AUBTN -Chapter 160 Coming for Them

Lu Yan stood up, took off his gloves, and slammed them onto the ground, his voice heavy with a sense of helplessness. “The place is deserted. And…”

He paused, his gaze sweeping over everyone present. “The Jingzhao Magistrate has already closed the case. They say Lady Zhao failed in her duty as a wife, secretly meeting her lover at midnight and accidentally falling into a well. As for her husband, they claim he was overcome with grief and went back to his hometown to pay respects to his ancestors.”

“Nonsense!” Yu Qing snapped, swearing in anger.

“This is clearly collusion between officials and merchants! Where did that drunk get the money to bribe the Jingzhao Magistrate? Someone’s definitely behind this!”

Su Hewan pushed Shen Jue’s hand away. Her eyes cleared, but a cold edge only grew sharper. “No need to guess. In this capital, who else could make the Jingzhao Magistrate destroy evidence, erase the body, and rewrite the files within half an hour—other than Her Highness the Princess?”

Shen Jue looked at her, a flicker of admiration in his eyes, though worry was stronger.

“Don’t get involved in this,” Shen Jue said in a low voice.

“Leave it to me and Lu Yan.”

“Why shouldn’t we get involved?” Su Hewan suddenly lifted her head, staring directly at Shen Jue.

“That is our guild. Those people came to us for help! If we back down now, who will dare resist in the future? Who will dare trust us?”

“So what do you plan to do?” Lu Yan cut in coldly.

“Throw eggs at a rock? The Princess is currently worried she can’t pin anything on you. This corpse is a trap she laid for you! If you dare make a fuss, she can accuse you of spreading rumors and causing someone’s death!”

Before the argument could continue, more people arrived at the palace.

This time it was the Princess’s personal chief eunuch, Eunuch Wang.

Eunuch Wang carried a duster, fingers poised gracefully, his face wearing a fake smile that didn’t reach his eyes. He didn’t glance at the corpse on the ground and walked straight up to Lu Yan.

“Master Lu, Commander Shen, Her Highness the Princess heard there was a murder here and is deeply concerned. She specially sent me to inquire about the case.”

Lu Yan tightened and relaxed his hand on his sword’s hilt, finally taking a deep breath. “I—understand the command.”

Stepping back into the villa, the atmosphere had completely changed.

Li Yunxi sat in the high seat, holding a cup of tea, gently flicking at the froth.

“Commander Shen, Master Lu has arrived?” she said without looking up.

“I pay my respects, Princess!” Shen Jue bowed low.

Li Yunxi ignored him and turned her gaze to Lu Yan.

“How is the investigation progressing?”

Lu Yan’s voice was cold and firm: “The deceased, Lady Zhao, was murdered. Her husband is a major suspect, and the Jingzhao Magistrate is suspected of accepting bribes and covering it up.”

“Oh?” Li Yunxi replied casually, as if listening to some trivial matter.

“Master Lu, your investigation is certainly swift and decisive. But…”

She changed tone. “I hear that Lady Zhao insisted on a divorce because she believed what that so-called Women’s Guild said, angering her husband and ultimately causing this tragedy?”

Lu Yan’s eyes snapped up. “Your Highness, that is mistaken! Killing deserves punishment, debts must be repaid—this is justice! How can the victim be blamed?”

“Justice?”

Li Yunxi stood, looking down at Lu Yan from her high seat, a mocking smile curving her lips.

“In this capital, my word is justice.”

She slowly descended the steps and came before Lu Yan. Leaning close to his ear, she whispered, “Lu Yan, I’m actually helping you. Women should behave properly in the inner courtyard, supporting their husbands and raising children. Showing your face in public only brings disaster.”

“That Women’s Guild was never something that should have existed.”

Li Yunxi stared straight into Lu Yan’s eyes, her gaze a naked threat. “Disband it. Otherwise, today it might be a Zhao who dies, and tomorrow, it could be someone else… or—”

She deliberately paused and glanced at Shen Jue. “That self-important cousin of yours.”

A flash of killing intent passed over Shen Jue’s lowered eyes.

“Lord Lu, Lord Shen, you’re both clever men. You should know how to choose, right?”

At that moment, Lu Yan felt as if all the blood in his body had frozen.

He looked at the woman before him—beautiful in face but venomous in heart—and for the first time, he felt a bone-chilling sense of dread.

Li Yunxi saw the expression of a man bracing for a mortal threat on Lu Yan’s face and suddenly covered her mouth to laugh lightly.

Her laughter was crisp, carrying a spine-tingling chill.

Casually, she settled back onto the imperial concubine couch draped with snow wolf pelts, lazily stretching her waist.

“Lu Yan, you really are still so unamused by teasing.”

Li Yunxi’s eyes were like silk; her gaze lingered over Lu Yan’s taut back before drifting lightly to Shen Jue.

“Or perhaps… in another way!”

She spoke nonchalantly. “This time I return to the capital, I do not intend to leave.”

Her words were startling as her fingertips lightly tapped on the rosewood side table.

“The emperor is young, the court unstable. As the senior princess of the imperial family, it is my duty to share the burden with His Majesty. As for that… so-called Women’s Guild, it’s not impossible to accommodate it!”

Leaning forward slightly, her tone grew ambiguously intimate, her eyes fixed on the two men as if she could devour them whole.

“As long as the two of you are willing, as in the past, to frequently visit this villa and accompany me, I will speak favorably on your behalf before His Majesty. In fact…”

She drew out her words, her gaze shamelessly lingering on Lu Yan’s strong chest.

“If Lord Lu is willing, I could immediately enter the palace and petition His Majesty to grant a marriage, binding us even closer—would that not be wonderful? As for those common girls, they are merely fleeting diversions, never meant to stand on the same stage.”

Lu Yan’s face darkened instantly, black as the bottom of a cauldron, disgust practically spilling from his eyes.

He took a sharp half-step back, his voice cold and hard.

“Princess, please show some restraint!”

“I am an official of the court, not a man who serves women with his body! Moreover, I already have my beloved; I will marry no one else, and have no other intentions! Your Highness’s favor, I cannot accept, nor dare to!”

Li Yunxi’s smile froze for a moment; a flash of anger crossed her eyes before she turned to Shen Jue.

“And Lord Commander Shen? You understand my heart best. How about it—do you also intend to, like Lord Lu, remain pure?”

Shen Jue’s fake smile grew even brighter, but his phoenix-like eyes were utterly cold and barren.

He slowly closed his folding fan, yet his words were sharper than Lu Yan’s, cutting deeper while humiliating himself.

“Your Highness’s words are truly too flattering for this humble servant.”

Shen Jue slightly bowed, his tone dripping with unmasked mockery.

“What am I, Your Highness? Surely you know? My body is incomplete, I am a cripple, likely unable to serve the precious body of a princess properly. If word got out that Your Highness is entangled with a eunuch, it would surely tarnish your reputation.”

“You—!”

Li Yunxi sat upright abruptly, her expression turning icy.

Shen Jue’s words were not only a humiliation of himself but a slap directly across her face!

Rather than allow her even a touch, these two—truly shameless in protecting their honor!