It was a rare snowstorm that was unseen in the last decades in the Ding Capital City but on the second day, it abruptly stopped. The thick snow piled up till one's knees and in such cold weather like this, even the most diligent traders would prefer to bury themselves in their warm beds rather than risking the cold to set up the stall.
It was the person who was sounding the night watch that had missed the timing and hastily got up with the gong. The sun had yet to rise and the skies were not lit but he tightened the worn-out jacket on his back and stepped into the snow. In a steady pace, he passed the main doors of Prince Yu Residence.
The main doors of Prince Yu Residence were slightly opened with a slight seam and there was only half of the word 'Joyous' on the door. The old man that sounded the night watch did not see a single guard and his heart whispered. The people of Prince Yu Residence were extremely fierce and evil, and he had been scolded by them many times but it was strange not to see them today. After seeing half the 'Joyous' word, suddenly he realized. Yesterday was the day of Prince Yu Residence welcoming the Wángfēi to the residence so probably the guards were also rewarded with food and drinks and became drunk.
Thinking of the future of that young lady who was married into Prince Yu Residence, the old man shook his head and was about to walk past the main doors of the residence of Prince Yu of the First Rank. Coincidentally, a cold wind blew out making the heavy door to squeak and the black slit to widen. The old person who sounded the night watch could not help but be surprised. The door squeaked and slightly shook, and unknowingly, he suddenly had a strange feeling coming from his heart. He also did not know how this feeling was formed, so he stood at the door for a long time until a hawker who was out and about saw him and greeted, "Lee Lǎo Sì, what are you doing at the door?"
The person, who sounded the night watch, heart jumped and suddenly understood what the strange feeling was. In broad daylight, no matter how ferociously drunk one was last night, how would there be no sounds from the residence at all? Even if everyone were drunk and fast asleep, there would be still dogs or pet birds but there was nothing. The air was dead as if it was a grave.
His hand was somewhat trembling but he could not help it and took two steps forward. When he just reached the creak at the door, a thick strong smelling scent washed over, almost making him stagger. The old person who sounded the night watch pushed the door but the main door of the Prince Yu residence did not open. When one looked down, between the dark slits of the door, there was a piece of solid ice stuck there.
Most probably due to the wind and snow last night, it was frozen solid and was stuck at the door.
The old person who sounded the night watch stared wide-eyed and took two steps back before suddenly screaming, making the people on the streets looked over at him.
With the first ray of dawn, that piece of crystal clear ice was particularly clear. It was thick concentrated blood that had solidified into an ice piece, from the door slits flowed out an ice river but halted at the front of the door. It was as if those who were being chased were struggling to live but were cut off from the route by the distance of a door.
As if it was the flow of fresh blood.
*****
Ding capital's Prince Yu of the First Rank Residence's entire household was exterminated the day it welcomed the Wángfēi. From the top to the bottom of the residence, servants to concubines, even a cat, dog, chicken or duck were not spared. It was as if the person who did it had a huge debt of deep-seated hatred so they slaughtered everyone cleanly. Such a clean and neat execution that death comes in one stroke and in addition that there was not a single loss of gold or jewellery, it was obvious that one was not seeking money.
It was assumed that Prince Yu was a ferocious and vicious person that did so many evil deeds and had made lots of enemies, so no one knew who would have done it. But the person that took action was very courageous, as by going against the Prince Yu Residence was as good as going against Ming Qi's heavenly family. Everyone knew that Emperor Wen Hui valued this brother greatly, so Prince Yu was so secure with his backing for so many years that even the Princes would fear the consequences. It was nothing more than relying on the support of Emperor Wen Hui.
