Chapter 60 - 3#

How is this possible?

Consort Kang comes from a clan in the capital, so how could she be…

“Jingzhe, what are you doing?”

Jiang Jinming frowned with slight dissatisfaction.

Jingzhe hid his trembling hands behind his back and whispered to Jiang Jinming, “…Manager, this servant just suddenly thought, the Lidong you mentioned just now, wouldn’t happen to be Lidong from the North Wing, right?”

Jiang Jinming keenly grasped the meaning in his words, “Someone you know?”

Jingzhe smiled bitterly: “This servant originally came from the North Wing, so naturally recognize this person.”

Jiang Jinming nodded, and the expression on his face finally softened, “The world is unpredictable, no one knows what will happen next. Jingzhe, don’t take it too much to heart.”

Jingzhe pursed his lips and bowed slightly to Jiang Jinming.

No, if his guess was true, then Jingzhe might know what would happen next.

Lidong’s whereabouts were definitely not as secure as he claimed. At least, in his two tracking attempts, one must have leaked his whereabouts; otherwise, the person behind wouldn’t have been so ruthless.

Lidong left the Department of Palatial Affairs and was intercepted on a secluded palace path halfway. Coupled with the heavy snow, his tracks were hidden; otherwise, the patrolling guards would definitely have discovered him.

Such a precise location could only mean that from Lidong’s journey to the Department of Palatial Affairs until his departure, he was being followed.

Then his visit to the Department of Palatial Affairs to find Jingzhe had already passed the danger to Jingzhe simultaneously.

No one could guarantee what exactly they said during their conversation.

Moreover, Lidong did say something.

Lidong was dead, and the next person in danger would be Jingzhe.

He absolutely could not be alone.

…

The night was deep. Huiping returned from fetching water and found that the table in the room was covered with jade bottles, almost overflowing, and more things were casually placed on the bed by Jingzhe.

“What are you looking for?”

“Looking for clues.” Jingzhe pushed the box from under the bed back in and shook his head, “I finally know what evidence Xinsheng took away.”

Jingzhe had too many things, and checking them was troublesome.

These days, he tidied up whenever he had time, and finally sorted it out today.

“He swiped a jade bottle.”

Jingzhe raised his hand and tapped those on the table.

Rong Jiu always gave him many things; some looked very useful, and some were for unexpected needs.

Just like these jade bottles.

The medicine in these jade bottles was truly much better than those outside. Whenever Jingzhe had a headache or foot pain, occasionally digging out the corresponding jade bottle could more or less suppress it.

Except for a few bottles given to Zheng Hong, the rest were here.

There should be two bottles of medicine for chilblains.

The old bottle was almost used up, but the new one had disappeared into thin air.

Huiping casually picked up a jade bottle and said strangely: “Why take a jade bottle of all things? What can this thing do?”

Jingzhe: “These are all imperially bestowed in the palace, and Rong Jiu gave them to me. Otherwise, the effect wouldn’t be so good.”

So, the private transfer that Xinsheng believed lay here?

Jingzhe packed up those jade bottles and said to Huiping: “Manager Jiang has something to do these few days. I won’t do the morning chores.”

Huiping laughed: “Originally you didn’t need to do it; you were just being meddlesome.”

After Jingzhe became a second-rank eunuch, he originally didn’t need to go sweeping and cleaning every morning.

Jingzhe climbed onto the bed, his voice becoming somewhat blurry.

“Idle is idle anyway.”

Seeing Jingzhe get on the bed as if he was about to sleep, Huiping also packed up lightly, blew out the oil lamp, and got into bed.

The room was quiet, and no one spoke again.

Jingzhe, however, hadn’t fallen asleep yet.

He was poking the system in his mind.

“Mission eleven, concerning the secret behind Kang Man, I have some clues.

“The person behind him is Consort Kang. Consort Kang should be a foreigner. They are hiding in the harem, plotting something untoward.”

