Scheming Emperor X Hunting Eunuch - Chapter 8.1

“Does Thousand-Years like it?” Pei Yanci asked.

“I like it.”

Tang Xizhui’s straightforward admission left Pei Yanci momentarily speechless.

“Your status is still insufficient to discuss cooperation with this lord,” Tang Xizhui said. “However, if you can find evidence of Gu Jiuqing secretly keeping advisors, this lord may consider cooperating with you in the future.”

“Good.” Pei Yanci knew that his bargaining chips were pitifully few at the moment, and he didn’t expect Tang Xizhui to agree immediately.

“How long?”

Pei Yanci considered, “Half a month.”

“Too long.”

“Ten days.”

“This lord awaits your good news.” Tang Xizhui released him without lingering, lazily lying back on the soft couch. “Now, you may return to the Crown Prince’s Mansion.”

“Return?” Wuli, who had been kneeling on the ground, was stunned for a moment, only standing up when Pei Yanci tugged at him.

“Can Dugong release that young general surnamed Jiang?” Pei Yanci made a request before turning to leave.

“No.”

Before Tang Xizhui could speak, a eunuch beside them had already responded.

Pei Yanci looked at the man, dressed in red robes—a high-ranking eunuch who wore no mask, but his face was painted with thick powder, pale as a paper figure, not much different from wearing a mask.

“Foster father, this boy might be sent by the Crown Prince. We don’t know if he has the ability yet. Jiang Yi is still useful if we keep him.”

Pei Yanci said, “Young General Jiang has not revealed even half a piece of evidence unfavorable to the Crown Prince so far. He has just returned from a great victory and is a hero of Great Yu. Keeping him imprisoned too long may stir public resentment.”

This frame-up was already forced; it would be better to release him.

“Moreover, I have lost my memory. What happened that day and before—I don’t remember any of it,” Pei Yanci said. “The Crown Prince already knew about this matter, yet still wanted me to be captured by you.”

With these words, everyone understood.

“Who knows if what you’re saying is true or false,” the eunuch said dissatisfied.

“Then you can capture me. Without needing torture, I can directly sign a confession about the Crown Prince and Jiang Yi’s correspondence.”

“Foster father.” Seeing him like this, the eunuch found himself at a disadvantage and couldn’t make up his mind, so he bowed to the person beside him.

Tang Xizhui’s gaze wandered between the two men, then he instructed his subordinate: “Release him.”

The red-robed eunuch’s gaze gained a hint of viciousness.

After Pei Yanci left, he approached and whispered, “Foster father, this person has the heart of a wolf. Today he can betray the Crown Prince, tomorrow he will surely betray us too. We must be on guard.”

“Does this lord need you to teach me?”

“This son dares not.” He immediately lowered his head.

Tang Xizhui’s eyes flickered as he put the mask back on his face.

After walking a few steps, he remembered seeing the brand of an official slave on Pei Yanci’s neck earlier.

“Huo Cun.”

The fan beckoned to the empty space behind him, and the eunuch from before shuffled closer.

“Foster father.”

“Investigate this person’s background thoroughly.”

A glint flashed in Huo Cun’s eyes. “Yes.”

****

“How did we just return like this?” After leaving the Dugong’s mansion, he hurriedly pulled Pei Yanci to ask, “The Crown Prince just wanted our lives, won’t going back be walking into death?”

“No. The Crown Prince won’t harm us.”

Wuli pouted, “You even sacrificed your beauty, and this is all we got in return.”

“Beauty?” Pei Yanci couldn’t help but laugh, his mind involuntarily conjuring Tang Xizhui’s heart-stopping face. “Speaking of beauty, wouldn’t that legendary Elu Bureau supervisor be even more stunning? With my status and appearance, I’m afraid I’d only pollute his eyes. He was testing me just now.”

“Testing what?”

“My patience and obedience,” Pei Yanci said. “Testing how likely I am to become a handy blade in his hands.”

If Tang Xizhui wanted to use him as a blade, he at least had to first see if it would cut back at him.

Wuli said, “I don’t understand all these twists and turns. Just tell me whether we’ll be in danger when we return.”

“We won’t.” Pei Yanci said with certainty. “The Crown Prince wanted to harm us because of Tang Xizhui. Now that we’ve come out of the supervisor’s mansion and Tang Xizhui didn’t harm us, the Crown Prince has even less reason to harm us. Since we came out safely, he’s now worried about what we might have revealed to Tang Xizhui.”

“Are those servants around the Crown Prince really kept advisors and assassins?”

Pei Yanci looked at him. “Have you ever thought about it? The Crown Prince is unmarried, and he’s the only master in the mansion. Does he need over a hundred servants? This clearly contradicts his usual low-key and simple lifestyle.”

“So those guards from last night were assassins and death warriors?” Wuli exclaimed.

“Yes. You often make friends in the mansion—how much do you know about them?”

“Just drinking buddies. The leader is named Xin Hai, the other three are Cui Nan, Gu Xing, and Old Third Ji. Usually they just chat, drink, and boast. I never thought they were actually assassins.”

He grabbed Pei Yanci’s clothes. “Did you ever suspect that I was also an assassin?”

Pei Yanci saw the pure light flickering in his bean-sized eyes—it would be hard to deceive him.

“No.”

“Don’t I seem like one?” In Wuli’s eyes, assassins were legendary beings, the mythical figures that storytellers described as “killing one person every ten steps, leaving no trace for a thousand li.”

Pei Yanci glanced up and down at his physique and gave him a look to interpret for himself.

Wuli was deeply hurt.

Sighing, he said, “Then how do we find evidence that those people are assassins? If we can’t find it, will that old eunuch send people to kill us?”

“We’re not looking for assassin evidence. What that Elu Bureau supervisor wants more is the advisors.”

Even if they were skilled in martial arts and possessed special abilities, they were still just a few wanderers from the martial world. But if there were poor scholars secretly supporting the Crown Prince in the mansion, that would be the serious crime of forming factions for personal gain.

“How could decent people willingly become servants?”

“Whether they have indenture contracts is still questionable.”

“That’s impossible. The government offices all have registered household records.”

“Then tell me, are the household registration offices in the government Tang Xizhui’s people or Gu Jiuqing’s people?”

“Ah?”

Before Wuli could react, Pei Yanci had already boarded the carriage first. Without thinking further, he followed and jumped on.

The carriage didn’t take the road to the Crown Prince’s Mansion but wandered around until they arrived at the Elu Bureau’s great prison.

Jiang Yi was released suddenly, and the Elu Bureau naturally wouldn’t be kind enough to notify his family. At this moment, he stood at the prison gate, wounded, plunging into the continuous rainy night.

A shabby carriage swayed to a stop three steps in front of him.

The carriage window opened, revealing an unfamiliar but handsome face.

“Young General Jiang, I am from the Crown Prince’s Mansion.” Pei Yanci revealed his identity, immediately easing much of Jiang Yi’s tense expression.

He jumped down from the carriage and bowed to the disheveled man. “The night is deep and the rain heavy. The young general is seriously wounded and cannot walk easily. Let me take the general home.”

Jiang Yi hesitated.

“It’s already the middle of the You hour, nearly curfew time,” Pei Yanci reminded. (TL: 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm)

By the end of the You hour when curfew began, all ward gates in Anjing City would close, and anyone still wandering the streets would be arrested by patrolling Jinwu Guards.