It wasn’t until deep into the night that Jun Beiyue finally came to fetch Ziqing. At that hour, in the main hall, the King of Nanzhao and the leaders of the three clans were still deep in tense discussion.
“Any results?” Ziqing asked eagerly, her voice low.
“Not a single word about the totem. All they’d say was that the totem was a grave insult to Nanzhao’s earth-king deity,” Jun Beiyue answered. Throughout the two to three hours of discussion, he had been probing constantly, seizing on even the smallest fragments of information—yet the King of Nanzhao and the three clan leaders had remained utterly tight-lipped, exercising extraordinary caution!
“If they were being so guarded, why bother summoning you to discuss it at all?” Ziqing asked, puzzled.
Jun Beiyue smiled. “Because this King already knows what tonight was really about—it was simply to ensure this King keeps his mouth shut. This totem is anything but ordinary!”
Ziqing gently touched the side of her face, lowering her head in thought, saying nothing more.
“Regardless of how things unfold, once they begin investigating Chu Feiyan, we’ll be able to uncover some clues.” Jun Beiyue lowered his voice further. “Chu Feiyan will claim illness and recuperate at the border for several days. That gives us more time to stay in the capital—perhaps we’ll get a chance to visit the Medicine Clan’s Poison Den.”
Ziqing had already anticipated this. With honored guests from every kingdom already gathered, if the wedding couldn’t proceed, the Nanzhao royal family would become a laughingstock, and there would be no good excuse to offer Western Chu either!
This princess was one the King of Nanzhao had to marry—but once married, no matter how skilled Chu Feiyan’s guqin playing might be, the moment anything touched on the Lonely Isle, she would never be favored again!
“That old man at the Poison Den has quite the temper. If you need something from him, you’d better have something to trade,” Ziqing said flatly. Last time, she had brought a letter from Lord Situ and even left a drop of her own blood, and still had to ask about those matters!
This time, what would Jun Beiyue bring to offer?
“At the very least, we should make contact. He’s the only person in Nanzhao willing to speak of the Lonely Isle in front of outsiders—one of the few, besides the King and the three clan leaders, who actually knows anything about it,” Jun Beiyue said flatly.
Ziqing was mildly surprised. She had assumed Jun Beiyue had at least some prior acquaintance with the old man at the Poison Den, but it seemed he was largely unfamiliar with him as well.
The two of them talked as they walked, and before long, they found themselves at the entrance of the envoys’ compound—just as Yelu Qianqian happened to be returning as well!
That girl really did have nerve, wandering freely about the Nanzhao capital without a care in the world—if the wrong person found out, wouldn’t she risk being set up by someone with ill intentions?
Ziqing and Jun Beiyue shared the exact same thought, but neither said a word about it.
Ziqing had just been scolded by Yelu Qianqian in the imperial garden, being called “that person” over and over, and she had no patience left to deal with her, while Jun Beiyue had never in his life been one to pay any woman unsolicited attention.
The moment Yelu Qianqian spotted Ziqing and Jun Beiyue, she immediately rushed after them—she was the type who spoke quickly and forgot things just as fast, already having pushed the unpleasantness in the imperial garden entirely out of her mind.
“Prince Yao, what a coincidence!”
They pretended not to notice her, but she genuinely hadn’t caught on.
Jun Beiyue glanced at her and gave a slight nod. “You must be Princess Qianqian of Xijing.”
“That’s right, that’s right! Situ Haonan must have mentioned me to you before!” Yelu Qianqian brightened. She had chased Situ Haonan relentlessly and had even considered trying to pry information out of Jun Beiyue, his closest friend, but this was actually her first time getting this close to him.
But Jun Beiyue simply offered two words in reply. “He hasn’t.”
Yelu Qianqian froze for a moment, then forced a smile. “When is Situ Haonan arriving?”
