Mo Sang – CH 112

Chapter 112. Seeking Help from a Tiger

Da Chang returned to Jianle City the day before the funeral.

The funeral arrangements for Jin Mao and the Liu family of six, aside from the auspiciously situated burial plot, were kept extremely simple by Li Sangrou. Those who came to pay their respects were all turned away by Chuantiao, who was acting on orders.

After returning from the cemetery, Li Sangrou instructed Datou to push Blind Mi out and close the courtyard gate.

Da Chang stewed a pot of vegetables, tofu, and pork belly.

After the meal, Li Sangrou looked at everyone and instructed, “I will be away for a while. Da Chang is in charge of things at home and in the shop. During this time, you all eat well, work hard, and do not leave Jianle City.”

Da Chang looked up at Li Sangrou.

“Do not worry, I am not going to kill anyone. After I leave, if anything happens at the shop and you are unsure of the situation, go to the Shizi and ask for his instructions.

At home, discuss urgent matters with Hei Ma; otherwise, wait for me to return.” Li Sangrou met Da Chang’s gaze and continued.

“How long will you be gone?” Da Chang asked in a muffled voice.

“I do not know, but it should not be long. I do not want anyone following me, so I will not send any messages back in the meantime.

Do not worry, there’s no danger on this trip. If the Shizi asks, just say I went out for a walk to clear my head,” Li Sangrou added.

“Alright.” Da Chang felt slightly relieved.

The next morning, when Da Chang got up, the main room door was open; Li Sangrou had already left.

……………………

These past few days, Gu Xi sent people to Baihu Bridge at least twice a day to check on Li Sangrou.

Not long after dawn, Gu Xi learned that Li Sangrou had left Jianle City to go out for a walk to clear her head. There was no morning court that day. Gu Xi went straight to Ming’an Palace and told Gu Jin about Li Sangrou’s trip out to clear her head.

Gu Jin sat upright, his expression cold and stern.

“Can you find her? Can you track her down?” After a long while, Gu Jin asked Gu Xi.

Gu Xi shook his head. “Last time, several people were watching her, all skilled, but they could not catch her. Now, she’s gone. I do not know if she left last night or this morning.”

He paused, a hint of something—admiration or regret—in his voice, and said with a wry smile, “If she does not want anyone to find her, she can disappear like a drop of water into a river.”

Gu Jin remained silent for a long time, then slowly leaned back against the cushions.

He did not know what she had gone to do, but intuitively, he felt that this trip must be something very serious.

He was very worried.

……………………

Five days later, outside Anqing City.

Li Sangrou jumped off a large cart, waved goodbye to the old woman on board, watched the cart drive away, and then circled around to Yingjiang Temple.

As night fell, Li Sangrou stood at the foot of Yingjiang Temple’s gate, listening to the melodious evening prayers, looking up at the majestic main hall and the towering Zhenfeng Pagoda.

After watching for a while, she circled the gate and walked along the temple wall, observing as she went.

A clear chime of bells signaled the end of the evening prayers. A chorus of footsteps and murmured voices filled the air, and soon the temple fell silent again.

Li Sangrou climbed an ancient tree, stood on its branches, and looked into the temple. After a moment, she leaped down and landed inside.

On the side of the temple closest to the river, separated from the monks’ quarters by an entire garden, was a small courtyard with its gate ajar.

Li Sangrou slipped into the courtyard and casually closed the gate behind her.

The main gate of the house was wide open. Ye Anping, his hair now shaved, sat upright with his back to the courtyard gate, striking a wooden fish and chanting.

Li Sangrou looked around, entered the main house, and walked to Ye Anping’s side.

Ye Anping looked up at Li Sangrou, surprised and astonished.

“Is it convenient to talk here?” Li Sangrou flicked out a candle.

“Let’s talk up in the tower.” Ye Anping immediately stood up, reached forward, found a key, and turned to leave.

Li Sangrou followed him through the side gate in the courtyard; a few steps away was Zhenfeng Tower.

Li Sangrou watched him open the bottom tower door, let her in, slip inside, bolt the door, and then pull it shut.

Ye Anping led the way, and Li Sangrou followed him, floor by floor, until they reached the top of Zhenfeng Tower.

Li Sangrou stood atop the tower, pressed against the wall, gazing at the scattered lights across the vast, dark river, and sighed softly.

When she was still in Jiangdu City, the river was dotted with fishing lights and dotted with white sails, brimming with life; now, it was a desolate gray.

Ye Anping was already sitting cross-legged on the ground, having taken out a small oil lamp, struck it, and lit it.

Li Sangrou leaned against the tower wall and sat down opposite Ye Anping.

“I often come to this tower to meditate,” Ye Anping explained, pointing to the oil lamp.

