APSIL -Chapter 130 You Shot Him with an Arrow, So I’ll Beat You Up

At noon, the many government offices near Donghua Gate were in their lunch break.

Although most official departments had their own kitchens, with monthly allocations of rice, grains, vegetables, and meat, the food was truly nothing to boast about. Aside from officials who were genuinely too poor to afford anything else, most people still had to leave the offices to find something better to eat.

Thus, around noon, groups of two or three officials would continuously emerge from the entrances of various offices, gradually dispersing into the nearby alleys.

As the crowds disappeared, Donghua Gate Street, where these government offices were located, gradually became quiet.

Even the gatekeepers and guards would usually sneak off to corners to take a nap at this time.

Therefore, when an ordinary-looking young man with an unremarkable appearance from head to toe entered the outer office of the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs, naturally, no one paid him any attention.

However, it was not as if there was absolutely no reaction.

The moment the young man crossed the threshold of the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs, a black shadow suddenly shot toward him like lightning.

But just as the beast’s shining fangs became clearly visible, A-Liu calmly uttered two simple words:

“Sit.”

In an instant, the black dog, which was nearly half the height of a person, abruptly stopped.

It shook its tail suspiciously.

But when it met A-Liu’s calm gaze, it seemed to recall some distant memory. After letting out two low whimpers, it actually sat down obediently.

When that hand rubbed its head, the dog let out a comfortable hum and directly lay down.

Hearing the commotion and coming outside, Lü Chan was completely stunned.

Not to mention outsiders—even he, a regular attendant stationed outside the palace for the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs, had never received such affectionate treatment from Black Moon.

He suspiciously stared at the young man for a long while.

Only after seeing A-Liu walk inside as if nobody else existed did he hurriedly move forward to greet him.

“You…”

Before he could even finish asking, A-Liu flipped his right hand and revealed a token.

Lü Chan immediately shut his mouth.

This was the type of person Chu Kuan had specifically instructed him to treat with extreme caution.

After stepping aside to let him pass, Lü Chan immediately turned around and hurried after him.

But by the time he looked again, the visitor had already disappeared without a trace.

Lü Chan hurriedly rushed inside.

What exactly is this ominous fellow here for?

Fortunately, Chu Kuan is here today… He couldn’t possibly be here for the Director of Ceremonial Affairs himself, could he?

A-Liu ignored Lü Chan’s panic.

He moved through the not-so-large office building with familiarity, occasionally stopping beside doors and windows.

But he never lingered, much less peeked through cracks.

To him, this place was impossible to get lost in even with his eyes closed.

Because he had once stayed here for over a year.

He had been only one step away from being castrated and sent into the palace to become a personal imperial attendant.

After escaping death during that massacre of horse bandits in the desert, he met Hua Qi.

He watched as that madman slaughtered those vicious bandits one by one.

Later, when A-Liu asked to learn martial arts, Hua Qi proposed a condition in exchange.

When A-Liu agreed without hesitation, he had already accepted the consequence.

He simply never expected that his life would later take a completely different path.

Regarding the fact that he had once nearly become a eunuch—someone ordinary people would avoid at all costs—A-Liu neither hated it nor wanted to remember it.

Now that he had returned, he had no intention of chatting with old acquaintances in the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs.

At that moment, he swiftly entered the rear courtyard.

There, he encountered a man dressed as a servant walking toward him.

The moment their eyes met, the servant immediately lowered his head and hurried away.

But A-Liu’s lips curled slightly.

He stepped forward and blocked the man’s path.

The servant still refused to raise his head and stepped sideways.

A-Liu copied him and stepped sideways as well.

Again, the path was blocked.

Only then did the servant finally lose his composure and raise his head.

His voice was hoarse as he demanded: “I have urgent business to handle. Move aside!”

A-Liu said nothing.

He merely stared directly into the man’s eyes.

Only when the servant hurriedly avoided his gaze did A-Liu coldly say: “I knew it. You really were here.”

A-Liu’s purpose for returning was very clear.

The person who sent the sword to threaten Zhang Shou was impossible for him to find alone.

But the assassin who had appeared at Cuiyun Pavilion before…

When A-Liu had pulled away that arrow, he had vaguely sensed something familiar.

The style of archery was similar to a technique he himself knew.

A technique commonly used by imperial attendants serving before the emperor.

Hua Qi was skilled in it.

And so was he.

If that was true, then perhaps he could find clues at the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs.

But he never expected to encounter the culprit himself.

Seeing the servant’s expression change dramatically, a silent kick suddenly came from below.

A-Liu calmly met it with his own leg.

When their legs collided, the servant’s fake panic instantly turned into unbearable agony.

He could not even remain standing.

