When Jinbao went to the western side hall to report back, his legs were still weak.
“Reporting to Your Highness, everything has been taken care of,” Jinbao said with a bow. “There’s just a little bloodstain left on the chest. It has already seeped into the wood. Eunuch Zheng said he would replace it with a new chest for Your Highness later.”
Xue Yan turned a page of his book and hummed in acknowledgment.
Jinbao let out a long breath of relief.
Ever since he had started serving Xue Yan, if nothing else, his ability to withstand frightening things had been forcibly raised by a considerable amount.
That woman had smashed her head against the chest and died, blood flowing all over the floor. Before this, the only thing Jinbao had ever seen killed was a chicken. When had he ever seen a living person die right in front of him?
…And it was someone who had had a grudge with him—or rather, someone whom he had schemed against.
At the beginning, the heir had sought him out and instructed him that if Diancui came to ask him for the key, he was to stall her for several days, all the way until the twelfth lunar month, before giving her the key. He absolutely had to make her believe that there were two keys and that she did not need to hurry to return it.
After that, the moment Diancui came looking for him, she was discovered by that little ancestor, Xue Yan.
After that little ancestor learned the whole story, as well as what the heir had ordered him to do, he actually smiled faintly.
“What a coincidence.” He had said to Jinbao. “I also have something I need you to do.”
Jinbao’s heart had immediately gone cold. He had a feeling that it would definitely be nothing good.
And sure enough. Xue Yan had actually ordered him to make contact with the dead soldiers lurking outside the imperial city and have those men obtain saffron and musk for him.
Jinbao had wanted to simply go to the Imperial Medical Academy to get them. After all, they were merely ordinary medicinal substances. It hardly seemed worth the risk of contacting people outside the palace just for them.
But Xue Yan had refused.
“Those medicines have to come from an unknown source,” he had said.
Naturally, Jinbao did not dare ask why anymore. He could only ask Xue Yan what he should do after obtaining the medicines.
He had never expected that what his master wanted him to do would be even more life-threatening than contacting the dead soldiers outside the palace.
“Take these things and hide them all in Diancui’s room.” Xue Yan had placed some needles, thread, and other odds and ends on the table and ordered him, “There must be some medicines in her room. Hide them somewhere that looks obvious but actually won’t attract attention. The incense burner, dressing case, tea canister, and so on. Go look for them. Once you find them, wrap up some of them and hide them in her room together with these things, then bring some back.”
This…he actually had to go into someone else’s room and do this?
Jinbao had been scared half to death.
But his own little life, along with the lives of everyone in his family, from the elderly to the young, was all in Xue Yan’s hands.
His potential had actually been forced out under such pressure, and he successfully followed Xue Yan’s instructions and completed everything.
And so, that day, he had watched with his own eyes as the arrangements made by Xue Yan and Jun Huailang had driven Diancui to her death, step by step, right before him.
His own hands could now be considered stained with blood as well.
Apart from him, there were no other servants managing the western side hall. His legs were trembling so badly that they nearly gave out beneath him. He felt certain that Diancui would come after his life in his dreams.
Even so, he forced himself to stay calm, pretended that he knew nothing, took people to dispose of the body, and cleaned up the bloodstains.
After all, if he revealed even the slightest trace of what he had done, he would still be the first one to die.
After completing this whole series of tasks, Diancui did not come looking for his life after all. Instead, Jinbao himself gradually stopped being so frightened whenever he saw blood or corpses.
But Jinbao still had some doubts.
He saw that his master looked calm and seemed to be in a rather good mood, so he gathered his courage and asked, “But, Master, there is still one thing this servant doesn’t understand.”
Xue Yan glanced at him without saying anything.
Jinbao saw that there was no murderous glint in those eyes, and knew that Xue Yan was tacitly permitting him to ask. He hurriedly said, “That day, that palace maid smashed herself to death in the storeroom, and she wasn’t that far away from Master. With Master’s extraordinary martial arts, you could clearly have stopped her. Why did you let her smash herself to death? If she hadn’t died, and had instead been taken to the Office of Judicial Punishments, perhaps they could have gotten some information out of her.”
