Cang Lan Dao - Chapter 32.1

Chapter 32.1
Cui Guanlan, you’re the one who softhearted

Facing the inexplicable anger of the person before him, Zhang Yiran frowned tightly as he subconsciously protected his flute, only asking, “Who are you, Lord?”

Seeing Zhang Yiran’s action of protecting his flute, Xie Heng laughed. He knew Zhang Yiran’s reputation as a foolish young man but had only heard of him once. He was this year’s top scorer and became a disciple of Wei Xinzhong, the Imperial Censor. For this reason, his future was unlimited, but because he was too straight and rash, the Emperor disliked him and assigned him to the Ministry of Public Works to become a minor officer.

Xie Heng has never dealt with this kind of person before; now, it is the first time he has seen him, and he knows why the Emperor dislikes him. But he also did not intend to conflict with such people. He adjusted his emotions, held down the killing intent, smiled, and said: “I am Agent Liu’s Shadow. I heard the sound of the flute. I do not know why my Agent gave you the flute, and where is she now?”

“I’m not sure where she is.” Zhang Yiran knew the official system of the Inspection Department. When he heard that this person was a Shadow, he relaxed his guard but maintained the last part of his vigilance and only said, “Since you are her Shadow, look for yourself.”

“Since Lord Zhang does not know, then I will take my leave. But my Agent’s flute,” Xie Heng stared at the flute in his hand, smiling coldly, “Shouldn’t you return it?”

“Her things, let’s wait for her to –“

Zhang Yiran hadn’t finished his words, and Xie Heng had arrived before his body, moving as fast as a ghost, not knowing when he had snatched the flute.

Zhang Yiran was so shocked that he retreated half a step. Xie Heng raised his hand and held it. The flute turned into powder and fell from Xie Heng’s hand.

“I’ll claim the flute for her since you’ve already played it; she doesn’t need to use it again.”

Xie Heng clapped his hands and nodded, “Farewell.” After he finished speaking, he turned around to leave.

Zhang Yiran pursed his lips and shouted, “Then tell her to come and take the money.”

Xie Heng turned back in confusion, and Zhang Yiran said coldly, “Tell her that I have no use for her gold beads and that I have my official carriage, so I don’t need her money to buy it.”

“Gold beads?” Hearing this, Xie Heng burst out laughing. He immediately realized what Luo Wanqing had done and nodded, “Very good.”

Zhang Yiran didn’t understand, and when he looked up, he saw the man leaping to a high place, his feet stepping on the branches and leaves, leaving under the moonlight.

Xie Heng returned to the Inspection Department and went straight to Luo Wanqing’s residence. He pushed the door straight and saw that the room was empty. Right now, he was sure that the person who eavesdropped today was, in all probability, Liu Xiniang. After teaching her for such a long time, she used her skills to him. He didn’t know whether to praise her for being clever and quick to learn or scold her for being ignorant. But if she were the person who overheard today, she would be in danger now. Li Guiyu was not an ordinary person; he wouldn’t leave her alive but did not kill her at that time, so he must have poisoned her. With poison on her body, how far can she run? And where did she go? If she was alone, she must have collapsed and was found by Xuan Shan. But Xuan Shan did not discover anything, and she was not in her room, so someone hid her. Someone helped her — besides Cui Heng, who else could help her in this Inspection Department?

Xie Heng’s mind went through the names and then remembered one person. Thinking of Luo Wanqing at that person’s place, he couldn’t help but raise his hand to his forehead and shake his head as he burst out laughing.

She had only met that minor official twice, yet she gave him a flute and gold beads. She turned for help to a young master she recently met and had to protect at a critical moment.

He knew her earlier, and he did more, yet at this time, she is not seeking help from him, Cui Heng, but Qin Jue?

Xie Heng raised his eyes and looked towards Qin Jue’s compound. He coldly lowered his face and rushed towards it. When the time comes, he and Liu Xiniang must have a good talk.

Xie Heng went quickly, and when he arrived, Qin Jue had just fed Luo Wanqing medicine. He cooked the medicine for half an hour. Luo Wanqing felt herself getting colder and her consciousness getting fuzzy. By the time Qin Jue fed her the medicine, she was blacking out in front of her eyes, and her internal organs were starting to ache. She took the medicine, knowing that it wouldn’t do much good. She gasped lowly and ordered, “Bring the dregs of the medicine over. I’ll apply it to the wound.”

Qin Jue frowned. He knew that Luo Wanqing’s situation was wrong just by looking at her, but he could do nothing but fetch the medicine’s dregs and say urgently, “Why don’t I send you to the medical center?”

Luo Wanqing pursed her lips and insisted, “Apply the medicine first.”

If it doesn’t work, she’ll find a doctor.

Qin Jue saw that persuading her was useless, so he took the dregs of the medicine and handed them to her. Her injury was on her chest, covered tightly by her clothes. Qin Jue handed her the medicine and turned towards the inner room, intending to avoid her; Luo Wanqing pulled her hair behind her back, pushed aside her clothes, and was just about to put on the medicine when she heard the door “bang” loudly!

Luo Wanqing instantly drew her sword and turned back to see Cui Heng standing in the doorway.

Cui Heng was holding a fan in his hand, his eyes swept from Luo Wanqing’s face to her half-removed clothes and then to Qin Jue, who was standing not far away.

Qin Jue was the first to react, immediately turning back to stop in front of Luo Wanqing, seemingly to explain something. However, without waiting for him to open his mouth, Cui Heng raised his steps and pushed Qin Jue away with his fan, saying coldly, “Get out of the way.”

