Chapter 229 - Letter of Challenge (I)
Chapter 229: Letter of Challenge (I)
Long said everything he could to apologize and he looked so pitiful, so Shi finally forgave him for what he had done.
As for Liu… no one knew how he convinced Ouyang.
Anyway, the final result was that Liu agreed to cooperate and Ouyang didn’t object… although he looked very bad!
When Long met Liu, he also looked… a little sad.
He couldn’t blame anyone else because it was all his fault that his empress got angry with him and they almost fell out.
When Liu saw how bad Long looked, he knew that Long must have been scolded. So he raised his eyebrows and said with a smile, “Why are you looking at me like that? I didn’t abandon you.”
Long glared at Liu and snorted. “Come here. Let’s discuss how to attract that guy.”
Long planned to use Liu as bait and they definitely needed to take concrete actions.
Otherwise, the philanderer wouldn’t be attracted easily, would he?
First of all, Liu had to use a false identity…
With Song Qingtian’s help, that wouldn’t be a problem.
Soon, Liu had a new identity as a young man from a big family. The master of the house was Lord Wang and Liu was regarded as the third son of his.
This young master just came back after finishing school in another place.
Ouyang couldn’t keep a secret, so he was forbidden to participate in this action. No one knew what Liu said to him and he didn’t object. He was very angry though.
Now that Ouyang had agreed, Liu moved to Lord Wang’s mansion.
That afternoon, Liu began to wander around the city under the guidance of a servant.
Liu was stunningly beautiful. As he swaggered through the streets, a lot of people were attracted by him.
During just half a day, at least eight men went to flirt with Liu. Luckily, his servant was very powerful. Those men who got close to him were all beaten black and blue and thrown out one by one.
Long and Shi were looking at Liu on the second floor of a teahouse. Seeing that Liu was accosted by another playboy, Long couldn’t help laughing while pounding the table.
Shi glanced at him and didn’t say anything.
“He deserves it.” Long gloated over Liu’s encounter.
Shi said calmly, “Oh really?”
“Yes, he deserves it,” Long said firmly.
Shi pursed his lips and sipped the tea. The tea in the teahouse couldn’t be compared with that in the palace. Therefore, Shi put it down after taking a sip.
Later, that servant, who was actually a Shadow Guardian, drove another playboy away.
Long watched them happily.
Shi didn’t pay much attention to that.
Long said softly, “If it goes on like this… Tut. I’m sure Liu Suifeng will attract wide attention.”
Shi took a look at Long, and then looked at the sky outside.
“It’s getting dark. Shall we go back?”
“Okay.” Long agreed with a smile and then got up. “Let’s go.”
Shi followed…
When they got out of the teahouse, Long laughed and wanted to say something to Shi.
Suddenly, Long felt someone was peeping at him at the back and it made him uneasy, so he stopped laughing and turned his head in doubt…
“What’s the matter?” Shi did not notice anything unusual, so he asked.
Long shook his head. “Nothing… I just have the feeling that someone’s looking at me.”
Shi became alert. He also looked around, but didn’t find anything.
Long patted himself on the back of the head. “Maybe I’m too sensitive. Let’s go. Qingzhou, let’s go back.”
“Mhmm.” Shi nodded.
On their way back, Long stopped feeling uneasy, so he thought that he had thought too much earlier…
The next two days, Liu kept swaggering around the city.
During this period of time, Shi had ordered the Shadow Guardians to get rid of all the people on the list.
This afternoon, Long couldn’t help but say, “Qingzhou, it’s been three days. Neither the philanderer nor Song Cailian appeared. What if it goes on like this? We can’t waste too much time here.”
Shi looked very serious. “Right.”
Long held Shi’s hand. “Do you have any other ideas?”
Shi shook his head slowly. “There is no other solution to this matter. If they don’t show up, we can’t do anything.”
After a pause, Long said, “Perhaps they’re afraid of us, so they haven’t taken action. How about we pretend to leave and come back secretly later?”
Shi was slightly stunned.
Long said, “The philanderer hasn’t appeared and we don’t have much time. I think we can only try this way.”
Shi finally nodded. “Yes, we can give it a try. Wait another day. If nothing happens before tomorrow afternoon, we will leave.”
“Mhmm,” Long responded, “It’s quite peaceful in the imperial palace… I think many ministers have guessed that the emperor there is a fake… Some time ago, several ministers wanted to make trouble for us. Those people sallied out in full strength to attack us, but they still failed. On the contrary, after all the people on the list were exterminated, the ministers in the court became very obedient.”
Shi nodded. “As long as we’re alive and keep dealing with evil people, those who are restless will know their place sooner or later.”
“Right.” Long smiled. “I just don’t know if those people will fancy themselves smart and act accordingly.”
“Oh?” Shi didn’t understand. “What do you mean?”
“Those ministers must have done something. I guess they still want to fight against us because they think we won’t let them go anyways. What do you think?”
Hearing that, Shi shook his head slowly. “If they think so, the palace will not be so peaceful now. It will be turbulent.”
Long curled his lips. When he was just about to say something, they received a letter coming from the palace.
The message stunned Long and he looked very serious.
Shi realized that something must have happened, so he hurriedly asked, “What happened?”
Long handed the letter to him.
Shi opened it and began to read. It also stunned him and he couldn’t help saying, “Lady Shan… was killed.”
Long pursed his lips. “Yes. She’s… dead.”
“Zhang Yuan examined her body and found she was poisoned to death. It was not some special poison, but arsenic,” Shi said slowly, “Lady Shan had a lover and kept hiding him in her palace. The Shadow Guardians didn’t expose them and wanted to find more clues, but they didn’t expect this to happen.”
Long sighed. “This woman… had only herself to blame… But Qingzhou, I’m afraid her death will cause a little turbulence in the imperial palace. At least, her family won’t let it go easily.”
“Now it’s the Shadow Guardians and several influential ministers who are dealing with political affairs. I’m afraid they won’t be able to stop Lady Shan’s family.”
“Right.” Long narrowed his eyes. “Something might happen in the palace.”
“Are you going back first?” Asked Shi.
Long shook his head. “I don’t have the time.”
Shi thought about it. “That’s right. Lady Shan has been dead for nearly two days. It’s too late for us to receive the news. It will take four days to go back even if we travel at top speed… It’s really late. Let’s just stay here and see what they will do.”
“That’s right.” Long nodded. “Let’s see what her family can do. What’s more, since Lady Shan colluded with others, I don’t think her family is innocent. Think what happened to Lady Rou… I want to see how those people will choose.”
Shi looked at Long and said slowly, “Both of them are dead… There are only some low-ranking concubines left in the harem. It’ll be easy to deal with them.”
Long smiled after hearing that. “Right.”