“They wouldn’t have been able to,” Xue Yan said indifferently.
“Huh?” Jinbao was confused.
Then he heard Xue Yan say, “The person who instructed Diancui is from inside the palace. This is their territory. Unlike the Eastern Depot, they aren’t bound hand and foot by restrictions. They have plenty of ways to make that palace maid die accidentally in the Office of Judicial Punishments without saying a single word, and then make the matter disappear without a trace. Rather than that, it would be better to let her die of guilt in front of the Emperor and leave an impression in that fool’s mind, so that he would investigate the matter himself.”
Jinbao heard him refer to the “Emperor” one moment and call him a “fool” the next—words that were enough to get a hundred heads chopped off. His spine went cold listening to them, yet he did not dare argue.
He simply pretended that he had suddenly gone deaf and had heard nothing.
“Then…can His Majesty find out the truth?” he asked cautiously.
Xue Yan replied casually, “He doesn’t have the ability, but he’s sufficient as a warning. The people on that side are cautious. They won’t let anyone in again.”
So that was why!
Jinbao suddenly understood.
“It’s just a pity that I’m afraid we won’t be able to find out who was behind it,” he sighed.
“Why wouldn’t we be able to find out?” Xue Yan glanced at him.
Jinbao met his gaze, and his heart gave another jolt.
Oh no.
That look clearly meant there was another matter involving his head that he was going to have to handle.
“…What else do you command, Master?” Jinbao asked fearfully.
Xue Yan’s lips curled up teasingly.
“You’ve improved.”
As he spoke, he placed a small paper packet on the table.
“This is the medicinal powder you stole last time. On the fifteenth of this month, at the same time as before, go to that place. Someone will be there to meet you. Have them investigate where this prescription came from and how it was sent into the palace. …Then have them find a palace maid who is loyal, capable, easy to control, and won’t betray us, and find a way to send her to Consort Shu’s side.”
Jinbao was dumbfounded.
“This…can that really be done?”
Xue Yan gave him a faint glance and said nothing more.
The Yan-Yun Iron Cavalry was an elite army that the Prince of Yan had spent more than twenty years cultivating. Although the lands of Yan had now been lost, the Yan-Yun Iron Cavalry had survived. They simply had not yet reached the point where he could use them, so for the time being, they were staying under the command of the Prince of Yan’s former subordinates, the commander guarding Yanmen Pass.
The several dozen men who had returned with him were all dead soldiers raised for the Yan-Yun Iron Cavalry. They had originally been used to gather intelligence on enemy forces. Moving between the two countries was as easy for them as entering an uninhabited place.
For them, carrying out tasks in Chang’an was much easier.
It was just that these men could only remain hidden in the shadows. He still needed assistance that could operate openly if he wanted to establish a foothold at court in the future.
That was why he had been keeping a low profile these days, deliberately exposing weaknesses and waiting for the Eastern Depot to take the bait.
Seeing that Xue Yan had fallen silent, Jinbao tactfully did not ask any further questions.
Just as he was about to leave, Xue Yan called him back again.
“There is one more matter,” he said calmly.
Another?!
Jinbao nearly collapsed.
He desperately wanted to kneel before Xue Yan.
Your Highness, you have so many subordinates who can accomplish anything under the heavens or on earth. Please just let a lowly servant like me go!
But Xue Yan acted as though he had not seen the expression on his face at all and instructed him, “Go to the Eastern Depot again today. You don’t need to find a way inside. Just linger around the entrance and act suspiciously. Those eunuch guards will notice you. You don’t need to disguise yourself. With that foolish look of yours right now, the more foolish you act, the safer you will be.”
Jinbao: “…”
You could just insult me directly!
“Then what am I supposed to tell them afterward?” Jinbao asked carefully, not daring to say too much.
