Три мандариновые утки и полторы пары

Глава 21

"Can you do it?" Fu Yaofeng's face suddenly lit up.

"It depends on fate." Su Shaochu raised an eyebrow and leisurely sipped a glass of wine.

"good fortune?"

"If Brother Fu's promise to me goes smoothly, then everything is negotiable."

"You, Su Shaochu, truly always know how to handle everything."

This is clearly a way of telling him that if he goes back on his word or things change, his wish will be difficult to fulfill. Therefore, it's best to stick to the agreement with Su Shaochu, as there's no turning back.

"It's just to ensure everything comes to a successful conclusion. After all, if things don't go smoothly, and I lose my life, how can I help Brother Fu if I'm dead?"

"In your mouth, Su Shaochu, everything has a reason and is justified, and you are perfectly justified." There's no way to refute that.

"I'm just giving everyone a chance to show brotherhood." Otherwise, what's the point of calling each other brothers? Su Shaochu raised his glass in a toast. "Brother Fu, you've truly been devoted to my master. You didn't care about the age difference between you and her, chasing her from the outer regions to the Central Plains, then from the border to the capital, and finally guarding the palace gates day and night, fearing that some demons might harm her. For over ten years, this devotion is truly heart-wrenching!"

Fu Yaofeng remained unfazed by the teasing and simply drank his wine without paying any attention.

"By the way, Master mentioned Brother Fu to me the other day."

He slammed the wine bowl he was about to drink down onto the table, his eyes wide open, his angular face slightly flushed.

"Miss Yunxian... uh, no, it was... it was Miss Zhu who mentioned me..." Remembering Yang Yunxian, who had revealed her true identity as Zhu Qingping, Fu Yaofeng struggled to maintain his steady breathing. "What... what did she say?"

"My master said..." Su Shaochu cleared his throat. "Brother Fu, you are a rare chivalrous person who will take action for many injustices. There are few people in the martial arts world today who are so loyal and righteous and keep their word. She feels that it is a blessing for her beloved disciple to befriend Brother Fu."

Fu Yaofeng nodded repeatedly, listening intently. "What's next?"

"Oh, she told me to ask Brother Fu for help whenever I need it, whether I have something or not. In the future, she will definitely pay a visit to you in person."

"Miss Zhu... Miss Zhu will... will she personally visit me?!"

"Not so surprised, are you? You've met my master countless times over the past ten years." Although he always turns red-faced and sweats profusely every time they meet, which is quite surprising, he's not young anymore. Does he really need to act like he's meeting his dream lover for the first time every time they meet?

"You...you don't understand. No matter how many years have passed, Miss Zhu...in my heart, she will always be that noble, elegant, and beautiful fairy with an extraordinary will. She is a fairy that no one in the world can compare to." Fu Yaofeng was in a daze, completely immersed in his longing for the person in his dream.

"So if you want to see your fairy, you must first consider her beloved disciple." He immediately descended the steps, clasped his hands in a respectful bow. "Thank you in advance for your timely assistance, Brother Fu."

"What exactly is your plan, young master?" After all that rambling, the goal was to get him back to this matter.

Hehe, after the talisman of the three great emotions of family, love, and friendship was used to further enhance this top-notch sword, Su Shaochu rested his chin on his fan with satisfaction, raised his eyebrows and smiled at Fu Yaofeng.

"These Purple Flying Twin Moons are really wicked! Don't you think so, Brother Fu?"

"He's truly a wicked scoundrel to the core!" Jin Rui replied with a cold glare, showing he wouldn't hold back in cursing this person.

"Is it really meaningful to fight crime and bring benefits to the people?"

"Young Master Shao Chu is interested in 'killing' Zi Fei Shuang Yue, and I, as his elder brother, would be more than happy to take action and kill this troublemaker!" he said viciously.

"It seems that Zifei Shuangyue and Brother Fu have a deep-seated grudge and hatred!" she said with a ferocious expression.

"I am simply doing what my younger brother Shao Chu said, eliminating evil and bringing peace to the people, and personally killing this bastard murderer who loves to steal treasures, has no ambition, only knows how to use all sorts of petty tricks, harms his neighbors, and even kills people everywhere. This kind of person really needs to be beheaded, chopped, hacked, and hacked, and finally doused with oil, set on fire, and smothered to death, so that we can do justice to everyone who was harmed by Zi Fei Shuang Yue."

Su Shaochu's chin, which had been resting on the fan handle, slid down. He stared wide-eyed at Fu's magnanimous and arrogant demeanor, then nodded. "Brother Fu's magnanimity is truly narrow, indescribably so… Alas! His chivalry is extraordinary, and his character is truly remarkable!"

