The sky over the rivers and lakes is very clear

Chapter 265

"It must be because I will inevitably be at that time and place."

Zhu Huihui didn't quite understand, and touched her head, looking completely confused.

Zhu Liuyue slowly said, "Generals Yu and Qi were unjustly imprisoned. My father has been working tirelessly to plead for their release, hoping the Emperor would change his mind. However, my father is upright and has never been favored by the Emperor. This time, his standing up for the two generals angered the Emperor again, and my father was confined to his residence. As a result, that very night, a group of assassins came. I happened to be in the residence at the time, and I got into a fight with the assassins..."

Although Zhu Liuyue spoke cryptically, everyone except Zhu Huihui, including Feng Xuese, understood. The current emperor's suspicion of Prince Xin was no secret, neither in the court nor among the people. In the more than twenty years since his ascension to the throne, the emperor had sent assassins to Prince Xin's residence at least eighty to a hundred times. Fortunately, Prince Xin was loyal and righteous, and had loyal followers like Chief Steward Qin who risked their lives to protect him, allowing him to escape death time and again. It was said that Zhu Liuyue was sent out of the palace at a very young age to learn martial arts from a master, precisely because Prince Xin, to prevent his own assassination, had even eliminated his bloodline…

"The assassins were all dressed in black, and their martial arts skills were all quite formidable, especially their moves, which were surprisingly bizarre. The leader among them wore a mask, and the weapon he wielded was none other than the Cloud-Piercing Moon-Locking Flute that Master Han used before his ascension to immortality..."

Zhu Huihui immediately thought of someone, subconsciously touched her face, and exclaimed, "So it was that turtle!" Damn it, the place where that turtle pinched her still seems to hurt!

Zhu Liuyue looked at her face: "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, I just accidentally got pinched by the turtle!" Zhu Huihui said. "That turtle is really strong, you didn't get hurt, did you?"

Feng Xuese explained, "That man in black is Kazama Yoru. He was the one who led the men to do the Xuan Yue Shui Yu incident."

“That’s right, he is Kazama Yoru, and his martial arts are extremely high,” Zhu Liuyue continued. “When I engaged him in combat, the guards from the Prince’s mansion rushed over. The assassins suffered heavy losses, and the rest, seeing they couldn’t succeed, immediately fled. To eliminate any future trouble, I immediately pursued Kazama Yoru to find their hideout. The process was, of course, a long story. Later, I chased him all the way to Luomei Nunnery. At the time, I didn’t know what Kazama Yoru was doing at Luomei Nunnery. By the time I found out, it was too late; the nuns at Luomei Nunnery had already been murdered. After that, Miss Zhu and Brother Xuese also arrived one after the other.”

"During our conversation, I learned that Brother Xuese was investigating someone who might be related to the person I was pursuing, but he couldn't be sure and didn't want to bring it up. So I suggested that we investigate the case together, and Brother Xuese agreed..."

Feng Xuese nodded, feeling relieved—the emperor's decree that princes and their brothers were turning against each other was something she couldn't bring herself to speak of, either publicly or privately. Besides, she hadn't told him at the time that she suspected the riverbank massacre was related to Generals Yu and Qi.

Zhu Liuyue said, "Later, I went to chase after Mo Xinxue and found that she had died by the pool. The wound on her throat was exactly the same as that of the nuns of Luomei Nunnery, which must have shown that she was related to Feng Jianye. So I sent people to search in the mountains while rushing back to find Brother Fangxiang and Miss Zhu, but the two of them had already left. Just then, my subordinates reported that they had found traces of Feng Jianye, so after weighing the options, I had no choice but to follow Feng Jianye again."

“A little over a month ago, I followed Kazama Yoru to Yueyang, but I ran into Brother Shenhan outside the city. We had some misunderstandings before due to some trivial matters, therefore—”

Yan Shenhan was originally stern and taciturn, and having been seriously injured and losing all his martial arts skills, he was in a depressed mood, so he spoke even less. Now, upon hearing that he was mentioned, he simply nodded slightly and said, "Therefore, I invited Brother Liuyue to a duel by Dongting Lake, but I did not expect it to lead to so many things."

Zhu Liuyue sighed, "It's my fault for being careless. When I was tracking Kazama Yoru, I fought him many times, and it was always a close call. Later, I couldn't even tell if I was tracking him or he was tracking me. When I was sparring with Brother Shenhan, although I had considered that he might take the opportunity to ambush me with some ulterior motive, I was still overconfident. I thought that with my martial arts skills and Brother Shenhan's presence, if he dared to show himself, he would be captured. Who knew that man proposes, God disposes, and I ended up implicating Brother Xiye and Brother Shenhan!"

Nishino En smiled bitterly: "Say nothing more, it was just a calamity that Lao Yan and I were destined to suffer!"

