Your Highness, Please Love Me Tender

132. The Three Deadly Poisons

 

Translator: Flying Lines

 

“That’s for sure.” Su Jie smiled helplessly. He had never received the training that a crown prince should have received when he was young. Thankfully, the Guqin Master once taught Su Jie lyre-playing, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Otherwise, Su Jie would still be an illiterate man of sacrifice who only knew how to kill.

Thinking about the Guqin Master, a glint flashed through Su Jie’s eyes. He still had debts to settle with the Guqin Master. Before leaving State Yanhui, Su Jie originally wanted to assassinate the Guqin Master, but Zhou Zaiyue didn’t agree.

The Guqin Master still had many men of sacrifice by his side, and he was extremely skilled in using poisons. Even if Su Jie’s martial arts were better than most people, he wouldn’t be able to defeat all the men of sacrifice the Guqin Master had by his side. The reason why Zhou Zaiyue didn’t agree to let Su Jie take the risk was because he was afraid that Su Jie would die in Prince Qin’s residence.

The matter to kill the Guqin Master was left alone just like that. Su Jie wasn’t happy about it. Now that he returned to State Yanling, he didn’t think about the Guqin Master for the time being. If he ascended to the position of the emperor, there was no way that he could leave Yanling to assassinate the Guqin Master.

But he could send people to kidnap the Guqin Master here.

Also, he still needed to list Lan Buhui as a wanted criminal while sending some of his trusted subordinates to search for Lan Buhui.

Thinking up to this point, Su Jie frowned and looked at the wreck of the palace again. He couldn’t help but sigh that he was going to be very busy for a long time in the future.

Xiao Shengnian raised a hand to smooth Su Jie’s frown. He bore a warm smile: “Don’t worry. No matter what you encounter, I will be here to face it with you. Even though the days that I can be with you are limited, since I will have to return to Yanhui in a few days, I can still help you out.”

*

In the imperial city, in one of the many courtyard dwellings, an elegant black-robed man stood under a tree. The smile on the corner of his lips was cold, and his expression was as calm as water, however, his superior aura was not to be underestimated.

“Your Majesty.” A good-looking woman curtsied, and then hugged the man’s arm.

That black-robed man was Lan Buhui.

And the pretty woman by his side was his most recent beloved concubine.

After giving the order to burn the palace, Lan Buhui didn’t leave the imperial city but found a place to settle down.

The most dangerous place was the safest place. Lan Buhui wouldn’t escape from the imperial city. He wanted to live just under the ruler’s nose and wait for the right opportunity to kill the immortal’s descendant.

Out of Lan Buhui’s four generals, three were already dead.

The only one still left by his side was Yun Hui.

Yun Hui was a man of few words, yet he was the first to serve under Lan Buhui as well as the one who was by Lan Buhui’s side the most.

Even though Lan Buhui only just arrived in the courtyard dwelling, all the daily utilities and tools were extremely complete. Yun Hui had already prepared all this long ago.

There were many leaves under his feet. Lan Buhui stood inside the courtyard for a long time without the intention of speaking.

He didn’t say anything, but the concubine beside him wasn’t patient.

“Your Majesty…” The concubine’s voice was graceful and charming, bearing a deliberate calmness. After witnessing Lan Buhui’s bloody and cruel deeds, this concubine was shocked.

The appearance of this beloved concubine was the most beautiful out of all the concubines. She was once a lady of a brothel but was elevated to a high position because Lan Buhui favoured her. Lan Buhui didn’t care that this woman came from a brothel, he only knew that the woman looked similar to Cheng Huan.

But she couldn’t hold a candle to his Cheng Huan, whose beauty could cause the downfall of cities and countries.

This concubine originally didn’t feel much fear towards Lan Buhui, because the handsome man had always been agreeable to and doted on her. However, unexpectedly, Lan Buhui sent his sixteen guards to massacre all the eunuchs and maids in the palace. Even some concubines weren’t let off.

To be exact, out of all the concubines, only this beloved concubine, who came from a brothel, was lucky enough to survive.

Yet the stranger thing was, even though Lan Buhui’s harem was filled with beautiful women, not one of the concubines ever got pregnant.

This concubine was curious, and so she bribed an imperial physician. It was only then did she find out that Lan Buhui gave every single concubine a soup for abortion.

The concubine was still thinking about getting pregnant in order to secure her position. But after hearing what the imperial physician said, she couldn’t help but find it strange. Why would Lan Buhui kill his own descendants?

The concubine didn’t know what the situation was with the war. Information within the palace was closely watched by Lan Buhui’s sixteen guards. The news of the previous dynasty’s crown prince leading troops closer and closer to the imperial city didn’t make it into the palace, so the concubine was still fantasizing about giving birth to an heir, and to have her son ascend to the position of the next emperor.

Unexpectedly, the sixteen guards of the palace suddenly started to kill, slaughtering and plundering the palace.

The concubine didn’t dare to ask any questions. She was ordered to change into the clothes of an ordinary woman and was brought to the courtyard dwelling by Lan Buhui.

What she didn’t know was that, if she didn’t look like Cheng Huan, who Lan Buhui longed for, she would have been a corpse right now.

Thinking about Cheng Huan, a trace of reminiscing and remembering appeared on Lan Buhui’s face. He allowed the woman to stick by his side as she liked. Yet, the smile on his lips carried some absent-mindedness.

