Chasing Jade (Zhu Yu)

A cold moon hung in the sky, its jade-like light spilling down the long flight of stairs.

Fine snowflakes drifted slowly under the dim yellow palace lanterns, landing on black satin boots and instantly melting into faint, damp marks.

A young eunuch led Xie Zheng toward a side hall, a fawning smile on his face. "My Lord Marquis, please watch your step."

A greatcloak edged with fox fur was draped over Xie Zheng's shoulders. His posture was as straight as a pine tree, and the moonlight plating his profile made him appear all the more cold and handsome. A soft "en" escaped his nose.

From beneath his wide, gold-embroidered sleeve, he flicked a pebble. It struck a snow-laden branch not far away. The branch trembled, instantly shaking off its blanket of snow. Startled, the young eunuch craned his neck to look, shouting sharply, "Who's there?"

The next moment, the young eunuch felt a sharp pain at the back of his neck and lost consciousness.

Xie Zheng picked up the lantern the eunuch had dropped. He lifted the cover, blew out the candle inside, then single-handedly hoisted the eunuch up and propped him against a pillar outside a palace hall.

After doing all this, Xie Zheng raised his eyes and swept his cold gaze around the area before yanking off his greatcloak and court robes.

Beneath his robes, he was wearing a night suit.

He took a disguise mask from his robes and put it on, then hid his court attire in a cavity within a rockery in the imperial garden. Following a palace map he had long since memorized, he avoided the patrolling guards, scaled a high wall, and in a few leaps and bounds, arrived at the Cold Palace.

Compared to the festive lanterns and decorations of the other palaces, the Cold Palace was frighteningly desolate. Even the lantern at the main gate, which cast a palm-sized yellow glow, was covered in dust and draped with cobwebs.

The residents of this Cold Palace were all concubines who had committed grave offenses. They were either mad or dead, and rumors claimed the place was haunted. Aside from the palace staff on duty who would come to toss in food as if feeding dogs, not even the lowest-ranking eunuchs and maids were willing to spare it a second glance.

Following the intelligence provided by the Grand Princess, Xie Zheng vaulted over the high wall of the Cold Palace and easily found the mad palace maid's residence in the Outer Dormitory.

The small room was similarly filled with dust and cobwebs. The only piece of furniture seemed to be the bed by the window. By the moonlight, one could see dry straw peeking out from under the thin, partially uncovered mattress. The palace maid was curled up asleep on it, covered only by a tattered, mildew-spotted thin quilt.

A faint smell of burnt incense and candles lingered in the room. Veneration was forbidden in the palace, so it was likely this maid had been secretly burning ghost money for someone in her own room.

Xie Zheng unfurled the soft sword wrapped around his arm and pointed it directly at the back of the maid's neck. "I know you're awake. If you want to live, don't turn around. I only have one question."

"Who was the imperial concubine who had an affair with Wei Yan back then?"

The palace maid seemed terrified, her body trembling like a sieve. "It was... it was..."

The turn of events happened in an instant. The maid suddenly whipped her head around and flung a handful of powder at Xie Zheng.

Xie Zheng quickly turned his head to avoid it, closing his eyes and holding his breath in time to prevent inhaling the unknown powder or getting it in his eyes. The maid, however, seized the opportunity to pull a dagger from under her pillow and stab at him. Xie Zheng instinctively raised his arm to block, sending her flying several meters away.

The maid's back slammed against the wall before she tumbled to the ground, a trickle of blood seeping from the corner of her mouth. Yet, there was no ferocity in her eyes, only boundless seduction. She used her finger to wipe away the trace of blood from her lips and licked it, her gaze hooking Xie Zheng like a fishhook as she whined, "You're so strong. You've hurt me."

Her voice was sickeningly sweet, like downing a pot of sugar boiled into a thick syrup.

When the maid removed her two fingers from her mouth, they were slick with saliva. She tugged at her clothes, pulling them down bit by bit, and giggled. "Do you want to see where you hurt me?"

