My Gentle and Pure Sect Leader Husband - Chapter 45

The bright moon hung high as the night breeze gently blew.

When Wang Lianhua saw Ximen Chuixue return alone that day, he immediately understood why Yu Luocha had been repeatedly hitting his sore spots earlier.

After waiting two days without seeing Yan Hongyin return, and discovering that the men he sent out had been intercepted in Jinling City by both the Luocha Sect and Jinyiwei dark envoys using every possible method, Wang Lianhua laughed coldly and said sarcastically, “You two truly are of one heart as husband and wife.”

Taking advantage of Wang Lianhua’s reluctance to deliver a fatal blow, Yu Luocha had thoroughly offended Wang Lianhua these past few days. But now that Wang Lianhua had spoken so bluntly, he couldn’t be bothered to pretend anymore.

After all, he had already satisfied his need for revenge—he had vented his anger from when Wang Lianhua beat him days ago.

“There’s really no point in stopping her. Whether she finds out sooner or later, she’ll find out eventually,” Yu Luocha, who had been lying on the ground, rolled over and stood up lazily. “I’m going to prepare some food. Want some?”

“Her returning to the capital now isn’t a good thing. The Emperor is extremely suspicious. His two sons are currently causing quite a commotion, and he’s already wary of the martial arts world. If he discovers that Xiao Yin’er knows about her identity now, he’ll definitely become suspicious and fearful.”

Wang Lianhua frowned, but didn’t forget to order Yu Luocha around, “I want eight-treasure duck, braised river fish, Buddha Jumps Over the Wall…”

“Snow fungus and lily soup. Take it or leave it.” Yu Luocha rolled his eyes. “Cool down your temper, old man.”

Wang Lianhua smiled without humor, gripping the fan in his hand tightly. “I think you truly need to be taught a lesson.”

“Serving the father-in-law is certainly my duty, but since the head of the household hasn’t officially acknowledged the relatives, how can I accept it first? The head of the household is strict, so the elder should be more generous and open-minded.”

As Yu Luocha stretched lazily while walking toward the kitchen, he paused halfway and looked back at Wang Lianhua, who was standing there with his head lowered, lost in thought. After a moment, he asked, “Want some wine? I can fry some peanuts.”

Wang Lianhua remained silent for a while. When he looked at Yu Luocha again, he raised his chin and said, “Make sure the peanuts are crispy, not soggy. Also, which wine are we drinking?”

****

Imperial Palace, Capital City

Having passed through layer upon layer of screening at both the inner and outer city gates, Yan Hongyin’s journey had been quite smooth.

No one knew the layout of the imperial palace better than Yan Hongyin, who had once served as the Emperor’s bodyguard. But over the years, apart from the annual sacrifices in front of the pear tree in the courtyard, she had never entered Liluo Palace where Consort Li had once lived.

Yan Hongyin removed all those jingling gold ornaments and changed into ordinary red male attire. A translucent jade ring was fastened to her right ear, radiating a moonlit luster.

The black hooded cloak enveloped her entire person, making her appear no different from an ordinary young man who had just reached adulthood, except her eyebrows and eyes were strikingly beautiful. When she raised her eyes to look at people, there was a soul-stirring beauty, but also a sharpness as cold as a blade.

Consort Li was a very special yet somewhat overlooked presence in the imperial harem.

The Emperor didn’t have many consorts with titles. Consort Li was originally one of the four consorts, and according to protocol, before the Emperor conferred the title of Noble Consort, she even had the right to jointly manage the harem. But the Emperor’s attitude toward Consort Li was quite ambiguous, which made everyone in the palace, whether consorts or servants, uncertain about her status.

Consort Li was certainly favored—she had her own palace, gave birth to the Emperor’s first princess, and the Emperor even renamed the original palace to Liluo Palace. Her food, clothing, and daily necessities were all exquisite.

Yet Consort Li also seemed not so favored—while the Emperor had carefully chosen meaningful titles for his other consorts, Consort Li was given only a casual “Pear” character. Moreover, if one counted the number of times the Emperor visited Liluo Palace, it was even fewer than those consorts of lower rank, not to mention staying overnight.

