181 – Public Display of Affection

Thank you, Elaine, for the 💝! (How fitting with the title)

On the second day, Emperor Xiaohui decreed that Lei Tie and Lei Xiangzhi were “to be in mourning and disregard of reasons” and given seven days’ leave. If the parents of an official of the Imperial Court die, no matter what the official post was, he must return to his ancestral home for 27 months from the day he learned of the funeral – that was to be in mourning. As for “disregard of reasons”¹, he did not need to comply with this regulation, nor did he need to be removed from the official post.

With the identity as the State Defender Duke, it was very convenient for Lei Tie to act and he found some things – two bodies were discovered in the mass grave on the outskirts of the Capital. Through the coroner’s examination, they were identified dead by poisoning. One of them still had a quiver on his back. The arrows inside were just the same as those that were used to shot Du Shi dead. The clue was broken here.

It was a bit tricky because they didn’t even have a suspect. If they couldn’t find out who was behind the scene, there might be other troubles in the future.

Qin Mian believed that Emperor Xiaohui must know something.

“I’ll probe into the palace.” Lei Tie made up his mind.

Qin Mian hesitated. With his and Lei Tie’s ability, there would be no problem in probing into the palace with the soul sense without being detected. But his and Lei Tie’s movement must have been controlled by Emperor Xiaohui. If they got clues from the Palace and followed the new clues, it would be a problem to answer if Emperor Xiaohui asked them.

Lei Tie didn’t want him to worry, “Get the clue first.”

Qin Mian also felt that he thought too much. At present, the most important thing was to find a breakthrough.

“Alright, be careful. I’ll go to the drugstore as usual to avoid suspicion.”

Due to them pretending to fall out with Lei Xiangzhi, besides showing his face in Lei Xiangzhi’s residence on the day of Du Shi’s death, Qin Mian went to Ruyi Pharmacy and Jewel Pavilion as before after a few days. People who paid close attention to the State Defender Duke Establishment now knew that Lei Tie and Lei Xiangzhi were truly falling out.

Qin Mian rode on horseback on the road, still wondering why Lei Daqiang didn’t rush to the State Defender Duke Establishment to fight for Du Shi’s injustice or take advantage of Du Shi’s death.

He still overestimated Lei Daqiang’s sense of shame. Lei Daqiang wanted money and life, but he wanted life more. Du Shi’s death scared him. He had made up his mind to disown Lei Tie. However, he didn’t give up the idea of taking advantage of Du Shi’s death. He wanted Lei Xiangzhi to ask Lei Tie for a large sum of money as compensation. As a result, Lei Xiangzhi’s heart turned so cold that he was depressed for several days. Some people saw that he was a lot thinner than before, which consequently cemented the brothers’ conflict between him and Lei Tie.

In the State Defender Duke Establishment, Lei Tie sat on the bed with his knees crossed and eyes closed as he skillfully controlled his soul sense to enter the palace. After entering the palace, he began to look for Emperor Xiaohui. Luckily, he found Emperor Xiaohui in the imperial study.

Together with Emperor Xiaohui was Imperial Prince Ming.

Imperial Prince Ming was about 3~4 years younger than Emperor Xiaohui. Contrarily, his appearance was scholarly and less rigid than Emperor Xiaohui. He sat upright in the elegant fan-shaped armchair.

These days, Emperor Xiaohui was also investigating the death of Du Shi. At this time, his face looked cold and his mood was in a bad state.

“How’s the investigation of the State Defender Duke’s stepmother?”

Imperial Prince Ming frowned slightly and said in a cold voice, “Answering, Your Majesty. It’s most likely the doing of Loyalty Prince. Loyalty Prince is hiding too deeply. With the State Defender Duke has just entered the Capital, it’s impossible to find him for the time being.”

“Heh!” Emperor Xiaohui’s face was livid. With a sweep of his hand, the cup of hot tea on the table fell to the floor. The crushing sound was very clear in the quiet imperial study. “Loyalty Prince, what a good ‘loyal’ prince! When Zhen was still Crown Prince, he repeatedly used black hands² against Zhen. After Zhen ascended the throne, for the sake of blood relationship, Zhen not only spared his life but also made him a “Loyalty Prince” – look at how he rewarded Zhen!”

Eunuch Li was so scared that he fell on the ground, “Your Majesty, please calm your anger and take care of the dragon body!”

Imperial Prince Ming stood up and drooped his head, keeping silent. Even if he was Emperor Xiaohui’s younger brother, there were some words he couldn’t say.

In front of his younger brother, Emperor Xiaohui showed his true temperament. At this time, he lost his temper and didn’t care about it too much. He calmed down, “Sit down. Does my eldest imperial son take part in it?”

Imperial Prince Ming carefully said, “At present, no clue has been found to point to His Highness.” Imperial Prince Ming was a little distracted. His imperial brother ascended the throne at the age of 16. Now, it was the 31st year of Emperor Xiaohui’s reign. His imperial brother was 47 years old this year. Due to good maintenance, it looked like he was only 35~36 years old. There was almost no secret in the palace. Although he hid his great health very well, one could still see that he was in good health from his daily life. Conservatively speaking, his imperial brother could sit on the throne for at least ten years more. However, his imperial brother’s eldest son with the first empress was 28 years old and the youngest son was 14 years old. It was not surprising that some people couldn’t wait.

