Chapter 28

The second floor of the barge had all its lattice windows thrown wide. A man stood by one of them, tall and straight, phoenix eyes slightly raised at the corners.
His gaze threaded through the gauzy coloured drapes that hung all around as he looked down, and he caught sight of two young girls laughing and chatting.
One wore a pale pink short jacket and skirt, the hem embroidered with clusters of bright peach blossoms. Her hair was done up in a hanging-cloud style, pinned with a single white jade hairpin; her brows and eyes curved as she smiled, little dimples blooming like flowers, a golden girl’s arm bracelet hanging from her elbow.
The other was dressed in a long dress the colour of lake-blue, narcissus flowers embroidered delicately at the hem. A green jade step-shaker hairpin was tucked into her hair, giving her dignified features a touch of lively charm.
“Who are those two?” the young man asked.
The eunuch at his side bowed. “Replying to Your Highness, those two are the daughter of the Vice Minister of Justice, Lord Zhang Ye, Young Lady Zhang Miaoyin, and the daughter of the Duke of Han, Young Lady Shen Qing.”
As his teacher’s daughter, Li Zhibai naturally had some impression of Shen Qing, that would be the girl in lake-blue. Which meant the one in pink was Shen Qing.
He raised a brow, a faint smile in his eyes, with a hint of someone watching a show. “So that’s the Duke of Han’s daughter. She actually came as well.”
Among Emperor Jingren’s sons, aside from the Third Prince who had already taken a concubine, both the Crown Prince and the Fourth Prince had yet to marry or take any concubines.
Li Zhibai had originally thought he would marry before his fourth younger brother. He had not expected that it would be his fourth brother who first received an imperial marriage edict, and that the bride would be no ordinary girl, but a Daoist nun to boot.
Down on deck, the two girls said a few more words to each other, then soon turned and went back into the cabin.
Li Zhibai’s gaze remained fixed on the girl in lake-blue, his lashes lowering slightly, expression unreadable.
“Elder Brother Crown Prince, what are you looking at?” Li Yu’s voice suddenly sounded at his ear.
Seeing her, Li Zhibai smiled. “Just admiring the lotus in the pond.”
“Oh,” Li Yu said, then tugged at his sleeve. “Elder Brother Crown Prince, I’m going down first.”
He nodded. “Go on.”
With his permission, Li Yu lifted her skirts and headed for the first deck. Before long, she crossed paths with Shen Qing and Zhang Miaoyin.
They hadn’t been talking long when Madam Zhang called Zhang Miaoyin away, and Shen Qing went with Li Yu to find a place to sit.
Faced with Li Yu’s intense stare, Shen Qing felt her back starting to burn. “What are you staring at me like that for?”
Li Yu narrowed her eyes and leaned closer. “Last time at Mount Li, you ran off before you finished explaining. When exactly did you and Li A-man meet? How did it end with Father suddenly granting you two a marriage without so much as a word beforehand?”
Li Yu knew Li Daoxuan’s temper far too well. If he were unwilling, no one could force him into anything. If he hadn’t agreed, this marriage simply could not have happened.
She was far too curious about when exactly her “sister” and younger brother had gotten tangled up together.
Unable to stand that scorching stare, Shen Qing pushed Li Yu’s forehead back with a fingertip, eyes drifting away. “I don’t know,” she said. “I’m not all that familiar with him either. Who knows what the Emperor was thinking.”
Not getting the answer she wanted, Li Yu looked utterly crestfallen. “That’s it?”
Shen Qing nodded. “That’s it.”
Li Yu clung to her and hounded her with questions for quite a while, but when she truly couldn’t wring anything out of her, she could only give up in disappointment.
By now the pleasure barge had glided to the middle of Huachun Pond, endless jade-green waves dotted with specks of pink and white. At some point, the clear sky had darkened over; clouds rolled in fast. Just then, everyone felt a jolt beneath their feet, swaying where they stood and scrambling for something to hold onto.
