Chapter 280

Chapter 280

“Young Master, Old Villain Sun-ah, no, Eunuch Sun is here.”

Nanshu lightly slapped his own mouth.

The nickname had become a habit.

Outside the door, Sun Ze’s face looked cold and ugly.

“Let him in.”

A weak voice came from inside. Jiang Yunsui was crouched nearby, watching Ji Yan’an perform.

She covered her mouth and giggled.

Ji Yan’an glanced at her, strongly tempted to have the little girl carried out. She was making it difficult to stay in character.

The room reeked of medicine. Its windows were tightly closed, and candles provided the only light.

Sun Ze entered deferentially and surveyed the room without appearing to do so. Hearing Ji Yan’an cough, he suppressed his excitement.

“Young Master, His Majesty is concerned for your health and specially sent two imperial physicians with this servant to examine you.”

Ji Yan’an’s voice came between coughs.

“Concerned?”

“He wants to see when I’ll die. Cough, cough…”

“Young Master, you misunderstand,” Eunuch Sun hurriedly said.

“Fine. Let them examine me. If they can’t cure me, I’ll slaughter both imperial physicians!”

Thud. Sun Ze and the physicians turned deathly pale and dropped to their knees.

“Young Master, you mustn’t!” Sun Ze pleaded. “This servant must take them back to report. His Majesty intends to inquire personally about your condition. Surely… you don’t wish to anger him. Your grandmother, aunts, and sisters are worried for you as well.”

“Are you threatening me?”

Ji Yan’an’s voice abruptly turned icy.

The young man emerged from behind the screen wearing only black sleeping robes, his hair loose and feet bare.

He reeked of medicine, and his eyes were bloodshot. In the dim room, flickering candlelight made him resemble a demon crawled from hell.

Sword in hand, he staggered as though he might collapse at any moment.

He slowly approached them.

Though thin and frail, he exerted tremendous pressure on all three.

Sun Ze began trembling.

He had personally experienced how fiercely this master held grudges. Once, someone had thrown a sack over him and beaten him nearly to death-inside the imperial palace itself.

Everyone knew who had done it, yet no one found evidence.

Thus, compared with the easily placated Emperor, Eunuch Sun feared the poisoned but terrifyingly calculating young Ji Yan’an far more.

Swish…

The cold point of a sword appeared before their eyes.

Cold sweat broke out across all three.

Ji Yan’an looked like a madman.

And madmen possessed no reason.

Sun Ze kowtowed repeatedly. “Young Master, this servant would never dare threaten you! It’s simply difficult to answer to His Majesty. You must think of your grandmother and the others. If something happens to you, they’ll worry too.”

Ji Yan’an slowly moved the sword point. Sun Ze swallowed, face ashen, sweat dripping onto the floor.

Swish…

“Hiss…”

Sun Ze sucked in a breath as Ji Yan’an’s sword opened a cut down his aged face.

“Get out!”

Forgetting his mission, Sun Ze scrambled away. The two physicians fled with him.

Before they went far, roars and the crash of smashing objects sounded from the room.

“Young Master, calm down!”

“Quick! Fetch a physician to use silver needles on him!”

Nanfeng shouted at the top of his lungs.

Other screams came from inside, making Sun Ze and the physicians tremble harder.
“Imperial physicians, don’t leave! Help our Young Master. His illness is worsening, and he flies into murderous rages without warning. You’re imperial physicians, so you must have a way to calm him, right?”

Guards blocked the three before they could escape.

The physicians shook their heads frantically. “No, no! Our medical skills are poor!”

Then several “corpses” were carried from the bloody room. All three wished they could roll their eyes back and faint.

Guards supported the two physicians and Sun Ze alike.

Otherwise, how could they be made to watch the “corpses” emerge?

“Heavens! Young Master, she’s only a child! How could you kill a child?” Nanfeng wailed dramatically.

Inside, Jiang Yunsui had already howled twice. She smeared “blood” across her face, rolled back her eyes, stuck out her tongue, and died.

Ji Yan’an, drinking tea nearby, twitched an eyelid.

Nanmo expressionlessly smashed objects and splattered blood everywhere, including across the window paper.

“Quick, carry me out,” Jiang Yunsui urged.

Nanshu took a drink to moisten his throat, then continued shouting.

“The Young Master fainted! Hurry, carry him to bed!”

At last, the room fell quiet. Jiang Yunsui’s little “corpse” was carried out.

Sun Ze and the physicians gasped.

“Imperial physicians, the Young Master has fainted. Hurry and examine him.”

“Eunuch Sun, you must be frightened. Rest in the room next door.”

Sun Ze wanted to refuse. He wished he could grow two more legs and flee immediately.

But exhaustion suddenly overwhelmed him, and he nodded groggily.

The two guards supporting him exchanged a discreet glance and took him to a room.

His attendants suspected nothing; their own legs were weak with fear.

“He’s here.”

Shen Qingzhu’s gentle voice sounded in a secluded rear room.

Jiang Yunsui sat on a stool, tilting her face up while Ji Si wiped away the “blood.”

“Why did you insist on joining the commotion?”

Nanshu and Ji Yan’an were there too. The “Ji Yan’an” currently receiving treatment from the imperial physicians was naturally an impersonator.

Jiang Yunsui grinned. “It was fun.”

How could she miss something so entertaining? She had eagerly secured a role for herself.

The dazed Sun Ze was brought inside and casually dropped onto the floor.

Everyone looked down at him as though he were already dead.

Had he been lucid, the sight would have terrified him senseless.

Shen Qingzhu forced two pills into his mouth.

One would cloud his mind without making him unconscious. The other compelled truth.

“Begin the interrogation.”

Jiang Yunsui sat on her stool with a cookie. Her only responsibilities were watching and eating.

“Who sent you?” Ji Yan’an asked.

Sun Ze answered hazily, “The… the Emperor.”

“Who is your true master? Who ordered you to contact the Barbarians?”

“The First Prince. The First Prince sent me to cooperate with the Barbarians’ Fifth Prince.”

Cold light flashed through Ji Yan’an’s eyes. “The First Prince.”

The current Emperor was thirty-two. The First Prince was not born of the empress, but his seniority won him considerable support at the Imperial Court. Ambitious himself, he fought bitterly with the current empress’s faction.

The Crown Prince, the Emperor’s third son, was only nine.