Chapter 54: Dilemma

Pei Yuan’s face stiffened. He took the paper packet and rubbed the powder between his fingers — it was fine and smooth, carrying a strong aroma of tea.

Qiu Mingshan said, “At first, no one suspected the powder. Zhou Jiangcheng loved tea — he often drank xiao qinggan pu’er , and pu’er naturally has a frosty white layer on top. But yesterday, he secretly brewed a cup himself, took two sips, and went mad again — just like that day before. He started banging his head against the wall until people stopped him and questioned him, and only then did we think of this.”

“Come and see.” Qiu Mingshan wrapped the packet again and walked toward the big water jar behind the pomegranate tree.

The jar had been discarded long ago, but after Bao Ning arrived, she thought it was too beautiful to throw away, so she raised two koi fish in it. They were now sleeping soundly. Qiu Mingshan shook the powder into the water — not long after, the two fish suddenly went wild, darting around and crashing into each other, until soon, they bled.

Pei Yuan stared at the slowly spreading blood in the water, and a thought flashed through his mind — he remembered Gongsun Zhu, Pei Xiao’s most skilled poison doctor.

“There’s also this.”

Qiu Mingshan pulled out a piece of cloth, wrinkled and stained with dirt. “Wei Meng’s people dug this up from the Bashu army’s camp, beneath a locust tree that faced northeast. They were about to start a fire and cook, but when they chopped down the tree and dug up the roots, they found this.”

His tone wavered slightly. “You… don’t be afraid when you see it.”

Pei Yuan took it and unfolded it under the light of Qiu Mingshan’s fire stick.

His heart gave a violent jolt.

The whole surface was covered in writing — a letter written entirely in blood. The characters were messy, but the hatred in them was raw and overwhelming. The word hate was repeated again and again, filling the page. And in the lower right corner, there was an enormous character — Ji .

“There’s a custom in those mountains,” Qiu Mingshan continued. “They write the surname of the person they hate in fingertip blood, bury it under a locust tree, and it’s said to curse that person’s entire family. Zhou Jiangcheng said… this is Lu Yun’s handwriting.”

Pei Yuan closed his eyes for a moment, feeling that all these incidents were tangled and chaotic — yet somehow connected by an unseen thread.

Especially that Ji character — it threw him into confusion.

There were many people in this world surnamed Ji. Who exactly did Lu Yun hate? There was no way to guess.

But Pei Yuan couldn’t help thinking — could this somehow be connected to Bao Ning? Would it affect her?

Pei Yuan sorted through the clues in his mind: the tiger tally, Lu Yun, poison, Pei Xiao, Gongsun Zhu, Ji, hate.

A web of tangled threads — and something he still couldn’t grasp.

But deep down, he had a faint premonition — that behind all this complexity, there lay a secret that might benefit him.

“Yuan’er, we can’t wait any longer,” Qiu Mingshan said urgently. “The enemy hides in the dark, while we stand in the open. Today Pei Xiao was able to scheme for the Bashu army’s tiger tally — tomorrow, he may well come for our heads. Right now, we command two hundred thousand troops. In two months, midsummer will come, and His Majesty will go to the summer palace. If you make up your mind and lead the Benlang Army to seize His Majesty, forcing him to change the decree naming the crown prince — why live in fear any longer?”

“Why do you want that throne so badly?” Pei Yuan narrowed his eyes at him. “Is it not enough that you’ve insulted my mother — you even want to kill my father now?”

“You…” Qiu Mingshan stepped back two paces, his face stricken with shock. “I’ve done everything for you, and you see me like this?”

“Then do me a favor,” Pei Yuan said coldly. “Take back your good intentions.”

“We agreed from the beginning — the one I’ll help you kill is Pei Xiao, not His Majesty. I may be ruthless, but I’m not the kind of man to usurp the throne. When your great ambitions succeed and I’ve uncovered the truth about my mother, I won’t claim any credit. Then we part ways.”

