Chapter 1622: Mending the Fence After the Sheep Have Been Stolen!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
In the end, after seeing the determined expression on the Asura-masked man’s face, the First Prince managed to calm his anger.
Hiss!
Taking in a deep breath, he began to develop another idea.
The First Prince turned to the guard who had reported on the matter.
“Let me ask you… is that Jade Consort Xiao the real one?”
Buzz!
Everyone in the Eastern Palace was startled, and the air suddenly turned strange.
Yes! The a.s.sa.s.sin leader, Asura, was a vicious man with profound martial arts. This was true even though the First Prince had ordered him to not leave behind any clues and ensure that Jade Consort Xiao’s death looked like suicide, restricting many of his abilities.
But he still had all his strength. It wasn’t possible that he was unable to kill an ordinary consort.
Everyone instantly focused on the guard.
“Your Highness, Jade Consort Xiao had a harrowing experience and is resting in the palace. However, all the other consorts have seen her, and from their reactions, this should be Jade Consort Xiao. In addition, the imperial physician also went to see her, and there are many other factors, like the reactions from the maids and eunuchs of Shuhua Palace, that all indicate that this really is Jade Consort Xiao!”
The guard’s answer was unexpected, and it made all their hearts sink.
The consorts and the maids and eunuchs of Shuhua Palace had undoubtedly interacted with Jade Consort Xiao before, and were the people most familiar with her. If even they didn’t notice anything strange, it meant that this truly might be the real person!
The mood instantly turned oppressive.
“I don’t believe it! This prince doesn’t believe it!” the First Prince suddenly roared, his face ashen. He was apparently completely incapable of accepting this fact.
A cooked duck had flown away. After all his painstaking effort, how could he accept such a result?
“Such a coincidence cannot exist in this world. Eunuch Yin, this prince asks you, just what transpired at that time? How could it be that a person who had been dead for more than half a day would suddenly come to life not long after w.a.n.g Chong had left Shuhua Palace? There is no way that this was a coincidence. This prince doesn’t believe that the matter is that simple!” the First Prince resentfully spat.
All of this was too suspicious. Jade Consort Xiao had chosen the moment of her revival to be right after w.a.n.g Chong had left Shuhua Palace. This was simply too coincidental.
“This old slave also had the idea, but this old slave questioned a maid of Shuhua Palace. The King of Foreign Lands was in Shuhua Palace for less than ten minutes, and there were ten-some maids and eunuchs inside at the time, with at least nine of them around Jade Consort Xiao’s coffin. Although this matter is suspicious, there was no opportunity for him to try anything,” Eunuch Yin said, his expression grave.
The First Prince was struck dumb. Eunuch Yin’s loyalty was unquestionable, and the First Prince treated him in some ways like an extension of his body. If he said that w.a.n.g Chong didn’t have the opportunity, then it had to be true.
But now that w.a.n.g Chong had been cleared of suspicion, the First Prince didn’t know who to suspect. If it wasn’t w.a.n.g Chong, then there was only one possibility.
But… how was that possible?!
Moreover, the First Prince simply couldn’t accept this.
In the end, a meticulously crafted plan had not been defeated by w.a.n.g Chong or anyone else. It had been defeated by the neglect of his own men.
“In addition…”
The kneeling guard hesitantly spoke up.
The First Prince took in a deep breath and ordered, “Talk!”
“From what we’ve just learned, when the imperial physician arrived at Shuhua Palace, Jade Consort Xiao was constantly shouting that her chest hurt. In the end, after looking in the area indicated by Jade Consort Xiao, the imperial physician found a hair-thin needle, four-some inches long. The physician said that this needle should have been stabbed into Jade Consort Xiao’s heart, but the a.s.sa.s.sin apparently didn’t know that Jade Consort Xiao’s heart was one inch to the right compared to the heart of an average person, allowing her to avoid a fatal blow. The a.s.sa.s.sin was apparently careless because Jade Consort Xiao was an ordinary person and didn’t carefully check, causing this mistake,” the kneeling guard reported.
Everyone’s minds buzzed in understanding, and all of them looked in one direction. First Prince Li Ying’s face twisted into a nasty scowl.
“b.a.s.t.a.r.d thing! Look at the fine work you’ve done!”
The First Prince fiercely turned to the kneeling Asura, wanting nothing more than to eat the man alive. And the man himself had turned ghastly pale, his face drained of blood.
