Chapter 65: The Mansion Is on Fire

Translator: Peggyan

It was easy to find a place with few people as long as they went toward the suburban areas.

Thus, after feeling that they were being stalked, s.h.i.+ led Xu there.

As expected, the stalkers mounted an attack the moment they were out of the North Gate before reaching the suburban areas.

Xu used to be alone before and only got good Lightness Skills, so Xu ended up being forced to run.

But now, with the help of s.h.i.+ and Shadow Guardians, the six people of Sky Hermit Fort were apprehended at this time.

“Head for the palace.” s.h.i.+ directed an order after Shadow Guardians made successful arrests.

Xu looked at s.h.i.+ with admiration. “Elder Brother s.h.i.+, You’re awesome and cool!”

s.h.i.+ glanced at Xu with a smile. “Really?”

“Yes.” Xu was generous with compliments and started to extol s.h.i.+.

s.h.i.+ helplessly sighed and indeed found Xu somewhat noisy.

But, it was impossible for such a kind of person definitely to have anything with Long.

Back in the imperial palace, Xu wanted to wait for the interrogation results to come out, but…s.h.i.+ said, “Those people are quite tough and won’t disclose the secrets of Sky Hermit Fort so quickly. You can come tomorrow.”

Xu felt a little disappointed, but there was nothing he could do.

Afterward, Xu returned to his palace in disappointment.

At night, lying on the bed with s.h.i.+, Long said, “The people in charge of monitoring First w.a.n.gyeh said someone sneaked into the mansion late last night. They failed to track him due to his powerful martial arts. But, the man hadn’t come out yet.”

“En.” s.h.i.+ narrowed his eyes and asked, “So he is still inside?”

“Yes, it looks like so.”

“Do you suspect he has anything to do with the murderer?”

“It’s very likely,” said Long in a m.u.f.fled voice. “Now, they are investigating where he went before entering the mansion of First w.a.n.gyeh.”

s.h.i.+ said with a nod, “However, he’s accomplished in martial arts, so it may be hard to find out something.”

“Eh,” Long replied and held s.h.i.+ into his arms. s.h.i.+ glanced at the big hands around his waist and did nothing.

Long held s.h.i.+ even tighter. “Qingzhou, can you fall asleep?”

s.h.i.+ rolled his eyes. “Just say what you wanna do.”

Long stroked his noise and said innocently, “Qingzhou…why do I think you detest me judging from your voice?”

s.h.i.+ rolled his eyes again. “Long Xiaoyuan.”

“Eh?” Long replied instantly.

s.h.i.+ forced a smile and said, “You said you’d control yourself this morning.”

Long winked and winked again and then said with grievances, “Oh.”

s.h.i.+ was literally going to laugh with anger.

Long attached his neck to s.h.i.+’s, rubbed it, and giggled.

s.h.i.+, “…”

“Qingzhou, your body is so tender.” Long added with compliments, “Besides, you taste good and comfortable.”

s.h.i.+, “…”

Long continued, “Qingzhou, in your eyes, don’t these people get tired with so many little tricks?”

s.h.i.+ said with a faint smile, “I don’t know.”

Long sighed. “Did you send the news to your father?”

“Eh,” s.h.i.+ replied. “I asked the message to be delivered at top speed. No worries, my father will know what to do.”

“I rest a.s.sured of your father,” said Long immediately. “Qingzhou, oh, by the way…you haven’t told me about the border, have you?”

“What?” s.h.i.+ tilted his head to look at Long.

Long blew his kiss on s.h.i.+’s eyelids. “Tell me about your life at the border.”

s.h.i.+ sneered and asked, “Why are you so alike Xu You?”

“En? He asked you about this?” Long narrowed his eyes. “Did you tell him?”

“He was interested in the local customs of the border, so I randomly told him a little,” said s.h.i.+.

“Well…” Long felt extremely jealous of Xu. “You haven’t even told me about that.”

s.h.i.+ said lightly, “There is nothing to talk about. Joining the army is quite boring, isn’t it?”

