“Eh? Isn’t this Second Majesty?” Someone in the crowd discovered that Xi Qiuyi was here. The moment he said this, everyone started to salute Xi Qiuyi.

  “No need to stand on ceremony. I’m just here to take a look and see who could possibly be so audacious as to cause a disturbance for Imperial Father.” Xi Qiuyi feinted curiosity, causing everyone around to nod in agreement.

  The first person that spoke was a minister. He nodded in understanding as he said, “We found it strange too. It is said that it’s one of Baili Yu’s subordinates……”


  “Resplendent Imperial Uncle’s subordinate?” Of course he knew that it was Baili Yu’s subordinate. However, Xi Qiuyi had no choice but to keep pretending in order to fish for more useful info. “No wonder he dared to attack the Imperial City. So it turns out that it was Resplendent Imperial Uncle’s subordinate……”


  As he spoke, he suddenly stopped as if he realized his tongue slipped. He asked to gloss over it, “Then does anyone know why he came?”


  “I heard that it was because somebody had been caught by the Imperial City’s patrol soldiers and he came to demand for that person.”


  “Who is it? It couldn’t be another of Resplendent Imperial Uncle’s subordinates, right?”


  “It seems to be.”


  “Earlier, it seems that someone was even sent to call for He Meng daren.”


  “He Meng daren is in charge of the patrol groups so this matter definitely had to be handled by him. However, why hasn’t he come even after so long?”


  Xi Qiuyi’s gaze brightened a little when he finally got the news he was fishing for. He was just about to ask some other things when he saw the Director of Palace Affairs rush in with small hurried steps.

  He was the person who was sent to call He Meng into the palace. However, he looked very flustered. Could it be that something had happened?

  Xi Qiuyi didn’t have to wonder for long because someone immediately stepped forward to ask, “Director Mo, what’s wrong?”


  “Aiy, that He Meng is dead. That’s what’s wrong ah! It’s troublesome now! You guys shouldn’t keep poking around here, you should all get as far as possible, otherwise……”


  He didn’t bother to finish the sentence and glared at the crowd. However, his eyes were sharp and he immediately spotted Xi Qiuyi who was in the middle of the crowd. He hastily walked over.

  “Second Majesty, why are you here as well?” His tone seemed very surprised.

  “I just came from Imperial Mother’s place. Wasn’t there word that someone had dared to attack the Imperial City? Hence, I came here to see the excitement. What is it, Director Mo?” Xi Qiuyi had naturally heard what Director Mo said earlier. He was inwardly shocked. He Meng was dead? Who did it?

  However, on the surface he acted as if he didn’t know anything. This was a skill that all members of the imperial family had to know and Xi Qiuyi was quite adept at it. Director Mo didn’t see anything out of the ordinary and simply sighed as he replied, “My Second Majesty ah, why do you insist on coming here for excitement of all places? That He Meng is your subordinate ah!”


  “What does this have to do with He Meng? Moreover, didn’t Director Mo say that he had already died?”


  “It’s a problem because he died! Aiy, you ah, had better listen to a piece of advice from this old servant. Hurry and return to your residence, it’s best if you don’t stay here!” As Director Mo spoke, he shook his head and slowly walked towards the imperial study.

  Seeing this, Xi Qiuyi silently cursed ‘old thing’ and hastily pulled him to a stop. Beneath his sleeve, he sneakily pressed a first-rate jade pendant into Director Mo’s hand as he said with a smile, “Director Mo ah, look at you! It must be so tiring for you to run back and forth, yet you are still kind-hearted enough to take the time to warn us. You truly think of us a lot.”


  Who was Director Mo? He could tell with just a touch that this was high quality jade and a smile immediately filled his face. “These are all things this servant is supposed to do, it’s nothing much.”


  After he said that, he lowered his voice and said, “Second Majesty, my time is limited. Whatever you want to ask, hurry!”


  Xi Qiuyi understood the situation well so he directly asked him what exactly was going on with He Meng’s death.

  Director Mo sighed and said, “It’s just earlier, a couple black-clothed people suddenly broke into the He Residence and killed everyone in sight. The entire family of around seventy people is dead!”


