Cang Lan Dao - Chapter 23.2
Chapter 23.2
What Is Your Relationship With Zhang Jiuran?
Those previous rooms were also full of dead people, but none of them smelled so strongly of blood, and she couldn’t help but frown as she raised her hand to grope the walls as she walked forward. As she walked, she kicked a soft object. She subconsciously looked down at her feet and widened her eyes.
Those on the ground weren’t people anymore. Uneven body parts filled the floor. They were not slashed by sharp instruments but torn apart by human hands.
Luo Wanqing looked at this tragic situation and felt her stomach turn. It wasn’t murder! It was cruelty!
Luo Wanqing felt the danger. She pointed her toes and retreated. At the same time, behind the bookshelf in the other room, she saw someone strike Qin Jue to the ground. The other party chopped down with a knife, which Qin Jue obviously couldn’t dodge.
Luo Wanqing’s eyes widened, and without hesitation, she rolled over and rushed into the room, pulling Qin Jue and throwing him outside the window, kicking away the person with the knife and then leaping out of the window!
Qin Jue seemed heavily injured and did not have the strength to land. Being thrown out by her, he directly smashed and rolled on the ground.
Luo Wanqing followed him out, pulling him along, saying urgently, “Are you alright?” As soon as the words fell, people poured out from all directions.
Luo Wanqing intuited that something was wrong. She saw the big man, who was about to chop Qin Jue, chasing him while shouting, “He’s got a lot of keys on him!” With that, he lunged towards Qin Jue.
Qin Jue didn’t have the strength to dodge. Luo Wanqing pulled him up with one hand while the other tried to strangle the big man’s knife. After kicking him off, she held Qin Jue up and angrily said, “What are you doing with so many keys? Crazy?!”
“They’re here to kill me.” Qin Jue coughed out, “I don’t have any keys.”
Luo Wanqing realized that this people weren’t death prisoners. Qin Jue didn’t die, and the people from the Feng Yu Pavilion were still around! She immediately protects Qin Jue behind her. She held the blade while looking at the surrounding people and calmly said, “How is your injury? Are there any people protecting you?”
“I can’t hold it anymore, and they are all dead.” Qin Jue’s heart palpitated as he looked at the innermost room and whispered: “There are experts.”
“Can you give up and go out first?”
“Taking a retest is being locked up with killers,” Qin Jue gasped, “I’m courting death if I go.”
Hearing this, Luo Wanqing gave a start. She realized that Qin Jue wanted to make it through to the end and get the thirty keys to become a shadow. He had no intention of taking the test to become an agent. A retest would be even more unfavorable to him and too convenient for those killers. She thought for a moment and looked at the sky. There wasn’t much time left. She glanced back at the other party and calmly said, “I’m still here. Why did you say you can’t hold it anymore?”
Qin Jue froze, seemingly not understanding Luo Wanqing’s words. He watched as Luo Wanqing raised her hand and dug out a blood-drenched magnet stone from her palm, then untied her forehead hair band and tied it to her hand along with the blade. He realized what she wanted to do and finally reacted, busily saying, “Miss, I’m not ……”
“This last 15 minutes,” Luo Wanqing interrupted, glancing at him, “I’ll protect you. You still have a family feud. Living is more important than anything else.” She raised her eyes to the others and calmly said, “His key belongs to me. Whoever wants to touch him can come over!”
Hearing this, the surrounding people laughed coldly, and without hesitation, they pounced towards Luo Wanqing!
Luo Wanqing’s complexion was slightly grave. She crossed her blade in front of her. In her mind was the blade technique taught to her by Liu Xiniang. These days, she gradually understood the mysteries of the blade technique, and today, it was the right time to test it!
However, when Qin Jue saw the way she crossed her knife, his eyes widened violently, and he stared blankly at Luo Wanqing as she dragged him through the crowd.
That blade’s style was so familiar, although a bit raw, but no different from the person he dreamed of day and night!
Luo Wanqing noticed his freeze and was dissatisfied, frowning, “What are you frozen for? Hide!”
Qin Jue sniffed, and only then did he return to his senses.
At this time, Zhao Yuyan’s voice came, “Liu Xiniang, come this way! There’s a tunnel!”
Hearing this, Luo Wanqing immediately dragged Qin Jue to run in Zhao Yuyan’s direction. She dragged Qin Jue into the room full of body parts and saw Zhao Yuyan crouching in front of a hole, urgently saying, “Quickly go in.”
Luo Wanqing glanced down, sensing that below should be a dungeon, and this hole should be the entrance. The lid made from special iron was right next to it. It was unbreakable and had pins, so one could lock the tunnel from the inside.
Luo Wanqing saw the structure and immediately pressed Qin Jue down, “You go down!”
After pushing Qin Jue down, Luo Wanqing said, “I’ll go down first.” Without waiting for Zhao Yuyan to agree, she jumped down, pulled over the lid, and locked it, leaving Zhao Yuyan outside!
Zhao Yuyan froze and hurriedly slapped the door, “Liu Xiniang? What are you doing?”
“Yuyan, we’re not dragging you down. Run!” Luo Wanqing yelled at the top, then turned around to find Qin Jue. Once she turned around, she felt a dagger against her waist.
Luo Wanqing froze and raised her eyes. Qin Jue’s eyes were full of hatred, staring at her: “What is your relationship with Zhang Jiuran?”
Luo Wanqing’s brain buzzed as Qin Jue hissed, “Speak!”
******
When everyone entered the assessment courtyard, inside the roof compartment of one of the highest small buildings in the manor, two youths sat by the window, playing chess with their heads bowed.
