Please Treat Us Fairly, Your Majesty 15: Tit For Tat

Yun Cang didn’t rest after Hua Qingxin left. Instead, He summoned Wei Jun.

“Your Majesty.” Wei Jun bowed his head.

“Go ahead.”

Young as Wei Jun looked, he was a strong and capable Commander of Imperial Guards selected by the emperor. Yun Cang was convinced that during the period when the physician wrapped his wound and Hua Qingxin talked with him, Wei Jun must have found some clues.

Wei Jun didn’t detour and came to the point directly, “These a.s.sa.s.sins were determined to sacrifice, all dead.”

“So, no clues at all?”

“Not exactly. One of them had a knife on his belt, the same one that Price Yunhai awarded his generals.” He handed the knife to Yun Cang as he said.

“Prince Yunhai…” Yun Cang took the knife and examined it carefully: elaborately-carved images of propitious cloud, sharp edge, it was indeed a delicate award worth the soldier’s life, “I could smell his unsatisfaction with my reign, but I didn’t expect that he was so urgent to kill me.”

“Interrogate him?” With this knife, Wei Jun could easily arrest him.

“No, the evidence is not sufficient enough to root him out. Only with irrefutable evidence can we arrest him.” Yun Cang took the knife away and sighed, “Since he covets my throne, then his military leaders.h.i.+p must be ceded, even if he is my only brother. We shouldn’t have been ended up like this.”

“Your Majesty…” Wei Jun called gently. He hesitated for a while and continued to report, “Actually, there is another suspicious person.”

“You mean Ronghua Hua?” Yun Cang said calmly, as he had already known the answer.

“Yes.” Wei Jun kept an eye on Yun Cang’s expression and said slowly, “With hindsight, her behavior at the banquet was really suspicious. Besides, she has always been close with Prince Yunhai, so everyone is suspecting that…”

Wei Jun lowered his voice.

Yun Cang continued without any hesitation, “They suspect that she is the spy and the accomplice of Prince Yunhai?”

Wei Jun nodded, “Your Majesty… what would you have me do with her?” “I have decided to award her for protecting me with the t.i.tle of Jieyu.”

Yun Cang put it plainly, while Wei Jun was not so surprised. He had served the emperor for long and knew that he always had some unexpected strategies. Meanwhile, no matter how strange those strategies were, Wei Jun would never doubt him.

Wei Jun reminded, “I understand that Your Majesty wants to protect her, but we can’t let Prince Yunhai go unchecked.”

Yun Cang nodded and agreed with him. The twinkle in his dark eyes indicated that he had an idea.

“Yes, we have to do something anyway. If he does that again, he may get my honey into troubles.”

Soon after Hua Qingxin returned to her camp, Eunuch Ling came with the emperor’s oral edict to award her. Consort Ming and Li Zhuozhuo were so furious, but Hua Qingxin didn’t notice them-all she saw was the maids coming in one by one with rewards on the trays they held.

He indeed kept his words and carried out it quickly, but Hua Qingxin felt she didn’t deserve these precious rewards. Each piece of the s.h.i.+ning jewelry was a shame for her.

As Hua Qingxin stared at these rewards blankly, she suddenly heard a voice, “If you don’t like them, I can reward you more after we go back to the palace.”

“Your Majesty.” Hua Qingxin was shocked and came to herself. She hurriedly prostrated with great respect.

Yun Cang held her up and smiled, “I am not used to this well-behaved Hua Qingxin.”

“Your Majesty, your conferring has already brought the blame of others on you, so just take back the rewards.” Hua Qingxin couldn’t afford any extravagant expectations now.

“It doesn’t matter. If I say you are worthy of these, then you are worthy.” He picked out a hairpin from the jade plate and wore it on the hair on her temple, “Like it?”

Hua Qingxin had no mood in appreciating it and took down the hairpin, “Your Majesty, can we return to the palace now for your recovery?”

With a wounded body, he couldn’t go hunting anyway, so it was not bad to go back early.

Yun Cang raised a finger and shook it in front of Hua Qingxin, saying meaningfully, “No rush. I’ve not punished Prince Yunhai yet.”

Hua Qingxin was shocked and had a horrible hunch, “Your Majesty, he…”

Yung Cang looked at Hua Qingxin straight in the eye and said in a deep voice.

“He gave me an arrow, then I need to pay him back.”