Soon after, Wei Chenghui began taking Wei Wujun to the city towers daily to watch the soldiers train and discuss military affairs with Si Lanfeng. Wei Wuxia, having clashed with her father that day, now personally went to dine with him every day, hoping to make amends.
One evening, Wei Wuxia’s rabbit escaped again, running into Wuyan’s secluded courtyard. She and two young maidservants went to catch it. When they walked deeper in, they were stopped by the guards. Though she was the Wei family’s young lady, she knew the rules and didn’t continue further. Her senior maid had sharp eyes and soon discovered traces of the rabbit near the artificial mountain. The master and servants lingered for a while, caught the rabbit, and quickly left.
Several days later, Lian Yu again sent someone to the Wei residence to visit Suzhen. However, when the city guards brought the visitor before Wei Chenghui, he became suspicious, despite the visitor’s impeccable manners.
Because this person was actually Xiao’an’s personal maidservant—Hong Gu.
Normally, if a man came to visit it would be improper, and it wasn’t as if Lian Yu lacked female attendants. Though Wei Chenghui was quite displeased by this uninvited visit, he didn’t refuse Lian Yu’s gesture and agreed.
“Many thanks to the Grand Preceptor,” Hong Gu curtsied gracefully with a smile.
Wei Chenghui nodded, but thought to himself, this time is different from before—I cannot allow you people to speak freely anymore, otherwise Lian Yu will inevitably push for more. He beckoned, calling Yu Jinglun and Mao Hui forward.
“You two follow along,” he said, glancing at Hong Gu. “Attendant Hong, this Feng lady’s health isn’t good. Since I promised His Majesty to take good care of her, I can’t let anyone tire her out. If you’re visiting, the time it takes to drink a cup of tea is sufficient. Moreover, His Majesty didn’t inform me of your coming here—this reporting after the fact really doesn’t follow proper protocol. Don’t blame me for being heartless.”
Hong Gu patted the basket in her hand, still smiling cheerfully. “Of course. His Majesty thought it over repeatedly and still feels sorry for the young lady, so he had this servant bring some tonics. This servant will stay just to watch her consume them, then leave.”
“His Majesty is probably worried that I might take out my anger about the grain convoy incident on Miss Feng, right? He wants to see how she’s doing. His Majesty need not worry—I’ve always been a reasonable person. Since the previous incident wasn’t her doing, but rather General Murong and the others acting impulsively, I won’t blame her for it.” Wei Chenghui spoke a few bland words, then dismissed them.
As everyone reached the door, soldiers outside brought in several more people. Wei Chenghui’s expression immediately darkened, and he sneered coldly, “Is my place some kind of great charity hall? You people come and go as you please, treating it like your own backyard!”
He stared coldly at the several soldiers. “Are you all insane? How dare you let wave after wave of people in so carelessly!”
“Outrageous! Military punishment!”
He swept his sleeve, and the several soldiers knelt down in terror. One who appeared to be a captain hastily reported, “Grand Preceptor, forgive us! We didn’t do this intentionally, but these two came urgently, saying the previous visitor wasn’t actually sent by Emper… by Lian Yu.”
The ones who came with him were indeed Xuanwu and Qinglong. This time, Xuanwu had a favor to ask, so he no longer maintained his previous cold attitude. Instead, he cupped his hands urgently and said, “Grand Preceptor, please don’t blame them. This happened suddenly—we two will explain to you shortly.”
Over there, Qinglong was also quick with his hands and feet. As he spoke, he already kicked away the basket in Hong Gu’s hands. The soup bowl inside fell and shattered, spilling soup all over the ground.
The fragrant aroma immediately diffused faintly through the air.
Hong Gu asked coldly, “What do you two gentlemen mean by this?”
Qinglong shouted, “You know very well what we mean! His Majesty never sent you here—you came on the Empress Dowager’s orders, wanting to poison Minister Li to death so His Majesty could be free of concerns!”
Wei Chenghui’s expression changed drastically. Over there, Hong Gu also sneered coldly, “Ridiculous! Do you have any evidence for randomly suspecting the Empress Dowager? Though I didn’t come on His Majesty’s orders, the Empress Dowager also meant well—she just worried that His Majesty might be suspicious, so she didn’t tell him.”
Xuanwu stepped forward, his gaze already extremely stern. “If not for the princess’s deep friendship with Minister Li, secretly overhearing and reporting to His Majesty, you would have succeeded in your treacherous scheme! A show of concern? I say this soup must be poisoned! After all, this isn’t the first time the Empress Dowager has done such things.”
As he spoke, he suddenly approached a tea-serving maidservant, his fingers curved like claws, reaching for the top of her head. As the maid screamed in alarm, he already had a silver hairpin in his hand. He immediately squatted down and thrust the hairpin into the spilled soup on the ground.
Mao Hui suddenly cried out—the tip of the hairpin instantly turned black.
Only then did Hong Gu’s face turn slightly pale. Wei Chenghui flew into a rage and ordered Yu and Mao, “Kill this woman for me!”
But Xuanwu and Qinglong were startled and quickly intervened, “Grand Preceptor, wait! This Hong Gu is after all the Empress Dowager’s person. Please let us take her back for direct confrontation, so the Empress Dowager will be convinced and won’t cause more trouble.”
Wei Chenghui was furious beyond measure, but the two immediately knelt down to plead. These were Lian Yu’s personal bodyguards, and they were giving him face. Knowing that Lian Yu still needed to depend on Murong Ding and didn’t want to tear relations with Xiao’an completely, he finally agreed.
