Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Inside the hall, Xu Anping glanced at the Fourth Prince, who had somehow fallen asleep sprawled across the daybed.

“Your Highness, where exactly did you find this child?”

Noble Consort Xu froze for a moment. “A village east of the capital. Why do you ask?”

Xu Anping frowned slightly. “Have you ever heard of Half-Ghost Village?”

“Half-Ghost Village?”

“That’s right.” Xu Anping paused thoughtfully. “Several decades ago, there was a group of monsters who were half human and half ghost. Once they passed the age of fifty, they began growing younger. They were driven east and settled in an isolated village cut off from the rest of the world. That village was called Half-Ghost Village.

“Sister, are you certain of this child’s true identity?”

Suspicion had begun to take root in Xu Anping’s heart.

After all, most three-year-olds could barely speak clearly, let alone compose poetry.

There was also a strong air of violence and death about him. Most children burst into tears at the mere sight of him, but this child was different. There wasn’t the slightest trace of fear in his eyes.

Xu Anping was a soldier, and suspicion was in his nature.

For the sake of the Xu Family, he could not allow anything to go wrong.

Noble Consort Xu looked at the child lying on the daybed, panic creeping into her voice. “I truly don’t know where he came from. I followed your instructions and silenced everyone we sent out back then…”

“Don’t panic, Sister,” Xu Anping soothed her. “The people of Half-Ghost Village may be able to grow young again, but their true bone age cannot be disguised.

“I’ve already summoned a physician skilled in reading bones to the capital. When he arrives, I’ll have him give the Fourth Prince a thorough examination…”

“Excellent.”

Neither of them noticed that the child, who had been sleeping peacefully, had slowly opened his eyes.

A flicker of murderous intent flashed through his clear, innocent pupils.

“Qingzhi, we cannot let that physician live,” Great-grandfather said.

I fell silent for a moment before lowering my head. “Qingzhi understands.”

My parents had taught me from a young age to treat others with kindness.

That physician was innocent, but weren’t the people of Half-Ghost Village innocent as well?

If the physician didn’t die, Great-grandfather would be the one who died…

Every man for himself, and the devil take the hindmost.

I was no saint.

The physician entered the palace three days later.

As a male outsider, he had been secretly smuggled inside by Xu Anping.

He wore a black cloak that concealed his face.

Great-grandfather managed to lure away the trusted palace maid assigned to receive him for the time it took an incense stick to burn.

That was when I approached the physician.

“Physician, please follow me.”

I led the way. “Her Highness asks that you wait in the eastern side room for a moment.”

“Of course, of course,” the physician replied readily.

After leading him into an empty room, I turned and left on my own.

I wandered around outside for a while, then doubled back along another path and entered the room next door.

“Qingzhi, what took you so long?”

One of the palace maids came over and took my hand.

I smiled. “The Fourth Prince only just fell asleep.”

“The Fourth Prince is very fond of you, and Her Highness trusts you with important duties. You must remember to put in a good word for us in the future.”

“You’re teasing me.”

The maids laughed and chatted as they undressed.

Several large tubs of hot water stood inside the room.

This was where the palace maids of Huaqing Palace came to bathe.

I glanced toward the room next door.

By now, the physician should have realized something was wrong.

Just then, the sound of a door opening came from next door.

“Ah!” I cried out, pointing toward the window. “I think there’s someone outside!”

“What?”

“Where?”

The maids were terrified and hurriedly pulled their clothes back on.

One of the quicker maids had already run outside. She caught sight of a black-clad figure darting away and immediately screamed, “Guards!”

“There’s an assassin!”

The maids rushed out in disarray, their clothes still askew. Numerous guards came running at their cries.

I pointed in the direction the physician had fled. “He ran that way!”

The physician had never entered the palace before, but he knew that a male outsider trespassing in the imperial harem would be sentenced to death.

Nor could he reveal the purpose of his visit to anyone else.

Guilty and terrified, he fled without any sense of direction.

He ran straight into a patrol of Imperial Guards.

“Who goes there?!”

The physician’s face went deathly pale. He spun around and ran.

What he did not know was that the Imperial Guards had always preferred to kill an innocent man rather than let a possible threat escape.

Even as a sharp arrow pierced his chest, the physician still could not understand how he had lost his life without ever laying eyes on the Fourth Prince.