Chu Xun and his internal conflict had reached a new level unawaringly. It seems like the mini theatre in previous chapter refers to this chapter. And maybe some clues about Prince Chen? And, it"s only one chapter this week due to some serious problems in my house. Sorry.
Chapter 41 – What are You Doing? Let Go Translated by HaruOngy at Geniusly Plain (If you can see this line, you must have read this in the aggregator site which illegally steal various works. Be shameful of yourself for not appreciating the translator"s hard work. Don"t think only you want to have it the easy way. Support the fanbase and translator!)
On the first day of eighth month, Mei Qian Deng summited an absence letter to the Crown Prince.
"I want to go back home for a reunion during the Mid-autumn Festival on the fifteenth of eighth month, asking you to allow it."
The Crown Prince Chu Xun waved his sleeves, allowed. Not seeing this boor for a few days, he too could have some peace.
Yet who knew, on the next day, Zhao Mo Ran too sent an absence letter to His Highness Crown Prince, saying that he too wanted to return home for the Mid-autumn Festival and had the same route with Mei Qian Deng so coincidently they would return together. After the Mid-autumn Festival, they would return together.
Chu Xun suddenly felt unhappy. He crumpled Zhao Mo Ran"s letter before throwing it to the corner of the wall. Then, he straightened his clothes while running to the Emperor"s place, "Imperial Father, erchen thinks Mid-autumn Festival is a good opportunity."
The Emperor was currently reading over the memorials. He raised his eyes and asked Chu Xun, "What plan do you have?"
"Erchen plans to go with Mei Qian Deng to visit Mei family and check that Mei Zi Zhou Tou as well as letting the Mei family set their mind at ease."
"If you"re going, go and visit the Zhao family too. The jianghu is not inferior to the imperial court, be sure not to be careless."
"Yes."
The Emperor finished checking a memorial, putting down the cinnabar brush. He took another memorial beside his hand and pa.s.sed it to Chu Xun"s hands, hinting him to look at it. Chu Xun uncertainly opened the memorial and read it seriously.
This memorial was a secret report. Basically, it was about Prince Chen"s recent whereabouts. Prince Chen went to Zui Xian House[1] three times (after the Qing Feng Ming Yue Brothel closed, it became the number one brothel in the capital city), ministers" house two times, Xiang Xie Li House one time. He had even summoned several ministers from Prince Chen"s faction, one of them had gifted Prince Chen a precious sword. Prince Chen was so fond of it that he couldn"t let go of it, in these two days he was sword dancing in his own house.
Chu Xun had previously seen similar secret reports. He presumed that Prince Chen himself was highly possible aware the Emperor had someone trailing him. Hence, matters that overstepped the bounds would not been done obviously to let the Emperor catch them. Most of the information in the secret report needed a further deliberate inquire.
"Since the Qing Feng Ming Yue Brothel incident, Imperial Uncle had stopped for quite some time. Not sure if he"s secretly planning something?" Chu Xun slightly worried, he had quite an understanding of his Imperial Uncle. He was someone unwilling to admit defeat. The Emperor used the Qing Feng Ming Yue Brothel and fuma Bai as the first targets, he naturally would harbour hatred in his heart. At this moment, he might had already thought properly how to exact the revenge.
The Emperor shook his head and sighed, "Prince Chen in his youth was a cheerful, optimistic and das.h.i.+ngly courageous. He liked jianghu the most and didn"t care of the imperial court. Yet, the public opinion is powerful enough to melt metal. All said he had ulterior motives and took great pains to build a jianghu influence, wis.h.i.+ng to kill and replace zhen. The previous Emperor had only zhen and Prince Chen these two sons. Zhen was conferred as the Crown Prince upon birth, had been quite an arrogant person and had some biased thoughts of Prince Chen. The story between us, it"s fine not to mention it."
Chu Xun smartly decided not to respond. Subjects related to Prince Chen was sensitive issues and couldn"t be talk about randomly. A single error in talking about it and he would be scolded by Imperial Father. Now that the Emperor had got older, he seemed to like recounting the past and more chattering than the past.
