Li Ningfeng’s treatment was completely enclosed.
He stayed almost entirely within his bedroom without coming out. After a few days, all the imperial physicians had also left the Marquis Manor.
Many eyes in the capital were watching here. Some who thought Li Ningfeng was gravely ill couldn’t help muttering doubts. Why had all the physicians left? Could it be he’d recovered?
If unrelated outsiders speculated thus, those involved in this matter were naturally even more anxious.
Uncle Liu paced in his room, his brow tightly furrowed.
He’d spent most of his life in this Marquis Manor and was one of the few trusted by the old Marquis. But even so, since that strange physician arrived, he’d been forbidden from approaching the Young Marquis’s room.
During the enclosed treatment period, only the old Marquis, the Crown Prince, and Fu Biao could come and go freely.
The old Marquis, at his advanced age, was ordered around by Fu Biao, yet there wasn’t a trace of anger or fury on his face. Uncle Liu saw clearly—the sorrow and worry on the old Marquis’s face seemed to have dissipated somewhat.
What exactly was Li Ningfeng’s condition now?
Since Li Ningfeng returned from the frontier, he’d been very cautious about food and didn’t trust people in the manor much. Uncle Liu knew he didn’t waste food, so he’d manipulated this aspect.
What that person gave him was precious but not poison—ordinary methods couldn’t detect it at all.
The area around Li Ningfeng’s bedroom was heavily guarded. With so many people watching, he couldn’t get close at all.
But if Li Ningfeng was fine, then he would be the one in trouble!
Uncle Liu stopped, a flash of ruthlessness passing through his eyes.
–
Regent Prince’s Manor.
The blood Lian Shenwei gave was delivered daily to the Marquis Manor by Ming Zhu, who spent the rest of her time watching the manor’s movements for him.
Only a few days had passed. The blood he’d lost wasn’t much, but his body felt cold easily. When standing up, his vision would occasionally black out for a moment.
Now he didn’t mind that the medicine pills he ate at each meal could practically serve as food. He took blood-replenishing pills and restorative dietary supplements every day.
When Ming Zhu and Tian Nan first learned of this matter, they’d tried to dissuade him for a long time. The two knelt outside his study door for an entire night. Seeing he still hadn’t changed his mind, they both coincidentally began to dislike the Young Marquis.
Knowing their master’s health was poor yet he gave blood daily, they watched even more closely over his meals and daily life, fearing Lian Shenwei might feel unwell somewhere.
Tian Nan entered from outside and reported, “Master, Ming Zhu sent word that there’s movement at the Marquis Manor.”
“After these several days, there should indeed be movement.” Lian Shenwei took out scissors and reached toward the candle wick, his tone gentle. “Just watch where he goes. Don’t alert him.”
Tian Nan asked, “After we find the person behind this…?”
Lian Shenwei replied, “We may not necessarily catch them.”
But in case they did…
He applied slight force. With a snip, he cut off a section of the wick.
The room darkened for a few seconds before brightening again. The flickering candlelight projected onto the window lattice, illuminating the profile of the Great Sheng Dynasty’s Regent Prince—gentle and refined.
Tian Nan inexplicably sensed a trace of chill. He lowered his head, not daring to look at his master’s face anymore.
–
Li Ningfeng’s treatment was still in its preliminary stage.
Today, Feng Ke had formally used Lian Shenwei’s blood as a medicine catalyst for him. Thus, throughout this entire day, his complexion had been very poor.
Once the medicine catalyst was used, this treatment was formally set. Lian Shenwei would need to give blood for at least four months.
Fortunately, part of the blood could be replaced with medicine. Combined with his restorative formulas, giving a little each day, he could barely hold on.
Li Ningfeng’s legs hurt so severely they went numb. His realm had fallen to Kaiyang Realm. He didn’t much care—the realm drop was only because his internal energy had dissipated. Once his legs recovered, after adjusting for a few days, he could re-enter Tianheng Realm.
Ying Jingjue entered with a solemn expression.
“Jingjue.”
“What happened? Why so urgent?” Li Ningfeng sat in a wheelchair, his calves soaking in a bucket of steaming bloody water, exhausted from pain.
Ying Jingjue saw such scenes daily. Yet every time he saw the bloody water in that bucket, his heart inexplicably felt rough. He averted his gaze, his eyes downcast. “Uncle Liu has had an incident.”
“…” Li Ningfeng’s expression showed slight astonishment. “Uncle Liu?”
Ying Jingjue nodded. “These past days, I’ve been watching the people in your manor. I’ve also deployed several of my shadow guards to stay by your side. It can be said that everyone in this manor is under surveillance.”
“Master Fu Biao told me about the Blood-Melting Parasite in your legs. I suspected someone close to you had tampered with your food when you weren’t paying attention. This thing can’t be detected by poison-testing methods.
Now that you have hope of recovery, I leaked a bit of information. That person inevitably couldn’t sit still. Uncle Liu went out last night.”
Li Ningfeng suddenly recalled that a few days ago, after he’d finished practicing martial arts, Uncle Liu would bring him a bowl of congee each time in his father’s name.
