Teng Yu’yi bewilderedly rubbed her ears, having expected Lin Chengyou to interrogate her like a criminal, yet he had come out with such an unexpected response.
Had he been drinking? He seemed quite intoxicated.
Concentrating, she caught a whiff of wine from Lin Chengyou, but it was very faint – he must have only had a few cups during the meal, far from being drunk.
This was strange.
Ah, perhaps he suspected her of wrongdoing and was deliberately setting a trap with these words.
She remembered that time at the Colored Phoenix Tower – this was how he had dealt with her then. She shouldn’t forget that he had spent years handling cases at the Court of Judicial Review and had developed a complete mindset for catching criminals. If she didn’t clarify this situation directly, there would be no way to muddle through.
No, she had come tonight to catch a thief – why should she let Lin Chengyou treat her like one?
“Who says I’m trying to trick anyone?” Teng Yu’yi said righteously. “I am— wait, never mind that first. Hundred Flowers’ Bane is odorless and tasteless, how can Young Master detect its scent?”
Lin Chengyou thought to himself, not trying to trick anyone. Then someone must have bullied her. That made sense – although Teng Yu’yi had a bit of a temper, she didn’t have a bad heart at all.
“This is where your knowledge falls short,” he said. “Hundred Flowers’ Bane itself has no scent, but its antidote is different. It uses pungent ingredients that create a unique fragrance when mixed. After taking this medicine, even bathing or burning incense can’t mask that essence. I’ve handled several cases involving Hundred Flowers’ Bane before – how could I not recognize it? Next time you want to use such things, ask me first.”
Next time? Was he offering to guide her? Teng Yu’yi had already found Lin Chengyou’s behavior strange, but now she was completely bewildered.
Lin Chengyou smoothly took out the Mind-Clearing Pills he always carried: “Take this. These pills have a cool, refreshing essence that should help mask that scent on you somewhat.”
Teng Yu’yi stared at the medicine bottle in confusion, then looked up at the person before her.
A pleasant-mannered Lin Chengyou, a reasonable Lin Chengyou, a Lin Chengyou actively helping her cover up evidence.
This wasn’t right. This absolutely couldn’t be Lin Chengyou.
She instinctively glanced at the Spirit-Sound Bell on her wrist – no response. She felt inside her sleeve – Little Cliff hadn’t reacted either. She had guessed wrong – this was Lin Chengyou himself.
Her thoughts were chaotic. Was he ill? Even if he wanted to trap her with words, he didn’t need to go this far. In the past, if he wanted to investigate her, he would always be direct… wait, he seemed to like that purple jade saddle, and she had seen him using it on his horse during their journey up the mountain today. That must be it – people who receive gifts often feel awkward about it. Having just accepted such a valuable gift, then immediately exposing her faults – perhaps Lin Chengyou himself felt this wouldn’t be proper.
Ah, thinking of it this way finally made sense.
Teng Yu’yi breathed a sigh of relief and hesitantly accepted the pill: “Young Master truly wants to help?”
Of course – weren’t his attitude and tone sincere enough?
He asked again: “Tell me, who’s the one bothering you?”
Teng Yu’yi carefully studied Lin Chengyou. Though he was smiling, he truly didn’t seem to be trying to trick her. His gaze was even quite sincere. She managed to suppress the confusion in her chest and stood on tiptoe to look behind him: “Alright, Young Master, you said yourself you wanted to help me. Come with me – that thief is probably in Xiangluan Pavilion right now.”
***
According to Teng Yu’yi’s original plan, after entering Xiangluan Pavilion, she needed to first hide in a concealed spot – a location she had already picked out in the plum forest opposite the east corridor. After hiding, she would quietly wait for that person to appear.
Lin Chengyou’s method was even simpler. At the entrance to Xiangluan Pavilion, he directly called the guard palace servants to a dark corner and asked if anyone had returned earlier.
The palace servants were confused, looking at Lin Chengyou and then at the unfamiliar maid behind him, repeatedly saying no one had.
Lin Chengyou and Teng Yu’yi exchanged glances. The back wall of Xiangluan Pavilion was heavily guarded – even if that person had martial arts skills, they wouldn’t dare climb over randomly. It seemed they hadn’t arrived yet.
