Chapter 915: Shark-Raising Lord of the Sea
Zu An knew that Bi Linglong was really angry from the Rage points that were coming in. He quickly realized that she had smelled Zheng Dan’s scent on him. He immediately screamed ‘Damn it!’ inwardly. Just how many times had he made this stupid mistake already?
His brain moved at lightning speed, trying to find a solution to the issue. Taking a shower and changing into a new set of clothes was the safest way, but there were many times where it just wasn’t convenient for him to do those things! Hm… I think I remember a true master of the craft who used mandarin skins to hide these kinds of smells. I’ll have to give that a try next time for sure.
But he still had this hellish battlefield to deal with. Zu An didn’t panic at all and instead said with a sigh, “I didn’t expect you to still not trust me even after all the things we went through.”
Bi Linglong felt a bit sorry when she heard his long sigh. After all, he had protected her the entire time by risking his life. She unknowingly felt a bit of a guilty conscience. But she was smart as well, and not so easily fooled. She quickly responded, “Hah, are you going to tell me that the smell on you isn’t from another girl?”
“This is indeed that kind of smell…” Zu An began, but Bi Linglong’s eyebrows already rose before he even finished his sentence. He quickly changed the topic. “But this is the smell of King Qi’s concubine.”
Bi Linglong was stupefied. Wasn’t King Qi’s concubine dead? Why would he smell like her?
“When I infiltrated King Qi Manor last night, I snuck into the concubine’s burial site at a crucial moment…” Zu An thus told her about what had happened the previous night. Of course, he left out Sang Qien to avoid pissing off Bi Linglong even more.
“You really have guts… King Qi Manor is like a tiger’s den. Were you hurt at all?” Bi Linglong’s attention was diverted in the end. She quickly checked his body to see if there were any wounds.
“There were several times when I was almost discovered. I really did dance around the entrance of hell…” Zu An said, as if he still felt lingering fear. It hadn’t actually been that dangerous, but he needed to create that kind of atmosphere.
Sure enough, Bi Linglong couldn't help but feel conflicted and said, “Sorry, I wasn’t trying to cause trouble out of nothing. I just… just…”
Zu An said with great remorse, “I thought that after we experienced all of that in the dungeon, there wouldn’t be any of these kinds of misunderstandings aymore, but I guess it was just my own wishful thinking. You were even doubting me on such a small matter; wouldn’t our enemies be able to break us apart using any random tricks in the future…?”
Bi Linglong felt hurt when she saw that there were tears in his eyes. She quickly said, “I’m sorry; I won’t doubt you for no reason in the future! I was just waiting for you day after day, and yet I didn’t see you at all, so that’s why I got angry and… treated you like that.”
With how pridefully she normally acted, she would never talk about these things normally. However, Zu An’s acting was too good, leaving even her flustered. When she saw how sad he was, she felt even more pain. She felt as if she were about to lose something and blurted those words out.
Zu An looked at her with an ambiguous smile and said, “So, you were waiting for me every night.”
Bi Linglong blushed profusely. “I was talking about daytime, not nighttime!”
“Isn’t it all the same?” Zu An chuckled. He picked up a strand of her hair with a look of pity, saying, “It looks like the medicines in the palace weren’t too useful.”
Bi Linglong finally couldn't sit still anymore. The two of them had already taken off before they even got to know each other properly. She was still shy like a young girl, so how could she handle all of this? She said, “Stop saying nonsense. I keep that door locked at night anyway, so don’t come.”
Zu An pulled her into his arms with a smile and said, “I didn’t even say that I was going to treat you or anything. Why are you thinking about that?” Bi Linglong was really embarrassed. She hit his chest with her fists.
Suddenly, Rong Mo said from outside, “Crown princess, his majesty is about to finish the court session. Eunuch Wen has already sent over some men to escort Sir Zu to meet with him.”
An emperor never waited for a subject. It was one thing if the emperor thought of something and needed to bring him in. Today, it was Zu An who had requested the meeting, so why would the emperor wait for him?