In the entire manor, aside from his father, he’d had some measure of trust in Uncle Liu.
Li Ningfeng was silent. “You mean Uncle Liu is connected to outside people and poisoned me with parasites?”
“It’s a suspicion. After I sent people to follow him, we discovered he went to a very ordinary courier manor. But for some unknown reason, he suddenly died.”
“Uncle Liu is dead?”
Ying Jingjue nodded. “All his internal organs turned to pus. One moment he was rushing to the courier manor, the next he was dead.”
Li Ningfeng’s expression darkened. “Doesn’t seem like the palace’s doing. More like jianghu methods. Was it also parasitic insects?”
“The palace’s imperial physicians don’t understand these things. Master Fu Biao… is a jianghu person, and his temperament is eccentric. It’s better he doesn’t participate in this matter. Right now, there’s no way to investigate.”
A perfectly fine person had died right under their noses.
Ying Jingjue hadn’t rested properly in a long time. With this incident occurring, his headache was severe.
What had happened had happened. Whether Uncle Liu was the one who’d acted against Li Ningfeng was obvious. What was more important now was finding who stood behind Uncle Liu.
Enemies in the open were frightening, but even more frightening was not knowing who your enemy was.
He didn’t think this matter had anything to do with Lian Shenwei, because if Lian Shenwei were the mastermind instructing Uncle Liu, the distance between the Loyal Righteousness Marquis Manor and the Regent Prince’s Manor wasn’t far at all—there’d be no need to go to a courier manor.
Moreover…
Ying Jingjue felt that with his teacher’s methods, he might not be unaware of Ningfeng’s current situation.
Perhaps around the Loyal Righteousness Marquis Manor, there were already Lian Shenwei’s people.
Li Ningfeng said, “Master Fu Biao told me that Blood-Melting Parasites come from Northern Yi. The person behind this must definitely be connected to Northern Yi.”
“Outside the capital, there are Northern Yi people. And they’re probably not very far, constantly monitoring the capital’s situation.”
His heart slowly sank.
If his current condition spread to the frontier, Northern Yi would certainly seize the opportunity to make trouble and strike at the frontier soldiers’ morale.
Especially in a few months, between summer and autumn transitions, when warfare was most frequent—Northern Yi’s horses would be fat and strong, far harder to deal with than in winter.
With his father’s leg injury, he couldn’t go to the battlefield. Most frontier commanders were defensive types—they’d likely struggle to hold.
The Great Sheng Dynasty’s martial talent had unknowingly withered to this extent.
What he thought of, Ying Jingjue naturally also thought of.
“The capital isn’t safe either.”
The young Crown Prince sighed. “For now, you need to recover as quickly as possible. I’ll handle matters outside. Father Emperor will also help you.”
Li Ningfeng said, “His Majesty values you more and more. Be careful around the Regent Prince.”
“Mm.”
–
When Lian Shenwei learned Uncle Liu had died, his expression showed no surprise.
This capital was truly a sieve, full of holes everywhere. However, since he’d come here six or seven years ago, he hadn’t noticed anything strange.
It seemed that Northern Yi people had infiltrated the capital much earlier than when he’d arrived.
Or rather, perhaps during the previous emperor’s reign, they’d already existed—maybe by now they’d already formed a network.
The person behind this was cautious and suspicious. Killing Uncle Liu preemptively one step ahead had probably been planned from the start.
He picked up his brush and circled several areas on the map outside the capital.
His gaze lingered for a moment on the circle marked “Foquan Temple.” He paused, then dotted an ink mark beside it, making it a key notation.
Since it wasn’t clear who the enemy was, he might as well be patient and draw the snake out of its hole.
–
Two months later.
The capital had been relatively peaceful for a period. Now it was mid-April, with warm spring sunshine.
The effects of prolonged blood loss increasingly manifested. During this time, especially toward the end, Lian Shenwei’s attendance at morning court was intermittent. He often couldn’t wake up, and his body temperature was frighteningly low.
Even with stable emotions, he occasionally experienced heart palpitations.
His right arm still needed to write, and having been injured before, it couldn’t be injured again. He could only make cuts on his left arm—one after another, repeatedly tearing and healing. The wounds were hideous, all hidden beneath gauze and spring robes.
Tian Nan helped him change clothes, putting on the black court robe embroidered with gold. When tying the waist sash, he paused slightly, his movements stopping.
Lian Shenwei suppressed his fatigue and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Tian Nan’s heart felt blocked as if pierced by a thorn. He said in a low voice, “Master, you’ve lost weight again. The waist binding is loose, and the clothes don’t fit anymore.”
He, Ming Zhu, and Master Feng Ke all shared roughly the same mindset.
The person they’d carefully cared for all these years—finally barely healthy—what had he become now after this weight loss?
Lian Shenwei thought for a moment, removed his outer robe, and wrapped two or three circles of thin cloth around his waist and abdomen over his inner garment. After securing it, he put the outer robe back on.
This time the waist binding didn’t slide down.
He looked down and smiled. “Does it look like I’m actually sturdier than a few months ago?”
