Chapter 179 – Beacon in Troubled Times 29
At this time, Xiao Yu was quickly spurring his horse to move to the front line. He had already left Jiangzhou City when he saw a carrier pigeon behind him. Xiao Yu stood on the horse’s back and fly up lightly to grab the pigeon. He tied the horse to a tree and read the letter in the moonlight.
The writing on the letter was upright and it was written by his brother. His brother told him to do things. First, when he pa.s.sed by the front lines, go to the military camp to find out if Qi Fenghua was present in the camp. Second, his brother asked him about QI Fenghua’s situation on the front lines in recent years.
Xiao Yu frowned slightly. He simply bit his finger and quickly wrote on the back of the letter.
“Qi Fenghua has been an ordinary lieutenant general in the army for many years. He is of n.o.ble blood and has high self-esteem. He refuses to accept the general and clashes a few times with the general. However, since the general is the commander of the front lines, Qi Fenghua can only listen to his orders. He often complained about it. The two of them are at odds with each other so the general didn’t allow him to lead soldiers to fight. Qi Fenghua is only responsible for the transportation of food. I haven’t seen him since I went to Yan. I will check carefully to see if he is in the barracks or not.”
Xiao Yu had the pigeon go back after finishing the letter.
Xiao Lou received it and handed it to Yu Hanjiang. Yu Hanjiang raised his eyebrows. “In this way, Qi Fenghua has been very dispirited in the army. He refuses to accept the general and is suppressed by the general. The emperor won’t promote him and he has probably been angry for a long time. Now someone promised to let him be the emperor if he cooperates with the Zhao state’s rebellion and he will naturally agree.”
Xiao Lou nodded. “I don’t know if Ye Qi has any clues…”
Just then, Ye Qi’s voice was heard in Xiao Lou’s mind. “The Zhao envoys are taking action. A group of people suddenly rode horses out of the city. Should Liu Qiao and I follow?”
In order to communicate in a timely manner, Xiao Lou and Ye Qi were tied together using Heart has a Tacit Exchange of Romantic Feelings. Once Xiao Lou heard this, he immediately ordered, “Keep up and pay attention to your safety. Don’t be discovered by them and use the invisibility card when necessary.”
“Yes, we will follow. I’ll report when there is information!”
According to Yu Hanjiang’s instructors, Ye Qi and Liu Qiao stationed themselves near the relay post. As a result, they had only watched it for less than half an hour when the door of the relay post opened and a group headed outside the city.
It was three in the morning.
The night was as cold as water. The moon hung high in the sky and the surroundings were so quiet that only the clatter of horse hooves was heard.
Ye Qi and Liu Qiao glanced at each other and quickly used their card skills to chase behind this group of people while reporting directions to Xiao Lou. Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang quickly responded and rode out of the city.
The Zhao envoy group acted like the wind.
However, Liu Qiao’s Light as a Swallow meant she could fly using the help of trees. There were trees everywhere outside Jiangzhou and she moved between the trees like a master of ancient light footwork skills.
Ye Qi’s teleportation card could teleport 50 metres at a time. Once Liu Qiao found a good landing point, he could teleport directly to the tree.
One flew through the tree and the other followed under the trees, keeping a distance of approximately 50 metres from the Zhao envoys.
There was wind at night. Liu Qiao was thin and light, She also wore black clothes and she didn’t catch the Zhao envoys’ attention as she jumped between trees. Ye Qi also found a black outfit to put on and covered his face with black cloth.
They soon followed the envoy group out of the city.
Ye Qi and Liu Qiao didn’t dare to act rashly and could only report to Xiao Lou while carefully tracking.
There was a spring near the ancient temple. By the spring water, two tall men stood opposite each other.
One of the men was in white. He was handsome and a piece of green transparent jade hung from his waist. He held a folding fan in his hand and he was smiling. He wore white clothes in the moonlight and looked like an immortal.
Standing opposite him was a young man in black with sharp eyes.
Ye Qi suddenly spoke in his mind, “The man in black looks like a younger version of the prince. Is he Qi Fenghua?”
