“Chumu, I…” She wanted to tell him the truth.
He cut her off coldly, “You say that you like me but you have actually given your heart to Prince Zhou. You don’t even care about me, why would you care if my sister lives? It was not easy for you to gain the Empress’ favour, why would you cut off your good fortune for Consort Han? That’s right, I like Lian Yan’er. Even though she used to be a prostitute, she is a hundred times better than someone like you who says one thing but means another and is greedy for power!”
She lifted her hand and slapped him hard. He did not care but got closer to her. His hand curled into a fist. He cornered her until she had nowhere else to back off to and was leaning against a huge tree. He raised his fist and saw her gaze waver, exposing a hint of fear.
That one punch, landed on the tree and caused all the remaining dried leaves to fall to the ground.
He stared at her. Pausing after every word, he spoke emotionlessly, “This will be the last time. The next time you dare to touch me, don’t blame me for not having mercy.”
She stared coldly for a moment before pushing him away. However, she tripped over the tree roots. He subconsciously reached out to help her but retracted his hand in the next second. She fell onto the ground and lifted her eyes to look at him angrily. He looked back at her. However, as he stared at her, his heart softened and he wanted to reach out to help her.
A hand cut in between the both of them. Prince Zhou had arrived.
“No thank you, Your Highness. I can stand up by myself.” Fu Rou strained to stand.
“Let me send you back.” Prince Zhou’s gaze was soft.
“No need. I have things to do. I will take my leave first.” She did not need to rely on either of these two men. She could move independently by herself.
Prince Zhou did not force her but simply glanced at Sheng Chumu.
Sheng Chumu stuck out his chin and looked challenging at him. “What do you have to teach me, Your Highness?”
“What is there to teach you? You are completely self-taught. You have done whatever I want you to do. You even did it better than I imagined.” The corners of Prince Zhou’s mouth turned up. “Thank you.”
Sheng Chumu’s face changed and he looked ashen.
Du Ning was in the midst of writing a letter. He was rushing and his words were ugly. However, he did not care, he had to quickly send this letter to the Emperor.
He had gone with Lu Yunji to Sheng Country. Lu Yunji wanted to declare an outright battle whereas Du Ning wanted to hold peace talks. In his opinion, this rebellion is strange. He found several citizens that escaped and found out that this was because of rumours. The officials that were sent by the court to take over Ningwu County were even more shady than him. The citizens had then ganged up against them and the newly appointed official mistook it for a rebellion and forcefully subdued them. Things then got blown out of proportion and now the entire Sheng Country was in a mess.
Lu Yunji believed that Du Ning’s information was not accurate but decided to give him a chance. He asked Du Ning to discuss with the leader of the rebel army, Hong Ze. Unexpectedly, Hong Ze accepted the suggestion for peace talks and sent three ambassadors.
Lu Yunji’s motive this time was to take the attention off the Crown Prince and wash away his own crime. He wanted to return home victorious and strive for himself one last time. The meat that he had grown was right in front of him, and he could not let Du Ning ruin it. Therefore, he killed the ambassadors as soon as they arrived.
The fact that Lu Yunji dared to kill the ambassadors meant that he intended to kill Du Ning. At the critical juncture, Du Ning told Lu Yunji that the three ambassadors were not Hong Ze’s men but were people that he arranged to pretend to be ambassadors. Lu Yunji had always viewed him as a thorn and never shared any strategies with him. Du Ning had no choice but to use this method to test Lu Yunji. Du Ning then said that he was actually on the Crown Prince’s side.
Lu Yunji seemed to believe him and did not pursue the matter further. This was how Du Ning got the chance to write the letter.
When Du Ning finished writing, he instructed his close confidante to ensure that the letter was given to the Emperor. His confidante persuaded him to leave as well but Du Ning was determined to stay. As soon as Lu Yunji realises that he is gone, Lu Yunji would go crazy and decide to gang up with Hong Ze to rebel. If that happens, Chang’an would be in danger.
In the end, he still underestimated Lu Yunji’s viciousness. When his confidante opened the door, he was immediately stabbed and fell right in front of Du Ning.
Lu Yunji walked in with no intentions of letting Du Ning go. “Official Lu, you said that you respect your teacher. However, you neglected to follow his instructions. Zhan Xuanzhi wanted you to protect the Crown Prince, yet you conspired and set up a trap for the person that the Crown Prince recommended. How can you face him?”
“I will always respect my teacher. As long as the Crown Prince and whoever he recommends do not do anything against Great Tang’s interest, I will definitely do as my teacher says and do my best to protect the Crown Prince.”
When he set out on this journey, he had bid goodbye to his parents and Sheng Chumu. He also bidded farewell to Fu Yin, the person that he had held for a long time in his heart. There was no turning back. Thankfully, when he is left all alone in this world, it was easy to embrace death.
Lu Yunji chuckled sinisterly, “Against Great Tang’s interest?”
“I am an official of Great Tang. My loyalty will be to Great Tang first.” He finally understood. Like what his teacher said, the chaos in the Sheng Country and Lu Yunji were all planned by the traitor in the Eastern Palace.
“Very well. Official Lu, die for loyalty for Great Tang.” Lu Yunji turned to leave.
A sword pierced through Du Ning’s heart. Colour disappeared from his face. He left the last train of thought for his own selfish desire -- Yin’er, you have to take care…
Chapter 76.1: Cactus Flower
Fu Yin had prepared a ribs soup and brought it to the study room. These days, Lu Qi has brought her to many interesting places in Chang’an and she started to feel that perhaps she could be happy too.
All of a sudden, a voice floated out of the study room. “Du Ning actually tried to set my father up?”
“Don’t look at him like he is just a scholar. He is quite bold. Not only did he send his own subordinates to pretend to be ambassadors from the rebel troops to test General Lu, he even used his teacher’s name to deceive General Lu. If not for General Lu’s vast experience allowing him to see through his plan, I am afraid that that letter signalling disaster for Duke Chen Residence would have landed on the Emperor's table already.”
“How did Father deal with it?”
“Is there a need to ask? General immediately made the decision and…” his voice suddenly paused. “To others, they said that assassins from the rebel army did it.”
“Good.” Lu Qi sounded unhappy. “He dares to go against us. Du Ning deserves to die without a complete corpse…”
Du Ning is dead?! Fu Yin covered her mouth and did not care about the tray that fell from her hands. The bowl shattered and the soup spilled all over.
Lu Qi dashed out from the room and saw Fu Yin’s disheveled look and the mess on the ground. He thought that she had scalded herself and asked in concern, “Did you burn yourself?”
Fu Yin recovered and swiped Lu Qi’s hand off. She glared at him with a hateful look. “You guys killed him.”
Lu Qi seemed to realise something was off. “Who?”
Fu Yin repeated, “You guys killed him…”
“Killed who?” Lu Qi glanced at his subordinate and signalled for him to leave. His face then fell. “You eavesdropped on our conversation?”