Chapter 8

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“Wangfei, come over here for a while, I have something to

say to you,” Yan Shi said to Hua Ling. He pushed open the door and went into

the room.

Hua Ling spoke, “Nanny Ya, you go on and do your things

first, I’ll speak to Gege then come and find you later.”

Immediately after, Hua Ling entered the room as well, “Gege,

what do you wish to say to me?”

Before Hua Ling entered, Yan Shi had already quickly scanned

the entire room. Before he left this morning, he had instructed the servants

not to tidy up the room so that he could investigate exactly how had he fallen

for that scheme last night.

But just like last night, he couldn’t find anything out of

the ordinary. It seems like he would have to search through Hua Ling’s personal

effects.[1]

“Wangfei, please have a seat.” Yan Shi sat down and gestured

that Hua Ling should sit on the chair beside him.

“Gege, don’t call me Wangfei,” Hua Ling’s eyes darted over to

that messy bed and thought about the things that had happened last night, and a

suspicious red flush began creeping across his face. He lowered his head and

spoke in a small voice.

Yan Shi went along with his request, “Then, does Wangfei

have a courtesy name?”[2]

“No,” Hua Ling lifted his head slightly and glanced at Yan

Shi, “I have just come of age, but we were in a rush to hold the wedding, so I

haven’t been given one. Why don’t Gege help me think of one?”

Yan Shi didn’t reject him. He thought for a bit, “What about

Ming Ting? What do you think?”

“Alright, then my courtesy name shall be Ming Ting. Gege

you’re so amazing, you came up with such a nice courtesy name for me. I can

finally have a courtesy name too!” Hua Ling said happily, “Gege, in the future

you can call me Ling’er.”[3]

Yan Shi was rendered speechless, then, why did he ask me to

give him a courtesy name?

Yan Shi opened his mouth, but the words Ling’er did not come

out. After hesitating for a bit, he called out, “Ming Ting, before you got

married, did your mother give you anything like a tonic or medicine that will

strengthen the body?”

Yan Shi couldn’t find any clues within the room, he could

only coax Hua Ling and see if he could find out anything from him.

Hua Ling cocked his

head and thought deeply, finally he said firmly, “My mother did not give me

anything like that.”

Yan Shi thought, that’s true, If Yang Shi said that poison

was a tonic and gave it to Hua Ling, with his personality it would be easily

exposed, so that poison must be hidden in a place that Hua Ling doesn’t know

about. Yan Shi asked again, “Then when you were married over, did your mother

ever give you anything?”

“Ah! My mother gave me a health amulet,”[4]

Hua Ling lightly knocked his head with a palm, “She said that she personally

went to the temple to get it for me, to bless Gege and me with a blissful and

loving life till we have both grown old.”

“Where is that health amulet?” Even though Yan Shi couldn’t

move last night, but he was aware of Hua Ling’s every movement. Based on logic,

something like a health amulet should be worn on the body, but Yan Shi only

spotted Hua Ling carrying a flute. At that time, Yan Shi had wondered why he

would carry a flute with him. When he asked in the morning, Hua Ling said that

the flute belonged to his mother before she died, and he has kept it with him

ever since.

Because of that incident last night of him being poisoned,

Yan Shi was somewhat suspicious, and got Hua Ling to let him examine that

flute. The flute is made of top-quality white jade and there was nothing suspicious

about it.

“The health amulet is in the veil,” Hua Ling said as he

walked into the inner chamber. He picked the veil off the ground and returned

to the chair to sit down, “Gege, do you want to see it?”

“Take it out and let me have a look.” Yan Shi suddenly knew

how he was poisoned. If his guess wasn’t wrong, this so-called health amulet must

have been filled with poison.

Now that things have reached this stage, he already guessed

the real reason why the Duke of Kang Le had poisoned him and married Hua Ling

to him. Namely, it was to draw him over to their side. It wasn’t just him and

Prince Zhao who wanted the throne. Besides them, there were also two other

princes who were closely eyeing this position.

It must be said that Emperor Chong Jin has a set of checks

and balances when it came to distributing power. Although the empress has

incomparable glory, however, it is impossible for her clan to cover the sky

with one hand,[5] even

though the people in the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Justice

belonged to Prince Zhao, however he does not possess any military power.

