Chapter 40
<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>
Seeing Chu Zhaoyi stand up, Fu Nian stood still where he was, not daring to move.
Footsteps quickly drew near, and he held his breath.
Then, he felt a strong force on the back of his collar, the sound of clothes being torn was jarring to the ears.
Fu Nian did his best to remain still.
However, this time, the tearing damaged his outer garment, and his actions halted there.
Just as Fu Nian was puzzled, his bound wrists were suddenly yanked.
He immediately realized that he needed to conceal the blades and flint within his sleeve.
However, in front of Chu Zhaoyi, he didn’t dare to truly resist with his hidden skills. He secretly tested the strength twice, but Fu Nian could only tightly grip his cuff, preventing the items inside from falling out.
Seeing him gripping his cuff tightly, Chu Zhaoyi tugged twice more but couldn’t pull it off. Annoyed, he ordered, “Let go.”
Fu Nian didn’t respond, continuing to cling tightly to his sleeve. He looked up, sneakily stealing a glance at Chu Zhaoyi’s face, which remained as intimidating as ever.
“Let go; do you really think I’m blind to your little movements?” Chu Zhaoyi added impatiently, then, tugging harder on his sleeve, he said, “I don’t want to get angry. Let go.”
After a long silence, Fu Nian eventually compromised and released his grip.
As he released his grip, everything hidden in his sleeve was thoroughly revealed.
He caught sight of Chu Zhaoyi placing those “forbidden items” one by one on the table, but the Emperor remained silent.
Flint, blades, concealed weapon cases, hidden arrows, bone whistles… Fu Nian didn’t closely examine them.
The longer Chu Zhaoyi stayed silent, the more anxious Fu Nian became. After pondering for a while, he chose to take the initiative and bowed down to the ground, not daring to make a sound.
When Chu Zhaoyi had said earlier that he thought his little movements hadn’t gone unnoticed… Fu Nian didn’t dare to say that for so long, he had been seamless like a heavenly robe. However, for ordinary people to capture all his traces was nearly impossible.
“Flint, blades, hidden weapons case, sleeve arrows, bone whistle…” After a long silence, Chu Zhaoyi’s voice finally came, unhurried and calm. As he spoke, he flipped through the items that had been confiscated onto the desk. “Li Gonggong said you got up in the middle of the night to search in the privy. What could you possibly need that would require you to bring so many things into the privy?”
Fu Nian: “…”
Still prostrated on the ground, he remained motionless, suppressing even the sound of his breathing.
“Answer. Now I permit you to speak,” Chu Zhaoyi’s tone remained calm, lacking inflection, making it hard to discern whether he was angry or pleased.
Fu Nian dared not respond.
This man was always skilled in psychological tactics, probing step by step for information. As long as he revealed a hint of guilt first, complete defeat was only a matter of time.
“I said I don’t want to get angry with you. Cooperate and explain properly; there is still room for maneuver in this matter. You’ve been in the palace for so long; you must have heard about some palace events from others. You rely on your back to secure a lot of indulgence and privileges for yourself. As long as it’s not for treason or rebellion, a few slick words can easily smooth things over,” Chu Zhaoyi continued, then he stopped pressuring him further, returning to his seat at the desk and resuming his perusal of the books.
“Your subordinate knows full well that carrying weapons in front of the Emperor is a serious crime, but I genuinely didn’t have any intentions of rebellion or assassination…” Fu Nian tried to divert the conversation, attempting to exonerate himself.
His words were only halfway out when he suddenly felt a sharp pain on his shoulder.
It was an edict book that had been forcefully slammed onto his left shoulder.
He raised his head and saw Chu Zhaoyi squinting his phoenix-like eyes slightly, radiating a strong intimidating aura. A touch of anger had crept onto his stern countenance.
Fu Nian could only pick up the edict book and flip it open.
When he saw the first page, his hand trembled.
—Although his name wasn’t explicitly written on it, it vaguely described a man wearing guard attire who had been loitering near the incense burner recently, often wandering around the Imperial Study late at night.
He turned more pages.
It also recorded an incident of herbs being stolen from the imperial physician’s office, but it didn’t list specific names.
There were also records of someone suspected to be him sneaking out of the palace, though they only managed to catch him once.
After reading the documents, Fu Nian breathed a sigh of relief.
These were just the tip of the iceberg of his actions, and it didn’t include the meetings with Fu Zhen.
Closing the edict book, Fu Nian calmly said, “Your subordinate has reviewed them. Your Majesty must have misunderstood. Your subordinate’s duties during the day are hardly idle, and there’s barely any time to rest at night. How could I engage in such violations of palace rules? Moreover, Your subordinate is without family or friends, making it impossible to leave the palace.”
Chu Zhaoyi remained expressionless, “Continue to feign innocence. I’m listening.”
“Your subordinate is terrified.” Fu Nian’s tone was as neutral as possible, but the clothes on his back were soaked with cold sweat.
Chu Zhaoyi lifted his gaze to the person kneeling on the ground, his brows furrowing even deeper. After contemplating for a while, he cut straight to the point and asked, “Engaging in an affair with someone surnamed Fu… seems to be more leisurely than serving in the palace.”
Hearing the words “someone surnamed Fu,” Fu Nian’s mind buzzed, and his thoughts went blank for a moment.
His heart raced so fast it felt like it might burst out of his chest. He took several deep breaths before his vision cleared.
“Your subordinate is indeed terrified—”
However, this time, Fu Nian didn’t get the chance to finish his sentence before he was coldly interrupted.
Raising his head, Fu Nian saw the crumpled pages that Chu Zhaoyi was clutching in his hand, his anger on the verge of eruption.
“Fearful? If you didn’t know who someone surnamed Fu was, Fu Zhen, upon hearing this name, are you still fearful?”
Fu Zhen…
Fu Nian felt his fingers uncontrollably tremble.
To what extent did Chu Zhaoyi actually know? Did he just know that he had seen Fu Zhen, or did he know that he had been in close contact with Fu Zhen?
Did he only know that Fu Zhen treated him as a replacement for his mistreated junior brother from the previous life, or… did he already know about this layer of his stolen identity?
Fu Nian dared not ask. After a moment, he answered, trembling, “Your subordinate has never heard—”
“Guard Lian, as I said before, your little actions, I’m not blind,” Chu Zhaoyi continued, intentionally pausing, “and I also said, I don’t intend to or want to get angry with you, but if…” At this point, Chu Zhaoyi’s gaze shifted to a cabinet on his right.
—There were a pair of metal shackles and a heavy iron chain placed on it, with many spikes, looking like tools for restraining fierce animals, completely unsuited for human use.
Can’t wait until next week to see more? Want to show your support? Come to my Patreon where you can get up to 5 more chapters of The Shadow Guard is also the White Moonlight [Rebirth] right away ! Or go donate at Paypal or Ko-fi to show your appreciation! :)
<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>
Thank you for the triple update! 💕