Qiu Mingshan’s face turned pale. His hands clenched at his sides. Some words almost escaped his lips — but he swallowed them back.

……

When Pei Yuan returned to the room, Bao Ning was already asleep.

He and Qiu Mingshan could no longer return to the harmony of the past. Their positions were different, their political views opposed, and there was resentment between them. Their cooperation now was out of necessity — and both harbored their own motives.

Qiu Mingshan, eager to win his favor, kept trying to fill Pei Yuan’s head with things he didn’t want to hear — which only deepened the distance between them. They parted again, on bad terms.

Bao Ning had already bathed; the room still carried the faint scent of jasmine soap. The candlelight on the table was dim, casting a soft golden glow over a small area.

Ah Huang and Little Lamb were curled up together under the bed — a fluffy heap of fur. Pei Yuan couldn’t say he liked them much, but hearing their quiet breathing, he couldn’t resist reaching down to give them a pat. Ah Huang twitched its ears, glanced at him, then ignored him and went back to sleep.

The atmosphere made it easy for one’s heart to relax.

Before entering, Pei Yuan had still been tense, his mind full of political struggles and power games. But once the door closed behind him — once he was inside this small space that Bao Ning had made her own — his mood lightened at once.

He sat on the edge of the bed, slowly pulled off his boots, and set them neatly beside Bao Ning’s white embroidered shoes.

The hot water had already been prepared and placed behind the screen; after so long it had cooled to a warm temperature — perfect for washing up. Pei Yuan draped his clothes over the screen, scooped up some water to wash his face, rinsed his feet, and walked toward the bed with a cloth towel, his damp hair brushing against his forehead.

“You were out for so long,” Bao Ning mumbled sleepily as she sat up, rubbing her eyes. Her voice was hoarse from sleep.

“So messy—” she drawled, “you didn’t even wash your feet properly. So dirty. Don’t get on my bed.”

Pei Yuan glanced at the candle — it was already as short as a fingernail. Too lazy to blow it out, he let it burn itself away.

“I’ll bathe tomorrow,” he said lazily as he lay down on the bed. “Give me one more day.”

“Some prince you are — won’t even bathe. Shameless,” Bao Ning huffed and lay down beside him, muttering, “Even cats know how to lick themselves clean.”

Pei Yuan clicked his tongue. “What’s wrong with bathing every three days? Back when I was stationed at the garrison, water was precious — sometimes we washed only once every half a month. You keep comparing yourself to me — who’s like you, acting as if you’ll grow fleas if you don’t bathe for a day? I don’t mind that you’re poor but clean, yet you complain that I’m sloppy.”

Bao Ning secretly kicked him. “Say one thing to you and you argue back with three — you never stop talking.”

“Then you’ll just have to endure it,” Pei Yuan said, turning his head toward her. Suddenly, he smirked, wrapped her — blanket and all — into his arms, pressed a hand to the back of her head, and began planting wild kisses all over her face.

“I’m your man,” he said between kisses, laughing. “You’ll never escape me in this life. If you don’t put up with me, what — you planning to rebel?”

Bao Ning struggled, letting out little squeals, and finally managed to shove him away. She grabbed the blanket to wipe the saliva off her face, looking thoroughly disgusted.

She had wanted to talk to him about her future plans, but after this chaos, all the words she’d thought out beforehand vanished completely. All she could think was that this man was like a dog — no, worse, even dogs didn’t lick people this much.

Pei Yuan glanced at her disheveled state, threw an arm over his forehead, and couldn’t help laughing heartily. The gloom in his heart completely dissolved.

“You’re so annoying. I’m not sleeping with you anymore,” Bao Ning glared at him, clutching her pillow, then turned around and crawled to the foot of the bed. She patted her pillow and lay down there.

Ah Huang woke up from the noise, yawned, then jumped onto the bed and curled up beside Bao Ning. One woman and one dog huddled together by the wall — before long, both were asleep, and the candle went out.

