Chapter 865: Dark Moon and High Wind (Part )

"Forehead……"

The strange silence lasted for an unknown amount of time before a weak groan suddenly sounded in the room filled with the smell of blood. Qin Wei, who was in a trance, was immediately startled and his chaotic consciousness gradually returned to clarity.

When he wiped the tears from his face with his sleeves and stood up tremblingly against the wall, he saw Bai Jin's body shaking in a pool of blood. His face was as pale as paper, and his half-open eyes were full of pain and unwillingness. Blood kept coming out of his mouth and nose, and he let out bursts of heart-wrenching wails.

"Qian...Mr. Qian..."

Qin Wei gradually heard Bai Jin's whispers and felt confused. When he slowly stepped forward to ask what was going on, a terrifying thought suddenly flashed through his mind. Then, Qin Wei's melancholy and confused eyes suddenly changed, and an uncontrollable panic instantly filled his heart.

"Not good!" Qin Wei thought to himself, "Brother Liu returned without hesitation, just to avenge Zhao Yuan... Although he didn't kill me, he will never let it go... In Lin'an, besides me... the person he hates the most is Lord Qian..."

Thinking of this, Qin Wei could no longer care about his inner sorrow. He rushed to the dying Bai Jin and asked anxiously, "Where is Lord Qian? He is in danger now. Liu Xunyi is murderous and will definitely seek revenge on him!"

"The... the Imperial Palace..."

"That's right!" After Bai Jin's reminder, the flustered Qin Wei suddenly realized, "Master Qian was urgently summoned to the palace by the emperor. Do you know when he left?"

Facing Qin Wei's barrage of questions, Bai Jin shook his head slowly with a painful expression and said intermittently: "The road from the palace to the Privy Council... is the easiest to set up an ambush... You should send someone to pick them up quickly..."

"That's right! That's right! But it's too late to send anyone now. I will go and protect you myself."

In fact, what Qin Wei really cares about is not Mr. Qian’s life or death, but his own future.

Little did people know that Qin Wei's biggest backer at the moment is Lord Qian. He was able to remain safe and sound during the turmoil in the East Palace, was able to sit firmly on the throne of the Lord of Tianji Pavilion despite all the difficulties posed by Lord Jia, was able to rise rapidly in the turmoil of the court, was able to hold power and enjoy glory... All this was thanks to Lord Qian.

Once Lord Qian is killed, Qin Wei will be implicated.

In this way, all his hopes of promotion and a bright future... will become a bubble. Coupled with the obstruction of Lord Jia, Qin Wei, who has become a "homeless soul", will surely have a miserable end.

Qin Wei's heart was as clear as a mirror in this regard. Therefore, he would never allow anyone to ruin his bright future, and he would not allow his hard-earned wealth and glory to vanish overnight.

Even though... that person is his closest brother who he grew up with.

Qin Wei hurriedly agreed and was about to leave anxiously, but unexpectedly Bai Jin grabbed the corner of his clothes tightly.

"Bai Jin, you..."

"help me……"

Looking at Bai Jin who was begging him pitifully, Qin Wei couldn't help but be stunned. He subconsciously retracted his steps and looked up and down at Bai Jin who was in a precarious situation with a meaningful look. After a moment of hesitation, he slowly leaned down and squatted beside him.

"Are you in pain?"

Looking at Bai Jin's bloody belly, Qin Wei stretched out his hand and pressed it, and felt a warm and smooth sensation on his fingers. The sudden pain made Bai Jin gasp for air, and his body twitched more violently.

"Master Qin... please... save me..."

I don’t know if it was the instinct for survival or the unbearable pain, but the ferocious Bai Jin was crying and sobbing. He looked helpless and pitiful, like a poor creature who was afraid of death.

"Master Bai, you are Master Qian's most trusted subordinate, his first confidant..." Qin Wei's hand slowly moved up along Bai Jin's abdomen, "Although your official rank is not high, your actual power is huge. Qin... is very envious. Master Qian has been an official for many years. He has used countless people, abandoned countless people, and killed countless people. But he has a special liking for you and has always kept you by his side. No matter what difficulties he encountered, Master Qian never thought of abandoning you, let alone using you as bait. Compared with you, Qin's position in Master Qian's heart... is not worth mentioning at all."

Hearing this, Bai Jin felt a sense of foreboding in his heart, and the look he gave Qin Wei became more and more uneasy.

"Master Qin, in fact... Master Qian trusts you very much... and regards you as his confidant..."

"With you here, my position in Lord Qian's heart...will always be second." At this point, Qin Wei's right hand had already passed through Bai Jin's chest and slowly pinched his throat. "Lord Bai and I have known each other for a long time, and you should have some understanding of Qin's character. I have always liked to be the first, not the second."

"Qin Wei...what do you want to do?"

Seeing Qin Wei's dagger hidden in his smile and a cold light in his eyes, Bai Jin was terrified. At this moment, he no longer cared about his weak body. He struggled desperately to crawl towards the door, trying to escape from Qin Wei's clutches.

Unfortunately, under Qin Wei's firm grip, Bai Jin, who had already exhausted all his strength, could not move at all.

"Lord Bai is my old friend, he will definitely be willing to help me."

"No! I have parents and children to take care of... Please... Please don't kill me..."

"Don't worry! I will take good care of your wife, children and elders as if they were my own family. Lord Bai, go with peace of mind!"

"No! I beg you..."

"Crack!"

Without waiting for Bai Jin to cry and beg, Qin Wei, who was determined to kill him, had a fierce look in his eyes. He pinched his five fingers hard, and with the sound of broken cervical vertebrae, Bai Jin's screams stopped abruptly. The last ray of life quickly faded from his eyes, and all that was left was unwillingness and despair.

