Bai Ruozhu couldn’t help but look at Jiang Yichun. Was he such a loyal and stickler for rules? Why did he call to stop?
At this moment, Jiang Yichun’s face had regained some color, but he was still very weak. He slowly stood up, meeting Xu Huilin and Bai Ruozhu’s gaze, and chuckled as he said, "I’ll handle it."
Xu Huilin’s face twitched. He understood Jiang Yichun’s meaning. If the news leaked out in the future, it would be Jiang Yichun who would shoulder the responsibility. He was implicitly implicating Meng Liangshen, hence Jiang Yichun didn’t want him to take the risk.
For a moment, Xu Huilin’s emotions were exceptionally complex. All along, whenever there was danger, his master, eldest elder brother, and third elder brother wouldn’t let him take part. Any situation that might expose his identity, they would avoid involving him. Why? Because of his biological father, Meng Liangshen!
His feelings were difficult to articulate. He couldn’t blame his master and brothers because he knew they did it for his own good. Therefore, he could only hold Meng Liangshen responsible. He wishes he wasn’t Meng Liangshen’s offspring!
While he was in a daze, Jiang Yichun summoned up all his strength, and with a single sword strike, pierced Li Yi’s heart. Until his death, Li Yi remained shocked, filled with disbelief that Jiang Yichun really dared to kill him.
Perhaps, if Bai Ruozhu hadn’t said what she did today, Li Yi may have had a chance to survive. Unfortunately for him, he ran into Bai Ruozhu, who didn’t fear imperial power like others did.
Xu Huilin glanced down at Li Yi, who had lost any signs of life, and hurriedly snatched the golden amulet that granted its bearers immunity from death from his hand. However, his expression was as if he had just picked up a hot potato.
"What should we do with this?" He asked with a frown.
After consideration, Bai Ruozhu suggested, "Why not give it to me? It isn’t safe for you to hold on to it. If I melt it, I can cast a gold hairpin."
Jiang Yichun couldn’t hold back a laugh, "This is the first time I’ve heard of someone melting down a ’get-out-of-death-free’ amulet to make a hairpin. It’s certainly a waste. However, you can’t just melt it anywhere out in the open; that could lead to trouble."
Bai Ruozhu quickly reassured him, "I can handle this, don’t worry." She only intended to place it in her space, where it would be safe from discovery. That was surely better than leaving it with Jiang Yichun, where it risked exposure one day.
After listening to her, Xu Huilin handed over the golden amulet to her and reminded her, "Keep it safe."
"Let’s search him again. He may have antidotes or other valuable items on him," suggested Bai Ruozhu.
Xu Huilin started searching him again, and found a few silver banknotes equivalent to a hundred taels, some Yunnan Baiyao, and also took off a red bellyband from Li Yi’s chest.
Bai Ruozhu’s face instantly boiled with rage. That was her bellyband! It was hand-stitched by her mother! At the time, she had mentioned not liking the peony flower design, so her mother had stitched a Nelumbo nucifera pattern on it instead.
There were no Nelumbo nucifera flowers in Danliang country, and no one would embroider that flower design either. So Bai Ruozhu instantly recognized her bellyband.
She quickly recalled the incident. It was the day before she arrived at Beiyu City, when she had encountered Li Yi. She was knocked unconscious and taken to Li’s residence. When she woke up, her clothes had been changed, which included her bellyband. She was in a rush to escape at the time, so she had no time to look for her bellyband. Who could have guessed that Li Yi...
Bai Ruozhu clenched her teeth in secret. Why on earth did this man, Li Yi, keep her bellyband on him? To establish an opportunity to frame her, so she could never wash away the implication even if she jumped into the Yellow River?
With that thought in mind, she stealthily glanced at Jiang Yichun. When she saw his expression, her heart sunk. Uh-oh, Jiang Yichun recognized it!
However, Xu Huilin was unaware of the story behind the bellyband and sneered, "This Li Yi really was infatuated. He even carried his lover’s bellyband with him."
Bai Ruozhu felt she would be unable to explain herself clearly. Owing to Xu Huilin’s ignorance of the full story, she could not say much in front of him either. So, she quickly turned her head and said, "There’s a survivor. I should go and kill him with poison."
Before they were taken out from the secret chamber, she had decided to give them a lethal blow. Therefore, the poison on her nails was deadly, just that there was a delay in its effect.
So, all the other Turkic people who had come along were dead from the poison, except the one who had been cut by Bai Ruozhu. The man was still writhing on the ground and screaming. Bai Ruozhu sighed. She was moving with great difficulty, and the very act of taking a step made her chest pain.
"I can only kill you to prevent future trouble. Looks like you got lucky," she mumbled, and with a small movement of her finger, tapped the man. His screams soon reduced, and after a few convulsions, he was silenced.
When she turned back, Jiang Yichun’s eyes, which had held an intense loathing for Li Yi, were now calm. He stood off to the side in silence.
"Bai Ruozhu, we can’t find anything else," Xu Huilin said to her.
Bai Ruozhu also inspected minutely once more, truly finding nothing. She sighed regretfully. Perhaps Li Yi had consumed some kind of antidote.
If he had been alive, she could have confirmed by taking his pulse, but it can’t be helped now that he’s already dead. Besides, her mind wasn’t occupied with some poison-avoiding treasure but rather concerned with how to explain to Jiang Yichun.
Xu Huilin handed her several silver banknotes and said, "Consider it for the price of your medicine."
Bai Ruozhu didn’t stand on ceremony, taking the notes straightforwardly.
She looked at Li Yi’s corpse and suggested, "Why don’t we hide his body and say that his men gave their lives to cover his escape. It’s a shame you won’t be able to take credit then."
"You’re right, it’s better to avoid giving people with knowledge of the matter a chance to exploit this." Jiang Yichun opened his mouth to speak.
Bai Ruozhu quickly looked towards him. Seeing that he agreed with her suggestion, she sighed with relief. He had no misunderstandings about her.
Xu Huilin was less injured than Jiang Yichun, so he took on the task. He dragged Li Yi’s body a distance away and hid it in the forest.
When Xu Huilin left, Jiang Yichun walked over to wipe the blood from Bai Ruozhu’s face, and said with some heartache, "It’s my fault for involving you."
Bai Ruozhu was still worried, pouting she said, "I thought you’ve forgotten about it and were going to blame me as well."
Jiang Yichun gave a bitter smile, and said, "I recognized your bellyband, and I couldn’t help wanting to tear Li Yi limb from limb. But I knew that I shouldn’t jump to conclusions. We have been through so much together; life and death situations, how could I not trust you?"
Upon hearing this, Bai Ruozhu’s heart softened. She took his hand and said, "Just before I arrived at Beiyu City, I was captured by Li Yi. He knocked me out and took me to Li’s residence. Probably afraid that I was carrying poison, he ordered his maids to change all my clothes. I just didn’t expect him to be such a pervert."
When she had previously told Jiang Yichun about these incidents, she hadn’t mentioned that all her clothes had been changed. Such matters could easily lead to misunderstandings, so she didn’t want to mention it more. Who could have expected that Li Yi would hide her bellyband?
Moreover, she extremely regretted that she will never be special in the future, especially in her private belongings.
Today, Mouka had to go out and ended up being late home due to a storm, so I could only update three times. I’ll try to make up for it tomorrow~