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang were on the way. They heard this and immediately told Ye Qi, “Don’t move and listen to what they’re saying. Take care to hide with the invisibility cloak and don’t alert them.”
Ye Qi p.r.i.c.ked his ears and continued to eavesdrop.
He saw Qi Fenghua frown and asked, “Second prince, when are you going to act?”
The second prince laughed. “Brother Qi, don’t worry. Poisoning the crown prince at the wedding banquet is very risky and I need to plan carefully. In order to ensure success, I must ensure the crown prince dies without knowing. Then find a ‘killer’ without raising my father’s suspicion so I can become crown prince.”
Qi Fenghua nodded. “There are still a few months before you marry Princess Sukan. I hope you will be ready soon.’
The second prince’s eyes narrowed and he spoke coldly, “Don’t worry, I won’t let him sit in the crown prince’s position for too long.”
Qi Fenghua was silent for a moment before pulling out a delicate bottle. “This is the highly toxic poison I mentioned in my letter. It is a powder that I know was personally developed by a poison master. It is colourless and tasteless when mixed with food. Just put a spoonful onto food or into wine and the other person won’t be able to detect it. This is enough to poison dozens of people you want to deal with.”
The second prince took it with a smile. “Thank you.”
Qi Fenghua told him, “After things are done, don’t forget our agreement.”
The second prince nodded. “Of course. Brother Qi helped me ascend to the throne and I will definitely help you complete your long-cherished wish. Later, we will be sharing these rivers and mountains. The Zhao state and Qi state alliance. Isn’t it good?”
Qi Fenghua clenched his fist in his palm. “I can’t stay in Jiangzhou for long. Until we meet again.”
Seeing that Qi Fenghua was about to flee down the mountain, Ye Qi immediately called out to Xiao Lou. “Qi Fenghua is going down the mountain. Liu Qiao and I might not be able to catch him!”
Xiao Lou replied, “Don’t worry, Hanjiang and I have reached the foot of the mountain, Qi Fenghua won’t be able to escape. The two of you continue to watch the second prince.”
Ye Qi was relieved and continued the monitoring.
After Qi Fenghua left, the second prince blew the bamboo flute around his wrist. The group of envoys ran forward and knelt down. “We greet your Highness!”
The second prince raised his hand and motioned for them to get up.
A man said, “Your Highness has summoned this subordinate. What is your command?”
The second prince waved his fan and smiled. “I secretly sneaked into Daqi this time., Apart from getting medicine to someone, I wanted to see the appearance of the princess my father has betrothed me to. Since my goals have been achieved, we should go back as soon as possible to avoid any doubts.”
The envoy asked, “But is it proper to leave suddenly like this?”
The second prince spoke lightly, “Just leave a letter saying that you are busy with Zhao’s internal affairs and to forgive you for leaving without saying goodbye. Thank him for the hospitality these days and say that the second prince will later pay a visit in person.”
He waved his hand and turned to his hose. “Let’s go.”
The envoys followed him down the mountain on the other side.
***
At this time, the bottom of the mountain.
Yu Hanjiang brought the group of shadow guards and surrounded the mountain.
The token given to him by the emperor finally came in handy. The shadow guards saw the token and treated him like the emperor. They didn’t hesitate to follow Yu Hanjiang’s instructions. There were dozens of shadow guards strong in martial arts and Qi Fenghua would never be able to escape.
Qi Fenghua came down the mountain and sensed that something was wrong.
He raised his ears in an alert manner and observed the surroundings.
The surroundings were terribly quiet. The trees formed a group of dark shadows in the moonlight and the black shadows on the ground spread their claws like ghosts dancing.
Something hung from a white cloth on a tree not far away. It looked like a woman in white was hanging there, fluttering in the wind.
This image reminded him of his sister hanging from the tree in the prince’s mansion…
Qi Fenghua was clever and his body instantly stiffened. He didn’t believe in ghosts so once he saw the white shadow hanging from the tree, he immediately pulled out his sword and flew over, cutting the white silk with his silk. Then he yelled, “Who is pretending to be a ghost?”