One of the two youths was dressed in luxurious clothes, with a jade crown on top of his head, wearing an embroidered gold robe, with a gentle temperament, holding a white piece in his hand.
Meanwhile, the other held a black piece in his hand, dressed in white brocade with half-tied hair, and his demeanor was indifferent. Both of them had excellent looks, but the young man with the black piece had a powerful aura. When he sat there calmly, one couldn’t pay attention to others.
“The Inspection Department, in the name of examination, had pardoned many death row prisoners. Father Emperor worried some thoughtful people using this channel to reprive the ones who shouldn’t. Every year, he will send the imperial staff and other government departments to monitor the examination. I heard this job is tough and can easily offend the Department Master. I have just returned to Capital this year, and this matter falls on my head. ” The young man with the white piece had a gentle and humble tone. He looked up towards the opposite person with a smile, “I still hope that the Department Master will forgive me.”
Hearing him speak, the Department Master, Xie Heng, looked calm and only responded, “Third Prince is saying that the Emperor suspected me?”
“Of course, the one who is fishy is not the Department Master.” The youth in a gold robe smiled without being overbearing. He explained, “After all, pardoning death row prisoners is such a big matter. With so many people in the Inspection Department, it will be difficult to guarantee that there aren’t any people with an ulterior motive. This morning, the Imperial Household Supervisor, Eunuch Yang, told me that the Qin family’s eldest son also arrived in Dongdu. The Emperor’s heart still had some lumps. After all, it’s the crime of treason. The Qin and the treasonous Cui family have a friendship, and Master Xie’s mother is from the Cui family. If the Cui family had some people stayed in the Inspection Department and wanted to help him, that ……” The youth did not finish, but the implied meaning was obvious.
Five years ago, the Cui family rebelled. Now, the Qin family plotted against the country. The Cui family’s remnants wanted to borrow the Inspection Department’s hands to save the Qin family’s remaining son. Then, wouldn’t it make them partners in crime?
Xie Heng’s expression did not move when he heard such inquiries. He only said, “The third Prince returned to Dongdu not long ago but is already in charge of many things.”
“It’s good to be busy.” The youth laughed, “It’s only a casual talk. In this examination, I’m sure Department Master won’t be taking special care of Qin Jue, right?”
“Of course.”
“You won’t send someone to look after him?”
Xie Heng moved before hearing the loud sound of a broken window. They turned around together to see a young man being thrown out of the window. Xie Heng’s complexion was slightly grave.
The youth smiled faintly, “The ones who are dying today should all be on death row, right?”
As soon as the words fell, a woman with a face full of burn scars fiercely followed and jumped out, protecting the youth on the ground as she pulled him behind her.
The youth sitting in front of the window froze. Xie Heng was also a bit surprised. A moment later, Xie Heng calmed down, lowered his eyes, and suppressed his smile. While holding a chess piece, he said lightly, “Of course, they are all death row prisoners.”
The youth said nothing and only stared at the scarred woman below. After a long time, he turned to look at Xie Heng, smiling, “The Inspection Department is full of talent.”
“Not as much as Third Prince’s side. All of them are first-rate killers.”
“Department Master is joking.” The youth turned his head and lowered his head.
“Li Guiyu, since this is a joke, I’ll say a few more words.” Xie Heng looked at the chessboard, dropping his pieces on one side and saying fluently, “Regarding the arrival of Young Master Qin to Dongdu, whether the Emperor minded or not, I don’t know. But when I was in Yangzhou, I captured a group of assassins sent by the Feng Yu Pavilion to assassinate Qin Jue. From their mouths, I knew some nasty person truly minded about Qin Jue coming to Dongdu. Third Prince,” Xie Heng raised his eyes to look at him, “Has the Empress been satisfied with your recent efforts?”
These words caused Li Guiyu to pause slightly in his movements, and a moment later, as if he didn’t understand, he answered, “What is the Department Master talking about? I can’t understand.”
“Back then, when the Northern Rong made peace with our kingdom, the Third Prince offered himself as a hostage on the border,” Xie Heng lowered his head to look at the chessboard and continued to drop his pieces. They dropped their pieces rapidly, not giving the other party time to think.
Xie Heng remained fluent and said lightly, “As a result, the Cui family committed treason and offered a city. Then, you disappeared at the border for five years. The Emperor is full of pain by the loss of his son. He transferred all his guilt to the Seventh Prince and your mother’s consort. Under the Emperor’s compensation and your mother’s clan’s unrelenting push, your mother consort became the empress, and the Seventh Prince became the crown prince. They were already prominent enough. You, on the other hand, have lived as a commoner, and now that you’re back, if you don’t have some ability, I’m afraid the empress won’t be able to tolerate you, right?”
One was her youngest son, whom she raised by her side and was already a crown prince. The other was her older son, who had been wandering around for many years with a treacherous mind. If this older son was unuseful to her, he might as well not come back.
Hearing Xie Heng’s unfinished thoughts, Li Guiyu smiled gently and only said, “Mother is extremely good to me. Department Master is overly concerned.”
“That’s good. The Third Prince is a filial son, so you must sit highly. But don’t fall into the imperial prison. Otherwise,” Xie Heng raised his eyes, staring at Li Guiyu, his phoenix eyes full of seriousness, “I can peel off a person’s skin without dying. Is Third Highness interested?”
Li Guiyu did not speak. A moment later, Xie Heng lowered his eyes, reached out to take a piece on the chessboard, and faintly said, “Captured (*).” Saying that, he glanced below tracelessly and saw the woman below escorting the injured youth inside. He withdrew his gaze and smashed the piece into the box.
T/N: When one ‘eats’ the opponent’s piece.