Thousand Verdant Mountains – Chapter 113 Part 1
Chapter 113 Part 1
Lu Wenjun was awakened by the sound of gurgling water echoing in her ears. Her eyelashes fluttered as she trembled slightly, emerging from her dazed state. Slowly, she opened her eyes and found herself deep within of a dense forest, lying on top a massive boulder that jutted out by a wild mountain stream. The surroundings were full of lush trees, and the dense canopies covered the sky like an umbrella, making it difficult to tell the direction even in broad daylight. That Hu guy was right across from her, sitting quietly on a thick branch of an old banyan tree that lay sprawled by the stream. His boots rested against the bark, and he stared at her without blinking. The moment she opened her eyes, he jumped down from the tree trunk. The rustling of leaves accompanied his footsteps as he treaded over thistles, fallen branches, and withered leaves by the stream, making his way toward her.
“Woke up?”
He walked to the side of the lying stone, smiled at her, revealing a set of white teeth. He then took out an embroidered shoe from his lapel, his gaze fell on her feet, and stretched out his hand as if to put on the shoe for her.
The scenes before she fainted flashed through Lu Wenjun’s mind like lanterns.
After Li Wanwan fell asleep, Lu Wenjun became more and more angry the more she thought about it. Suddenly, she thought that Lu Wenzhong might become timid and afraid to fully convey her meaning due to Prince Kang’s status. On impulse, she went out by herself, naturally without letting anyone to follow her, and went to the place where they had agreed to meet. She wanted to make things clear in person to prevent Prince Kang from doing something similar next time.
She never expected that she would not meet her brother who had not returned for a long time, nor would she see Prince Kang. When she entered the forest and found the place where Prince Kang made an appointment, she actually saw the shadow of that Hu guy.
At that time, the distance was still far and the shadows were dim. She didn’t know why he came here. She only saw him going deep into the dense forest.
Though she had warned herself countless times—both in her heart and aloud—not to dwell on this heartless and unscrupulous scoundrel, when she truly saw him again after some time apart, she couldn’t control herself and ended up trailing him all the way. Until she saw with her own eyes what that Hu guy had done…
Damn it! What kind of evil spirit was he, to dare to do such a horrible and violent thing.
Just as his hand was about to touch her legs and feet, Lu Wenjun completely came to her senses. The pain of the strangling grip that had nearly choked the life out of her just moments before still remained on her neck. She shrank her legs in horror, and used her hands and feet to crawl back desperately, trying her best to avoid the approach of the person in front of her.
Chengping’s gaze lingered on her pale face full of fear, then passed over her neck with a few bruised red fingerprints. Not wanting to force her, he gently placed the embroidered shoes at her feet and pointed behind her: “Be careful not to fall into the water.
“Don’t be afraid. I won’t do anything to you.”
On the handsome face in front of her, there was a gentleness that Lu Wenjun had never seen before. At this moment, the tone of his voice and the look he gave her were like that
full of tenderness, not the vicious man who had killed and buried a body a moment ago.She stared at him in amazement.
The cool breeze blew through the creek forest, making her shiver. He immediately took off his coat that carried his body temperature and wrapped it around her shivering shoulders.
Then, by Lu Wenjun’s ears, a low voice—almost whispering an intimate confession—sounded once more: “Surely County Princess has long forgotten that spring afternoon four years ago! When I first arrived in Chang’an to receive my title, I met you beneath a wild cherry tree in the fields outside the city. That day, you borrowed my coat to cover yourself, and yet you have never returned it to me!”
Lu Wenjun looked up and met the Hu guy’s eyes, which were looking down at her with a smile.
How could she forget that spring afternoon when the sudden rain blew down the wild cherry blossoms from the trees.
Everyone had laughed behind her back, saying that ever since she first laid eyes on that Hu guy at the New Year’s banquet, she had been utterly bewitched, stumbling into one embarrassment after another.
But they didn’t know that long ago, she had once encountered this young man, who was full of vigor and had rough manners, yet unexpectedly had taken good care of her.
She stared blankly at the man before her, and suddenly, tears welled up and spilled down her cheeks. In a burst of fury, she tore off the cloak draped over her shoulders and hurled it at him with all her strength.
