A Lonesome Fragrance Waiting to be Appreciated 1

72

Sangtan's ice-cold voice was shocked. He was facing the deadliest man of the four countries after all, the strongest general of Dong Lin, who'd just returned from war and who had the command of ten thousands of men. If he said a word wrong, the Duke of Zhen-Bei could effortlessly crush him, a senior official, like an ant. He didn't dare make contact with Chu Beijie's sharp gaze. He lowered his head, "Please ask ahead Duke, Sangtan will most definitely answer if he can."

"Do you believe that I have anything to do with the princes' deaths?"

A tricky question to answer.

If Chu Beijie were to ask, "Does the King think that I have anything to do with the princes' deaths?", then Sangtan could act like a dutiful official, saying that he couldn't dare guess what the King was thinking and say that he was just an official acting on the King's Order.

But Chu Beijie's words were carefully chosen, asking exactly as Sangtan feared. Saying that he didn't know was a blatant lie. In other words, there were only two possible options if Sangtan didn't want to offend Chu Beijie. The truth or lie.

Of course Sangtan couldn't afford to offend Chu Beijie here, so the truth was definitely out of the question. That was as equal as giving up his neck for Chu Beijie's sword to slice through. However, if he were to say "Sangtan absolutely does not believe that Duke has anything to do with the princes' deaths," in front of all the soldiers, if they spread gossip that reached the King's ears, he might be punished for conspiracy if the Duke really was guilty. Even his family would be in trouble.

In that moment, all sorts of wishes flooded into his mind and although Sangtan was famous in Dong Lin for his constant calm demeanour, he was sweating profusely. His expression was pale as he stuttered out, "Duke...that's...that's..."

"Is this question that hard to answer?" Chu Beijie laugh but it didn't seem like one. "Senior Official of the Left, you only need to answer. Do you think I have anything to do with it, or not?"

Chu Beijie's piercing gaze swept across Sangtan, who took a step back. "I dare not...don't dare..."

"Haha..." Not waiting for Sangtan's reply, Chu Beijie raised his head and laughed, his face in an indescribable pain. After a while he stopped laughing, his expression serious once more. In a low voice, "Has the House of Zhen-Bei been fired now?"

Sangtan's expression was stunned. "No way! Who...who said such a thing?" His hands in his sleeves were shaking very badly.

Perhaps under this world, there was only one person, a woman, who could speak to the Duke of Zhen-Bei without paling.

Chu Beijie turned towards him, calmly eyeing him, then continued to look at the city. His expression seemed to have crossed the fifty miles and was already back in his familiar residence. Sometime later, he opened his mouth and sighed. "The little building is the most eastern part of the Residence. Outside there are flowers blooming while inside, there's a guqin." He continued to sigh for a little longer before coldly commanding, "Arrest him."

Sangtan felt numb with cold and hearing Chu Beijie's command, he forced himself to act. Moran had already pounced on him agilely as he started to raise the King's Order in his hand. He was just a scholar official and was no opponent for a seasoned commander. He was captured easily.

Sangtan was on the floor, trembling, both in shocked and afraid. "I'm just passing on the King's Order, yet you're rebelling like this." Some of Chu Beijie's personal guards forced him to stand, then tied him up.

Seeing Sangtan captured, his companions, a few dozen imperial guards also tried to escape. The soldiers, however, had a much faster reaction and surrounded them properly, swords out of their scabbards.

In just a moment's time, the welcoming party for Chu Beijie was tied up like steamed rice dumplings.

Moran pushed Sangtan to Chu Beijie's feet, reporting, "Duke, there's a short crossbow hidden in his sleeves. So evil, there's even a little poison on them. If they were launched from a close distance, most people wouldn't be able to dodge.

A muffled thump. The crossbow and arrow were thrown onto the sun-baked mud, sending a gentle cloud of yellow dust into the air.

Chu Beijie's gaze rested on Sangtan's head. Sangtan was trembling. His parents and wife, behind the city gates, had told him to never beg to live in front of Chu Beijie, or he would undoubtedly be killed. It would be better if he acted more stubborn, didn't change his original will. "Chu Beijie, you do know that once the two princes are gone, then the next in line for Dong Lin's throne is you? What a simple plan, how can the King just not see it? Let me tell you, the House of Zhen-Bei has been fired and everything you have once owned has been taken back by the King! It's such a damn pain that I'm just a scholar and doesn't know how to be cruel enough to pull that poisoned arrow on the crossbow."

Chu Beijie ignored his mad dog-like words, just frowning as he looked at dark green arrow heads. "This arrow, is it the King's request?" He asked faintly.

"Hmph! If it weren't for the King being your brother, he wouldn't have been unable to bear killing you. He hopes that you'd come to the Royal Residence to clear up any misunderstanding, if any, but how could I just waste all these opportunities to avenge for them?" Sangtan's face was full of remorse and anger.

Chu Beijie's voice was disdainful. "Once you shot the arrow out, no matter whether I died or not, you are in the midst of ten thousands of soldiers, so you'll surely die a brutal death immediately afterwards. You couldn't dare do it in the end, in fear of death, which is okay, but you even went as far to say such ridiculous words."

Sangtan's old face flushed bright red and widened his eyes like a frog. He rolled his eyes, but couldn't say anything to defend himself.

Chu Beijie's hands were behind his back, his eyes not even looking at Sangtan as he continued, "I really am one of the most suspicious people to the death of the two princes, but why would the King think that I'm the one who did it?"

Sangtan acted stubborn, refusing to say a word.

Moran coolly told him, "Senior Official of the Left has never worked with military troops and knows next to nothing about the rules of the barracks. When we meet uncooperative prisoners, they're stripped of their clothes and left to our brothers to have some fun, then tortured."

Sangtan's face paled all of a sudden.

There were no women in the army and this meant that the several thousand soldiers had to suffer abstinence for several months on end. Anyone could guess what "have some fun" meant. The torture was already bad enough, but if he was stripped to be shamed like that, even if he died, he didn't have the face to see his ancestors. He was trembling once more, no longer trying to be brave.

"Speak." Chu Beijie stood on the spot, as if nothing had happened.

Sangtan's sweat oozed out, resentment in his eyes as he glared at Moran. Through gritted teeth, he said, "Does the Duke really think that his poison plan was immaculate? The King got the spy immediately that night and after strenuous torture, he confessed to be a spy from Bei Mo. The person who'd given him the poison was a girl named Bai Pingting. Hmph, isn't that the woman that you loved?"

Moran was stunned and jerked his head to see Chu Beijie.

Chu Beijie was still as a rock, no one could see his expression. The army was quiet too, no one dared to cough. They stared at their general.

Under the shadow of the last of the dwindling light of sunset, Chu Beijie quietly asked, "Moran, what do you think of the current situation?"

For some reason, even Moran was so nervous that both his hands shook. He kneeled, in an alarmed tone. "If Sangtan's saying the truth, then it might be hard for the King to stop suspecting the Duke."

Suddenly, the plains were overcome with silence.

The other commanders in front noted every word of Chu Beijie and Moran's conversation.