Chapter 102: Purely... To Ask Brother to Die
After crossing a long, winding wooden bridge, they arrived at the Shuixie in the middle of the lake. Inside, a young woman in a white dress was brewing tea. Outside, by the railing, stood two guards in black, their figures mostly obscured by the pillars.
Wang Shiqi led Xiao Li to a seat, but noticed her gaze was fixed on the person brewing tea. His expression faltered for a moment, and he could only force a smile and explain, "Princess, why are you looking at her? She is just a tea-serving maid from my Wang family..."
The young woman was about seventeen or eighteen. Her features weren’t stunning, but she possessed a delicate, graceful beauty that was pitiably lovely.
Xiao Li raised her eyes. "Jiang Yu’er."
The two people in the room looked at her in surprise, as if neither had expected her to know Jiang Yu’er.
Wang Shiqi still tried to cover it up. "What are you talking about, Princess? What Jiang Yu’er?"
Jiang Yu’er continued to pour the tea, but she was so flustered that she scalded her hand.
Jiang Yu’er placed the tea on the table, then stepped back with her eyes lowered, trying her best to act the part of a maid.
Wang Shiqi quickly gestured to Xiao Li. "Princess, please try the tea and see if it suits your taste. There are also plum blossom cakes."
Xiao Li lifted the cup’s lid and swirled it a few times. "The tea is good tea, but when you add something you shouldn’t have, it’s not so wonderful anymore."
Jiang Yu’er knew Xiao Li wouldn’t drink the tea. She immediately dropped her pretense, raised her head, and stared at Xiao Li with eyes full of hatred.
"They say a clear conscience is a good pillow. What have you done to feel so guilty, Princess Xuanyang, that you don’t even dare to drink a cup of tea?"
Xiao Li tapped the teacup. "I’m not afraid of ghosts."
’I’m just afraid of you love-struck fools.’
Xiao Li was calm, Jiang Yu’er had dropped her act, and Wang Shiqi was the one left at a loss.
’This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Why is she calling our bluff already?’
Jiang Yu’er drew a dagger and accused her resentfully, "You killed my husband! We were about to be married, but you killed him!"
Xiao Li corrected her, "That was Jiang Wan’er’s fiancé, I believe. Which would make him your brother-in-law."
Jiang Yu’er shouted angrily, "Nonsense! He was my husband!"
Xiao Li was speechless. "Even if you were trying to steal him, it seems you hadn’t even succeeded yet. And here you are, calling him ’husband’ this and ’husband’ that. Shameless!"
"You’re courting death!"
Jiang Yu’er snapped, lunging at Xiao Li with the dagger.
Xiao Li was prepared. She grabbed the teacup from the table and threw it directly at her.
"Yu’er!"
"Ah!"
The tea splashed right onto Jiang Yu’er, and Wang Shiqi shot to his feet.
Jiang Yu’er only paused for a moment before raising her dagger and charging at Xiao Li again. ’I must avenge Gu today!’
Xiao Li stood up, kicked a stool toward her, and nonchalantly retreated to a nearby pillar.
"Brother, since you’re here, why are you still hiding? Is it fun watching two girls fight?"
The words had barely left her mouth when a sword was pressed against her neck.
Jiang Yu’er froze. Wang Shiqi stared at the man in black in disbelief. "Prince Chen?"
"Yu’er..." He looked at the woman he loved. "How is he Prince Chen?"
His tone clearly indicated that he had met the man before but hadn’t recognized him.
Jiang Yu’er was in no mood to deal with a simp. Her eyes were fixed on Xiao Li, as if waiting for a chance to kill her.
Wang Shiqi stared, completely stunned, at the murderous expression on his beloved’s face.
Seeing that he had been recognized, Xiao Jingyu pulled down his mask. His expression was as cold as ever, and his gaze was so icy it could freeze water, as if he were incapable of any other look.
"Where is Xue Yin?"
’Seriously?’ Xiao Li thought. She had assumed Prince Chen was here for revenge against her, but it turned out to be about Liu Xueyin.
"What a ridiculous question, Brother. You’re asking me where your own Princess Consort is? What, was it ’every man for himself’ when you fled? Did you forget to bring her along and only just now remembered her?"
