Chapter 162 (2/2)

A few plum blossoms landed on the zither with the wind and added charm to the svene.

Feng Luodi smiled in relief and dispelled the mundane thoughts from her mind. With her fair hands, she played the zither in harmony to the falling of the plum blossoms.

Situ was at the side drinking tea, his thoughts wandering. This was the scene Covert Guard Two saw when he brought a masked person dressed in black and appeared in the courtyard.

The two stopped a few dozen metres away and waited for Situ to notice their presence. Hence, the two of them waited all the way until Feng Luodi finished playing a piece. They were only discovered when they inadvertently gazed over.

”Two?” Feng Luodi looked at the person beside him in surprise. ”Master Xue?”

Only when Situ heard a familiar name did he put the teacup down and turned around. Actually, with his hearing ability and keen senses, if the breath of a new person appeared within a radius of 5000 metres, he could immediately detect it.

Covert Guard and Xue Yiqi understood this point, but they did not dare to make a sound and interrupt. This was the dignified bearing of a general and an eldest brother.

”Eldest Brother.” Xue Yiqi removed his hat and walked forward.

”You came later than expected,” Situ stated indifferently. He caused Feng Luodi to be completely bewildered again. This man forever considers ten steps ahead whenever he takes one step. I totally can't catch up with him.

Xue Yiqi nodded and he appeared a little ashamed. ”The Eighth Prince's power is more formidable than I imagined. It took a few more days to disguise myself and exit the city.”

Situ nodded. ”When the imperial decree arrived, I had already thought of this day. How many of the people he has planted beside His Majesty have you removed?”

”Fifty percent.” Xue Yiqi had a complicated expression. In the past, he was ignorant and created trouble everywhere with his righteous indignation and was simply a hot-headed fellow. Only until he became the Imperial Army's commander did Situ and Gan Qingjia informed him about many things that he found out about how perilous the path they were going to take was.

”Third Brother had to use seventy percent of his power before he could eliminate this fifty percent of people. Now, these seventy percent of people have to go covert.”

Situ narrowed his eyes slightly. His tone was extremely cold, ”The Eighth Prince has long been prepared. It looks like the Seventh Prince and the Second Prince were all his stepping stones.”

Xue Yiqi nodded in consent. ”This time, as soon as the imperial decree was issued, I had left Chang'an so His Majesty doesn't know about the situation here. It was all the Eighth Prince who instigated the matter regarding His Majesty's imperial decree by relying on the fact that he is supervising the nation.”

”His Majesty has the intention to make things difficult for His Highness. Otherwise, with his experience and astuteness, how would he have been easily deceived by the Eighth Prince? Once His Majesty issues another imperial decree, the situation in Chang'an will be far from good.”

Although Situ was far away from Chang'an, he fully grasped the situation at Chang'an by relying on his multifarious communication channels, and had long left stratagems to deal with it.

Xue Yi had suspicions regarding another matter instead. ”Although it is the Eighth Prince supervising the nation in Chang'an, His Majesty is not satisfied and has promoted a few officials under the Eleventh Prince. Right now, not only does the Eighth Prince have to contend with His Highness, the First Prince, he also has to guard against the Eleventh Prince.”

”This is very good.” Situ smiled icily. ”Just let the Eleventh Prince attract the Eighth Prince's attention for us.”

Only after Situ and Xue Yiqi chatted about the various matters that had recently transpired in Chang'an did Xue Yiqi have the time to ask about the progress in Dingtao Province. Feng Luodi took over from Situ and clearly narrated all the matters in full detail. After Xue Yi finished listening, his simple and honest face had an additional look of worry.

”This matter is indeed not one that is easy to handle. If you happen to be just a little careless and the imperial decree regarding the crime of deceiving the ruler is issued, then that would really be letting the Eighth Prince's wish come true.”

Feng Luodi also felt the same way. ”It's just that for the Demonic Sect Supremo, we can't convince her in a short time. We're preparing to think of other methods again.”

”Listening to your description, the Demonic Sect Supremo is merely a young lady who has just reached twenty. Perhaps she's not the one who makes the decision regarding the matters of the sect. It's also possible that she doesn't contemplate all the aspects.”

Xue Yiqi had not met Shangguan Yan so based on Feng Luodi's description, he imagined Shangguan Yan as a sect leader who acts wantonly in the Jianghu and followed in her own bigoted ways.

The few people were talking when a light voice descended from the sky. ”Why do I hear people badmouthing me as soon as I come?”

Xue Yiqi who was caught in the act was too honest so his head instantly turned red and he turned around to apologise. ”My apologies Miss, I only…” Xue Yiqi swallowed the second half of the sentence back into his stomach.

It was only because the person who had come was a woman who was young, beautiful and alluring but wore slightly revealing clothes.

The pure Xue Yiqi who had never seen a woman dress in such ways and immediately turned red in the face, stuttering, ”Miss Shangguan, you…you…” He did not know why he just could not finish speaking this sentence.

Feng Luodi suddenly felt that Situ's previous reaction was too abnormal. She turned around and cast a sidelong glance at the calm and collected Situ in doubt.

”What are you thinking about?” Situ gazed straight forward expressionlessly but knew that Feng Luodi was looking at him.

Feng Luodi nodded while looking pensive. What has Situ exactly learned from Gan Qingjia? After she returned to Chang'an, she'd definitely have to interrogate him. On the other hand, when Shangguan Yan noticed that the one bad-mouthing her was a handsome, righteous young man with an awe-inspiring gaze, Shangguan Yan's eyes lit up immediately and her line of vision wandered around Xue Yiqi's flushed face.

Lu Buping who had followed her here inwardly cried 'oh no' and just as he wanted to move forward to stop his supremo, Shangguan Yan had already uttered it out. Her slender and beautiful hand pointed at Xue Yiqi and what she said was astonis.h.i.+ng.

”I want to marry you!”

1. Probably a pun with the novel's t.i.tle and a play on the word which means something like expressing affection and dating. Part of the novel's t.i.tle is 'tanqin shuoan', playing the zither and talking about cases which rhymes exactly with 'tanqin' here and 'shuoan' is the same. The whole phrase 'tanqin shuoan' sounds very similar to 'tanqing shuoai' which the aforementioned, expressing affection and dating.