The Jianghu of Feng Qingcheng and Mo Xibei

Chapter 92

"I was wrong. You hit me. I didn't expect you to believe me. I thought you knew me so well that you would understand that even if I died, I would not marry another woman. Forget it, I was wrong. It was all my fault, okay?" Mu Feinan's forehead was covered with fine beads of sweat, and some even slid into his eyes. The mask on his face made it hard for him to breathe. In his frustration, he ripped it off, not caring that such force might damage his skin.

"Are you still blaming me for being stupid?" Mo Xibei coughed and frowned. If this continued, she would really die. "I didn't, Xibei, I misspoke. I will never lie to you again. Please, don't say these things. Please let me see your injury..." Mu Feinan hugged Mo Xibei tightly. He didn't dare to pull Mo Xibei's left hand too hard, and could only gently place his hand on her cold hand.

"You keep your word?" Mo Xibei asked him seriously.

"I swear." Mu Feinan nodded repeatedly. Mo Xibei's clothes were already covered in red stains, but he didn't know how badly she was injured. In his eyes, her fear and helplessness made him feel that it would be better if someone used a sword to kill him.

"Mu Feinan, you..." Someone staggered up from behind, and with a whoosh of wind, something cold was placed against Mu Feinan's neck.

"Don't be impulsive!" Then, someone else gracefully landed and blocked the cold object.

"Senior, he injured Northwest!" This time, Mu Fei recognized the voice as belonging to Chu Junfeng.

"Northwest, Master and Young Master Chu have dealt with the people outside, only letting one go back to report. Why aren't you up yet?" Master's calm voice held a hint of amusement.

"senior?"

"northwest?"

Chu Junfeng and Mu Feinan exchanged glances, then simultaneously turned their gazes to Mo Xibei.

"Cough cough!" Mo Xibei coughed, raised his hand to release the sealed acupoints, then sat up and looked at his master first, "Are you sure everything is taken care of, sir?"

"Hmph!" The master snorted and took two steps back.

"You Northwest?" Mu Feinan looked Mo Northwest up and down. "You're not injured?"

"Who said that?" Mo Xibei's eyes widened. "You drew your sword with such force, how could I not be injured? Look." As he spoke, he stretched out his left hand. The blood had stopped flowing, and at the two sword wounds, the flesh on his palm was torn up, the pale and blood-red skin intertwined, a shocking sight to behold.

"You," Mu Feinan was both amused and exasperated. He could only stare intently at Mo Xibei, carefully take her hand, and gently sprinkle the entire bottle of Baiyu Shengji Powder onto her.

"It hurts, be gentle," Mo Xibei pouted.

"You still know pain? I thought you were just fooling around." Mu Feinan gritted his teeth. He rarely experienced such extreme joy and sorrow in such a short moment. He felt his heart racing and his blood rushing to his head. He wanted to slap Mo Xibei hard, but he also wanted to hold her in his arms and never leave her side again.

"I was just improvising, otherwise how could I have fooled the people who came with you?" Mo Xibei retorted. "Wasn't my acting convincing?"

"So realistic, so incredibly realistic, it makes me want to just strangle you and die with you." Mu Feinan said indignantly, but seeing Mo Xibei's aggrieved expression, he couldn't hold back and laughed at the end.

"I can't stand you two kids, so young, yet you keep talking like this about life and death!" The master glanced at Chu Junfeng, who was standing blankly to the side with an expressionless face, coughed, and interrupted Mu Feinan and Mo Xibei's conversation.

Volume 3, Chapter 22: Deep Palace Shadows

That night was fleeting, and Mu Feinan was depressed for a long time before she finally found an opportunity to ask Mo Xibei how she had notified her master and Chu Junfeng to arrive and deal with the people who were following and monitoring her.

Mo Xibei grinned slyly, deliberately shaking her head to remain silent. He finally held her down and tickled her, until she couldn't resist revealing that almost everyone in her master's sect was a master of mechanisms. Places where they stayed for extended periods were specially arranged, and the main buildings of Plum Blossom Manor were all connected by mechanisms. Activating one would immediately alert her master. That very night, when Mo Xibei was attacked, she activated the mechanisms. However, as for how they were activated or where they were located, Mo Xibei jumped far away, proudly declaring, "That's a closely guarded secret of our sect. I'm not telling you, I'll keep you waiting!"

Mu Feinan was not anxious at all. He was not interested in these things. All he cared about was her safety. As long as she was safe, what difference did it make what means or methods she used?

The Forbidden City, Changyang Palace.

These past few days, Consort Xian, Murong Lianyun, has been restless and somewhat hysterical. Every morning, as usual, her wet nurse brought the little prince to her bedchamber. The child, who was less than a year old, could not speak yet and could only babble. He was not affectionate towards her. After sitting in her arms for only a moment, he kicked and twisted his body, struggling desperately towards his wet nurse.

"It seems that I, his birth mother, am not as good as the wet nurse who feeds him a few mouthfuls of milk." Murong Lianyun's face was ashen. She held the child tightly while glaring fiercely at the wet nurse's outstretched hands, as if she wanted to burn two holes in those well-maintained and plump hands.

"The young prince is perhaps hungry. What is my status? In the young prince's eyes, I am nothing more than a milk bottle." The young prince's wet nurse was a carefully selected wife of a high-ranking official, accustomed to such situations. At this moment, she immediately knelt down, trembling with fear.

"A milk bottle?" Murong Lianyun was amused by this novel and interesting explanation. The frown on her face eased slightly. By this time, the child was struggling and crying loudly, each simple syllable causing her to frown repeatedly. She could only say, "A milk bottle. Take him away quickly. All he does this morning is cry." The wet nurse took the little prince, bowed, and left, her steps quick, until the child's cries were finally drowned out by the silent palace gates. The palace maids serving inside knew she was in a bad mood, and dared not even breathe loudly. One by one, they tiptoed out, gradually finding excuses and reasons to quietly slip away.

