Chapter 1011: Vanished, just like tha (1/2)

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The Imperial Noble Consort was bitten by a venomous snake?

How could the palace have poisonous snakes? Moreover, it was the dead of winter, so where did they come from? Long Tianmo immediately recognized Mu Liuyue’s handiwork in all this.

“If Zhen finds the culprit, Zhen will show them no mercy regardless of identity,” he tossed back before hurrying to Duanmu Jin’s Refined Orchid Palace.

Great General Mu and Mu Qingwu couldn’t enter the harem as they please, so the latter said in a calm voice to his son, “Let’s go back.”

Mu Qingwu obediently followed his father, but it wasn’t long after leaving the study that he exclaimed, “Father, Liuyue’s acted too inappropriately!”

Great General Mu didn’t reply and kept walking. If this was the past, he would feign a rough, coarse manner and loudly lecture Mu Liuyue on her wrongs. But there was no need to play pretend anymore. If a general had the heart to stay calm and scheme in politics, his sovereign would fear his existence. However, his Mu Clan Troops had long set their sights on Long Tianmo. Naturally, he would have to tear off the mask he’d been wearing for years.

Perhaps if Tianning had never broken out into civil unrest or split apart, Cloud Realm Continent could continue existing in peace and he’d pretend for a lifetime. But with things are they were now and his precious daughter married to Long Tianmo, he couldn’t stand her being wronged like so.

Mu Qingwu had long sensed his father’s change. Although he couldn’t pinpoint when it happened, looking at his father’s back now made him think of a stranger. He caught up to him and said earnestly, “Father, Liuyue’s actions now hurt others as well as herself. If she forces the emperor past his breaking point, it’ll be nothing but bad returns!”

Great General Mu abruptly stopped to regard Mu Qingwu with a dark look. Still, he said nothing and soon resumed walking. Mu Qingwu quickly followed. After hesitating a few times, he finally got to the point. “Father, you acting like this will hurt Liuyue!”

Great General Mu spun back and raged, “Are you doubting your father or interrogating him?”

Mu Qingwu quickly shook his head. “This child doesn’t dare! This child only...only wants to stop Liuyue from making mistake after mistake!”

“What do you know of right and wrong?” Great General Mu demanded.

Mu Qingwu’s head drooped, but it hid his dissatisfaction. He couldn’t accept this despite the fact that he always respected his father’s words without rebuke. However, when it came to Liuyue, he and his father had more and more divided views. As Mu Qingwu saw it, his father couldn’t afford to offend the emperor because of his sister. A forcibly picked melon wasn’t sweet. As long as Liuyue didn’t fuss, she would always have the empress’s status unchallenged.

But if father enraged the emperor again and again because of Liuyue and caused unceasing waves at court, the emperor wouldn’t bear it indefinitely. The fact that he’d made Duanmu Jin an Imperial Noble Consort was already a clear warning.

“Go back and face the wall. Without father’s orders, you’re not to step out of the house a step!” Great General Mu fumed.

Yet Mu Qingwu only lifted his head and asked, “Father, are you planning to usurp the throne? Just what were the reasons for those spies in the Chu Clan Troops?”

Great General Mu hastily looked around to check the coast was clear before easing enough to glare at his son. “I see now. My son’s grown up and his wings have gotten harder! Shall father report to you on everything I’ve been doing in the future, then?”

“Father, that’s not what I meant! I only...father, I’m the Mu Clan’s Young General and your son. I have the right to know everything!” Mu Qingwu said.

He had already endured for so long. Father actually had agents planted within the Chu Clan Troops, which was no small affair. If he guessed right, his father had many more secrets hidden up his sleeve.

Great General Mu’s eyes flickered with complex emotions, but he kept them well hidden. As before, his attitude was hard and unyielding. “You--either go face the wall or leave this instant. You don’t have to enter my Mu Clan gates again!”

Then he tossed his sleeves and stalked off. Naturally, he was convinced that his son wouldn’t dare to defy his orders, but Mu Qingwu really did end up not returning home. Great General Mu was busy with Mu Liuyue’s affairs all night. He had already warned her not to move against Duanmu Jin. The Mu Clan had a complicated relationship with the Western Zhou imperial family, so it was too early to move just yet. Thus, Duanmu Jin’s snake bite had to be someone pushing the blame on Mu Liuyue’s head or a scheme by Duanmu Jin herself to frame Mu Liuyue and raise pity for herself.

Despite living outside the palace, Great General Mu was still able to get timely news from within. He helped Mu Liuyue scheme various plans and blocked plenty more suspicions against her. It wasn’t until afternoon of the third day, when Duanmu Jin’s life was out of mortal danger, that her lifelong court ladies found a few perfumed sachets in Refined Orchid Palace’s back courtyard. They were filled with an unknown aromatic. Long Tianmo invited over some poison doctors to investigate, but they couldn’t figure it out either. They only suspected that the poison snake had been lured there by the scent.

Long Tianmo immediately had men investigate the origins of the aromatic, but didn’t find a single clue. No matter what, he couldn’t pin the crime on Mu Liuyue’s head, either. Without evidence, Great General Mu was certain Long Tianmo wouldn’t dare try anything against Liuyue. His worries eased, he asked after Mu Qingwu’s status, only to discover that he’d been missing from home for days.

Great General Mu immediately rushed into Mu Qingwu’s courtyard and searched it from the inside out before he believed that his son was gone. After such a shock, he could only stand there in a daze. He doted on Liuyue, but he cherished Qingwu even more! There were many things he kept from the boy because it wasn’t time to tell him yet. Qingwu wasn’t a person who could hide secrets. Until he finished his arrangements, he would never reveal the Mu Clan’s secrets.

“He dared to disobey my orders, the gall! He dared!” Great General Mu grew agitated.

“Old master, could something have happened to the Young General?” the steward asked worriedly.