He came often, and he always lit a lamp; naturally, he would light one this time as well.

Li Sangrou hummed in agreement.

“Did you come here specifically to see me?” Ye Anping asked, looking at Li Sangrou.

Li Sangrou met Ye Anping’s gaze, seeing the two small flames flickering in his eyes.

“You’ve investigated everything? What have you found out? What have you discovered?” Li Sangrou asked directly.

Ye Anping’s face paled slightly, his lips pressed tightly together, and he remained silent.

“The person you want to kill is the Emperor,” Li Sangrou said, staring directly at Ye Anping.

Ye Anping’s face turned ashen. “You…you found out? You? How?”

“This sword is called Yanfeng; the male being called Feng and the female Huang.

When you were young, you certainly were not as shrewd and calculating as you are now. Your elders and your clan must have known something about your insane desire for revenge back then.

Therefore, you had to use marriage and children to quell their fear.

Later, when they learned you were raising an assassin like Zhan Lu, the fear and severity in your clan was not because you were raising an assassin, but because they knew who you were going to kill.

For a large clan like yours, raising one or two, or even ten or eight assassins, is nothing.”

“You figured it out back then?” Ye Anping looked directly at Li Sangrou. “You are indeed not Zhan Lu.”

Li Sangrou looked at him but remained silent.

“Please wait a moment.” Ye Anping moved forward, descended two steps of the stairs, and took a Buddha statue from a nearby niche. He removed the silver chain from the statue’s neck and inserted a small amulet hanging from it into the niche.

With a very soft click, Ye Anping turned to the side, reached all the way down with one arm, and pulled out an indigo silk pouch.

“This Yingjiang Temple, was it built with money from your Ye family?” Li Sangrou asked.

“Yes, and this Zhenfeng Tower, I oversaw its construction. There are over a dozen such mechanisms inside the tower. I kept this one to store their ashes,” Ye Anping spoke as he held the silk pouch and sat back down.

“There are six in total.” Ye Anping untied the silk pouch, pulled out six small scrolls, and laid them out one by one in front of Li Sangrou.

“This is Rou-niang, this is the Zhu family girl from Jiangdu County, this is the Cai family girl from Fangzhou, this is the Liu family girl from Tian Jin, this is the Zhuang family girl from Jiezhou, and this is the Lu family girl from Jiangzhou.

The Zhu family girl disappeared on her way to Nanshan Temple to offer incense.

The Cai family girl disappeared in the bustling crowd while watching the lantern festival by the river.

The Liu family girl disappeared on her way home from Shili Pavilion after seeing her brother off to the capital for the imperial examinations.

The Zhuang family girl also disappeared on her way to offer incense.

The Lu family girl vanished while watching the busy farming season at her own estate.”

Li Sangrou looked at each of the six small portraits.

The girls in the portraits were all eighteen or nineteen years old, with the same bright eyes and gentle expressions.

“The Zhu family girl from Jiangdu County was the first to disappear, followed by Rou-niang, then Fangzhou, Jinshang, Jiezhou, and Jiangzhou.

That year was the second year after the Emperor established the Crown Prince. He set off from Jianle City, heading south to Yangzhou, then west along the river, north from Zhengzhou, and turning east at Yongxing Road.

When he passed through Jiangdu County, the Zhu family girl disappeared; when he passed through Anqing Prefecture, Rou-niang was gone. They all disappeared when he was passing through those areas.”

“Why did he abduct them?” Li Sangrou asked Ye Anping.

“I could not find out. However, I think it must be witchcraft.

These six girls are about the same age, all around the same age as Rou-niang, all from scholarly families, intelligent, sensible, and well-mannered.

I could not find their birth dates and times. If I could, I could probably find out what kind of witchcraft it was.” Ye Anping’s expression turned pained as he mentioned the word “witchcraft.”

He had asked many people, and they all said that any witchcraft using human sacrifice was extremely vicious. The more human sacrifices used, the more vicious the spell, and the more gruesome the death of the victim.

“It’s not witchcraft,” Li Sangrou said, rolling up the scrolls one by one. “He kidnapped them because they all looked alike, were intelligent, of good birth, well-educated, and capable of bearing excellent children.

He kidnapped them to produce a son.”

Ye Anping was stunned. After a moment, he exclaimed, “The Second Prince?”

“Yes, they all look very much like Worthy Consort Shen.

The Second Prince was not born to Worthy Consort Shen but to one of them.” Li Sangrou lowered her eyes, wrapping the scrolls in a silk cloth.

“What are you going to do?” Ye Anping asked urgently, leaning forward as he watched Li Sangrou carry the silk bundle downstairs.

