Chapter 88: Your Highness, Are You Still Not Satisfied? (Second Update)

武昙 stopped and looked back.

Wu Qinglin had just returned on horseback. He was coming in great haste, and from the mouth of the alley he had already seen the coachman driving the carriage into the gate, so he knew Wu Tan had come home.

He leaped from his horse at once before the mansion gate, mounted the steps in a few quick strides, and entered.

"My lord, the second young lady was just asking for you..." the servant said.

Wu Qinglin tossed the whip to him without looking aside, then went straight to Wu Tan. His expression was solemn, but edged with a trace of tension. He first looked her over from head to toe, then took a deep breath and asked, "Are you all right?"

Wu Tan grinned. "Did Huangfu Qi send someone to tell you?"

She did not intend to keep the details of today's affair from Wu Qinglin, but she did not want the Dowager Lady to know too much and grow worried, so she caught his sleeve and pulled him toward his study. "I'm fine. Big brother, come with me. I need to tell you something."

Wu Qinglin nodded slightly and led her there at once.

"My lord!" Seeing his master return, Xiaoling, who guarded the courtyard gate, hurried up to greet him. "Second young lady?"

"It's none of your concern now!" Wu Qinglin waved him away, then took Wu Tan into the study. After closing the door behind them, he immediately asked, "What exactly happened? Huangfu Qi sent people to the Ministry of War to find me, saying that something had happened to you and Yaor in Vermilion Bird Tower. When I rushed over, the place was already being sealed. Hu Tianming was being evasive, and outside people were already spreading word that something had gone wrong with the procession for today's imperial scholar. How did this end up involving you? Are you and Yaor both unharmed?"

Though the Huangfu clan was one of the wealthiest families in the Great Yong court, and in terms of influence and prestige they were no worse than the Wu family, they were after all only imperial merchants, with no direct official standing. Some matters were less convenient for them to handle personally. Huangfu Qi had been worried that there might be some ensuing conflict and trouble at Vermilion Bird Tower, so he had immediately sent people to the Wu residence to look for Wu Qinglin.

Unfortunately, Wu Qinglin had gone to the Ministry of War. His men then had to make a second trip there, and by the time Wu Qinglin finally received the news and hurried to Vermilion Bird Tower, the place was already empty.

Hu Tianming had been courteous enough to explain the sequence of events to him, but because there were too many eyes and ears on the street, and because he was in a rush to return and draft a memorial for the emperor, he could not say much.

Although Wu Qinglin heard that Wu Tan and Lin Yanyao were safe, how could he possibly feel at ease? He chased all the way to the Lin household, only to be told that Wu Tan had already gone home. In the end, the whole journey had been wasted on the road; he had taken a huge detour.

On a day like today, the loss of life in the imperial scholar's procession was already ill-omened enough. Now his precious younger sister and his cousin had nearly fallen from a building and been injured as well.

"There is indeed something fishy about it. Big brother, don't rush to ask just yet. I'll explain everything to you carefully in a moment. But I have another urgent matter..." Wu Tan soothed him with a few words. Since the Vermilion Bird Tower affair had already happened, there was no need to dwell on it for the moment. On the way back, she had only grown more and more worried about Lin Yanyao. "Big brother, do you know the second son of Duke Pingguo's heir, Jiang Weixian?"

As the heir of the Dingyuan Marquisate, Wu Qinglin often had to coordinate and deal with all kinds of family connections, so he naturally paid close attention to the general circumstances of the noble households.

"The second son of Jiang Weixian?" He thought for a moment. "Jiang Pingzhi? The heir's lady of the Jiang family and our second aunt are blood sisters. Whenever the Lin household has anything important or trivial, she usually brings her children along. I've seen him a few times, but we've never had any deep dealings. Jiang Pingzhi? What about him?"

"Second aunt seems to have arranged a marriage between Yanyao cousin and this Jiang Pingzhi. Did you know about that?" Wu Tan asked.

Wu Qinglin nodded. "I heard Grandfather mention it once."

His mind was quick as well. Since Wu Tan had brought this person up so abruptly and kept pressing the matter, he immediately drew a connection. "Could today's affair be related to him?"

Wu Tan had no mind for joking. Having been in the room for quite some time, her expression had remained unusually grave. "Have Mu Song help me investigate whether he has had any private contact with Princess Changping over the past half month."

Wu Qinglin was slightly startled, then immediately called out decisively, "Mu Song!"

"Your Lordship!" Mu Song pushed the door open from outside.

Wu Qinglin gave him the instructions. Mu Song did not ask further and at once went to carry them out.

Wu Qinglin closed the door again and came back, still looking solemnly at Wu Tan. "Go on. Tell me everything that happened today, every last detail, exactly as it occurred."

With the Zhou family, the Jiang family, and the Grand Princess's residence all involved together, Wu Tan was not so arrogant or ignorant as to think she could recover today's loss by her own strength alone. And this matter also touched on the Dingyuan Marquisate's footing among the capital's great and powerful families. She had never intended to hide it from Wu Qinglin anyway, so she recounted the whole sequence of events one by one.