Without military power, his position would be unstable, and it is inevitable

that he would have to exercise undue caution when accomplishing things.

The Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Rites were in

the hands of the third prince, Prince Ding, while the Ministry of Public Works

and the Ministry of War belonged to the fourth prince, Prince Mu. The Six

Ministries[6]

were all in the grasp of these three princes and mutually balanced each other,

thus things have already been left in a stalemate for many years.

Although Yan Shi is the eldest son, but his mother’s clan

has declined, and he was left isolated and helpless within the imperial court. Compared

to the three princes, there was basically no chance of accomplishing great

deeds.

But the reason why Prince Zhao wanted to woo him over to his

side was because he valued the power of his mother’s clan that supported him. Yan

Shi’s mother’s clan once held more than half the military power in the imperial

court. After the death of the former empress, Emperor Chong Jin used an excuse

to take back a portion of the military. Then, he also sent his maternal

grandfather’s family to be stationed at the southern border. Till today, they

have yet to return.

Even though in the past ten years his maternal grandfather’s

military power has been steadily declining which might seem unfavourable to

others, however it was still a lot better than Prince Zhao who did not possess

any military power.

Hence, Prince Zhao was trying to woo him over in order to

obtain that bit of military power. Even though there was enmity between them, however

in this world there are no permanent enemies, only permanent interests.[7]

Moreover, Yan Shi was still the eldest son. If one day, Emperor

Chong Jin truly appoints Prince Zhao as the Crown Prince, there might be a few

stubborn old ministers who might protest, saying that it goes against tradition.[8]

By drawing Yan Shi over to his side, it would also be tantamount to having

these stubborn old ministers on his side. This was also done for the sake of

others who were watching from the sidelines. The entire imperial court knows

about the grievances between these two people, now that he has abandoned his

posture and took the initiative to seek peace, wouldn’t he be lauded and gain a

good reputation?

That’s why no matter how you thought about it, bringing Yan

Shi over to his side is not a bad idea. Thus, this marriage happened.

Prince Zhao was naturally not an idiot, of course he would

be aware that even though he betrothed Hua Ling to Yan Shi, he would not

automatically come over to his side. Presumably, he also expected that Yan Shi

wouldn’t touch Hua Ling, and decided to give them a little push.

Isn’t it better to have a husband in name and in fact, rather than a husband in name only?

Yan Shi blinked and pulled himself out of his reverie. Hua

Ling’s veil consists of two layers, at this moment he had already used a pair

of scissors to cut a hole along the side of the veil. He reached it and felt

about, then came across that health amulet.

“Gege, for you,” Hua Ling placed the health amulet on Yan

Shi’s hands and chattered, “When my mother gave this to me, she said that this

amulet was different from normal amulets, it can’t be worn on the body and can

only be placed inside the veil. For the sake of this amulet, I specially made

this veil.”

No wonder he covered his head with this red veil yesterday.

Yan Shi gripped the health amulet and studied it, it was an

ordinary paper amulet. He had already taken the precaution to hold his breath

before he received the health amulet. After inspecting it briefly, he placed it

down. He turned around and went outside to call for Qing Ji and let him take

the health amulet away.

There was definitely something weird about this amulet, but

Hua Ling and Qing Ji were both fine even after getting into contact with it. Could

it be –– Yan Shi thought for a bit, perhaps the medicine in this amulet would

only work on people with spiritual energy? It was a good guess. He might not

touch Hua Ling, but he couldn’t not lift the veil. As long as he neared the

veil and inhaled the medicine, he would be susceptible to their scheme.

Once he loses his strength, then wouldn’t Hua Ling be able

to do whatever he wants?

“You should rest in the room first, I still have something

to do.” Yan Shi didn’t intend to continue living with Hua Ling, even if they

had consummated their marriage, it wouldn’t change a thing.

Not long after, Nanny Ya brought a basin of water over and

came in.

“You are getting more proficient in your skill of pretending to be cute and obedient.” An aged voice sounded out in the room. It wasn’t loud, but it was enough for Hua Ling to hear it clearly.