Bi Linglong quickly pushed Zu An away. She sorted out her clothes while warning him, “You have to be careful.” After what had happened in the dungeon, every meeting with the emperor placed Zu An’s life on the line.
“Don’t worry, I still need to stay alive to treat you.” Zu An kissed her on the cheek, then left with a smile.
Bi Linglong held her cheek and harrumphed, thinking, This guy is just way too shameless! She had wanted to keep some distance between them, but she couldn't stop his aggression at all. She had already ended up letting him do whatever he wanted. But she thought of the treatment he was talking about and felt conflicted again. Should I just unlock that passage…
…
Meanwhile, Zu An arrived at the imperial study. The emperor returned soon afterward and summoned him inside.
“Why were you in such a rush to meet with me?” The emperor picked up his teacup and took a sip. His throat was already a bit dry from the morning court session, so he took the chance to soothe it. There was naturally no subliminal message that he didn’t want to see anyone, even if he sipped on his tea then.
“Responding to your majesty, I’ve already found out the truth regarding the death of King Qi’s concubine.” Zu An maintained some distance between them. I was just hugging the crown princess and even kissed her, but there’s none of her smell on me, is there?
But men weren’t as sharp in such areas. Combined with the way he and the crown princess didn’t really interact much in private, the emperor was unlikely to be able to differentiate between those smells.
Zu An thought, Hmph, I have both Zheng Dan and King Qi’s concubine’s smells on me. If he can distinguish Bi Linglong’s from among those, then just kill me already; I don’t care anymore.
“Your investigation has finished so quickly?” The emperor frowned. “Tell me, what happened?”
Zu An shivered inwardly. The other party’s first reaction wasn’t happiness, and he didn’t care about who the killer was at all. Did this mean that he had already known who it was a long time ago? As such, he spoke about his discovery while paying close attention to the emperor’s reactions. Sure enough, there wasn’t the slightest bit of surprise when he heard that the killer was King Qi.
“How did you discover this so quickly?” the emperor asked with a frown.
Zu An was stunned. “Is it a bad thing that I found out the truth too quickly?”
“Of course it’s bad,” the emperor said unhappily. “The reason I assigned you to this case, apart from finding out the truth, was for you to use this chance to get closer to King Qi, then hand him that fake secret manual. What are you going to do about that manual now that you’ve solved the case so quickly?”
Zu An thought, Sure enough, for the emperor, the life and death of a woman really doesn’t matter. What he cares more about are people who threaten his authority. However, he explained, “Please don’t worry, your highness. I’ve already started to gain King Qi’s trust.”
“Oh?” The emperor was now interested. “What do you mean?”
“I paid King Qi Manor a visit before I entered the palace, pretending to rely on King Qi for help…” Zu An told him half-truths about what had happened that morning. He left out the part about how he had offered to ally with King Qi, while talking about everything else. He even included what King Qi had said.
That had been his plan from the very start. If he was going to wander between both of these big shots, he couldn't treat them as fools, as they’d notice any tricks he played eventually. Rather than that, he might as well take the initiative to talk about it.
Normally speaking, King Qi would definitely think that Zu An would hide things from the emperor, while the emperor would think that he was hiding things from King Qi. Meanwhile, they would have no idea at all that Zu An was thinking the exact opposite. Zu An was the lord of the sea, but while the kingdoms of other sea lords had pretty fish to look at, his fish pond had these two monstrous and vicious sharks.
Sure enough, the emperor was happy to hear what he said. “You really are quite something, kid!”
He was actually a bit excited and began to pace back and forth in the study. He was clearly digesting the information he had just received. A while later, he stopped and said, “King Qi won’t trust someone so easily. He’ll definitely arrange some difficult tasks for you to complete.”
Zu An said with a smile, “That’s why I might need your majesty to help me when the time comes.”
The emperor also smiled. “Kid, you’re as crafty as expected. Zhao Jing probably has no idea that he’s about to be ruined by your hand.”