Chapter 63: Forcing You to Have No Choice But to Die

Luo Yunyao extended her delicate, onion-white fingers and lightly brushed them against Qin Jinghao's warm, calloused palm. With a gesture of fond intimacy, she rubbed against it before slowly moving closer, naturally sliding her hand into Qin Jinghao's palm and giving it a playful, coquettish shake. In a voice that could not have been gentler or clearer, she explained, "Well, it's my fault. It's just a bad habit I picked up back in Bixu; whenever I get excited, it slips right out. Next time, I promise I'll only use that descriptor for you. Dearest Great General Qin, dearest Elder Brother Jinghao, won't you please forgive me?"

Qin Jinghao had long grown used to Luo Yunyao referring to the place where she and Ouyang Jingxu had come from—a place probably unknown to anyone else besides the two of them—as "Bixu."

Qin Jinghao felt the long, slender, and distinctly articulated fingers beneath the thin layer of soft, fair skin inside his hand. That restless pair of fingers stirred in a continuous, mischievous flurry within his palm, casting a subtle spell of temptation upon him.

"Say it again." Just as Luo Yunyao thought Qin Jinghao had not accepted her apology and the Minister of War was preparing to continue her grand campaign of coquetry, that all-too-familiar voice sounded beside her ear, faintly suppressing something. It was the jade-clear, resonant voice that Luo Yunyao knew best and loved most.

Luo Yunyao naturally reacted instantly, realizing that although the Great General Qin still wore a cold and expressionless mask on the surface, deep down he had already forgiven her slip of the tongue. Beaming with delight, she repeated the term of endearment she had just used for Qin Jinghao, softening her tone with infinite tenderness: "Elder Brother Jinghao."

They seemed born to be a pair, sharing a congenital tacit understanding. Even with the Great General Qin's abrupt and seemingly disjointed remark, Luo Yunyao was able to grasp the precise underlying meaning of what he wanted to say and accurately fulfill his will.

Hearing Luo Yunyao's affectionate address, Qin Jinghao narrowed his eyes slightly, a look of satisfied, unrestrained contentment washing over his face.

Luo Yunyao rarely addressed Qin Jinghao directly. When she did, it was usually a sarcastic "Great General Qin," with the mockery self-evident. This was the first time Luo Yunyao had called Qin Jinghao by an intimate nickname belonging only to the two of them, and it came after they had already confessed their mutual feelings.

Though both meant something akin to an elder brother, compared to Yue Liuxi's "Big Brother," the Great General Qin clearly much preferred Luo Yunyao's seemingly deadpan "Elder Brother Jinghao." It was like a picky child harboring a stubborn, exclusive preference.

"Since we've decided to have Cangshu investigate the family background of that maid who dashed herself to death right in front of me, should we still go visit that elderly couple who lost both daughter and son and now depend solely on a pair of young grandchildren?" The Minister of War automatically delegated the heavy task of investigation to the Great General Qin, taking it for granted that this inquiry would yield results.

Qin Jinghao glanced at her sideways without a word, perhaps intentionally ignoring her because the Minister of War had ordered this errand with far too much autocratic authority.

Acting as though she hadn't noticed the sidelong glance of utter disdain from the Great General Qin, Luo Yunyao deftly changed the subject in a self-amusing attempt to minimize his contempt for her. "Speaking of which, I was just wondering about something. I remember when I was in the imperial court, that official who is always at odds with me put it this way: the elderly couple were heartbroken over the loss of their only daughter and brought two infants to present an imperial grievance against me, while the autumn wind was chilly and they were freezing on the desolate streets..." The Minister of War struck a grief-stricken pose, her face flushed with indignation, tightly clinking the fist of her other hand to suppress the words *Damn it, what a bunch of morons* that threatened to spill out. She still wanted to maintain her image before the Great General Qin as a cultured, well-read young lady of exemplary diction—even though the Great General Qin had long since seen through her true colors.

Clenching her small fist, Luo Yunyao reined in her inner self-reference of *this lord* down to a modest *I*. "I mean, how could an aging maid possibly have elderly parents who still had the capability to give birth to a whole bunch of younger brothers and sisters who are just innocent little children?" Her pretty brows arched sharply, as if the minister who had constantly crossed swords with her in court was standing right before her eyes, and Luo Yunyao's face was painted with pure disdain. "As expected, that Minister Li who opposed me is a fool. Clearly, they were little nephews and nieces, yet that foolish Minister Li went ahead and elevated those two children up a generation."

Listening quietly and pondering her words, Qin Jinghao waited until Luo Yunyao finished before refuting her conjecture unhurriedly. "It isn't Minister Li's fault. Everything he said was simply heard from someone else."

Still filled with anger and sarcasm, Luo Yunyao asked the Great General Qin foolishly, "Are you talking about the rumor effect of three men making a tiger?"

***

Qin Jinghao had long grown accustomed to Luo Yunyao's occasional out-of-nowhere bizarre vocabulary. In any case, the Great General Qin was naturally astute; even if these terms sounded strange, they didn't hinder his understanding of her meaning. Indeed, besides innate intelligence, the Great General Qin possessed another advantage—and a fatal one at that—which was that he truly understood Luo Yunyao.

