Murong Yunshu asked again, "What is King Sheng's purpose for doing this?"
When Li Shaoqing heard her question, he turned toward Chu Changge, answering, "To get him."
Ever since Li Shaoqing appeared, Chu Changge had been silently gloomy. When he was mentioned this time, his expression still looked terrible. "What does he want from me?" Chu Changge asked coldly.
"He wants to kill you with his own hands." Li Shaoqing added, "My agreement with him was that I would help him get the martial arts secrets, and he would help me rebel against the child Emperor."
Hearing these five words 'rebel against the child Emperor', Chu Changge's expression sank even more heavily as he said, "If he wanted to kill me, he should have killed me when I lost my memory back then. Instead of taking advantage of my memory loss and using 'Yun' to kill for him."
Li Shaoqing: "I don't know about that. Anyway, King Sheng tried every possible way to get the martial arts secrets to surpass and defeat you. As for his reasons for doing so, only he knows."
After hearing Li Shaoqing's words, Chu Changge's mood was as bad as it could be. He silently hung his head for a moment before requesting, "What else do you know? Just tell us all about it."
Li Shaoqing: "I've said everything I know. Now that King Sheng and I have turned against each other, there is no need to keep his secret."
"Very well." Chu Changge whispered when he suddenly raised his head, and the corners of his mouth curled up into a wry smile. "I remember you adored my wife so much that you even proposed marriage and repeatedly pestered her."
Li Shaoqing's heart trembled at his words, saying, "That was all to divert your attention. I have no inordinate desire towards her."
Chu Changge smiled even more strangely as if he hadn't heard his explanation. "Didn't you just say you and your father wanted to seek power to usurp the throne?"
"The child Emperor is incompetent, and my father has enjoyed popular confidence while in office. He was foolishly loyal to the previous Emperor and did not want to rebel. If the child Emperor hadn't dismissed him from his duty for no reason, he wouldn't have listened to my advice in forcing the child Emperor to abdicate."
Chu Changge was furious. "He wants to force the child Emperor to abdicate?"
Li Shaoqing nodded. "It won't be long before the dynasty is changed." After saying that, his face showed he was as pleased as Punch[1]. "When my father becomes the new Emperor, I will be the Crown Prince. Suppose you guys are willing to follow me; in that case, I can let bygones be bygones and put you in important positions where you will enjoy eternal glory and wealth."
"Ha ha ha ha ha." South, East, North, and West laughed out loud.
"That's the funniest joke I've ever heard." Chu Changge also threw back his head and laughed.
Li Shaoqing looked sullen. "I'm not joking. My father is the Imperial Court Minister."
Chu Changge: "My son is the Emperor of the dynasty."
Li Shaoqing frowned. "I am serious."
"I am also serious." Chu Changge's thin lips hooked up as he pointed out, "Just think about what the Emperor of the current dynasty is called?"
Chu Murong, Chu, Murong, Chu Changge, Murong Yunshu... When it finally dawned on Li Shaoqing, he instantly hated that he couldn't ask to be run over to the ground. No wonder his father repeatedly instructed him not to provoke Murong Yunshu. It was also no wonder when he proposed marriage to Murong Yunshu, the child Emperor dismissed his father after investigation. Suddenly, Li Shaoqing was aware of the most severe problem——he had just declared in front of the child Emperor's parents about their rebellion plot.
The moment Li Shaoqing realised his problem, Chu Changge was also aware of it. Therefore, he no longer bothered to talk with Li Shaoqing and asked Murong Yunshu directly, "How does Madam want him to die?" He didn't ask how to deal with Li Shaoqing but how Li Shaoqing would die. In other words, Li Shaoqing's end was death, and she would decide how he would die.
Murong Yunshu lightly replied, "You should decide it. Killing people is too wicked for me to do."
"......" Madam, are you implying that your child's father has done wicked things for most of his life? Chu Changge's face was full of black lines.
Li Shaoqing hurriedly climbed up the pole[2]. "Killing is against the law."
Everyone around sweated profusely. This man had really gone out of his mind. How dare he talk about the law before the Emperor's parents.
Murong Yunshu: "You are right. Killing is against the law. However, it shouldn't matter if the Emperor's father kills a few rebellious subjects and undutiful sons."
Chu Changge was overjoyed at her words and raised his hand to give Li Shaoqing a slap but heard him shout, "You can't kill me!" Chu Changge's hand stopped abruptly and said, "I'll give you half a minute to explain your last words."