However, Xuanwu and Qinglong didn’t leave immediately. Xuanwu tentatively asked, “We wonder if the Grand Preceptor could do us another favor and let us visit Minister Li?”
Wei Chenghui had his mood disturbed by this Hong Gu, but he didn’t refuse their request. The more soft-hearted Lian Yu was toward this Feng Suzhen, the happier he was. However, he similarly wouldn’t allow them to stay long and still ordered Yu and Mao to supervise.
Entering the inner courtyard, as they passed by the artificial mountain, Xuanwu and Qinglong paused for a moment. Behind them, Mao Hui frowned, “What are you skulking around for?”
Yu Jinglun was a careful person with many schemes. Seeing that Qinglong seemed to be looking into the mountain cave, he strode forward. Qinglong’s eyes showed a trace of alarm. Seeing him approach, he couldn’t help but become angry and struck the stone with his palm. “What do you people mean? This Wei Chenghui also allowed us to come and visit—must you rush us so impatiently?”
Mao Hui was furious and was about to step forward to fight, but Yu Jinglun looked into the artificial mountain and saw only scattered stones. There was a gold ingot on the ground, but nothing else unusual. This courtyard had many guards—probably someone carelessly dropped this thing. That Qinglong was attracted by the silver’s gleam. Yu picked up the silver, tucked it into his sleeve, and said to Mao Hui, “Let’s go. Guests are guests—we’ll settle scores on the battlefield sooner or later.”
Qinglong sneered, “That thing isn’t yours, is it?”
Yu Jinglun’s gaze darkened, and he spoke with sinister undertones, “Oh, I thought the emperor’s entourage had plenty of profit and looked down on such small things.”
Mao Hui laughed heartily and chimed in, “Now they’re like homeless dogs, sleeping under the sky with the earth as their blanket. Even daily meals are a problem. Old freak, for all your supposed cleverness, how can you not understand this principle?”
Qinglong flew into a rage, but Xuanwu pushed him and said quietly, “Let’s go, let’s go. Don’t cause trouble.”
Yu and Mao mocked them, and soon they arrived at Wuyan’s chambers. The guards opened the door. Suzhen was still bound to the wooden post. Whether from not seeing sunlight for many days or from illness and injury, her lips were dry and covered with white foam, her face waxy yellow. She leaned against the post with her head tilted, eyes closed, her whole person having lost a circle of weight, looking listless. Hearing the sound, she slightly opened her eyes. Seeing Xuanwu and Qinglong, her eyes brightened. The two felt pained watching her. Xuanwu stepped forward and asked a few questions in a very low voice, barely audible, but Suzhen shook her head and only asked them to tell Lian Yu that she was fine.
Probably inquiring about her condition.
Yu Jinglun watched coldly from the side. Soon, he drove them away and locked the door again.
Inside the room, Suzhen watched quietly. Finally, she closed her eyes again to rest, gently biting her lips to resist the pain and conserve her energy.
Several hours later, Xuanwu and Qinglong brought Hong Gu back to the Murong army camp. They left her aside and entered the tent to report to Lian Yu. After hearing their report, Lian Yu’s eyes suddenly contracted. The flowing light in his eyes seemed complex—partly slight joy, partly immense worry. Before long, he picked up his brush and wrote a letter, summoning the gray-clothed person who had been guarding outside the tent. He handed the letter to him and gave quiet instructions. The gray-clothed person quickly left the tent, went to the horse pen to select a good horse, mounted, and rode away.
Afterward, Lian Yu seemed to have no time to pursue Hong Gu’s matter and went directly to where Quan Feitong was imprisoned. Half an incense stick’s time later, he hurried out and summoned Huo Chang’an, the Lian brothers, Murong Ding and others for a meeting.
In the military tent, everyone’s faces were tense. They mainly discussed one problem: General Liu’s forces had departed many days ago, and by timing, news should have been transmitted back in the past couple of days, but very strangely, there had been complete silence. The supporting army, when attacking the Wei army’s grain convoy, had already avoided the Wei army’s scouts in the forest and departed from another direction, but they hadn’t yet reached their destination, so no news could possibly return.
General Liu’s army’s mysterious situation was extremely unsettling!
That night, the lamps in Lian Yu’s tent burned until deep into the night. Later, Xiao’an and Yan Da, along with several important officials, all entered.
More than ten days later, at evening, Wei Chenghui was still on the city tower with Si Lanfeng, watching the soldiers train. When night fell, the Murong army launched a surprise attack on the Wei army.
Leading the troops were not Lian Yu, but Huo Chang’an and Murong Ding. Wei Chenghui was furious, knowing they had deceived Lian Yu and come to cause trouble again. He led troops with Si Lanfeng to meet the attack while sending Wei Wujun back to the Wei residence.
Outside the Wei residence, over a thousand Wei soldiers were stationed—an impregnable fortress. Moreover, with the city gates unbroken, there was no way to enter. But Wei Chenghui was cautious about the city and residence, absolutely refusing to let anything happen to the Wei residence. Now, with Wei Wujun, Wuliang and others holding the fort in the residence, there was absolutely nothing to fear.
Wei Wuxia was also at the city tower having dinner with Wei Chenghui. Hearing that the Murong army was attacking, though she knew the Wei army had considerably more soldiers than the Murong army and the city walls were extremely solid, being a young lady after all, she was still frightened pale. Wei Chenghui scolded her for being useless and had soldiers drive her back to the Wei residence in a carriage.