Long was silent for a moment and held s.h.i.+’s head before putting it on his shoulder. “Qingzhou, you weren’t happy at that period, were you?”

Happy? s.h.i.+ fell into silence completely.

s.h.i.+ should have felt happy, but something was wrong with the relations.h.i.+p between Long and him…he was unhappy, which was for sure.

s.h.i.+’s silence broke Long’s heart. “Qingzhou, all fault is mine. I lost my mind…”

s.h.i.+ smiled gently. “It’s a good thing. Everything turned okay after we talked to each other.”

Without this war, he might not have said “if you want me, you can only have me” in his entire life…

Long could only choose one between the Imperial Harem and s.h.i.+!

Long said with a nod, “Eh, you made your point, Qingzhou…it’s a good thing that we talked to each other. Besides, I feel contented after knowing your true feelings!”

s.h.i.+ smiled gently.

Long kissed s.h.i.+’s eyelids again. “Let’s sleep.”

Subsequently, Long closed his eyes with s.h.i.+ in his arms.

However, Long was doomed not to have a sound sleep.

Liu Xiangyang showed up at the door shortly after Long closed his eyes.

Liu called Long in a low voice. Then, Long opened his eyes with his brows furrowed.

“Why am I so hard to have a sound sleep?”

s.h.i.+ slightly frowned. “What’s up?”

If only Long knew it.

Long asked Liu to get inside. Liu instantly said, “Fire broke out in the mansion of First w.a.n.gyeh. The security troops have gone there to help, but the fire is so big, so I’m afraid…”

“Eh? The mansion of First w.a.n.gyeh?” Long felt surprised.

“First w.a.n.gyeh…” s.h.i.+ muttered to himself. “It’s really odd.”

It was eccentric. Having heard the report out, Long asked Liu to withdraw.

“Qingzhou, let’s go and have a look.”

s.h.i.+ picked his brows. “Go to the mansion of First w.a.n.gyeh situated out of the imperial palace?”

“That’s right.” Long smiled. “To show our care about First w.a.n.gyeh.”

With gleams flickering in his eyes, s.h.i.+ got to know Long’s meanings.

Long already sat up.

s.h.i.+ followed suit upon seeing this. They quickly put on clothes and directly took an imperial palanquin to directly head for the outside of the imperial palace.

The Imperial Guards protected them on the way.

Sitting on the s.p.a.cious palanquin, Long held s.h.i.+ into his arms. “Are you sleepy?”

s.h.i.+ shook his head. “No, I’m not.”

It was rather normal to stay up for three days and nights when at wars.

s.h.i.+ looked at the outside. “It’s almost there.”

Long said with a nod, “Eh.”

Arrival at the mansion of First w.a.n.gyeh, Long and s.h.i.+ got off the palanquin together.

All the people present dropped their knees and kowtowed, acclaiming, “ May Your Majesty and Your Grace live long and prosper.”

Long waved his hand. “Stand up. The priority is to put out the fire. Where is First Uncle? Has anyone seen him?”

“Your Majesty,” said the leader of the Imperial Guards. “We haven’t spotted First w.a.n.gyeh yet. A small of menservants and maids are trapped inside.”

Long said with a darkened face, “Why is it so serious? Extinguish the fire as soon as possible!”

Long acted like he was so worried about First w.a.n.gyeh.

s.h.i.+ also showed his concerns appropriately. “Your Majesty, the fire is too big…I’m afraid it’s rather difficult in putting it out.”

Long stared at the fire with his brows wrinkled.

Although Liu had informed him of this, Long still got startled by the scene.

Such a big fire wasn’t like an act at all…

The Shadow Guardian shouted inside at this very moment, “First w.a.n.gyeh! Find First w.a.n.gyeh!”

Long and s.h.i.+ looked at each other and rushed there.

It was indeed First w.a.n.gyeh, but he was dying!

Long felt stunned. “First Uncle?”

With blood surging out of the hole cut on his chest, First w.a.n.gyeh struggled to open his slack eyes and said after appearing to hear Long’s voice, “Your Majesty, I…was wounded…watch…out…”

First w.a.n.gyeh seemed to remind Long of warning of someone, but with his eyes suddenly wide opened, he twisted and was unable to speak something already…

Long almost died of anger because of this.

