Cang Lan Dao - Chapter 33.1

Chapter 33.1
Listen to me, and I’ll let you kill him —

After Cui Heng left, Luo Wanqing lay on the bed for a while and then fell asleep. At dawn, the maidservant came and respectfully said: “Agent, Mr. Guanlan asked you to drink the medicine and rest. After that, the Department Master will see you.”

When she heard this, Luo Wanqing’s heart tightened, and she responded calmly: “Okay.”

The maidservant brought the medicine and breakfast together, placed them on the table, and left.

Luo Wanqing got up from the bed and sniffed the smell of the medicine. It was top-quality herbs for an antidote; she didn’t know where Cui Heng could find them. She pursed her lips, tilted her head, and drank it. Then, she took a cup of cold tea from the side and gulped it down to dilute the taste of the medicine.

After drinking the medicine, Luo Wanqing stuffed herself with a few buns and began to wash and prepare to see Xie Heng. Last night, she asked Cui Heng not to shield her. She knew that Xie Heng would summon her, but she didn’t expect it to be so fast. She also considered letting Cui Heng shelter her, but she did not want to owe Cui Heng a favor and implicate him. Cui Heng was, after all, the Inspection Department’s people; he may not stand on her side. She knew Cui Heng treated her well, but she was self-aware. With this face, it would be impossible to have a loving relationship. Toward her, Cui Heng probably took her as a friend, and his anger was more like a child, like a good friend of him who played with other people. This feeling counted nothing to Cui Heng, but Liu Xiniang had nothing left, so she cherished it. She would rather risk her life to see Xie Heng and didn’t want Cui Heng to be involved in these things.

Meeting Xie Heng might be an opportunity for her. With Xie Heng’s status, it would take too long for her to go from the new Agent to become someone he trusted. Not to mention whether or not Zhang Jiuran would survive that long, she didn’t feel right if Xiang Xizi held her family for one more day. If she could stay by Xie Heng’s side, she would have more leverage to negotiate with Xiang Sizi. But how? Confess to Xie Heng that Xiang Xizi asked her to kill him so that he would cooperate and they would end Xiang Xizi together?

When Luo Wanqing thought about it, she wanted to laugh. If she were to say this reason, then she would inevitably have to explain to Xie Heng why Xiang Xizi was looking for her to kill him, whether it was Liu Xiniang’s own identity as an assassin of the Feng Yu Pavilion or whether it was Luo Wanqing’s identity as an impostor of a death row inmate, it would all be enough for Xie Heng to put her to death.

Moreover, even if Xie Heng accepted her identity, Luo Wanqing aimed to obtain the mother parasites and her family; while Xie Heng’s purpose was Xiang Xizi, she needed the means to check and balance Xie Heng. If Xiang Xizi used her family to threaten her to kill Xie Heng, then she couldn’t save her family. Even if she saved her family, they would be implicated; it was just going from one wolf’s den to another tiger’s den and becoming hostages to threaten her. What difference did it make? She had to separate her family from herself and send her family away so as not to become a threat to her. She could only secretly cooperate with Xie Heng. If she directly teamed with Xie Heng, it would be playing with fire.

Moreover, Xie Heng was born arrogant. If she proposed to cooperate, and he felt that she was lowly and had no cooperation value, he could kill her. She could only stabilize Xie Heng and stay by his side if she could not team up with him and slowly negotiate with Xiang Xizi. But how to stabilize him? She had to give a reasonable reason for eavesdropping on him and let him take the initiative to keep her by his side. Eavesdropping on Xie Heng was an offense, proving she had bad intentions towards him.

But — What about eavesdropping on Li Guiyu? Thinking that Cui Heng suspected Li Guiyu last night, Luo Wanqing suddenly found a breakthrough. In Cui Heng’s eyes, she had her eyes on Li Guiyu, so she gave the flute to Zhang Yiran. Having ill intentions toward Xie Heng was unforgivable, but not for Li Guiyu. Listening to Xie Heng’s negotiation with Li Guiyu last night, she learned that he did not intend to ally with Li Guiyu and even disagreed with him due to Luo Wanqing. If she targeted Li Guiyu, Xie Heng probably would keep her. But why would she target Li Guiyu?

Luo Wanqing rubbed the Thousand Machines, trying to detach herself from the identity of ‘Luo Wanqing.’ When people weighed problems, they mixed their known information, making it difficult to think from other people’s perspectives. Luo Wanqing knew her own identity, Zhang Jiuran’s identity, and the existence of Xiang Xizi, but what about Xie Heng? The information that Xie Heng had gotten should limited to the death row prisoners, so the Liu Xiniang in front of Xie Heng’s eyes should be the small helmsman of the Salt Gang, originating from Yangzhou. Xiang Xizi must have erased the previous information. Otherwise, Zhang Jiuran wouldn’t dare to enter the Inspection Department.

