Free Web NovelChapter 225: Chapter 225: Winning and Losing, Decided in a Single Glance
Ji Qingwu hesitated, wondering whether to take the dagger.
Just then, the door to the bridal chamber was pushed open.
Two maids were shoved out, and Princess Qingyun’s furious voice carried outside.
"Are you blind? Those two earrings were right on the table. Why would they just vanish into thin air..."
Qingyun had finally managed to wait for Li Chengxun to return and had already changed into her red bridal nightgown. The two had barely exchanged a few words when they learned the Emperor had arrived.
She was both shocked and anxious. She had to fix her hair ornaments before she could present herself.
But the pair of gold-inlaid pearl earrings was nowhere to be found. The more frantically she searched, the more elusive they seemed.
Princess Qingyun snapped, "If you can’t find them, will you be able to bear the responsibility when my Imperial Brother asks about them later?"
Li Chengxun placed one hand on her shoulder and used the other to move aside the golden crown in front of the vanity mirror.
"Don’t worry, Princess. Here they are."
He fastened them for her, his fingers brushing her earlobe as he whispered, "The Holy Emperor has arrived. We shouldn’t keep His Majesty waiting. I’ll go to the front hall to greet him first. You can come out when you’re ready, Princess. There’s no rush."
Shadows flickered in the bridal chamber as Li Chengxun, dressed in his red wedding robes, was just about to step out.
Ji Qingwu’s gaze wavered.
’Emperor Wu Su didn’t expose my clumsy excuse to my face, which means he has no intention of punishing Mo Lingling.’
Ji Qingwu took a step forward and said softly, "Your Majesty, the Princess will need a little more time to get ready before presenting herself. Perhaps Your Majesty could wait in the front hall for a bit?"
As she spoke, she widened her eyes, looking up at him with anticipation.
Her eyes started to sting from the effort, a watery sheen forming in them, before he finally spoke. "What’s so interesting about the front hall? I find this courtyard far more entertaining."
Ji Qingwu blinked slowly. Emperor Wu Su continued in a leisurely drawl, "Someone jumping into the lake, someone else peeling bark from a tree... isn’t that much more interesting than sitting around doing nothing?"
Ji Qingwu bit her lip and pressed on, "Your Majesty, you underestimate me. I know how to do more than just peel bark."
Just then, Li Chengxun walked out of the room. He saw the two figures in the corridor.
The night was dark, with shadows swallowing the light. Palace lanterns glowed.
The two of them were standing extremely close as they spoke, much closer than what was appropriate for a normal conversation.
The posture—one with her head tilted up, the other with his head bowed down—suggested an intimate, flirtatious air.
Li Chengxun walked forward a few steps and recognized the woman with her back to him as Ji Qingwu.
He stopped in his tracks at one end of the corridor.
His gaze met the other man’s, and he quickly lowered his head in avoidance, his heart reeling in shock.
The smile hadn’t yet left Emperor Wu Su’s lips, but as his gaze fell upon Li Chengxun, his expression instantly hardened. His eyes held a mix of displeasure at being interrupted and another emotion—one that only another man could understand.
Victory and defeat were decided in that single glance.
Today was meant to be the joyous occasion of his marriage to the Princess, the day his wish was granted. Yet, a chill so cold it felt like ice crept up his spine.
’Why had the Empress Dowager taken a liking to me right when I was about to finalize marriage discussions with the Ji Family?’
’At the time, I thought it was because my scholarly talents were a cut above the rest that I alone had won the Royal Family’s favor.’
’Thinking back now, it was clearly Emperor Wu Su’s doing.’
’One can never truly predict the outcome of a game...’
Li Chengxun shook his head with a bitter smile. He thought he was the player, but in reality, he was just another piece on the board.
Just then, Ji Qingwu noticed someone behind her. As soon as she saw it was Li Chengxun, she whipped her head back around, afraid that if she stared for even a moment longer, the man before her would scowl again.
’Who knew if Li Chengxun was sober yet? If he started spouting nonsense again, my best bet would be to run.’
