A raincoat wind and snow to the small garden

Chapter 44: Liangzhou Ghost Soldiers ()
Chapter 45

Huaiyu seemed to be afraid that Xiang Xiaoyuan would continue to pester him. He suddenly looked at Wang Rou and asked, "Why is Zheng Sirou here?"

He remembered the name of this little girl.

Wang Rou's face turned pale, and she and Xiang Xiaoyuan looked at each other.

Xiang Xiaoyuan squeezed her hand, mustered up the courage to say to Huaiyu, "Brother, I want to tell you something. You have to keep it a secret for me."

Huaiyu glanced at her and said, "Speak."

He told Xiaoyuan everything about Wang Rou.

Huai Yu found this amusing. "You mean someone sent you a letter asking you to impersonate Zheng Sirou, hide in the Zheng family, and kill someone? Have you ever considered that maybe he wanted to kill Duke Zheng, but couldn't do it himself, so he resorted to using someone else's knife to kill him?"

Wang Rou was stunned when she heard this... She didn't expect that her revenge plan had actually become part of someone else's plan.

Xiang Xiaoyuan thought about it carefully. This person knew the Zheng family's affairs very well and also knew Wang Junyang's past... She had a terrible idea in her mind.

Xiang Xiaoyuan was shocked: "What if the person who sent the letter to Arou...is His Majesty?"

Wang Rou's face was completely drained of blood. "Did he deliberately trick me into looking into my father's past? Isn't he afraid that I'll uncover the truth and expose the evil deeds he, as a king, has committed? Isn't he afraid of losing the people's support?"

"How much effort does it take to kill a little girl? That's much easier than killing Duke Zheng." Huai Yu sneered and gave a thumbs-up. "Go ahead and investigate. If you can overthrow the emperor, I think you are that person."

When Wang Rou thought that the emperor actually wanted to use her to kill Duke Zheng and cover up the scandal of killing loyal officials in the past, she became disheartened and hated herself for being incompetent and unable to do much.

But Xiang Xiaoyuan refused to admit defeat. She insisted, "Let's give it a try. We can't give up halfway, right?"

"Brother Huaiyu, help me find someone named 'Yang Ju'. Also, don't tell His Royal Highness the Crown Prince about this."

Huaiyu: "Why?"

Xiang Xiaoyuan looked at him like a fool and said, "The person I want to investigate is His Highness's father! We can just do it quietly. Thank you, Senior Brother."

Huai Yu: "...Okay."

Xiang Xiaoyuan is very confident in Huaiyu's work.

At night, Ah Qi came to the yard stealthily. He peeked around and looked at Xiaoyuan's residence.

It was strange. There were no tables or chairs smashed in the room. It was clean. Could it be that Huai Yu couldn't beat that wild man? That shouldn't be the case. Either he drew his sword too quickly, and the other person's head fell to the ground without a fight.

Xiang Xiaoyuan felt it was too cold tonight and wanted to eat hotpot in the yard, so he called Huaiyu, but his senior brother was busy and could only come to eat after finishing his work late at night.

To make things more lively, Xiang Xiaoyuan called Yan Yun and Lin Qi Yu to join in the fun.

She was holding the mutton that had been cut with a knife and happened to meet Ah Qi's eyes.

Although Xiang Xiaoyuan was annoyed with Ah Qi, she still maintained a superficial friendly relationship. So she waved to Ah Qi and said, "Brother, would you like to have a bite?"

Ah Qi was not polite either. He cleared his throat and said, "Since you have invited me so kindly, I will not be polite, Senior Brother."

Rolling his eyes at Xiaoyuan, he said, "You've never been polite."

Ah Qi glanced at Wang Rou who was helping to serve the dishes at the table, and was curious about why there was a girl he had never seen before.

But he didn't have time to talk about this. Instead, he asked Xiang Xiaoyuan, "Just now... Huaiyu wasn't angry, right?"

Xiang Xiaoyuan was puzzled: "Why are you angry, brother?"

