TGCFNM -Chapter 513 It Was You Last Time Too

Chu Ling blew out the lamp in the room and slowly withdrew.

“Careful!” Bai Su grabbed Chu Ling and pulled her aside in a swift dodge, leaping straight up onto the roof eaves and landing steadily.

“How did you dodge that?” the evil-ghost-masked figure opposite asked in surprise. But she clearly had no intention of waiting for Chu Ling’s answer and immediately launched another ruthless attack.

Chu Ling pulled up her face veil and flicked several silver needles out in a rapid strike.

“So it was you last time!”

“It was me.” Chu Ling admitted openly. “Your knee was swollen for several days—can you still move it freely now, Chu Yue?”

“And you even poisoned me with that kind of despicable drug!” Chu Yue’s expression darkened as she attacked again. A hidden weapon slipped between her fingers and slashed downward.

Chu Ling sneered. “Watch what you say. That medicine doesn’t make people lose their senses. Could it be that you wanted to take advantage of the situation to do something, failed, and now you’re blaming me instead?”

Bai Su pushed Chu Ling’s arm, helping her evade Chu Yue’s strike once more.

Chu Yue’s attack missed, and Chu Ling seized the moment to pull out a dagger and stab fiercely downward.

Chu Yue failed to dodge in time and her arm was cut. But that was all, because she had already countered with a backhand strike, slashing toward Chu Ling’s face.

Chu Ling suddenly felt warmth on her face. Her veil had been cut open, and blood began seeping from the knife wound on her cheek.

“Hiss—” Chu Ling sucked in a sharp breath, covering her face.

“I suggest you hurry back and find that coroner. Maybe you can still save your life!” Chu Yue sneered, tapping the ground lightly with her toes and retreating backward.

Chu Ling lowered her hand and smiled mockingly. “So concerned about whether I live or die? What—do you still need me for something later?”

“No. There’s no need anymore!” Chu Yue said coldly before turning and quickly leaving.

Chu Ling wiped the blood from her face. Half of her cheek felt numb and tingly, but there wasn’t much pain.

“I suffered so much after taking Su He’s Hundred-Poison Pills, and you think one slash from you can kill me?” Chu Ling didn’t bother with the wound on her face. She carefully tucked the dagger back and grinned despite pulling at the cut. “The poison Su He gave me isn’t weak either—you’d better think about how you’re going to save your own life.”

Bai Su examined her closely. “It doesn’t seem too serious, but we should still hurry back.”

“No. I need to make another trip to the Dali Temple.” Chu Ling said, looking toward the direction where Chu Yue had disappeared, frowning. “Why did she come to see the Princess Consort of Qi?”

“To kill someone?” Bai Su guessed. “Could she still want to kill Prince Qi as well?”

Ghost Scholar shook his head. “No. Prince Qi must personally confess and reveal, one by one, how he framed the former Crown Prince. Only then can the Crown Prince’s injustice be cleared to the greatest extent, and only then can Fu Qingyu stand more firmly.”

Although Chu Ling still hadn’t figured out the reason, she used the cover of night to leave Prince Qi’s residence and head for the Dali Temple’s prison.

The prison warden had just finished making a round of inspections and was carrying a lantern, preparing to return and rest. But as he turned a corner, he suddenly bumped into someone face-to-face—and that person even carried the smell of blood.

“You—” the warden was startled.

“Warden, it’s me.” Chu Ling pulled down her veil.

“Lord Chu?” The warden’s eyes nearly popped out. “Lord Chu, you’re dressed in night-raiding clothes—and you’ve come to raid the Dali Temple prison at night? What are you trying to do?”

“I’m… here to catch up with someone.” Chu Ling lied with a straight face.

Warden: “…My lord, you’re coming in by yourself, and leaving by yourself, right?”

Chu Ling nodded firmly.

The jail warden closed his eyes and muttered to himself, “Can’t see it, can’t see it, I can’t see anything,” before walking past Chu Ling.

Chu Ling thanked him and followed the direction he had come from. As expected, in the innermost cell, she saw Prince Qi standing there with his back to her.

Chu Ling ran over and leaned against the prison door. “Prince Qi!”

Prince Qi was startled and slowly turned around. Before him stood Chu Ling dressed in night-traveling clothes, but her face was covered in blood, looking extremely serious.

“What are you doing here?” Prince Qi frowned.

Chu Ling hesitated before speaking. “I came to tell you… Princess Qi has passed away. I arranged her appearance for her.”

Prince Qi grabbed the bars of the cell door, staring fixedly at Chu Ling. His eyes turned red, and tears instantly fell.

“Princess Qi said… she won’t leave,” Chu Ling said.

Prince Qi gave a miserable smile as tears kept falling. “Good… good. Not leaving is good… not leaving is good…”

“The Princess told me that Noble Consort Lian was strangled to death by His Majesty himself. She wasn’t the murderer at all. And if someone truly had to take responsibility for the Empress’s death… then it should be His Majesty!” Chu Ling gripped the prison door. “So Noble Consort Lian was wrongly accused.”

Prince Qi looked at the wound on her cheek, his expression turning sorrowful. “You’re injured, yet you still risked coming to the Court of Judicial Review to see me. It shouldn’t just be to tell me about my wife’s death, right?”

“I want to ask… about the former Crown Prince’s death. Was it you…?”

“Yes.” Prince Qi let out a self-mocking laugh and looked at Chu Ling. “Do you think I’m ridiculous? A maid’s son daring to dream of the throne?”

Chu Ling paused, then spoke frankly. “You’re the son of a palace maid—you actually had no chance of competing. And the wife you married offered you no support either. In that situation, how could you possibly hope for the throne? Was someone else helping you?”

Prince Qi looked at Chu Ling but did not answer.

Ghost Scholar sighed softly. “He won’t say. Stop asking. And it’s probably not something you’re meant to know.”

“Then ask him why he framed the Crown Prince,” Bai Su said sadly. “Wasn’t the Crown Prince good to him? The Crown Prince worked tirelessly all his life—what did he end up with?”

“Your Highness, why did you frame the former Crown Prince?” Chu Ling wanted to know the answer.

Prince Qi lowered his gaze and laughed bitterly. “That night, I saw with my own eyes my mother and Consort Tao die innocently. Father hated me to the core, wishing he could kill me outright. It was the Crown Prince who saved me.”

Chu Ling froze.

Prince Qi looked at her. “I’m terrifying, aren’t I? Ridiculous, too. I actually framed the only person in the imperial palace who ever showed me kindness—my own elder brother, the Crown Prince.”

Chu Ling wanted to ask: “Then why?”

“Yes… why? I want to ask that too!” Prince Qi’s eyes were bloodshot. “What did my two mothers do wrong to deserve death? Why, even within the imperial family, must there still be ranks of high and low?”

“Every time he helped me, every time he protected me, I would think of that night. Because his mother died, my two mothers had to be buried along with her? Why? Tell me—why!” Prince Qi’s eyes were red. “He wasn’t helping me. He was putting shackles on me. He let me clearly foresee every step of my future—forcing me to become his loyal minister!”

“I refused!” Prince Qi roared.

Chu Ling slowly released her grip on the prison door. Looking at Prince Qi inside, who seemed somewhat crazed, she didn’t know what to say.

“I both respected and hated him,” Prince Qi said with reddened eyes as tears rolled down his cheeks. “But I really never expected… that he would take his own life. I thought… he wouldn’t.”

After speaking, Prince Qi slowly turned around, hunched over, and knelt on the ground.

“You should go.”

“When everything settles… let my son return to the countryside and live in seclusion.”