“Father, why are you making it so difficult for you to see reason? You really have no knowledge of the severity of the crimes you committed? My cousin tolerated your doings again and again, and do you know why? Because he made a promise to my uncle. If it weren’t for that promise, he would never have put up with your behavior for so long, given how many times you provoked him. Why couldn’t you come back to your senses? Why are you so insistent on working against my cousin? Exactly what is it that you want, Father?”
Yuwen Feng looked at Yuwen Zhi in disappointment. He chose to open his heart to Yuwen Zhi because he wanted Yuwen Zhi to understand that South Xinjiang was not a slough of misery, that as long as he still drew breath, there would always be a chance to have things take a turn for the better. Why couldn’t his father listen to reason?
“You want to know what I want? I’ll tell you. Had Yuwen Tong not ruined my plans over and over again, I would have been the one sitting on the throne! Yuwen Tong is utterly unworthy of it!” erupted Yuwen Zhi, angrily pointing a finger in the direction of the imperial palace. “Who does Yuwen Tong think he is?! Why did he have to take away from me all the positions that were rightfully mine?! He and I are both surnamed Yuwen, but your grandfather was partial to him, and now even providence is partial to him as well! Why?!”
Yuwen Feng gaped at Yuwen Zhi in shock. “Father? You…”
‘What makes you think you could’ve been the one sitting on the throne?’ he wondered.
Yuwen Feng always knew that his father was self-important, but it’d never crossed his mind that his father would have such an unrealistic idea!
Yuwen Feng felt that his father was being absurd. “Father, you really think that prince in the cold palace that you used to support stood a chance of ascending the throne? The one who had no strong family background, no learning and no ability whatsoever? Have you any idea how many eyes were watching you in this country? Have you any idea how many eyes were watching you in this city? You think those people would let you do that? You think they’d really let a puppet prince accede to the throne? Even if the puppet prince was enthroned – and that’s a big if – you really think you could control him and have him abdicate in favor of you? You can’t be that naive, Father.”
SLAP! Yuwen Zhi slapped Yuwen Feng hard across the face and bellowed, “SHUT UP!”
After being slapped, Yuwen Feng took in a large gulp of air before turning around to look at his father. “You’ve got to wake up, Father. This country belongs to the Yuwen family now. As long as my cousin remains the emperor, we’ll have inexhaustible wealth and endless glory. Why do you have to be so obsessed with something illusory? Your stay in South Xinjiang will be temporary. Sooner or later you’ll return to the capital city, and when you do, you’ll still be my cousin’s uncle. No one will be above you in terms of status.”
“I am not impressed!” enunciated Yuwen Zhi, cold anger in every syllable.
The look in Yuwen Feng’s eyes gradually became flinty and disappointed. “Father, are you really so anxious to die?”
“GET OUT!” ranted Yuwen Zhi.
Yuwen Feng lowered his eyes to conceal the disappointment in them. “Father, there’s still some time before your sentence of exile would be carried out. I hope you’ll come around. When the time comes, if you still refuse to change your mind, then even I won’t be able to save you.”
Yuwen Zhi grabbed a porcelain vase from the table beside him and hurled it at Yuwen Feng.
The vase hit him with a smash.
Yuwen Feng was wounded, his hand gashed on a piece of the vase that bounced off the ground.
Yuwen Feng looked at the wound on his hand from which blood was flowing, his heart growing cold, hardening. When he raised his head and shifted his gaze to Yuwen Zhi again, his eyes had gone completely icy. “I cannot let you destroy our family, Father. I have a wife and concubines and children. I cannot let them die with you.”
After saying this, Yuwen Feng left the room, ignoring Yuwen Zhi who was cursing him furiously. He walked through the front gates of the courtyard house without a glance at the physician standing in the doorway or the servant tremulously kneeling on the ground, and then instructed the guards on duty in the gateway, “Keep close watch on everybody in this house, including that physician. Nobody leaves here without my permission.”
“Yes, Your Lordship,” chorused the guards.
Naturally, the guards had heard the loud arguments from inside.
Yuwen Feng had walked a long distance with a flinty face when he felt a sudden stab of pain in the chest, and then he had a dizzy spell and staggered.
The servant behind him hastened to catch him. “Your Lordship!”
Yuwen Feng held his hand. When the dizziness ebbed away, he shook his head and said, “I’m okay. Help me back to my room. Don’t breathe a word of this to anybody.”
“Yes, Your Lordship.”
…
In Yuwen Zhi’s room.
The Gu master walked inside and, seeing the mess in the room, ordered the servant, “Clean it up.”
“Ye–Yes,” answered the servant, still trembling. Then he called the other servants in, cleared the ground and then hurriedly left.
Looking at Yuwen Zhi who was still consumed with indignation, the Gu master consoled him, “There’s no need for you to be so angry, Lord Yuwen. Now that Yuwen Feng has come to know you’ve been pretending, you don’t have to mistreat yourself so much as to lie in bed all day any longer. You may just eat and drink whatever pleases you and get energized. We have a lot of work ahead of us. In addition, thanks to the sudden surge of anger and abrupt mood swings of Yuwen Feng’s, the Gu worm inside him is probably wriggling faster. It will reach his brain and control him for us in less than two days, and when it does, you’ll be able to do whatever you want. After this argument, you should have seen him for who he really is, and I suppose you won’t feel guilty about what you’re going to do to him any more.”Read manga at our MangaBob.com
Yuwen Zhi looked at him for a while before he grinned sinisterly, “You’re right. An undutiful son like him is undeserving of my affection. I shall have him repay me for giving him life and raising him by serving as my stepping stone to the throne.”
