Chapter 43
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“Subordinate didn’t intend to meet—” Fu Nian hadn’t finished speaking when he immediately realized something was wrong. He quickly changed his words, “Subordinate isn’t in a hurry. It’s just that the night dew is heavy, and I’m concerned about Your Majesty’s well-being. I didn’t want to disturb your rest, so I wanted to leave as soon as possible.”
After speaking, Fu Nian tried to kneel properly, presenting the documents with both hands. He pretended that he hadn’t misspoken earlier. In his heart, he kept cursing himself for his blunder.
Seeing Chu Zhaoyi’s displeased expression, it was hard to keep his calm demeanor… Fu Nian pinched his own hand.
“Oh.” Chu Zhaoyi deliberately raised his tone and elongated the sound. He took the document from Fu Nian’s hands and placed it aside without asking further questions or examining it.
Not daring to urge further, Fu Nian could only bow his head and speculate about what Chu Zhaoyi had mentioned earlier.
References to Distant Moon Sect, mentioning Fu Zhen, and saying… that he was dead and buried.
Anxiously waiting for what felt like an eternity, he finally heard Chu Zhaoyi’s voice again.
Without saying anything, he coughed a couple of times and then continued focusing on the documents in his hands. He wrote something with a solemn expression, completely disregarding Fu Nian’s presence.
After waiting for another fifteen minutes, Fu Nian’s clenched fists were starting to turn white at the knuckles.
“What did you write?” Upon hearing Chu Zhaoyi’s voice, he hastily sat up straight. He looked up and saw Chu Zhaoyi flipping through the document he had submitted with a serious expression, his brows furrowed tightly.
“Where did you learn this handwriting? It looks like drawing symbols.” Chu Zhaoyi flipped through it a few more times, then closed the document with an expression of disdain and tossed it back, saying, “If your handwriting is bad, start practicing from writing basic characters.”
Fu Nian felt puzzled. The characters he wrote with his left hand dipped in ink might not be considered artistic, but at the very least, they were written stroke by stroke and should still be legible.
He didn’t say anything, picked up the document in front of him, and opened it, only to find that the ink had smeared and blurred the words he had written, making it impossible to discern the original text.
“Once I’ve finished writing, I left it here, and it was clearly dry…” He muttered quietly while using his left hand to confirm whether the table was dry, his tone full of bewilderment.
Chu Zhaoyi heard and put down his brush, looking up. “Are you implying that this was done intentionally by me?”
“No, no, of course not,” Fu Nian hastily replied.
After speaking, Fu Nian became suspicious. He stole a glance at Chu Zhaoyi, but saw that Chu Zhaoyi was focused on handling matters with his head down, so he quickly averted his gaze.
Chu Zhaoyi wasn’t the type to engage in such pointless actions.
Fu Nian didn’t know where the problem had arisen, so he began grinding the ink again.
“Use a pen.”
Before his hand could even dip into the ink, Fu Nian heard the familiar, cold voice.
He didn’t object and picked up a pen. Having trained with knives and hidden weapons for years, controlling a pen wasn’t difficult for him. However, it was slower compared to using his fingers to write and draw.
As he wrote, he speculated about Fu Zhen’s specific situation and pondered over the content the scout had reported earlier.
“Hold the pen like this.”
Before he could even write a couple of characters, Fu Nian heard a voice not far away speaking up.
“Don’t grip the pen holder. Like this, pay attention here.”
He looked up and saw Chu Zhaoyi holding a clean brush, demonstrating for him.
Fu Nian awkwardly attempted to follow the instructions, forcefully trying to control the pen using this grip.
With a “snap,” the pen holder broke.
Realizing he had exerted too much force, he quickly picked up the broken pen holder from the ground.
At that moment, it seemed like a light chuckle drifted from above.
Chu Zhaoyi… was laughing?
Fu Nian quietly raised his eyes and caught a glimpse of the transition between light and shadow falling on Chu Zhaoyi’s slightly upturned lips. Before he could fully grasp this rare sight, the candlelight flickered, and when he looked again, that stunning countenance had reverted to its usual cold detachment, revealing no expression.
Before the fourth watch of the night, Fu Nian once again heard the scout come in and report something to Chu Zhaoyi.