“You beast! Don’t think you can fool me with this! After what you’ve done!”
Thinking of the scene she had just seen, she couldn’t help but tremble slightly.
She climbed down from the boulder.
“Why did you do such a thing? Why didn’t you just kill me too?”
She shouted wildly, leaving the person behind her and stumbled forward, not caring about the thorns on the ground that pricked her skirt and her feet.
“Stop!”
She turned a deaf ear and continued walking while crying.
“Could it be you also want to kill the Princess and Prince Consort?” The voice turned cold and stern.
Lu Wenjun couldn’t help but stop. She saw that Hu guy walked in front of her with her shoe in his hand, blocking her way. With force, he leaned over to put her shoe back on, and then stood up.
“County Princess only knows that I killed the person, but you don’t know why he deserved to die.
“Just a moment before, I heard him tell his people that he would get rid of Prince Consort and me when he ascended the throne. If I don’t kill him, should I keep him alive and wait for him to kill me in the future?”
Lu Wenjun was stunned when she met that Hu guy’s gaze, which turned into a sinister one.
“I killed the man.”
He continued in a nonchalant tone, “If everyone found out, so what? I am nothing more than a lowly man from the barbarian frontier, a life as insignificant as an ant’s. I have already lived more than enough to my pleasure—if death comes, so be it. But the Princess and Pei Er… I fear they will not remain untouched by the consequences.
“You should know something of the old grudge between the Pei family and the maternal grandfather of Prince Kang, Feng Zhenping. The relationship between Pei Er and me is even more well known. If people know that I was the one who killed Prince Kang, do you think simply taking the blame will clear him of suspicion? Will he truly be able to sever all connection? And if he is implicated, what of the Princess? How will she escape the fallout? Hate me if you wish, but would you have them dragged into disaster as well?”
Lu Wenjun stood there for a long while, tears once again streaming down her face. She raised her hands and covered her lowered face.
“Why didn’t you kill me just now? What was your intention in keeping me here?” she shouted vaguely.
A large hand reached out and took Lu Wenjun’s hands away from her tearful face.
“You are so cute, I would never kill you even if it means I would kill myself.
“You know why I came to the capital this time…”
That Hu guy’s gaze turned gentle again, and his words were even more hypnotic. He gently wiped away the tears on the girl’s delicate face with his fingers, took out the jade hairpin she previously dropped, carefully inserted it back into her hair, and then slowly leaned towards her.
Lu Wenjun’s whole body began to tremble slightly, perhaps because of fear or something else.
She closed her eyes tightly.
“I’ve had enough of dissolute life. I need someone who can control me. For the rest of my life.
“Please, help me.”
His eyes swept over the girl’s exposed bruised neck, his lips came to her ear and whispered softly.
A night passed.
The day that came was not a court meeting day, but the entire palace was in chaos because of a piece of news that came out of the blue.
Yesterday, Prince Kang Li Ze went to the Forbidden Garden and went hunting with the princess and prince consort, but he never came back. Last night, the Beifu Imperial Guards stationed in the Forbidden Garden, together with the Jinwu Guards, searched all night with fire sticks, and finally found him at dawn by following a jade pendant he had dropped.
Prince Kang died and was buried in a pit deep in the forest. Prince Ning, along with officials from the Dali Temple and the Judicial Office, rushed to the scene and determined that the jade pendant was torn off when Prince Kang struggled and the murderer did not notice it, so it was left nearby. The body had now been sent back and was temporarily placed in the Qixing Hall in the palace, which was used as a funeral place.
And yet, this was only the beginning.
The Imperial Guards, along with all officers of the Sixteen Guards ranked Zhonglang and above—hundreds in total—had been urgently assembled outside the palace gates, awaiting orders.
In the Southern Court, all the officials stopped doing their work and rushed to the Qixing Hall in groups, gathering outside under the pretext of persuading Feng Zhenping.