Madam Zhang frowned and called someone over. “What’s going on?”
The servant replied, “The servants on watch were careless, madam. The anchor slipped into the water by accident, so the boat stopped here in the middle of the lake. Madam may rest assured, they’re already working on it.”
At that, Madam Zhang hurried to calm the women present and ordered the servants to move quickly.
Hearing the exchange, everyone finally exhaled in relief.
As long as the boat itself wasn’t damaged, it was fine.
The others all went back to their merrymaking, but Shen Qing’s brow remained tightly knit, because she heard a series of muffled glug-glug, pfft-pfft sounds, like something spitting water.
She immediately raised a hand to stop Li Yu’s chatter, but as soon as the chatter around her quieted, that strange “pfft pfft” vanished as well, as if what she’d just heard had been nothing but an illusion.
“What’s wrong?” Li Yu asked in puzzlement.
“Did you hear anything just now?” Shen Qing frowned.
Li Yu listened carefully for a moment, then said, “No. What did you hear?”
Shen Qing only gave a small nod, the doubt in her heart still unresolved.
Right then, someone ran in in a panic. “Something terrible has happened, Young Lady Zhang fell into the water!”
Madam Zhang snapped her head up. “Which Young Lady Zhang?” she demanded sharply.
The servant dropped to his knees with a thump, face scrunched in misery. “Young Lady Zhang Miaoyin, madam!”
At those words, Madam Zhang cried out and clutched at her chest. If not for a quick-handed maid supporting her, she would have gone straight to the floor. Once she’d steadied herself, her hand trembled as she pointed outside. “Quick, go save my Miaoyin! If anything happens to her, I’ll hold you to account!”
Shen Qing’s heart sank. Li Yu shot to her feet as well and called her maids over. “Which of you can swim? All of you who can, go save her, now!”
But every maid lowered her head, faces full of fear and panic. “Replying to Your Highness, this slave… this slave cannot swim.”
Li Yu exploded. “Useless, the lot of you!”
Shen Qing caught hold of the princess, who was bristling like a cat. “I can swim. I’ll go.”
Before leaving, she handed all her trinkets and loose items to Cuizhi. “Have someone prepare a clean change of clothes,” she instructed.
“Water’s dangerous, I should go instead,” Cuizhi said anxiously.
Shen Qing knew this girl far too well. Put her in the water and she’d be a flailing land duck, barely able to keep herself afloat, much less rescue anyone. “Be good,” she said.
With that, she hurried out to the deck. A crowd had already gathered at the stern, all craning their necks over the side, faces tight with worry.
Everyone present had been born and raised in Chang’an. There was no sea near the capital; hardly anyone here had ever learned to swim.
Through the stern rail she saw Zhang Miaoyin thrashing in the lake and was about to jump in when there came another heavy plunk. Before her eyes, someone else had leapt in ahead of her.
It was clearly a man. In the next moment he had reached Zhang Miaoyin, who was struggling in the water.
Zhang Miaoyin’s nose and mouth burned; she felt she could barely breathe, when a clear, steady voice sounded by her ear, sweeping away the fog in her head. “Young Lady Zhang, relax.”
The newcomer slid a hand under her shoulders and lifted her head upward. Her mouth and nose broke the surface, and fresh air rushed in all at once, fighting its way into her burning lungs. She’d swallowed too much water just now.
Dimly, she heard someone shouting, “The Crown Prince, His Highness the Crown Prince! What are you all standing around for? Get a rope! All male guests, return inside at once!”
Everyone panicked like ants on a hot wok. Shen Qing quickly recovered as well, passing the cloak Cuizhi had brought to Zhang Miaoyin’s stewardess and maids.
The Crown Prince climbed back aboard with Zhang Miaoyin in his arms. As soon as his feet hit the deck, he very sensibly handed her straight into the Zhang family’s keeping, eyes sliding aside. “Fetch a physician,” he said.
