Chapter 6.

After a night of brutal interrogation, Xue Shu cracked the prisoner's defenses-but got little useful information. The bastard was just a cog in the mouth, tasked with luring the demon fox to the Huangji Hall on New Year's Eve.

Beyond that? Not a clue.

The only thing confirmed was that the one passing them orders was someone close to Daoist Wangchen.

Exactly as Xue Shu had suspected.

If he hadn't acted last night and the demon fox had caused panic, the biggest beneficiary would've been none other than Wangchen himself.

Huangji Hall was south, while Wangchen's residence at the Xuanyou Hall was far northeast, near the Yan Prince's Palace. When chaos broke out, Emperor Longfeng had panicked and sent for Wangchen. With palace rules forbidding horseback travel, it would've taken at least two incense sticks' time for him to arrive. Yet when Wangchen showed up, he was pristine-robes immaculate, demeanor unruffled, exuding that fraudulent "immortal sage" aura. The bastard had clearly been prepared.

With his target locked, Xue Shu made a beeline for the Ciqing Palace to borrow some men from Zhao Lin.

Zhao Lin, just starting his patrol of the Eastern Palace with a squad of guards, froze when he saw Xue Shu. Bloodstained and reeking of violence, Xue Shu looked every bit the grim reaper. Zhao Lin's brows furrowed, his tone uneasy. "What the hell happened to you?"

"Prisoner's been dealt with. Now give me a squad. I'm making an arrest and don't have time for this guy to bolt away." Xue Shu's patience was nonexistent when dealing with people he disliked, and his sharp, clipped tone made that clear.

Zhao Lin hesitated. "Mobilizing Eastern Palace guards requires His Highness's approval." But he didn't make things difficult. Instead, he offered, "The Crown Prince is awake. If you're in a rush, we can go together."

Xue Shu considered it, but then remembered the blood and grime on his clothes from the night's work. He wasn't about to parade that mess in front of the Crown Prince. Someone like that deserved a clean, untarnished world.

He shoved the prisoner's confession into Zhao Lin's hands. "I'll wait here."

Without another word, Zhao Lin left to brief Yin Chengyu.

Yin Chengyu had just finished breakfast and was reading in the Hongren Hall when Zhao Lin arrived. Upon hearing the report, he opened a window to glance outside, spotting only a vague shadow in the distance.

"No need to borrow Eastern Palace guards. Notify Gong Hongfei instead. He loves sparring with the East and West Bureau-let him take this chance to prove his worth. Tell him to assign a squad of captains to Xue Shu."

Zhao Lin bowed and hurried off.

From his vantage point, Yin Chengyu saw Zhao Lin and Xue Shu exchange a few words before leaving together, presumably to find Gong Hongfei.

Yin Chengyu chuckled softly and summoned Zheng Duobao. "Didn't I send a physician to check on Xue Shu's injuries the other day? What did he say?"

Zheng Duobao blinked, startled by the sudden question, but quickly answered. "Doctor Liu found Xue Daren had already treated and bandaged himself. I insisted on a recheck. The wound-about a palm's length-didn't touch bone. The doctor cleaned it, stitched him up again, and said it'd heal in half a month."

Yin Chengyu frowned at the timeline, then immediately scoffed at himself. Why bother worrying about a man who didn't give a damn about his own body?

Waste of energy.

Xue Shu's body was as unyielding as his spirit. In another life, Yin Chengyu had seen those old scars on his chest-slashes, stabs, even one near his heart. Yet the bastard was still alive and kicking, causing all sorts of trouble.

Villains live forever, they say. Xue Shu would probably outlast him.

*

With twenty captains from the Brocade Guard under his command, Xue Shu stormed toward Xuanyou Hall.

Situated east of the six main palaces, Xuanyou Hall housed the mystics recently invited by Emperor Longfeng. Usually quiet and secluded, the place felt eerily silent today.

Xue Shu ordered his men to block all exits, then led a group straight to Wangchen Daoist's quarters.

Just as he raised his fist to knock, a faint trace of blood hit his nose. His eyes narrowed. Without hesitation, he kicked the door open and charged inside.