“Don’t let anyone know we came in. If you dare breathe a word of this, I’ll hold you responsible.”
“We wouldn’t dare!” The palace servants were frightened into swearing to the heavens.
Thus the two of them walked straight into Xiangluan Pavilion.
Teng Yu’yi watched Lin Chengyou’s tall figure from behind. Setting aside what exactly was wrong with Lin Chengyou tonight, having his help was certainly much easier than handling things alone.
Reaching the plum forest behind the east corridor, Lin Chengyou looked up and selected the tallest plum tree. He took out a talisman, pricked his finger for blood, and began drawing something beneath the tree.
Teng Yu’yi bent down to look – Lin Chengyou was setting up a barrier. He had used this method to hide in trees before at the Colored Phoenix Tower. This way, even if people in the tree made noise, it wouldn’t reach the ears of those below.
Soon after, Lin Chengyou dusted off his hands and straightened up, pointing to the treetop and saying softly to Teng Yu’yi: “With your recent lightness skill practice, this tree shouldn’t be a problem for you, right?”
Teng Yu’yi looked up, estimating the height of the largest branch from the ground: “Should be fine.”
“Then shall I go up first? I’ll help you up from above.”
“Alright.” Teng Yu’yi nodded.
A shadow flashed before her eyes as Lin Chengyou gracefully leaped into the treetop. Not wanting to be outdone, Teng Yu’yi quietly gathered her inner force, first backing up some distance, then charging at the tree like a young calf. Her feet repeatedly stepped on the trunk as she lightly jumped upward. Just as she was about to reach for her targeted branch, her hand slipped, and she began to fall.
Although Lin Chengyou was crouching in the tree, he had been watching Teng Yu’yi below without missing a detail. Seeing this, he quickly flew out a silver chain to catch her waist, slowly hoisting her up like a bucket.
Teng Yu’yi felt somewhat embarrassed. Unable to move properly while suspended in mid-air, she could only shrug nonchalantly: “Usually trees of this height aren’t a problem for me. My hand just slipped earlier.”
While slowly pulling her up, Lin Chengyou recalled her movement technique full of openings.
What could he say? He had to be patient with her.
Praise her.
“Yes,” he praised endlessly. “Your movements are light and graceful, and you show good insight in using inner force. After just ten days of practice, you’ve already achieved some success – truly showing remarkable talent.”
Teng Yu’yi was quite pleased at first but then felt something off about his latter words. She secretly glanced at him – alas, such an intelligent person, yet he seemed to have taken the wrong medicine. Unfortunately, catching the thief was urgent now – she’d have to figure out what was wrong with Lin Chengyou tonight later.
Lin Chengyou steadily placed Teng Yu’yi on the branch: “Sit tight.”
Teng Yu’yi hugged the thick trunk to adjust her position. Lin Chengyou leaped to a branch on the other side, sitting down with just the trunk between them.
After waiting a while without seeing anyone, Lin Chengyou turned to look at Teng Yu’yi. Here he was, late at night, crouching in a tree with her.
He had implemented “patience” and “accommodation” twice already, but Teng Yu’yi still didn’t seem to have caught on.
It seemed he needed to bring out “caring” now.
Teng Yu’yi stared unblinkingly at the rooms in the east corridor. After waiting a long time without seeing anyone, Lin Chengyou thought for a moment and suddenly understood: “Don’t tell me this thief wants to steal your things?”
Their voices in the tree couldn’t reach those below. Teng Yu’yi was silent for a moment – she could distrust others, but she couldn’t distrust Lin Chengyou.
If he wanted to harm her, during those previous times when evil spirits came after her, he could have simply stood by and done nothing.
Since he had stumbled upon this scene tonight, perhaps she could ask him to investigate which people in the mansion had acted suspiciously that night.
Thinking this, she lowered her head and took the initiative to hand Lin Chengyou the cut sash piece from her sleeve: “On Young Master’s birthday night, someone at the banquet secretly cut the sash on my skirt.”
She explained everything that had happened that night in detail.