“Just tell them what happened a few days ago,” Xue Yan said. “Tell them you only managed to slip over there after finally getting an opportunity. Then tell them that it was because of a casual hint from Eunuch Wu that I thought of having someone search the room, and by a twist of fate, we found the medicine. Now, because of this, I have won Consort Shu’s favor and my circumstances have improved considerably. It’s all thanks to Eunuch Wu, so I need to thank him.”
Jinbao was completely stunned. He stared at Xue Yan with his mouth hanging open.
His face was cold and disdainful, yet he could effortlessly spout words of flattery. The contrast was so bizarre that it was almost theatrical.
After finishing, Xue Yan glanced sideways at Jinbao.
“Why are you standing there like an idiot? Remember it?”
Jinbao replayed everything Xue Yan had just said in his mind and hurriedly answered, “I remember!”
Xue Yan nodded.
“As long as the other side gives you a hint and tells you that Consort Shu can be relied upon in the future, your task will be considered complete.”
This would amount to openly establishing Consort Shu’s family as an ally.
The Eastern Depot was weak within the palace. They would not dislike Jinbao passing information to them, nor would they refuse to bring Consort Shu and the Jun family into their faction.
That way, if Consort Shu and the Jun family encountered any trouble in the future, the Eastern Depot would also offer assistance as appropriate.
As for whether the Eastern Depot intended to cross the river and tear down the bridge afterward, when that time came, it would no longer be up to them.
Jinbao nodded repeatedly, his eyes full of hope as he looked at him, waiting for Xue Yan to explain the reason.
But Xue Yan’s gaze had already returned to the book before him. He was completely absorbed in reading again and showed no intention whatsoever of explaining anything to him.
Jinbao had long been accustomed to getting nowhere whenever he tried to pry information out of Xue Yan. Seeing that his master had no intention of speaking, he prepared to leave.
Just then, there was a knock at the door.
Jinbao went to open it and saw Jun Huailang standing outside. He smiled and nodded at him.
“I didn’t disturb you, did I?”
Jinbao hurriedly bowed and stepped aside to let him in.
Jun Huailang walked into the room and looked toward Xue Yan, who was sitting at the table beside the door.
“It was my aunt who sent me. She wants to make you a cloak, so she asked me to come and find out your measurements.”
Xue Yan had never known much about such things.
He paused, then turned his eyes toward Jinbao.
Jinbao didn’t know either.
He stammered, “This servant can find someone to take His Highness’s measurements?”
Jun Huailang had expected this.
There were no palace maids serving Xue Yan. Previously, when Zheng Guangde had made clothes for him, he had not paid much attention either, simply using roughly similar measurements as a reference.
The Mingluan Palace had also been frantically busy these past few days. Jun Huailang did not want to trouble Zheng Guangde yet again, so he had brought a measuring tape with him.
Seeing Jinbao say that he would go find someone, Jun Huailang handed the measuring tape to him.
“I happened to bring one. A cloak isn’t complicated. We only need to measure the upper body.”
Jinbao blankly accepted the tape, then turned around and immediately met his master’s gaze.
Light-colored eyes tended to make a person look fiercer, and his master was already frightening to begin with. The moment Jinbao met those cold eyes, his hand went weak.
His master hated people touching him the most. Back when he had been seriously wounded and could barely even lift his arm, he had not allowed Jinbao to touch him even once.
Jinbao valued his life, and he also cherished his hands. He did not want to have both hands chopped off by his master at such a young age over something this trivial.
His eyes shifted, and he saw the heir standing in front of him, waiting for his response.
His master was terrifyingly fierce whenever he faced him, but he had never been fierce toward this living Bodhisattva!
Jinbao hurriedly shoved the measuring tape in his hand into Jun Huailang’s.
“Your Highness, this servant still has some important matters to attend to, so I’ll trouble you to take the Fifth Prince’s measurements!”
With that, he practically fled. After hurriedly giving a quick bow, he slipped out the door.
He really did have important matters to attend to. He wasn’t lying!
After all, he would rather face that pack of flesh-eating demons at the Eastern Depot than stay here and take the measurements of this living King of Hell.