Him again?!
Was he ever not up to no good? Maomao really felt for the mistress of the Shin clan. If Mister Love Letters seemed a bit meek today, it was probably because the human bear—i.e., Basen—was standing there.
“The prince didn’t die from poison, but of illness,” Maomao said. “And he wasn’t carved up and skinned; his corpse was autopsied.” She struggled to maintain her composure. Frankly, she would have liked nothing better than to fling horse dung at these kids, but she refrained.
“Autopsied? That’s an awful thing to do to someone,” said Basen, clearly shaken. His simplicity was at once a blessing and a curse.
“So that’s how they got away with surviving so long,” the first young man said. “They took up carving up animals for a living!”
Tianyu’s father caught his breath. He looked every inch the hunter, from his simple, sturdy clothing (easy to move in) to his bearlike beard and tanned skin. He looked nothing like Tianyu.
“As if you lot don’t eat meat!” Maomao snapped, finally unable to restrain herself.
“Hey, careful,” Basen said, frowning at her.
“Listen to you talk, Niangniang!” Tianyu chirped. For some reason, he was smiling. Maybe it didn’t bother him to see his father all but crawling on the ground at swordpoint?
Speaking of Tianyu’s father, he appeared to have noticed Tianyu, but was keeping up a careful facade so the young folks wouldn’t realize it. He’d also sensed something else at work, and kept his head carefully lowered, as if to involve himself as little as possible.
“You say something, girl?” the young man growled.
“No. Nothing at all,” Maomao replied, trying to play dumb; she went over and picked up the jade tablet.
It’s the same.
The same as Joka’s. The passage of time had worn the edges down, but she suspected it would fit the break in Joka’s tablet perfectly.
“He may have been a criminal, but he was a man of quite high station to begin with, wasn’t he?” Maomao asked.
“Maybe so, but a criminal is a criminal. His depravity ran deep, and his horrifying personality must have been passed on to his children and grandchildren.”
Maomao looked hard at the tablet. The young folks didn’t seem to know that its owner had originally been a member of the Imperial family.
“Only to his children and grandchildren?” she asked.
“Ha ha! Their ancestors probably had something wrong with them too.”
We all heard you. You can’t back out now.
Maomao held the jade tablet high. “You heard him. What do you think?”
“Good question,” said a voice as beautiful as flowing water. It was a bit of an affectation by the owner—she’d heard it many times in the rear palace. “I guess I might be a problem as well.”
The voice spoke with deliberate slowness, implying a gentle question. Then the owner appeared from the far side of the grove.
“M-Moon Prince?!” the young men exclaimed and bowed their heads.
Jinshi wore almost the same unctuous smile he’d used during his time as a “eunuch.” The difference was that he was no longer as perfect as a heavenly nymph. On his right cheek there was a scar, and his smile took on an edge of contempt as he looked at the ne’er-do-wells.
“You said that tablet proves him to be a criminal,” Jinshi said.
“Y-Yes, sir,” one of the young men answered.
“The legendary poisonous birds you spoke of—were you referring to that criminal’s offspring?”
“Yes, sir. They come from the loins of one who victimized an august Imperial prince. If they’re allowed to continue to possess this tablet, who knows when they might decide to try to bend the country to their will? It’s our suggestion that they be dealt with promptly. You, Moon Prince, the second-most revered person in this land, are the perfect one to do it.”
Second-most revered person in the land, huh?
They would never have said such a thing at the palace. Jinshi was the Imperial younger brother, and the second-most revered person in the land was the Emperor’s son, the current heir apparent.
Jinshi smiled, but only with his lips. “My land does not permit private vendettas.”
“Yes, but surely it’s important to nip bad buds before they grow? Besides, at this moment, it would be simple to separate this man’s head from his shoulders at a word from you. We called you to this hunt so that we could deliver this scoundrel into your hands!”
Tianyu’s father was simply bearing all of this.
Hang in there just a little longer, Maomao thought. She herself had been chased by bandits and nearly murdered, so she understood very well the terror, the feeling that one’s heart might shatter or a hole open in one’s stomach from the tension.