The servants hustled Zhang Miaoyin into the cabin, and only then did the incident come to a close, for now. But in everyone’s hearts, a seed had already been planted: now that Young Lady Zhang and the Crown Prince had had bodily contact, the Eastern Palace would surely have a new mistress before long.
For a time, the noble girls whose families had been eyeing the Crown Prince felt a faint sourness, each secretly sighing over Zhang Miaoyin’s good fortune and quietly praying that she would at least not become the Crown Princess.
Seeing her daughter collapse, Madam Zhang could no longer care about anything else. She hurriedly thanked the Crown Prince and followed her daughter into the cabin.
One person, however, who heard the details of what had happened still wore a deep frown. He descended from the second floor step by step, robes of blue hanging quietly from his frame, features as cold as snow, Gu Ze.
He summoned the maid who served by Zhang Miaoyin’s side. “Why did your young lady suddenly fall into the water? Where was she beforehand, and what was she doing?”
Shen Qing had been wondering the same thing. Seeing someone else ask first, she simply stood to the side and watched, she wanted to know as well. Wasn’t Zhang Miaoyin supposed to have gone looking for her mother? How had she ended up on deck, and how had she fallen into the water?
At Gu Ze’s question, the maid burst into tears, pointing straight at Shen Qing’s direction. “Censor Gu, it was Young Lady Shen who sent for my lady!”
Before Shen Qing could even flare up, Li Yu had already barked, “Just now Young Lady Shen has been with this princess the entire time. How dare you slander her so! Impudent wretch, spewing lies and nonsense!”
The maid dropped to her knees with a bang and knocked her head on the deck. “May Your Highness see clearly; this slave speaks no falsehood!”
Shen Qing knew well that Li Yu had a fiery temper, and since she herself had indeed been by Li Yu’s side just now, the girl’s words did sound like a baseless accusation at first glance. No wonder Li Yu couldn’t hold back her anger.
But on closer thought, plenty of people had seen her standing beside Li Yu. If this maid were deliberately framing her, the lie would fall apart with a single poke.
Turning it over in her mind, Shen Qing squeezed Li Yu’s hand and gave a tiny shake of her head.
Li Yu’s temper cooled a notch. Thinking back over events, she too began to sense that something was off. “Then tell us clearly,” she said. “How exactly did the Young Lady of the Shen family ‘summon’ your mistress?”
Just then, a steady male voice cut in, powerful and calm. “Do not be afraid. Her Highness has always been reasonable and clear-eyed. All you need do is lay out everything you know, without concealment.”
At the sound, Li Yu lifted her head. There stood Gu Ze in a robe of dark blue, figure clear and elegant at one side.
Their gazes met for a brief moment before he lowered his eyes again, neither humble nor arrogant, composed as ever.
Li Yu’s heart felt as if brushed by a feather, light and ticklish.
Hearing his reassurance, the maid’s fear of Li Yu eased a little. She kowtowed deeply, then recounted the matter in full: “Earlier, my lady was attending Madam’s side when a little maid came and said Young Lady Shen was seeking my lady, claiming there was something urgent.”
“That girl also told my lady not to bring anyone else, saying Young Lady Shen had a very important private matter to discuss. So my lady followed her to the deck. After that… someone cried that my lady had fallen into the water.”
Today was Madam Zhang’s birthday banquet, with both Crown Prince and Princess personally present. By rights, security on the barge should have been extremely tight; there should have been no chance for evildoers to slip aboard. Shen Qing and Zhang Miaoyin had always been close friends, so using Shen Qing’s name to lure Zhang Miaoyin out naturally stripped away most of her caution, and that was how the culprit had succeeded so easily.
Gu Ze had clearly already guessed as much. He fell silent for a moment, then asked, “Young Lady Shen was just now in Her Highness’s company. The culprit could not possibly have been her. Tell me: did the girl who summoned your mistress have any distinctive features?”
