Chapter Ninety-Three: Keep the Music Playing, Keep the Dance Going!

In Northern Ridge City, at the General’s Residence, Li Yi sat at the desk in the main hall, steadily reviewing and correcting memorials and reports.

Amid the flicker of candlelight, a man in splendid robes approached from outside.

“I am Wu Jin. I have come to pay my respects to General Li.”

Li Yi did not even lift his eyes. With an expressionless face, he continued writing briskly. “Young Master Wu, a late-night visit. What business do you have here?”

Wu Jin snapped open the folding fan in his hand and tapped it against his palm with a crisp pop.

A smile had just begun to bloom on his lips when, all at once, he was struck by an abrupt wave of killing intent.

He looked up and saw Li Yi staring fixedly at the movement of his hand, his brows carrying the oppressive force of a third-rank expert.

Wu Jin felt a chill run down his spine. For a fleeting instant, it seemed that if he dared tap the fan one more time, his head would come right off.

So he immediately became deferential, bowing deeply before speaking slowly, “The silver shipment will arrive in Northern Ridge in three days.”

Li Yi merely gave a faint hum and made no further response.

Wu Jin froze awkwardly in place, then forced a wry smile.

After a moment of hesitation, he went on, “I’m sure General Li already knows that Young Lord Li has come to Northern Ridge to investigate the tax-silver case.”

“And if I do?” Li Yi said coldly.

“How does the general intend to deal with it?” Wu Jin asked cautiously.

“He has come to investigate the tax silver,” Li Yi said evenly. “Could it be that what you are sending is tax silver?”

As soon as the words fell, Li Yi suddenly raised his eyes to look at Wu Jin, and a domineering aura burst forth.

A violent draft surged through the hall. The carved wooden doors slammed shut at once, as if moved by invisible hands.

Wu Jin was badly startled by the display and instinctively took half a step back, his throat bobbing.

Swallowing hard, he stammered, “N-no, it isn’t!”

Only then did Li Yi’s oppressive aura withdraw slightly. In a low, firm voice, he said, “If it isn’t tax silver, then what are you afraid of?”

Wu Jin drew a deep breath and steadied himself, forcing calm onto his face, though the sweat on his forehead betrayed his true state of mind.

“That man is very capable. His Highness the Crown Prince is worried he may uncover things that should not be uncovered.”

“If this matter is exposed, it will inevitably stir up a storm.”

“When that happens, General Li, it will bring you nothing but harm and no benefit at all.”

When he finished, silence settled over the hall for a long while.

At last, Li Yi spoke again.

“Then what? Does the Crown Prince have some brilliant idea?”

His tone carried a hint of amusement.

Wu Jin let out a heavy breath and lowered his posture even further. “His Highness means this.”

“Better to kill the innocent than let one slip through.”

“You bastard!” Li Yi’s voice boomed like thunder.

In an instant, he appeared before Wu Jin and seized him by the throat, lifting him effortlessly from the ground.

“Does the Crown Prince not know? Young Lord Li is my own nephew!”

“We may not be close, but blood is thicker than water!”

Wu Jin’s face twisted horribly as he gasped for air, veins standing out across his forehead, his eyes bloodshot from lack of oxygen.

“General,” he managed with great difficulty, using the last thread of breath in his lungs, “if he really does find it out...”

“Then the matter of being enfeoffed as a king will be impossible!”

At those words, Li Yi’s expression shifted slightly. Narrowing his eyes, he looked at Wu Jin as though weighing the advantages and disadvantages.

Only when Wu Jin was on the verge of suffocating did he finally loosen his grip a little and snort coldly before letting go.

Wu Jin collapsed at once to the floor, coughing and choking.

Though he had escaped with his life, he had suffered terribly for it.

“Useless,” Li Yi said icily, glancing at him before turning to stand by the window with his hands clasped behind his back.

“I know how to handle this myself.”

“If you dare mention the killing of the heir apparent again in the future, I will not spare you lightly.”

“Get out!”

