C22 Part1

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Outside the palace, Zhuo Qing patted Gu Yun’s hand and said to her,

“Just wait for me outside here.”

“Mm.” Gu Yun replied amiably.

As the pair looked at each other, Zhuo Qing suddenly let out a soft chuckle as she said, “Thank you, Yun.”

 

Gu Yun replied with a smile, “Is there really a need to thank me?”

In reality, she honestly hadn’t done much. Lou Xi Yan’s incarceration was a complete farce to begin with, set up in order to catch a much bigger fish. While Qing’s intention was to get her husband out of jail, Yan Hong Tian’s end game was to weaken the power that the Empress Dowager held within the imperial court. The most that Gu Yun could do was to set the stage to allow them to negotiate.

Zhuo Qing nodded her head slightly and smiled. “Alright alright,” she said, because she knew that there was no amount of thanks in the world that she could give, that could truly express the feelings of gratitude that she held.

“Take care of yourself.”

While Qing entered the palace this time to discuss the case details with Yan Hong Tian, it could as much be seen as a direct confrontation with the Empress Dowager. Even though she had some misgivings about using Bai Yi’s falsified evidence to sabotage Empress Dowager Ci Xi, she knew that the game called politics was a far more complex process than the investigations she was used to.

 

“Don’t worry, I never fight a battle I can’t win!”

 

“I know, I know, go on then.”

Qing’s resolute appearance gave her a lovely aura. In order to rescue Lou Xi Yan, she was willing to risk everything.

 

As Zhuo Qing, Su Ling, and Dan Yu Lan stepped into the residence, Su Ling suddenly turned around and stared deep into Gu Yun’s eyes, an action that she could not fathom his reasons for doing so.

 

Gu Yun estimated the negotiations would last at least an hour or two. Entering a staring contest with the palace guards did not appeal to her in the least bit, neither did she intend to return to General Manor and wait around aimlessly, thus she headed towards the nearest tavern. Of course, the idea of near was a relative concept; Around the Imperial Palace, the nearest ‘anything at all’ was still quite some distance away. Seeing as how Gu Yun didn’t travel to the palace by horse, she had no choice but to stroll along the streets, taking this opportunity to ponder over Su Ling’s weird behaviour these past few days.

 

It wasn’t as if he went out of his way to inconvenience her; After being trapped in his embrace that day, Gu Yun learnt from her mistakes, and made sure to be cautious around him, ensuring a safe distance was kept between them at all times. Su Ling didn’t lose his composure anymore, but he would always look at her with an unfathomable gaze and maintain his stony silence. It was really confusing behaviour, to say the least.

 

The sun had already set and there were few pedestrians to be seen. While the roadside vendors began packing up their stalls, ready to head home, Gu Yun found herself lost in her thoughts as she slowly paced. At this moment, a familiar black shadow suddenly popped out in front of her from the alley. The sky was dark and the moon was covered by clouds, yet no one could possibly miss that eye-catching head of silver hair.

 

“Ao Tian?”

Gu Yun suddenly remembered the wound on his hand, and worried for him slightly. She increased her speed and called out to his back, “wait a minute, Ao Tian.”

In the distance, Gu Yun saw that person pause for a moment, and rushed over thinking that he must have stopped for her. Who knew that the figure would suddenly accelerate, moving faster than he was before.

“Huh?” Gu Yun frowned. How could this person keep running the more she called out to him? Ao Tian indeed was an introverted character who on more than one occasion confused her with his actions, yet his desperately escaping figure gave rise to some suspicions. Based on her observations, Ao Tian was not this kind of panicky person. Was there some kind of emergency? Her curiosity having been piqued, coupled with her instincts as an investigator made her decide to follow behind to find out exactly what was going on.

 

Gu Yun diligently gave chase as the shadowy figure nimbly dodged left and right, only to see him disappear the moment he dived into another alley. It was a pitch-black dead end littered with unwanted items, but there was no trace of the stranger to be found.

Did he suddenly vanish? Gu Yun squinted her eyes as she calmly assessed the piles of rubbish that could easily hide a grown man.

