Chapter 152 A New Problem
“Shouldn’t General Leng ask me why I have tried so hard to invite you to gather here?” Minister Liu had been trained to be cunning from years of experience in the government. The more Leng Changxi cared about this information, the greater the chance for him to achieve his goal.
Leng Changxi didn’t hide the reason why he wanted the information so badly, as he was confident that he was able to obtain it.
“I don’t have much time for you.” Under the black mask was a pair of confident and plotful eyes. Leng Changxi raised the teacup on the table and took a sip of the tea. “Besides, Minister Liu, you’ve just lost your son yesterday. Aren’t you supposed to be sorrowfully mourning over your son’s dead body at home today? Minister Liu, I hate being threatened the most. Don’t force me.”
Minister Liu sat straight immediately upon hearing that, and he signaled his people to leave with his glance and spoke to Leng Changxi’s ear, “Believe it or not, general Leng. I promise that every word I said about the fire in the Weiyang Palace ten years ago was true. I haven’t been lying at all.”
Leng Changxi made a gesture and waited for Minister Liu to continue.
“Ten years ago,” Minister Liu’s glance became hollow as he started to recall his memories, “I remember that Prince Ray was just about twelve years old by then. He was an extremely nasty and unlucky kid at that time, and his mother was just a palace servant girl who received the grace of the Emperor after he was drunk. Even before she died, she only obtained the title of Palace Attendant. Moreover, as his mother used to work in the palace of Imperial Concubine Yun, the Imperial Concubine Yun’s gang would more or less exclude Sima Ray. However, right after the fire in the Weiyang Palace, Prince Ray suddenly attended a banquet that he was not supposed to with his status. It was that very banquet which the Empress chose to adopt the slim and ignoble child. From then on, Prince Ray had raised to a high status quickly.”
“I know,” Leng Changxi looked at Minister Liu, who was talking non-stop, “I was there at the banquet. It was the sixtieth birthday of the Queen Mother. Sima Ray played the song ‘Good Luck’ with the musician, and the Empress chose him right on spot.”
“Indeed,” Minister Liu stroked his beard, “Doesn’t general Leng think that there is some sort of relationship in these?”
Leng Changxi looked at Liu Yunshan quietly and didn’t say a word. Leng Changxi had various guesses and found countless evidence, but the incident happened too long ago. What he needed now were concrete proves and witnesses.
Minister Liu’s glance became deeper as if there had been infinite secrets hiding in it. He lowered his voice and said, “Actually, we both know who was living in the Weiyang Palace at that time, and why the Emperor and the Queen Mother guarded the Weiyang Palace so heavily.” Minister Liu wrote “elder” on the table with tea as he said, and his meaning was pretty clear.
Seeing Leng Changxi frowning but remained silent, Minister Liu continued, “People only know that the Emperor sent the Elder Princess to West Xia for the imperial matrimony for peace, and they know that the procession accompanying the Elder Princess was robbed at the border of West Xia and Qi. They also know that a large squad was sent for the search and rescue of the princess, and the Elder Princess still went missing. Qi and West Xia had severed diplomatic relations for a decade. However, no one has ever thought a step ahead. What was the outcome of the search and rescue after all?”
“I don’t want to hear your nonsense.” Leng Changxi’s tone was determined.
Minister Liu sneered, “I had been an official for so many years. I’m not good at plotting or scheming, but I’m good at reading the Emperor’s mind. By reading the tiniest facial expressions of the Emperor, I could tell what’s going on or whom the Emperor’s planning to kill. I don’t quite remember the situation then, but I am certain that the Elder Princess had been rescued back then and sent to the Weiyang Palace privately after that.”
“If what Minister Liu said is true,” Qin Yunuan was sitting next to Leng Changxi and carefully listening to Minister Liu’s words, “Since the Emperor had already found the Elder Princess, why didn’t he announce the good news to the world?”
“Huh,” Minister Liu stretched his body confidently, “I would say that there were two reasons for the Emperor to hide the fact that the Elder Princess had returned to the palace. The first one is that the Elder Princess had lost her virginity already, and it would harm the reputation of Qi to announce it. The second reason is that the Emperor had some secret feelings towards the Elder Princess. The Elder Princess had a close relationship with the Emperor. Just like the Emperor Wu of Zhou, who had married his elder sister, I’m afraid the Emperor was planning to do the same after the incident was more or less forgotten. However, he didn’t expect that a sudden fire didn’t only destroy the most exquisite Weiyang Palace of Qi, but also the Elder Princess who lived in there secretly.”
“Ridiculous!” Leng Changxi struck the table heavily, “What are you to doubt the relationship between the Emperor and the Elder Princess?”
“What other possibilities could there be?” Minister Liu looked fearless, “In fact, you could tell from the Emperor’s order to you to investigate the fire in the Weiyang Palace thoroughly that he cares about it very much. So much that he cared for ten years.”