[This answer is a bit ambiguous.] The system judged while saying, [Congratulations to the host for completing mission eleven.]

The score was eighty-five.

“I could think of this thanks to Lidong; otherwise, how could I pry out more information?” Jingzhe said grumpily, “Lidong is dead, and the next one might be me.”

He had no feelings for Lidong, but hearing about his death brought some sadness.

He struggled so hard to live but didn’t succeed in the end.

Moreover, the completion of this mission didn’t bring rare joy to Jingzhe’s heart, but instead made him more tense.

Consort Kang was really a foreigner?

Then where did the original Consort Kang go? Dead? How exactly did Consort Kang lurk in the harem for so long? Did the Empress Dowager not notice at all? What about Emperor Jingyuan?

Did he not discover it?

Or did he not care?

Jingzhe wailed in his heart and then turned over.

Why make things difficult for a Jingzhe with such a big matter?

Jingzhe didn’t know military affairs, nor did he understand court politics. This question was beyond the syllabus!

Jingzhe said fiercely: “It’s all your fault.”

The system stalled for a while and said faintly: [If the system had successfully bound King Rui, then by now, the army might have already attacked the capital.]

The system could do many things, but it all depended on the host.

The more missions the host completed, the more power the system could gain to help the host complete missions in return.

But the prerequisite was still missions.

This depended entirely on the host’s ability.

The system’s misfortune was that it bound the wrong object. The only luck in misfortune was that among so many wrong objects, the Jingzhe it bound was a smart person.

But the unfortunate thing was that Jingzhe was a person without much desire.

In this way, no matter what the system brought out to tempt him, it had no attraction for Jingzhe.

After all, the system couldn’t bring the dead back to life.

This was probably Jingzhe’s biggest selfish motive.

There weren’t many chips to use, but there was still lucky news: Jingzhe was a good person.

He couldn’t bear to see the country broken and families destroyed. This was the reason Jingzhe struggled to do missions—of course, also because he was afraid of punishment.

Those punishments were bizarre. If not for the system’s influence, allowing those people to automatically rationalize some memories after the buff disappeared, Jingzhe would have died long ago and become a dead Jingzhe.

But before this, Jingzhe hadn’t quite understood the release of some system missions.

For example, investigating Nanny Ming’s death, or Kang Man this time. Even if he could know the darkness behind it, how would it help the system’s mission?

For the system, the most important thing was to stabilize the mountains and rivers.

As long as this could be achieved, even abandoning the main line of King Rui would be worth it.

Now, he finally understood.

Even if it looked ordinary, what was involved behind this mission was such a wide range.

Who could have thought that an imperial concubine could possibly be a spy from an enemy country?

Jingzhe couldn’t help muttering: “If it’s really so, isn’t this harem becoming a sieve?”

Anyone can come, anyone can go.

[Consort Kang attached herself to Concubine De and used the Empress Dowager’s connections to cultivate her own people. Her movements were not big, only transmitting one or two important messages at long intervals, valuing quality over quantity.]

Jingzhe raised his eyebrows: “Your ability has become more powerful.”

[The range that can be probed is wider.] The system said, [Consort Kang’s movements were all hidden under Shoukang Palace, very secretive.]

Few times meant the possibility of exposure was reduced.

Jingzhe murmured: “Don’t know how she entered the palace back then…” This was more or less related to the Huang family.

He vaguely remembered that the Kang family was a clan attached to the Huang family.

However, after Shoukang Palace fell silent, it was also a big blow to Consort Kang. As long as she made any move, it would be more obvious than before.

…That poisoning was probably her handiwork, so she might not necessarily want to seize the power in Concubine De’s hands.

Jingzhe suddenly had an opposite guess. So many people had accidents, attracting the attention of the entire palace to the Imperial Garden, so other places must be neglected in defense.

Did Consort Kang do something while taking advantage of that time?