Xie Zheng's eyes held only the deep disgust of watching a maggot squirm in a gutter. He sheathed his sword and turned to leave, but the sound of chains came from the main door.

Xie Zheng's eyes turned abruptly sharp. He raised his sword to splinter the door, but in that instant, he found his limbs had gone soft and weak. It was almost impossible to even stand. He braced himself against the wall with one hand, a cold sweat beading on his temple.

The sound of chains also came from the window, followed by a long, thin bamboo tube poking through a small crack. A faint white smoke drifted into the room.

The woman behind him purred, "Are you finding your limbs weak?"

"You've been smelling this Bone-weakening powder since you entered the room. Just now, you fought with me, which accelerated the drug's effect. To think it's only taking hold now... that strong body of yours... it truly makes me crave you..."

The woman simply prostrated herself halfway on the floor, her dark hair unbound. Her plain white nightclothes were open, revealing the bright red dudou and one fragrant shoulder beneath. Her expression was one of unbearable desire as she stared enticingly at Xie Zheng.

Hearing her say he had been smelling it since he entered, Xie Zheng immediately looked at the brazier where the ghost money had been burned. So, the incense and ghost money were to cover up another scent.

The drug took effect as violently as a bursting dam. All the strength in his body seemed to have been drained away. Xie Zheng could no longer even hold himself up against the wall. He slid down to sit, but another reaction was stirring within him. It felt as if a fire was roasting his blood, and his limbs itched as if insects were crawling over them.

It was self-evident what the substance blown in from the bamboo tube was.

The woman also seemed to be affected by the drugged smoke from the tube. Her face, compared to her earlier feigned coquetry, now showed more instinctual reaction. Her seductive eyes were glazed as she slowly crawled toward Xie Zheng. "I feel so awful, help me..."

The drug caused a flush to appear on Xie Zheng's face, even through the disguise mask, but his eyes were unnaturally cold. "Do you want to die?"

His voice was very soft, like the chilling ghostly aura drifting from the River of Oblivion when the gates of the underworld open during the Ghost Festival, sending a shiver up one's spine.

The woman's gaze was already hazy, but his words brought back a sliver of her senses.

She looked at the handsome man sitting at the base of the wall, unable to even stand due to the Bone-weakening powder. What little rationality she had left under the aphrodisiac's influence was quickly consumed. She giggled. "You'll soon want to join me in this mortal ecstasy that is a living death."

Panting, she finally crawled before Xie Zheng. She raised a pair of eyes shimmering with allure, but before she could utter a coquettish complaint, her neck was seized by a large hand that felt like an iron clamp.

The overwhelming scent of blood and the feeling of suffocation finally sobered the woman up. This man had actually dug into his own palm to maintain his clarity!

The woman had not been hit with the Bone-weakening powder and was a trained fighter. She tried to pry Xie Zheng's hand away, only to find it was all in vain.

Xie Zheng gritted his teeth so hard he could taste iron. He stared coldly at the woman struggling in his grasp. "Qi Sheng found a thing like you to impersonate a Cold Palace concubine and replicate Wei Yan's crime on me?"

The woman tried to speak, but only a faint gurgling sound could escape her throat. Her expression shifted from terror to despair. As the fragile bones in her throat broke, Xie Zheng's five fingers gouged several bloody holes directly into the side of her neck.

The woman's eyes were wide open as she collapsed to the floor. The blood flowing from her neck quickly formed a small pool on the ground.

Xie Zheng sat against the wall, panting like a beast. His hand was a bloody mess; it was impossible to tell if the blood was from his own palm or the woman's neck.

The people who had locked the door and window and released the aphrodisiac smoke heard no movement from inside. After a moment's hesitation, one of them unlocked the door, wanting to see what was going on.

However, as he pushed the door open with a lantern in hand, the first thing he saw was the woman's face, her eyes wide open in death, staring toward the door. The eunuch was so frightened his pupils shrank. He hurriedly raised the lantern to find the other person in the room.

