His hand reached out to take her soft hand hanging at her side, but Qing Ci immediately walked away to pour tea.
“I’ve thought about how many people I could save on the execution platform. It’s impossible that there wasn’t at least one resilient person by the late emperor’s side. If the new emperor has inherited them, things will become tricky.”
“…”
“When that time comes, I might not even be able to save you.”
Qin Chengze watched her blow on the tea to cool it, and felt his throat grow parched.
Qing Ci didn’t notice his burning gaze at all. She only poured a cup, took two sips, and casually praised, “This Snowtop Emerald is quite good, quite good.”
“Of course it is,” Qin Chengze took the cup she had just set down, deliberately turned it around, and took a sip right where her lips had touched. “Father suspects there’s something wrong with the edict changing the Crown Prince.”
“What’s wrong with it?” Qing Ci tilted her head. “Didn’t all the senior ministers already examine it?”
“But isn’t it strange that the late emperor wrote the edict to replace the Crown Prince before the Crown Prince assassinated him?”
Qing Ci thought for a moment but couldn’t figure out what was strange about it.
As an emperor, who wouldn’t want to achieve great feats? But during the late emperor’s reign, the people credited the Crown Prince with the era of peace and prosperity. Wasn’t it only natural for the late emperor to want to deal with the Crown Prince?
A son shouldn’t overshadow his father.
“What’s even stranger is that General Qiu Yong of the Hanlin Guard arrived too late to protect the emperor, yet was promoted to General of the Escort Banner for his merits. His sister Qiu Ming has been frequently visiting Qianqinggong lately, and there are rumors that Qiu Ming will be made Empress.”
Even if he arrived late to protect the emperor, he still protected him. Isn’t capturing the Crown Prince a great achievement?
As for a beauty coming and going from Qianqinggong, that’s nothing unusual either. If she were the emperor, she’d also indulge in nightly revelry.
Though during the National Mourning period, one should still exercise restraint.
Seeing that he had drunk from her cup, Qing Ci poured herself a fresh one.
“Why worry about all this? The Crown Prince is about to die anyway. Doesn’t it make no difference who becomes emperor?”
“It does make a difference,” Qin Chengze said. “Whoever becomes emperor, it cannot be the Seventh Prince. Besides, the Crown Prince might not be beyond saving.”
The Seventh Prince was supposed to be wasting away on his sickbed, but the moment he ascended the throne, that frail, sickly air suddenly vanished.
Right—after Consort Chen had been framed once, Fu Jingyi deliberately avoided medicine, letting himself remain steeped in illness to escape further persecution. Now he could take his medicine as prescribed, no longer needing to put on a show of weakness.
Moreover, Empress Dowager Chen was young—endless trouble ahead.
This mother and son absolutely must not be allowed to hold power.
Qing Ci was left speechless and just said, “Oh.” The Crown Prince’s crime of regicide was firmly established, yet he was still dreaming of the Crown Prince making a comeback.
“A Ci,” Qin Chengze’s voice turned soft and coaxing, “go to the palace and retrieve the edict. If there are traces of forgery on it, we’ll have a just cause to condemn the new emperor.”
He paused, then added, “This is also my father’s intention.”
Her guess was that the thing was in Yu Shufang.
That night, the sky above was full of stars.
Treading along the eaves all the way, she was surprised to discover that the palace guards were all useless—every one of them only looked forward, never thinking to look up.
Qing Ci sat on the high eaves of Yu Shufang when a sudden craving hit her. She fished a handful of peanuts from her pocket and tossed them into her mouth.
Such a fine view—a pity she hadn’t brought a flask of wine.
Once she had rested enough, she used a feint to draw the guards at the door of Yu Shufang away.
She landed lightly, pushed open the heavy door, and slipped inside.
In that instant the door opened and closed, the candle flames in the painted bronze lamp before Fu Jingyi flickered slightly.
A figure in black suddenly appeared before his eyes. He was about to call out, but his voice died in his throat when he met those apricot-shaped eyes.
Qing Ci froze for two seconds, then slipped behind him and grabbed his neck. “If you make a sound, I’ll kill you.”
Her grip on his throat tickled a little, and Fu Jingyi couldn’t help but cough twice. Unhurriedly, he closed the memorial he had spread open and set it aside.
Qing Ci suddenly realized this face looked somewhat familiar, and her grip on his throat loosened slightly.
Fu Jingyi spoke in a low voice at that moment: “You saved me before. I won’t betray you.”