As Lin Chengyou listened, the smile disappeared from his face. He held up the sash piece, carefully examining it in the distant light. Although this type of sash was soft and delicate, it was exceptionally sturdy. Even when used to hang silver sachets, fan pendants, and other small objects, one needn’t worry about it breaking no matter the weight.
Teng Yu’yi was right – this sash had been deliberately cut.
Someone wanted to harm her.
His chest thudded several times violently. No wonder she always carried poison and tricky hidden weapons – was it because she had sensed danger? How hateful that he hadn’t known the circumstances then and had only thought her nature was crooked.
His eyes trembled slightly as he raised them to look at Teng Yu’yi, his tone very serious: “How many times has that person harmed you?”
Teng Yu’yi said cautiously: “Besides the black-robed person I saw in my dreams, this person seems to be making their first move against me.”
Lin Chengyou thought with a stern face. Setting aside whether the black-robed person was a coincidence or some kind of omen, had the sachet thief only moved once?
Teng Yu’yi hadn’t been in Chang’an for long, and these past couple of months she had been either taking refuge at the Colored Phoenix Tower or hiding at the Great Seclusion Temple. Such places naturally provided no opportunity to act, and even when not in hiding, she always had Duan Fu’s protection.
That night at the women’s banquet, Duan Fu wasn’t by her side, so that person had taken the opportunity to act – they had been waiting for a chance.
“The palace isn’t like other places. Once exposed, it would bring complete disgrace to one’s family before the Emperor and Empress. This person has been able to restrain themselves for so long, showing they’re quite cautious. In my opinion, they might not appear tonight.” Lin Chengyou looked toward the distant east corridor, frost seeming to coat his brows.
Teng Yu’yi looked around – it seemed so. After a while, women would start returning one after another. She felt somewhat disappointed: “I prepared a packet of Hundred Flowers’ Bane for nothing. In a few days when Xiangxiang Academy reopens, there won’t be as many concerns there. With classmates living together, there will be more opportunities to act. I suspect they won’t be able to resist making a move then.”
Lin Chengyou tucked the sash piece into his robes: “No rush, leave this matter to me.”
Teng Yu’yi had just turned her gaze back to the east corridor when she heard this and seemed to freeze.
Lin Chengyou glanced at her: “After all, this happened in our mansion, and besides – your matters are my matters.”
Saying it this way, surely Teng Yu’yi would understand how much he cared about her.
Teng Yu’yi’s expression became completely dumbfounded.
Lin Chengyou’s ears burned. He cleared his throat, thinking Teng Yu’yi must be overwhelmed with emotion, or— Suddenly feeling something was wrong, he whipped his head around to see a monster silently appearing at the end of the east corridor.
The thing was completely naked, all four limbs pressed to the ground, shaped like a toad but countless times larger. Its neck stretched high, but atop it was an old person’s smiling face. It moved without a sound, yet with extraordinary speed.
In just the blink of an eye, the thing had quickly crawled from the end of the corridor to the steps.
A Chi Kuo? Lin Chengyou was startled – how could a Chi Kuo appear in this place? He casually threw out a talisman, but the thing leaped accordingly, successfully avoiding the strike.
“What kind of monster is that?” Teng Yu’yi choked, finally coming to her senses, though her voice couldn’t stop trembling.
Before she finished speaking, the monster seemed to discover the figures in the tree. It turned its head, and that strange face suddenly smiled at Teng Yu’yi.
Seeing the dangerous situation, Lin Chengyou quickly pulled Teng Yu’yi into his arms, covering her ears while holding her as he leaped down from the tree.
Teng Yu’yi knew the monster’s laughter must have something strange about it. In her panic, she buried her face in Lin Chengyou’s chest, not daring to move. As her cheek touched the fabric of his front robes, her heart gave two strange beats.
Quick as lightning, Lin Chengyou seemed to throw out another talisman. When he spoke, the vibrations of his voice transmitted to her eardrums: “Teng Yu’yi, I understand now – you’re not unlucky, these things are coming after you specifically.”
************************************************************
A’Yu: It’s over, even the biggest secret can’t be hidden anymore.