(TL: 梨 Li=Pear)

Except for a few consorts who had entered the palace early, some of the later consorts had never even heard of Consort Li’s title or name. Later, after Consort Li passed away from illness a few years after giving birth to the First Princess, even fewer people in the harem remembered her.

But Liluo Palace, a palace not far from the Emperor’s sleeping quarters, was left vacant for more than twenty years with the Emperor’s tacit consent.

Yan Hongyin reached out to push the window outside the hall, only to discover that the window had been nailed shut from the inside with wooden strips. Her eyes darkened, and she directly tore off the chains on the door and pushed it open.

The palace interior was not as empty as Yan Hongyin had expected. On the contrary, all furnishings were complete. With a single glance, Yan Hongyin even saw many pieces of porcelain that, according to protocol, only the Imperial Noble Consort and Noble Consort could use.

The windows had been nailed shut from the inside with wooden strips, leaving no gaps. The spacious palace was filled only with the musty smell of a place uninhabited for many years. It was pitch dark, without a hint of light.

When Consort Li was still alive, young Yan Hongyin had lived with her mother in Liluo Palace. After Consort Li’s death, Yan Hongyin was taken to the Zhenfu Division by her master, the Jinyiwei Commander.

The appearance of the Dark Division Commander was confidential. Yan Hongyin and Lu Gang had never seen their master’s face. In front of them, the master always wore a mask that covered his entire face, maintaining a cold distance.

Darkness did not hinder a skilled fighter like Yan Hongyin. She stood still for a while, closing her eyes, searching from deep in her memory for that slender and elegant figure. When she carefully recalled, she realized that in her memory, there was only her mother’s back figure, but not a clear face.

Yan Hongyin’s expression was not pleasant. She pressed her lips tightly and walked toward the dressing table where her mother used to sit frequently in her memory.

In the darkness, a phoenix hairpin with wings spread as if about to fly lay quietly in front of the dressing table, its head pointing toward a box on the left side of the dressing table.

Yan Hongyin took out an almost identical golden phoenix hairpin from her bosom, the one that had been delivered to her by Lu Xiaofeng in Jinling City.

After Hua Ruling’s authentication, Yan Hongyin confirmed that this hairpin was from the palace and was a style from more than twenty years ago. At that time, there was no Noble Consort or Imperial Noble Consort in the palace, and without the Emperor’s order, the Imperial Household Department would never dare to forge such a phoenix hairpin.

—Only the ignorant and daring Prefect’s son and the top courtesan in Jinling City would dare to exchange such an item as a token of their love.

Twisting the red jade on the phoenix head, the originally smooth hairpin body suddenly sprouted several serrated teeth of varying lengths.

With a slight pull of her lips, Yan Hongyin inserted the hairpin into the carved recess on the box to the left of the dressing table. The phoenix hairpin fit perfectly into the box.

Yan Hongyin applied slight pressure and turned it left and right. The secret door behind the inner chamber curtain slowly rotated open with the heavy creak of stone walls.

In the moments when the mechanism was activated, the ever-burning lamp in the secret chamber instantly ignited the lamp oil in the wall recesses. In the blink of an eye, a spacious and majestic secret chamber was revealed before Yan Hongyin.

Bookshelves, tables and chairs, wardrobes, screens, and beds were all fully equipped. On the shelves nearby were many bottles and jars, as well as various hidden weapons covered in dust.

This didn’t look like a secret chamber that a palace consort should possess—and indeed, it wasn’t.

Yan Hongyin was very familiar with this place.

In her childhood and youth, she had been led into this secret chamber countless times by her master.

Here, Yan Hongyin learned many skills that a Jinyiwei should master, as well as many abilities that a Jinyiwei didn’t need but Yan Hongyin had to learn.

Behind her was a desolate and decaying palace chamber; before her was a dignified secret chamber illuminated by lamplight.

Yan Hongyin’s eyelashes trembled, and she stood in place for a good while before stepping into the secret chamber.

There was nothing of value left in the secret chamber. It seemed that the owner knew this would be their last visit and had burned everything that shouldn’t be preserved, leaving only a mess in a copper basin. However, as Yan Hongyin desperately searched through the charcoal basin for any unburned papers, she inadvertently noticed something hidden under the medicine cabinet opposite.

