Yu Yan Lou did not increase its defenses despite the daytime intrusion.
Wei Qingyan easily entered the private room.
This abnormality made her frown—Shi Yu was becoming increasingly unfathomable.
The Late Emperor had two sides to his character. As his son, could Shi Yu also wear different faces in public and in private?
Or perhaps, after more than ten years of friendship, she had never truly known him.
Indeed, otherwise, how could she fail to understand why he would suddenly sever ties for no apparent reason, only to risk his life later to save her at Huangshaling? He couldn’t have been unaware that a prince privately deploying troops was a capital offense of treason.
Wei Qingyan stood in the room, not rushing to search. Her gaze carefully examined everything around her.
The items she had disturbed that morning had been returned to their original places. The entire private room was neat and tidy, meticulous in every detail.
Finally, her eyes fell on the low couch by the window.
The only place in the entire room that was in disarray.
Wei Qingyan moved closer.
She remembered throwing the thin quilt from the low couch onto the floor that morning.
Now, the quilt had been placed back on the couch, but unlike the neatly folded bedding on the bed, it was spread loosely over the soft couch, with one corner lifted.
It looked exactly like… exactly like how one might casually toss it aside upon waking up.
Had Shi Yu rested on this couch during the day?
Left in too much of a hurry to tidy up?
No!
As a favored prince, Shi Yu had been raised with meticulous care since childhood. A quilt that had fallen to the floor would never be used again without being washed first.
He had always been particular, often criticizing her for being too rough.
Come to think of it, she had also rested on this low couch.
When Shi Yu was bored, he loved to gather a few friends. Occasionally, after drinking, they would rest here for a while.
Mindful of her female identity, she would always claim this low couch first to avoid squeezing onto the bed with the other men.
Once the floodgates of memory opened, many once-vague details slowly became clear again.
The last time they gathered in this private room was for Shi Yu’s birthday. He had personally gone to Weifu to invite her, then dragged her, Du Xueyi, and a few others into drinking late into the night to celebrate.
As the Huguo Jiangjun, drinking was unavoidable. Worried that she might cause trouble while drunk, her Mother had trained her alcohol tolerance from a young age.
That night, Shi Yu, Du Xueyi, and the others were all completely drunk and unconscious, leaving only her with a sliver of sobriety.
But taking care of several drunkards had exhausted her. Coupled with the day’s rigorous training in the camp, she had fallen into a deep sleep on this couch in the latter half of the night…
Wei Qingyan’s heart suddenly tightened.
She remembered now!
This thin quilt was exactly as she had left it when she woke up the next day.
She hurriedly flipped over one corner of the quilt. Upon seeing the spot clearly, Wei Qingyan’s eyes filled with shock.
There was a bloodstain on that corner of the quilt.
Du Xueyi, drunk and wild, had pulled Shi Yu, wanting to leap from the window to compete in Qinggong. While trying to stop them, she had accidentally injured her hand, and her blood dripped onto the quilt.
Five years later, the bloodstain had long since changed color, but it remained.
Since when had Prince Rong, raised in luxury, become so poor that he couldn’t bear to replace a dirty quilt?
He hadn’t even washed it!
Wei Qingyan sat down in a daze.
Why would Shi Yu keep the low couch and quilt she had slept on?
Could this be connected to his severing ties with her?
Wei Qingyan took a deep breath, forcing herself to stay calm.
Focusing her mind, she carefully sifted through the memories of that time.
The next day, when she woke up, the others were still asleep. It was she who woke them—by then, the sun was already high in the sky…
No!
Wei Qingyan’s face turned deathly pale.
From the moment she learned to walk, she began practicing stance training. Every day was spent either practicing martial arts or studying, learning everything her father and mother had her learn. It was common for her to train day and night alongside the soldiers.
Waking at the crow of the rooster (between 3 and 5 a.m.) was her unshakable habit. When had she ever slept until the sun was high in the sky?
Someone had tampered with her.
