Chapter 862: Dark Moon and High Wind (I)

There was no conversation for a while and night fell.

"Bang, bang, bang! Bang, bang!"

At the hour of Xu, a low knock on the door broke the silence in the courtyard. It was a series of secret signals, and Liu Xunyi knew without asking that the person coming must be the "messenger" from the Prime Minister's residence.

"squeak!"

With a slight sound, the door split open and a dark shadow flashed into the yard like a ghost.

"One stick of incense ago, the Prime Minister had already been summoned to the palace. The time he left the palace was... around the first quarter of the hour of midnight."

The visitor had a plain appearance and was dressed in black. He was the kind of "vulgar person" who would not stand out in a crowd. As soon as he entered the courtyard, he got straight to the point without any unnecessary nonsense, as if he had come prepared.

"what?"

Suddenly seeing the blood on the ground and Jia Fu sitting in the corner, dying, the man in black couldn't help but frown and said hesitantly: "Butler, what are you doing..."

"Ugh!"

Faced with the curiosity of the man in black, Jia Fu shook his head slowly with a painful expression and let out a sigh.

"This..." The man in black gradually realized something was wrong, subconsciously looked around, and asked, "Where are the people from the Pan family?"

"Leave!" Yu Ge replied, "Liu Xunyi broke his promise and threatened the housekeeper's life to force us to release him..."

"What?" The man in black was shocked. "How could you..."

"Forget it!" Jia Fu interrupted listlessly, "Now that things have come to this, there is no point in complaining. What's more important is to do the right thing for the Prime Minister..."

"This……"

The man in black hesitated for a moment, cast a contemptuous look at Liu Xunyi, and said teasingly: "I thought Lord Liu was an upright man, but I didn't expect him to do such a thing. May I ask Lord Liu, what is your plan for tonight..."

"The plan remains unchanged." Liu Xunyi turned a deaf ear to the taunts of the man in black and said calmly, "I let the four Pan family members go just to have peace of mind."

"Okay!" The man in black nodded doubtfully, "I hope Lord Liu won't break his promise this time."

Liu Xunyi took a deep look at the man in black with a hostile look, then glanced at Feng Tianba who was distracted, and weighed the Wuji sword in his hand. A faint smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, as if relieved, determined, sarcastic, and ruthless... and then he walked out of the yard without looking back.

"Master Liu, no matter where you go now, don't forget tonight at midnight..."

However, before the man in black could finish his words, Liu Xunyi's figure had disappeared into the night.

"what happened?"

After Liu Xunyi walked away, the gloomy-faced man in black cast an angry look at Yu Ge and Miao Zhi, scolding them, "You knew what the Prime Minister was thinking, so why did you let the Pan family leave?"

"It's my idea..." Jia Fu stood up slowly with the help of Feng Tianba. Although he was very careful, he still pulled the wound on his shoulder, which made him sweat and grimace. "It's not that I'm afraid of death, it's really... compared with the important matter of the Prime Minister, the lives of the four members of the Pan family are not worth mentioning. If the Pan family members run away, we can catch them again, but once they fall out with Liu Xunyi, not only will the Prime Minister's risky plan be ruined, but it will also bring endless disasters."

"That's right!" Miao Zhi agreed, "Liu Xunyi is now a madman who wants to die. He dares to do anything and has no scruples. In front of him, we can only compromise. Because once he is enraged, we can't stop him with just a few people. What if he runs out and talks nonsense and slanders the prime minister, wouldn't it be a waste of trouble?"

"Forget it! Forget it!" The man in black waved his hand impatiently to interrupt, "Feng Tianba, send the butler back to heal his wounds. Yu Ge, Miao Zhi, follow me."

"where to?"

"The Prime Minister has ordered us to secretly monitor Liu Xunyi's every move." The man in black said word by word with a cold look in his eyes, "After he assassinates the Deputy Privy Councilor, no matter if he succeeds or fails, as long as he is alive... we will find an opportunity to wipe him out. The Prime Minister doesn't like to give others a handle."