"To eradicate evil, one must do so thoroughly. Young Master Shao Chu, since you intend to assist me, you must be prepared. I will show no mercy towards Zi Fei Shuang Yue." Fu Yaofeng's words, delivered with veiled implications, carried a deeper meaning. "A word of advice from your elder brother, Young Master Shao Chu, is that you should no longer linger in such places. As for Zi Yan, no matter how alluring she may be, I urge you to make a firm decision. A ill-fated relationship is not a true relationship; letting it linger will only lead to trouble. It must be severed!"

"Ah, my views are the same as Brother Fu's. However, I will not shirk my responsibilities, especially regarding 'Yu Ziyan'. Since it is a tragic fate, let the rumors remain in the rumors!" Su Shaochu slowly raised the corners of his lips, his smile quite resolute and decisive.

"You can make your decision now." Fu Yaofeng suddenly put down his wine bowl and said solemnly, "Your partner, Su Shaochu's partner, asked me to pass on a message to you during this trip to Nanyuan."

"Wow! After all these years, he's finally willing to talk to me. What's all this talk about!" Su Shaochu's eyes lit up.

"An old acquaintance has come to the Central Plains. I hope you can avoid her and, at the same time, protect her."

"Her?" Su Shaochu frowned. "It couldn't be..."

Fu Yaofeng nodded. "Exactly, I hope you can do your best to accomplish it."

"What is she doing in the Central Plains?"

"You should know that the Xuanyuanwa clan has never given up their hatred for the tragic deaths of the Holy Maiden and the Guardian Maiden in the capital."

"She's in the Central Plains on a mission?" Upon hearing this, Su Shaochu sensed something was wrong. "Who is her target?"

"Both the saintess and the handmaid encountered trouble in the palace. In particular, the guardian handmaid's body was found outside the palace after she had gone missing. The source of her body is the key to the clues. Who else could be the target?"

"The current emperor?" Su Shaochu was taken aback. "He... won't stop us!"

"Although he is highly respected there, he cannot interfere in many matters. Moreover, all the elders unanimously agree with and fully support this operation."

"Even with her coming, he still plans to remain hidden!"

"You and he have a special relationship with the Xuanyuanwa clan. How to handle this matter must be a struggle for him."

Chapter Three

As autumn draws to a close, the winds are already chilly and cold, the streams in the suburbs are frozen into frost, and the rocks and grass in the wilderness are covered with a cold white frost, which can be seen everywhere.

The north wind howled and whistled through the night. Many shops and taverns on the main streets and alleys had already begun to close, leaving only a few scattered pedestrians and vendors packing up their stalls.

Gently lifting the curtain of the sedan chair window, one finds that the usually bustling street is now almost deserted, with fallen leaves and dust swirling in the night wind.

"Fourth Young Master, it's windy at night. Please lower the sedan curtain and be careful not to catch a cold," said a man in white who was accompanying the sedan.

"Bingxuan, remind me when you pass by the Lu residence."

"Yes." The white-clad swordsman, Bing Xuan, nodded.

In addition to the four sedan chair bearers, there were also three Taoist swordsmen who always protected Su Shaochu, escorting the sedan chair.

Inside the sedan chair, Su Shaochu closed his eyes and looked around at Tao, his handsome face filled with contemplation.

"The birth of a holy maiden of the Xuanyuan Wa clan is not easy, and she never leaves her residence easily. However, thirty years ago, there was constant conflict and chaos between the Xuanyuan Wa clan and the Central Plains. The holy maiden, with a compassionate heart, volunteered to create peace through marriage to avoid repeated bloodshed and chaos. She became the concubine of the emperor of the Central Plains. This holy maiden was deeply favored by the emperor as soon as she entered the palace. Unexpectedly, she fell ill and died after giving birth to a son," Fu Yaofeng said.

"The holy maiden who entered the palace was the mother of the third prince, so Zhu Yu has half foreign blood." This story is known to everyone.

The Xuanyuan Wa clan is located in the most beautiful and scenic place in the south, with a climate that is like spring all year round. The men are skilled in the art of fine carving and have advanced knowledge of herbal medicine. The women are passionate and good at dancing, and each of them is graceful and beautiful. In particular, the Holy Maidens who protect the sect are almost all exceptionally beautiful girls, one in ten thousand, both inside and out. Zhu Yu has an elegant appearance that is no less beautiful than that of a woman, and she is also half of her mother's bloodline.