After hearing her out, Wu Qinglin's eyes faintly turned bloodshot.

By Wu Tan's account, the fact that she and Lin Yanyao had returned safely today was truly nothing short of great fortune.

Li Xuner, Zhou Changyin, and Jiang Yuzhi? Were these women so idle and bored that they had nothing better to do? What kind of grudge could drive them to such a venomous scheme, to make a move that aimed to take lives from the very start?

Wu Qinglin did not explode on the spot, but the fingers hidden in his sleeves clenched and loosened several times.

"So, by your judgment, the most important purpose of this group of women setting up this trap was not actually aimed at you, but at seizing the top three places in this year's examination?" he finally summarized.

Wu Tan nodded slightly. "Other than the old lady from the Zhou family, whose motive I'm not entirely sure of, I think I have the other connections figured out to within eighty or ninety percent. Cousin Yanyao was not on guard against Jiang Yuzhi, so it would have been easy for her to pry out today's whereabouts and the specific private room. But I carefully observed the way she and Li Xuner acted at the time, and I felt she was kept in the dark about the matter on the third floor. The one who struck was Li Xuner. I tested her myself on the spot, and that point is beyond doubt. But everything should have a motive. If she schemed against me, that can be explained as revenge for our previous conflict and her desire to retaliate. But why would she also scheme against the imperial scholar and the runner-up and the others?"

Wu Tan's reasoning was sound. The clashes and disputes among those women hardly warranted a move against the imperial scholar.

One had to understand that if a lady's private rivalry turned deadly, and if the other side covered it well, it might indeed be hidden from the world. After all, who would have the mind to concern themselves with petty collisions between a few pampered young ladies? But to murder the imperial scholar in the street was a completely different matter. The emperor would certainly investigate it personally.

What was more—

This time, the dead and wounded were not limited to the imperial scholar alone.

Scholars studied for years to earn their degrees; even becoming a jinshi was no easy matter. Now that such a thing had happened, panic was inevitable. A slightly mishandled response could easily stir up public fury and resentment.

Thinking it over, Wu Qinglin asked again, "And Jiang Pingzhi? How did you come to suspect him? Did something about him and Princess Changping reveal a flaw?"

"Not at all!" Recalling the scene before they parted from the Jiang siblings at the end, Wu Tan found it rather interesting and could not help but curl her lips. "Not only did they reveal no flaw at all, they even deliberately avoided so much as exchanging a glance. Even when Zhou Changyin suggested that the Jiang siblings escort Li Xuner home, she rejected it without the slightest hesitation. On the surface, the two of them were as clean and innocent as could be, but sometimes too much is as bad as too little... Big brother, we all come from established noble families, and it's not as though they never see one another on ordinary days. If it were you, and you happened to meet a colleague's family on the street, shouldn't you at least offer a polite greeting? What's more, that Jiang Pingzhi, knowing full well that his family had an engagement with my cousin, was instead acting as though he wished to avoid suspicion, cold and distant toward her today. Even without the previous incident in front of Vermilion Bird Tower, wouldn't that behavior already suggest divided intentions? I didn't initially connect those two at all. Later I asked Huangfu Qi, and he told me Jiang Pingzhi placed fourth in this imperial examination!"

Wu Qinglin drew in a sharp breath. "So that is why you suspect she and Li Xuner joined forces to set this up, intending to eliminate those ahead of him and push him into the top three?"

Wu Tan pursed her lips, finally dropping the solemn act. She glanced at him and said, "I suspect she wanted to help Jiang Pingzhi take the imperial scholar's position directly! That woman is petty as can be. Just because I quarreled with her, she could set up a scheme to try to kill me. If, because your family refused her marriage proposal, she suddenly got the idea of marrying an imperial scholar to save face and, incidentally, infuriate you to death, I think that logic makes perfect sense!"

That Li Xuner, at first glance, seemed merely a bit domineering, but after several encounters, she had repeatedly shattered the limits of what one thought possible.

She was truly daring and ruthlessly bold, vicious to the bone.

Even the courage of a dozen men together might not compare to hers.

Disgusting as it was, Wu Tan could not even help admiring her to death. Did she really think there was no law in this world, that she could run rampant as she pleased?

Wu Qinglin had never imagined that their family refusing one marriage would trigger such a chain of upheavals. After his anger subsided, he felt somewhat unable to laugh or cry.

In such subtle and twisted matters, Wu Tan had always seen more clearly and precisely than he did.

Wu Qinglin did believe Wu Tan's judgment, and only frowned slightly. "Then what about Jiang Pingzhi? Did Yaor say anything about that?"