"The embezzled profit Prince Chen earned from selling illegal salt was a very huge amount. Zhen had already sent someone to trace those money"s location."
"Is there any result?"
The Emperor frowned, "All the money had been cleaned and no longer under Prince Chen"s name. There"s no outline so far. Prince Chen is not an avaricious person, he rake in the money only to consolidate and expand his own force. His ultimate goal is——"
Chu Xun muttered, "A……rebellion……"
"He relied on the fact that zhen had a guilty conscience towards him and hence will not easily kill him."
Chu Xun gulped. His Highness Crown Prince really wanted to ask his father, exactly what sort of incident that let down Imperial Uncle at that year. However, in the end he had no such bear guts to ask this question in his heart. Nine out of nine he would be lectured by the Emperor for a round before getting kicked out.
"Imperial Father is a brilliant monarch, of course can restrain Imperial Uncle. Erchen will return to pack the luggage. On the way, there are Mei Qian Deng and shadow guards protecting. Imperial Father doesn"t need to worry, erchen will take his leave first."
Just as he was about to close the door, he suddenly heard the Emperor shouted from the inside, "You can"t always use that childish temper of yours when interacting with Qian Deng! Have more the steady manner a Crown Prince should have!"
Chu Xun had a burst of churning in his heart. That"s Mei Qian Deng always offending the superior!
Aiyo!
Because he was daydreaming, his fingers almost got squeezed by the door. Thankfully this Crown Prince quick-witted, withdrawing the hand fast enough. If got squeezed painfully, then it"s all Mei Qian Deng"s fault!
"Xiao Jing Zi, where"s Mei Qian Deng?" A certain Crown Prince strutted inside the Ming Jue Palace.
"Replying to Your Highness, Young Master Mei is currently exchanging moves with Young Master Zhao in the courtyard. Nucai had only watched a short while, it"s very splendid."
The moment Chu Xun heard Mei Qian Deng was with Zhao Mo Ran, he turned unhappy completely. Coldly hummed, he went to the courtyard. From afar, he could hear clearly the "Four Great Beauties" of the Ming Jue Palace"s shouts.
"Young Master Mei, this move is very das.h.i.+ng!"
"Young Master Zhao, Young Master Zhao, be careful!"
"Young Master Mei! Young Master Mei!"
He quickened several steps and saw the two people in the middle of the courtyard. One was like a startled swan, lithe and nimble. Another one was like a roving dragon, vigorous and overbearing. The two figures exchanged their positions, sometimes one was up and another time one was below, entangled in the crossing. The swords were rhythmic and sonorous, sometimes there was swis.h.i.+ng sounds of breaking the wind. When Chu Xun saw such scene, he instantly remembered usually when Mei Qian Deng exchanged moves with him, it was completely a child game of a cat catching a mouse. Compared to this exchanging moves to her heart content today, it couldn"t be mentioned in the same breath.
An anger brew in his stomach, but for now he endured it. He wanted to watch, who was stronger between Mei Qian Deng and Zhao Mo Ran.
On par with Mei family"s hidden sword art, Zhao family had the evil killing sword art known to dominate the world, penalising treacherous people and eliminating evil. It was eulogised by the people of jianghu as the world"s most upright and plainspoken sword art. Zhao Mo Ran as the evil killing sword art"s direct successor, had already comprehended the quintessence of the sword art. Each of his moves was extraordinary. Although Mei Qian Deng was suppressed, she remained calm in the face of volatile situation, using the hidden sword art she smartly and agilely offset the attacks, making Zhao Mo Ran unable to get any advantage.
Zhao Mo Ran sensed Chu Xun"s attention and got distracted a bit. Mei Qian Deng seized the chance and aimed at his ribs. Zhao Mo Ran"s body was flexible, he did a bridge with his waist to escape her sword. Following that, he slyly grinned. His steps like the lotus yet like a flas.h.i.+ng lightning too as he turned his body. In a flash, his body reappeared before Mei Qian Deng. The most admiring part of the evil killing sword art was its straightforwardness and uprightness, all the moves were done face to face, never sneak attack others.