But this time it was beyond everyone's expectations. Emperor Wen Hui actually did not place any order to vigorously apprehend the culprit, not even a bounty was offered. He only instructed the officials to investigate and passed the matter to the Administer of the Capital. It was alright for the Administer of the Capital to handle other things but for investigations, they were mediocre. Emperor Wen Hui's actions meant that he did not want to waste too much energy on the case of the extermination of the entire household. The smart people saw the knack to it. Presumably, Prince Yu had done something before that made Emperor Wen Hui angry, else Emperor Wen Hui would not be so cold. Perhaps, Emperor Wen Hui in his heart already knew who was the culprit who had dealt with the assassination.
But be it conjecture and rumours, as it spread by word of mouth, many had deviated further from the facts. But some were definitely close to the truth.
In the case of Prince Yu's entire household being exterminated, one person survived. This person was not someone else but Shen Qing, who was married into Prince Yu Residence yesterday night. The person who sounded the night watch was the one who first found that something was not right in the Prince Yu Residence, and at that time there were many pedestrians on the streets and those braver actually accompanied each other into Prince Yu Residence. When they saw the scene in Prince Yu Residence, even from the hearsay, it felt creepy.
According to someone, in Prince Yu of the First Rank's large mansion, it was all filled with iced corpses and blood ice pieces. Those blood were displayed all over the courtyard and the snow and wind last night quickly froze them, making the entire floor appear to be red ice. The corpses were all frozen and were as hard as sculptures.
No matter where it was, the air of death was heavy as not a single person survived.
And Prince Yu's body was in his bed chambers. There were knife wounds on his chest, two maids were likewise beside him and Shen Qing had fallen at the door of the bed chambers, surrounded by gold and silver. At first, people thought she was also killed but she woke up when moved. Thus, Shen Qing became the only survivor in the entire Prince Yu Residence.
To Shen Qing, this was perhaps a good thing but it seemed even worse than death. The entire household of Prince Yu was exterminated, so why leave Shen Qing alive? If it was because Shen Qing was innocent and had no relationship with the Prince residence, then why did the people who did it not let even the servants and concubines go, it was definitely not that they had gotten soft. Moreover, when Shen Qing fainted, there were gold and silver sprinkled like she was escaping.
The most important thing was that other than the stab wound on Prince Yu's body, there were also stabbed traces of a woman's hairpin. Thus, the most suspicious person was Shen Qing, who just married into Prince Yu Residence.
With so many suspicions, it made Shen Qing, in a moment, the target of public criticism that even if she had nine mouths, she would be unable to clear it up. There were no methods, who asked the entire household of people of Prince Yu Residence to die but she remained alive?
Naturally, the Administer of the Capital's people wanted to bring Shen Qing back for interrogation. Regardless of whether Shen Qing was involved in the matter or not, she became the only witness for being alive. To find clues or even just to do anything for the rest of the world to see, Shen Qing would not be able to get out easily.
When the Shen family received the news, the officials already went to Prince Yu Residence to arrest people. Upon learning about the incident, Ren Wan Yun fainted on the spot and it was Shen Gui and Shen Yuan who rushed to pack up and head out.
"Yuan-er, where do we go now?" When Shen Gui faced his own son, he was still somewhat undecided. He knew that even if it was real or not, Shen Qing was involved in the matter and although the Emperor was not in a rage about the matter, accompanying a monarch was like accompanying a tiger. Who knew what Emperor Wen Hui's real thoughts? If this matter was used to provoke him in the future, this would impact his career.
Shen Yuan said icily, "Go and find the Administer of the Capital. It is too late to go to the residence of the Yu Qīnwáng now. Mèimèi was taken away so the Administer of the Capital will know more of the inside news." Pausing, he swept a look at Shen Gui, "Fùqīn need not worry. This matter will not be on Fùqīn's head."
Shen Gui heard the sarcasm in Shen Yuan's words and he was slightly angry but it was not good to say anything so he could only pretend not to understand Shen Yuan's meaning and said, "That being the case, let us hurry."
At the other end, Luo Xue Yan and Shen Xin also got ready to leave.