Their minds were connected by a single thread of mutual understanding.

Rather than being left speechless by Luo Yunyao's foolish question, Qin Jinghao instead guided her with patient, understated composure. "Rumors and gossip—aren't they put into circulation by people in the first place?"

Bathed in that breezy voice, Luo Yunyao finally saw the light.

So what if rumors had the power to make three men form a tiger? The common folk would only ever exaggerate the outcome and the consequences—claiming, for instance, that she, the Minister of War, had committed some heinous, unforgivable atrocity against the maid, or exaggerating how miserably cold and drafty the old couple and children were in the freezing wind, suffering from rheumatism and chill.

They would never make the mistake of confusing whether those two young children were the younger siblings or the nephews and nieces of the miserably dead maid.

Luo Yunyao drew her conclusion: "So, the spreader of that rumor didn't want us to know that the deceased maid had a twin brother?"

If they had wanted to magnify the maid's death to make Luo Yunyao appear even more unforgivable, no tragedy could ever surpass that of white-haired parents burying black-haired children—especially two of them at once. Those old people were already utterly destitute and helpless, and now they had a pair of little grandchildren to drag down with them.

If that truth had been made public, Luo Yunyao would undoubtedly have been condemned by the common folk to the eighteenth level of hell!

Since the mastermind behind the plot to frame Luo Yunyao had omitted this particular charge, then...

Emboldened by her own train of thought, Luo Yunyao pushed her reasoning a step further and slowly ventured her guess: "Could it mean that the brother's death was actually related to the mastermind?"

Qin Jinghao narrowed his eyes, wearing an expression that seemed to say *Now this is getting interesting*, and looked at Luo Yunyao. Catching himself, he realized this gaze was inappropriate and looked up at the sun under the pretext of squinting against the glare. "Put like that, Yunyao, the story becomes quite fascinating."

Knowing that Qin Jinghao likely shared her thoughts, Luo Yunyao spoke her mind without hesitation. "I'm guessing that if the two are connected, then the one who killed the brother and the one who hired the sister must be the same wealthy household. That's why, after the brother died, the old couple chose to swallow their grievances and stay silent. But I'm also guessing those old folks probably didn't know that the master of that wealthy household intentionally murdered their only son." Following Qin Jinghao's gaze to the sun, Luo Yunyao smiled a rather unbenevolent smile against its brilliant light. "Shall I guess that the brother's death was actually requested by the sister? That's why, shortly after her brother died, the sister sold herself to your Great General Qin's residence to serve as a spy, or perhaps a time..."

The Minister of War nearly blurted out the word *bomb* in her excitement. Although the Great General Qin wouldn't have minded or necessarily understood the reference, Luo Yunyao didn't want to make him feel she was too out of the ordinary, lest it create a distance between them.

Qin Jinghao cast a sidelong glance at Luo Yunyao, uncertain whether it was because of her abrupt silence or the sheer boldness of her speculation.

***

In truth, Luo Yunyao's conjecture was nothing more than a cliché straight out of television dramas. She had just been spouting nonsense off the cuff and didn't genuinely believe that real life could be as melodramatic and farcical as a pre-written script.

Yet the Great General Qin seemed to take the Minister of War's words seriously. Pondering the matter, he remarked, "Water flows on and the dead are gone; whether this guess is correct or not is something only the deceased maid, or perhaps her brother waiting for her sister in the netherworld, could know." Pausing, he caught Luo Yunyao's meaningful smile and smoothly finished the sentence for her. "Ah, yes, and the mastermind as well."

Hearing Qin Jinghao voice her exact thoughts, Luo Yunyao felt no resentment at having her credit stolen; instead, she was utterly delighted and filled with joyous anticipation. Thus, she vowed with solemn resolve, "That being said, whether for my own sake, for the sake of that unfortunate brother, or because of the maid who started it all, I ought to investigate the mastermind and bring this person to justice."

*Bring to justice*... that sounded a bit absolute.

Who could ever truly harm a member of the imperial clan over the lives of a few lowly commoners?

Even though Ouyang Jingxu had analyzed the situation with such sound logic, Luo Yunyao had an intuitive feeling that Yue Liuxi wouldn't fall so easily. She surely had a contingency plan.

Whether this ominous premonition stemmed from her own penchant for melancholy, from Ouyang Jingxu underestimating Yue Liuxi, or from overestimating the emperor's regard for the rule of law, she could not tell.

Things couldn't possibly be that simple.

At the very least, it would be a battle where killing a thousand enemies meant suffering eight hundred losses of one's own.

Luo Yunyao inwardly mocked her own pessimism, yet found her pessimism entirely justified.

She recalled the maid who had hurled herself to death before her eyes—that final glance, one she would never forget.

All those countless unspoken words, when finally summarized, boiled down to a desperate craving for life, a sheer terror of death, and a lingering attachment to the living: her father and mother, her nephews and nieces, and even the very Luo Yunyao whom she had been used to frame.

Clearly, she had not wanted to die, yet someone had driven her to a point where she had no choice.