Passersby coming and going looked at the wanted poster, equally bewildered.
He Lingchuan overheard several people exclaiming in astonishment:
"Whoa, that looks just like Consort Mei."
"It couldn't really be Consort Mei, could it? Just a few days ago, I saw her leave the palace to hand out alms at the shanties on the west side of the city."
"Impossible, absolutely impossible! Consort Mei is as kind as she is beautiful—how could she harm anyone?"
Someone sneered, "Our imperial kin, our royal family, mmph—"
Before the speaker could finish, someone clamped a hand over his mouth. "Are you mad? Do you want to get yourself killed?"
He Lingchuan and Dong Rui exchanged a glance, slipped out of the crowd, and proceeded into the city.
The two had passed through the checkpoint under the guise of merchants without facing any hassle.
Right after entering the gates, they encountered soldiers escorting provisions. Dozens of flatbed carts were piled high with supplies like small mountains.
Judging by the direction, they were headed toward the palace quarter.
Commoners nearby muttered under their breath:
"They've nearly stripped the city bare of grain. Are we supposed to live on thin air?"
"The people in the palace are terrified of dying."
"They're scared, but what about us?"
He Lingchuan understood.
The death of Nangong Yan had finally instilled terror in the King of Bo. Summoning troops and plundering provisions from all over to stockpile in the palace was nothing more than sharpening his spear at the eleventh hour.
Hah, if he knew it would come to this, why act as he had in the first place?
"What's going on here?" Dong Rui muttered as they walked through the streets. "I thought we'd be the ones plastered on the walls."
"Even if we were, you wouldn't recognize it," He Lingchuan said in an undertone. "The court painter has never seen us. Based on the King of Bo's description alone, whatever they drew would be a ten or twenty percent likeness at best."
Dong Rui scratched his head. "Why do I feel like whatever happened to Consort Mei might have something to do with us?"
He Lingchuan replied shamelessly, "Strictly speaking, everything happening in the Bo Kingdom has something to do with us."
The soul-snatching mirror suddenly chimed in: "A-Hao! That thug A-Hao you subdued said the palace guard sent by the imperial deputy guard chief to collect protection money from their gang was very well-informed—he even knew what Consort Mei had for breakfast!"
He Lingchuan patted his chest: Got it.
As it turned out, they first passed Nangong Yan's residence.
In life, this man had wielded overwhelming power across the Bo Kingdom. Yet only a few days after his death, official seal strips were already pasted across the grand estate's main doors.
The household had long since scattered.
Ever meddlesome, Dong Rui slipped into an alley behind the compound and hopped the wall.
Inside, the estate had been turned upside down. Overturned furniture lay everywhere, and pried-open chests and cabinets sat completely bare.
When he emerged, he remarked with a sigh, "So what if you held sway over an entire kingdom? The moment you die, aren't you still cleaned out down to the boards by looters?"
After leaving Nangong's estate, He Lingchuan's next stop was a teahouse, where he booked a quiet private room and summoned A-Hao to inquire about what had happened in the palace.
To their surprise, the young thug showed up black and blue, with two teeth missing.
Dong Rui marveled the moment he saw him, "What happened to you?"
Huh, lately it seemed he was asking that question rather frequently.
A-Hao's cheeks were swollen high; even a light press made tears well in his eyes.
Lingguang kindly gave him a small vial of medicinal salve. Once A-Hao dabbed it on, a cooling comfort spread, and much of the pain subsided.
"I got robbed." With the silver He Lingchuan had rewarded him in his pocket, he had spent the past few days wandering the capital, eating, drinking, and looking for a business to invest in. Who knew he would be targeted, dragged into a dark alley, beaten to a pulp, and stripped of every copper?
Dong Rui was amused. "Even you have days like this?"
A thug from Julu Port, mugged by the local street toughs of Xun City.
A-Hao gritted his teeth. "What's that saying—revenge is a dish best served cold? One day, Lord Hao is going to teach them how to behave!"
"That 'one day' might come sooner than you think," He Lingchuan said, glancing at him. "Xun City isn't safe. You'd better not stay here."