The maid hesitated, clearly not having considered that angle. After a moment she said, “This slave remembers, the girl looked about thirteen or fourteen, with phoenix eyes, a low nose bridge and thick lips.” Thinking a bit more, she added, “And above her left brow bone, she had a red birthmark about the size of a thumbnail.”
At that, Gu Ze immediately sent men to search.
In less than no time, a group of attendants dragged a girl over.
“The girl was hiding under an empty section of deck,” the lead guard reported. “She clearly planned this ahead of time and was just waiting to slip away after the deed was done.”
In other words, before the banquet even began, she had pried up a section of the deck and hidden below, waiting for her chance. Otherwise, she never could have gotten onto the barge. This wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment crime, it had been premeditated.
The girl’s appearance matched the maid’s description perfectly. Above her left brow bone sat a birthmark about the size of a nail bed. Her features were painfully ordinary, the sort that vanished into any crowd.
Even caught red-handed, she showed little sign of fear. Her eyes remained as flat as still water, as if she truly didn’t care about her current situation, without a trace of the panic one would expect from someone seized on the spot.
No matter what Gu Ze asked, she kept her mouth firmly shut.
Just then, the pfft-pfft sound of something spitting water grew clearer in Shen Qing’s ears. Yet when she looked around, everyone else’s expressions were perfectly calm, as if no one but her could hear it.
Her instincts screamed that something was wrong, but for the moment she couldn’t pinpoint where.
So she patted Li You’and leaned in close to whisper in her ear, “I just remembered, when I looked earlier, there were quite a few water ghosts in the lake. Zhang Miaoyin fell in; I’m afraid she might have picked up some of their yin aura and harmed her health. Take these to her for me, quietly.”
At the words water ghosts, Li Yu shivered and hurriedly accepted the string of warding beads Shen Qing pressed into her hand. She didn’t even stop to wonder why Shen Qing wasn’t sending a servant but insisting Li Yu deliver them personally. Clutching the beads, she rushed off to Zhang Miaoyin’s cabin.
Before leaving, she still remembered to say, “As for Young Lady Zhang’s fall into the water, I’ll leave the investigation to Censor Gu. I expect you to find out the true culprit as soon as possible and punish them severely.”
Gu Ze bowed. “This minister will not fail Your Highness’s trust.”
Seeing Li Yu leave with the protective charms, Shen Qing finally had a moment to scan her surroundings, only to find that eerie spitting sound had vanished again.
Gu Ze was still questioning the girl the guards had dragged over when the maid’s gaze suddenly locked onto Shen Qing. Her eyes went bloodshot with fury as she shrieked, “You’re that dog traitor’s daughter! May your whole dog-thief family die without a good end!”
At that, everyone present changed expression, holding their breath as they looked toward Shen Qing.
As the daughter of the Duke of Han and Grand Cavalry General, and the future Cang Prince Consort besides, she was currently at the height of favor. Who would dare crash head-on into the Shen family’s young lady and fling such wild insults in public?
Yet Shen Qing did not react with the outrage everyone expected. Her face was unnervingly calm, even faintly curved with a smile as she looked at the girl and simply watched her rant.
Only when the girl cursed herself hoarse and finally had to stop to catch her breath did Shen Qing speak. “All done?”
The girl spat at her with another sharp ptui, clearly wanting to curse more.
Shen Qing said evenly, “My father is the Grand Cavalry General. He has guarded the borders for years, eating wind and sleeping in armor, wading through blood on the battlefield, facing death without fear, fighting side by side with countless soldiers to drive back our enemies. Only thus do you have the ease and comfort you enjoy today. His loyalty is clear as the sun and moon, where do your so-called ‘dog-thief’ words come from?”
Then she added, “Why don’t you tell the truth instead, who stands behind you and what you’re after? Perhaps I can grant you a quick death.”
The girl snorted coldly. “When the dog thief dies, my heart will be at peace. I’m not afraid of death.”