Pei Yuan lay awake for a while, staring at the canopy above, his mind turning again to what Qiu Mingshan had said earlier.

Now that he was calm, his thoughts were clearer, and sorting things out felt much easier.

At first, Pei Yuan had suspected that Lü Yun might be connected to the Ji family. Bao Ning’s father, Duke Rongguo, was not a faithful man — perhaps he had secretly kept a mistress and fathered a daughter, then abandoned her, causing the girl to hate him so bitterly.

But thinking it through, that seemed too small a matter. Duke Rongguo was weak and sentimental, but not vile to that extent — and there had never been any rumor of such a thing over the years. Besides, with Madam Tao’s skill and ruthlessness, if he really had an illegitimate daughter, the woman would’ve been quietly dealt with long ago.

Lu Yun, Pei Xiao, and the Ji family.

Pei Yuan kept his eyes closed, silently repeating those few words over and over in his mind.

Then, something suddenly occurred to him — and he snapped his eyes open. In just half a month, Pei Xiao was going to marry the Ji family’s legitimate fourth daughter, Ji Jiaying.

Perhaps Lu Yun actually had some kind of relationship with Pei Xiao. Maybe Pei Xiao had once made her a promise, but later broke it — and Lu Yun’s hatred had shifted toward the woman he was about to marry, the Crown Prince’s secondary consort, Ji Jiaying.

The thought was far-fetched — yet strangely reasonable.

Pei Yuan felt a dull ache in his head. He despised these sordid affairs within the inner chambers of noble households.

And if this guess were true, he would look down on Pei Xiao even more — a man who used women as pawns.

Pei Yuan secretly speculated that if this were indeed the case, Lu Yun must now be inside Pei Xiao’s residence. With hatred so deep, she might be waiting for Pei Xiao’s wedding day to strike — to take Ji Jiaying’s life.

On the day of the royal wedding, if something were to happen to the bride, the entire scene would fall into chaos. He could take advantage of that chaos —

—for instance, to find Gongsun Zhu.

Pei Yuan rubbed his fingers along the edge of the bed, recalling the layout of Pei Xiao’s residence. Even if it wasn’t certain this would happen, he had to make preparations early. He couldn’t miss any chance to harm Pei Xiao.

Especially since Gongsun Zhu was still under Pei Xiao’s command — a hidden weapon, a man who killed without leaving a trace. He needed to be eliminated as soon as possible.

It was already very late. Bao Ning was fast asleep, murmuring in her dreams.

Pei Yuan’s train of thought was interrupted. Curious about what she was saying, he sat up and leaned closer, putting his ear near her lips.

Half her face was buried in the pillow, smiling in her sleep. She murmured dreamily, drawing out her words:

“Ah Yun, the big estate you bought for your sister — sister loves it so much—”

Pei Yuan frowned in puzzlement. What estate? Where did that come from?

“Look at you, little money-grubber — even asleep, you’re still counting your silver.” Pei Yuan tapped her forehead, speechless. He tucked her blanket around her and lay back down.

Then another thought struck him — Ji Jiaying might be in danger. Should he tell Bao Ning?

If he did, it might disrupt his own plan. But if he didn’t — and something truly happened to Ji Jiaying, and he ended up benefiting from it — would Bao Ning blame him?

That sister of hers hadn’t treated her well, but Bao Ning cared deeply about family. Would she really sit by and do nothing?

And looking further ahead — would she feel, after everything, that he didn’t value her enough? Would it hurt her?

This time, Pei Yuan truly couldn’t fall asleep.

Before, he wouldn’t even have considered such concerns. He’d always acted purely for the sake of advantage, hardly caring whether he himself was happy or not.

But now it was different. Pei Yuan couldn’t help but think — how should he act, so that Bao Ning wouldn’t feel disappointed in him?

When Bao Ning woke the next morning, Pei Yuan’s eyes were still open. He looked as if he hadn’t slept at all — staring up at the canopy above their bed.

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