Ji Qingwu curtsied and deliberately raised her voice. "Your Majesty, you were asking where the bridal chamber is. It’s just behind here. Now that the Prince Consort is out, I shall not disturb you any further. I take my leave."
As she left, she didn’t forget to pull the mud-caked Mo Lingling from the lake.
She found an empty side room along the way and asked one of the residence’s maids to bring a clean set of clothes.
Once inside, Mo Lingling, clutching the dagger tightly in both hands, moved to kneel again.
Ji Qingwu started to reach out to stop her, but she pulled her hand back at the sight of Mo Lingling covered in muck.
"Miss Mo, I’m glad you’ve come to your senses. Don’t be so quick to kneel all the time. Your life isn’t that cheap."
Mo Lingling’s face was pale, but her gaze was defiant. "Miss Ji, I didn’t come to assassinate him today. I wasn’t planning on a life-or-death struggle. I just... I couldn’t accept it. I wanted to ask him why he went back on his word."
Ji Qingwu’s gaze fell on the dagger Mo Lingling was cradling protectively, as if it were a precious treasure.
"What happened back then?"
Ji Qingwu had saved her life several times, and Mo Lingling had long since come to see her as someone as important as her own kin. There was nothing she felt she couldn’t tell her.
"Back then, my father was secretly poisoned in prison. He left a confession before he died, and even though I knew something was wrong, there was nothing I could do. The men of the Mo family were all exiled to the bitter northern frontier, and the women were entered into the slave registry."
Ji Qingwu sat down at the table. "If all the women were enslaved, then how did you become an official prostitute?"
Mo Lingling said, "The newly appointed County Magistrate at the time had been my father’s private advisor. He tried to force me to be his mistress. I refused, even on pain of death. Humiliated and enraged, he had me thrown onto a boat from Liangxiang Pavilion that was out purchasing new courtesans."
"On the waterway to Lin’an, our group was ambushed by a band of bandits. They were cunning. They blindfolded all of us to keep us from seeing the route and memorizing a way to escape."
"The girls on the boat were all beautiful and well-built. There was no way that band of bandits would pass them up. But I suppose I was relatively lucky."
Ji Qingwu frowned. "Someone came to save you."
Mo Lingling nodded, her grip tightening on the dagger, as if she were drawing courage from its cold steel blade.
"With a single slash, this dagger slit the throat of the bandit who was on top of me."
Mo Lingling said, "He wanted to take me with him, but I couldn’t just leave. I still had to clear the Mo family’s name. I knew that once I reached the Imperial City, I would have more opportunities to meet powerful officials."
"But he told me he would help me. He would avenge my father. He told me to wait for him, and that all I needed to do in the meantime was keep myself safe."
Ji Qingwu considered this. "Did he tell you himself that he was Li Chengxun?"
After a long moment, Mo Lingling said sheepishly, "I was so scared... I forgot to ask his name."
Ji Qingwu gave her an I-knew-it look.
Mo Lingling added, "Besides, I was completely naked, so I was too embarrassed to pull off my blindfold. He left me this dagger. It wasn’t until afterward, when I saw the dagger, that I understood everything."
Mo Lingling’s face was filthy, but she had washed the dagger clean in the lake.
She pointed to the hilt. "Miss Ji, look at the pattern on the dagger."
The engraved design was thicker at one end and tapered at the other, like an upside-down pear.
"This is a pear. And the name ’Li’ is pronounced the same way."
At the time, the Mo family had been detained by the government. Li Chengxun’s father, a titled scholar, had even organized a joint petition among the common folk, and for his troubles was thrown into jail by the colluding officials.
Although he was released after the case concluded, Mr. Li had been severely tortured in prison. He passed away from his injuries not long after returning home.
Back then, Mo Lingling could think of no one else who would share her desire for vengeance.
Ji Qingwu examined the symbol closely. ’Honestly, it’s very abstract,’ she thought. ’It’s just two loops, that’s all.’
