“Second Imperial Brother, Second Imperial Brother…”
A booming voice echoed from outside the private room, followed by the door being violently pushed open.
A man strode in. He had sharp eyebrows, piercing eyes, and a handsome face with a hint of boyishness. He appeared to be around eighteen or nineteen years old, clad in opulent dark purple brocade robes, with fine jade adorning his waist. He exuded an air of nobility, clearly not an ordinary person.
Upon seeing Jun Mohan, Jun Moyu frowned, wondering why this fellow had followed him.
“Second Imperial Brother, you’re having dinner at Zuixian Tower without inviting me,” Jun Moyu complained as soon as he entered.
“Aren’t you here now?” Jun Mohan replied, his tone casual. However, those familiar with him could detect the affection he held for his imperial brother in his words.
“How can that be the same? Me following you and you inviting me are two different things,” Jun Moyu argued.
“Do you only know how to pay the bill?” Jun Mohan retorted indifferently. He wondered when his imperial brother would ever grow up, always being idle and causing their father endless worry. He only knew how to eat, drink, and have fun, always shirking his bill whenever he dined at Zuixian Tower.
“Uh…”
“Second Imperial Brother, don’t be so stingy. You own such a large restaurant, are you really lacking the money for one meal from me? Heh heh…”
Following this, Jun Moyu finally noticed the woman sitting beside Jun Mohan. He widened his eyes dramatically, scrutinizing Leng Ruoli from head to toe, then glanced back at Jun Mohan. Was this the Second Imperial Brother who had always been indifferent to women? Now he was sharing a meal with a woman, and moreover, an unattractive one at that.
“Imperial Brother, isn’t this the imposing and majestic eldest daughter of the Leng family from General Leng’s victory banquet?”
“Uh…”
“May I ask which Highness you are?”
The current Emperor had seven sons. She only knew two: Jun Mohan and Jun Moxiao. She didn’t recognize any of the other princes.
“No way, Eldest Daughter Leng, you don’t even recognize me?” Jun Moyu displayed an expression of disappointment. “I am the dashing, handsome, universally loved, and blooming-in-the-face-of-flowers Idle Prince, the Seventh Son of the current Emperor.”
Leng Ruoli: “…”
Jun Mohan: “…”
Even Ye Ying, who was standing outside the door, couldn’t stand it. This Idle Prince’s thick skin was truly unparalleled; who introduces themselves like that?
“Do you still want to stay for dinner?” Jun Mohan shot him a cold glance and spoke indifferently. His imperial brother’s impudence was truly unmatched. However, Jun Moyu paid no heed to Jun Mohan’s words. Fearlessly, he sat down beside Leng Ruoli and tried to strike up a conversation with her.
“Come, come, Eldest Daughter Leng, let’s eat and chat,” Jun Moyu’s gossiping nature resurfaced. “I say, Eldest Daughter Leng, didn’t you used to like Prince Qing very much? Why did you suddenly decide to break off your engagement with him?”
“Idle Prince, you are mistaken. This humble one does not like Prince Qing.” Even if she had liked him before, that was the original owner’s matter.
“Oh my, so Prince Qing was just arrogant then. I’m telling you, you shouldn’t like Prince Qing; that Prince Qing is a pervert…”
The two chatted for the time it took an incense stick to burn, unnoticed. Jun Mohan’s face turned as dark as the bottom of a pot. The three finished their meal in a hurry. Jun Mohan and Jun Moyu returned to their respective princely manors, while Leng Ruoli returned to her Jinxiu Pavilion custom clothing store.
…
The Dali Temple
Yan Song sat on the judgment platform with a stern expression.
“Doctor Liang, truthfully confess your name,” Yan Song asked coldly.
Doctor Liang knelt on the ground, looking upwards and away, stating proudly, “Even though you are the Minister of the Dali Temple, I will not put you in my eyes.”
“Heh, you’re at death’s door and still so arrogant. Guards, drag him out and give him a hundred lashes.”
At this, Doctor Liang panicked. His martial arts were now crippled, and a hundred lashes could very well claim his life. Thus, he immediately lowered his head and begged for mercy.
“Imperial Physician Yan, spare my life! Spare my life! I’ll talk!”
Upon hearing this, Yan Song waved his hand and shouted, “Stop!”
“Speak!”
“My name is Yan Dede, formerly a Taoist priest on Wangya Mountain. I knew a bit of medicine. Because I privately refined elixirs, I was expelled from my master’s tutelage. Later, I became a disciple of Prince Qing and opened the Medicine King Hall.”
“What were those corpses soaked in the secret chamber for?”
Yan Dede hesitated for a moment before saying, “Those were used to make the pills. The murky medicinal water in the vats was my concoction to prevent the corpses from decaying.”
Yan Dede’s words sent shivers down everyone’s spines, nearly making them vomit.
Yan Song asked again, “Where did all these corpses come from?”
“They were all the bodies of executed prisoners. Prince Qing helped me find them. I don’t know where he heard it, but he said that the sinews on a person’s body could be used to refine an elixir of immortality, and he asked me to help him refine it. To gain his trust, I agreed to help him refine the medicine.”
Upon hearing Yan Dede’s words, everyone clenched their fists in anger.
“Then why did you sell the medicine to ordinary people?”
“To find test subjects, of course.”
At this point, a righteous yamen runner could no longer contain himself. He walked up to Yan Dede, grabbed him by the back of his collar, and furiously beat him.
…
The Imperial Palace
The Emperor, clad in a bright yellow dragon robe, sat in the imperial study, diligently reading the case file submitted by Yan Song. His dragon countenance was filled with rage.
“This scoundrel dares to commit such heinous acts, even testing drugs on living people!”
“Guards, summon Prince Qing to the palace!”
“Yes!” Eunuch Li, upon hearing this, hurried to Prince Qing’s manor to deliver the imperial decree.
“Yan Song, you may withdraw first.”
“Yes, Your humble servant takes his leave!”
Yan Song turned and exited the palace.
After the time it took an incense stick to burn, Prince Qing arrived in the imperial study and knelt on the ground. The Emperor looked at him furiously.
“Scoundrel, look at this!”
The Emperor forcefully flung the case file investigated by Yan Song, which accurately landed on Jun Moxiao’s face. Jun Moxiao glanced at it for two seconds and knew that the matter of the Medicine King Hall had been exposed. He immediately begged for mercy, “Please, Father Emperor, calm your anger. Your son was unaware that Doctor Liang was a Taoist priest. I merely took him in out of kindness, never expecting him to commit such deeds.” Jun Moxiao said with feigned grief.
“Do not argue with me. I have already had the matter thoroughly investigated.”
“Guards, drag Prince Qing out and give him 100 lashes. He is not to leave his manor for three months.”
“Yes!”
Two imperial guards stepped forward and escorted Prince Qing away for the punishment. The Emperor sat on his chair, his head throbbing. After a long while, he composed himself, slowly opened a painting on the wall, and looked at the beautiful woman in the painting with a face full of sorrow. The woman had a pair of bright, clear purple eyes, identical to his son Han’er’s eyes. The woman’s features were also exquisitely refined, with eyebrows like slender willows, a serene and peerless beauty, as if she were an immortal being not of this world.
“Yiyun…” the Emperor softly whispered the woman’s name.