"I was thinking of heading back to Julu Port tomorrow." A-Hao gazed at him imploringly. "Lord He, please give me some guidance."
Though he hadn't spent much time around He Lingchuan, he knew the man was mysterious and formidable.
In these turbulent times, an individual was as insignificant as a speck of dust; he desperately hoped for direction from someone powerful.
He Lingchuan gave a slight smile. "Tell me about Consort Mei first."
"Ah, right," A-Hao answered at once. "The palace guards don't really know what went on either. All they know is that a few days ago, the monarch suddenly ordered Consort Mei arrested, but she wasn't in the inner palace. The palace attendants said she had gone out to distribute alms, but when the guards checked the relief shelters, she wasn't there either.
"After that, the whole city was put under martial law for a search, and wanted posters went up everywhere."
Consort Mei had evidently committed a grave offense.
He Lingchuan nodded and turned to Dong Rui. "Looks like the King of Bo has finally caught on."
"What do you mean?" Why wasn't Dong Rui following?
"The King of Bo has favored Consort Mei for the past two years, yet a few days ago he suddenly turned hostile and moved to arrest her," He Lingchuan pointed out. "Did you forget what major events took place here in the last twenty days?"
"Oh?" Dong Rui racked his brain. "Oh! We entered the palace on behalf of the Mou Kingdom to demand the Bright Lantern Cup, the Shadow Tooth Guards were slaughtered, and Nangong Yan died too!"
All of those massive events had unfolded on the very same day!
"Exactly. When we confronted him at his doorstep, the King of Bo naturally denied sending anyone to intercept and steal the Bright Lantern Cup. But he isn't stupid. In hindsight, he probably deduced that someone had framed him."
"Consort Mei?" Dong Rui squawked. "No way! Such a... delicate, helpless little beauty! You're saying she's the mastermind? How—how on earth is that possible?!"
He had originally meant to say "a beauty who'd make anyone's heart ache with tenderness."
A-Hao looked completely bewildered as well.
"You can know someone's face without knowing their heart," He Lingchuan reasoned, ticking off points on his fingers. "Whoever went through all this trouble must bear a deep and bitter grudge against him, and lacks the strength to seek revenge against the King of Bo personally, leaving them no choice but to borrow the power of the Mou Kingdom.
"This person also knew that the Second Prince's affliction could only be treated with the Bright Lantern Cup, and knew that the cup was ripening soon. Therefore, she had to reside either in the palace or in the home of a high-ranking minister.
"These are all clues that can easily be deduced. Heh, doesn't the King of Bo know what he's done in the past? As the man at the center of it all, if he carefully retraced his steps, he'd unearth far more inside details than we ever could. It probably wasn't hard for him to guess who was shooting arrows in the dark.
"At least, that's what the King of Bo believes," He Lingchuan explained. "He is the sovereign of a kingdom, after all. Once he began suspecting Consort Mei, certain things wouldn't be hard to verify."
Dong Rui gave an "Oh?" "Yet the crime on the wanted notice is murdering royal kin. That royal kin...?"
"The royal family hasn't had peaceful days in recent years," He Lingchuan said. "The origin of this entire Bright Lantern Cup incident was the Second Prince suffering qi deviation, which required the treasure to aid his recovery. That's why, in the eyes of the Shadow Tooth Guard, the King of Bo possessed both the motive and the capability."
Judicial arrests typically demanded complete eyewitness and physical evidence, but for the Mou Kingdom, solid physical evidence was enough. Tracing the Bright Lantern Cup's whereabouts was all that mattered.
Dong Rui's eyes darted around, and he suddenly asked, "Could the Second Prince's madness have been orchestrated by this mastermind too?"
"Who knows?"
"Wait, that still doesn't add up," Dong Rui said, striking upon a contradiction. "If this person could steal the Bright Lantern Cup right out from under the Shadow Tooth Guard's noses without anyone noticing, their cultivation must be extraordinary. Why did you say she 'lacked the strength'?"
Chapter 1130