Chapter 18 (1/2)

Chapter 18 … As it turned out, this was a secret everyone knew of

After Wànshùn Year 41, the two of thean a very s 'Four Treasures of the Study'1 This was purely a hobby of hers that she did in her free time between study sessions She did not earn

Actually, Gu Hong Jian was not short of money

Although she and Lin Si Ze's relationshi+p was still very stiff, and despite neither seeing nor contacting each other, Jiang Hai Fu contacted her inter Hai Fu would send a little palace eunuch to go to Gu Hong Jian's residence to deliver letters and receive others to deliver

Jiang Hai Fu could read, and his penmanshi+p was not bad either His literary talent was decent too, so Gu Hong Jian, each cycle, would receive headache-inducing volu so s to write?!

Usually within the letters, there would be a report all about Lin Si Ze—concerning any , food, housing, transport, and other basic needs A sood night's rest to a large matter such as which old state official was inappropriately sche Jian

Gu Hong Jian actually replied to these letters, but contrary to Jiang Hai Fu's incredibly lengthy letters, her replies were si horrific It was normally only five words: How does this concern me?

Jiang Hai Fu, however, never fell to Gu Hong Jian's indifference He even sent a letter a ardless of the weather conditions

As usual, Lin Si Ze's ascension to the thronefirst prince and previously imprisoned third prince were set free, on the conditions of being reduced to co the capital Iht as well as all of his relatives Regretfully, the one Lin Si Ze wanted to eliminate theescaped long ago Although the arrest orders had been issued for quite a while, his whereabouts were still unknown to this day

The first prince and third prince, reduced to commoners, were soon discontent with their lot in life and once again began to plot

TheseHai Fu To the contrary, Gu Hong Jian was not worried; after all, if Jiang Hai Fu knew, then Lin Si Ze definitely had an even clearer understanding about all this

Only after Jiang Hai Fu infor Jian about how the first prince and third prince unexpectedly organized and established an evil cult in the south did she becohtly concerned

In the south, the evil cult of the was founded during a drought to incite revolts aht did not last for very long, the religious cult did not have tiardless of where the cultists fled to, they were very quickly suppressed in that region until the cult gradually vanished without a trace

Although it was never specified how the first prince and third prince were connected to the cult, the third prince and first prince were connected, and their intentions were clearly visible in this scheme

Consequently, Gu Hong Jian's rare reply of 'how does this concern ed into 'how does he intend to handle this'

Probably because he finally received a reply other than 'how does this concernHai Fu sent ith a little palace eunuch the next day

The contents summed up to be: 「I do not dare to presumptuously make conjectures」

Gu Hong Jian: ””

She did not believe Jiang Hai Fu to so openly and fearlessly tell matters of all sizes to those outside of the palace—not unless Lin Si Ze allowed him to!

Gu Hong Jian, annoyed, simply did not reply

Soon after, Gu Hong Jian received a letter fro Hai Fu, which talked about the first prince and third prince actually disobeying Lin Si Ze's orders and secretly entering the capital Moreover, they were staying not far fro Jian, in the Melodic Harmony Inn

Gu Hong Jian narrowed her eyes and burned the letter She instructed the little palace eunuch to coed into a black nocturnal outfit she had not worn in ages, strapped a longsword to her waist, and headed directly to Melodic Harmony Inn

She searched through the entire building; assuone to sleep yet, she immediately hid outside of a room still lit with several candles At last, she heard the first prince's voice

”We have already walked this far; we can't turn around now! If he doesn't die, we'll die instead,” The first prince hissed quietly

Compared to the first prince, the third prince's voice was quite dispirited He had probably still not coe lashes with the plank ”But noe are without peerage…”

”I had said that Qian Ling will help us!” The first prince angrily snapped, ”Can you speak up and say so constructive?!”

”But Qian Ling is only a palace eunuch… He also only hates Lin Si Ze's ascension to the throne because he was thrown out of the palace due to his good relationshi+p with Imperial Tutor Yao… How can he be of help?” the third prince murmured

The first prince whispered, ”Do you not realize? Truly idiotic; you'll naturally understand a few days fro our tracks at the et into contact with Imperial Secretary Wu tomorrow…”

The third prince weakly said, ”I know I'o back to your room to rest”

Gu Hong Jian replaced her blade and pensively stroked her chin She then quietly left

After returning, Gu Hong Jian wrote a letter, roughly conveying theand I Hai Fu pass it on to Lin Si Ze

She originally wanted to tell Jiang Hai Fu to not tell Lin Si Ze that the inforhts; besides her, who else could it be? Whatever

In the end, she had beco care of all of Lin Si Ze's business

Apart from this habit, she also could not help but admit that she had selfish motives

Just as she had said, she knew Lin Si Ze would inevitably hate her one day—extre Yan's suicide…

Therefore, she wanted to distance herself further froenuinely arrived, so that she would not be too broken-hearted because of Lin Si Ze's hatred At the sas for Lin Si Ze, just so he can reht when that moment came At the very least…so he won't hate her so much

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Originally, Gu Hong Jian thought that according to Lin Si Ze's character, he would inevitably deal with the first prince and third prince like a passing thunderstorm—swift and decisive; however, she saw no movements even a month later

Although Gu Hong Jian felt very suspicious in her heart, she still did not interfere and, for the most part, believed the silence to be part of Lin Si Ze's plan

TwoHai Fu's letter finally arrived, and she could clearly discern Jiang Hai Fu's worry fro Jian's information to Lin Si Ze, but while Lin Si Ze understood, he did nothing at all He didn't even have anyonethe first prince and third prince! I in the imperial court as he did before

Not eventhem?