Shen Qing’s hand moved faster than thought. She clamped the girl’s jaw, and with a crisp crack, dislocated it. Then she took out a handkerchief and carefully wiped each finger clean, as if she’d touched something filthy. Holding back her anger, she said, “There’s something in her mouth. Take it out.”
The phrase when the dog thief dies instantly set alarm bells screaming in Shen Qing’s heart. The image of her mother’s tragic death in her previous life flashed before her eyes. If this girl was connected to the Shen family’s massacre, she absolutely could not be allowed to die here.
The guards moved quickly and fished a poison pellet, still intact, out from under the girl’s tongue.
Seeing her suicide pill found and removed, her face went chalk-white. The pain in her jaw was excruciating, and her glare at Shen Qing only grew more resentful.
Gu Ze calmly examined the black pellet. Its inky surface gave nothing away. He passed it to the arriving Wuhou commander and said, “Have her locked up. Take her to the Censorate for interrogation later. Don’t let this woman spoil Madam Zhang’s birthday banquet.”
The guard had just received his orders when a voice rang out lazily, “What sort of person could make Censor Gu go to such trouble, flags flying and warhorses roaring, to the point of dragging the guards into it?”
A young man came down from the second floor, dressed in a round-collared crimson robe with a leather cross-belt at the waist.
“In my view, this person ought to be remanded to our Dali Court for questioning. After all, you people at the Censorate only know how to file impeachments and accusations. When it comes to interrogating major criminals, I fear you may be a bit out of your depth.”
The newcomer was none other than Junior Minister of Justice, Shi Qinglan. The Shi clan had been a noble family for a hundred years, officials generation after generation. His father served as Minister of War, and his grandfather, now ten years gone, had once been Military Commissioner of Jiannan Circuit and was the present Crown Prince’s maternal grandfather. With the Crown Prince at their back, the Shi clan shone as brightly as the midday sun.
And Shi Qinglan, now serving as Junior Minister of Justice, had never gotten along with Gu Ze, the Censorate’s Censor in Chief.
Five years ago, when they had both been students under Grand Tutor Zhang at the Hanlin Academy, Shi Qinglan had already found Gu Ze an eyesore, because in every examination and evaluation, Gu Ze’s scores were consistently higher than his.
When the palace examination results were posted, Gu Ze took first place while Shi Qinglan fell just one rank short. Gu Ze, as the top graduate, immediately earned the Emperor’s favor and was promoted again and again, while Shi Qinglan had to start at the very bottom.
At this rate, when the elderly Imperial Censor Feng eventually retired to his hometown, the one to inherit that lofty position would almost certainly be Gu Ze.
Shi Qinglan’s current post as Junior Minister of Justice was earned mostly by himself, but there was undeniably a portion he owed to his father’s help.
His father was forever comparing him to Gu Ze, sighing and nagging that he wasn’t competitive enough. In his father’s mouth, Gu Ze was the shining example of “someone else’s perfect son.”
How could Shi Qinglan swallow that? Thus, his greatest hobby in court had become making Gu Ze’s life as difficult as possible.
Now, hearing that Gu Ze wanted to take charge of this case, he was delighted to have a chance to trip him up.
Gu Ze only said mildly, “There’s no need to trouble Assistant Minister Shi over this. This official has his own arrangements.”
Shi Qinglan raised a brow, smiling faintly. “This matter concerns Teacher’s household and touches on the safety of court officials. It must not be taken lightly.”
Gu Ze replied, “This official is well aware. Moreover, I am acting by order of Her Highness the Princess. Since I’ve been commanded to handle this personally, there’s no need for Assistant Minister Shi to interfere.” He lifted a hand ever so slightly, and the guard immediately dislocated the maid’s arms as well, gagged her, and had her bound hand and foot to be taken away.
Just as Shi Qinglan’s face was turning thunderous, an inner attendant slipped to his side, whispered a few words in his ear, and placed a token in his hand.