“If this is what Minister Liu’s trying to tell me, I could only say that it’s worthless to me.” Leng Changxi got up and held Qin Yunuan, looking as if he was about to leave.
“Of course, there’s more than that,” Minister Liu quickly got up to block Leng Changxi and said, “If all I have is some information that General Leng had already more or less investigated, how could I have the confidence to talk about conditions with General Leng?”
Just when Leng Changxi’s glance was getting cold, Minister Liu suddenly took out a note from his waist. However, Leng Changxi’s glance was so cold that he was a bit unapproachable. Therefore, Minister Liu turned to hand the note to Qin Yunuan.
Qin Yunuan quickly opened the note and took a glance at it. It was an address not far away, in the suburbs of the Royal City.
“It’s the address of an old palace servant girl who worked in the Weiyang Palace back then. Even though the Emperor ordered to clear the Weiyang Palace, and the palace workers had either been exiled or killed, she happened to escape. If you don’t believe it, general Leng, you can investigate it with this address, and you’ll know whether I’m telling the truth.”
“I don’t need it.” Leng Changxi didn’t even look at the address and handed the note back to Minister Liu directly, “Your bargaining chip isn’t that attractive.”
Even if the note was handed back, Qin Yunuan had the ability of reciting it on first sight. She just took a quick look at it just now, but she had already kept the address in her mind clearly. At the same time, Leng Changxi knew clearly about Qin Yunuan’s extraordinary memory. Qin Yunuan knew that Leng Changxi was planning to take the information with no cost.
“This…” Minister Liu’s confidence was totally destroyed by Leng Changxi’s simple sentence.
When he saw that Leng Changxi was actually leaving, Minister Liu raised his tone suddenly, “General Leng, as we have a common rival, why can’t we cooperate?”
Leng Changxi stopped and turned around indifferently. His fierce glance swept all over Minister Liu from head to toe through his bat-shaped mask.
“General Leng might not know that after I took my son’s body back to the mansion, I found that a black spot appeared on my son’s throat in the midnight. After I found someone professional to view it, I was told that it was a mark of a poisonous silver needle piercing through the throat. My son was apparently murdered, and I’m certain that the one who killed him is somehow related to Prince Ray. Moreover, the fire of the Weiyang Palace had to be somehow related to Prince Ray too. General Leng, don’t you think that it would be easy for us to reveal the evil deeds of Prince Ray and present Prince Ray’s true self to the Emperor if we work together?”
Minister Liu panted heavily after he finished his sentence. He was too anxious. He was afraid that Leng Changxi wouldn’t work with him. It was true that he bragged. Even though he was one of the officials who established Qi with the previous Emperor, his power in the government was deteriorating fast. He couldn’t do anything without Leng Changxi’s help.
“You are underestimating Sima Ray,” Leng Changxi was disdainful, “And you’re underestimating me as well.”
If it was a cooperating relationship, he would be equal with Leng Changxi. Leng Changxi couldn’t bear that.
Minister Liu clenched his teeth and suddenly arched towards Leng Changxi and said, “If I could avenge my son, I would do anything as general Leng says.”
Leng Changxi’s eyes were shining wisely, but his emotions didn’t seem to fluctuate much on the surface. He was still looking calm as if nothing had actually mattered to him.
“The government was debating on who should be the crown prince, and I want you to submit a memorial to the throne.” Leng Changxi directly ordered.
“Do you want me to support the Grand Prince to be the crown prince?” Minister Liu guessed instinctively.
“No,” Leng Changxi shook his head. “Just say that the seventh prince Sima Qiu was attacked in the Imperial Mausoleum and plead the Emperor to take him back to the palace.”
The seventh prince Sima Qiu was the Emperor’s youngest son. His mother came from a noble family. Not only was she from a prestigious family of Qi, but she was also titled as one of the four Imperial Concubine after giving birth to Sima Qiu. However, she was accused for witchery later, and it affected Sima Qiu, who was only six years old by then, as well. He was sent to the Imperial Mausoleum since then and lived in loneliness and monotony. However, regarding the witchery incident back in the years, there were many suspicions. However, no one dared to investigate it in depth. Who knew what kind of power was behind this? No one wanted to take the risk.
Now that the competition for the crown prince had become red-hot, taking Sima Qiu back to the palace was adding fuel to the fire. But that was exactly what Leng Changxi wanted.
“Was the seventh prince attacked?” Minister Liu looked very surprised.
“Not yet,” Leng Changxi’s tone was plain, “But sooner or later he would be.”
Minister Liu was surprised, and he looked at Leng Changxi speechlessly for quite a while. Right then, some noise came from the lobby, and there was some quarreling in North Di accent.