"My cousin is neither blind nor stupid. She may not have thought deeply about the other matters, but Jiang Pingzhi's final attitude and behavior... Though she did not say anything in front of me, she clearly noticed that something was off," Wu Tan said. "After all, it's her marriage, and there is no proof. So at the time I didn't dare tell her anything rashly either. In any case, have Mu Song keep a close watch on those two. Once we get hold of some leverage, we must quickly warn our cousin. We can't just stand by and watch her jump into a fire pit."

Marriage was not like other matters. More importantly, Lin Yanyao's ties to the Jiang family were even closer than her ties to the Wu family. Until they had conclusive proof that Jiang Pingzhi truly had a problem, it would indeed be difficult for them to speak to Lin Yanyao and Lady Li about it.

Wu Qinglin weighed it for a moment, then still said to Wu Tan, "Even if your judgment is correct, and today's bloodshed truly was caused by Jiang Pingzhi colluding with Princess Changping, they must also know that this is no trivial matter. If they are even slightly cautious, they should be avoiding suspicion for the time being and will not contact each other directly. It won't be easy to get leverage on them. As for Yaor... meet with her again in the next two days. Even if you cannot say it plainly, at least hint at it to her. At the very least, she should not hastily finalize the marriage at such a critical moment. She needs some room to fall back on."

"Mm, I understand. I'll go visit Grandfather again in a day or two," Wu Tan hurriedly agreed.

Once everything had been arranged, Wu Qinglin rose and said, "Then go back for now. Don't overthink it. Eat something and rest well. I need to go out."

Wu Tan asked curiously, "Big brother, do you still have matters at the Ministry of War to finish?"

Wu Qinglin lowered his head and straightened his robe. "I'm going to the Capital Prefecture to speak with Hu Tianming."

How could they simply let it rest after his younger sister had nearly suffered such a great loss? Something had to be done.

Wu Tan blinked, vaguely guessing his intention, and did not delay him further. She went back to her own quarters first.

*

The Prince of Sheng's residence.

After returning from the street, Xiao Yue shut himself in his room to open and read a secret letter. He did not use the midday meal, and spent two full hours on it. By the time evening meal came, he still had not come out.

After returning from the street, Leiming had deliberately been keeping his distance from him.

It was obvious he was in a foul mood.

Whether it was because he had been angered by the bloodshed at Vermilion Bird Tower, or because he had been provoked by seeing the Wu family’s little ancestor flirting with Huangfu Qi on the street... in any case, Leiming knew it was definitely related to that little ancestor of the Wu family.

Otherwise, what did it matter to him whether the imperial scholar lived or died?

Of course, he refused to admit it, and Leiming did not want to go looking for trouble. After agonizing over whether to call him for dinner, personal sentiment finally triumphed over loyalty, and he decided—

better to let him starve.

After all, Xiao Yue would not starve to death. But if Leiming went in to show himself, he was very likely to become the scapegoat and be beaten to death instead.

Being a bodyguard for someone to this extent truly made Leiming feel ashamed. He had just lowered his head in self-reproach when Butler Cen entered the courtyard outside. "Where is Your Highness? Is he busy?"

Leiming hastily collected himself and looked up. "What is it? Something happened?"

But before Butler Cen could answer, Xiao Yue suddenly yanked the door open from inside.

His expression did not look any better than when he had first returned to the residence, and Leiming's scalp tingled instinctively.

But Butler Cen immediately averted his gaze and replied with lowered head, "Your Highness, a message has just come from the palace. The emperor has sent word that he requests your attendance at tomorrow's morning court without fail."

Xiao Yue had been back in the capital for some time. At first he had said he was recovering from his injuries. Now that the wounds were plainly nearly healed, the emperor had summoned him to attend court several times, but he had declined each time. Later the emperor no longer pressed him. The reason for sending this oral decree today was nothing other than the bloodshed at Vermilion Bird Tower.

Leiming was unsure of his attitude and could not help stealing a glance at him.

Xiao Yue said expressionlessly, "Has the meal been laid out?"

"Uh..." Butler Cen froze and turned to look at Leiming.

Huh? Was he so angry he lost his appetite? Leiming's hair stood on end. He hurriedly said, "We're just about to serve it!"

Xiao Yue strode straight out of the courtyard, and Leiming quickly followed. Butler Cen was left behind, secretly anxious.

My lord, are you going to court, or are you going to court, or are you going to court?

And then, the next day, Xiao Yue really did go to morning court for the first time in ages. Because of his special status, his sudden appearance immediately set all the civil and military officials speculating wildly. Of course, the emperor's main inquiry was into the details of yesterday's bloodbath at Vermilion Bird Tower.

The imperial scholar had died on the spot, the runner-up had also suffered injuries from which he did not recover and passed away in the middle of last night, and another jinshi had also died afterward.

Originally, the imperial examinations were meant to select talent for the court, a joyous affair. To end up like this was impossible for the emperor to accept without rage, so the atmosphere at morning court that day was unprecedentedly tense. After enduring more than an hour in the palace and finally coming out, Wu Qinglin was just about to head straight back to the residence when he heard Xiao Yue call him from behind.

"Young Marquis Wu!"