Shi Qinglan’s expression eased at once, even taking on a hint of smug satisfaction. Raising the token high, he announced in a ringing voice, “By order of His Highness the Crown Prince: this case concerns Grand Tutor Zhang and must not be handled carelessly. The suspect is to be imprisoned under guard in the Dali Court and interrogated there. There must be no mistakes!”
He smiled pleasantly at Gu Ze. “My apologies. I am simply following His Highness’s command and personally taking custody of the suspect.”
Yet Gu Ze did not scowl as he’d imagined. Instead, he smiled faintly. “Then let the Dali Court handle her,” he said. “Assistant Minister Shi, as you please.”
Even after the guard led the girl away, Shi Qinglan was still thinking about that faint smile on Gu Ze’s face and what it might mean.
He did not understand until, somewhat dazed, he was summoned by the Crown Prince and saw the thin-lipped anger in Li Zhibai’s expression.
The Crown Prince’s presence bore down like a mountain, leaving him struggling to breathe, his head bowing lower and lower.
“This was supposed to be Teacher’s lady’s birthday banquet,” Li Zhibai said coldly. “Yet today it nearly became Young Lady Zhang’s death anniversary. How is that supposed to look?”
Shi Qinglan murmured, “Your Highness is right.”
The Crown Prince continued, “I give you one month to close this case. If, after one month, you still have not found the true mastermind…” He paused to take a slow sip of tea. “Then you may go home and stay there.”
If he couldn’t solve it in a month, his official career was effectively over.
Shi Qinglan howled inwardly. No wonder that brat Gu Ze had agreed so readily, it turned out he’d been waiting for this! Eight hundred schemes in that head of his!
By the time the culprit was in custody, Shen Qing was already thinking about how she could possibly slip into the Dali Court’s prison.
The girl had first used her name to lure Zhang Miaoyin out and push her into the water, then had pointed at her and cursed “dog-traitor’s daughter”, as if the Grand Cavalry General had done some unforgivable evil to her, and she was now set on vengeance against his family.
If that was the case, wasn’t she likely connected to the Shen family massacre in Shen Qing’s previous life? And who was the master behind her?
As for Zhang Miaoyin, last time around, she had been the Emperor’s hand-picked future Crown Princess, but Shen Qing had never linked that to what happened today.
Zhang Miaoyin fell into the water and was saved by the Crown Prince. Her reputation was at stake. That Zhang Shilang would lock down all news of the incident for his daughter’s sake was only natural. It perfectly explained why, in her past life, Zhang Miaoyin would suddenly be named the future Crown Princess.
Pfft, pfft, pfft…
The now-familiar sound returned. Shen Qing stilled, focusing all her attention, trying to pinpoint where it came from, only for it to vanish again.
But unlike before, now she had the distinct sense that the sound was drawing closer and closer to her, as if something were slowly approaching from afar to hover right by her side.
It made her stop short on her way to visit Zhang Miaoyin.
Overhead, dark clouds pressed low. The anchor that had slipped earlier still hadn’t been fished up. The pleasure barge remained stranded in the middle of Huachun Pond, people coming and going as if they weren’t at all bothered by the earlier chaos, faces bright and lively.
Plap,
A sudden gale slammed across the pond. More than half the lotus blossoms were torn straight out of the water, blown in a flurry across the deck and into the cabins, leaving the pond momentarily stripped of its color.
The plate-sized blossoms were clear and translucent, like delicate crystal lotuses, charming to the eye. Yet after being blown onto the decks, every single one landed upside down, flower heart pressed firmly against the boards.
When the gust finally died, the water calmed again. Nothing strange happened for quite some time, and people slowly began to relax.
One young lady, pitying the overturned lotuses, extended a slender white hand to cup one up, wanting to flip it over and toss it back into the water.
Only then did Shen Qing realize what was wrong. The lotus was wrong. That gust of wind was wrong.
“Put it down! Don’t touch that thing, it’s evil!”
Her shout had barely left her lips, but it was already too late.