A dagger slit his throat, spattering blood. The lantern fell to the ground and was instantly ignited. The firelight illuminated the blood-drenched dagger, its cold, gleaming blade reflecting a pair of grim, icy eyes.

Xie Zheng stepped over the blood-soaked floor and out of the room, blood dripping from the back of his left hand.

The few guards waiting outside the room saw the tragic state of the palace maid and eunuch inside through the wide-open door and couldn't help but feel a chill.

The dose of Bone-weakening powder burned in the room was enough to fell an ox. How could he still walk out? Could he have taken an antidote beforehand?

However, the blood on Xie Zheng's hand and the slight stagger in his steps told them that he had indeed been drugged and was merely forcing himself to stay upright.

The main gate of the Cold Palace had long been locked. One of the guards immediately shouted to a companion behind him, "Set a fire! Draw everyone over here!"

Grand Princess Qi Zhu had been confined by An Taifei for many days.

Tonight was New Year's Eve, and the mother and daughter had only a simple New Year's Eve dinner before An Taifei returned to her small prayer room to continue chanting scriptures.

Qi Zhu was vexed. She flicked her sleeves and left the warm pavilion. An Taifei's old mammy followed her step for step. "Where is the Princess going?"

Having been spoiled for over a decade, Qi Zhu was not one with a good temper. She immediately retorted, "This Princess is feeling stuffed and is going for a walk. Mother has already locked the palace gates, what are you worried about?"

The old mammy was not angered by Qi Zhu's sharp words. She simply curtsied and said, "Then the Princess should take a cloak. The wind and snow are heavy outside, be careful not to catch a chill."

Qi Zhu couldn't be bothered with the people around her mother. Having followed An Taifei for so long, they all seemed to have become bodhisattvas, speaking with the same expression and tone. The sight of them annoyed Qi Zhu to no end.

She took only her personal maids, held her head high, and walked past the mammy.

The old mammy curtsied behind her. "Respectfully seeing the Princess off."

Once outside, Qi Zhu truly felt a bit cold. She stood on a covered bridge, gazing at the cold moon hanging high in the sky, and cradled a bronze, openwork hand warmer, murmuring, "I wonder what that blockhead is doing right now..."

Her voice was too soft for the palace maid standing beside her to hear. The maid asked gently, "What did you say, Princess?"

Qi Zhu pouted. "Nothing. Let's go for a walk in the plum garden."

An Taifei had been favored in her youth. The Late Emperor had specially ordered an entire grove of plum trees to be planted in her palace. Come the harsh winter, the entire garden of plum blossoms would burst into bloom, a breathtaking sight.

Fine snow was falling tonight. The stone paths of the plum grove should have been covered in a thin layer of snow, but the sweeping eunuchs, fearing their masters might have the elegant inclination to admire the plums on New Year's Eve, had cleared the paths early on.

After walking for a while with her maids, Qi Zhu suddenly said, "You all wait here. Don't follow any further. I'm going to hang a sachet for blessings."

The maids replied in low voices, "Yes."

Qi Zhu walked a short distance alone into the depths of the plum grove and found a branch with exceptionally beautiful blossoms. She took out the sachet filled with her maidenly thoughts from her robes and gently rubbed the embroidery on it. Just as she was about to stand on her toes to hang it, she heard the faint sound of a woman's giggles from behind a rockery obscured by plum branches.

Could someone be having a tryst here?

Qi Zhu's expression changed at once. She was about to erupt, but then she squeezed the sachet in her hand and her expression softened. She intended to pretend she heard nothing and leave, but then she heard a sentence: "Why would I lie to you? The Princess has been watched very closely by the Taifei recently, she hasn't gone anywhere..."

A somewhat effeminate voice sounded, "So no one from the Grand Princess's side has been to the Cold Palace either?"

The woman answered, slightly out of breath, "We servants can't even leave Shouyang Palace without the Taifei's waist token..."

Shouyang was another name for the plum blossom, and An Taifei's palace was named for this very grove.

Qi Zhu shouted sharply, "Who's there? Get out here for this Princess!"