After saying that, he stopped in front of Luo Wanqing. She pulled on her clothes and stared at him nervously. Cui Heng lowered his eyes, landing on her greenish lip color, and faintly said, “Xiniang, do you want me to carry you back?”

Luo Wanqing intuited that the person in front of her was in a bad mood. She didn’t dare to respond, braced herself to stand up, and said in a low voice, “I ……”

Before she finished speaking, Cui Heng carried her horizontally, turned around, and walked towards the outside while warning Qin Jue: “If you dare to catch up, I’ll throw that woman out of your house.”

When Qin Jue heard this, his footsteps immediately stopped, and he watched Cui Heng carry Luo Wanqing immediately.

Cui Heng carried Luo Wanqing back to her room. As soon as she arrived at her room, Cui Heng threw her onto the bed, then cut his hand, squeezed the blood into the tea, came back with a cup, grabbed Luo Wanqing by her hair, and forced her to tilt her head back and pour it in.

Luo Wanqing was in severe pain all around her body; she didn’t have any resistance at all; she swallowed the tea in a hurry, choked on the tea, and coughed sharply.

Seeing this, Cui Heng let go of her hair, threw her back on the bed, lifted a chair, and sat on the edge of the bed, elegantly sitting down and quietly gazing at her.

Luo Wanqing sat on her knees on the bed, coughing gently, and after a moment’s reprieve, she felt as if she was better. She finally had the strength to raise her head and stared at Cui Heng: “What did you give me to drink?”

“It would be more appropriate for me to ask you a question right now.” Cui Heng opened and closed his folding fan and smiled.

Luo Wanqing’s complexion was slightly cold. As soon as she heard this tone, she knew that Cui Heng had come to question her. With his intelligence, he should have guessed that she was the one who was searched by the Inspection Department tonight, so now, he was interrogating her. But her situation did not allow him to interrogate her. She whispered, “You can ask. Give me medicine first.” She wanted to get out of bed. However, just as she made a move, Cui Heng’s fan rested on Luo Wanqing’s shoulder, and Luo Wanqing immediately felt as if a thousand pounds had fallen on her shoulder.

She opened her eyes coldly and saw Cui Heng asking her coldly: “Where is the flute I sent you?”

Luo Wanqing froze, not expecting him to ask this.

Luo Wanqing didn’t say anything. She wasn’t sure if Cui Heng knew where the flute went; she just intuitively felt that the current Cui Heng was dangerous. She did not want to involve Zhang Yiran in this danger, so she only said, “You said that all things given to me by the Inspection Department are at my disposal.”

“Am I asking you this?”

Knowing she did not want to involve Zhang Yiran, Cui Heng became increasingly angry and stared at her, “Who did you give the flute to?”

“What exactly do you want to ask?” Luo Wanqing pressed the string of Thousand Machines on her wrist and stepped back unnoticeably.

Noticing her movements, Cui Heng raised his eyes and said icily, “What do you think I should ask?”

“I think you should ……” Before the words fell, the Thousand Machines struck towards Cui Heng.

Cui Heng, however, as if he had been prepared, grabbed the string of beads, yanked the woman who was ready to escape with one hand, reversed her hands behind her back, pressed her onto the bed, and said coldly: “Should I ask if you went up the back of the mountain this night?”

Luo Wanqing was not surprised. She sensed the killing opportunity, rolled over, and pulled out her hairpin to stab!

Cui Heng’s action was even faster. He used the bead string to pull her stabbing hand, fastening the mechanism. He tied her hands behind her back and continued, “Or should I ask if you are the assassin of the Feng Yu Pavilion?”

Luo Wanqing did not speak. After fighting two strokes, she had a burst of blackness in front of her eyes, lying on the bed painfully with a cold sweat.

Cui Heng looked at her appearance and pursed his lips. He raised his hand to untie her Thousand Machines and tap at her acupoints.

Luo Wanqing realized that he was suppressing the poison for her. She was lying on the bed, pursing her lips tightly and not daring to speak.

Cui Heng’s fingertips forced the poison across her spine; the toxin was all forced to her chest wound, faintly said: “In fact, I don’t care about any of this. I am only angry about one thing today.” He climbed down her spine to her neck, then pushed hard and pinched the back of her neck with his hand, forcing her to raise her head. He bent down and covered her ear, inquiring coldly, “Why are you treating them better than me?”

Luo Wanqing froze when she heard his words. He didn’t ask what she had done but asked this? She was keenly aware that his concern was a bit unbefitting. She frowned and asked, “Why are you angry?”

As Cui Heng froze, Luo Wanqing turned her head to look at him and calmly inquired, “Why don’t you ask me what I do?”

Hearing this, Cui Heng laughed lightly. “If you are scheming, you are merely trying to kill Xie Heng.” Cui Heng straightened up and looked down at Luo Wanqing. But your sword can’t even touch me, let alone him?”

These words carried contempt, and Luo Wanqing pursed her lips tightly with anger.

Cui Heng sensed her displeasure and let go of the hand clamping down on her, faintly saying, “Next time you want to use the Thousand Machines, you need to be decisive. If you used the Rainstorm Pear Blossom Needle directly in the first strike, perhaps you would have escaped by now, and if you want to make a move in the future, don’t be softhearted.”

Before he finished his words, Luo Wanqing violently pounced on him!

Cui Heng’s pupils sharply shrunk, and he raised his palm. However, the woman did not hide or avoid. When she met that palm of his, she rushed up. Knowing how powerful his palm was, Xie Heng sharply retracted his hand. At that moment, Luo Wanqing’s knife was against his neck.