The Gu master also grinned, “You have a point.”
“Where’s Qi’er? How is he?” asked Yuwen Zhi. Since he had decided to sacrifice his older son, his younger son was the only one he had concern for.
“Childe Qi is still in the interrogation room. Ever since that wax ball was found, Yuwen Feng has been trying to press him into telling him whom he got the wax ball from,” replied the Gu master.
A hint of apprehension appeared on Yuwen Zhi’s face. “He’s not going to rat you out, right?”
In Yuwen Zhi’s eyes, even his younger son was not as important as the Gu master who could extricate him from this difficult position and might even be able to help him take the throne.
“They won’t be able to drag a confession out of Childe Qi any time soon. Tonight I’ll figure out a way to sneak in and tell Childe Qi to hang in there for another two days. After we get Yuwen Feng under control, Childe Qi will be released from the interrogation room,” responded the Gu master.
“Thank you in advance, but please be careful not to expose yourself to any danger,” said Yuwen Zhi, reminding the Gu master to be cautious. Clearly he bore in mind at all times the Puppeteer Gu inside the Gu master’s body.
The Gu master lowered his head and replied, “Rest assured, Your Lordship, I promise I’ll keep myself safe. I won’t ruin your plan.”
…
Yuwen Tong and Ling Zhang got the White Cicada provided by Mr. Mu and then gave it to Miao Shiba, telling him to go to Yuwen Feng’s residence and play it by ear.
Miao Shiba left the imperial palace and had just slipped into the Abode of the Assistant Minister of Rites which was now temporarily the Abode of the Marquess Huaiwen (AKA the Marquess of Moderation), when a subordinate of his anxiously found him and reported, “Chief, something bad happened.”
Miao Shiba’s face instantly went grave. “What’s wrong?”
“Yuwen Feng had a fight with Yuwen Zhi. After he walked out of the courtyard house, he had a sudden dizzy spell and then was guided back to his chambers. Right now he was lying on the couch in his study. A servant is waiting upon him on the side,” replied the subordinate.
“Yuwen Zhi came to?” inquired Miao Shiba.
The subordinate sneered, “Yuwen Zhi’s voice was quite sonorous when he was rebuking his son. He didn’t seem to have just come around at all.”
Then the subordinate, who had faintly heard the argument between Yuwen Feng and Yuwen Zhi, related to Miao Shiba what it was about. Miao Shiba’s face fell after hearing it. “Yuwen Zhi is such an unrepentant mule.”
“What should we do about it?” asked the subordinate.
Miao Shiba mulled over it for a moment and then responded, “There’s no hurry. The matter of Yuwen Zhi can wait. I’ll go and check on Yuwen Feng first.”
He was turning around when he suddenly paused and said, “By the way, seeing as Yuwen Zhi was pretending all this time and wasn’t exposed until earlier this day, the physician treating him and the servants waiting on him are all suspicious. Keep close watch on them. Maybe the one we’re looking for is among them.”
Miao Shiba told him about Gu worms and the Gu master. The subordinate’s face grew serious. “Don’t worry, Chief. I’ll tell the others right away. We’ll keep constant watch over people in that courtyard house.”
Miao Shiba inclined his head. After the subordinate took his leave, Miao Shiba felt that he needed to slink into that courtyard house to personally inquire into this matter, that there was a very high chance the Gu master was hiding right inside Yuwen Zhi’s courtyard house.
Miao Shiba first went to Yuwen Feng’s study. The cause of Yuwen Feng’s sudden dizzy spell had either been his abrupt mood swings or some kind of health problem, and the nightmare scenario was that some Gu worms had been planted inside his body.Read manga at our MangaBob.com
If that was the case, Miao Shiba would have no alternative but to let Yuwen Feng keep the White Cicada, at least for the moment.
At night, Miao Shiba, who had been staking out Yuwen Feng’s study for some time, stole into Yuwen Feng’s study through a window.
Yuwen Feng was still lying on the couch, a frown on his face, looking terrible.
Miao Shiba sneaked up, fished out the box containing the White Cicada, held it close to Yuwen Feng and then opened it.
After being held close to Yuwen Feng, the White Cicada, which had been lazy and motionless all along, suddenly twitched and turned to face Yuwen Feng with a flutter of its wings. Though unable to hear its hum, Miao Shiba speculated that it hummed.
The somewhat pained expression on the face of Yuwen Feng on the couch whose eyebrows were knitted was slowly replaced by a calm one. It was as though something fidgety inside his body had just fallen dormant.
The look in Miao Shiba’s eyes instantly became grave. He knew very well what this meant – there was a Gu worm inside Yuwen Feng’s body.
Miao Shiba recalled what Yuwen Tong, shortly before they’d parted, had secretly instructed him to do. He put away the box, exited the room through the window and then sent a signal.
Before long, Yao Yi took Mr. Mu to the residence.
“Mr. Mu, I’m sorry to have put you to the trouble. Yuwen Feng has indeed fallen victim to some kind of Gu worm. Please help me identify what kind of Gu worm it is,” said Miao Shiba.
Mr. Mu replied, “No problem. Take me there to have a look.”
Miao Shiba crept to a spot near Yuwen Feng’s study once again. This time around he immobilized the guard in the doorway by striking a particular acupoint of his and then ushered Mr. Mu into the study through the door.
Mr. Mu took the box from Miao Shiba’s hand, walked up to Yuwen Feng and did the same thing that Miao Shiba had done a few moments before. Having confirmed that there was indeed a Gu worm in Yuwen Feng’s body, he opened his medicine chest and fished out some silver needles and a couple of little porcelain phials.
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