This shout startled not only the man and woman behind the rockery but also the palace staff waiting outside, who hurried over.

Scrambling out from behind the rockery was a palace maid and a eunuch with disheveled clothes. Both were pale with fright and kowtowed to Qi Zhu like pounding garlic. "Princess, spare our lives! Princess, spare our lives!"

Qi Zhu had long known that palace maids and eunuchs sometimes formed eunuch-maid pairings, but at this moment, she only felt disgusted. She recognized the maid as one from her own palace, but the eunuch looked unfamiliar.

She stared coldly at the maid. "You were spying on this Princess?"

The maid trembled like a sieve, her face streaked with tears. "This servant wouldn't dare... This servant wouldn't dare..."

Qi Zhu turned to the eunuch. "Which palace are you from?"

The eunuch glanced up at Qi Zhu before quickly lowering his head again. Though he was afraid, he seemed to have more confidence than the maid. "This servant... this servant is from the Directorate of Ceremonial. Eunuch Gao, who serves His Majesty, is this servant's godfather."

Qi Zhu let out a cold laugh. So, his confidence came from Qi Sheng's head eunuch.

But since he could ask the maid those questions, it was clear that her helping Xie Zheng investigate the mad maid in the Cold Palace had reached Qi Sheng's ears.

A chill shot up her spine, and Qi Zhu felt her knees go weak. She looked at the eunuch with an expression that could eat him alive and ordered sharply, "Tie up this filthy eunuch for this Princess and lock him up!"

Then she turned and strode quickly out of the plum grove, grabbing the hand of one of her trusted maids. "Quick, take my waist token and go to Taiji Palace immediately. Find the General of the Cloud Banner and tell him there's trouble at the Cold Palace!"

The maid ran as fast as she could, but before she could even leave the plum grove, she was stopped by An Taifei and her entourage.

An Taifei looked at her daughter, her elegant face, though marked by the passage of time, now showing clear anger. "Zhu'er, what nonsense are you up to now?"

Qi Zhu said urgently, "Mother! This isn't nonsense! I'm already involved in the matter of the Cold Palace. This isn't like your time, where you could just lock the palace gates and be safe! If the Wu'an Marquis falls into Qi Sheng's trap, he'll blame us for it later! And even if Qi Sheng wins, with his deranged personality, do you think he'll continue to let us live in peace?"

Just then, the palace staff emerged from the plum grove, escorting the palace maid and eunuch who had been having the tryst. Qi Zhu pointed at the two and questioned An Taifei, "Qi Sheng has already extended his reach into our palace. Does Mother still want to stay out of it?"

An Taifei looked at the two, bound and gagged. After weighing the options, she finally said, "Open the palace gates."

Taiji Palace.

The banquet had already seen three rounds of wine. Fan Changyu looked up at Xie Zheng's empty seat, the worry on her brow deepening. Just as she was about to find an excuse to go out and check, a palace maid who came to refill her wine bumped her elbow inconspicuously.

Under the cover of her wide sleeve, Fan Changyu felt something being pressed into her palm. She immediately closed her hand around it.

After the maid left, Fan Changyu feigned a stumble as she stood up. A maid waiting behind her seat came forward to support her and asked where she was going. Fan Changyu used the excuse of needing the privy, and the maid respectfully led her toward it.

After Fan Changyu left her seat, Grand Tutor Li, who sat at the head of the civil officials' section, glanced at her departing back, then at the empty seat at the head of the military officials' section opposite him. His old eyes held an inscrutable emotion.

A moment later, an attendant approached and whispered something in Grand Tutor Li's ear.

The usually unflappable Grand Tutor Li's expression changed for a rare moment. After dismissing the attendant, he rose and cupped his hands toward the emperor above, who was clearly in high spirits. "This old subject is ashamed. Tonight, the sovereign and his subjects are all joyous, drinking to our hearts' content. This old subject should have celebrated with Your Majesty and my colleagues until the new year, but alas, I am old and useless, and I am terribly fatigued. I can only implore Your Majesty to permit this old subject to return to my residence first."

