Chapter 117.2 – Will You Despise Me?
As expected, when Lu Qipei looked up, she saw Qi Yang standing outside the door, smiling at her. She was smiling without feeling guilty at all, not at all self-conscious about leading the child astray. “Ah Pei, why are you hiding inside the room? Ah Sheng is waiting for you to take her to play.”
When those the words were said, before Lu Qipei could answer, she suddenly heard Lu Sheng excitedly say, “Bird, bird, little bird!”
The child’s exclamation immediately caught the two’s attention, and Qi Yang naturally saw the pigeon still hopping on the table. She was a bit surprised and raised her eyebrows slightly. “In such a cold day, is there still someone sending you news?”
It’s not that news won’t be sent when it’s cold, but such a small thing like a pigeon could suffer when flying in the cold weather. If they accidentally froze to death, the news they were sending would also be lost. Therefore, once winter came, news delivery would no longer use carrier pigeons but switch to other channels, unless absolutely necessary. The only exception would probably be urgent letters.
Lu Qipei nodded and didn’t hide it from her. “It’s from the north. It would be too slow for people to deliver it.”
When she heard this, Qi Yang knew that it was news from Rong, and her eyes suddenly lit up – the Emperor had just recovered from his illness, and even the governmental matters still relied heavily on the Eastern Palace. He definitely would not be able to pay attention to Xie Yuan from Liang. She just hoped that it was the Crown Prince who made the move before, so dealing with Xie Yuan wouldn’t be delayed because of the Emperor’s previous illness.
Lu Qipei knew what she was thinking as soon as she looked at her eyes. After a moment of hesitation, she handed over the note that she hadn’t been able to burn yet earlier.
After reading it, Qi Yang couldn’t help sighing, “This Third Princess is really pitiful. Marrying Xie Yuan was really a bad luck from eight lifetimes. It wasn’t enough to lose her son, and now she even lost her own life.”
When she heard this, Lu Qipei looked at Qi Yang and thought that she might be feeling pity for someone in a situation similar to her. After all, she was also plotted to death by Xie Yuan in her previous life – she was clearly a royal princess from a noble background, born to enjoy everything. But unfortunately, she married an inhuman person and was killed.
Qi Yang in the previous life and the Ayana of this life was so similar. She wondered, what had happened to the Third Princess of Rong in her previous life?
She couldn’t help feeling something in her heart, but when Lu Qipei was about to say something, she felt the dumpling in her arms struggling slightly. She looked down and saw Lu Sheng’s looking at the pigeon with bright eyes, eager to reach out and touch it.
Children were always the best at breaking a gloomy atmosphere, and Lu Qipei couldn’t help smiling at the sight, asking, “Ah Sheng, do you like pigeons?”
Lu Shen was a bit confused when she heard this. She didn’t know what a pigeon was, but she still pointed at the carrier pigeon and said, “Bird.”
Lu Qipei explained to her, “This kind of bird is called a pigeon.” After explaining that, she asked her, “Does Ah Sheng want to touch it?”
Upon hearing this, Lu Sheng’s eyes immediately lit up, and her pitch-black eyes were filled with a sense of novelty and excitement. She nodded quickly and said, “Ah Sheng wants to touch!”
Lu Qipei stretched her hand and grabbed the carrier pigeon that was standing there obediently. While letting Lu Sheng touch the pigeon’s smooth little head, she couldn’t help teasing the child, saying, “Ah Sheng is such a playboy. Before, you liked rabbits, and now you like pigeons.”
The little dumpling didn’t know what a playboy was, but when Lu Qipei mentioned the rabbit, she withdrew her hand and stroked the rabbit’s head again.
Lu Qipei became amused again, and Qi Yang next to her also smiled. The scene in front of her made her relax, and she didn’t want to talk about the heavy topic for a while. Both of them had read the note, and Qi Yang simply burned it.
It was a little delayed, but the note was finally thrown into the brazier, and the flames that erupted instantly engulfed it.
At this very moment, Qi Yang thought of something. She instinctively lowered her head and looked into the brazier, but only saw the ashes left behind by the paper. On the black ash, there were dots of indistinct handwriting, but its original appearance was nowhere left to see.
Lu Qipei noticed Qi Yang’s abnormality and couldn’t help but ask while hugging Lu Sheng, “What’s the matter?”
Qi Yang remained silent for a moment as she looked at the brazier, then suddenly took Lu Sheng from Lu Qipei’s arms and said to the child, “Ah Sheng, why don’t you go find Zhi Ting to play first? I have something to say to your Uncle.”
As expected, the little dumpling was still as obedient as ever. She nodded obediently when she heard those words. After Qi Yang put her down, she ran away on her own.
As soon as the door was opened and closed again, only the two people were left in the room. The atmosphere suddenly seemed to turn serious.
Lu Qipei blinked her eyes, glancing at the brazier where the ashes had turned white. She had guessed what Qi Yang was probably wanting to talk about. But when she spoke, she still said, “Your Highness, is there anything serious you want to tell me that you sent Ah Sheng away?”
Qi Yang didn’t beat around the bush either. She immediately asked, “Why is the news on the note so detailed? When Xie Yuan and the Rong Emperor became estranged before, you and I could only come up with conjectures. This time, the Third Princess was killed by Xie Yuan in his mansion – he should have kept the matter even more secret. How did the spies find out?”
Lu Qipei didn’t answer and looked up at Qi Yang.
Qi Yang already speculated in her heart, and Lu Qipei’s silent response confirmed it beyond doubt. “You planned this matter.”
There was no need to respond to those words; Qi Yang understood in her heart that the Rong Emperor had fallen into the trap to sow discord between him and Xie Yuan. Now was the perfect time to target the latter.
And Xie Yuan would never just sit still. If the previous plan was really arranged by the Emperor, the advantage would have been completely destroyed by now. Once Xie Yuan handled the troubles in Rong, he might turn around and launch an even fiercer counterattack!
This opportunity could not be missed, and Lu Qipei’s action this time was definitely decisive. However, she indirectly made the Third Princess die a tragic death and made Qi Yang feel a bit uneasy – just as Lu Qipei had thought, Qi Yang really felt pity towards Ayana who had been in a similar situation to her.
Lu Qipei looked at her, and said seriously, “I will use methods that will harm people’s lives, and I will not hesitate to plot against people’s feelings. I am not actually the clean and pure person in Your Highness’s heart. Will you despise me?”
Author notes:
Qi Yang (touching the Prince Consort’s forehead): Are you dizzy from fever, why are you overthinking so much!?
PS: As long as Qi Yang asked, Lu Qipei would tell her everything, but there are some things that she wouldn’t take the initiative to say without being asked. So Little Lu often makes trouble in secret, and the Princess might not even know about it.