"Qiu-er, go and take a trip to the residence of the Yu Qīnwáng. Now that Lǎo Èr went to the Administer of the Capital and Lǎo Sān entered the Palace to listen for news, someone should still pay attention to Qīnwáng's residence. Your Fùqīn and I will first go to the Palace since the matter is huge, it would be bad if spies enter the city now." Luo Xue Yan instructed Shen Qiu, "Go and negotiate with the Qīnwáng Residence's side and investigate which of our Shen family's people died so that compensation payments can be given out."
"Rest assured Mǔqīn, leave this to me." Shen Qiu readily complied.
Waiting till after the Shen Xin couple left, Shen Qiu tidied up his clothes and intended to leave but suddenly heard Shen Miao's voice from behind, "Dàgē."
"Mèimèi?" Shen Qiu was surprised for a moment and turned to ask, "Why is mèimèi not staying at home and coming out?"
"Is Dàgē going to the residence of the Qīnwáng?" Shen Miao asked.
"Correct." Shen Qiu answered, "There are still some things that have to be dealt with. Once these matters are completed, I will quickly return."
Shen Miao looked at him and said, "Dàgē, bring me along."
Shen Xin was startled but then shook his head and said seriously, "Mèimèi, I know that you have deep resentment with Yu Qīnwáng and now that Yu Qīnwáng Residence has fallen to such a state, to be honest, I too find that they invited it upon themselves. If you want to personally see their fate, then Dàgē will do it for you. It is not worthwhile for you to personally take a trip down."
Shen Miao smiled, "I only want to take a look."
"There is nothing worth looking at." Shen Qiu deliberately scared her, "One heard that last night those people died miserably, they were all cut open and the blood was amassed for a few chis (1 chi = 1 foot = 1/3 meter). Fear that when a person dies so miserably, the soul still remains in the residence. For a little xiǎo jiě'ér like you to go, it is possible to see ghosts." Even though everyone in the Prince Yu Residence died miserably, it was not as horrifying as what Shen Qiu had described. Shen Qiu only wanted to scare Shen Miao as he really did not wish to let Shen Miao see such bloody scenes. How could a delicate lady of an official family see a death scene?
However, when he finished saying those words, Shen Miao who was facing him did not have any response. It was as if what he said was a common picture and Shen Miao even laughed, "As children of a military family, if one were to be scared of ghosts and gods, one would be scorned by others. Could it be that on the battlefield, Dàgē would also fear seeing scenes of death?"
"Of course not!��� Shen Qiu immediately said and once he opened his mouth, he knew he had said the wrong thing. Seeing Shen Miao looking at him quietly, she then said, "That being the case, these are not considered fear so Dàgē will bring me along."
"No. Mèimèi, why do you want to go to Yu Qīnwáng Residence?" Shen Qiu asked, "There is really nothing there."
"I go there just to see. Dàgē need not care about me, just like Dàgē mentioned, now there are guards defending outside and there will not be any danger. There would not be any trouble in bringing me along."
Every word that Shen Miao spoke was extremely firm. Shen Qiu found out in recent things that Shen Miao had a mind of her own and a very stubborn temper. Once she had decided on something, ten cows would not be able to pull her back. Even if he did not let her go today, there would be a day where she will go secretly on her own behind his back, so it would be better to bring her as a companion today and it would be much safer.
"Alright." Shen Qiu stared at her, "Once in the Qīnwáng Residence, you cannot wonder about. I will let Mo Qing follow you. If there is anything wrong, immediately shout for me."
Shen Miao smiled, "Alright."
It was with just the difference of a night that Prince Yu Residence had changed its image. The inside and outside were entirely different. Last night it was filled with friends and laughter, and one could almost see the endless stream of horses and carriages at the front gate as guests entered the place with smiles. Now the vermilion coloured main doors were covered with a white seal and the guards at the door had a grave expression as if they were afraid something brutal would suddenly spring up.
Half of the 'Joyous' word was fluttering in the wind alone until it finally could not withstand the cold and unattached itself from the door to float down onto the floor. An oncoming guard stepped it into the snow and nothing was seen.
