After being “discovered” infiltrating the royal palace, the other party actually invited him to a remote palace chamber for a meeting.
Judging by their tone, the other party even planned to enter the palace overnight, acting as though they were giving him great respect.
And from beginning to end, King Ning, the true master of this royal palace, knew nothing about it.
——If word got out, perhaps everyone under heaven would burst into laughter.
Yet this joke truly happened right before their eyes, and not one of those present found it funny.
The palace lanterns swayed, and the men under Cheng Jingchuan carried lights to clear the way in front, choosing places rarely visited by people to walk.
The royal palace followed the rules of Taijing, forbidding overly tall trees. But this place was in Jiangnan, unlike the Taijing imperial palace where apart from the Imperial Garden, one could hardly see any soil. Most of the palace gardens here resembled Jiangnan-style gardens. Small buildings, pavilions, and waterside pavilions were arranged in a well-proportioned manner. Covered walkways, rockeries, and flowered walls obstructed the line of sight. From afar, one could only see the lantern lights, but it was impossible to say for a while on which path people were.
Eunuchs and palace maids were not allowed to walk around casually, unless they had orders.
At night, only the patrolling imperial guards could move about freely, but they also could not approach the towers and chambers where the concubines resided.
However, this suited Cheng Jingchuan and his people perfectly.
Cheng Jingchuan led the way calmly, walking along various small paths and corridors. The group did not show the slightest intention of concealing their movements, and along the way, they did not encounter a single shadow of another person. Clearly, they were extremely familiar with everything in the palace.
This silent demonstration of their control over King Ning’s palace made Mo Li a bit apprehensive.
Previously, whether it was Ningtai City itself or the arrogant and domineering leader of the imperial guards, it all seemed like a layer of rotten veneer.
Someone had maintained this veneer. What lay beneath the decay? People like Yuan Ting, who had some ability but limited vision, or someone like Cheng Jingchuan, who was calm and capable of handling matters on his own?
Ningtai City seemed to have turned into a giant enigma.
Bao Guanyong had not entered Ningtai City for over a dozen years, so the intelligence he possessed was already outdated. The Ningtai City he knew was not what it seemed.
That Mr. Qiu was probably more troublesome than originally anticipated.
Mo Li did not feel annoyed. Meeting in advance the hidden hand that attempted to stir the world’s affairs might be a good thing.
He was not afraid to meet an ambitious person in a strange place.
Besides possessing martial arts, Mo Li had another trump card: the sand rat had run out to scout the way.
The Ningtai royal palace suited the sand rat’s preferences even more than the Taijing imperial palace did. The architectural regulations were imitated, and there were garden landscapes, many plants, and ample cover. Merely, each palace garden had a Taihu rock rockery, connected front to back, large enough to have caves built underneath for passage and a viewing pavilion constructed above to enjoy the height.
The disadvantage was that the trees were too short and lacked precious wood and exotic flowers.
The sand rat did not care about that.
The stacked landscaping formed small springs, and beside the pond, there were neat grains of sand…
Although it was far inferior to Feihe Mountain, it was tidy enough, with no snakes, mice, ants, or beasts.
The sand rat dashed around once. It saw more and further than Mo Li and had already found two secret passages and one suspected secret passage entrance.
It found no mechanisms or ambushes.
In the night, shadows of trees intertwined, and after a few steps one could see nothing. The palace lanterns illuminated only a limited range. Jiangnan gardens were even more intricate within a very small area, separated by three or five different screens, allowing multiple perspectives of a single scene with winding paths—meaning one had to take many detours, and there was no straight shortcut to be found.
The sand rat crouched in a recessed, mountain-shaped indentation atop a corridor pillar, solemnly looking left and right.
On the lower path with slightly lower terrain to the left was Cheng Jingchuan’s party.
As if there were a shared understanding, Mo Li glanced subtly in this direction without leaving a trace.
“……”
The doctor looked so pleasing to the eye.
Regardless of his appearance, that demeanor, that gaze, made Meng Qi unable to look away.
