“Leave. As for the marriage alliance, Beiqiong Kingdom and I will settle it in due course; you need not worry.”
The moment the words fell, a gust of wind stirred.
The beaded curtain swayed slightly; the shadow atop the elevated dais vanished, and the suffocating pressure filling the grand hall dissipated in an instant.
“Yes, Huangyue takes her leave.”
With her lips curved into a flawless smile, Zongzheng Huangyue rose and retreated backward, keeping her face reverently turned toward the Saint Emperor's seat at all times. Even as she exited the grand hall and closed the doors, the smile remained fixed upon her face.
Only when she had returned to her own bedchamber and was completely alone did her expression freeze over the second the doors clicked shut, her eyes gleaming with sharp, icy calculation.
The Saint Emperor did not care in the slightest whether her Nether Ghost Physique had any drawbacks. All he cared about was whether she, as a vessel, could display to the people of Houchi Kingdom—and even to the Wangquan clan of Beiqiong Kingdom and the Lou clan of Shengyang Kingdom—that the Zongzheng imperial clan possessed someone with ninety percent bloodline purity.
She was merely a mascot; what kind of bullshit Highness was she supposed to be?
This bloodline purity, pieced together and plundered from ten thousand clan members, might not even genuinely rival the Saint Emperor's own natural talent of sixty-some percent. If it were truly that wondrous, why hadn't the Saint Emperor seized such a golden opportunity for himself instead of letting a mere young girl like her enjoy the veneration of Houchi Kingdom's hundreds of thousands of subjects?
He was undoubtedly planning to demand something from her as the price later on.
Pacing deeper into the room, Zongzheng Huangyue's furrowed brow did not relax for a moment. She recalled what that woman in the courtyard had told her: that her younger sister would be reborn into a major sect in the Central Province, doted upon by everyone, and would inevitably return to seek vengeance against her.
Her fists clenched tightly, sharp fingernails digging painfully into her palms, snapping her instantly back to reality.
No, her innate talent was nowhere near that of her biological sister, Zongzheng Yuanling. Even if she possessed her physical body, she would not inherit her sister's natural talent. Once her cultivation strength failed to match her proclaimed bloodline purity down the road, there was no telling how that old bastard of a Saint Emperor would deal with her.
By then, Zongzheng Yuanling would have boundless resources in the Central Province and would undoubtedly be far more powerful than she was. If things continued like this, even without that Wangquan Sheng, she would still be dead meat!
Yet she couldn't salvage this situation the way she had with Wangquan Sheng. Zongzheng Yuanling was in the Central Province; she couldn't go there.
“Someone, come in!”
“Your Highness.”
“Go to that small courtyard in the southwestern suburbs of the imperial capital and check if those two are still there. I... never mind. I'll go see them myself right now.”
“Understood.”
Remembering something, Zongzheng Huangyue caught the maidservant's arm. “You will disguise yourself as me, and I will disguise myself as you to slip out.”
She could never let the Saint Emperor discover her only life-saving straw.
“Understood.”
...
Concealing her tracks, Zongzheng Huangyue slipped out of the imperial palace. Yet she did not head there directly; instead, she ducked into several shops, changed both her face and her robes twice, and donned elevated shoes to alter her stature.
Only then did she feel secure enough to make her way toward the courtyard where Wen Li had previously stayed.
It was now the dead of night, with scarcely a soul on the streets. Switching her route repeatedly along the way, she finally arrived at the mouth of the alley in front of the courtyard.
She did not rush over recklessly, remaining at the alley entrance to observe. The black-clad assailants who had pursued Wen Li before had smashed the front gate to pieces; even though it had been replaced with a wooden gate of identical color and material, Zongzheng Huangyue still sensed something was wrong.
As she recalled, that gate had two ring knockers with five bronze studs on each; now, there were only four.
Moreover, she had been back for quite a while now, so why had the subordinates she stationed to watch the two never come to report to her...?
Zongzheng Huangyue's dark eyes flashed. Realizing something had gone awry, she turned to leave immediately.
“Mmph!”
A pair of hands clamped over her mouth.
Zongzheng Huangyue's eyes widened, a murderous glint flashing across her face as her fingers prepared to launch concealed poison needles.
“It's me. Don't make a sound. Let's go.”