Ah Qi was shocked: "Why isn't he angry? Is he really that tolerant? Why does he beat me up for talking to you, but other wild men don't get beaten up when they talk to you?!"

Before Ah Qi could finish, a silver leaf suddenly flew through the air, slicing the folding fan from his hand. With such strength and skill, who else but that madman Huai Yu could pull this off?!

Ah Qi turned his head, his face full of resentment: "You are targeting me..." Huai Yu frowned, not understanding Ah Qi's words, and only scolded him coldly: "Stay away from the young lady, don't be so careless."

Hearing this, Ah Qi felt even more aggrieved... What happened? Why did everyone pick on Xiang Xiaoyuan, but Huaiyu only hit him? Did he look like he really deserved a beating?

Xiang Xiaoyuan couldn't understand the arguments among her senior brothers, so she simply ignored them.

After Lin Qiyu and Yan Yun brought the dishes over, dinner was finally served in the courtyard.

Ah Qi loves to eat meat, and he came here specially today to grab some meat.

He was just unlucky to have run into the evil-minded Senior Brother Huaiyu.

Whenever Ah Qi picked up his chopsticks, Huaiyu would be quick to grab the meat slices and put them directly into Xiang Xiaoyuan's bowl.

This is really a fight between gods and the little devils suffer.

Xiang Xiaoyuan looked at the pile of meat slices in the bowl. He couldn't finish it all by himself, so he shared it with his friends using a serving chopstick.

But we all work for Xuanqisi, and it's rare for us to get together. Although eating together looks a little weird, at least we get along harmoniously.

After the meal, Lin Qiyu and Yan Yun thought of Huaiyu's bravery in killing people on the battlefield, and felt uneasy. They found an excuse and quickly slipped away.

Ah Qi was also very angry and planned to go out and buy some mutton pancake to fill his stomach.

Wang Rou and Huai Yu were not familiar with each other, so she went back to her room to make the bed first.

In the huge kitchen, only Xiang Xiaoyuan and Huai Yu were left.

The candlelight in the kitchen was burning brightly, casting a warm yellow light.

Huaiyu leaned against the door with his arms folded and said to her, "I've found the person you want."

Xiang Xiaoyuan was full of admiration: "Brother, you are so fast!"

Huai Yu: “…”

He was silent for a moment, then continued, "Yang Ju is now the Censor-in-Chief, working for Your Majesty. He happens to be on duty in Jingzhou, next to Liangzhou, recently. If you want to find him, I can take you there."

Xiang Xiaoyuan naturally knew what the Censors were. They were cruel officials under the command of His Majesty. Many officials from aristocratic families were extremely afraid of the Censors because they were tools used by the Emperor to eradicate the entrenched aristocracy. Not only could they arrest and inform on officials, they also had the task of helping the Emperor consolidate his power. They could be called the Emperor's minions.

Yang Ju was able to rise from a small aide to the emperor and become his lackey. This must have been due to the emperor's support and the intention to cut off his retreat.

He offended the noble families, and all the civil and military officials hated him to the core. Only the emperor could save his life.

Xiang Xiaoyuan understood: "His life is in the hands of the emperor. It will be difficult to force him to tell the truth about the Wang family."

After all, who dares to go against the emperor?

Huai Yu raised an eyebrow. "There is a way. Just feed him poison and kill him if he doesn't help us redress our injustice. But his confession alone won't hurt Your Majesty. Your efforts will just be wasted."

Xiang Xiaoyuan said, "I know it's a waste of effort, but someone still has to do this stupid thing. Just think of it as me overestimating my own abilities, trying to stop a chariot with a mantis arm. Senior Brother Huaiyu, please help me this time."

She seemed to have already known how cold Huaiyu was on the outside but warm on the inside.

As long as she softened her voice and spoke to him, he would never refuse.

Even Huaiyu felt...that he must be crazy.

Why did he ruin his plans for Xiang Xiaoyuan and repeatedly take risks and make exceptions for her?

(End of this chapter)