Qing Ci racked her brains to think. She had killed many people, and saved many too—she couldn’t recall such a fair-faced young man at the moment.
What was even more off was that she was wearing a mask, only her eyes visible. And he recognized her just like that?
“Who are you?”
Hearing this, Fu Jingyi’s inner doubts soared to the heavens.
Sitting here reading memorials—who else could he be?
Fu Jingyi sat up straight, expression unchanged. “Imperial Guard Captain.”
Qing Ci suddenly remembered. “Oh! You were being chased by two idiots, and I saved you.”
It had been a trivial favor, so she hadn’t given it much thought, but that jade pendant he gave her was really nice—she’d traded it for a hundred taels of silver.
“Mm.” Fu Jingyi nodded.
“Your name is Feng,” Qing Ci remembered the character on the jade pendant, then asked, “What’s your surname?”
“Yan.”
The Imperial Guard Captain’s surname was Yan—that was a very rigorous answer.
But if one looked into it, they’d know that Captain Yan was called Yan Kuan, courtesy name Wen’ang, which had nothing to do with the character Feng.
Regardless, he had to use this identity to bluff his way through for now.
If her purpose here was to take his life, he wouldn’t survive the night.
“What are you here for?”
His warm voice was full of sincere curiosity.
Qing Ci’s taut nerves finally relaxed, and her hand completely released his neck.
If he had wanted to call for someone, he would have done so long ago. It seemed he truly did remember her life-saving favor with some gratitude.
Qing Ci thought for a moment. “You’re the Imperial Guard Commander, so you must be loyal to the Emperor.”
“One must be alive to be loyal. A life-saving favor is greater.”
Fu Jingyi’s pitch-black eyes held a dancing light, bright and handsome like the stars in tonight’s sky.
While speaking with him, Qing Ci had been surveying her surroundings. This Yu Shufang had five rows of bookshelves and over a hundred grid cabinets.
When her gaze returned to the desk, she casually grabbed a sweet pear and took a bite.
She had truly been careless today.
She knew the Emperor attended morning court at the hour of Mao. It was already the hour of Zi now—the Emperor would have long since retired to Qianqinggong to sleep.
But even with the Emperor asleep, there was still an Imperial Guard Commander in the Yu Shufang.
This operation was ruined.
Even if this man wasn’t lying to her, even if the life-saving favor was greater, she still couldn’t trust him!
Qing Ci ate her pear while glaring at this man, a thought slowly forming in her mind.
Since she had saved his life once, it wouldn’t be too much to kill him now, would it?
With that thought, she gradually stopped chewing.
What a pity—such a handsome man, truly beautiful indeed. What a shame.
Fu Jingyi felt a jolt in his heart from her gaze.
“You’re here to steal something, aren’t you? The Emperor’s important items are all well hidden. No matter how skilled you are, it would be like fishing for a needle in the sea.”
“…”
“I hold the Emperor’s trust, so finding things is much easier for me. I can handle this matter for you.”
“…” At this self-recommendation, Qing Ci hesitated.
He continued, “I don’t know your name, so you needn’t worry about me betraying you. Besides, your martial skills are exceptional—I’ve witnessed them. I won’t walk to my own death.”
This… also made perfect sense.
The key point was that he truly didn’t know who she was—that was an advantage.
If she fell into a trap, she would disfigure herself without hesitation, dying before letting anyone recognize her as someone from the Taishifu.
And what if he actually did help her obtain the edicts? It would save her a great deal of trouble.
Qing Ci took another bite of the pear and chewed.
Seeing the killing intent in her eyes recede, Fu Jingyi breathed a sigh of relief. “Tell me what you want.”
“I want two edicts—the ones the late Emperor issued for deposing the Crown Prince and for establishing the new one.”
“Very well. Tomorrow night at the hour of Hai, meet me in the Tianzi private room at Jiyue Lou.”
Fu Jingyi agreed readily, though a barely perceptible shadow passed over his expression.
The edict bore his full name—a clear, unambiguous line: establishing the Seventh Prince, Fu Feng, as Crown Prince.
Once she got her hands on the edict and read it, she would inevitably suspect him.
Qing Ci narrowed her eyes and said softly, “You’d better not be deceiving me.”
“Naturally not. A life-saving favor is never forgotten.”
Fu Jingyi was sincere, personally opening the window for her so she could leave through it.
Watching her figure dissolve into the night, Fu Jingyi reached up and rubbed his neck.
Good thing it was still intact.