Grand Preceptor Liu killed Lord Haiyan, and Lord Yuncheng even helped?
The first reaction of everyone present upon hearing this was to shake their heads. How was this possible? Grand Preceptor Liu was known for his kindness and had no enmity with Lord Haiyan. Lord Yuncheng was as close to Lord Haiyan as blood brothers. How could these two conspire to commit murder?
But Shen Qiyuan’s gaze was too resolute, so resolute that even the emperor dared not look at him directly.
Elder Wen hurriedly stepped forward: “Your Majesty, a thousand-li dike collapses from an ant hole. The court cannot harbor such harmful elements. This matter must be thoroughly investigated.”
“Yes, Your Majesty, please issue the decree.”
“Your Majesty!”
These old men were most troublesome. With the situation escalated to this point, if he didn’t investigate, he would earn the reputation of a foolish ruler. But if he did investigate… Liu Zhangtu and Yuncheng had always been skilled at pleasing him. How could he bear to part with them?
After a long standoff, the emperor finally said with an unpleasant expression: “Fine, this matter shall be entrusted to Minister Lin of the Ministry of Justice.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.” Shen Qiyuan bowed.
The emperor left with a flick of his sleeves, his imposing manner somewhat oppressive. Even after he had been gone for quite a while, those remaining in the pavilion dared not speak loudly.
Elder Wen couldn’t help but sigh toward Shen Qiyuan: “My lord, if you lose His Majesty’s favor over this matter, is it worth it?”
“For those who serve as officials, there is no question of worth or not worth,” Shen Qiyuan said calmly. “We seek only to have a clear conscience.”
Elder Wen rarely performed a bow to him.
Nearby, Yuncheng came to his senses, still unconvinced. He rushed several steps to Shen Qiyuan’s front and questioned in a deep voice: “On what basis do you say I harmed Haiyan?”
Shen Qiyuan looked at him directly: “Lord Yuncheng himself knows clearly that Lord Haiyan was an extremely cautious person. If you hadn’t been present, he wouldn’t have failed to guard against villains behind his back.”
Speaking of it, it was truly lamentable. They were clearly two people who had grown up together from childhood, and outsiders all thought they wore the same pants, yet one of them had secretly harbored treacherous thoughts.
“You’re talking nonsense!” Yuncheng said angrily. “Haiyan was a civil official. How cautious could he possibly be?”
Shen Qiyuan frowned. He took a step back, somewhat unwilling to continue speaking. Yuncheng refused to let it go and came forward to grab him again.
A slender hand reached over from the side, blocking his movement.
Yuncheng looked sideways and saw Ruyi’s eyebrows and eyes appearing casual and lazy as she said, “My lord should go to the Zongzheng Separate Courtyard first. What questions can’t wait to be discussed in court?”
“What kind of thing are you? Get out of the way.” He reached out to push.
Ruyi didn’t let him touch her, but flicked her sleeve to push him back several steps, standing in front of Shen Qiyuan and saying: “I have neither official rank nor imperial favor, so naturally I count as nothing. But compared to my lord, I can be considered to have humanity. At least I wouldn’t dare to loudly question others after causing the death of a close friend.”
She stood in front of him, a head shorter than him. Shen Qiyuan only had to lower his eyes slightly to see the top of her head.
His gaze immediately softened.
Ruyi was completely unaware, only squinting at Yuncheng: “My lord just said Lord Haiyan was a civil official, but how do I remember His Majesty just said Lord Haiyan worked with you as Left and Right Censors, which are military positions in the inner court?”
Yuncheng’s tone was unkind: “What’s strange about that? He and I both practiced martial arts from childhood, but he later abandoned it.”
“Did he abandon it, or did he surpass you in everything and couldn’t bear to see you always falling behind him, so he simply gave up martial arts for civil service?” She sneered.
As if someone had stepped on the tip of his tail, Yuncheng suddenly shouted: “Stop talking nonsense!”
But Shen Qiyuan found it puzzling: “How do you know this?”
She didn’t even know these two people.
Ruyi snorted and laughed, her long eyes drooping: “I’ve seen plenty of dramas where close friends turn against each other. It’s nothing more than love or jealousy. Lord Yuncheng holds the position of Imperial Attendant, a second-rank official position. If not compared with Lord Haiyan’s first-rank Grand Censor, his career path is already bright. And Lord Haiyan, to have no guard against someone with such hidden malice, must have truly treated him as a blood brother, accommodating him in everything.”
“Some people become more ungrateful the more they’re accommodated, instead harboring resentment that’s hard to dispel, suddenly giving birth to malice.”
Yuncheng’s face turned pale.
He looked around frantically, shaking his head repeatedly.
It wasn’t so. He had no intention of killing Haiyan. After all, they had grown up together from childhood. He couldn’t bring himself to do it.
He had only stood in front watching, watching with his own eyes as the murderer raised the stone to smash against his neck, without calling out a warning.
It could be treated as if he weren’t at the scene. He bore no guilt for murder.
Images of the two of them from childhood to adulthood flashed through his mind, and Yuncheng trembled as he lowered his eyes.
There would always be resentment between people, even between the closest ones. Even though Haiyan truly accommodated and yielded to him in everything, being punished together with him, eating coarse steamed buns together, knowing his most shameful past yet still treating him like a blood brother, he still harbored resentment.
Same background, same circumstances. Initially, he was the one who won, the one who gained his master’s approval faster in martial arts, the one who first obtained an official position upon entering the palace. But how did it happen that overnight, Haiyan gained imperial favor and leaped above him, so that he had to bow when meeting him?
Why? Who cared about his charity? He was originally the better one.
When Grand Preceptor Liu approached him, he initially refused. But as if possessed by demons, he still came to this place. Watching Haiyan about to run toward him, he called out as if bewitched: “Don’t move, I’ll come find you.”
He did go over. When he walked to the fifth step toward him, that stone smashed against Haiyan’s back of the head.
For a moment, Yuncheng regretted it. He didn’t want to lose this friend. But alongside the regret, there was also a trace of relief in his heart.
No one would ever say Haiyan was more accomplished than him again. He’d never have to worry about falling short somewhere and being lectured by him again.
He was Yuncheng, the only child of the Yun family, with no brothers or siblings, no need to live in comparison.
Ruyi quietly watched this man crying and laughing, showing little interest as she said to Shen Qiyuan: “Let’s go, my lord. The competition outside is about to begin.”
This minor incident would have its resolution upon returning to the city. Shen Qiyuan’s birthday celebration still needed to continue. Today, as soon as His Majesty arrived, he set a prize. Whoever could seize the blue tassel and red jade from the Heaven-Reaching Pillar would be granted one marriage arrangement. Now, a group of young men and women were already flexing their muscles in the hunting ground, waiting for the Central Palace to wave the command.
Shen Qiyuan nodded, but his gaze toward her carried some depth.
Shouldn’t demons be carefree and without worries? How could she see through human nature so clearly?
Grand Preceptor Liu and Yuncheng were escorted to the Zongzheng Separate Courtyard, and others also dispersed. Zhao Yanning came over to help Fuman up and finally said to Shen Qiyuan: “Thank you, my lord.”
They had thought the Black Market Case would truly end without resolution, never expecting that they had been too impulsive and had wrongly blamed Shen Qiyuan.
Shen Qiyuan waved his hand, showing no intention of holding it against them. His eyes remained on Ruyi, as if wanting to ask something but forcibly restraining himself.
“Let’s go watch the competition first,” he said. “After the competition ends, I’ll ride with you to the traveling palace.”