  Xi Qiuyi was very stunned. He hadn’t expected to hear this kind of answer. “Who exactly was it to be so cruel? Nothing like this has ever happened in the Imperial City.”


  “The people from the High Judiciary Office, the Ministry of Justice, and the Imperial Censorate are already heading over there. We can only wait for their news.”


  Xi Qiuyi asked a few more questions but could only obtained similar info, so he didn’t ask any further in order to avoid arousing suspicion. Director Mo entered the imperial study to give the Emperor a response.

  Xi Qiuyi watched on until most of the crowd had left, but didn’t immediately return to his residence. He first paid a visit to his own mother, Virtuous Consort niangniang.

  Virtuous Consort is a title rank. The term ‘niangniang’ is added to the names/titles of the women in the imperial palace as a way of showing respect, like the Japanese suffix -sama. It’s also used for goddesses, which caused the term to be associated with the meaning ‘goddess.’


  After all, the excuse he used earlier was that he had been here to see the Virtuous Consort before he came to check out the excitement. If he didn’t link things up properly, it would probably cause a lot of trouble.

  In regards to He Meng’s death, he could only stifle his anger without letting it show because he could easily guess who did it.

  “Your Majesty!”


  Meanwhile, when Director Mo entered the imperial study, the scene he saw was of Xi Qiulin flipping restlessly through memorials while Jun Xin sat quietly on the temporary chair placed on the left side of the hall, drinking tea.

  The two didn’t talk, but from their appearances, it could be seen that Xi Qiulin wasn’t as calm as Jun Xin was.

  It was relatable though. The matter with the surviving members from the previous dynasty had just been resolved, yet before the Emperor even had a chance to catch his breath, another incident occurred!

  And it was even a situation which he had to get involved in. Wasn’t it just a Li Xueyi? Why did he have to get involved?

  The previous time, he didn’t look into Li Xueyi’s crimes due to his fear of Baili Yu, yet Li Xueyi actually decided to go and kill someone in broad daylight after just being back half a month. In addition, after he got captured he even dared to get someone to go rescue him!

  It was intolerable, yet he had no choice but to endure it!

  Who asked for the opponent to possess something that was even more intimidating than Baili Yu?

  “Where’s He Meng?” Upon hearing Director Mo’s voice, Xi Qiulin glanced up but didn’t see anyone next to Director Mo. He immediately became displeased and threw the memorial in his hand in front of Director Mo angrily.

  Director Mo knelt down fearfully. “R-replying Your Majesty, He daren is dead!”


  “What?” Xi Qiulin abruptly stood up, his eyes widening disbelievingly. How could things happen that coincidentally?

  “Replying Your Majesty, when this servant went over earlier, this servant encountered people from the High Judiciary Office. They said that half an hour ago, the entire He family was massacred. They had gone over to look at the situation immediately after getting the report and confirmed that He daren was already dead……”


  “Bang!” Jun Xin smashed the teacup as he stood up. His gaze was freezing as he demanded, “Who killed him?”


  The information he had acquired said that He Meng was the one who had captured Tang Doudou. The patrol soldiers typically sent people they captured straight to the Ministry of Justice. Xi Qiulin had already sent people to look through all the criminals that had recently been sent to the Ministry of Justice but they couldn’t find Li Xueyi.

  They had interrogated a lot of people but none of them knew where she was. He Meng was the only one that hadn’t been interrogated yet, and now he was dead.

  It was clear that he was involved with this matter.

  Otherwise, how could such a coincidence occur?

  The moment Jun Xin got angry, a chilling aura filled the entire study. Xi Qiulin was so pressured by the aura that his facial color became extremely ugly. However, he didn’t dare to show any anger and said cautiously, “Saint Envoy, please quell your anger.”


  __________

  Credits: Translated by Chiyomira, Edited by ed.L

  [Chiyomira's Corner]

  There's a volare Chinese New Year's Event coming up! And I might do one more event in late Feb or something before the second semester starts getting crazy. I was thinking poetry, but what would you guys prefer?