“Your Highness, I don’t know what’s going on. I smothered her to death. That needle… I have no idea!”
“b.a.s.t.a.r.d thing, you still dare to argue!”
The First Prince was infuriated by Asura’s defiance and immediately kicked him over.
“A four-inch-long, hair-thin needle—isn’t that your most commonly-used a.s.sa.s.sination weapon? b.a.s.t.a.r.d thing, even now, you’re still trying to deceive this prince!”
Asura lay on the ground, blood on his lips, but he did not dare to retort.
a.s.sistant Minister of Personnel Zhu Tong’en spoke up at this point. “Your Highness, now is not the time to blame Sir Asura. What’s happened has happened, and our first priority is to think of a way to fix it. Jade Consort Xiao is right now claiming that someone tried to kill her, and now she has that needle in her chest. As long as she sticks to this explanation, our attempt to frame Fifth Prince Li Heng will come to nothing. Why would someone want to kill someone having a love affair with the Fifth Prince? Only someone with secrets would have an a.s.sa.s.sin attempt to take their life. This being the case, the Imperial Clan Court will have to rea.s.sess all their evidence, and the Fifth Prince will probably be released soon!”
It was important to find out the truth and see where the error was, but the most important thing was to fix the source of the problem. Even if the sheep had already been stolen, it was still not too late to mend the fence.
“That’s right! Your Highness, our first priority is to resolve the chaos caused by Jade Consort Xiao. Someone tried to murder a consort of the palace. If this matter is investigated, even the Eastern Palace might be implicated.”
The other advisors voiced their agreement.
“Asura, this prince will give you one last chance. Before sunrise tomorrow, clean up the mess that you left for me. I don’t care what method you use, but Jade Consort Xiao must disappear. In addition, keep a close watch on w.a.n.g Chong. This prince wants to know his every moment. Until this situation is resolved, this prince does not hope to see any more uncontrollable variables!” the First Prince coldly ordered. His first set of orders were for Asura, but his second set of orders were for the advisor in the Eastern Palace in charge of intelligence gathering.
“Yes!”
The two sounded off in unison.
Following the First Prince’s words, an invisible undercurrent and killing intent began to surge through the Imperial Palace.
……
Time slowly pa.s.sed, and the Imperial Palace remained shaken by the news of Jade Consort Xiao’s revival for the rest of the day. But as the sun set and night fell, everything slowly calmed back down.
“It’s about ready!”
In an abandoned room on the western side of the palace, a window opened. A figure looked out and then flew through the window.
No matter what, I have to fix this mistake! Asura said to himself as he hid in the shadows under a roof eave.
The scout reports said that the King of Foreign Lands had left the Imperial Palace and returned to his residence. The laws of the court forbade outside officials from spending the night within the palace, and not even a King like King Song with actual power dared to defy this law. Without this greatest of obstacles, Asura feared nothing.
“Let me see what’s really going on here!”
Even Asura was still confused as to what had happened. Had he placed a needle in her chest out of habit and then forgotten about it because she was an ordinary person, or had someone else put the needle in after he had left?
But the truth was unimportant to Asura. After tonight, the name of Jade Consort Xiao would vanish completely from the memories of the people.
Thwis.h.!.+
A column of patrolling Imperial Army soldiers pa.s.sed, after which Asura lunged forward and vanished like a puff of smoke.
A few moments later, Asura was flying across the roofs of the Imperial Palace like a ghost, and he was soon at Shuhua Palace.
Looking over from a nearby roof, he could see that Shuhua Palace was still brightly lit. Though it was late in the night, numerous maids and eunuchs were still moving about, and there were clearly more soldiers patrolling within.
Given what had happened and Jade Consort Xiao’s claims that someone was trying to a.s.sa.s.sinate her, even the First Prince was forced to respond by increasing the guards around her.
“Unfortunately, that’s no use against me.”
Asura glanced down and then flew forward. Swis.h.!.+ Swis.h.!.+ Swis.h.!.+ As he did, he threw out several four-inch-long needles. Those soldiers within Shuhua Palace immediately dropped to the ground without even a groan.
These needles had merely knocked them unconscious. He only needed to take them out as he was leaving and they would wake once more.
After what had happened last time, Asura didn’t want to leave behind any trace of his presence.
As long as he could kill Jade Consort Xiao while leaving these guards alive, the only news in the palace would be of Jade Consort Xiao’s sudden death. Her revival would merely be a kind of ‘soul echo’.