A small leader of a salt gang, why would she be targeting Li Guiyu? What connection could there be between Liu Xiniang and Li Guiyu?

Putting aside Zhang Jiuran’s past, the only involvement between Liu Xiniang and Li Guiyu was —

Luo Wanqing?

Thinking of this, Luo Wanqing suddenly realized that when she and Zhang Jiuran dug the dungeon wall to complain, the jailers did not punish them for such a big thing, not even an investigation, as if the incident had not happened. Without command from above, would the jailers let them off so quickly? If there was an order, who ordered it? Xie Heng?

If it was Xie Heng, he should have checked how she came over to complain, so he probably knew the matter of fighting before they entered the dungeon. With this layer of relationship, if she said Luo Wanqing asked her to monitor Li Guiyu, it would make sense. This half-true reason, even if Xie Heng checked it, she could casually round it up. And with Xie Heng’s guilt towards Luo Wanqing last night, she could beg for a way out.

The only problem was that–
If Xie Heng knew that Liu Xiniang and Luo Wanqing had crossed paths and that Xie Heng had paid attention to Luo Wanqing, then did he know about the fact that Luo Wanqing had destroyed her face by hitting herself against the fire pit before she left?

If he knew, would he have suspected her and Luo Wanqing ……?

Suspect what?

Thinking of this, Luo Wanqing suddenly came to her senses and stopped the idea of continuing to suspect. When she knew too much, she would always fall into self-examination and suspicion, but stepping out of the information she possessed and standing from an outsider’s point of view, who would have thought that a young lady of a great family could become a person who killed Zhao Yuyan in such a short time?

Luo Wanqing was only punished with banishment. If she didn’t have that precognitive dream, no one would have thought that she would have died on the way to exile; there was no need for Luo Wanqing to hold the crime of Liu Xiniang, a death row inmate.

As for Liu Xiniang, she met Luo Wanqing in passing, and there was no need for her to give all of her internal strength for the sake of another person. No one could understand the choice of these two women, and now that ‘Luo Wanqing’ was dead, as long as Xiang Xizi didn’t expose her family, even Xie Heng couldn’t deny her identity as Liu Xiniang.

After sorting out her thoughts, Luo Wanqing calmed down, holding a Thousand Machines in her hand; she turned her head to look out of the window toward the back of the mountain. At this time, she finally had the spare energy to think about last night’s conversation between Xie Heng and Li Guiyu.

Ziang Xizi had asked her to eavesdrop on the conversation between the two, and although she knew Xie Heng’s stance, she knew very well that Xie Heng had chosen Li Guiyu. In her last life, they were allies. Xie Heng single-handedly assisted Li Guiyu in ascending to the throne, and Li Guiyu killed him. Listening to Xiang Sizi’s tone, she confirmed that Li Guiyu must have what Xie Heng needed. However, Xie Heng rejected Li Guiyu last night because of Luo Wanqing.

Why? She was sure that she and Xie Heng had never crossed paths before. Did Xie Heng really reject the alliance with Li Guiyu just for the sake of a guilty conscience? If that was the case, then he had an excellent heart, so in his last life, how could he have cooperated with Li Guiyu?

Luo Wanqing couldn’t understand, but she had no time to think more. She got up to wash up and heard Zhu Que’s voice from outside the door, “Agent Liu, Master is calling for you.”

Hearing these words, Luo Wanqing’s movement of winding the Thousand Machine paused. She took a deep breath, opened the door, and respectfully said, “Yes.”

Seeing her come out of the room, Zhu Que said nothing. After looking her up and down, he said, “Remove the Thousand Machines.”

Luo Wanqing didn’t dare refute. She immediately withdrew the sharp weapon around her and handed it to the person behind Zhu Que.

Zhu Que then had the maidservant check her body. After confirming that she didn’t have any sharp objects, he led her towards the back of the mountain. Because Luo Wanqing had prepared her speech, she was calm in her heart. She followed Zhu Que to the mountain’s courtyard, where she had paid her respects to Xie Heng.

The morning sunlight was just right. Xie Heng was sitting in the long corridor, looking down and reviewing the dossier. He was dressed in a plain white robe and seemed to have just gotten up. His long hair was half pulled back with a strap, looking extremely casual. But even if it was a casual posture, his body carried pressure, as if an invisible ruler surrounded him, measuring every move with the scale so that people did not dare to relax half a point. Kneeling beside him was a gentle youth making green tea. Seeing Zhu Que bring Luo Wanqing in, the youth smiled, giving Xie Heng a cup of tea, and softly said,” Zhu Que has returned.”

“Brother Qing Ya.”