AUBTN -Chapter 361 The Chancellor’s Heart

“Have some hot tea first and warm yourself up. You stayed inside all night—why are your hands still this cold?”

Shen Jue’s voice carried a clearly audible hoarseness.

It was obvious that today’s nonstop upheaval, along with what Chancellor Lu had said, had exhausted him mentally.

Su Hewan simply stared at him stubbornly, waiting for an answer.

Shen Jue sighed and naturally sat down on the stone bench beside her, his deep gaze locking onto hers.

“I thought you understood.”

He paused, his tone steady and certain. “Wanwan, if I hadn’t acted decisively and locked him in the imperial prison, he would have become a live target exposed in the open.”

“Those people in the Dali Temple have long been infiltrated like a sieve by various factions. If Lu Yan had fallen into their hands, whether he would even see the next sunrise was uncertain. Only in the imperial prison—under the absolute control of my Eastern Depot—could he be the safest.”

Shen Jue let out a cold laugh, a faint, sinister killing intent flashing in his eyes.

“Moreover, only by making such a high-profile arrest and firmly establishing the false impression that he and the Eastern Depot are at odds, can we make the mastermind behind this relax their vigilance and reveal themselves.”

Su Hewan lowered her eyes.

“I figured that’s what you were thinking.” She set down her teacup, her tone carrying a hint of helplessness. “With your intelligence, you wouldn’t be acting on personal grudges at a time like this. It’s just… forget it. There’s no point saying any of this now.”

Shen Jue’s gaze flickered slightly. He glanced toward the inner room and lowered his voice.

“How is Yu Qing?”

At the mention of Yu Qing, Su Hewan shot him an annoyed look.

“The imperial physician prescribed medicine to clear stagnation and reduce fever. She just took it and is asleep now. But this time, Qingqing really collapsed from illness—it genuinely scared her out of her mind.”

She paused deliberately, a hint of schadenfreude in her eyes.

“I’m warning you: you’d better prepare yourself mentally. The first thing she’ll do when she wakes up is come settle accounts with you. If she jumps on you to bite you, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

The moment Shen Jue heard this, his cold and composed image instantly cracked.

He reached out in one swift motion, wrapping an arm around Su Hewan’s slender waist and pulling her onto his lap.

“Hey! What are you doing!” she exclaimed, instinctively pressing her hands against his firm chest.

But Shen Jue buried his face into the crook of her neck, holding her tightly, his voice turning unexpectedly aggrieved and pleading.

“Then won’t my wife help me? I had no choice…”

The warm breath against her neck made Su Hewan shiver uncontrollably.

She suppressed a laugh and pushed at his head, though her words showed no mercy.

“Don’t try that! I’m not helping you. If I take your side, she’ll cut ties with me for sure!”

Shen Jue refused to let go. His arms tightened further, and he even began gently swaying her as he muttered in protest.

“No, no! My wife has to help me. She’s your closest friend—I can’t hit her, can’t scold her, and I don’t even dare raise my voice. I’m the most wronged one here!”

Su Hewan finally couldn’t hold it in anymore and burst out laughing as he shook her dizzy.

“Alright, alright! Stop shaking me!”

She grabbed his cheeks and forced him to lift his head.

Looking at his handsome yet utterly aggrieved face, her eyes were full of teasing amusement.

“To be honest, Qingqing’s biggest weakness is that she’s soft-hearted. She eats soft approaches but not hard ones. Don’t put on your usual King of Hell act. Lower your stance a bit and coax her. Maybe she’ll get moved and let it go.”

But the moment Shen Jue heard this, he immediately frowned.

Without hesitation, he refused.

“No. In this lifetime, I, Shen Jue, will only coax my wife. I will never coax another woman. Not a chance.”

That sentence was spoken with absolute certainty, without the slightest hesitation.

Su Hewan let out a deliberately disdainful snort. “This won’t work, that won’t work—then you figure something out yourself! Anyway, when she blows things up later, I’m not protecting you.”

Hearing this, Shen Jue let out a long sigh. He rested his chin on her shoulder, his tone faint and plaintive. “My wife is so heartless… you’re just going to watch your husband walk into his death.”

“Enough, stop fooling around!” Su Hewan lightly patted his shoulder, her expression gradually settling.

“Did the Chancellor come to see you tonight? What did he say? With the current situation, how exactly should we break this?”

At the mention of serious matters, Shen Jue released her and let her sit properly beside him. The cold, sharp aura of a strategist once again surfaced in his eyes.

“The Chancellor has seen through His Majesty’s intent to establish an inner cabinet and weaken the powerful officials. He intends to use his own retirement to exchange for Lu Yan’s survival.” Shen Jue’s voice was terrifyingly low.

Su Hewan drew in a sharp breath. “So you’re saying this is a trap set by His Majesty?”

“Not necessarily. But His Majesty will certainly use this matter against the Lu family!”

Su Hewan sighed. “What a ruthless move—killing with a borrowed knife. But the death of that Eastern Island envoy is still an undeniable fact. The Embroidered Uniform Guard’s blade was left at the scene.”

“Wrong.”

Shen Jue raised one long, slender finger and gently waved it in the air, his gaze sharp. “Wanwan, you’ve been stuck on the minor details these past few days. The key right now is not to prove the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s innocence at all.”

Su Hewan froze.

Shen Jue stared directly into her eyes and said word by word, “What we must do is prove that the entire incident is a complete and utter conspiracy—and the starting point of that conspiracy lies in Xiang Du’s identity!”

“Xiang Du’s identity?” Su Hewan murmured, suddenly recalling everything from the palace banquet of the Longevity Festival.

“Exactly!” Shen Jue slammed his palm onto the stone table, his tone icy. “To clear Lu Yan’s name and break the mastermind’s scheme, we must first prove that Xiang Du was never an Eastern Islander at all!”

Su Hewan’s thoughts instantly cleared.

“But Xiang Du is already dead. The dead tell no tales. How do we prove he was a Northern Barbarian?” she frowned deeply.

Their eyes met, and in that instant, they reached a tacit understanding.

“The corpse.” Shen Jue said softly, parting his lips to utter those two words.

“When a goose passes, it leaves its call; when a person dies, they leave traces. If he was impersonating someone, there will always be flaws. I’ve already ordered the best coroner from the Eastern Depot to conduct an autopsy overnight. We must obtain solid evidence before tomorrow’s morning court session!”

The night wind grew colder, scattering a few osmanthus blossoms onto the stone table.

At dawn the next morning, light broke over the horizon.

The door of the Yuyuan study was suddenly pushed open. Zhao Zhou quickly stepped in, dropped to one knee, and said with excitement tinged with something strange, “Master, the preliminary autopsy results are out!”

Shen Jue, standing with his hands behind his back by the window, abruptly turned around. “Speak!”

“Reporting to Master, the fatal wound on Xiang Du was indeed a slit throat from a bladed weapon, and the technique closely matches the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s Xiu Chun blade.”

Zhao Zhou swallowed, then abruptly changed his tone.