"It was because the Holy Maiden left her bloodline in the Central Plains royal family that the Xuanyuan Wa clan, despite having many doubts and grief over the Holy Maiden's death, could only suppress their sorrow and accept the matter. The emperor also knew that the Holy Maiden was of great significance to the Xuanyuan Wa clan, so he made an exception and allowed the Xuanyuan Wa clan to send people to bring back the Holy Maiden's remains for burial." Otherwise, as a royal concubine, how could her remains be taken away so easily?

"Did they discover something amiss years later?"

Su Shaochu was quite familiar with the Xuanyuanwa clan. Although many in the clan were suspicious and resentful about the holy maiden who entered the palace back then, they did not have any substantial evidence and dared not take any rash actions.

"Don't forget, the Xuanyuanwa clan is quite knowledgeable about herbal medicine. They like to study the interaction of each kind of medicinal material. Back when they brought back the Holy Maiden's body, they discovered that she died from a strange, chronic poison. This poison came from very close contact. Each contact would accumulate the toxicity, eventually leading to death. Even the most skilled physician would think from the outside that she died suddenly from an illness."

"Intimate contact?" Su Shaochu frowned, but then saw Fu Yaofeng cough and drink his wine. Su Shaochu asked, "Do you mean sexual intercourse?" Only these kinds of things could make this upright old friend uncomfortable.

"Therefore, it is certain that they had doubts about the emperor."

"It doesn't make sense from a theoretical standpoint. An emperor wouldn't go to such lengths to kill a concubine, and if intercourse could spread accumulated poison, other concubines would also suffer." With so many beauties in the harem, even if the emperor doted on this stunning foreign beauty, he wasn't so devoted to only one concubine.

"That's true. The elders who discovered the strange poison in the Holy Maiden's body were both angry and puzzled, because unless the Holy Maiden had an affair with someone else, the emperor really had no reason to use such a method to kill her." Fu Yaofeng agreed.

"As the holy maiden of the Xuanyuan Nuwa clan, she was extremely self-disciplined in upholding chastity. Furthermore, given her immense favor with the emperor in her time, it's impossible for her to have had an affair. Besides, this kind of poison doesn't just take effect after a few times; it requires frequent contact. The imperial city is so heavily guarded, and the residences of the empresses are even more heavily protected. Even if there were an affair, it couldn't have lasted long, let alone been so frequent as to accumulate enough poison." This is indeed puzzling. "Based on this, it's more likely that it was the emperor, her bedmate, who was the most likely culprit. But… why?!" There's no need for that!

"It was the lack of evidence and the inability to understand why no action was taken against the Tiandu Dynasty back then."

The greatest exchange between the Central Plains and the Xuanyuanwa clan was the casting and carving techniques after smelting and the use of herbs. In terms of martial arts, the Xuanyuanwa clan had many skilled swordsmen, so they held gentlemanly exchanges in sword formations every few years. However, these exchanges stopped after the death of the Holy Maiden thirty years ago. Only the trade between ordinary people has never stopped.

"Even if no action is taken, the knot in one's heart remains, which is why the officials who come to offer condolences to the Holy Maiden on behalf of the court every year are refused entry."

From what Su Shaochu remembered, the emperor, out of respect and remembrance for the deceased, always showed tolerance and understanding towards the Xuanyuan Wa clan.

"I think the biggest point of contention between the two sides was that they proposed to the emperor of the Central Plains that the son of the Holy Maiden be entrusted to the Xuanyuan Wa clan for upbringing, which the royal family resolutely refused!"

"How could the current emperor possibly agree to such a thing, sending his own prince to be raised by a foreign tribe? Besides, the prince who lost his mother shortly after birth was loved by the empress, who treated him no differently than her own son."

His birth mother died of illness when he was an infant. This little prince was not neglected by the imperial family. On the contrary, the gentle and maternal empress not only cared for this little prince who lost his mother, but also took him in and cared for him personally. Even the empress's eldest son, who was then named crown prince, showed great affection for this handsome little baby. Therefore, Zhu Yu's growth was truly blessed by the love of his elders, father and brothers, which is why he has such a powerful position today.

"I remember the last time the two sides crossed paths was when the Third Prince was sixteen years old," Su Shaochu murmured to himself, trying to evoke his longing thoughts.

"I remember hearing that when Xuanyuan Wa suddenly accepted the invitation of the Tiandu Dynasty to meet the son of the Holy Maiden, the two sides not only resolved their previous grudges, but also arranged for a second Protector of the Faith to marry into the Central Plains so that the Holy Maiden's son could understand the history of Xuanyuan Wa and mend the rift from years ago."