Just when he was thinking, Yun Hui returned.

“Return to your room.” Lan Buhui’s expression suddenly turned cool. He turned his head to give the order to his concubine. The words that came out of his mouth were also cool, without a hint of friendliness.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” The woman didn’t dare to say more. She used a gaze full of tenderness, just like autumnal water, to glance at Lan Buhui before walking back to her room.

“Your Majesty, the remaining evil of the previous dynasty has entered the imperial city, and I have recorded down what he looks like.” Yun Hui knelt in front of Lan Buhui and said. He wore the clothes of an ordinary citizen. His aura didn’t attract attention, and his voice was low and steady. His physique was not much different from an ordinary person’s, and his appearance and posture were extremely alike to that of an ordinary citizen’s.

“Good!” Lan Buhui laughed heartily. His laughter carried a hint of madness, yet there was a light at the bottom of his eyes that resembled the light of a reflection moving on water.

Cheng Huan, Cheng Huan…

Lan Buhui shouted ‘Cheng Huan’ these two words silently in his heart. His laughter gradually died down, and the tears in his eyes seemed to overflow the next second.

When Cheng Huan died that year, he didn’t cry.

He had suffered for so many years, had been alone for so many years, and not once had he encountered a woman who moved his heart like Cheng Huan once did.

Cheng Huan… When State Yanling’s crown prince dies, I, Lan Buhui, will go down to meet you…

Lan Buhui calmed down, and he commanded expressionlessly, “Yun Hui, let’s do it now.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Yun Hui kowtowed towards Lan Buhui respectfully. He stood up, stayed silent for a bit. But in the end, he didn’t move a muscle.

“Are you starting to regret it now?” A cold glint flashed through Lan Buhui’s eyes.

“I have never regretted. I am bidding farewell to Your Majesty. May Your Majesty live in harmony with the heavens, and have good fortune and health.” When he finished speaking, Yun Hui walked out of the courtyard dwelling without a second glance backward.

Yun Hui was going to assassinate Su Jie.

Yun Hui wasn’t most skilled in leading troops into battle or training troops. Instead, he was best at archery.

He could shoot three arrows in one go. Yun Hui was once famous because of these three arrows. People called his three arrows ‘the three deadly poisons’.

The reason they were called as such wasn’t because the arrows were tipped in poison, but rather because the three arrows Yun Hui shot out could all kill. No matter how difficult an opponent may be to deal with, they wouldn’t be able to dodge Yun Hui’s three arrows.

Before, Gong Che was sent to assassinate Su Jie as a messenger. His blade was covered with Hungduanchang. Yet now, Yun Hui was also going to assassinate Su Jie. He wasn’t going to use poison. He only hoped that one shot would be enough to kill.

Lan Buhui didn’t know why Gong Che didn’t succeed. He didn’t care whether Gong Che used a poisonous blade to injure the crown prince because Lan Buhui’s ultimate tactic was Yun Hui.

Out of all the four generals, Yu Lintian’s martial arts were the best, and Yun Hui’s archery was the best.

Lan Buhui planned to go to Cheng Huan’s grave to wait for his death after the crown prince of the previous dynasty died.

Sixteen years ago, Lan Buhui initiated the rebellion. He wanted to kill off every member of State Yanling’s royal family before committing suicide himself. Unexpectedly, the crown prince escaped.

In these many years, the only thing fuelling Lan Buhui to live on was the idea of killing Su Jie.

Lan Buhui was crazy and persistent. The vow he swore to kill all the members of the royal family must be fulfilled.

Now that the royal family’s crown prince had returned, Lan Buhui wouldn’t pass up on the chance to kill Su Jie.

Lan Buhui’s sixteen guards were all blended into the imperial city. The reason they were called his sixteen guards wasn’t because Lan Buhui only had sixteen guards, but because Cheng Huan’s childhood name was ‘sixteen’. Thus, Lan Buhui created the sixteen guards.

All the members of the sixteen guards all served directly under Lan Buhui. However, to cause confusion, they especially prepared a few escape routes, causing Ju Liandao to wrongly assume that Lan Buhui followed these guards and escaped.

Yet the real Lan Buhui was relaxing in a courtyard dwelling, enjoying the cool air.

He watched Yun Hui go.

Yun Hui was the last of his four generals.

Lan Buhui knew that once Yun Hui left, he would never return.

There were Ju Liandao’s soldiers everywhere in the imperial city. There was not a chance of survival for Yun Hui’s mission.

“Those four attendants who have followed me all these years have all died…”

Inside the courtyard dwelling came Lan Buhui’s long sigh.

Lan Buhui wasn’t an emotionless person. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been longing after Cheng Hun for all these years. He was deeply affectionate, but he never managed to obtain the Cheng Huan he loved.

Originally, Lan Buhui wanted to let Su Jie die from the pain of Hungduanchang. But he suddenly changed his mind. He felt that right now was the best time to let Yun Hui go.

Now that Ju Liandao’s army had just arrived in the imperial city, right now would be the busiest time for them. Ju Liandao and the others probably wouldn’t have thought that Lan Buhui would send Yun Hui right after sending Gong Che to pretend to be a messenger and assassinate Su Jie.