There were a number of commoners that were standing in front of Prince Yu Residence to watch the commotion and also pointing the finger to blame. Although the event made one sad, there was also a faint pleasure to it. Over these years, Prince Yu's evil ways were well known and it was the most desirable thing to watch the wicked suffer the consequences.
When Shen Qiu and entourage reached Prince Yu Residence, the scene they saw was this. Thinking of the festive yesterday and today's deathly stillness, the sharp contrast made one suddenly feel a sense of trance. Although Shen Qiu was one who was used to seeing death, he could not help but feel a little the same.
After all, not one remained in the entire household and it was really quite miserable.
One of Shen Qiu's soldiers went up to the officials at Prince Yu Residence's door and indicated the reason for their arrival. The guards let them in and the entourage followed Shen Qiu in and was shocked by the sight that they did not utter a word.
The corpses of the servants in the residence were dragged away but the blood trail last night still remained. The remaining blood formed into ice and looked extremely horrible when one took a glance. It was as if the entire mansion was scarlet in colour. Even under an entire night of snow, this was unable to cover up the thick smell of blood. Throughout the entire area of scarlet red, one was able to see the tragic massacre that happened in the snowstorm yesterday night and seemed to hear the desperate cry of the night.
The soldiers were somewhat whispering and Shen Qiu also frowned and suddenly remembered that Shen Miao was beside him. Afraid that she would be frightened, he quickly looked at Shen Miao, intending to comfort her. But who knew that when he turned, Shen Miao's eyes were calmed and was even more undaunted than his soldiers.
Shen Miao looked at the scarlet scene in front. What was this considered? The blood of the enemies would only make one feel excited but the blood that was spilt during the extermination of the entire Shen family in the previous life was much more tragic than this. She was not moved, had no sympathy and no sorrow, she hated that she could not throw her head back and laugh loudly and make some stabs to Prince Yu's body.
"Mèimèi…" Shen Qiu hesitated, "I want to investigate a little. Do you want to rest in the house?"
Shen Miao looked towards the Southwest corner of the Prince Yu residence and smiled gently, "Yesterday when I was here, one heard from a maid that there is a tea room to rest. I will head there to take a seat. How about Dàgē coming over to find me when everything is done?"
"Over there?" Shen Qiu looked towards Shen Miao's sight. The trees of the Southwest corner were lush and pruning was done delicately, it seemed that the Prince deliberately renovated the place up to enjoy the flowers and entertainment. He nodded his head, "Let Mo Qing follow you in. Do not run around."
Shen Miao complied and went with Mo Qing towards the Southwestern area. Today, fearing that the few personal maids would be scared after seeing the blood in Prince Yu Residence, Shen Miao did not bring a single personal maid along. Mo Qing was a guard and naturally was not afraid of this.
Mo Qing followed Shen Miao and was somewhat surprised that Shen Miao seemed to be familiar with this place. Where were the corners, where were the corridors, where to go up; everything was clear to her. Even if one were to come here yesterday, this seemed too familiar.
Just as he was thinking about this doubt, Shen Miao had already reached the tea room. This room was set in the flowers and there was a shelf of grapevines. Most likely it was to eat the fruit during the summer when the grapes bear fruit and the flowers were also very elegant. But to use such elegance on Prince Yu, it somehow made one feel a bit weird.
"Wait for me outside." Shen Miao said to Mo Qing, "I will go in alone."
Mo Qing was somewhat hesitant so Shen Miao said as she looked at him, "It is just a tea room. If you do not feel reassured, then go with me to take a look."
Mo Qing immediately cupped his hands, "Yes." Finishing, he took the lead and went in with his hand on the sword.
Shen Miao looked at Mo Qing back and was distracted for a moment. In this life or the previous, no matter what identity she had, Mo Qing seemed to always be so cautious and loyal.