With a stagger, he collapsed onto the ground.

Facing this scene, the cold-faced youth finally smiled.

“How does it feel?”

The servant felt as though his kick had struck an iron pillar.

Naturally, the pain was so intense that he could not answer.

He knew exactly what A-Liu meant:

How does it feel to kick someone wearing an iron leg guard?

Only when A-Liu grabbed him by the collar and killing intent flashed in his eyes did the servant suddenly shiver.

He had recognized A-Liu long ago.

He knew exactly how terrifying and ruthless this young man was.

He hurriedly forced himself to speak.

“I only acted under orders that time…”

A-Liu tightened his fingers, cutting off the rest of his words.

“Who?”

The servant dared not reveal the truth.

But as he hesitated, the pressure around his throat increased.

It felt as though his neck would snap in the next moment.

Terrified, he remembered that although A-Liu was no longer in the palace, he seemed to be Hua Qi’s disciple.

There was no way he could deceive him.

So he desperately shouted: “Second Prince!”

The pressure suddenly disappeared.

The servant had just breathed a sigh of relief.

But then his throat was grabbed again.

And this time, he heard two icy words: “Liar.”

The servant had no idea how A-Liu judged him.

He simply could not defend himself.

His breathing became increasingly difficult.

Stars appeared before his eyes.

It felt as though he would suffocate to death.

Yet his desperate struggling did nothing.

The young man standing before him seemed completely unaffected.

No one else was disturbed.

It was as if the entire world had been reduced to those cold, knife-like eyes.

Only when he thought he was truly about to die did that hand finally loosen again.

The servant fell to the ground, supporting himself with both hands, gasping desperately.

Every breath felt like sweet rain after a drought.

But immediately afterward, his hair was suddenly grabbed.

His head was forced upward.

He looked into those pitch-black eyes and trembled.

“Again?”

The simple two words made the meaning clear.

If he continued resisting, what had just happened would happen again and again.

The servant finally broke down.

Although he had already endured questioning once before, the terror of death hanging over him was no less frightening than torture.

He thought:

I already confessed before His Majesty.

Perhaps A-Liu was sent because the emperor does not believe me.

If I continue resisting, I might really die.

So he could only grit his teeth and whisper: “It was Princess Yongping…”

“But she was only angry with Miss Zhu and wanted to scare Doctor Zhang. She never intended to take his life…”

He did not finish explaining.

Because in the next moment, A-Liu grabbed him and threw him upward.

The servant felt as though he had been lifted into the clouds.

Then A-Liu followed him up the wall, grabbed him again, and effortlessly carried the heavy man into the neighboring courtyard.

Realizing someone might have already entered the previous courtyard, the servant hurriedly lowered his voice.

“His Majesty already knows about this! That is why he only punished me by sending me out of the palace to work as a servant here!”

Those few words were enough for A-Liu to confirm.

This man really was someone who had been castrated young, trained in martial arts, and later served as an imperial attendant.

A-Liu raised an eyebrow.

He did not ask anything further.

Instead, he suddenly punched the man hard in the stomach.

Before the scream could escape, A-Liu moved like lightning and stuffed a piece of cloth into his mouth.

Then he coldly said: “You shot an arrow at him. I’ll beat you up.”

After saying that, A-Liu mercilessly delivered a beating.

Only when he finally heard a low exclamation behind him did he stop.

He straightened.

The person who had just been brought over by Lü Chan—Chu Kuan—only glanced at the unfortunate man lying on the ground.

Then his eyes fell on A-Liu’s back.

But his mind was occupied with the words he had just heard.

When A-Liu turned around and walked toward him, Chu Kuan was about to say something.

Unexpectedly, as A-Liu passed him, he quietly left behind one sentence: “I heard that the imperial attendants serving before His Majesty only obey imperial orders.”

“Has that rule changed now?”

Watching A-Liu leave after saying that, Chu Kuan looked at the man on the ground who could not even crawl up.

He felt a terrible headache.

He had not interacted with this young man many times.

He only knew that back then, A-Liu had practically been mute.

But Hua Qi’s reckless and fearless personality…

Now it seemed A-Liu had inherited at least seventy or eighty percent of it.

The man claimed he acted under Princess Yongping’s orders.

According to palace regulations, an imperial attendant who acted without imperial authorization had only one fate:

Death.

Yet the emperor had not killed him.

After interrogating him, His Majesty merely sent him to the outer office of the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs.

What could Chu Kuan do?

He also found this problem extremely troublesome.

Princess Yongping might be arrogant and self-righteous.

She might dislike worldly compromise and enjoy building a reputation among scholars.

But she was not foolish.

If A-Liu had killed this man just now…

That would actually have saved Chu Kuan a great deal of trouble.