The moment the lotus was turned right-side up, it was as if some hidden mechanism had been triggered. The petals writhed like fish tails in water, layer upon layer rippling in midair. The seedpod in the center sprouted a ring of dense, pulsing suckers and split open into a gaping bloody maw. The “lotus” wriggled free from the girl’s hand and lunged straight at her face.
With a single wet shlup, it latched on. The petals snapped shut around her head, fusing tight and fully parasitizing her face.
The young lady’s body went rigid and toppled like a felled tree. She hit the deck with a heavy crash, utterly still, no sign of life.
Everyone else went completely blank for a heartbeat. Then, when realization finally struck, the deck exploded into hysterical screams and panicked flight.
All of it had happened in the space of a blink.
Shen Qing was just about to act when that pfft-pfft-pfft-pfft-pfft sound roared in her ears in a rapid, continuous rush, as if right beside her.
Yet when she looked around, there was nothing to see. At that exact moment, she noticed Cuizhi’s face had gone bone-white, the girl’s hand trembling as she pointed above Shen Qing’s head. “M-mistress, your, your, your head, ”
Enlightenment struck Shen Qing like lightning. A chill ran down the back of her neck. She tilted her head up, and found herself staring into a pair of eerie, milky-white pupils.
Something shaped like a person hung bonelessly from the beam overhead, its lower half dangling in midair.
That swollen, corpse-white ghost face was inching closer and closer to her own. A huge split gaped in its belly, and as its body slowly slid down, that abdominal wound flapped open and shut like a second mouth, belching out foul water, bubbling and popping.
In the space of a heartbeat, the ghost’s face swooped toward her, about to press against her own. Shen Qing twisted aside in a flash, shoving a warding bead and a signal flare into Cuizhi’s hand. “Don’t flip the lotuses over,” she said. “Leave them upside down and they won’t attack.”
As soon as she finished speaking, she shoved Cuizhi out of the way and, relying on her nimble body, kept dodging the water fiend’s attacks.
A water fiend was formed from the accumulated resentment of drowned souls. Its body was like tofu left to soak too long, its skin would crumble at a touch. Its fangs carried demonic venom as well; one bite from those, and it would be anything but pleasant.
The water fiend crawled straight for Shen Qing, its entire twisted body plastered to the floor, squirming forward like a snake. Its two legs dragged behind it, leaving streaks of water and shredded, rotten flesh on the boards.
Shen Qing found the creature utterly repulsive, she didn’t even want to touch it.
At the critical moment, she pulled off the golden arm bracelet from her arm and silently chanted an incantation. In the span of a heartbeat, the three glittering bracelets, normally only wrist-sized, swelled to the width of a washbasin and came crashing down toward the water fiend.
In one go, the golden spirit rings smashed the water fiend into a pile of bare bones. Even so, it still refused to give up on Shen Qing; the bones flexed and gathered, and with a lunge of its feet, it hurled itself at her face.
At the same time, a five-petaled golden blossom exploded in the air above the pleasure barge, its dazzling light tearing open half the sky.
Tiny Cuizhi held the flare aloft with her small body, forcing herself to stand firm on a deck littered with lotus heads. She shouted at the top of her lungs, “Don’t be afraid! Help is on the way! My lady said, as long as you don’t flip the lotuses over, nothing will happen! Please, my ladies, don’t panic!”
Her clear, ringing voice pierced straight into everyone’s chests, like someone had shoved a calming pill down their throats by force.
At the same time, in a certain interrogation chamber of the Cang Prince’s residence.
Drenched in sweat, Li Daoxuan forced his eyes open. He lowered his head slightly, and the loose black hair around his face slid forward with the motion. A sudden heat flared at his waist, that was the signal flare he had given Shen Qing being set off.
Li Daoxuan rolled his neck, stiff from being still too long. As he moved, the rattling clatter of chains echoed all around him. After a long moment, he let out a soft, derisive breath. “Troublesome.”