The entire nation of Xuanyuanwa was united in its belief in the Xuandao of Mani. From the perspective of the Central Plains, this was a sect that integrated the doctrines of Buddhism and Taoism. The Holy Maiden was a rare find, appearing only once every few decades. Her birth was predicted by six astrologers within the sect. Every fifteen years, two Protector Maidens were selected. Before the Holy Maiden appeared, these two Protector Maidens would temporarily assume the role of the Holy Maiden, holding a position second only to her.

"I remember that this nun who came to the Central Plains was the younger sister of the previous Holy Maiden, and thus Zhu Yu's aunt by blood."

Although the previous saintess and the later apostle were half-sisters, their ages differed greatly. Therefore, it was impossible for the apostle to meet her elder sister, who had been a saintess and married into the Central Plains, because her elder sister had died in the Central Plains shortly after she was born.

In the palace, everyone knew that this maid, though nominally Zhu Yu's aunt, was only two years older than him. However, the aunt and nephew had an extremely good relationship, which pleased others, who thought that the feud with the Xuanyuan Wa clan could finally have a perfect ending. Who knew...

Revisiting the past, touching upon what Su Shaochu desperately wanted to recall, he couldn't help but take a deep breath!

"I never expected that the maid would disappear after only a year in the palace. She was found eight months later as a corpse, her death was gruesome. This time, the Xuanyuan Wa clan was furious, and the Tiandu Dynasty could not give an explanation. From then on, the Xuanyuan Wa clan closed its doors to communication and completely broke with the Central Plains!" Fu Yaofeng sighed after finishing his story, feeling deep sympathy for the two women in their fate.

"The Holy Maiden and the Handmaid were symbols of nobility and prestige within the Xuanyuanwa Clan. To marry such a symbol of honor and prestige into the Tiandu Dynasty, only to have them murdered after just one year—how can the Xuanyuanwa Clan possibly forgive them?" Alas! A thorny matter. "But so much time has passed since their deaths, why only now seek revenge… Could it be that revenge is only one aspect, and there is something else at play…?"

A possibility flashed through my mind. "If that's the case, things could get very complicated!"

Su Shaochu slowly opened his eyes, which had been closed in deep thought, not because of anything troubling him, but because the sedan chair had stopped.

On a street under a crescent moon in late autumn, the wind howled and whistled through the moonlit night sky. More than a dozen imperial guards, the Purple Gold Army, blocked the sedan chair of Su Shaochu and his entourage.

Under the command of the leader, the guards temporarily stepped aside, and a sedan chair was placed inside. A dignified man in a well-dressed brocade robe stepped forward with a calm demeanor, followed by another tall and aloof swordsman.

"Fourth Young Master, it's Yan Pingfei and Feng Yan, who are by the Third Prince's side," Yu Xuan, another swordsman in blue robes beside the sedan chair, whispered to Su Shaochu inside.

"Yan Pingfei greets Young Master Su and the Three Profound Swords of Taoism." Yan Pingfei clasped his hands in a gesture of respect and said, "The Third Prince cordially invites Young Master Su to the Butterfly Maple Garden."

The three swordsmen exchanged glances. Gong Xuan, the purple-clad swordsman who was clearing the way in front of the sedan chair, clasped his hands in return and said, "My young master drank a few too many cups tonight and is not feeling well. He is afraid of being impolite, so please ask Lord Yan to convey this to the Third Prince and ask for his forgiveness."

"Butterfly Maple Garden has prepared hangover soup. The Third Prince has ordered that Young Master Su be invited to come." Yan Pingfei continued to step forward, firmly inviting him.

"Lord Yan, I'm sorry, but my young master is unwell tonight and is resting in his sedan chair. He is unable to keep his appointment with the Third Prince."

"The Third Prince had anticipated that tonight's abrupt turn of events would cause inconvenience to the Fourth Young Master, who is usually carefree. Considering the Fourth Young Master's possible physical and mental condition, everything has been prepared, including hangover soup, imperial physicians, and a comfortable bed for rest. All that is needed is for the Fourth Young Master to go to Butterfly Maple Garden."

"Lord Yan, please wait!"

Yan Pingfei's unstoppable movement prompted the Three Profound Swords to step forward and raise their arms to block him.

"I will definitely invite Young Master Su on behalf of the Third Prince tonight. Please forgive me, all three of you."

"If Lord Yan insists on making things difficult, then the Three Mysterious Swords have no choice but to offend you!"