 

He had to be here! Gu Yun could not understand Ao Tian’s motives for hiding from her. After some thought, she gracefully stepped into the alley, while diligently maintaining her vigilance. The further in she walked, the tighter she gripped Bing Lian, which as if sensing the danger ahead, began to vibrate gently.

 

In the darkest part of the alley, a crossbow dart glistened with a dark glossy glow in the low light. It could only have been coated in the most potent of poisons, a single scratch would mean instant death. The dart slowly positioned itself to aim at the cautiously approaching girl….

 

Just before the dart was released, a shadowy figure crossed overhead, immediately reappearing in front of Gu Yun, who naturally brandished Bing Lian in shock, from which the resulting roar from being drawn caused the would be marksman to stiffen in shock.

 

“You were looking for me?”

 

A low voice without unnecessary inflection, such a frosty aura… Ao Tian!  With his sudden appearance, the impending sense of danger suddenly vanished. As she sheathed her blade, Gu Yun said in an annoyed tone, “What were you running from earlier?”

 

Try as it might, the poisoned dart simply could not find an opening to target Gu Yun, as Ao Tian’s sizeable frame completely blocked her off. Under such dim lighting conditions, Gu Yun could not make out Ao Tian’s expression, and could only hear the sound of his ragged breathing, which must have been due to his hurriedness earlier.

After a long while, he finally replied in a subdued tone, “I had some… urgent business. It’s too dark in here, let’s speak outside.”

 

Gu Yun was practically dragged out of the alley. As the pair disappeared from before his eyes, the shadow slowly put down his crossbow. Since when was Ao Tian the kind of person to be worried about others? Would this woman become your weakness? A bloodless pair of lips pursed into a thin line, as and aura of bloodlust filled the air.

Ao Tian’s demeanour returned to normal as they returned to the main road, where it was slightly brighter than the alley they’d left. Gu Yun also didn’t pursue this matter, as she knew that he wouldn’t give her a straight answer anyway.

Not forgetting her reason for chasing him in the first place however, she asked him, “Is your wound healing up properly? Did you see a doctor?”

 

As she expected, Ao Tian simply replied cooly, “It’s fine.” Seeing how his pale complexion was no worse for wear, and his attitude was cold as ever, Gu Yun chuckled as she shook her head; So long as there were no major changes, he was probably fine. She waved him away and said, “Well that’s fine, seeing how much of a rush you were in, there’s probably somewhere you need to be by now. Go on then, go settle your business.”

As Gu Yun turned to leave, Ao Tian’s hesitant voice came over her shoulder, in that low voice of his, “You… are you still staying at General Manor?”

 

“Yeah.” Gu Yun nodded. From her perspective, she had nothing to hide regarding this situation, and her answer came naturally. However, this reply irritated Ao Tian immensely, and his already pale complexion became even stonier; To think that they were merely having a lovers quarrel, and it was he who needlessly interfered!

Gu Yun could not understand the reason for Ao Tian’s frosty aura, but just as she was about to ask, he coldly turned around and walked off, without looking her in the eye. Gu Yun stood there awkwardly and forced herself to take deep breaths, suppressing her urge to unleash her rage.

Ao Tian suddenly stopped walking, and as in the past, called out to her without looking back.

“If you see me in the future, don’t chase me again.”

 

Ao Tian’s silhouette disappeared at the end of the road, leaving Gu Yun who still could not make heads or tails of his parting comment.

What on earth did he mean? Gu Yun simply could not understand why he always left her with this feeling that he was completely unfathomable. Was he upset with her for chasing him relentlessly tonight? She also couldn’t have done anything to offend him, so why did he look like a dog left out in the rain?  Su Ling’s mood swings were unpredictable, while Ao Tian was like a angsty teenager, what a confusing pair!

 

“AHHH!” A piercing scream suddenly cut through the night sky.

Gu Yun’s eyes immediately darkened as her chest tightened; Something terrible had just happened, her instincts could not be wrong!\n

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