“Ha ha ha. I see—so it’s not only the children and grandchildren, but all the prior generations who are criminals.” Jinshi walked over to them, reaching into his robes as he did so. Behind him came the smiling Hulan and his usual bodyguard, as well as a few other young people who looked distinctly uncomfortable—Maomao took them to be other members of the named clans.
Jinshi walked past Tianyu’s father, walked past the muttering crowd of young people, and stopped in front of Maomao. Then, from his robes, he took out a jade tablet identical to the one she was holding.
“Wh-What’s that?!” exclaimed the young men, their faces going tight.
Jinshi took the half of the tablet that Maomao held and put it together with the half he was holding—as she had expected, they fit perfectly.
“As you can see, I was already aware of this criminal’s existence. Do you know why I did not see fit to punish him?” His gaze pierced the impetuous young men who had taken it upon themselves to do this thing. “His ancestor was already punished. Surely there is no need for the punishment to go down to the children and the grandchildren.”
Still holding the two halves of the tablet together, Jinshi showed it to the young men. “If you still insist on tracing his guilt back up the family tree, then know that I, too, am guilty.” He put his hand to his chest theatrically. “This criminal of yours was once a member of the Imperial family. He shares the same ancestor as me!” There was disdain in his eyes as he made this declaration.
The young men had wanted the death penalty; they might even have believed that this would make Jinshi happy.
It only showed how little they knew of Jinshi as a man.
I suppose few people do.
Jinshi’s personality was not as beautiful as his appearance might suggest—indeed, he could be quite melancholy. He was serious-minded and a hard worker, and precisely because he was so attractive himself, he did not judge others by their appearances.
He placed a hand on the shoulder of Tianyu’s father, who had remained with head bowed throughout the entire conversation. “My subordinates overstepped themselves. You have my humblest apologies.”
“You owe me no apology, sir,” the other man said. “I ask for nothing and wish for nothing. If my family is a hindrance to you, I am the last of my line. Please, be rid of me so that I might not stand in the way of your plans.” Tianyu’s father still did not raise his head. Jinshi was of such vaunted status that he didn’t dare.
“Now, now, we can’t have that,” Tianyu finally broke in. “Come on, Dad. It hurts to hear you say that stuff. Don’t talk like that. Come on.”
Tianyu’s father shot him a look that said Keep your mouth shut, idiot.
“Moon Prince, are you going to punish me?” Tianyu asked.
“Have I a reason to?” Jinshi replied.
“No. I mean, I don’t think so.” Tianyu stood boldly. “So can I ask you to guarantee you’ll safeguard my and my father’s lives?”
“You need not even ask.”
“Also, would it be possible to do something about our burning house? The entire forest will catch at this rate.”
Jinshi glanced an instruction at Hulan, who grinned and turned to the young men. “All right, let’s get that fire put out. You started this blaze, you can extinguish it.”
What’s he blathering about?
Maomao snorted and went over to Tianyu’s father. Tianyu might be a doctor, but he had no interest in anything other than surgery. If anyone was going to check the man over, it would have to be her.
Tianyu’s father was obviously relieved, but he still wasn’t exactly relaxed. “Shall we move to the tent?” Maomao asked.
“Yes, let’s,” Jinshi replied. With his approval, she got ready to go. But before that...
“Ugh! It turns out there were no poison birds after all!” Maomao felt like a guttering candle.
“Oh, hey, Niangniang?”
“What?” she snapped. She didn’t have the energy to pretend to play nice with Tianyu right now.
“I don’t know about any poison birds, but we’ve got this book at home. It’s supposed to be by this guy named Kada?”
“What?!”
Maomao looked at the house—which was on fire.
“You’re into that kind of thing, right, Niangniang?”
Maomao grabbed a bucket from one of the young men hauling water. “H-Hey, what are you doing?!” he cried.
“Give me that!” Maomao emptied the bucket over her head and made a beeline for the burning house.
Jinshi grabbed her. “What’s wrong with you?!”
“Let me go, please. There’s a treasure in there—a priceless treasure!”
“Give it up! It must be ash by now.”
Maomao, sopping wet and dripping snot, reached vainly toward the burning house.
“Isn’t that Grand Commandant Kan’s daughter?” she heard someone ask.
“Blood will out, I guess,” someone else said.
She didn’t even have the heart to deny it.