“I have not decided yet. If I do anything, you will likely hear about it here at Yingjiang Temple. I am leaving.”

“Wait, do you need money? I have plenty…” Ye Anping took another step forward, speaking urgently.

“No, I do not need money.” Li Sangrou glanced at Ye Anping and went downstairs.

……………………

The seventh month’s heat was intense.

In the evening, in an inn outside Jinglong Gate, Li Sangrou sat on the windowsill, watching a shooting star fall in the distance.

She had confirmed her suspicions; she also knew how many girls had gone missing and who they were.

Next, she needed to find out where they were taken away, where they died, and which of them had given birth to the Second Prince. She needed to find some solid evidence, enough to convince certain people.

But all of this must have been buried very deep by the Emperor, must have been thoroughly cleaned up. The Emperor was truly ruthless.

He and Worthy Consort Shen must also be extremely wary of this. She could not reveal the slightest trace; otherwise, she would be immediately erased and wiped clean.

It was a bit difficult.

Li Sangrou bent one leg, placed it on the windowsill, and squinted at the dark, towering Jinglong Gate.

The Emperor’s former residence was inside Jinglong Gate.

During the chaotic struggle for the throne, she heard many rumors and gossips from Pan Dingbang.

The late Emperor’s birth mother was a captured slave girl brought into the palace. By chance, she was favored by the Taizu Emperor and gave birth to the late Emperor. However, until her death, she remained a palace maid, merely no longer serving.

The posthumous title was bestowed upon her after the late Emperor ascended the throne.

The late Emperor and his mother remained silent throughout the fiercely competitive harem; even the Taizu Emperor often forgot he had such a son.

Fortunately, there were only a dozen or twenty princes and twenty or thirty princesses at the time, and the late Emperor was not the only one whom the founding Emperor did not recognize.

There were simply too many princes and princesses, and the founding Emperor did not really care. For the marriages and departures from the palace, except for a few who were deeply favored by the founding Emperor, the Imperial Clan Court would arrange for the princes to marry out of their palaces when they reached marriageable age and for the princesses to be chosen by suitable families, with some dowry provided.

Princes like the late Emperor, who kept a low profile, naturally did not have the opportunity to choose their own residences; the Imperial Clan Court simply assigned them whatever they were told.

At that time, the country had just been founded, and Jianle City was in dire need of reconstruction. It was quite empty; even in the bustling areas, there were plenty of empty houses. Yet, the late Emperor was still assigned a residence near Jinglong Gate.

Jinglong Gate was a very remote place at the time, far from the capital.

This residence was not even large; it was truly worthless.

But later, no one expected that at the height of the princes’ infighting, the late Emperor, who had remained silent for half his life, suddenly stepped forward and joined forces with the Old King Rui, who had always remained uninvolved.

The Old King Rui secretly went to Taizhou, pleading for the late Empress Zhang’s marriage on behalf of the Emperor, and for his son’s marriage to General Wen’s only adopted daughter.

The generals, suffering greatly from the strife, almost all chose to side with the late Emperor after Empress Zhang and Lady Wen married into Jianle City.

Within half a year, the late Emperor had slaughtered all his brothers, stepping over the blood of all his brothers and sisters to sit on that chair.

The silent dog was the fiercest.

Li Sangrou smiled, her eyes narrowing, thinking of Pan Dingbang’s expression when he said those words. Pan Dingbang was a shrewd man.

The late Emperor, when he ascended the throne, was also scarred and wounded.

Five sons, four dead; three daughters, none survived.

The late Emperor, having ascended the throne only a few days prior, had designated the new Emperor as crown prince. However, the Emperor did not immediately move into the Crown Prince’s palace in the imperial city. Instead, he chose to remain in his former residence outside Jinglong Gate until the birth of the second prince, after which he moved into the imperial city.

Li Sangrou’s eyes narrowed slightly.

The Crown Prince’s palace, towering within the imperial city, overlooked by the palace walls and under the watchful eyes of all officials, was nowhere near as convenient as this secluded and quiet former residence.

Alas, the marriage between the Emperor and the late Empress Zhang was not based on love, but on self-interest.

The late Empress Zhang must have been fully aware that before she and Lady Wen married into the family, he and the Old King Rui had surely reached an agreement and made various kinds of commitments.

But this intention to break those agreements, at least from the day the Emperor refused to move into the Crown Prince’s palace, had taken root.

When the late Empress Zhang conspired with a tyrant and then withdrew, one could only wonder what she was feeling.

The Shizi said she was calm.

Yes, she accepted her fate.

The night deepened, the watchman’s drumbeat grew louder, and all was quiet.

Li Sangrou stood up, changed into black clothes, and jumped out of the window.

“Let’s go check on that former residence.”