Wu Jin scrambled and crawled his way out of the hall in a sorry, pathetic state.

Li Yi looked up at the bright moon hanging high outside the window and gave a long sigh.

“My dear nephew,” he murmured.

“Would it not be better for you to stay obediently in the capital and enjoy your fine clothes and rich food as the young lord you are?”

“Even if your second uncle were made a king, you would still remain the heir apparent.”

“Why must you wade into these muddy waters?”

“If you do, then you and I will truly have to tear off the mask of courtesy between us...”

...

Li Yunji kept his word.

Early the next morning, he sent Eleven to the Star-Plucking Pavilion.

But the girls there, hearing that they were to go to the prince’s manor to sing, were unwilling beyond measure.

So Eleven simply decided to do it the hard way, tying the girls up hand and foot and forcibly bringing them to the manor.

“Couldn’t you be a little more civilized?”

In the main hall of the prince’s manor, Li Yunji looked at the women before him, each one weeping as though pear blossoms were drenched in rain, and frowned as he asked.

“I tried,” Eleven said helplessly. “But they wouldn’t listen.”

Still, there was no need to be so rough about it.

Li Yunji gave a soft sigh and shook his head.

He took the seat of honor, poured himself a full cup of fine wine, and drank it down in one gulp.

Then he plucked a purple grape and put it in his mouth, sweeping his gaze across the beauties below with a faint smile. “What are you standing there for?”

“Begin.”

The women exchanged uncertain glances, not knowing what to do.

“The young master told you to begin!” Eleven stepped forward, and a trace of anger flashed across his youthful face.

The girls had already seen what he was capable of and did not dare delay. Some began to play the zither, while others rose to dance.

“Cheer up,” Li Yunji said lazily. “I’m not going to eat you.”

“Anyone who dances well will be rewarded handsomely.”

With that, he tossed out a silver ingot.

All things are false except money.

The women of the pleasure houses understood this principle all too well.

At first they were a bit put off, but by the time half a tune had passed, they had slipped into the rhythm and grown fully accustomed to it.

“What exactly are you up to?” Su Qingmeng, seated beside Li Yunji, frowned in displeasure and asked in a low voice.

Li Yunji clapped along to the music while answering her carelessly, one sentence at a time.

“I’m a wastrel, after all.”

“If I don’t indulge in luxury, excess, and pleasure, wouldn’t that make me neglect my proper duties?”

“Good! That one’s good! Reward her!”

Su Qingmeng’s brows tightened further. She rose in anger, only for Li Yunji to catch her wrist.

“What do you think of my second uncle?” he asked.

Su Qingmeng was taken aback. “Shrewd, slippery, and deeply scheming.”

“Then what do you think I could uncover if I went to investigate openly?”

After a brief silence, Su Qingmeng looked at him with complicated eyes. “So you’ve simply decided not to investigate at all?”

Li Yunji let out a faint sigh and handed her a plate of grapes. “In the southeast corner, on the tree. On the northern roof. In the cracks of the rockery by the lotus pond in the back courtyard. All of them are my second uncle’s secret sentries.”

Su Qingmeng accepted the grapes, but her eyes did not leave Li Yunji. “How do you know that?”

“You’re a fourth-rank expert, and yet you ask that?” Li Yunji gave her a sidelong glance and laughed disdainfully. “I already told you, if I didn’t have even this much awareness, I’d have died over eight hundred times by now.”

Su Qingmeng pursed her lips and said nothing.

Though unwilling to admit it, she had to concede that Li Yunji’s powers of observation were indeed above her own.

“Any stir in the prince’s manor, and my second uncle will know immediately,” Li Yunji said, spitting out a few grape seeds and continuing, “So how am I supposed to investigate?”

“What then?” Su Qingmeng asked, frowning.

A cold smile curved Li Yunji’s lips. “Since they like watching, then let them watch to their hearts’ content.”

With that, he tossed down a few more pieces of broken silver, each about the size of a thumb.

“Keep the music going. Keep the dancing going!”