When the man in black said this, his eyes inadvertently glanced at the uneasy Feng Tianba, as if observing his reaction.

"The best outcome tonight is for Liu Xunyi and the Deputy Privy Envoy to perish together, saving us from having to take action." The man in black said in a serious tone, "But if things change, we must use all means to get rid of Liu Xunyi. You just said that this man is a madman who wants to die and can do anything. The fact that he released the four people from the Pan family privately is enough to see this. With such an erratic and uncontrollable behavior, how can the Prime Minister let him live in peace?"

……

The stars and the moon disappear, and the night is deep and quiet.

At the hour of Hai, Qin Wei, who was gradually falling asleep, was suddenly awakened by a hurried knock on the door. The arrival of an uninvited guest completely broke the tranquility of Tianji Pavilion.

"who?"

"Reporting to the Marquis, it is..."

"It's me, Bai Jin!"

Before Tulong could report back, Bai Jin's rough voice suddenly rang out.

Qin Wei frowned, first looked at Lan Qi who was sleeping beside him, then looked at the figures outside the door, and a hint of displeasure emerged between his brows.

"What's the matter?"

"I am here on the orders of Lord Qian to discuss something with Lord Qin."

Hearing this, Qin Wei's eyes changed. He hurriedly stood up and lowered the bed curtain, then quickly walked forward and opened the door.

As soon as he saw Qin Wei, Bai Jin no longer cared about the dragon and tiger's attempts to stop him. He grabbed Qin Wei's arm and rushed into the room in a hurry. "My Lord, Master Bai..."

"It's okay, you guys just stay outside!"

Qin Wei nodded gently to the embarrassed Tulong and Tuhu, indicating that they did not need to interfere. At the same time, he casually shook off Bai Jin's hand, straightened his wrinkled sleeves, walked leisurely to the table to pour himself a cup of tea, and asked nonchalantly: "Why are you so anxious in the middle of the night, Lord Bai?"

"Is there anything more important than Liu Xunyi right now?" Bai Jin said unhappily, "You should know what happened in Jingyun Pavilion yesterday, right?"

When he heard the name "Liu Xunyi", Qin Wei's calm eyes quietly changed. The hand holding the teacup was suspended in mid-air. The whole person seemed to be frozen in an instant. He stood blankly by the table for a long time without any reaction.

"I don't know about Jingyun Pavilion." Qin Wei muttered absentmindedly, "The people below wanted to tell me, but... I don't want to listen."

After saying this, Qin Wei, who was in a state of confusion, swallowed the tea in his hand whole, and then threw the teacup on the table with a "clang", saying in an impatient tone: "Master Qian and I have already made an agreement that I don't want to interfere in matters concerning Brother Liu...Liu Xunyi."

"This is a different time. Now things have changed. Mr. Qian has no choice but to ask me to ask you for help."

"What happened?" Qin Wei raised his eyebrows and asked tentatively, "Didn't the emperor issue an order to punish you?"

"The question is not whether the emperor has issued an order, but whether Liu Xunyi is willing to obey the order..."

Bai Jin told Qin Wei in a few words what happened in Jingyun Pavilion yesterday, which made him shocked and dumbfounded.

"You said Liu Xunyi... dared to disobey the imperial decree and abscond with the young prince?" Qin Wei couldn't believe it. "How... how is this possible?"

"This is the fact, why do we need to explain?" Bai Jin said angrily, "Right now, not only is Liu Xunyi's whereabouts unknown, but even our carefully designed 'luring the snake out of its hole' has been disrupted by the East Palace. Tonight, Lord Qian was urgently summoned to the palace by the Emperor, and it is very likely related to Liu Xunyi's escape. Just now outside the palace gate, Lord Qian repeatedly told me that he must find you as soon as possible to discuss countermeasures."

"This..." Bai Jin's words made Qin Wei confused and confused, "What does Lord Qian mean?"