This was Shi Yu’s territory, Shi Yu’s gathering. The one most likely to have drugged her was Shi Yu.
What did he want to do?
Many speculations surged in Wei Qingyan’s heart.
Forcing herself to suppress the doubts in her mind, she searched inch by inch in the private room.
In the end, she found two suspicious things.
One was a hidden storybook on the bookshelf in the private room.
The other was a small carving on the wooden board of the low couch, depicting two figures sleeping side by side.
One person was embracing the other from behind.
Wei Qingyan stared at the two figures on the bed board for a long time without speaking.
Was this the secret of the private room?
Was this why Shi Yu forbade them from entering the private room again?
Wei Qingyan closed her eyes, her expression not much better than before…
Not long after returning to Anyuan Houfu, Du Xueyi came over, “Boss, is something going on with you?”
Previously, he had been busy with family matters and couldn’t spare the energy to care about Wei Qingyan.
Just now, when Wei Qingyan left in the middle of the night, Du Xueyi, troubled by his own thoughts and unable to sleep, asked A Lu about the day’s events.
Though he didn’t know why Wei Qingyan wanted to burn down Yu Yan Lou, there must be a reason.
How the General had returned from the dead and gained the ability of Huayuan—these were things he had never dared to ask.
But what the General wanted to do was something he needed to ask about. There must be some way he could be of service.
“Xueyi, are you still in contact with Shi Yu? Do you know why he hasn’t married?”
Du Xueyi’s eyes widened slightly, not expecting her to ask about Prince Rong.
On second thought, it wasn’t strange. The General and Prince Rong had always been close before, and Prince Rong had done so much for the General.
He replied, “Since returning to the capital half a year ago, I’ve run into him a few times, but we’re not as close as before.
As for why he hasn’t married, some say it’s because he’s in poor health and doesn’t want to burden others.
Others say that that person doesn’t want him to marry a high-ranking princess, so the candidates chosen for him are all from less prominent backgrounds. Prince Rong doesn’t like them, so it’s been delayed until now.
There are also rumors that he prefers men and doesn’t care for women. I think this possibility is more likely.”
“Why?” A shadow crossed Wei Qingyan’s eyes.
Du Xueyi hesitated slightly, then coughed twice and lowered his voice, “A few years ago, I saw him visit a Nanfengguan.”
At the time, he thought it was a personal preference and didn’t affect their friendship, so he didn’t mention it to the General to avoid causing discomfort.
But now that the General had returned and asked such a question, Du Xueyi decided to say a bit more.
“After you died in battle, Prince Rong was deeply grieved… I feel… his feelings for you… seem… seem… to go beyond brotherly affection…”
Du Xueyi expressed his meaning with great difficulty.
When he received the news of the General’s death in battle, he too was in immense pain and sorrow, wishing he could immediately march to Bei Ling to avenge the General. But he wouldn’t have been as crazed as Prince Rong.
Keeping the General’s body by his side for half a year—it was said that even at night, the coffin was placed inside his tent.
And on the day of the General’s burial, his hair turned white overnight, and he fell unconscious for several days before waking.
This made him suspect that Prince Rong’s feelings for the General were not merely brotherly affection, as the outside world claimed.
Prince Rong was in love with their General.
It was the kind of liking that reached the extreme.
Seeing Wei Qingyan’s calm expression, he couldn’t help but feel curious, “Aren’t you surprised?”
“I am,” Wei Qingyan replied, yet not a trace of surprise could be seen in her expression.
Du Xueyi looked at her suspiciously, “Did you already know?”
“Xueyi, during the battle at Huangshaling, Yan Qing broke through Bei Ling’s encirclement with my commander’s seal and over a dozen shadow guards.”
The two spoke simultaneously.
“What?” Du Xueyi exclaimed, rising to his feet. Hearing this, he could no longer spare a thought for whether the General knew about Prince Rong’s feelings.
“Then why didn’t Yan Qing lead troops to reinforce us?”