How could Emperor Xiaohui not understand this? But once the supreme power was in hand, he didn’t want to let go. This was the first reason. Secondly, every emperor had ambition in his heart, and he was no exception. He still had a lot of great ambitions that had not been realized. He couldn’t give up his power – even divided out a part of the power was out of the question. Therefore, he had never established a Crown Prince.

At the Court today, some people asked him to establish a Crown Prince. This was one of the reasons why Emperor Xiaohui was quite upset at this time.

“Yet, your subject-brother can’t figure out what Loyalty Prince’s purpose was to kill Du Shi?” asked Imperial Prince Ming in puzzlement. No matter how much he knew, he couldn’t know more than Emperor Xiaohui. Thus, he asked.

Neither Imperial Prince Ming nor Emperor Xiaohui found a pair of “ears” paying attention to their conversation.

This question of Imperial Prince of Ming was also what Lei Tie wanted to know.

Emperor Xiaohui pondered for a moment, “When State Defender Duke was General of the West Order, Loyalty Prince was in the border province – he didn’t know much about State Defender Duke. In Zhen’s opinion, it’s mostly to test the strength and influence of State Defender Duke. Many of the State Defender Duke’s former subordinates are still in the army – they are most loyal to him. How can Loyalty Prince abstain from him?”

With that, he changed the subject. Imperial Prince Ming wisely followed along.

Lei Tie took back his soul sense. He knew exactly how things stood. He ordered someone to bring out the horse and went out on horseback to Pear Blossom Alley.

When he didn’t see a certain someone in the drugstore, he went to the silverware shop. Before he entered the door, he saw a noblewoman and a young lady of 16~17 years old standing in front of the counter. His wife was behind the counter, holding a brocade box in his hand and saying something. The young lady’s eyes glanced at his wife from time to time, her cheeks flushed.

Lei Tie’s aura abruptly gloomed and bursts of coldness swept into Jewel Pavilion.

The noblewoman and the young lady inexplicably shivered. The young lady turned her head unintentionally and met a pair of cold black eyes; her heart abruptly jumped and her face turned white. She quickly lowered her head and whatever beautiful thoughts she had were no more.

“A-Tie, you’re here.” Qin Mian also saw Lei Tie and waved.

Lei Tie’s expression was profoundly cold.

“A-Tie?” called Qin Mian again, feeling puzzled.

Lei Tie nudged the horse closer. He didn’t even get off the horse as he stretched out his right hand to Qin Mian and gazed fixedly at him with a pair of abstruse eyes, bearing unprecedented tyranny.

“Wife, we’re going home.”

The customers in the store turned to look over curiously; the passers-by seemed to be surprised by Lei Tie’s action, unconsciously slowing down and paying attention.

Qin Mian’s heart beat like a drum. This strong force of Lei Tie didn’t make him feel disgusted. On the contrary, his heart was filled with sweetness and at the same time, he couldn’t help but scold himself for being as hopeless as a young lad. Layer upon layers of smiles rose on the corners of his lips and in the inside of his eyes. Without hesitating, he gave the brocade box to the assistant and told him to well entertain the customers. Then, he strode across the threshold, his hand stretched out to Lei Tie.

“Work’s over?”

“En.” The corner of Lei Tie’s lips almost imperceptibly curved up as he simply answered. Holding the hand in his palm, he pulled up the weight in his hand with little effort, and cherishingly placed it within his arms. He wrapped his iron arm around it and his legs gently pressed the belly of the horse. The horse moved forward steadily and leisurely.

Because the speed was not fast, more passers-by crowded on the street to look.

Is it alright to make a public display of affection like this? Qin Mian thought so in his heart. Unwilling to break away from the man’s arms, he indifferently leaned back against the man’s chest and didn’t urge him to leave quickly.

His wife was so docile that it greatly pleased Lei Tie – the corners of his lips were completely curved up. He put his chin was on his wife’s shoulder and listened quietly to their rapid heartbeat thumped one after the other, completely synchronized in a moment.

Out of Pear Blossom Alley, the horse did not run in the direction of Chong’en Street but turned to Minggu Street.

Qin Mian had some doubts. Minggu Street was practically a “food street” with restaurants, teahouses, wine houses, bakeries, noodle shops, and the likes on both sides of the street. What were they doing there?

He had a vague conjecture but he did not ask anything, still quietly leaning on the man. As the gallant horse shuttled through the crowd, with a smile on his lips, he casually looked at the streetscape ahead.

Into Minggu Street, the gallant horse stopped at a bakery’s entrance.

The shop owner looked strangely at the two men riding together. However, since there were many high-ranking officials in the Capital and that the two men were well-dressed, he would not speak out of turn. He warmly greeted them, “What do the two gongzis want to buy?”

With the gesture of embracing Qin Mian, Lei Tie untied Qin Mian’s purse, took out a piece of broken silver, and passed it to the shop owner. He dully said, “A basket of husband and wife cakes, take away.”

The shop owner was stunned and quickly responded, “Alrighty. Gongzis, please wait a moment.”

Qin Mian’s eyes were full of laughter. Because he restrained his laughter, his upper body vibrated slightly in Lei Tie’s arms, like a cat’s paw gently scratching on the apex of Lei Tie’s heart. He tightly fastened his arm to warn the man in his embrace.

Qin Mian felt the hard object behind him and took a breath silently. He pinched his right hand on Lei Tie’s hand holding the reins. Acting as if nothing was wrong, he held the reins and calmly looked straight ahead with an upright appearance.

“Quick.”

Lei Tie picked up the food box that the shop owner handed over. “Go.”

Qin Mian pressed the horse belly and the horse started to run.

Footnotes