Still thin.
Tian Nan pressed his lips together and picked up a thin cloak nearby, draping it over Lian Shenwei.
Then he took out a box of the disguise materials Ming Zhu used and added a trace of ruddy color to his master’s pale face.
Lian Shenwei felt his complexion was too pallid—easily revealing something. He’d started using these gels and lip rouge to conceal it a month ago.
However, he was after all a man. Being discovered would arouse even more suspicion. He had Ming Zhu adjust the color to be lighter—just enough to superficially maintain the complexion from before the blood loss.
Tian Nan said, “Master, the things you instructed are already prepared. Master Feng Ke will secretly come over tonight.”
Lian Shenwei replied, “Mm.”
With preparations complete and mid-April arrived, there were less than two months until the tenth anniversary of Fudu Manor’s extermination.
He boarded the Regent Prince’s Manor carriage and rode toward the imperial city.
–
The capital’s calm of many days was broken by Lian Shenwei.
The Regent Prince in court robes stood in the court hall with an indifferent expression, his gaze calm as he addressed Emperor Jingcheng on the dragon throne. “Though the Nan’an cheating scandal has concluded, there may still be some audacious people who disregard imperial authority.”
“The capital is located in the north. Imperial majesty is magnificent, and nobles and officials naturally submit wholeheartedly. But the south is prosperous yet has rarely directly felt the imperial family’s authority. Therefore, this minister proposes that Your Majesty emulate the Grand Ancestor’s travels—conduct a southern inspection tour by water to overawe all directions.”
Southern inspection tour.
At these words, the assembled officials were shocked and came forward one after another to dissuade.
“This absolutely cannot be done, Your Majesty!”
Emperor Jingcheng was sickly day in and day out. Since ascending the throne, he’d never stopped taking medicine. How could such a body undertake a southern inspection tour? If anything happened, with the Crown Prince young and inexperienced, it would trigger another major upheaval.
With Northern Yi watching covetously, they’d sooner bash their heads against the walls here than allow Emperor Jingcheng to conduct a southern tour.
Ying Jingjue’s eyes darkened as he knelt. “This son also thinks it inappropriate.”
An old minister tremblingly scolded, “Regent Prince! What exactly are your intentions?!”
Before he could say more, a friendly colleague beside him held him back.
“What intentions?” Lian Shenwei laughed lightly. “This official, when did this Prince ever say His Majesty must personally conduct the southern tour?”
Ying Jingjue suddenly looked up.
Sure enough, he met Lian Shenwei’s gaze turning toward him.
“Your Majesty, this minister believes that the Crown Prince, as heir apparent, also has the qualification to conduct a southern tour on behalf of the Son of Heaven. However much the sage books speak of sovereign and people, it’s not as profound as experiencing it personally. This would be entirely beneficial—for the Crown Prince, for Your Majesty, for the state—without a single harm.”
The assembled ministers had just feared the court would again become Lian Shenwei’s one-man show and had opposed too fiercely, thinking he intended something else. Now that he’d suddenly retreated a step, they didn’t know how to react for a moment.
The Crown Prince faction also fell silent. If the southern tour succeeded, for the Crown Prince, it would undoubtedly mark securing his position as heir and be equivalent to announcing to the entire realm that Ying Jingjue was the future Son of Heaven.
Though dangers and schemes along the way could be foreseen, the imperial shadow guards were no easy targets.
Emperor Jingcheng was quiet. “The Crown Prince is still young…”
“Your Majesty.”
Lian Shenwei said gently, “It’s now April. The southern tour would pass through Shunfu, Nan’an, Yunbei… reaching Jinling exactly in June, when flowers are in full bloom—the scenery would surely be extremely beautiful.”
“This minister will also accompany and assist the Crown Prince.”
The Crown Prince faction instantly erupted.
This was a joke—Lian Shenwei following beside the Crown Prince? Wasn’t this a sheep entering a tiger’s mouth?!
They resisted even more fiercely than before. The Third Prince and First Prince’s factions said nothing.
The person on the dragon throne was quiet for a long time—so long that even the Crown Prince faction’s protests stopped, causing the officials’ hearts to leap to their throats.
Only the Regent Prince still standing maintained a composed posture, a smile on his lips.
Ying Jingjue withdrew his gaze, carefully considering Lian Shenwei’s last sentence.
There seemed to be nothing particularly special about it.
But why was Father Emperor silent, while his teacher… seemed certain that Father Emperor would definitely approve the southern tour?
Emperor Jingcheng’s waist bent slightly. This dragon throne was ice-cold. Sitting upright day after day for ten years, each day more exhausting than the last.
Not a single brick or tile in the Golden Throne Hall had changed—imperceptible to the passage of time.
Ten years.
The Son of Heaven sighed lightly.
“Convey Our decree: The Crown Prince shall conduct a southern tour, assisted by the Regent Prince. Begin preparations immediately. There must be no errors.”
Lian Shenwei lowered his eyes, softening his voice.
“Thank you.”
Elder Sister, he was taking Jingjue back to Jinling.
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Sam Williams On TYMIMA Chapter 152