Der Mond scheint hell über den leeren Bergen, und Blumen füllen den Himmel

Kapitel 79

A large, fat gray rabbit hopped across the snow, stood up, and stared at Shengxiang with its big black eyes.

Saint Incense smiled faintly and looked at it with wide eyes.

The chubby gray rabbit tilted its head, seemingly finding it strange that Shengxiang hadn't caught it to eat the chive pancakes. It hopped over a couple of steps, nudged Shengxiang with its nose, thought for a moment, and then bit him. Shengxiang jumped up with a "Ah!" and rubbed the spot where the rabbit had bitten him. "You pig rabbit! How dare you bite me twice! I'll have Old Hu roast you into a beggar's rabbit!"

The big, fat gray rabbit turned and fled. Shengxiang dusted off his clothes, stood up, and smiled in the sunlight on the snow, a smile as radiant as a lotus flower. He tilted his head and thought for a moment, then smiled and picked a few plum blossoms from the plum grove before returning to Yu Cuiwei's guest room.

After taking two detours, he suddenly saw the gray-clad man, who should have already left, standing blankly outside his woodshed, staring at the roof. Shengxiang curiously followed him to the roof, where he saw a black cat lying lazily, its ears adorned with two tufts of long fur, unlike ordinary black cats. He waved his hand in front of the gray-clad man's glazed eyes and said with a grin, "Seeing a ghost?"

The man in gray sighed deeply and said stiffly, "Nine-Lives Cat, kill anyone who sees it!"

"Huh?" Shengxiang asked, puzzled, pointing to the black cat on the roof. "A nine-lives cat?"

"The Ghost Queen Mother's Nine-Lives Cat, she kills anyone who sees her—kill one person, kill one family!" The gray-clad man's voice was hoarse, each word like the clash of iron stones, extremely unpleasant to hear. "You saved Yu Cuiwei, which is intolerable to the world! The Ghost Queen Mother and Yu Cuiwei have a thirteen-year-old feud, and she will never forgive the 'Ghost-Faced Demon'!"

"This cat is the Nine Lives Cat?" Upon hearing the gray-clad man's description, Shengxiang wasn't terrified; instead, she tilted her head curiously to look at the cat, muttering to herself, "This cat isn't any different from other cats, except its ear hair is a little longer..."

The man in gray, however, was seriously considering his options. He had seen the Nine-Lives Cat here; should he, as rumored, be placed on the Ghost Queen Mother's kill list? Just as the thought crossed his mind, a dark light appeared in the corner of his eye. The young man in brocade robes leaped onto the roof, grabbed the black cat, and pulled a pair of scissors from his sleeve. Smiling, he trimmed the two tufts of long fur on the cat's ears. Lifting the Nine-Lives Cat by its two front paws, he examined it closely, then stroked its head with satisfaction. The man in gray was utterly dumbfounded. "You—you—"

Shengxiang picked up the black cat, turned her head innocently, and said, "Is it pretty? This cat is just a bit long-haired and no one has shaved its head. It's no different from a stray cat that runs around everywhere." As she spoke, she lifted the black cat's left front paw and beckoned to the gray-clothed man with a "claw".

The man in gray was dumbfounded and didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Even the Ghost Queen herself hadn't expected anyone to dare capture her Nine-Lives Cat, which she considered a keepsake, and shave its head. With the long fur on its ears trimmed, it was truly impossible to tell that this black cat was any different from other black cats. Shengxiang released the cat, dusted off the dust on his sleeves, and looked at the speck of dust on his shoes with disgust. "You're still reluctant to part with Dayu? There's a fine woodcutter's knife in this house. If you think your knife isn't sharp enough, I suggest you use mine. Dayu was probably still in bed after I used acupuncture on her pressure points. This is a golden opportunity, and you'll never have another chance if you don't kill her now. You'll definitely regret it later, and you'll blame me for not warning you. To prevent you from heartbroken and crying out to heaven later, I'm kindly reminding you..."