The white silk disappeared and the ‘white woman’ fell to the ground, revealing her true face. It was a doll made of white cloth.
Qi Fenghua was shocked and realized he had been fooled. The next moment, a giant net fell from the sky and almost completely covered him.
Fortunately, Qi Fenghua reacted fast enough and immediately flew toward a tree. However, numerous black shadows sprung up around him. The light of their swords was like white snow and instantly covered him. He might be strong in martial arts but he was still forced to land.
Another huge net was carried by several people in black with excellent light footwork skills. They surrounded him in groups!
There were more and more detailed nets. The formation of this group of people meant Qi Fenghua had nowhere to escape. He struggled for a moment before finally being captured by the eight people in black!
There was a sudden flash of light and Qi Fenghua squinted. He saw a group of men in black holding torches in their hands. Others were holding bows and sharp arrows were aimed at him. A man and a woman walked out from the crowd. The man was tall and handsome while the woman wore a blue cloak and had an extraordinary temperament under the moonlight.
“Young Master QI, how fortunate.” Yu Hanjiang lowered his voice and spoke slowly. “Aren’t you supposed to be on the front lines? How did you appear in Jiangzhou?”
Qi Fenghua pretended to be calm. “Who are you? What are you talking about? My name is Qi Zhao and I’m a hunter on the mountain. Then as I was descending the mountain, I was inexplicably caught by you! Let me go! You have the wrong person.”
“Is it?” Yu Hanjiang spoke coldly. “Mr Qi’s appearance is extremely similar to the prince. I am the prefectural magistrate and have been ordered to investigate a murder case. This means I have a lot of contact with the prince and shouldn’t have made a mistake. Besides, didn’t Young Master Qi just meet with the second prince of Zhao? The second prince is of royal birth. How can he meet a hunter?”
“…” Qi Fenghua’s face was as grey as death.
“Just now, I made a white doll with my husband and hung it from the tree to play. I didn’t expect Master Qi’s reaction to be so fierce. The moment you saw it, you flew over and cut off the white silk with your sword. I wonder why?”
“……” Qi Fenghua’s gaze was eager to tear apart the net but the net trapping him was made of special materials and he couldn’t break it, no matter how hard he tried.
Yu Hanjiang stared at him coldly. “The eldest young lady of the prince’s mansion, Qi Yiyao. Your sister was killed by you?”
Qi Fenghua gritted his teeth and refused to answer.
Yu Hanjiang gently raised his eyebrows and met the eyes of a shadow guard. “Search his body.”
Two guards came forward and quickly searched his pockets. Sure enough, the poison was found. It was the poison he just handed over to the second prince and perhaps it was the tool used to kill his sister Qi Yiyao!
Xiao Lou took the medicine bottle, covered his hand with a piece of cloth and poured out a bit of the powder to observe it carefully. This powder looked a lot like transparent rock sugar powder and was definitely colourless and tasteless. It would be difficult to notice when mixed into food.
Many clear memories filled his mind.
In the past, his father found this poison when investigating the serial poisoning case. Later, his father died of the same poison. His mother knew the other person was a poison master and took Xiao Yu and Xiao Lou to escape from the capital. She even made her two sons look like little girls to avoid the murderer tracking them.
Xiao Lou recalled his childhood experience and clenched his fists tightly. The poison had actually reappeared. If he followed Qi Fenghua then perhaps he could find the murderer who poisoned his father!
Seeing Xiao Lou’s expression, Yu Hanjiang immediately understood the reason for Xiao Lou’s ugly face. Yu Hanjiang gently held Xiao Lou’s shoulder and whispered, “Don’t be anxious. Now he has been captured and we can always find some clues. If we follow this poisonous powder then it might be possible to uncover the secrets of the rebellious force in the capital.”
He glanced at Qi Fenghua coldly and waved to the shadow guard behind him. “Take him away!”
Qi Fenghua was taken to the prefectural magistrate’s place and looked extremely ugly.
He had no idea that when he came to meet the second prince late at night, he would be caught by the waiting prefectural magistrate!