The emperor was inside at the moment, with the princess by his side. Outside the hall, Feng Zhenping knelt alongside his clan’s sons and nephews, as well as the officials of Prince Kang’s household—dozens of figures forming a dense, somber crowd, waiting for permission to enter. His face was ashen, blood streaming down his forehead, his official hat had long since rolled down the steps, and even one of his boots was missing. On one of the corridor pillars by the hall entrance, there were still traces of blood from when he had banged his head against the pillar in extreme grief. Were it not for those around him desperately restraining him, he might very well have dashed himself to death against that very pillar.
Ever since entering the court, Feng Zhenping had placed all his efforts and hopes on Prince Kang. As the prince grew older, his thoughts had been consumed by one goal: to overthrow the Crown Prince and place Prince Kang on the throne. However, Liu Ceye was not someone who could be easily shaken. After years of open and secret struggles, the process was not smooth. There was always a feeling that there was hope ahead, but it was always elusive and difficult to pursue. At the beginning of the year, due to the Qujiang Lake incident, Wang Zhang, who had been on the verge of a marriage alliance with them, seemed to have sensed something amiss and began to distance himself. That period had been the lowest point for Feng Zhenping.
At last, heaven had not completely cut off his path. First, Pei Xiaoyuan entered the capital, followed by the Princess’s return to court. It was evident that Liu Ceye and the two of them could never reconcile. To bear the brunt, he finally began to lose his composure. Feng Zhenping saw his chance. On one hand, he humbled himself before Pei Xiaoyuan, feigning weakness and seeking goodwill, hoping to first borrow his strength to deal with his greatest current rival. On the other hand, he intensified his moves, no longer bothering with the veiled tactics of the past but instead turning to open confrontation. He took advantage of the heaven-send of a rumor—news from an unknown source that Pei Xiaoyuan had been attacked before his wedding. Feng Zhenping fanned the flames, pushing the momentum with all his might, directing suspicion squarely at the Crown Prince’s faction.
This was no small matter. The change he had long dreamed of finally began to take shape. Even the emperor, who had always been aloof and never revealed his intentions, actually publicly criticized the crown prince’s faction at the court meeting.
As long as the crown prince was gone, who else could be the successor except Prince Kang?
In addition to being ecstatic, he also wanted to consolidate his advantage and make the princess and prince consort completely relax their guard against him, so he specially arranged for Prince Kang to go to the Forbidden Garden as well.
He never dreamed that the person who went there was alive, but the one sent back this morning was a lifeless corpse.
Overnight, he went from being full of ambition to being completely hopeless. The only thought left in his mind at this moment was that no matter what, he must not let the crown prince’s faction get what they wanted. Otherwise, he and his entire family would be killed without a burial place.
He lay prone on the ground, using his hands and feet to crawl towards the door of the hall, wailing with resentment: “Your Majesty! Your Majesty! His Highness died so miserably! Begging Your Majesty to see clearly! You must give His Highness an explanation! He cannot die in vain!”
“The Crown Prince is certainly Your Majesty’s Crown Prince, but Prince Kang is also your Majesty’s flesh and blood—”
After the news of Prince Kang’s sudden death reached the South Courtyard, different suspicions immediately arose among the officials as to who the murderer was.
The most immediate assumption was that the murderer should be the prince consort, Pei Xiaoyuan. The deep-seated enmity between him and Feng Zhenping due to their past familial feud was an undeniable underlying factor. Moreover, Prince Kang died near the hunting ground where he and the princess were stationed. To claim he bore no suspicion at all would be simply implausible.
Of course, there was another theory—one that pointed to the Crown Prince’s faction.
After all, the emperor’s attitude at the last court meeting said it all. That was an extremely dangerous signal, and the ancestor worship ceremony was only a few days away. The possibility that the crown prince’s faction, at their wit’s end and with nowhere else to go, would take this opportunity to send someone to sneak into the forbidden garden to harm Prince Kang and shift the blame to the prince consort was even greater.
When Feng Zhenping was weeping bitterly, some officials behind him shook their heads and sighed, while others were whispering to each other. When they heard him shout out the last sentence with all his might, the entire surroundings instantly fell into a silence so profound that even the sound of a pin dropping could be heard.
The Dali Temple had only just begun investigating the case, but here, according to Feng Zhenping, he had already identified the murderer.