Chapter 334: Must Divorce, Verifying Identity
The mention of military affairs immediately brought Wei Ting to her mind.
His voice was ice-cold as he asked, "Are you thinking of him?"
Ji Qingwu shook her head vehemently. She didn’t mean that at all. "I want to explain things to him as soon as he returns."
Zhao Mingyan seemed reasonably satisfied with this answer and gave a slight nod.
"And what do you plan to do then?"
Ji Qingwu took a small step back. "I haven’t thought it through yet."
’Sometimes, Zhao Mingyan really wanted to pry open her head and see what was inside.’
He said coldly, "Then start thinking now. Think it all through, clearly. Otherwise, you’re not leaving."
Ji Qingwu lowered her head, mulling it over for a moment before speaking slowly, "It’s pointless to think about it now. If Wei Ting doesn’t agree, it doesn’t matter what I come up with."
’I can only take it one step at a time.’
But Emperor Wu Su clearly had no intention of proceeding with such caution. He said, "Wei Ting must agree."
Ji Qingwu said, "But what if..."
At the thought of Wei Ting taking advantage of his coma, Zhao Mingyan’s expression darkened. "In this matter, there are no ’what ifs.’ You two must separate."
With those two "musts," Ji Qingwu understood the Emperor’s unyielding stance.
She said nothing more, because she also intended to use him to leave the Wei Family.
’But after this, Ji Qingwu had other plans.’
Seeing her silence, he assumed she had agreed. Zhao Mingyan cupped the back of her head, instructing her before he left.
"I will return to the palace first. If anything happens, have a Hidden Guard send a message in. Don’t act rashly again, and take care of yourself."
After Emperor Wu Su left, Ji Qingwu walked toward the elegant quarters in the southeast corner of the rear courtyard.
However, she had only taken a few steps from the front courtyard when she heard a commotion from a fork in the path ahead. It sounded like a fight.
Two figures, one in black and one in white, were tangled in combat.
Ji Qingwu stood still, narrowing her eyes to watch. Their sword moves were incredibly fast; they were both experts.
She watched for a good while before recognizing them.
"Mr. Duan," Ji Qingwu called out, interrupting the man’s attack.
Sure enough, the figure in black stopped first. He parried a few more strikes, and Wei Tongyou, clad in white, also ceased her attack.
Duan Mingfeng heard a faintly familiar voice. When he turned to look, however, he saw a stranger’s face.
He noted with surprise that the girl, dressed as a handmaid, was coming from the direction of the front hall.
He slid his Soft Sword back into his belt and demanded, "Who are you?"
Both Ji Qingwu and Wei Tongyou were still in disguise, so it was only natural that Duan Mingfeng didn’t recognize them.
’But Duan Mingfeng isn’t as easy to fool as Prince Yong. If we want to leave this estate without any trouble, we’ll need his approval. Besides, he’s Emperor Wu Su’s trusted confidant, so there’s no reason to hide anything.’
Wei Tongyou had also heard Ji Qingwu’s voice. She threw the sword she had picked up from the road onto the ground and asked huffily, "Your surname is Duan?!"
Duan Mingfeng ignored her.
Ji Qingwu took a step closer and said in a low voice, "Mr. Duan, I’m Ji Wu. She’s with me."
Duan Mingfeng asked, "And how can you prove that you’re Miss Ji?"
Ji Qingwu had never before been asked to prove her identity.
She waved him over into the shadows of a nearby tree.
Duan Mingfeng followed, his sharp gaze sweeping over her, as if searching for a flaw in her disguise.
Ji Qingwu rested her chin in her hand, thinking for a moment before speaking. "The Duan family’s secret technique is the Tracking Technique."
Duan Mingfeng’s expression didn’t change. In Lin’an, this wasn’t much of a secret.
Ji Qingwu continued, "You saved Mo Lingling’s life."
Duan Mingfeng, who had his arms crossed, felt his eyelid twitch at the mention of her name, but he quickly suppressed it.
’But Ji Qingwu wasn’t the only one who knew about that.’
Ji Qingwu thought for another moment. "Lingling told me a few days ago that while she was discussing business with Manager Mi, she saw a flower thief in her room."
Duan Mingfeng’s arms fell to his sides. His eyes were fixed on her.
Ji Qingwu smiled. "Lingling even slapped that flower thief. The person Lingling mistook for a thief must have been Mr. Duan, acting on the Emperor’s orders."
Duan Mingfeng’s left cheek twitched. He cupped his hands and said, "Miss Ji, please, go ahead."
Ji Qingwu nodded and pointed to the person furtively watching them from a short distance away.
"I’m taking her with me as well."
"Of course." Duan Mingfeng had no objection.
The moment Ji Qingwu stepped out from under the tree, Wei Tongyou gestured to her frantically.
"Come over here, quick! That stone-faced guard doesn’t look like a good person, and his martial arts aren’t bad. If he tried to hurt you, I’m not sure I could save you."
Wei Tongyou had exchanged a few moves with him and was already at a disadvantage. If Ji Qingwu had appeared any later, she might have been struck by the Soft Sword in his hand.
Ji Qingwu said, "He’s Mr. Duan of the Imperial City Envoy, not a guard."
Wei Tongyou’s eyes flew wide, and she glanced in his direction several more times.
Her mouth formed an ’O’ of surprise. "He’s Duan Mingfeng?"
Ji Qingwu asked, "You’ve heard of him?"
Wei Tongyou shook her head firmly, lying with a straight face. "Nope. Never heard of him."
’The girl was at an age where she couldn’t hide her feelings. I didn’t even have to look closely; I could tell just from her tone that something was up.’
’But Ji Qingwu wasn’t interested in other people’s private lives. If the other person didn’t volunteer the information, she wasn’t about to go looking for a rebuff by prying.’
After walking for about ten minutes, they arrived at the second-to-last room of the elegant quarters in the rear courtyard.
This seemed to be the most desolate part of the entire estate.
The sky was still gloomy, and even the loud commotion from the front hall hadn’t reached this place.
Ji Qingwu stood before the door. Before she could knock, the door was opened from the inside.
The person who opened the door was holding a candlestick. The warm candlelight shone on her face, making her features look serene, without a hint of madness.
Only, her hair was almost completely white, tied back with a yellow silk ribbon.
Seeing the woman’s face, Ji Qingwu now understood why Su Daiyue’s father’s concubine had once been the most favored in the estate. She greatly resembled the Fourth Prince Xijin’s mother from the portrait, though their eyes were different.
Perhaps that resemblance was the very cause of her misfortune.
At the sight of Ji Qingwu’s face, the woman initially recoiled in fear, but she quickly realized her mistake.
"You’re not that wretched wench, Hanzhang."
The woman’s feigned fear vanished, and she began to laugh.
"I woke up in the middle of the night and saw the lights in the front courtyard. Has that old beast been captured? Is he going to die?!"
She said excitedly, "The only reason I’ve held on this long was to see this day! The secret room in the woodshed—have you been there? It’s full of his secrets!"
The woman’s hands flailed about wildly. Her sleeves fell to her elbows, revealing long scars on her arms. A quick glance showed at least twenty of them.
’The cut and angle of the wounds didn’t look self-inflicted.’
Ji Qingwu frowned slightly but said nothing. She just took the silver hairpin from her robes and placed it in the woman’s hand.