The Heavenly Secrets concerning the proprietress, Fan Chunfang, surfaced in Li Ye's mind.
Fan Chunfang was from Cangzhou.
She was born into an official family.
Her father, Fan Yu, had been appointed General, and Cangzhou was King Cheng's fief.
Decades ago, King Cheng had rebelled, and the Imperial Court had sent troops to suppress him. In just half a year, King Cheng's forces had been defeated, and he had been captured. Fan Yu, serving as General, had died in battle.
Afterward, not one member of his family had escaped the purge.
The men were beheaded, and the women were made slaves.
In the end, young Fan Chunfang had been sent to the Imperial Brothel.
"Alas!"
Li Ye sighed. What had become of the Great Gan Dynasty? King Cheng had rebelled decades ago, and now King Liang had rebelled.
The dynasty's fortunes didn't look promising.
Fan Chunfang was a poor woman, too.
Li Ye could be almost certain that Wei Bo was the poisoner.
But the Heavenly Secrets concerning the proprietress, Fan Chunfang, had not finished unfolding. They continued to surface.
Suddenly, a scene caught Li Ye's attention.
In the scene, Fan Chunfang knelt before a pale-faced man with graying hair, dressed in a Flying Fish Robe.
He looked to be in his fifties, with a stern face and eyes like a lake. His hands were clasped behind his back, and the force of his presence made Fan Chunfang tremble at his feet.
"A man from the Imperial Court. Fan Chunfang's involved!"
Li Ye's expression darkened as he guessed what was going on.
The Flying Fish Robe was the official uniform of a special Imperial Court agency—the Imperial Guards.
The Imperial Guards were a terrifying department. One of their duties was to gather intelligence throughout the land for the Imperial Court.
That was why Imperial Guards were everywhere, with no crack they couldn't slip through.
With Fan Chunfang, who worked at the Imperial Brothel, having caught the eye of the Imperial Guards, Li Ye didn't need to guess what had happened next.
Fan Chunfang had joined the Imperial Guards and become a deep-cover agent.
To conceal her identity, she had married an ordinary man at the direction of her superior.
That man was Lu Fang, the owner of Golden Juice Beef House.
The owner, Lu Fang, was innocent, but his wife wasn't.
The couple weren't on the same side.
Who could have imagined things would turn out like this?
Li Ye was so shocked he couldn't speak.
The Heavenly Secrets concerning Fan Chunfang continued to emerge in his mind.
After marrying Lu Fang, Fan Chunfang had seemed like a virtuous wife on the surface, but secretly she had provided intelligence to the Imperial Guards.
And if she was providing intelligence, she must have had a contact.
In other words, Fan Chunfang's superior.
Li Ye soon worked out who it was, and saw what he looked like.
"It's him!"
Li Ye was astonished.
He knew the man.
—Wei Bo!
That was the truth, laid bare.
There were two poisoners: the proprietress, Fan Chunfang, and the Black-Clad Academician, Wei Bo.
The former was the person Li Ye had considered least likely, while he had repeatedly ruled out the latter.
He hadn't expected both of them to be involved.
"So the Imperial Court wants me dead."
"Why?"
"Is it because the Holy Son is so gifted? Are they afraid that once he succeeds to the position of Divine Concealment Sect Sect Master, he'll make the Divine Concealment Sect even stronger and threaten the Imperial Court?"
Li Ye couldn't make sense of it.
The Imperial Court had clearly given the Divine Concealment Sect the tax revenue from the surrounding Ten Cities, treating it with great respect.
The Divine Concealment Sect had been established for so many years and had never done anything harmful to the Imperial Court.
And now, with this generation, the court had grown wary?
"Or... is it a personal grudge?"
Li Ye wondered.
It seemed unlikely that the Imperial Court suspected the Divine Concealment Sect.
If the Imperial Court wasn't targeting the Holy Son, then it had to be someone within the court.
"Anyone who can command the Imperial Guards must be exceptionally high-ranking."
"Who could it be?"
Li Ye furrowed his brows.
The moon was dark, and the wind was high!
Li Ye put on the Shapeshifter Mask and descended the mountain.