Li Shaoqing: "I have made an agreement with my father that if I don't return to the capital within a month after he successfully ascends to the throne, it means that my plan with Hua Tiancheng has failed. At that time, he will exchange the child Emperor for my life. If you kill me now, you will be cutting off the child Emperor's hope of survival."
Chu Changge responded, "One month is enough time for me to save my own son."
Li Shaoqing panicked then, his legs began to tremble, and in desperation, he suddenly remembered something and hastily shouted. "I know, I know that King Sheng has a base city on some island, and he must have fled to that place after this failed Martial Arts Assembly mission. As long as you don't kill me, I will take you there."
Chu Changge withdrew his hand after hearing his words and coldly said, "We'll talk about King Sheng later. Tell me, when does your father plan to force the Emperor to abdicate?"
Li Shaoqing: "Tonight at zishi[3]."
When this statement came out, everyone gasped. It was only seven shichen[6] past the ion hour. And since Tianlong Mountain was thousands of miles away from the capital, the fastest it would take them there would be three days. Even if they knew that someone was trying to force the Emperor to abdicate, it would be too late for them to do anything to stop it.
"Leader, let's fight our way to the capital right away. Even if we can't catch up with that d*mned Minister for forcing the Emperor to abdicate, we can still flood his mansion with blood[4]!" North Guardian suggested.
"That's right! Kill this traitor first, then flood that Minister's mansion with blood[4]!" After saying that, East, South and West already sharpened their sword[5] like they were going to slaughter pigs and sheep.
Chu Changge: "It is still useful to keep him alive. As for flooding the Minister's mansion with blood[4], it is not too late to decide after zishi[3] tonight."
"But if we go there one day later, the situation will be even more dangerous for Little Leader." East Guardian argued.
Chu Changge: "It doesn't matter. He will be fine."
Seeing how calm Chu Changge was, South Guardian asked, "Leader, do you already have an arrangement for this?"
Chu Changge: "There is no arrangement. I believe my son is lucky and will not die so easily."
South, East, North, and West suddenly felt that the situation was befuddling them because of their Leader's overly blind confidence. "Madam, what do you think we should do?" South Guardian asked Murong Yunshu.
Murong Yunshu answered, "I have made a prediction for Little Murong. He will live long, so you guys don't need to be nervous."
"......" We are nervous on your behalf. South, East, North, and West were speechless to the extreme. One blindly confident, one blindly superstitious. What kind of parents were these!
On the other hand, Murong Yunshu and Chu Changge looked at each other with a smile. Then, we have done what we should have done.
At this time, Yun Si Niang, who had been jumping about as soon as she entered, suddenly muttered, "Strange, where did Shitou go?"
"Isn't he inside the warehouse?" Murong Yunshu reminded her that according to normal development, Mister Shi Er should still be at the innermost layer of the silver warehouse at this time––closing the mechanism. Three hundred and thirty-three turns was a huge project comparable to ascending the sky for Mister Shi Er, who had neither internal energy protection nor a strong body.
Yun Si Niang responded sadly, "He isn't inside. I just went in to look, and no one was inside."
"No one?" Murong Yunshu stared at her momentarily and asked, "Do you see any dead bodies?"
Yun Si Niang: "No."
Murong Yunshu: "Then that means he isn't dead yet. Since he isn't dead, you do not need to worry. He will emerge sooner or later."
"......" Yun Si Niang wanted to say this is a matter of life and death. Can you not be so calm? But on second thought, Murong Yunshu didn't even frown when she heard that his son would be forced to abdicate. Even though Shitou's disappearance was such a trivial matter, it was hard for a strong person like her to remain calm. "Could he have been taken away?" Yun Si Niang asked and then refuted her question herself, "I don't think so. He was the only one alive in the silver warehouse when we left. That fake Lihen Palace Master was buried underneath, and she can't catch him......"
At this point, Murong Yunshu interrupted her by saying, "You should open the last mechanism and check. Maybe he is down there."
"Makes sense. Underground is the only place I haven't checked." As she spoke, Yun Si Niang had already started spinning the mechanism.
Yun Si Niang spun until she finally finished spinning three hundred and thirty-three times. With a loud sound, a stone hole opened underground. Without waiting to go down to check, she heard a familiar wild cry, "Si Niang, I'm here!"
Yun Si Niang hurriedly rescued him and complained, "Why didn't you scream a few times when you were down there?"
"I'm saving up my strength. I was afraid that if I shouted until I became mute, I would not have any voice to shout when you came looking for me." Mister Shi Er said.