The main show hadn't even started yet. Qi Sheng was clearly very reluctant. "The Grand Tutor is tired. Why not rest for a while in the side hall?"

But Grand Tutor Li repeatedly said, "I am terrified," his words sincere. "Your Majesty is overwhelming this old subject!"

Qi Sheng was in a good mood today and feared his intention to keep him would be too obvious. "If that is the case, then the Grand Tutor may take his leave."

After Grand Tutor Li left the main hall with his son, Qi Sheng swirled his wine cup and said pointedly, "Why has the Wu'an Marquis not returned after going to change his clothes? Could he also be tired and resting somewhere?"

None of the officials dared to respond. Qi Sheng laughed to himself. "My dear ministers, keep drinking. We can't let the mood cool just because the Grand Tutor and the Wu'an Marquis are absent."

At that very moment, a young eunuch came running and stumbling in. "Your Majesty, it's terrible! There's a fire at the Cold Palace!"

Qi Sheng couldn't suppress the excitement in his eyes, but he still put on a furious expression and cursed, "How could there be a fire out of nowhere?"

The eunuch said helplessly, "This... this servant does not know."

Qi Sheng cursed him as "useless" and rose from the dragon throne. "There are still many deposed concubines living in the Cold Palace. At the turn of the new year, we can't have any deaths. Accompany Us to take a look!"

The Son of Heaven himself was going to the Cold Palace, so all the ministers attending the palace banquet had no choice but to go with him.

The snow was falling heavier now, and the wind had picked up. Dressed in a eunuch's uniform, Fan Changyu sprinted along the narrow passage leading to the Cold Palace, her cheeks feeling as if they were being scraped by icy blades.

In the distance, the Cold Palace was a sea of fire, and the oncoming wind carried a burnt smell.

Fan Changyu gritted her teeth, wishing only that she could be faster, even faster.

The note the maid had given her read, "Trouble at the Cold Palace, Wu'an Marquis is in danger." After leaving, she had dismissed the maid who was taking her to the privy and quickly found the one who had passed her the note.

The maid claimed to be one of the Grand Princess's people and even showed her the Grand Princess's waist token. After confirming her identity, Fan Changyu didn't dare to delay for a second.

Her official robes were too conspicuous. On the way, she knocked out a eunuch, stripped him of his clothes, and put them on before rushing straight to the Cold Palace.

The Cold Palace was in a remote location, and tonight was New Year's Eve, so the maids and eunuchs were slacking off. The fire had already been burning for some time before a few scattered eunuchs started carrying buckets to fetch water to fight it.

As Fan Changyu ran, others assumed she was heading to fight the fire and didn't suspect a thing.

She was fast. In just a few breaths, she left the firefighting eunuchs far behind. When she reached the Cold Palace, she found that the fire was in some dilapidated, empty halls used for storing miscellaneous items. The residential area had not yet caught fire.

Fan Changyu ran a few steps forward and at a glance saw the Cold Palace gate, which had a large hole smashed clean through it. A massive lock still hung from the door rings.

On the smashed door, the splintered wooden planks were stained with blood.

There was also a trail of blood on the ground leading into the distance, but the snow was falling heavily now, and it was night, so it was already faintly covered.

Fan Changyu's heart suddenly pounded wildly. She bent down and entered the Cold Palace through the hole in the door. By the light of the distant burning halls, she saw a courtyard full of dead bodies.

There were eunuchs, and there were Golden Guards.

Fan Changyu's entire heart clenched. She didn't dare to call Xie Zheng's name, only shouting loudly, "Yan Zheng? Are you here?"

Seeing signs of a struggle in one of the rooms, she rushed over. At the doorway, she saw a eunuch with his throat slit. In the center of the room was a woman with disheveled clothes and a broken neck.

In an instant, she understood the emperor's plan. A sickening chill rose from the soles of her feet, and extreme rage made the veins on her clenched fists bulge.

