Early in the morning, the chirping of insects and birds filled the air with vitality, yet an unusual silence pervaded the Regent's Mansion.
As Sima Qing stepped out of his bedroom, he saw a dead dog lying in his courtyard.
There was also a pool of dog blood nearby.
Looking at Mo Jin, Fu Yu and the others, their faces all wore strange expressions. Sima Qing was silent for a moment, then looked at the person sitting on the stone table and asked the same question: "What is this?"
Jiu Yue looked extremely obedient and casually took out a note from her bosom, full of confidence: "My lord, it's a dog!"
Sima Qing: "..."
Mo Jin, Fu Yu and the others: "..."
Mo Jin immediately scolded, "Bold! How dare you insult the lord!"
Jiu Yue: "…?"
After a two - second reaction, she suddenly realized and quickly reorganized her words, saying dryly, "No, my lord. What I meant was, this is the dog you asked me to get rid of in the palace last night."
Sima Qing: "..."
He temporarily ignored the matter of the so - called insult. At this moment, his gaze fell on the whip at Jiu Yue's waist.
This time, before Sima Qing could ask, Jiu Yue reported on her own initiative, "Oh, this is from a secret guard I met in the palace last night. His whip fell off by itself, so I picked it up..."
Having a trophy, she thought she should get extra points in the assessment. Hee - hee.
Jiu Yue blinked her eyes and looked at Sima Qing expectantly.
After a long silence, Sima Qing waved his hand, wanting to tell everyone to leave first.
But her grinning appearance was really annoying.
Sima Qing closed his eyes for a moment, and the words that came out of his mouth became: "Clean up the dog blood."
Jiu Yue: "…Ah?"
After saying that, he went back into the room. Mo Jin and the others also tactfully withdrew, leaving Jiu Yue alone to do the cleaning on the spot.
Jiu Yue: "..."
Really fed up. Is this what a killer should do?!
...
Inside the room.
Sima Qing pressed his temples and couldn't help but praise her excellent tactics.
Originally, it was a dead - end situation, but she actually managed to find a way out.
Was this the dog he was talking about?!
A vein on Sima Qing's forehead twitched. He was clearly very angry.
He had underestimated her.
Oh.
However... then again.
She actually managed to break into the palace alone and snatch the tail whip from one of the top ten secret guards.
Thinking of this, Sima Qing looked down at his thigh, which still hadn't fully healed.
They had all underestimated this person's strength.
Now Sima Qing was curious again.
If she was pretending to be stupid to get close to him, then she had had two chances to make a move yesterday and today, but she didn't.
When would she stop pretending to be stupid and make a move?
Or perhaps, what was she waiting for?
Sima Qing pondered for a long time but found no clue.
But soon, he didn't have the mind to think about Jiu Yue's motives anymore -
The emperor summoned him.
**
On the way there, Sima Qing had thought through all the recent events.
He had feigned illness for more than half a month. The emperor had also taken the opportunity to remove a few of his "pieces", and he had then retreated to the background as the situation demanded... Logically, there was no reason for the emperor to summon him at this time.
As a result, he was carried to the imperial study, and heard the emperor say, "The commotion last night was caused by you, Uncle Regent, right?"
Sima Qing replied in a calm tone, asking casually, "I wonder what commotion Your Majesty is referring to?"
Last night, he had originally wanted to let Jiu Yue and the eunuch Feng Sheng fight each other, but Jiu Yue had brought back the body of a vicious dog.
But what did the emperor mean by these words now?
Could it be that Jiu Yue had actually made a move against Feng Sheng?
In just a few seconds, hundreds of speculations flashed through his mind, but then he heard the emperor's voice again, "Uncle Regent, stop pretending... Apart from you, who else would dare to splash dog blood in the palace?"
The words "dog blood" sounded like a demonic chant in his ears.
Sima Qing looked up and met the emperor's complicated gaze, a look that seemed to be full of things unsaid but also constrained by face.
Sima Qing: "?"
Sima Qing had taken the blame many times, but this was the first time he was extremely eager to clear his name.
"Your Majesty, it's not..."
"Alright." The emperor waved his hand, looking as if everyone understood the situation clearly. "Oh, right. It seems that your man also picked up the tail whip."
Sima Qing: "..."
He shut up.
Although he wasn't the one who splashed the dog blood, the person was sent by him.
On the way back to the mansion, Fu Yu finally found out the news.
"My lord, according to the palace servants, this morning, two palace servants were found drowned in the chamber pot. The vicious dog that was originally locked up there was gone, but there was a graffiti of the character 'evil' written in dog blood outside a cold palace, which scared many palace servants. That's why it caught the attention of the higher - ups..."
Sima Qing: "..."
...
Dog blood was quite difficult to wash off. Mainly because there was no detergent. Jiu Yue spent the whole morning scrubbing with a brush using brute force before she finally cleaned the small courtyard.
It was almost noon, and she still didn't know if the mansion provided meals.
No colleagues came to call her either.
After thinking for a moment, Jiu Yue decided to go to a restaurant.
Just as she threw the brush away, there came the sound of wheels behind her. She looked back and saw the polite Regent smiling at her.
"Are you done scrubbing?"
Jiu Yue nodded.
The Regent looked down and praised, "You did a good job. Go and scrub the palace too."
"Hehe... Ah?" Jiu Yue was stunned and subconsciously asked, "Why?"
The smile on the Regent's face disappeared.
Sitting in his wheelchair, he said expressionlessly, "Do you want everyone to know that you were in the palace last night? Next time you go on a mission, I'll prepare some firecrackers for you in advance. Then you can set them off while fighting, and let Mo Jin and the others beat gongs and drums to announce it to the world. How about that?"
Jiu Yue: "..."
The smile on Jiu Yue's face also disappeared.
Oh no, she had met a sarcastic person.
**
That night.
Jiu Yue sneaked into the palace again.
Just like last time, as soon as Jiu Yue stepped into the palace, she was caught by the Whip Guy.
But unlike last time, neither of them started fighting at the drop of a hat.
Jiu Yue squinted at the other person and realized, "You came here specifically to wait for me?"
The Whip Guy didn't say a word and just kept looking for something.
Well.
She wasn't doing anything shameful this time. She was here to do cleaning, for goodness' sake! She wasn't in the wrong! Why should the Whip Guy beat her?
Moreover, thinking that the Regent had gone to the palace in the morning, Jiu Yue thought that Sima Qing should have informed the person in charge of the palace, which was why the Whip Guy knew she would come again today.
Jiu Yue had a vague understanding and was about to ask for directions when the Whip Guy in front suddenly spoke up.
"Return my tail whip." His tone was solemn.
Jiu Yue raised her eyebrows, casually untied the whip around her waist, and couldn't help but click her tongue, "What do you mean by 'return it'? The things I pick up are mine."
Si Shui: "..."
There was a rare look of confusion in Si Shui's eyes.
Ah...
Didn't the emperor say that the assassin would return the whip to him tonight?
But this person right now...
Si Shui couldn't help but frown. His voice was filled with annoyance, "What do you mean? Are you just playing with me?!"
Jiu Yue just found it inexplicable, "Who's playing with you? Do you want me to help you remember? It was you who let go of the whip last night, and it fell to the ground. I just picked it up. It wasn't like I snatched it from you. Who are you showing that wronged look to?"