The scene hit like a fist. Two Daoists lay crumpled near the entrance, chests pierced and soaked in blood. Trails of red streaked across the hall, leading to the back room.

Following the trail, Xue Shu stopped dead.

Wangchen Daoist's corpse hung from the ceiling beam, swaying gently.

Jaw tightening, Xue Shu turned sharply toward a half-open window. A shadow darted outside.

He leapt through the window, hot on its heels, but the assassin was fast-too fast. Xue Shu was left glaring at empty air, veins pulsing in frustration.

Failing to catch his target, Xue Shu's face darkened. He turned on his heel and stormed back into the room.

The corpse of Daoist Wangchen had already been taken down from the rafters. A Jin Yiwei officer remarked, "Looks like infighting-he killed himself out of fear of punishment."

Xue Shu didn't bother to respond. Circling the body with a sharp gaze, his eyes glinted as he snapped, "You all, wait outside."

Though puzzled, the others obeyed without question-he was in charge, after all.

Once they left, Xue Shu crouched by the body, his fingers probing the man's throat. Sure enough, he found something off. Narrowing his eyes, he pressed further and finally pinched out a wax pellet lodged deep in the throat.

The truth hit him in an instant. This Daoist must have sensed the noose tightening and attempted to hide something valuable on his person. Panicked, he tried swallowing the wax pellet, but his killer struck too quickly. Choking on it, he was strangled and left hanging to stage a suicide.

If Xue Shu hadn't noticed the corpse's subtle swaying, a telltale sign the killer had left only moments before, he wouldn't have caught such a small detail.

Breaking open the wax pellet, Xue Shu uncovered half a sheet of official salt permit paper, stamped with a government seal.

Salt permits in the Dayan Empire were critical for trading state-controlled salt. Xue Shu had seen such permits before. Every salt permit came in two parts-front and back-clearly marked with the quantity and price. Once printed, they were split in half: the front half, the "procurement root," was stashed in the archives, while the back half, dubbed the "procurement paper," was handed to the salt merchant as proof of the deal.

The guide paper stuffed inside the wax ball didn't look like much at first glance. But the way Daoist Wangchen went to such lengths to hide it? That screamed it wasn't ordinary.

And why would a Daoist priest have a salt permit to begin with?

Pocketing the paper, Xue Shu called the others back to dispose of the body.

With the confession secured and the priest's "suicide" wrapping up the case, Xue Shu could have reported back to Emperor Longfeng. But instinct told him something stank worse than rotting fish.

He had a hunch that the death of Daoist Wangchen might not be that simple.

By the time Xue Shu visited Ciqing Palace again that day, he'd stopped by the Western Depot to change into fresh clothes. When Zheng Duobao led him inside, Yin Chengyu was lounging in the warm chamber, gazing at the snow. A clay brazier by his side simmered with tea, and the rising steam lent a soft flush to his already pale, striking face.

"What is it now?" Yin Chengyu barely glanced up, his tone languid as he continued tending to the teapot. He was clearly in a good mood, and a rare warmth crept into his otherwise aloof demeanor.

Xue Shu's eyes lingered on the long, pale fingers wrapped around the teapot handle before he produced the salt permit fragment. "The Daoist Wangchen was murdered. I found this on him."

"Hm?" Yin Chengyu's casual demeanor vanished as he took the paper. His expression sharpened when he recognized it. "A salt permit?"

His gaze grew heavier as he examined the document, his once-relaxed posture straightening. Something clicked in his mind, and a faint smile tugged at his lips.

Tucking the permit away, Yin Chengyu turned back to Xue Shu, his rare approval evident. "Well done. You've earned yourself a commendation."

Memories of his past life flooded back. The salt permit-it had been the opening move in the fall of the Yu family. His uncle Yu Chen had been implicated in an embezzlement scandal that destroyed their house, and it all began with falsified salt trade records.

Back then, Yin Chengyu believed the scandal was a carefully laid trap targeting his family. Now, he wondered if it was simply collateral damage from someone covering their tracks.

That someone, he realized, was his third brother, Yin Chengjing.

Excluding Yin Chengqian who was not yet born, Emperor Longfeng now had four sons and one daughter.

