sword strike was like a giant eagle diving swiftly, a tiger’s roar falling. Ye Qi casually grabbed a chair beside him to block. With a “clang,” wood splinters flew everywhere. The Young Marquis leaped back several zhang in apparent panic. He had clearly been prepared, yet deliberately put on an appearance of being flustered and extremely disheveled. “Mo Daoyun! Have you gone mad?!”
“He Yu, do you think everyone in the world will nest together with you like snakes and rats, betraying trust for power and survival?!” Mo Daoyun’s gaze fixed deadly on Ye Qi, his hatred turning both eyes blood red. “The Young Master was such a figure of clear wind and bright moon—to fall to today’s state… Heaven is blind! I always thought Marquis He was like me, bearing humiliation only for that promise made long ago… I was blind!”