At the same time, in such a big movement, one could also see the instinctive choices of many people in panic.

Then, was Xinsheng reporting Jingzhe the same logic?

This matter attracted the eyes of both the Office of Punishment and the Imperial Guards Office, making all their attention stay on Jingzhe.

If Lidong didn’t lie to him, and Consort Kang hadn’t paid special attention to Jingzhe from the beginning, then this time, Jingzhe was just selected to be a sacrifice like Concubine De, just like in the poisoning case.

…It was to use this eye-catching event to do something.

Almost identical methods and ideas.

Jingzhe frowned strangely. The Empress Dowager was weak, and Consort Kang lacked cover, so whatever she did would be too obvious. But if something happened, fishing in troubled waters would still be easier than elsewhere.

But why choose Jingzhe?

Was it because of his relationship with the Imperial Guards Office? Or to disturb the vision of the Imperial Guards Office?

Did Jingzhe have such great influence?

While pondering, he felt his head was about to split.

Jingzhe simply pulled the quilt over his head, covering his face. The warmth barely warmed up made him sleepy.

Forget it, forget it, thinking too much is useless.

Maybe none of his many guesses were correct.

Sleep, sleep.

Just as Jingzhe rolled himself up to become a Jingzhe roll, he heard knocking sounds coming unhurriedly from the window by the side.

Knock—

Knock—

Knock—

Three long sounds.

Jingzhe unconsciously waited for a while but didn’t wait for the two short sounds.

It was said that if you hear knocking on the door, three long and two short, you absolutely cannot go out.

That is the “person” outside coming to claim a life.

Three long, two short.

Jingzhe was very distressed. He had rolled himself up with great difficulty. Did they know how much effort it took?

Do they understand this pain?

In the middle of the night, who is it!

While he hesitated, the person waiting outside became impatient. Two fingers lightly destroyed the window latch and pushed the window open.

Instantly, the cold wind from outside blew in.

Huiping in the next bed felt cold and curled himself into a furry ball.

Jingzhe suddenly saw a backlit figure outside the window. Like a shocking ghost, all sleepiness was scared away… Of course, it might also have been blown away by the wind.

Jingzhe sat up wrapped in the quilt and said faintly: “Do you know this looks very much like encountering a ghost in the middle of the night?”

Yunkui, what madness are you up to in the middle of the night!

He even climbed into the room, saying while climbing: “Jingzhe, do you know what I just saw?”

Jingzhe rolled further into the bed; he didn’t want to know.

He felt the current Yunkui was a bit scary.

He knew Yunkui came to visit the Manager today and seemed to be left behind to talk, but why stand outside the window in the middle of the night? It was very scary.

Yunkui’s tone was mysterious, carrying a damp chill: “I came out to relieve myself, but vaguely saw someone seemingly standing outside your room.”

Right where he was standing just now.

But after he came over, it disappeared in the blink of an eye.

…

Slash—

A sharp blade slid across flesh, hot blood splattered on the snow, melting the cold and ruthless white extremely quickly. The dripping bright red almost melted into the darkness.

Jia San pulled out the knife expressionlessly.

The corpse lay face up on the ground, with terror still remaining in the staring eyes.

Jia San squatted lightly on the wall, looking towards the direction of the Department of Palatial Affairs. He watched Yunkui from the Miscellaneous Affairs Department climb into Jingzhe’s room, and soon, the dark room was lit up again.

In this dark and boundless snowy night, it was like a glowing light.

Braving the wind and snow, he turned his gaze silently to the east again. There, the firelight was bright, and the swaying torches were like a continuous flame, burning fiercely.

Emperor Jingyuan didn’t care about many things.

There was only this one thing he would hold in his palm.

Even if it was just inadvertently passing darkness that disturbed him, he would absolutely not tolerate it.

Jia San left the corpse, made a few leaps, and lurked into the shadows of the Department of Palatial Affairs again.

Presumably, tonight would be very lively.