The vast Changyang Palace was as silent as a tomb.

Murong Lianyun kept his eyes closed. He could only hear his own increasingly rapid breathing. Each breath was the only sound that proved he was still alive.

"Ah!" She finally couldn't bear it any longer. With a shout, she pushed all the agate, jade, pearls, and gemstones on the dressing table, along with the Western-made gilded mirror, onto the ground. The sound of these things hitting the ground was not only crisp but also continuous. The box of Hepu beads that had just been delivered and had not yet been strung up jumped on the ground like small silver fish leaping out of the water.

The first one to rush in was the palace maid Qiu Ping. Qiu Ping, Qiu Ping, the duckweed of autumn, the leaves have turned yellow, the flowers have withered, leaving only ruins. Such a bad omen, Murong Lianyun thought, how come he only noticed it now.

With a loud "bang," Qiu Ping collapsed to the ground without even uttering a sound, bright red blood gushing from her forehead, quickly soaking through the Persian wool carpet she was wearing. Murong Lianye merely glanced at her own hands; these were the very hands that had just, quite unfortunately, tossed a gold-inlaid jade lock from her dressing table drawer, hitting someone she considered unlucky on the head—it was simply bad luck.

The palace maids who came in after them all gasped in surprise and hurriedly knelt on the ground. After a long while, seeing Murong Lianyun yawn wearily, get up, and lean on the bed to rest, they scrambled in, helped Qiu Ping out, and cleaned up all the mess on the floor. Murong Lianyun didn't want to sleep, but she eventually fell asleep. In her dream, there was a very low and suppressed sobbing, not like a human voice. Then, she was dragged off the bed in her dream and thrown hard to the ground.

It took her a while to come to her senses and look at the person standing in front of her, their face full of anger.

"I thought you wouldn't come?" Murong Lianyun laughed, staggered to his feet, rushed forward, hugged Tian Xin, and tore at his clothes, just as he had done to her countless times before.

"Are you crazy!" Tian Xin pushed her away forcefully, and even though she was quick, a piece of her clothes was torn off her chest.

"Haha..." Murong Lianyun's hair was already disheveled, and he laughed loudly. "Yes, I'm crazy. How could I not be crazy? In this Changyang Palace, there isn't even a single thing that can make a sound. It's just me, just me, just me. I've had enough, I've had enough, I..." His voice eventually turned into a sob. Loneliness, helplessness, and even fear permeated everything at this moment.

"How could you be alone? The little prince isn't here, and you have plenty of maids and eunuchs here, don't you?" Tian Xin frowned slightly, but quickly softened, walked over and helped Murong Lianyun up, holding her in her arms and gently comforting her. "Look, you're throwing a childish tantrum again. You're not alone here. I've told you that many times, and this won't last long. Really, I need to get everything arranged quickly. Then, nothing can stop us. When that time comes, you won't be alone anymore. Have you forgotten?"

"You lied to me. You said it would be soon a long time ago. You lied to me." Murong Lianyun closed her eyes, tears streaming down her face.

“I’m not lying to you. Look, you hate that dog emperor touching you, so didn’t I tell him never to come again? Now he just knows how to refine elixirs and seek immortality. You don’t have to be careful to flatter him anymore, and you don’t have to worry about saying things you shouldn’t say. How carefree you are!” Tian Xin’s lips were pressed against Murong Lianyun’s, her voice as gentle as a lover’s murmur, but her eyes were gloomy and resentful.

"But that old hag is still here. Every day she pierces me with her knife-like gaze." Murong Lianyun kept her eyes closed. "And Mo Xibei, she's always in front of me, covered in blood. She wants me to pay with my life. I didn't kill her, I didn't. It was you, it was you... it was you."

Tian Xin hadn't expected Murong Lianyun to suddenly jump up while she was lying down comfortably. Caught off guard, she was scratched on the neck by Murong Lianyun's long fingernails, leaving several thin, bloody cuts. Her face naturally turned even more pale. "What nonsense are you spouting? What do you mean 'me'? What does Mo Xibei's death have to do with me? Mu Feinan killed her. If anyone's looking for someone, she should be looking for Mu Feinan, not you. I think you've been sleeping too much during the day and are now having insomnia and overthinking things."

“I really saw it. She comes to me every night. She said that we used Mu Feinan, otherwise she wouldn’t have died so tragically…” Murong Lianyun’s eyes were unfocused and her hands were moving erratically. Tian Xin sighed and unexpectedly raised her hand to press her pressure point to stop her from falling asleep, finally stopping this farce that could have gone on indefinitely.

Murong Lianyun's spirit had become sensitive and fragile due to the extreme tension of each day after childbirth. Tian Xin knew what she was afraid of, but there was no turning back now; it was too late for regrets. He just hadn't expected that Mo Xibei's death would have such a profound impact on her.

Volume 3, Chapter 23: Midnight

Mo Xibei is dead. She actually died. Looking at Murong Lianyun's face, which couldn't even be at peace in her sleep, Tian Xin inexplicably wanted to laugh. He remembered the report from the person he sent to spy on Mu Feinan that day, the blood-soaked Mu Feinan when he returned, and the blood-stained sword tip. He just wanted to laugh.

Good riddance. Everyone will be quiet now, and he won't have to worry about someone suddenly jumping out and hindering his plans. Good riddance. With her dead, Chu Junfeng will no longer follow her around and discover more secrets. Mo Xibei should have died long ago because she caused him far too much trouble and problems.