The Situ family held no small standing in the martial world of Longyuan, and situated as they were between Nanzhao’s border and Da Zhou’s, their status was all the more unique. Whenever Nanzhao held any grand occasion, they were always invited as honored guests—though last time, Situ Haonan had simply chosen to serve as Ziqing’s attendant of his own accord.
“I don’t know. Princess Qianqian, it’s getting late—you should rest,” Jun Beiyue said, already taking Ziqing’s hand to leave.
Yelu Qianqian immediately reached out to block their path. “I don’t care—you’re going to tell me today. You two are so close, how could you not know? Who do you think you’re fooling?”
Jun Beiyue frowned, his voice turning cold at once. “Move aside.”
“I won’t. If you won’t tell me, you’ll have to walk right over me!”
Yelu Qianqian said this while planting herself squarely in the doorway, arms stretched out wide, looking utterly serious about it.
Jun Beiyue’s cold eyes narrowed slightly, and Ziqing clearly noticed a shift in the tension in his leg. This man didn’t have that kind of patience—he really might just kick Yelu Qianqian straight to the ground!
Ziqing herself didn’t quite understand why she made such an exception for Yelu Qianqian—perhaps it was simply because, spoiled as this girl was, she was still the first genuinely innocent, kind-hearted young woman Ziqing had met on the continent of Longyuan.
Letting Jun Beiyue handle this would surely hurt her. Ziqing spoke up promptly, displeased. “Yelu Qianqian, if you don’t step aside this instant, don’t blame this Consort for being unkind.”
“Tell me when Situ Haonan is coming!” Yelu Qianqian insisted stubbornly.
“So you refuse to move aside?” Ziqing arched an eyebrow, challenging her.
Yelu Qianqian said nothing, simply raising her chin defiantly in a show of provocation.
Then, unexpectedly, Ziqing suddenly burst out laughing. “Situ Haonan is standing right behind you, you fool!”
Yelu Qianqian froze for a moment, then let out a delighted gasp. “Really?”
She spun around at once to look—and in that exact instant, Ziqing pulled Jun Beiyue and hurried past her through the doorway!
Behind her, there was nothing but empty space—not a soul in sight!
Yelu Qianqian had been searching desperately for Situ Haonan ever since arriving in Nanzhao, still with no news of him at all. Tricked like this by Ziqing, her heart clenched with anger and disappointment all at once. “Han Ziqing, you liar! Stop right there, you rotten cheat!”
Yelu Qianqian had blurted it out purely out of frustration and anger—but she never expected that Ziqing would suddenly whirl around and unleash a burst of wind energy, striking her squarely in the shoulder blade!
“Yelu Qianqian, I put up with you long enough back in the imperial garden—watch your mouth!” Ziqing snapped furiously. She had no patience for unreasonable people, no matter the excuse.
“You… you dare hit me!” Yelu Qianqian cried out in shock, immediately drawing a short blade and charging straight at Ziqing—never in her life had anyone dared lay a hand on her!
Jun Beiyue’s brows furrowed in irritation, wishing he could simply clamp a hand over Yelu Qianqian’s mouth and kick her straight out the door. But with two women quarreling, there was little a man like him could do but stand aside and watch—though, of course, he had no worries at all about Ziqing.
As Yelu Qianqian lunged forward, Ziqing dodged at once, sidestepping and striking her other shoulder blade with an open palm. Just two strikes, and both of Yelu Qianqian’s arms went limp, unable even to hold her blade steady!
“Han Ziqing, a gentleman uses words, not fists—how dare you strike me!” Yelu Qianqian shouted furiously. Ziqing said nothing, her gaze fixed on Yelu Qianqian’s leg, her foot already poised to kick.
Just then, Yelu Qianqian’s reception minister, Lord Xiuluo, came rushing over in a panic. “Consort Yao, please, stop!”
Ziqing didn’t stop. Her foot came down hard, sending Yelu Qianqian crashing to one knee.
“Apologize,” Ziqing said coldly.