He kept rambling on and on, and the man in gray snorted, "Yin Chuhan, he kills without looking back."

The man in gray was none other than Yin Chuhan, the most famous assassin in the martial arts world twenty years ago, known as "The Righteous Blade Under Heaven," who specialized in killing corrupt officials, thieves, and villains. Shengxiang, however, did not recognize this great righteous assassin. He only greatly admired the phrase "no turning back after killing," nodding repeatedly, "That's right, that's right. Da Yu saved your life, you can't go back on your word. If you don't kill him now, you won't have a chance to regret it later."

Yin Chuhan looked coldly at this arrogant and extravagant young master, "You are about to die."

Shengxiang glared at him, "You're the one who's going to die!"

Yin Chuhan rarely spoke up to remind anyone. He had never seen anyone respond to his "Dao Xing Tian Xia Zheng" saying "You are about to die" with "You are the one who is about to die." He was stunned for a moment, feeling that he was talking to Sheng Xiang incoherently and irrelevantly. He shut his mouth and remained silent for a while, then said, "I'm leaving."

"Take care, I won't see you out." Shengxiang waved her hand, looking as if she were enjoying the spring breeze and was so comfortable in the mundane world that she didn't want to leave.

Yin Chuhan climbed over the wall and left.

Seeing him leave, Shengxiang shrugged, about to clap his hands and go, intending to take the plum blossoms he had picked to his room to arrange, and also to give a couple to Yu Cuiwei and Wenren Nuan. Suddenly, with a creak, the door to the woodshed opened, and there was someone inside. Shengxiang's heart skipped a beat, and he turned around abruptly, only to see that the person who pushed open the door had an even more stiff expression than Yin Chuhan had just seen, tall and with thick eyebrows and large eyes—it was Zhao Xiang!

Second Brother… Shengxiang’s attention was entirely on Yin Chuhan just now, and she really didn’t know that Zhao Xiang was in the woodshed. She was stunned for a moment and didn’t know where to start, so she just stared at him blankly.

"What are you up to?" Zhao Xiang looked at him coldly. "What nine-lives cat? What 'unacceptable to the world'? Who was that person just now? Your friend?"

Zhao Xiang asked four questions, and Sheng Xiang was stunned for a long time before finally answering, "Ah..."

"What do you mean, 'huh'?" Zhao Xiang's face gradually flushed with anger. "What exactly are you doing, causing trouble and making a scene outside? Who did you order that person to kill? You've grown quite bold. It's one thing to act recklessly on ordinary days, but today you actually dared to order someone to commit murder in the Prime Minister's residence. Do you even consider yourself a son of the Zhao family? Do you even consider yourself the Prime Minister's son?"

As Zhao Xiang finished speaking, his voice became stern and harsh. Sheng Xiang couldn't help but shrink back. "I..." He was afraid of Zhao Xiang. Sheng Xiang had been afraid of many things since he was a child, but what he feared most was... his two older brothers who had stormed off to the frontier because of him. It was an indescribable sense of guilt and remorse that arose from the bottom of his heart. He had taken away what Zhao Rui and Zhao Xiang should have had, the fatherly love that should have belonged entirely to Zhao Rui and Zhao Xiang.

"How dare you!" Zhao Xiang was so angry that his eyes were bloodshot and veins bulged on his forehead. "Go see your father yourself! It's a disgrace to the Zhao family to have a descendant like you!"

“I…I…” Shengxiang blurted out, “I just…”

"Just what?" Zhao Xiang asked coldly.

Sheng Xiang composed himself, slowly exhaled, and clenched his right fist. "I was just... saying it... just kidding."

"Murder is not something you can joke about," Zhao Xiang's face grew even colder. "Who are you hiding in your house? Who was that person just now?"

"Second Brother, what are you doing in the woodshed?" Shengxiang composed herself, then changed the subject with a laugh, "Are you hiding in there chopping wood?"