Gu Hong Jian truly did not understand What was Lin Si Ze thinking?

Gu Hong Jian poured over the letter for a long ti

Lin Si Ze was not letting the on her

Hethe first and third princes for hio after them a second time, a third tihly dealt with

So he waited

Moreover, to be forewarned was to be forearmed

Gu Hong Jian bitterly laughed and tossed the paper aside She leaned back into her and stared blankly into space

On June 6th in the capital, there was not a single cloud in the sky for kilohts would finally be pushed aside though

What she felthow far the first and third princes' influence stretched in the capital when she went to observe the and Imperial Secretary Wu, there was former Deputy Commander Liu Wei's sister's son, the first prince's wife's older male cousin, etc

Even though the nue, the anificant Gu Hong Jian spent the entire night trying to not yawn and decided to let them off this time

She would keep observing until she could implicate more people from this network

Like this, for thather to rest for the ti the day and ventured out every night of thatlist of naainst the state She then delivered this list to Jiang Hai Fu

Lin Si Ze, like before, still did nothing Gu Hong Jian was already used to this When the first prince and third prince decided to begintheir move, she would strike first and kill the first prince and third prince

Because she was, after all, only one person, she only had one blade She killed the one closest to the —the third prince

When the first prince was about to involuntarily shriek, Gu Hong Jian reached out to cover his mouth with her hand and pressed her blade to his neck She saithin the completely shocked look in the first prince's eyes, a trace of soued Believing that he would not run away, she reive you the opportunity to say your last words”

The first prince gnashed his teeth and growled, ”You——!!!”

Gu Hong Jian ly smiled and said, ”Me First prince, are you still confused? You knew I killed the second prince”

The first prince trembled from head to toe and stuttered, ”It was actually you…it was actually you?!”

Gu Hong Jian smiled and said, ”Yes The information was deliberately released by Lin Si Ze to provoke you, so that we could use the inforainst you That inforenuinely outstanding He liked Zuo Ning Yan, so he would not allow the Yao family or you off—also true”

The first prince shuddered ”He murdered our brothers; may heavenly thunder strike him down…”

”You dare to speak such words?” Gu Hong Jian's smile sharpened ”As a child, the second prince and others bullied Lin Si Ze I killed the second prince and suppressed the third prince and fourth prince You seized the opportunity to rise to power, but you ended up doing nothing major All you do is blame others You wanted to force the emperor to abdicate… Oh, you tried to murder your own father So are you really qualified to curse him?”

The first prince's face was as white as paper as he pleaded, ”Right,you to not kill me…”

His voice began as a whisper but ended as a yell Gu Hong Jian's eyes narrowed She stretched her hand out to grip his throat, silencing him ”I said: don't yell”

The first prince hatefully glared at Gu Hong Jian, looking as if he wanted to rip her apart at any second

Unfortunately, he did not have that ability, so he could only glare at Gu Hong Jian like this

Gu Hong Jian sighed and said, ”I gave you a chance to say your last words, but you ended up saying a pile of rubbish… Is there anything else you want to say? I' for help”

The first prince nodded

Gu Hong Jian gave hirip

The first prince said, ”I' you, don't killLin Si Ze What benefits are you getting? Didn't, didn't you say—he liked Zuo Ning Yan? You like hiht? But he doesn't like you! Look…help me, okay? If you help me, I will certainly treat you well In the future, when I am emperor, I will make you my empress! This is surely better than Lin Si Ze! My current wife does not understand at all Later, it's fine if I make her zhāoyí2; she won't threaten your position!”

Gu Hong Jian blanked for a moment

Because that line—'You like hiht? But he doesn't like you!'

As it turned out, this was a secret everyone knew

She had not realized this Moreover, even the very retarded first prince knew this

Everyone knew she was in a one-sided love—one that would never be reciprocated

This was truly ridiculous

The first prince saw Gu Hong Jian remain silent and felt that she was tempted He slyly said falsehoods like how in the future, he would definitely be good to her and only her, and so forth Gu Hong Jian zoned back in and looked at hi She said, ”Your words are very attractive, but I'm sorry I'm not interested”

The first prince, stunned, stammered, ”W-why…”

Gu Hong Jian replied, ”Because you are too ugly”

The first prince was struck du Jian's response and i you, Lin Si Ze will never like you! What if you kill me?! What if you kill all that oppose him?! He won't like you He will never like…”

He did not finish, as he had no way to do so

Because—Gu Hong Jian had already slit his throat

His eyes rerievances re

Gu Hong Jian expressionlessly looked at him and quietly said, ”I know So what?”

So what?

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Handling the accomplices of the first prince and third prince also used up a lot of Gu Hong Jian's strength

Yes, strength

Gu Hong Jian's s was, as always, si violence; if she could beat a capital into submission, she would do so This was the antithesis to a person with Lin Si Ze's heart, ould only kill when no better option existed

At that ti Jian also felt very sad

Honestly, if she were told to kill the first prince and the third prince, she could do it in a heartbeat However, if she were to kill others who

Thus, Gu Hong Jian flew over to several others' residences and only blanklyto her own residence

Gu Hong Jian did kill a feever, because she heard them revile Lin Si Ze She would then reveal that the first prince and third prince were already dead That reveal ht as well break the pot further since it was already broken

This forced Gu Hong Jian to straightforwardly kill them

Luckily, a few days later, Lin Si Ze finally begana move Like all of his previous methods, Lin Si Ze's move resonated like thunder; he immediately had all of the ed, which displayed a powerful initial show of strength within the imperial court

Gu Hong Jian could finally sigh in relief and even believed herself to be able to have a restful sleep