The sand rat instinctively scratched around, adding a few claw marks to the painted beams.
The sand rat looked at its claws with disdain, shook its fur, and suspected that the craftsmen on King Ning’s side had been lazy and negligent. The paint job was not well maintained and had even started to flake!
At the end of the gentle slope on the right side of the corridor stood an oddly shaped octagonal pavilion. Three sides were walled, and facing this side of the corridor and pond hung beaded curtains. This pavilion stood at a height. Those outside could not see inside, yet one seated within could take in the entire palace garden at a glance.
What caught Meng Qi’s attention was that there were people inside the octagonal pavilion at this moment.
In the darkness, a squad of guards with weapons at their waists stood along the stone steps. Approximately every five steps, one stood, all the way up to the octagonal pavilion at the top of the slope.
Without a doubt, this formation belonged to the “host” awaiting guests this night.
The sand rat jumped onto a tree branch, carefully surveying the terrain, and found that the underside of the pavilion was hollow.
Beneath the hillside was not a solid stone cave; it had been hollowed out. There was a passage leading inside, and even a flue.
Before Meng Qi could see clearly, Cheng Jingchuan had already led Mo Li around to the other side.
“Doctor Mo, please.”
The sand rat stood upright and frantically shook its head at Mo Li from behind a stone block.
Mo Li paused in his steps.
Cheng Jingchuan, keenly alert, turned his head. Tonight, he had a persistent feeling of being watched.
As clever as he was, he never imagined the true form of Imperial Teacher Meng.
Cheng Jingchuan habitually scanned a few places easy to hide in. By the time he took note of the stone block near the ground, the sand rat had long since vanished.
Turning back to see Mo Li examining the octagonal pavilion, Cheng Jingchuan smiled and said, “Doctor Mo, you have sharp eyes. This pavilion is entirely made of copper, with a fire chamber underneath. In winter, hot water produced by a large furnace can flow through copper pipes. Sitting in the pavilion, admiring the snow and scenery, one would feel as warm as spring.”
Right now, the furnace was sealed, and the fire extinguished.
There was no smell of saltpeter or sulfur either, not a trap.
The sand rat hurriedly crawled out from beside the flue, its fur turned gray.
Mo Li caught sight of it and his expression grew subtle.
Cheng Jingchuan again sensed that out-of-place strangeness, as if Mo Li could see ghosts that he himself could not, and those ghosts kept chattering, telling Mo Li many things. Otherwise, why would he fail to understand Mo Li’s expressions along the way, and why did he feel a chill down his spine?
With a smile on his face, Cheng Jingchuan invited Doctor Mo up the steps to the copper pavilion. Then, turning his head, he signaled his men with his eyes.
Search!
Search inch by inch! There was definitely something following them!
Yet the sand rat had already scurried up the slope in small steps.
Mo Li did not continue to pretend to be old and frail. He easily reached the top of the slope, and immediately a guard lifted the curtain.
The person seated in the pavilion was a thin, gaunt old scholar, his eyes brilliant and spirited.
He wore a square kerchief on his head and a drab brown robe. One could vaguely discern that he must have been handsome and dashing in his youth.
Seeing Mo Li enter, he slowly rose, cupped his hands sluggishly, and said, “I am Qiu Si of Yuzhou. I have long heard of Doctor Mo’s reputation.”
“Yuzhou?”
Mo Li repeated once.
The scholar before him gave a very subtle feeling. He was neither a refined and gentle literatus nor an arrogant, conceited pedant. He was extremely thin, abnormally so, and the look in his eyes and his demeanor resembled a fire pit with jumping red flames.
——That flame could have burned everything, including himself, into ashes.
Mo Li had never seen such a person before. He instinctively felt danger, as well as an impulse to brush his sleeves and leave.
It was not fear, but rather that a physician who saved people was unwilling to deal with madmen.
Such madness could not be cured. Their insanity often manifested as dragging everyone else into the abyss.
Mo Li closed his eyes, hiding his displeasure. He placed his rattan box on the ground, then sat down on the stone stool by himself, assuming a proud elder’s posture.