"It was not Lord Qian's idea, but the Emperor's." Bai Jin corrected, "The granaries of the three prefectures in Xingyuan were robbed, causing public outrage. Yesterday, the court publicly identified Liu Xunyi as the culprit, and the arrow has been shot and there is no turning back. If he is not brought to justice as soon as possible and beheaded in public, it may provoke a civil uprising, and the chaos will be out of control."

"What... do you want me to do?" Qin Wei's heart was already in turmoil, but he remained calm on the surface.

"Liu Xunyi is your friend, you know him better than anyone else." Bai Jin asked in a veiled tone, "Now it's not about what we want you to do, but what can you do to help us?"

"This..." Qin Wei frowned, thinking hard, "Based on my understanding of him, he chose to escape, indicating that he no longer believes that the court can uphold justice for him. In this case, the next two options are nothing more than 'revenge' or 'forbearance'. Liu Xunyi has always been aware of justice and will never seek revenge on the emperor, so he is very likely to leave his hometown and hide his identity from then on..."

"If that's the case, we're in big trouble." Bai Jin said in embarrassment, "The matter of Jingyun Pavilion was strongly advocated by the West Mansion, and now the emperor and the court are being pushed to the forefront and there is no way to end it. Not to mention that Lord Qian will be unable to defend himself, even the Privy Councilor will be implicated and suffer."

At this point, Bai Jin's eyes turned and he asked meaningfully, "Master Qian asked me to ask you if there is any way to lure out Liu Xunyi? For example... the secret code between you brothers."

"No!" Qin Wei answered without hesitation, "If he believed in me, he would have asked me for help long ago. Since he didn't ask me, it shows that he no longer trusts me..."

"Really?"

"What do you mean?" Qin Wei's face darkened when facing Bai Jin's malicious questioning. "Don't you believe me?"

"No, no, no! I just... feel a little sorry."

Qin Wei was stunned, as if he didn't understand Bai Jin's meaning, and asked back: "What's a pity?"

"What a pity for you!" Bai Jin's expression changed, and the look he gave Qin Wei became particularly cunning.

"What do you mean?" Qin Wei felt something was wrong from Bai Jin's strange attitude, and asked cautiously, "Does Lord Qian have any new plans...that he hasn't told me?"

"Yes."

"what's the plan?"

"You once said that Zhao Yuan was very kind to Liu Xunyi, and Liu Xunyi was very loyal to Zhao Yuan." Bai Jin said quietly, "If Liu Xunyi knew that Zhao Yuan was killed by you, do you think he would come back and seek revenge on you?"

"Hiss!" Qin Wei instantly saw through Bai Jin's hidden meaning. He was shocked and angry at the same time. He asked, "You failed to use the Pan family, so you want to use me as bait to lure out Liu Xunyi? Do you know that after this incident, the emperor will definitely hold me accountable for murdering an official appointed by the court? What's more, Zhao Yuan is a royal relative. This matter..."

"Sacrificing the pawn to save the master, Lord Qian is also very helpless." Bai Jin remained calm and answered calmly, "I just gave you a chance, but you couldn't find Liu Xunyi, so we can only resort to this last resort..."

"Bah!" Qin Wei pointed at the hypocritical Bai Jin angrily and threatened, "Don't even think about burning bridges after crossing the river! If you don't let me live a good life, I would rather die than drag you down with me... Once the truth comes out, I will reveal your conspiracy to murder the prime minister and the East Palace in front of the emperor. By then, no one can stay out of it."

"Are you threatening Lord Qian and Xifu?"

"No! I'm just seeking self-preservation!"

"you……"

"Wonderful! Wonderful! Watching you guys killing each other... is even more exciting than watching a play!"

"boom!"

Just as Qin Wei and Bai Jin were confronting each other, a sinister and terrifying laugh suddenly came from outside the door.

At the same time, the tightly closed door was kicked open, and a gust of cold wind swept in. Liu Xunyi, with a cold expression and murderous intent, suddenly appeared in front of the two.

……

(End of this chapter)