The tea room was large and was divided into three areas with screens and each area was very extravagant. It was different from the elegance outside and had the interior design of the Palace. Mo Qing carefully scrutinized the place to ensure that there were no assassins hiding before cupping his hands to say to Shen Miao, "Xiǎojiě just call Mo Qing for anything. Mo Qing will be outside guarding." Finishing, he walked out.
After Mo Qing left, Shen Miao walked to the front of the table at the front of the tea room. The green flowers and blue-based tea set was displayed on the table. It had a good glaze on it and seemed to be from the Palace. Shen Miao took a glance and walked over. After walking past the first folding screen and the second folding screen, she reached the third area of the tea room.
At the third area of the tea room, the walls were filled with calligraphy and paintings. If one looked carefully, their inscriptions all came from famous people. This entire room of calligraphy and paintings was most likely valued at thousands of gold. Shen Miao looked at each individual piece as if she was appreciating those paintings but her steps stopped when she walked past a painting.
It was a painting of a night banquet and came from the previous dynasty's famous great artist, Liu Yan, and what was drawn was a record of a grand banquet of the previous dynasty officials. The maids were beautiful, food was exquisite, fine wine was present and the guests were enjoying it. The people were drawn very lifelike and the ink and brush strokes were fine, also had a flair to it and the colours were exceptionally bright. In the entire wall of paintings, this one was not outstanding but Shen Miao was spellbound by it as if she was sucked into the scene.
She stared at the painting of the night banquet for a long time, and after a moment she finally reached out and ran her hands along with the calligraphy and up to the painting. She slowly explored the paper until she touched the painting of the protagonist of the night banquet, the lapel of the potbellied official.
The lapel was very delicately done, even though it was a painting, when one felt it, it was almost as if one could feel the buttons on the jacket.
In fact, Shen Miao had touched it.
There was a slightly raised feeling on her fingertips which was different from the rough texture of the paper. Shen Miao pressed it and only heard a soft 'ka' sound.
Accompanying the slight sound, the wall of calligraphy and painting suddenly split in half and a secret room appeared. From the outside, one could only see the long corridor and there was a torch that lit the area which made it as bright as outside.
Shen Miao gently gave a sigh of relief. Without any hesitation, she lifted her skirt and stepped in.
*****
In the deepest of the secret chamber, there stood a coffin that was already opened. After the insides were revealed, it was actually empty while two people stood in front of the coffin. A purple-clad person and a white-clad person. They were exactly Xie Jing Xing and Gao Yang.
Xie Jing Xing was holding a bright yellow cloth bag. One did not know what it was holding but it looked heavy. Gao Yang laughed, "Yu Qīnwáng that old dog actually put the thing in here. If it was not because of the massacre by the Chen family, we would have to take a lot of trouble to find this thing."
"So one only needs to wait for the leaks to appear." Xie Jing Xing said, "Check if there is anything in the surrounding area."
Gao Yang complied and went around looking, "Speaking of which, the Old Yu Dog did not even place a guard here. Seeing that this place is so secretive, it seemed that other than him, no one knew of this place."
"The Fu family are paranoid." Xie Jing Xing lazily said, "If it was you, would you not hide?"
"Naturally, I would hide." Gao Yang lightly shook his fan and his smile was very gentle and elegant but the words he spits out were scary, "If I was that Old Yu Dog if anyone were to know about this place, no matter who is it, even if they did not know the secret, as long as that person is able to enter this secret chambers, I would eliminate them. Only the dead can keep secrets. The one thing that that Old Yu Dog did well, was this."
Xie Jing Xing could not be bothered about it and went around looking.
At the same time, Shen Miao was holding a torch, quietly walking in the dark secret corridor. Compared to her usual slow pace, this time she walked more urgently. There was no other reason that she did not know when Shen Qiu would come over, so before Shen Qiu came to search, she had to retrieve that thing.