She reached out and retrieved the object from beneath the medicine cabinet, wiping away the accumulated dust.

It was an unmounted painting scroll, with some edges burned, as if the owner had changed their mind at the last moment, rescued the painting from the flames, and extinguished the fire that would have consumed all traces.

Yan Hongyin slowly unrolled the scroll. A red-robed gentleman sitting alone on a rooftop, drinking lightly under the moon, vividly appeared on the paper—the unparalleled gentleman from several decades ago.

Outside the scroll, Yan Hongyin, whose features had become somewhat fiercer due to her narrowed eyebrows, had a face seven parts similar to the gentleman in the painting, except their eye colors were completely different.

One had azure eyes, the other had black eyes.

When the scroll was completely unfolded, a yellowed letter fell out, landing lightly on the ground, with the words written on it:

[To my child, Hongyin]

****

Jinling City

Two men who until recently couldn’t stand each other were now each holding a plate of peanuts, with small wine jars scattered around the rooftop. One had even rolled to the edge of the eaves, about to fall off.

Fortunately, the children in the house were already asleep, so Yu Luocha couldn’t be bothered to care. If it fell, it fell—they would just hear a crash.

“Tell me, how did you find out?” After several jars of wine, Wang Lianhua had become much more amicable when facing Yu Luocha.

And indeed.

His countless grievances against Yu Luocha actually all stemmed from his awkwardness around Yan Hongyin, which he had carefully hidden.

“How did I find out…” Yu Luocha thought for a moment, then squinted his eyes and said, “When we first entered the black market in Lin’an Prefecture, I had already ordered people to constantly track the black market’s information.”

Wang Lianhua raised an eyebrow.

Yu Luocha turned his head. “Is that strange? You’re allowed to hang corpses at the door to warn me and remind Ah Yin, but I’m not allowed to come back and investigate you?”

Yan Hongyin had been cooperating with the black market for a long time, somewhat like hiding in plain sight. But for Yu Luocha, a black market that could expose his identity at first glance was definitely a force that could not be ignored or left uninvestigated.

Wang Lianhua tilted his head back and took a sip of wine, holding it in his mouth for a moment before swallowing.

This slick cat from the Western Regions wasn’t without guile at all—he was full of schemes!

Wang Lianhua had a bit of a headache.

Yan Hongyin’s features and stubborn personality took after him, yet she hadn’t developed the ability to handle matters with sophistication. Instead, she had an inflexible straightforwardness that made her brittle.

Now it seemed that sooner or later, she would be schemed into this Western man’s nest!

“You’re overthinking it,” Yu Luocha pouted. “Do you know how she keeps me in check? People like us like to plan ten to sixteen or eighteen steps ahead when doing things, but Ah Yin is different. Once she’s determined something, if she can’t figure it out, she doesn’t try. She just comes straight at you with a knife to see clearly.”

Back when she thought Ah Yu was frail and scholarly, Yan Hongyin protected him in every way. Yu Luocha had shown his true colors a few times but had managed to cover it up rather awkwardly. But once Yan Hongyin saw Yu Luocha as the Luocha Sect Leader with impure motives threatening the Central Plains, no matter how much effort Yu Luocha made afterward, Yan Hongyin always maintained a layer of suspicion and vigilance toward him.

Even though the secrets they shared with each other became more and more numerous, they could never return to the intimate distance they had when they knew nothing about each other.

Yu Luocha wanted to be with Yan Hongyin, but the more scheming he did, the more suspicion and vigilance he faced, and the heavier the barrier between them became.

In fact, even Yu Luocha himself hadn’t expected that the prey he had initially schemed to “tame” with ulterior motives would end up “imprisoning” him with chains by her side.

“Then I’ll give you the complete Great Heaven and Earth Shift, and you can go back to the Western Regions. How about that?” Wang Lianhua said.

Yu Luocha scoffed. “I won’t! I’ve decided to stick with her, and what can you do about it? As for the Great Heaven and Earth Shift, I can write it myself.”