Looking again at Nanny Ya, even though she is still all skin and bones, however her back is completely straight, there wasn’t even a hint of there being a hunch.

Hua Ling took a grape and tossed stuffed it into his mouth, “It’s

all because Nanny Ya is good at teaching.” Hua Ling’s voice wasn’t loud either,

they had both lowered their voices to not let others hear it.

Nanny Ya asked, “What’s the next step?”

“I haven’t thought about it yet, but there’s no rush. After

all I have only just gotten married, let me enjoy my time with Gege for a

while, then we’ll decide again. However ––“ At this point, Hua Ling previously

gentle eyes suddenly became bloodthirsty, “That old slave in the palace has

lived for too long.”

Nanny Ya knew that he was speaking about Lian Gui Gonggong,

“But it would be useful to keep him.”

“No,” Even his voice had become extremely cold, “He insulted

my Gege, so he should die!”

Nanny Ya nodded her head, “You do not need to personally

intervene in this matter.”

Hua Ling was about to speak but Nanny Ya continued, “We

didn’t raise those people in the palace for nothing, if you want to be

discovered by the prince[9]

earlier, then you can rush in blindly.”

Hua Ling was finally convinced by Nanny Ya’s words, for

Gege’s sake, he could only compromise. But, where did Gege go to, he didn’t

even bring me along. It seems the road is long, and there is still a long way

to go.

At this moment, Yan Shi is at the Imperial Court of Justice looking

over the corpse that was fished out of the city’s west side pond this morning with

Jiang Qingyue.

“The coroner has already inspected the body and confirmed

that the cause of death is drowning.” Jiang Qingyue said from the side, “There

were no traces of a fight on the bank, and we even found his clothes and shoes.

Yan Shi carefully inspected the clothes and shoes and once

again scrutinized the corpse, “This person looks somewhat familiar.”

Jiang Qingyue answered, “This person is not one of the two

people who have gone missing. He is a man from the Jianghu, people call him ‘Fatal

Comet’, he is responsible for the lives of thirteen people and is a wanted man

by the officials.”

“Qingyue,” Yan Shi stood up, “What do you think?”

Qingyue replied, “According to the clues left on the scene, this

is a suicide attempt. But I’ve always thought that it isn’t so simple, he was

wearing night travel clothes, which means that he was doing something last

night. If there were wounds on his body, then it could be possible that he had

failed in his mission and was killed by the enemy. But there is not a single

wound on his body and no cuts on his clothes, this shows that he should have

been successful in his work last night. If that’s the case, then why would he

suddenly want to commit suicide?”

“Go investigate,” Yan Shi said as he began to walk, “Find

out when he entered the capital, where he stayed, who he met with, and on the

day of his death, who he came into contact with and what he did –– investigate

all these.”

Translation Notes:

[1] Personal effects are things that are typically worn or carried on a person’s body.

[2] Courtesy Name, 字 (Zi) is often bestowed on a person upon reaching adulthood to mark their coming-of-age (this is often accompanied by a ceremony). On the other hand, 名 (Ming) refers to the name given to you at birth. It is generally considered disrespectful to address someone by their given name (unless both parties are very close).

[3] 凌儿 (Ling Er): The 凌 (Ling) comes from Hua Ling’s name, while 儿 (Er) can be tacked onto the back of someone’s name. Calling someone in this manner indicates a greater level of familiarity and intimacy.

[4] Though I translated it as a health amulet, it 平安 (Ping An) actually means to keep someone safe from harm and let them lead a smooth life.

[5] Cover the sky with one hand: to gain a dominant foothold.

[6] Read more about the Six Ministries here.

[7] 世间只有永恒的利益，没有永恒的敌人。(Shi Jian Zhi You Yong Heng De Li Yi, Mei You Yong Hen De Di Ren) = For the sake of your interests, you can work with an enemy (hence there is no permanent enemy).

[8] Traditionally, the eldest son will be appointed as the crown prince, which also indicates that he is the heir to the throne.

[9] Referring to Yan Shi.

dreamxx: It was the nanny! Hehe I thought so. But I wonder why Hua Ling likes Yan Shi so much… there must be some history between them.

Thank you for your support! ( ˘ ³˘)♥

Chapter 7Chapter 9

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