Xiao Jingyu was unmoved by her taunts. "Stop playing dumb. Hand her over now."
Xiao Li sneered. "I’d have to have her in order to hand her over. She’s not with me, so what am I supposed to give you?"
A thought made her laugh again. "If she really were in my hands, Brother, and you’re only coming to find her now, she’d be nothing but a pile of bones."
"I killed Lu Yanzhi, so why would I have spared her? I would have sent her to hell with him over two months ago."
’Half-truths, half-lies.’
Xiao Jingyu scrutinized her expression, trying to discern if she was telling the truth.
In the end, he was only half-convinced. "You’d better not have touched her. Otherwise, I will never spare you."
’How laughable. We’ll see who’s not sparing whom.’
He sheathed his sword and said coldly, "For the Emperor’s sake, I won’t kill you. But I certainly won’t help you clean up the mess you’ve made. Also, Xiao Jingyun is narrow-minded and short-sighted. You will regret helping him eliminate the Lu family."
Xiao Li laughed coldly. "The mess I’ve made?"
Her gaze shifted to Jiang Yu’er. She couldn’t be bothered to argue with this love-crazed lunatic about who had tried to kill whom first between her and Gu Ling.
"Your Majesty is indeed narrow-minded and idiotic, but are you any better, Prince Chen?"
"But none of that matters. Who becomes Emperor, what happens to the throne... what does any of that have to do with me?"
"Speaking of which, even if you hadn’t come looking for me, Brother, I’ve been wanting to find you."
Xiao Jingyu frowned. "Find me for what? To help Xiao Jingyun?"
Xiao Li smiled and shook her head. "It has nothing to do with him. I simply... want to ask you to die, Brother!"
One moment she was smiling, gentle and harmless; the next, she raised her hand.
"BANG! BANG! BANG!"
"Prince!"
Everyone was stunned by the sudden turn of events.
Xiao Jingyu’s martial arts were superb, and he dodged the instant he sensed danger. But he only managed to avoid the first bullet. The next two hit him, knocking him backward and into the pond with a great SPLASH.
The thin layer of ice on the surface shattered. Water splashed high, instantly stained red with blood.
Beifeng, who was standing guard nearby, cried out in alarm and jumped in to pull him out.
CLICK-CLACK!
Xiao Li reloaded her pistol. She aimed the dark muzzle at Jiang Yu’er, her smile as warm as before. "Miss Jiang, would you like a taste?"
Jiang Yu’er was terrified. Even Prince Chen, with his formidable martial arts, had been defeated by Xiao Li. It was impossible for her to kill Xiao Li.
As expected of someone truly in love, Wang Shiqi still remembered to throw himself in front of Jiang Yu’er. "I beg you, Princess, spare her life."
His actions made Xiao Li laugh. "Wang Shiqi, have you forgotten? You and she plotted to lure me here for the purpose of killing me."
"She deserves to die, but are you so innocent?" ’They both plotted against me. What right does he have to plead for someone else?’
As she finished speaking, she fired without hesitation.
"BANG!"
A bloody hole blossomed in Wang Shiqi’s chest.
"BANG! BANG! BANG!"
Three more shots rang out. Two forced Wang Shiqi to his knees, and the third hit Jiang Yu’er’s shoulder.
Xiao Li smiled and sighed. "Jiang Yu’er, I actually quite liked you, especially that ruthless streak you showed when dealing with Liu Xueyin. But it’s a pity you’re such a love-struck fool who can’t tell right from wrong. You insisted on trying to kill me, and that’s a real shame."
Before she died, Jiang Yu’er suddenly remembered something. That letter... it was written by her.
"Young Master? Princess!"
Hearing the noise, the people outside the Shuixie rushed over. Xiao Li walked to the other side. There were still traces of blood on the water’s surface, but no movement from below. Beifeng had clearly rescued the prince and gotten away.
’If I’d known, I wouldn’t have bothered with Jiang Yu’er. Finishing off Prince Chen should have been the priority.’
’But it doesn’t matter. He won’t get away.’
’Now my problem is that there are two bodies lying here, and I’m completely unharmed. It felt good to take them down, but this is going to be hard to explain.’
Her gaze fell upon a bloodstain on a nearby pillar. She reached out, smeared some on her own neck, then tilted her head to the side... and fainted.