"Murder... murder!"

"Quick! Go get help! People are dead in the Cold Palace!"

A chorus of wails and cries erupted from outside. The group of firefighting eunuchs had arrived.

Fan Changyu dared not linger. She guessed that Xie Zheng must have broken through the palace gate and escaped, but he was likely injured and couldn't have gone far.

She directly climbed over a side wall of the Cold Palace and jumped out.

The Cold Palace was not like other places. Areas untouched by the firelight were pitch black, making it impossible to even distinguish the bloodstains on the ground. But Fan Changyu's keen sense of smell detected the scent of blood on the palace wall. Upon closer inspection, there were indeed bloody handprints on the wall.

She held up her hand to compare and, confirming they were Xie Zheng's handprints, she could already taste blood between her teeth.

Just how badly was he injured that he had to support himself against a wall to walk?

Fan Changyu followed the scent of blood, moving forward quickly.

She had to get him away before the Golden Guards arrived!

After taking many detours, she finally saw a figure half-submerged in the water by the rockery of Taiye Lake. Fan Changyu was almost moved to tears of joy. She hurried forward and called in a low voice, "Xie Zheng!"

Xie Zheng's eyes were tightly shut, and he did not respond. His disguise mask was gone, and in the moonlight, his lips were as white as his face.

Fan Changyu's heart leaped in alarm. She reached out to touch his face. "What's wrong with you..."

Before she could finish her sentence, her arm was twisted back, and she was dragged into the water, her throat simultaneously locked in a tight grip.

In that moment of suffocation, Fan Changyu was certain he was using deadly force to kill her. She struggled to pry away the hand choking her, forcing out the words, "It's... me."

In the corner of her eye, all she could see was Xie Zheng's pair of phoenix eyes, so scarlet it was as if the blood vessels within had burst. They were cold and ruthless.

He no longer recognized anyone.

The intense feeling of suffocation weakened Fan Changyu's struggles, but perhaps because the chokehold brought them too close, he caught her scent. Xie Zheng's hand, clamped around her throat, suddenly loosened.

"A Yu?" His face was unusually pale, his wet hair strewn behind him. His soaked lapels were slightly open, revealing his delicate collarbones. Paired with his blood-red eyes, his entire being exuded an indescribable, demonic charm.

His hand, the wounds on it already soaked white, gently caressed the red marks he had left on Fan Changyu's neck. Though his body was as cold as a block of ice from the waters of Taiye Lake, the breath he exhaled was still scorching.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know it was you..."

His voice was incredibly hoarse, as if he were desperately trying to suppress something. Yet, the pads of his fingers stroking the delicate skin of Fan Changyu's neck had already turned searing hot in an instant, causing him to uncontrollably lower his head to kiss her cheek.

His thin lips were as cold as ice, his breath as hot as fire—just like his current state, both bizarre and bewitching.

Fan Changyu had recovered by now and naturally knew these were the symptoms of him being drugged. She leaned back to dodge his lips, helping him up by one arm. "The Cold Palace is on fire. It's not safe here. I'll take you out of the palace first."

A warm sensation met her palm, but it wasn't the heat from his arm—it was blood.

Realizing he was also wounded on his arm, Fan Changyu pushed up his sleeve to look and saw his left arm was densely covered in knife cuts, all soaked white.

He had clearly done it to himself to stay conscious.

Her eyes reddened with anger, and she asked through gritted teeth, "Where else are you hurt?"

Once Xie Zheng relaxed, he no longer had the strength to resist the drug's effects and could only stand steady by leaning on Fan Changyu for support. The fire inside him felt as if it would burn all the blood in his body dry. He gazed at the person right before him, his Adam's apple bobbing. Droplets of water from his soaked, disheveled hair trickled past his eyelids before falling into the lake. He was as alluring as a demon from legend that subsisted on the life essence of humans.

He could no longer hear what she was asking. Before his eyes were only those red lips, capturing his entire gaze as they opened and closed. He cupped her face directly and kissed her hard.