Qiu Si did not mind. After sitting down again, he said, “Indeed, Yuzhou. Had Doctor Mo not already met a younger member of my clan there? Thanks to you and Imperial Teacher Meng’s care for that child, he even obtained a set of armor for self-defense.”
He did not mention a word about Mo Li’s change in appearance, nor did he ask where Meng Qi was.
This made the preparations Mo Li had in mind fall flat.
“I have heard…”
Qiu Si paused. At this moment, Cheng Jingchuan entered and whispered a few words into his ear.
Mo Li heard them very clearly. It was precisely the words he had spoken earlier about the death of King Ning’s concubines.
Cheng Jingchuan repeated it verbatim, so the informant must have been present in that room at the time. Then was it Master Mingbian, Vice Supervisor Xu, or those two imperial physicians? Mo Li pondered secretly.
“So that was it.” Qiu Si was initially surprised, then sighed deeply. Turning to Mo Li, he said with emotion, “Truly, Doctor, you are a divine physician. If not for your discerning eyes discovering the cause, even after several more years no one would have known why the palace’s concubines kept dying suddenly.”
“Several more years?”
Mo Li instinctively mocked. He initially intended to say that King Ning, so weak in health and indulging in wine and women, might not live another two years before meeting his end.
Unexpectedly, Qiu Si actually nodded and said, “King Ning is useless. Let the young prince succeed to restore the ambition of Chu. Go then, send King Ning on his way tonight.”
“Yes!”
Someone outside the pavilion swiftly accepted the order and left.
Mo Li was taken aback. He had intended to teach King Ning a lesson so that the man could never get close to women again. Perhaps for his remaining two years, he would have to lie on a bed, barely clinging to life. Yet these people acted more ruthlessly than he did, making one suspect whether among the palace concubines there were daughters from the Qiu family.
The answer was certainly no. The Qiu family’s daughter had gone roaming the martial world selling intelligence. That seemed to be Qiu Si’s only daughter.
Meeting Mo Li’s surprised gaze, Qiu Si stroked his beard and said lightly, “Doctor does not know. The beauties in King Ning’s palace, except for a small number of noble daughters, were all chosen from among the common folk to fill the Yeting. King Ning indulged in women, loved the new and loathed the old, and every so often, one of his favorites would emerge. Afterward, he discarded them like old shoes, never looking back. Once King Ning learned the truth behind the palace murders, he might regret it, but he would regret killing a beauty he had not yet grown tired of. As for those he had long forgotten, how many died would not matter to him.”
Qiu Si picked up a plain white porcelain pot, slowly tilted the spout, and continued leisurely, “Then would he restrain himself? No, he would ask the imperial physicians how likely it was to cause such an illness, then select new palace maids for the harem, shortening the time he exclusively favored any one woman to just ten days or half a month before changing again. He would never look at the former concubines again. This way, no more people in the palace would die.”
Mo Li: “……”
Qiu Si smiled strangely, “What, did you think I pitied those women?”
As he spoke, his smile vanished, and he said coldly, “We are about to raise troops and succeed. How could we let him stir up trouble? Could it be that we must recruit soldiers while he seizes people’s wives and daughters? Since only one can be chosen, the one who causes trouble must disappear!”
Mo Li watched as Qiu Si held a cup and drank tea, chatting as if nothing had happened, “Doctor, you were startled. I heard from the Imperial Medical Bureau that King Ning declared tonight that if they could not cure Beauty Zhu, he would bury the doctors from outside the palace along with his beloved concubine. But Beauty Zhu was saved by you, Doctor Mo, while Concubine Chen died. Ah… Concubine Chen was a delicate, clever girl, a lotus picker from Jiangnan. She did not know you, Doctor. If she had to choose, she would certainly not be close to any of you. Why not let King Ning, whom she spent her whole life trying to please, accompany her instead? Surely, she would be happy.”
The sand rat hidden in the grass opened its eyes wide.
Mo Li thought to himself that this man was indeed a lunatic.