Mei Qian Deng was surprised and hastily retreated. Zhao Mo Ran used the sealing throat chop. But it was not known whether he wanted to hurt Mei Qian Deng or he had other intention for that attack didn"t sweep across Mei Qian Deng"s throat area but deviated downwards, directly swept across Mei Qian Deng Deng"s chest. If this attack succeeded, getting hurt was most unlikely. The most would be the clothes would be torn, only exposing the chest.
Female warrior Mei who had always been calm this time couldn"t remain calm. She got alarmed and wanted to use force to retreat. In a flash, the strength she used on her leg to step was wrong and her whole body toppled backward.
"Ah! Young Master Mei!" Several beauties cried out in alarm.
In response, Zhao Mo Ran quickly retracted his sword and flew towards Mei Qian Deng. His long arm curved and grasped Mei Qian Deng"s slender waist. After several circles, the two of them steadily stood in the middle of the courtyard. Only, the bodies of these two were tightly pasted to each other, the posture was rather provoking others to have a reverie about. Zhao Mo Ran was taller than Mei Qian Deng by half a head. When he lowered his head, his nose seemed to have touched Mei Qian Deng"s smooth forehead.
"Little Seventh, did I injure you?"
When he was talking, the suns.h.i.+ne young man"s aura was spurted on Mei Qian Deng"s face.
"……" Mei Qian Deng had a moment of being stupefied.
The one with fastest reaction was the Crown Prince. When he saw Zhao Mo Ran"s last move, he already had a bad premonition. Now, he had already jumped over and pulled Mei Qian Deng"s hand, forcefully s.n.a.t.c.hed the person from Zhao Mo Ran"s hug. "Mei Qian Deng, are you using your life to exchange blows with others?" When he was saying, Chu Xun glared at Zhao Mo Ran.
Zhao Mo Ran hung his head and saluted, "Your Highness, please pardon my offense. It"s because I am anxious to gain victory and lost my sense of propriety."
"The day is late now. The cla.s.s for today had already ended, Young Master Zhao can now return to the outside residence and have a rest."
Zhao Mo Ran replied, "Mo Ran stayed late because I"m waiting for Your Highness to return to have a farewell dinner with Your Highness. Tomorrow, Little Seventh and I will set out to return to our home. We won"t meet Your Highness at least one month and so hope everything is fine."
Chu Xun"s mouth twitched, he raised his head like a tsundere and said, "No need for that, this Crown Prince will travel together with you all tomorrow. Imperial Father had decreed to let this Crown Prince personally visit both Zhao and Mei families." (Emperor: You little b.a.s.t.a.r.d, to dare deliver false imperial edict!)
"Then, the Emperor really has vast and mighty thoughts." Zhao Mo Ran was not surprised at all. He bent at his waist and did another salutation. Then, he glanced at Mei Qian Deng and nodded his head at her as bidding farewell.
After Zhao Mo Ran left, Mei Qian Deng moved her arm which provided impetus for Chu Xun"s arm.
"Crown Prince, can you let go of your hand?"
"You think this Crown Prince cares about holding your hand?!" Chu Xun snorted, swung his arm and went for a long walk.
It was night.
Chu Xun, "Xiao Jing Zi, come over here."
Xiao Jing Zi, "Your Highness Crown Prince, for what reason summoning nucai?"
Chu Xun, "Stretch out your hand."
Xiao Jing Zi, "Oh……"
I catch.
Xiao Jing Zi was shocked and shy as he cried, "Ah! Your Highness, what are you trying to do?!"
Chu Xun closed his eyes and silently felt for a moment before he frowned and shook his head.
It didn"t have an ounce of that feeling.
[1] Literally, House of Drunken Immortals
Translated by HaruOngy at Geniusly Plain (If you can see this line, you must have read this in the aggregator site which illegally steal various works. Be shameful of yourself for not appreciating the translator"s hard work. Don"t think only you want to have it the easy way. Support the fanbase and translator!)