Chapter 30: Accidents leads to Eavesdropping
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After the turmoil and chaos of that event, Feng Tingye who had finally seen enough of the show, displayed a foxy smile. Perfectly satisfied, he started to head back to his residence.
Before leaving, Feng Tingye glanced at Leng Ruofeng behind him. "Prime Minister, stay here and ask the Grand Tutor about the exact details of the matter. Tomorrow, enter the palace to discuss the things you've discovered to Zhen."
"Chen obeys Zhen's decree." Leng Ruofeng responded neutrally, then looked at Feng Tingye and hesitated.
Seldom seeing him appear like this, Feng Tingye paused, and stated. "What's the matter?"
Luo Ruofeng looked pensive, glancing towards Xia Yuqing's direction. "Your Majesty, today Consort Qing's arrival had caused quite an uproar. It seems to me that you must have put in quite a bit of effort didn't you?"
For an imperial concubine to leave the palace, it is required for them to get the permission of the palace owner. Since at present, the harem does not currently have a Huang Hou, if Xia Yuqing wanted to leave the palace she would have to ask the man in front of him. Moreover in regards to the recent events and Xia Yuqing's purpose in coming, this person in front definitely had her in the palm of his fingers. Since this is the case, this was why Luo Ruofeng was so shocked about what happened earlier.
The matter of Yan Ran losing his voice, Feng Tingye had already known what had happened early this morning. Therefore, from the start, he had already known that this was a misunderstanding.
Knowing Xia Yuqing's misunderstanding, not only did he not clarify the situation, but instead he conformed to Xia Yuqing's intentions and brought people to the Grand Tutor's residence. Self guiding this act of mishap, the only explanation is… this person had already planned on using Xia Yuqing's hand to mess with Yan Ran. Furthermore, with this man's hidden temper, that eunuch who can't keep a secret was most likely also a part of this man's plot, and was just simply used as a scapegoat.
Feng Tingye paused his steps, not openly answering, he also didn't refute his question. Just giving Leng Ruofeng a profound glance, his lips lifted up in a manner that resembled a fox's sly smile and inevitably responded. "Who was the one who heard rumours about this king and laughed for three consecutive days? That person, he shouldn't be happy too early. Good and evil, in the end they will all have their recompense, everything is just retribution!"
"…" Leng Ruofeng's eyebrows trembled. So this was all because of last time where Yan Ran died laughing at the rumours spread all over by Xia Yuqing about His Majesty for three days. Now you would just watch today's tragedy as a bystander in revenge.
Your Majesty, could you be more immature, difficult and narrow minded? Being together since they were a child to now and also being with him when his father was still alive, he had long ago developed an impenetrable defense in regards to his behaviour. Yet, since birth this was his first time feeling… such great pressure!
Feng Tingye did not pay notice to Leng Ruofeng's conspicuous lost expression and swept his eyes all around. Seeming to have discovered something, he spoke in a low voice. "Zi Tang? It's been so long, why have we still not seen him?"
"Earlier when someone arrived at his residence to invite him, the housekeeper said that he had already left for this place a while ago."
"Had left the house a while ago? By himself?" Feng Tingye's smiling expression suddenly stilled, and his eyebrows pinched together.
Nodding his head, Leng Ruofeng then realized something wasn't right. His whole body went rigid, speaking with uncertainty. "The Strategist's residence is separated by three streets from the Grand Tutor's, he should be…. able to find the road."
This fact proved that person's poor sense of direction. This person who would frequently be unable to find his own home had expected himself to be able to find the Grand Tutor's residence which was only three streets down. Yet who knew that this task would be as difficult as making the sun rise from the west for him.
In a noisy small street turning around for the thirty-eighth time, our cute Strategist Shao was lost in the crowd unable to find anyone. Looking at the setting sun, he felt thoroughly… furious.
Heading towards the side of the alley entrance, holding his arms he stood in the circle and watched the bustle around him. Just like that, another 2 hours went by. Unwilling to lose face and ask for directions, Shao Zitang restrained his belly full of anger on the verge of exploding.
However, just when he was about to explode, a familiar shadow flashed by and turned the corner.
"That person is…" Shao Zitang was startled for a bit. Then no longer serving as the road sign for that street, he lifted his feet up and advanced towards where the shadow turned the corner.
Retracting back his current mood, he followed the shadow from behind and into the depths of a pitch black alleyway.
"Master, your subordinate has arrived."
The moment the shadow spoke, Shao Zitang's eyes revealed his surprise. It really was her. That songstress whose sole job was to entertain her customers, foolishly staying at Prince Rui's residence, was currently in disguise. Why would she be running to here? Could it be that… Prince Rui sent her?
That assumption was correct. That shadow is the person brought back by Prince Rui, the one who should be presently at his residence, Jiang Zhaorou. Presently, she had removed all her cosmetics, dress and instead had disguised herself as an average peddler. If one didn't carefully look, they really wouldn't be able to recognize her. Unfortunately she had encountered Shao Zitang.
That year because he had to train in a certain type of martial arts, he had investigated everyone, everywhere in the world. Large, small, peculiar or not; he looked into their skeletal framework regardless. Afterwards, when he had succeeded in his training, his habits had already been cultivated. Nowadays, if he saw a person, he wouldn't be accustomed to looking at their appearance but instead he would first look at their figure. Thus, just from that brief instant, he was able to easily identify the disguised Jiang Zhaorou.
Listening in, he heard Jiang Zhaorou's soft voice, but he could also overhear another squeakier voice. From the alley, he was able to scout out a tall skinny dark skinned middle aged man.
That man was currently looking up and down, sizing up Jiang Zhaorou for a while. Highly alert of his surroundings and not discovering anything out of the ordinary, only then did he wave Jiang Zhaorou over to enter through the door.
After seeing the two enter through the door, Shao Zitang quickly darted out from the alley entrance. Glancing around, he jumped up onto the house's rooftop, and carefully pushed aside the sogon grass on top and looked down.
"Master." Within the musty room, Shao Zitang was able to vaguely see Jiang Zhaoru kneeling on the ground in front of a man wearing a black mantle.
"How is the matter coming along?" The man's voice was deep and low yet had a bit of a rough sound to it. Indescribable, yet a bit familiar sounding, it caused Shao Zitang's eyebrows to pinch together. He deeply pondered, where have I heard this sound before?
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