Yun Si Niang couldn't stop herself from slapping him on the back of the head and asking, "What were you trying to do by running down there when I told you to close the mechanism?"
"I didn't run down. I fell down." Mister Shi Er looked aggrieved. "I started spinning the eight trigrams as soon as you left. But the spinning disc was so heavy that when I used up all my strength, my hand slipped, and my whole body was thrown out by the reverse force, causing me to fall into the hole."
There were black lines across Yun Si Niang's whole face when she listened to his explanation. "Stupid is the only word I can give you!"
"That was an accident, an accident." Mister Shi Er said weakly.
Yun Si Niang rolled her eyes at him and closed the mechanism. Then, she left the silver warehouse with him and went outside.
As soon as the two came out, North Guardian laughed exaggeratedly. "Mister Shi Er, you really fell down! Amazing!"
Mister Shi Er countered, "I jumped down by myself. It's cool underground. It's a cool place to avoid the summer heat."
Everyone became speechless. "Hell is even cooler. Why don't you go there for a while?" Murong Yunshu quipped.
"I still have important things to report to you. I can't die yet." Mister Shi Er said.
Murong Yunshu: "What is it?"
"Something big will happen in the palace tonight. Someone intends to plot a rebellion and force the Young Master to abdicate." Mister Shi said gravely.
Murong Yunshu: "I already know about this. Now you can go and die without any worries."
"......" He had been bullying the woman in purple down there for so long that he didn't get this information out until she died. To his surprise, it was not even newsworthy. This really hurt his feelings.
Not long after, the rumbling sound from outside stopped. Everyone left the silver warehouse and returned to the inn.
Just as they walked to the inn's entrance, everyone saw Li Wunai, who had stayed behind at the inn, limping out with a cane, looking anxious.
"It's good that you guys are okay." Li Wunai breathed a sigh of relief and continued, "When the venue exploded, within the deaths and injuries of the major sects, I heard no news about you guys. I thought your bones no longer exist."
North Guardian said, "Great Master Li, you look down on us too much. If those straw men[7] from all the major sects could still be alive, how could we be completely annihilated?"
Li Wunai nodded approvingly. "It's a concerned reaction following turmoil. I was just in a panic. Oh, right, Chu Changge, you should hurry upstairs. Someone is waiting for you."
"Waiting for me?" Chu Changge raised his eyebrows, gave Murong Yunshu a sideways glance, and followed Li Wunai upstairs. The rest of the people trailed from behind.
Soon, Li Wunai brought everyone to the guest room where Chu Changge and Murong Yunshu had stayed together last night. "That person is inside. I won't go in. You guys should take your time talking."
Chu Changge looked at him suspiciously and commented, "You have a weird expression."
Li Wunai confessed as he said, "After you go in and see that person for yourself, you will find that weird is the best expression I can show."
"Oh?" Chu Changge was suddenly interested in the visitor. He curled his lips into a smile and dashingly pushed open the door. The said person's eyes looked up after hearing the sound, which happened to meet his eyes. Chu Changge was stunned for a moment and whispered, "It's her?"
South, East, North, and West were also surprised. This person was the woman in the coffin that had been placed in the hole under the floor of the coffin store. She was actually alive. It was incredible.
Murong Yunshu was also very surprised. She sized her up for a moment and commented, "She looks really good."
Li Wunai collapsed. He made a face as he whispered, "At this time, you still have the heart to evaluate her appearance? This woman is not the ordinary rouge and face powder type. You must not take the enemy lightly."
Murong Yunshu raised her eyebrows and smiled. "It's just a beautiful woman who entered the wrong room. You're too nervous."
Entered the wrong room? She really knows how to comfort herself. Li Wunai rolled his eyes.
Chu Changge, on the other hand, called out loudly, "Shopkeeper."
When the shopkeeper heard the call, he immediately appeared before Chu Changge with his head and face covered in dirt. His head and face were indeed covered in dirt. He must have recently returned from the Hell Gate. "What are Leader Chu's orders?" He asked, trembling with fear.
Chu Changge was shocked to see him appear. "You're still alive?"
The faces of East, South, North, and West were full of black lines. You don't even know that he is still alive, so who do you expect to answer when you called out for the 'shopkeeper' just now?
Footnotes Full List
- feeling great delight or pride
- lit. follow sb.'s cue and do everything to please him; fawn; act as a yes-man; willingly go along with other people's wishes
- 11pm to 1am
- Chinese idiom: massacre everyone
- Chinese idiom: to be getting ready for battle
- 2 hours
- good-for-nothing
Tags:
Black Belly Wife