Zhao Xiang pointed into the woodshed, his face stern and cold, "Go and see for yourself what I'm doing in the woodshed!"

A sense of foreboding welled up in Shengxiang's heart. She took two steps forward and peered into the woodshed. Her eyes widened slightly—dozens of birds were pinned to the wall with darts, neatly spelling out four large characters: "Broken Jade, Burning Incense." The birds had only recently died, the stench of blood masked by the pine scent in the woodshed. Shengxiang inhaled the eerie aura of death emanating from the woodshed. "What is this?"

Zhao Xiang said sternly, "You know perfectly well what this is! What does 'Breaking Jade and Burning Incense' mean? What have you been up to outside? What are you hiding from your father and the whole family? And—" He pointed towards Shengxiang's room, "who exactly is that 'guest' in your room? What illness does he have? What kind of business does he run? What path does he follow? Shengxiang, Shengxiang, what do you think your family is? A magical abode that can protect you no matter how much trouble you cause outside?"

“I…” The smile that had just appeared in Shengxiang’s eyes faded, and she bit her lip. Zhao Xiang interrupted her, and said more sharply, “Do you know that even the prime minister of the court must abide by the law and behave himself—let alone you who are not the prime minister…you are just someone the prime minister picked up from somewhere—” Zhao Xiang’s voice stopped abruptly, his lips trembled, his dark face turned pale, and his finger pointing at Shengxiang trembled.

The atmosphere became tense for a moment. For a while, Shengxiang didn't say anything, her face didn't change color, and she didn't smile.

“Sacred Incense…” Zhao Xiang’s tone turned somber, suddenly becoming somewhat flustered, “I…”

Shengxiang shook her head and smiled calmly, "I'm not angry."

“You…” Zhao Xiang suddenly trembled, “You…you knew all along that you weren’t…”

“I’m not Father’s biological son,” Shengxiang said slowly. “Well… it doesn’t matter… Second Brother.” He slowly turned halfway around, the few plum blossoms in his hand falling to the ground. He reached out to pat the trunk of the pine tree next to the woodshed, but stopped when he touched it. “Second Brother, Second Brother…”

Zhao Xiang's heart trembled at the two calls of "Second Brother," and for some reason, an uneasy premonition arose. "What exactly are you doing?" His tone had softened, and his previous anger had subsided.

“I have a friend who used to be a big bad guy, but he’s not so bad now. I want to save his life,” Shengxiang said, turning her back to Zhao Xiang. “But there are many people who want him dead—many, many people.”

Zhao Xiang said sternly, "You should hand this over to the military patrol! Murder is a heinous crime, and it's the business of the Kaifeng military patrol! No matter who wants to kill whom, how can you interfere?" He grabbed Sheng Xiang's hand as she turned away, pulled her over, stared into her eyes, and said, word by word, "Besides, you are Zhao Pu's son! Your father is a big shot, and he has offended many people. Do you know how many people are waiting to find something to use against your father? If you consider yourself my son, then you should watch your words and actions and not talk nonsense or do anything reckless!"

Shengxiang met Zhao Xiang's gaze, his eyes gleaming with a quieter light than Zhao Xiang had imagined. He wasn't overly excited, but perhaps a little listless and desolate. He said, "Second Brother, do you know the Emperor wants to kill me?"

Zhao Xiang's face changed color in horror. "What did you say? What would happen if someone heard that..."

“Last time, His Majesty invited me to view the scenery at Beiguzi Gate,” Shengxiang said softly, her voice slightly ethereal, yet tinged with a faint smile, “He gave me some sweet soup, but I accidentally knocked it over. The soup spilled into the pond, and all the fish died…”

Zhao Xiang was shocked. "You...the Emperor..."

Shengxiang gazed into Zhao Xiang's eyes and slowly asked, "Second Brother, what do you think I should do?"

"Why would the Emperor want to kill you?" Zhao Xiang asked in a low voice. "Didn't he dote on you a lot?"

Shengxiang smiled faintly, "The Emperor is afraid of me."