Among Emperor Longfeng's four living children, the second prince Yin Chengzhang was flashy and reckless, too obvious to be a threat. The third prince, Yin Chengjing, was born to Consort De, on the other hand, was a libertine in public but a schemer in the shadows. The youngest, Yin Chengxu, was merely a child.

As for Yin Chengjing, he'd been secretly planning his rise to power for years.

The Daoist priest had been one of Yin Chengjing's pawns, and now the salt permit tied him directly to the corruption scandal. Uncle Yu Chen had been nothing but a scapegoat.

Yin Chengyu's gaze darkened, his thoughts churning. After a pause, he called in Zhao Lin. "Investigate the background of Daoist Wangchen. And while you're at it, look into the Zhao scholar whose family was massacred by the so-called demon fox."

The threads of these cases were weaving into a larger, more dangerous picture.

Once Zhao Lin left, Yin Chengyu turned his attention back to Xue Shu, a sly smile playing on his lips. "What reward do you want?"

Without waiting for a reply, his eyes landed on a plate of dragon's whisker candy. "I recall you're fond of these. Take them." A quick glance to Zheng Duobao, and the servant promptly placed the untouched plate before Xue Shu.

Xue Shu's brows furrowed with discomfort. He hesitated for what felt like forever before finally picking up a piece and shoving it into his mouth. He barely chewed before swallowing it whole.

He hated sweet things, and the cloying syrupy sweetness of the dragon's beard candy was downright revolting.

Yin Chengyu caught the expression on his face and arched a brow in confusion. "You don't like it?"

Xue Shu hesitated, clearly dreading whatever might come next. Finally, he decided to come clean. "I don't like sweets."

Yin Chengyu froze for a moment, surprised.

He distinctly remembered why he thought Xue Shu loved dragon's beard candy. Once, during a chess game with Xie Yunchuan, the kitchen happened to bring in some of the stuff. Xie Yunchuan, with his notorious sweet tooth, got a plate. Somehow, Xue Shu found out about it.

That night, after two particularly intense rounds in bed, Xue Shu had sneered, "So, His Highness can spare sweets for irrelevant people, but not for his own household. Good to know where your priorities lie."

Furious and annoyed, Yin Chengyu had retaliated by having the kitchen send Xue Shu a plate of dragon's beard candy every single day.

He figured if Xue Shu had to choke down something so nauseatingly sweet every day, it'd serve him right.

At first, Xue Shu actually ate them. But eventually, he'd had enough. When Yin Chengyu pressed, Xue Shu had snapped back with sharp, biting words. Once, in a fit of frustration, he crushed the uneaten candies and scattered them all over Yin Chengyu.

After several rounds of petty back-and-forth, Yin Chengyu finally stopped the daily delivery.

And now Xue Shu claimed he didn't even like sweets?

The realization hit Yin Chengyu all at once. The dragon's beard candy? That had just been another excuse for Xue Shu to mess with him.

His lips curled into a cold smirk. "Don't like it? Then don't eat it. Zheng Duobao, toss it out."

The sudden anger caught both Zheng Duobao and Xue Shu off guard.

Zheng Duobao, unwilling to risk defying the command, picked up the plate and prepared to leave.

But Xue Shu, noticing the sharp glint of anger in Yin Chengyu's eyes, suddenly acted. He snatched the plate out of Zheng's hands. He might not understand why his distaste for sweets had pissed off Yin Chengyu, but he knew better than to let it escalate.

"I'll eat it," he said firmly.

Yin Chengyu's gaze burned as he stared at him. Every petty squabble they'd ever had flashed through his mind, and his fury only intensified. He let out a series of biting laughs. "If you hadn't proven yourself useful today, you'd be chewing on the paddle instead of candy."

With that parting shot, he shot Xue Shu one final glare, then stormed out, robes billowing dramatically.

Zheng Duobao, stunned into silence, quickly followed after him.

That left Xue Shu standing alone in the warm room, holding the damn plate of sweets.

He hesitated, picked up another piece, and took a bite. His face scrunched up immediately.

Still too damn sweet.

But if Yin Chengyu liked it, then maybe he could learn to like it too.

---Author's Note: Doggy: Why's he mad again? His Highness: Why don't you ask yourself? Doggy: ?