Chapter 309: National Fate Buff, Things Become Clear
’It’s over,’ Ji Qingwu thought.
’I’ve overtaxed my brain, and now it’s stopped working.’
Her vision was still normal, but a thick, white fog had filled her mind. The sensation was bizarre. Her thoughts ground to a halt.
Suddenly, a golden frame popped up.
Almost simultaneously, a cold, mechanical voice echoed in her mind.
[Congratulations, Host. The National Luck Bonus mission has finished charging. It will now activate at your current location and be released immediately.]
Ji Qingwu nearly thought she’d come down with some bizarre disease.
She fought to calm down and suppress the urge to curse. "Peanuts... isn’t this a little sudden?"
The system didn’t seem to think it was sudden. Its voice was as if it had been sped up.
[Please receive your reward for completing the previous Intimacy Mission—an F-rank National Luck Bonus.]
After those words, a flash of white light shot through her mind, and the system vanished. Ji Qingwu was back to normal.
She had no time to complain about the system’s flair for the dramatic. Right now, she was more curious about what an F-rank national luck bonus was. ’And... isn’t the timing and location for this release... a little off?’
Ji Qingwu stood at a bend in the alley, suspiciously eyeing the passersby.
’Could there be spies from another country nearby? Could it be... the Fourth Prince of Xijin is here!’
Just as Ji Qingwu was running through a hundred possibilities, a carriage behind her suddenly bolted forward as if it had gone mad.
Ji Qingwu tried to dodge, but she was frozen to the spot, her feet seemingly glued to the ground.
She could only watch helplessly...
...as the carriage wheel scraped past the tip of her shoe.
The carriage’s purple and gold curtain flew up, revealing the person inside. The passenger was thrown off balance by the runaway carriage and reached out a hand to brace against the wall.
The black horse suddenly reared, its front hooves kicking. The driver completely lost control, and the person inside was thrown from side to side.
Just then, something flew out from inside.
It flew right toward her face, and she instinctively reached out and caught it.
The hard object pressed into her soft palm.
The carriage continued its mad dash, quickly disappearing at the end of the alley.
Ji Qingwu discreetly slipped the object from her palm into her sleeve pocket and hurried back to the Wei residence.
She entered the courtyard gate of Xinyuan Hall.
Xuemei came forward to greet her. "Madam, you’re back."
Ji Qingwu nodded. "Why are you the only one here? Where did Lan Zhi go?"
Xuemei replied, "Lan Zhi is in the side chamber with the Young Miss."
Ji Qingwu walked to the door of the main room and said over her shoulder, "You don’t need to follow me. I’ll call if I need anything."
Xuemei bowed her head in acknowledgment and opened the door for her.
Ji Qingwu stepped over the threshold, her expression natural. Her gaze fell to the pocket in her right sleeve. The object inside was connected to the fate of Beili Country.
All the way back, she had resisted the urge to take it out for a closer look.
Just as Xuemei was about to close the door, Ji Qingwu’s fingers instantly went to her sleeve pocket.
"You’re back!"
Ji Qingwu’s fingers clenched into a fist at her side as she looked up at the person who had spoken.
Wei Tongyou had heard from the gatekeeper that Ji Qingwu had returned safely and had rushed over.
She circled Ji Qingwu, inspecting her from head to toe to make sure she was unharmed.
"Are you alright?" Wei Tongyou asked.
Ji Qingwu could tell her concern was genuine, so she replied, neither warmly nor coldly, "I’m fine."
Seeing that despite her reserved demeanor, Ji Qingwu’s eyes held an irrepressible sparkle, Wei Tongyou paused, taken aback.
’Wei Ting is away on a campaign, leaving his new wife behind. If she were bullied, my brother would surely be worried.’
Wei Tongyou was acting purely out of a sense of loyalty to her brother; she didn’t want anything to happen to Ji Qingwu, or she would have a hard time answering to him later.
However, Ji Qingwu didn’t look like someone who’d just been interrogated. In fact, she looked more like she’d won some prize, practically radiating happiness.
Ji Qingwu went to the tea table, sat down, and poured herself a cup of tea, which she drank down.
She hadn’t had a single sip of water all afternoon at the Song residence.
It wasn’t that the Song family had been inhospitable; rather, even if they had offered her water, she wouldn’t have dared to drink it.
Wei Tongyou watched as Ji Qingwu picked up the clay teapot and filled her cup to the brim with strong tea, unlike most ladies from noble families, who observed the custom of filling a cup only seventy percent.
Furthermore, she didn’t seem to mind that the tea was cold, her entire bearing one of casual comfort.
Ji Qingwu tilted her head back, taking small sips, and noticed Wei Tongyou staring at her throat as she swallowed.
She asked, "Are you thirsty, too?"
Wei Tongyou hadn’t been thirsty, but seeing Ji Qingwu’s glistening lips, she licked her own.
Ji Qingwu swirled the teapot, found it empty, and said, "There’s no more tea here. If you’re thirsty, go back to your own rooms for a drink."
Thirsty or not—Wei Tongyou had almost forgotten why she came.
She pressed, "Did anyone from the Song family do anything to you? Is the matter of Madam Song’s miscarriage cleared up?"
Ji Qingwu set down her teacup and, instead of answering, countered with a question of her own. "Why are you so concerned about me?"
Wei Tongyou lifted her chin. "I’m not concerned about you. I’m just curious about what happened. How did you prove your innocence?"
Ji Qingwu made a small sound of surprise and asked with a smile, "And how would you know that I’m innocent?"
"I knew it right away," Wei Tongyou said. "The Song family was obviously just trying to stir up trouble. It was probably Su Fengyue who put them up to it."
Ji Qingwu hadn’t considered that angle. With a deliberate shift in her gaze, she said, "Prime Minister Su is the Prime Minister, a man of outstanding moral character. I have no grudge against him. He wouldn’t do such a thing."
"You don’t know," Wei Tongyou said. "The night the emperor was injured and fell into a coma, Su Fengyue appeared with the Prime Minister’s Seal. If my brother hadn’t stopped him, Su Fengyue probably wouldn’t just be an advising minister now—he’d be the regent."
She was clearly passionate about politics and military affairs. She continued, "With Xijin invading, the court was supposed to dispatch full provisions and pay. But he used the excuse of an empty national treasury to delay for ages. How are the soldiers on the border supposed to fight a war if they can’t eat their fill or keep warm?"
Wei Tongyou’s face was flushed with indignation.
"That Old Su is doing it on purpose," she said, "abusing his authority for personal gain. He doesn’t want my brother to return and challenge his position as the most powerful official in the court."
Ji Qingwu nodded, then lowered her gaze to her sleeve, lost in thought.
Once Wei Tongyou got started, it was hard for her to stop.
She laid out her analysis logically. "I think it’s obvious. Su Fengyue had his son-in-law frame you. He wanted to make you a scapegoat and use this whole affair to get at my brother."
Ji Qingwu’s left eyelid twitched. Things were starting to become clearer.
Wei Tongyou’s other theories were nonsense, but she was right about one thing.
’Su Fengyue and Wei Ting are on bad terms. He’d even be pleased to see something happen to Wei Ting. That isn’t the kind of magnanimity or foresight a Prime Minister should possess...’
Wei Tongyou waved a hand in front of her face and asked impatiently, "Did you hear what I said?"
Ji Qingwu blinked slowly, then nodded. "You were being so loud," she said placidly. "Of course I heard you."
Seeing that she still had little reaction, the hot-tempered Wei Tongyou stomped her foot.