Someone was going to die tonight.
Licheng City, North City:
A few candle flames flickered in a quiet room.
Beneath their glow stood a cradle, and inside it lay a plump, fair-skinned baby.
His eyelashes were long, and his wide eyes crinkled into slits with laughter. His tiny nose tilted up, and saliva glistened on his damp little lips.
Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong!
The baby had just woken up. His innocent, wide eyes fixed on the rattle swaying before him, and delight spread across his face.
He was adorable.
Perhaps it wasn't just the rattle that made him happy. He could feel his loving father's affection, too.
The one shaking the rattle was the baby's own father—Wei Bo.
The room was small, meant for a baby. Wei Bo's wife had just given birth and hadn't yet recovered her strength. So, out of concern for her, Wei Bo had taken it upon himself to soothe their son.
"You little rascal, you're quite the handful."
"You were only just born, yet you wake up two or three times every night."
"You've kept your old man awake for two whole days and nights."
"Go to sleep, go to sleep, Zhi'er, be a good boy!"
Wei Bo held his son's soft, pale hand and gently coaxed him.
Before long, the little fellow fell asleep.
Wei Bo let out a long breath of relief.
Bang!
Suddenly, a gust of wind slammed against the door, which seemed to blow open.
Wei Bo was startled. I was careless. I didn't even lock the door.
Fortunately, it was midsummer, so a little breeze in the room wouldn't hurt. If it had been the freezing depths of winter, his precious son might have fallen ill.
Wei Bo hurriedly turned around and saw that the door had indeed blown open a crack.
So he got up to close it.
When he returned, he found a young man in blue beside the cradle. He had appeared there without Wei Bo noticing.
The young man crouched beside it, smiling as he studied Wei Bo's precious son.
"Such a handsome little fellow."
"Your son doesn't look like you at all."
The young man spoke calmly before Wei Bo could say a word.
Wei Bo's head rang as if it had exploded. "Y-you... who are you?!"
He kept his voice low as he demanded an answer, his entire body snapping into a state of vigilance unlike any he had ever felt before.
Even in such a dangerous situation, Wei Bo remembered to keep his voice down so he wouldn't frighten his son.
Suddenly, the young man picked up a bundle from the floor and tossed it in front of Wei Bo with a clatter.
The bundle came undone, revealing a robe and a long saber.
"Flying Fish Robe. Spring Embroidered Saber."
"You've been hiding quite a lot, Wei Bo!"
The young man sneered, deep mockery curling at the corners of his mouth.
He was none other than Li Ye, wearing the Shapeshifter Mask.
The moment Wei Bo saw the bundle, he was every bit as shocked as when he'd found Li Ye crouched beside the cradle.
He had kept that bundle hidden beneath his wife's bed.
Now it was here.
That meant the other man had already been to his wife's room.
"What did you do to my wife?"
Wei Bo felt as if the world had turned upside down.
But he kept his emotions under control, forcing his voice as low as he could so he wouldn't frighten the little one in the cradle.
Men often cherished their wives and children more than their own lives.
Yet this man had first gone to his wife's room, then appeared beside his son's cradle.
Wei Bo felt like he was going mad.
"Relax. Your wife is fine. I didn't lay a finger on her."
Li Ye said.
Wei Bo let out a long breath of relief and clasped his hands. "Thank you."
"Tell me what you want. My life is yours."
As he spoke, he seemed to reach some important decision and slowly unclenched his fists.
His whole body relaxed, no longer on guard.
He looked ready to let himself be slaughtered.
As an Imperial Guard, Wei Bo was quick-witted. He knew he wouldn't survive this.
Li Ye gave an approving nod. "You're a real man."
"You might not be a good person, but you're a good man."
"I promise you, what happens tonight won't bring harm to your wife and child."
Joy flashed across Wei Bo's face, and he thanked him again. "Thank you."
"But I don't remember seeing you before, not even in the case files."
"Who exactly are you, sir?"
"Let me die knowing."
Li Ye slowly rose to his feet, his gaze growing sharper by the moment.
Then he took off the Shapeshifter Mask.
Wei Bo's eyes widened...
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