To her surprise, the ordinary-looking woman opposite her gripped her wrist as if anticipating the move. The moment the woman spoke, Zongzheng Huangyue's pupils contracted in shock.
It was her! She was unharmed?!
Stowing away the poison needles, she followed behind Wen Li.
The two returned to the new courtyard Wen Li had rented.
Gu Linshu was already waiting in the courtyard. Seeing the two return safely, he breathed an inward sigh of relief.
“Stand guard outside.”
Wen Li tossed out a brief instruction and led Zongzheng Huangyue inside.
Gu Linshu nodded. “Understood.”
Zongzheng Huangyue cast a casual glance at him. Though plainly dressed and ordinary in appearance, the youth's demeanor could not be faked; he was undoubtedly of extraordinary origin as well.
The doors closed and a barrier was erected before Wen Li got straight to the point.
“On the seventh day after you left—the very day you were supposed to return—we came back from an outing to find people ambushing your courtyard to capture us. Fortunately, we used force to drive them away, so nothing happened. Go investigate who those people were; I need an explanation.”
Walking over to the seat of honor, she sat down. With a flick of her finger, tea poured itself into a cup.
“I know nothing about those people. Even if you hadn't mentioned it, I would have investigated.” Zongzheng Huangyue furrowed her brows. Walking over, she was about to reach out and lift the teacup, assuming Wen Li had poured it for her.
However, the teacup flew straight into Wen Li's hand a step ahead of her. “This is mine.”
So stingy.
Zongzheng Huangyue parted her lips, but swallowed her words. Stepping forward, she sat down across the round table and poured herself some water. “Wangquan Sheng isn't dead. I saved him. And indeed, there was an extraordinary bone ring beside him.”
She looked up at Wen Li. “Care to guess what I did with the bone ring?”
“Gave it to him, and claimed it was a personal keepsake you were gifting him.” Wen Li blew at the steam rising from her hot tea, speaking nonchalantly.
Yet these words made Zongzheng Huangyue's eyes snap up sharply. “You guessed wrong.”
“Is that so?”
Wen Li chuckled softly and met her gaze. “If you had taken the bone ring like I told you to, you wouldn't be asking me to guess its whereabouts right now. There's a subtle trace of smugness between your brows, as if you're certain I could never guess it, so you definitely didn't take it. And since you didn't take it, you wouldn't be foolish enough to just throw away something so important. Thus, you could only have given it back to Wangquan Sheng.
“And with your knack for finding excuses to maximize your own interests, you certainly wouldn't claim you picked it up right beside where he lay unconscious. If you gave it to him, you would want him to remember your kindness, so you would definitely say it was an item precious to you.”
As for why Zongzheng Huangyue had not taken the bone ring, she had likely realized that since Wangquan Sheng was protected by destiny, even if she took this ring away, there would be another fortuitous encounter waiting for him. Taking it might not even benefit her, as it might only work in Wangquan Sheng's hands. In that case, she was far better off doing him a favor, using the very bargaining chip that would alter his destiny to bind him with a debt of gratitude.
Opposite her, Zongzheng Huangyue could hardly conceal the shock on her face.
“You... you have only met me twice.”
The words were clearly an expression of astounded disbelief that, after merely two meetings, Wen Li could understand her so thoroughly and deduce her actions to such precision!
Yet what Wen Li had deduced went far beyond this. “Didn't you also pin the motive for killing Wangquan Sheng onto the Saint Emperor, claiming you were completely innocent, that you rushed back just to save him, and that you had no choice regarding the marriage alliance?”
The system jolted awake. 【Host, I didn't tell you about what happened on Zongzheng Huangyue's side, did I?】
Curious about what Zongzheng Huangyue would do, it had slacked off earlier to peek at her situation.
【Did I really need you to tell me? It just takes a little brainpower. Oh, my apologies, I forgot you don't possess such a thing as a brain.】
【I—!】 The system wanted to retort, but realized it was indeed just data lacking biological brain tissue, leaving it to stomp its feet in frustration and sulk.
Hearing Wen Li's words, Zongzheng Huangyue instantly felt a terrifying chill shoot up from the soles of her feet straight to her spine. She felt like someone stripped completely naked, everything laid bare before this woman.
This was a feeling she had experienced only before the Saint Emperor.
“Are you spying on me?”
Her expression darkened; this was the only explanation she could think of.
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