Wang Lianhua snorted with laughter, picked up a peanut and tossed it into his mouth, then said, “To investigate me, you lied to her saying you established bases in coastal prefectures to ship seafood. Aren’t you afraid she’ll find out?”

“I wasn’t investigating. Don’t make things up. My people were just getting some food.”

Yu Luocha held the mouth of the wine jar between his fingers and swirled it, drinking the last sip before taking a new jar.

“Besides, finding people to investigate isn’t something the Luocha Sect excels at. This kind of thing should be left to professionals.”

Wang Lianhua’s expression stiffened for a moment.

That’s not right. The Luocha Sect originated from the Western Regions, and Yu Luocha’s subordinates going to sea would likely result in certain death—where would they find a place?

Yu Luocha changed his posture, stretching out his long legs on the tiles, and said leisurely, “Beyond the passes is my territory. Fortunately, we were lucky. There’s a wealthy merchant from Lanzhou who has frequent and pleasant dealings with Chu Liuxiang, and they are sworn brothers with deep feelings. So for the matter of going to sea to investigate, leaving it to Chu Liuxiang was more than adequate.”

“Just recently, Chu Liuxiang sent a message by carrier pigeon saying that he had seen two seniors at sea who were rumored to have been living in seclusion overseas for many years.”

****

Imperial Palace, Capital City

After closing the secret chamber mechanism, Yan Hongyin put away the phoenix hairpin and was about to leave when her ears picked up several breathing sounds in the darkness.

Around the previously desolate and cold Liluo Palace, there were no fewer than a dozen martial arts masters with high internal energy, and the clearest and most distinct breathing sound, accompanied by the dull sound of knuckles tapping on a table, came from outside the screen in the outer hall.

With a sleeve dagger sliding into her palm, Yan Hongyin pressed her lips and slowly stepped forward, but did not walk around the screen to look at the person in the outer hall.

The person sighed lightly, his voice majestic and deep. “Ah Yin has finally returned to the capital. Why not come see Father Emperor?”

A sudden thunderclap struck outside the hall but couldn’t illuminate the Liluo Palace that was sealed on all sides.

Yan Hongyin took a deep breath to calm herself, put away the sleeve dagger, walked around the screen to the Emperor, and knelt on one knee with her right arm placed in front, a completely proper etiquette for a subject meeting the Emperor.

“This subject pays respects to Your Majesty.”

It began to rain outside, and the sudden downpour created a mist as if heaven’s water was being poured down.

The tightly closed palace doors suddenly opened wide, and the water vapor and moonlight that rushed in dispersed the musty air inside the hall.

By the moonlight, Yan Hongyin’s current attire was visible to the Emperor.

When the Emperor saw Yan Hongyin, his fingers, which had been tapping on the table, suddenly stopped.

“Ah Yin’s appearance today is quite different from usual.”

Yan Hongyin’s pupils suddenly contracted. If what her mother wrote in the letter was true, then her face, which was seven parts similar to Wang Lianhua’s…

Just then, the sound of weapons being unsheathed arose outside the hall. Two figures slowly entered the hall through the rain, cloaked in moonlight.

The man, having been tempered by years and experience, had become increasingly gentle and reserved, quiet and self-contained, inspiring a sense of closeness at first sight. The woman beside him had her black hair pinned up, with a beautiful face, and proud eyes.

He put down the umbrella he had been holding and leaned it against the edge of the hall door, as if the vigilant guards with unsheathed blades behind him didn’t exist at all.

“It’s been many years. Is Your Majesty still well?”

The Emperor’s gaze fell on the man, and after a while, he spoke, “It’s been many years, Master Shen, but you don’t seem to have changed much.”

“Today the weather is unpleasant, but old friends have gathered completely. It’s just a pity that the one person I’ve always wanted to meet is missing.”

His voice revealed neither joy nor anger.

Zhu Qiqi smiled upon hearing this, walked over, and stooped to grip Yan Hongyin’s arm, using a force that allowed no refusal to help her up. Facing the Emperor, she said directly, “There’s nothing to regret. Xiao Yin resembles her father seven or eight parts. If she had a bit more of his romantic air between her brows, she would look as if they were cast from the same mold!”