"At that time, Miss Zhu's injuries were too severe, so I had to take her away first. We hadn't gone far when we unexpectedly encountered Mr. Chen and Mrs. Wan by Dongting Lake. We rushed back, but Brother Shenhan had already disappeared. By then, I had already suffered serious internal injuries, and fearing that Kazama Ye might launch a sneak attack, I avoided him. After I recovered, I could no longer find Kazama Ye's whereabouts. Later, the guards discovered another group of mysterious men in black. We followed them to investigate and happened to rescue Miss Zhu in a cemetery."

Zhu Liuyue finished explaining everything in one breath, and just as he felt a little thirsty, Steward Qin immediately offered him a teacup and respectfully placed it in his hands.

Zhu Huihui despised him; he was a bootlicker!

Zhu Liuyue saw her gaze, smiled slightly, took an apple from the table, and handed it to her.

Zhu Huihui took it, took a bite, and smiled sweetly: "What a sweet apple, hero, here, have a bite!"

Feng Xuese gently stroked her hair and said softly, "You eat it yourself."

Zhu Liuyue lowered her eyes, took a sip of tea from the cup, and said slowly with a blank expression, "It's so hot!"

Zhu Huihui looked at him with some surprise. Had Brother Liu Yue's senses failed him? This pot of tea was clearly not even a little bit hot.

Outside the cabin, the deep night was beginning to show a faint glimmer of light; dawn was approaching.

Before we knew it, a night had passed in the blink of an eye.

There are countless scenic spots and historical sites in Dongting Lake. Yinling Island may not be the most famous, but it is definitely the most beautiful one.

Hidden Spirit Island is one of the properties under Maple Snow City. From a distance, the island's shape resembles a kingfisher perched on a branch. Compared to Junshan Mountain, it appears small, exquisite, and very elegant.

At this moment, Feng Xuese stood by the railing in front of the pavilion, letting the strong wind blow her white clothes fluttering in the air.

The breeze that brushed his face carried a light mist, and the pent-up emotions that had been building up in his chest dissipated with each breath.

By this time, dusk had fallen.

If his eyes hadn't been injured, he could have seen the sunset, the golden scales leaping on the waves, the returning sails, and the birds flying at dusk—but who knows if he'll ever see such a magnificent and beautiful sight again in this lifetime.

"Great hero, Mr. Chen and Mrs. Wan are no longer in Sorrowful Valley. When I left, they had been staying in a place called Qingfengya for a long time, treating a strange hereditary disease for the local men. I guess they haven't left yet. As long as you send someone to invite Mr. and Mrs. Chen here, your eyes can be cured..."

Zhu Huihui's sweet and crisp voice still lingered in my ears, and a faint smile appeared on her maple-colored lips.

This child is usually careless and clumsy, so it's rare to see him being so sensible as to comfort him.

Speaking of which, Qingfengya is also on the shore of Dongting Lake, not too far from Yinling Island. Xiye Yan has been there for a whole day, and Mr. Chen and Mrs. Wan are still staying in the same place. They should be able to come back by now, right?

The reason they were so anxious to find Mr. Chen and Mrs. Wan was not just because of their own eyes, but also because of the body of Miss Mu. For more than a month, she had been doing her best to treat Xi Yeyan and Yan Shenhan's injuries, and was already exhausted. Last night, she caught a cold from being caught in the rain, and coupled with the grief over the deaths of her maid and Feng Jueya, she had fallen seriously ill.

Although someone has been sent to prepare the medicine according to the prescription written by Miss Mu herself, she would feel better if her parents were by her side at this time.

As for her own eyes, even if Lady Wan were the reincarnation of Hua Tuo, it was still unknown whether she could cure them—do her best and leave the rest to fate!

A series of soft footsteps came from the path outside the pavilion, and then someone leaped into the pavilion, carrying with them a fragrance of flowers. The sweet and rich aroma flowed like water, enveloping the maple-snow-colored area.

"Great hero, I've found a beautiful place! I'll take you there!" It was Zhu Huihui's delighted voice.

Feng Xuese asked calmly, "You went to play in the back mountain?"

"Yes—wait, you guessed it again!" Zhu Huihui shook her hair, and a few petals stuck to her temples fell down.

Feng Xuese smiled slightly.

On the back mountain of Hidden Spirit Island, there grows a late-blooming gardenia tree. Its flowering season is two to three months later than usual, so every year at this time, the gardenias bloom across the back mountain like scattered snowflakes. This child, covered in the fragrance of gardenias, had clearly just run up from the back mountain.

"You didn't sleep all night, and instead of resting properly, you're running around everywhere!" Feng Xuese scolded her as usual.

"You don't even sleep yourself, yet you try to tell me what to do!" Zhu Huihui retorted habitually.

"..." Feng Xuese was speechless after being confronted by her. However, even if he didn't sleep for several days, he could recover after just a few hours of meditation. Could she compare to him?