Following that, Chu Zhaoyi stood up from his desk and swiftly walked outside.
After the people left, Fu Nian put down the pen, stretched his body that had been cramped for so long, and quietly yawned.
“Guard Lian, His Majesty said you can go rest.” Before he could finish yawning, Fu Nian heard the eunuch’s voice beside him, sounding somewhat ethereal.
Upon hearing this, Fu Nian instantly perked up. He quickly stood up, expressed his gratitude, and prepared to leave.
Rest was out of the question. Now that it was dawn, he would have to find an opportunity to slip out when the palace gates opened and check on Fu Zhen’s condition.
If it was really Fu Zhen who had placed the gu on him and was suffering from the effects, relying on just a small amount of medication to alleviate the symptoms would surely be unsustainable.
As he reached the doorway of the Imperial Study, just as he was about to step out, the voice of the palace eunuch rang out once again.
“Guard Lian, this is for you.”
“What?” Fu Nian turned around and saw a small bamboo tube.
“A certain high-ranking person’s hawk attempted to enter the palace at night and was shot by the night guards. His Majesty instructed for the hawk to be buried, and before the burial, this tube was found in its beak… it should be something that belongs to you.”
A hawk…
Fu Nian immediately realized that it must be something sent by Fu Zhen.
He didn’t dare to accept it. “For me? Could it be a mistake? I don’t have any family or connections in the capital…”
“His Majesty has already inspected it. Upon seeing the bamboo tube, he said: ‘This should be something a certain high-ranking person is trying to give you.’ His Majesty also said that he hopes you’ll take this as a warning. If you’re caught privately communicating with foreign officials again, the punishment won’t be as lenient as just being confined to the Imperial Study for a day and night. Also, he instructed you to go to Chengyuan Hall later to receive your penalty.”
Fu Nian: …
He didn’t say anything more, but immediately snatched the bamboo tube and opened it.
【Depart from the capital and head north tomorrow. It will take half a month. With your body temporarily safe, the poison you bear is actually—】The latter half of the note showed signs of being torn intentionally.
Fu Nian quickly flipped the note over, finding the back completely blank, with no writing.
The poison you bear is actually… what?
Why is the most crucial part missing?
He clenched the bamboo tube tightly.
Another cryptic method passed down within the sect.
Perhaps the latter half of the sentence requires a bit of effort to see?
“After reading it and handing the letter back to the servant, you can go rest,” the palace eunuch reminded him factually as he noticed Fu Nian clutching the paper.
He immediately thought about what the eunuch had said, that it was reviewed by Chu Zhaoyi before being handed over to him.
If the intention was merely to let him see what Fu Zhen had written to him, then Chu Zhaoyi’s meaning was likely to remind him that secret dealings with foreign officials couldn’t escape the Emperor’s watchful eye, advising him to be cautious.
But deliberately tearing off the latter half of the sentence…
Fu Nian took a deep breath and temporarily pushed aside his thoughts. He returned both the letter and the bamboo tube.
Back in his room, he lit a lamp and sat at the table, gazing absentmindedly out of the window.
Defeated in front of Chu Chaoyi in the previous life, there hadn’t been much improvement this time around either.
For a moment, he felt the urge to rush in front of Chu Zhaoyi and ask him what the torn half of the sentence was. Fortunately, this absurd idea lasted only a moment before he suppressed it.
Fu Nian recalled Fu Zhen’s letter.
Heading north for half a month—considering Fu Zhen’s current condition, he wouldn’t be able to travel too far in that time.
The Distant Moon Sect was located in the mountains north of the capital, and the actual journey wasn’t far, but the location was incredibly hidden.
Could it be that his senior brother had returned to the sect?
Frowning, Fu Nian began piecing together memories from his previous life.
The strange poison that initially afflicted him had been given to him by his Master. Though his Master was now deceased, the source of the poison certainly originated from the sect. Therefore, Fu Zhen’s sudden departure from the capital could possibly be related to seeking out the source of the poison within the sect.
If he were to suddenly return to the sect… would there be a chance to uncover whether Fu Zhen was truly the one who planted the gu for him?
This absurd thought suddenly took root in his mind.
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