How could such a drama happen before him? He always found it exaggerating each time when he saw such a plot in a book or on TV- the dying person wanted to say something important but died before finis.h.i.+ng his words.

Now, it looked like…s.h.i.+t!

Long got a livid face and cried sorrowfully, “First Uncle!”

s.h.i.+ followed suit.

Long weakly shook his body like there was too much for him to take in.

Seeing this, s.h.i.+ helped Long stand and asked, “Your Majesty, are you okay?”

The others started to get worried for fear that there was something wrong with His Majesty.

Long waved his hand in frustration. “I’m fine…”

“Your Majesty, let’s get back. Your Majesty, you should take care of yourself. First Uncle died with injustice, and we must avenge him.”

Having been silence for a while, Long sadly nodded. “Sure, let’s go back.”

Afterward, Long was helped into the palanquin and went toward the imperial palace.

Back in the Qiankun Palace, Long was done the acting.

“Qingzhou, this is not right. First w.a.n.gyeh was silenced.”

“En, there is a mark of the sharp blade piercing through his chest. He was indeed murdered.”

Long took a deep breath and said, “I don’t think the officials of the Ministry of Punishments will handle this matter to my satisfaction. Shadow Guardians are needed to look into it.”

s.h.i.+ said with a nod, “I think so, but…the Ministry of Punishment has to investigate it by following the procedure in the surface.”

Long sighed. “The ministry is short of capable people. Qingzhou, can you recommend some to me?”

s.h.i.+ smiled gently. “Your Majesty, I’m also in the palace.”

“As awesome as you’re, you can control the world even without going out,” said Long instantly.

s.h.i.+ narrowed his eyes. “Huh?”

Long smiled with his eyes fixed on s.h.i.+. “Qingzhou, take it as a compliment.”

s.h.i.+ rolled his eyes and said slowly, “Your Majesty, you’ve hidden yourself too deeply. You actually know a lot of things, don’t you?”

“Er?” Long winked. “Qingzhou, what are you referring to?”

s.h.i.+ said with a cold sneer, “Your Majesty, why do you ask with knowledge of the answer?”

“Alright then.” Long flattened his mouth with grievances. “Well, I do know you secretly foster your force. I haven’t said this to you because I want to know how far you’ll go. But when I love you afterward, I don’t care about this at all. After all, I’ll be beneficial if you can turn powerful, won’t I?”

s.h.i.+ kept silent.

For fear that s.h.i.+ thought too much, Long said in a hurry, “Qingzhou, I’ve been honest with you.”

s.h.i.+ squinted at Long up and down and finally sighed confronted with Long’s serious eyes.

“Since you’ve said so, I don’t need to hide this anymore. In fact, I do foster my force on the sly.”

Long smiled and kissed s.h.i.+’s face.

“Qingzhou, don’t dread of anything. We’re a couple and we can tell each other about everything. Do you hear me?”

s.h.i.+ slightly smiled and said after a long time, “Since so, I really get someone to recommend. Your Majesty, you may not dare use him.”

“Huh?” Hearing this, Long brightened his eyes. “Who are you talking about?”

s.h.i.+ replied with a faint smile, “Hu Qingyuan, the Magistrate of Huanshan County.”

“Huh, the Magistrate of Huanshan County?” Long got dumbfounded. “Who is he?”

s.h.i.+ helplessly glanced at Long. “He was number three in the final imperial examination ten years ago. As an honest and frank man, he’s been demoted all the time and been the Magistrate of Huanshan County for a couple of years.”

Long said with his eyes brightened, “He sounds competent according to you. Uh…though the Minister of Punishments is loyal to us, he’s not so competent. Qingzhou, what do you think of Hu’s abilities?”

“Not bad. He’s as capable as the inc.u.mbent Minister of Punishments, which is for sure. Besides, he has a way to handle cases. He’s only a magistrate now. We don’t need to give him a high post in the beginning. Since he’s good at handling cases, we can make him investigate cases.”