This secret chamber was originally found by Fu Xiu Yi. The conversation between him and Pei Lang was inadvertently eavesdropped by her. At that time Pei Lang had copied a blueprint and told Fu Xiu Yi that the switch to Prince Yu secret chamber was the lapel of the host of the painting of a banquet. That time Pei Lang also said, "That thing is in the secret chamber. Bìxià can investigate."
As for what the 'thing' actually was, Shen Miao did not know as she only heard from Pei Lang's and Fu Xiu Yi's tone that the 'thing' was very important to Fu Xiu Yi. Thus, when Shen Miao mentioned about exterminating the entire household, other than not to leave future trouble, it was also for this matter.
If the entire household was not exterminated, perhaps there will be one among the people left in Prince Yu residence that knew about the secret chambers, and this would, in turn, invoke trouble. Now that the everyone in Prince Yu Residence was all dead, presumably, this secret would not be found out for the time being, after all the Fu Xiu Yi in the past life only knew about the matter when he ascended to the throne.
As long as that 'thing' was very important to Fu Xiu Yi or was beneficial to him, one must never let Fu Xiu Yi attain it. Either obliterate it or send it to Fu Xiu Yi's enemies' hands, at least that 'thing' would be an advantage when dealing with Fu Xiu Yi in the future.
This was the motive of following Shen Qiu to the Prince residence today.
Shen Miao headed into the corridors of the secret chamber. The corridors snaked around and were much longer than she had imagined. In another bend, suddenly her eyes saw light and the narrow corridor led to a hall where the rows of torches were lit, brightening the entire place up.
And in that chamber, there laid a coffin and in front of the coffin, there stood two people.
Shen Miao had yet to move when she heard one of them snapped, "Who is it?!"
That voice was very familiar and she did not have time to distinguish when she saw two figures violently rushing over, and then saw two familiar faces in the fire.
Xie Jing Xing. Gao Yang.
What did Xie Jing Xing come here for? Was not Gao Yang from the Imperial Medical Institution, so why was he mixed up with Xie Jing Xing?
Even the usually calm Shen Miao was also secretly stunned and her brain was momentarily thrown into confusion. Those doubts that were hovering early on in her heart took root, but it was as if there suddenly was an exit in a bout of lightning, something seemed to have broken out.
"Shen Miao!" Gao Yang's eyes were of surprise too but it was towards Xie Jing Xing as he said, "Do it!"
Shen Miao's eyes kept on staring and she only felt dizzy as he could not see past the figure in front. Her body was shoved heavily and she hit the stone wall behind which made her suck in a mouthful of cold air due to the pain. Immediately after that, a long hand grabbed onto her throat as Xie Jing Xing's handsome face inched closer.
Xie Jing Xing almost pressed Shen Miao's entire body against the stone wall. His ice-cold coat touched Shen Miao's face and his hand was also ice cold. They were clearly some bright and burning brows and eyes like the sun, and the curves of his lips made one fascinated but his sight was so sober that it was almost cold.
"Shen Miao cannot be left alive." Gao Yang rapidly said, "The matter is of grave importance and it is her bad luck to die here. Leave the body here and let us get out. No one will find out. Xie Sān, you must not be soft-hearted, do it!"
Shen Miao looked towards Xie Jing Xing. The hand that was holding her neck was slender and looked good, but there was a blatant and fierce force that was firmly fastened on her neck.
The purple-clad youth's eyes got darker under the light and the charm was like drawn out from a painting. The more moving his appearance was, the more brutal the smile was, it was as if the cat had caught the mouse and its eyes revealed only indifference and the intention to kill.
He really wanted to kill her.
Shen Miao looked at him motionlessly and the pair of clear eyes were brighter than the melting of the first snow in spring. That encompasses the lack of joy and sorrow and was able to reflect another's life.
Xie Jing Xing's eyes slightly moved and suddenly his lips pulled into a smile as his other hand gently covered Shen Miao's eyes. He slightly looked down and moved closer to Shen Miao's ears, as if it was whispered among lovers, and said softly.
"Do not look at me, I will not be able to bear."