"If a man does not work for himself, he will be punished by heaven and earth. As long as you are alive, I will not be able to become Lord Qian's confidant. Lord Bai, don't blame me for being cruel and ruthless. If you want to blame someone, just blame... your bad luck."

"Master Hou!"

Just as Qin Wei was looking at Bai Jin's body with a lot of thoughts in his mind, a hurried shout suddenly came from outside the yard.

Then, Chu Mao led dozens of golden sword lieutenants holding torches into the yard. When they saw the corpses and pools of blood on the ground, they were all frightened and horrified, and hurriedly kowtowed to Qin Wei to admit their mistakes.

"We are late in protecting our master, I hope you will forgive us!" "Just now... Liu Xunyi came and not only killed many of our colleagues in Tianji Pavilion, but also killed Bai Jin, the Minister of the West Palace. If I hadn't fought back desperately, I'm afraid I would have died."

Hearing this, everyone was shocked and looked at each other.

"My Lord, Liu Xunyi..."

“These people in the courtyard are alive and dead. You leave a few of them to clean up the mess, and the rest follow me!”

Qin Wei was worried about the safety of Mr. Qian and had no time to bother with Chu Mao and the others. He gave an absent-minded order and then strode out of the courtyard.

……

The sky and earth are as dark as ink and as quiet as death.

At midnight, outside the gate of the imperial palace, a sedan chair and a carriage were quietly waiting for their respective owners.

Not far away, twenty or thirty burly men in armor and armed with sharp weapons stood as straight as guns. These guards came from two different places, one was the Prime Minister's Mansion, and the other was the Privy Council.

The guards of both sides stood in two rows like knives and axes, only a few meters apart. They looked at each other but said nothing.

"Haha, tonight in front of His Majesty, I have to ask Lord Jia to speak up for me, otherwise the consequences will be disastrous."

"Hey! Lord Qian and I serve in the same court. We should be of one mind and one heart and support each other. Only in this way can we share the worries of the emperor and solve the problems of the court."

"Master Jia is right! The emperor just said that only when the East and West Prefectures live in harmony can it be a blessing for the court, the Song Dynasty, and the people."

"The emperor has a far-sighted vision and often hits the nail on the head."

"The Emperor just mentioned Liu Xunyi... I have something I would like to ask Lord Jia for advice on."

"What's the matter?"

"I heard that... today someone took Lord Jia's handwritten letter to the Lin'an government office and rescued the four members of the Pan family from the prison..."

"Even if Lord Qian didn't ask me, I have to mention this matter to avoid misunderstanding. It's not that I'm deliberately opposing the West Mansion, but it's really wrong for the Lin'an government to rashly arrest the four members of the Pan family. There are many rumors in the streets, which is very detrimental to the majesty of the court and the government. I know that the West Mansion wants to use the Pan family to lure Liu Xunyi out, but we are officials appointed by the court after all, not bandits. How can we wrongly accuse four innocent people for the sake of arresting an imperial criminal? In this way, isn't it putting the cart before the horse, and the flaws cannot be covered up by the merits?"

"Master Jia is right. This matter...is due to the lack of consideration of the subordinates. I will punish them severely when I return."

"Mr. Qian is very righteous. I would like to thank you on behalf of the Pan family and the people of Lin'an!"

"Oh! I don't deserve it! I don't deserve it! Lord Jia is now a first-rank official, how dare I overstep my authority?"

"It's already the middle of the night before I know it. I'm already exhausted and just want to go back for a good sleep. Lord Qian must be tired too. Why don't you go back and rest early?"

"That's great. I will send you off, Master Jia!"

"Master Qian, please!"

"Master Jia, please go first!"

"Ha ha……"

Accompanied by a round of insincere flattery and greetings, Lord Jia and Lord Qian, both with exhausted faces, walked out of the palace gate side by side. As the guards knelt to greet them, the two of them said goodbye with laughter as if no one was around. Then Lord Jia got into the sedan chair and Lord Qian got on the carriage, and they walked away from each other, one heading east and the other west.

"Master Xiang!"

When the sedan chair was about three miles away from the palace, a black shadow suddenly jumped out from the street corner. The guards waited until they could see his face clearly before letting him approach.

"Yu Ge, why are you here instead of staying in East City to guard the Pan family?" A corner of the curtain of the sedan chair was lifted, and Lord Jia's slightly displeased voice was quietly heard.

"My Lord, Liu Xunyi went back on his word and threatened Jia Fu to force us to let the four members of the Pan family go. Now he has disappeared." Yu Ge replied timidly.

"What?" Lord Jia's eyes changed and he said angrily, "Useless things! How do you do things?"

"us……"

"Forget it!" As soon as Yu Ge finished speaking, Lord Jia suddenly waved his hand to interrupt him, "Let's not worry about the Pan family first. Where is Liu Xunyi?"

"He has just been to the Tianji Pavilion, and is now..." Having said this, Yu Ge looked around cautiously, lowered his voice, and answered in a hissing voice, "He is lying in ambush on the way back to the Privy Council from the Imperial Palace."

"Got it." Seeing that Liu Xunyi kept his promise, Lord Jia couldn't help but secretly breathe a sigh of relief and said in a deep voice, "Keep watching him, but don't let anyone find out, especially the people from the West Mansion."

"understand!"

"Once he succeeds, we must wipe out the roots and do it cleanly. This time, there must not be any mistakes, otherwise you will be beheaded."

"As ordered!"

……

(End of this chapter)