Hearing this, Long brightened his eyes again. “Good idea. Okay, I’ll issue the transfer order tomorrow. Qingzhou, what post do you think I should give him?”

“a.s.sistant Minister of Punishment…it’s enough for him to be the Vice-a.s.sistant Minister of Punishments, three ranks higher than the Magistrate of Huanshan County.”

a.s.sistant Minister of Punishments was just one rank higher than this, so it was enough for Hu.

The n.o.blest quality of Hu was that he never altered his principles no matter how poor he was these years.

Even if he got rejected by his colleagues, he never changed his original heart to seek truth from facts.

Thus, s.h.i.+ admired Hu very much.

Also, since three years ago, he had sent someone to contact Hu secretly. Hu had taken the side of him and sworn allegiance to him by now.

Over the three years, Hu had told him much intelligence.

Long and s.h.i.+ went to bed after the matter involved Hu was settled.

The incident of First w.a.n.gyeh wouldn’t be handled until tomorrow morning.

Muzar was murdered first, followed by the mansion of First w.a.n.gyeh burned down. What a coincidence.

It must be very boisterous in the morning session of tomorrow.

Long was even unpleasant in his sleep. As soon as he thought of so many disturbing things, he turned upset!

The good thing was that Qingzhou was there with him.

Hence, he could live with these!

As expected, it was quite “bustling” in the next morning session.

There were some officials loyal to First w.a.n.gyeh. Usually, they didn’t expose themselves, but First w.a.n.gyeh was killed this time and his mansion was burned down, so they found it unacceptable.

They all felt that their status and interests were under threat. Spurred by the terror and worries in their hearts, they attended the morning session and suspected this one and that one, almost considering each one the real murderer!

Hearing those, Long felt like his head was going to explode. However, both Left-Prime Minister and Right-Prime Minister kept silent at the moment.

Long swept across them with his eyes and sighed in his heart that they were sophisticated foxes.

When the quarrels reigned the Throne Room, s.h.i.+ was talking to Xu at the Qiankun Palace.

Xu came over as early as in the morning and naturally asked about Sky Hermit Fort.

s.h.i.+ then asked the Shadow Guardian in charge of the interrogation over.

The Shadow Guardian said, “Your Grace, four of the six people bit their tongues to kill themselves. The rest of the two haven’t said anything yet.”

Xu changed his expression after hearing this. “What? Kill themselves?”

The Shadow Guardian continued, “One of the dead spoke something. He seemed unfamiliar with the situation of the fort, which is very doubtful.”

Xu was in a daze. “He didn’t know what happened to the fort?”

“No,” s.h.i.+ replied to Xu. “It means the people weren’t familiar with the fort.”

“How is that possible?” Xu felt surprised.

s.h.i.+ squinted his eyes. “Do you know them?”

Xu got stunned again and shook his head. “I don’t know them, but they said they took their master’s order to apprehend me…the master must be the Master of Sky Hermit Fort. How could it not be he?”

s.h.i.+ slightly shook his head. “Your thoughts are too simple.”

Xu twisted the corners of his lips and felt somewhat helpless. “Elder Brother s.h.i.+…”

s.h.i.+ explained slowly, “The Master of Sky Hermit Fort knows his son is into you. I heard from you that those people tried to kill you many times, but the Master might not direct an execution order. After all, killing you will make his son hate him very much. The loss outweighs the gain.”

Xu got astonished in situ.

“Fang Shuoyang is the only child. As the owners of Sky Hermit Fort, Fang Qiuhua and Zhou Huan would leave adequate leeway for themselves. They could send someone to catch you but shouldn’t kill you. You’ve said the people directly wanted to kill you several times, so I doubt there are two groups of people chasing after you. Those we caught wanted to eradicate you.”

After some thoughts, Xu suddenly changed his expression. “I remember it. Two groups of people showed up once. When I just got rid of a group, I was then chased by another group, but those didn’t want to kill me…Were there really two groups of people? One group wanted to kill me; the other only wanted to catch me!”

s.h.i.+ nodded. “You said those yourself… so my guess may be correct!”