Shen Huaishi didn’t make Lin Qingyu wait too long. At midnight three days later, Lin Qingyu looked up from making medicine to see Shen Huaishi standing in front of the window.
“Imperial Physician Lin.” Shen Huaishi seemed nervous when Lin Qingyu opened the door and told him to come in. “I can’t stay for long. If His Highness finds out that I’m still talking to you… What did you need me for, Imperial Physician?”
“I’ve found the person you seek,” Lin Qingyu told him.
A stunned silence later, Shen Huaishi blurted in shock, “You mean that jade plaque’s owner?”
Lin Qingyu nodded. “Come on out,” he said.
The door to the secret room in the study slowly opened with a thud, and Zhu Yongxin walked out. “Young Master.”
Shen Huaishi’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Zhu-dage?!”
Few people in the Tianyu Sect knew that Zhu Yongxin had infiltrated the Tianji Guard as a spy, but Shen Huaishi did. After joining the Tianji Guard, he’d tried to find Zhu Yongxin, only to hear news of his death.
“Zhu-dage, I thought that you…” Shen Huaishi’s eyes reddened. Even the strongest assassin was overcome by emotion upon meeting an old friend. “It’s really you! I thought you were dead!”
Zhu Yongxin seemed much calmer than the shadow guard. “I’m not dead, no,” he intoned, his gaze darkening. “I could never die before taking my revenge!”
“Revenge?” Shen Huaishi appeared lost. “The Chiya Sect, which orchestrated the Tianyu Sect’s destruction, was wiped out by the Tianji Guard three years ago. His Highness himself gave the order!”
“His Highness? Ha!” Zhu Yongxin cackled sardonically. “As if a mere demonic order like the Chiya Sect could destroy a cadre working for the emperor overnight! Have you never doubted that, Young Master?”
“Traitors from the Chiya Sect were found in the Tianyu Sect. That’s why…”
Zhu Yongxin cut him off. “The imperial court offered the Chiya Sect amnesty long before that. They also orchestrated that bloody massacre. It wasn’t that the Tianyu Sect harbored traitors—it was the imperial court who turned their backs on us. Those masks that supposedly belonged to members of the Chiya Sect were worn by the Tianji Guard all along!”
Blood drained from Shen Huaishi’s face. “The imperial court? But the Tianyu Sect was always loyal. Why would they…?”
Lin Qingyu spoke up. “Was the Tianyu Sect loyal to the royal court or the crown prince? If it was the latter, do you think the emperor would’ve tolerated that?”
A faint glimmer of hope flickered in Shen Huaishi’s eyes. “It was the emperor, then?” he murmured. “His Majesty wanted to kill us?”
“Yes, it was the emperor who wanted to wipe us out,” Zhu Yongxin said. “But his obedient son knew what His Majesty wanted and dealt with us before the emperor could issue his own orders. He gained the emperor’s favor and received the title of crown prince, just as he had always desperately desired!”
Pain spread in Shen Huaishi’s body from head to toe, almost making him stumble. Then the faint fragrance of herbs wafted over as someone grasped his arm. He looked up to see the curve of Lin Qingyu’s face.
“That’s impossible.” Shen Huaishi gripped Lin Qingyu’s arm as well. “His Highness would never do that, Imperial Physician Lin…”
“Shocked?” Lin Qingyu asked in a low voice. “Do you think Xiao Cheng wouldn’t have done this?”
Shen Huaishi shook his head. “Proof. I need proof.”
Zhu Yongxin fished out half of a mask from his roughly spun garments and tossed it onto the desk. “I found this on a Tianji Guard assassin after the Tianyu Sect was wiped out.”
This mask was of a monstrous face with dark-green skin and sharp fangs; it was unique to the Chiya Sect, and it was stained brown with old blood. The sight of it pierced Shen Huaishi’s eyes; it felt as if blood would flow out of their sockets.
“Huaishi, look at me.”
Shen Huaishi was stunned. He hadn’t heard anyone address him like that for so long. He thought of his father and brother—before they were killed, they used to call him by name.
The captivating force in Lin Qingyu’s eyes sucked him in. “You always had many doubts about what really happened three years ago, didn’t you? How could another martial sect easily wipe out the Tianyu Sect, powerful as it was? And why did Xiao Cheng show up immediately afterward? Why was he there at the right moment to save your life?
“After the Tianyu Sect’s destruction, Xiao Cheng treated you well, didn’t he? He was so kind to you that you fell in love with him. You were infatuated up to the point when the North King asked for Princess Jingchun’s hand in marriage. I’m right, aren’t I? Do you still not understand?”
Dead silence filled the room until it was interrupted by the windows creaking in the wind. Looking as though he’d awoken from a long dream, Shen Huaishi shoved Lin Qingyu aside and turned to leave.
“Where are you going? To confront Xiao Cheng?” Lin Qingyu asked coldly. “Who do you think you are? You’re merely a shadow guard. You put your life on the line for him and let him take out his sexual urges on you, even after wiping out your sect! Why would he come clean to you? If he could lie to you once, he can lie to you a second time. What do you want to hear from him?”
Shen Huaishi stood still, clenching his trembling hands into fists.
“If I were you, I wouldn’t give him the chance to argue,” Lin Qingyu said more gently. “You always say that I look down on you. That’s because I detest people who sell themselves short.”
In the blink of an eye, Shen Huaishi leapt out of the window, leaving not a single trace of his presence.
Lin Qingyu had done what he needed to do. Now, they could only wait.
However much disdain Xiao Cheng held for Shen Huaishi, he placed great trust in his shadow guard. There were many ways in which Shen Huaishi could assassinate Xiao Cheng and escape unscathed. He could bring his knife down on Xiao Cheng’s neck as he slept; or cover the prince’s mouth from behind while he read a memorial, put his arms around his neck, and suffocate him; or come to Lin Qingyu for poison, then pour it into tea Xiao Cheng would drink—Lin Qingyu would be sure to pick the concoction which best suited the crown prince.
Just imagining that delighted Lin Qingyu.
Shen Huaishi… He better not end up a disappointment.