Chapter 93: Playing with Fire
Wu Ning was stuck there, as if he really hadn’t done anything else?
“Could it be…” Taiping hesitated, following Wu Ning’s train of thought, “Could it be Brother Xian?”
Recently, apart from Li Shen and Princesses Xuancheng and Yiyang, the only thing Wu Ning had done related to himself was recovering the letter sent to Li Xian.
“Ah?”
Wu Ning suddenly remembered—right, there was that letter to Li Xian.
But that made no sense. Didn’t Li Xian have a deep conflict with Wu Zetian?
After pondering for a long while, he looked at Taiping as if seeing a ghost.
“Your lady mother…”
“Could it be she’s just missing her son?”
That was utterly mind-boggling—Wu Zetian? The very Wu Zetian! Could she really be overcome by maternal instincts?
“Or… should I send another letter to your Brother Xian?”
After much thought, this seemed the only place where something might have gone wrong.
“And if it’s still not right?” Taiping worriedly said, “According to Jiulang’s words, if you provoke Brother Xian again, wouldn’t that be making the situation even worse?”
“Then there’s nothing to be done.” Wu Old Nine twisted his mouth, spread his hands, “Dead men tell no tales; let fate decide!”
“…”
“…”
Taiping and Meng Cang were speechless. How could he still be like this? At such a critical moment, he still wasn’t taking it seriously.
…
But how should one take it seriously?
Wu Ning thought to himself that if this didn’t work, then there was no point in struggling anymore.
Arguing with Wu Zetian—did he really have enough weight? Better to clean his neck and wait for death.
As the bookish fellows would say: Wu Old Nine was a man of dignity in life!
…
——————
“Ning Ge…”
After a long silence, Qin Miaoniang finally spoke.
“Huh? What’s up?”
Qin Miaoniang timidly pointed under Wu Ning.
“My butt?”
“What about your butt?”
Instinctively looking down, he found his backside was a bloody mess, sitting truthfully beneath him.
“Ah!!!”
Wu Ning jumped high, “My butt…”
“Ha ha ha ha ha.”
The tense atmosphere was utterly broken by Wu Ning’s pitiful yet comical scream, and the three burst into laughter.
Taiping looked at Wu Ning’s miserable state and thought: It’s actually good that someone like him can let everything slide and face everything with a smile.
“Is it really over just like this?”
“Should we think more carefully, see if anything else was missed?”
“What’s there to think about?” Wu Ning lay back down, nursing his butt.
“Let it be, whoever wants to care, care!”
But in his heart, he thought: Damn it! I’m never getting involved in your family’s mess again!
Can’t afford to provoke them—how could I possibly handle it!?
Annoyed, he waved off Taiping and Meng Cang, “Let’s disperse, what’s the big deal? It’s not like my uncle died.”
---
Outside the door, Ugly Uncle Fossil, who had just been about to push open the door to look, suddenly turned pale, stunned for a moment, then angrily brushed off his sleeves and turned away.
“Still didn’t hit hard enough!!”
Inside the room.
“Who was that?” Wu Ning looked puzzled. Why did a voice suddenly come from outside?
Meng Cang laughed, looking at Wu Ning, “Sounds like your uncle!”
Wu Ning: “…”
“Aren’t you guys okay!? You’ve even learned to eavesdrop now!?”
He buried his face, annoyed for a while.
“Didn’t check the almanac today, the five elements lack wisdom. Ominous directions are east, west, south, north. Clash: Wu Ning…”
……
——————————
“By the way.” Taiping remembered something before leaving.
“Did you and your uncle flee from the capital to here?”
Meng Cang stiffened as he was about to leave. Before Wu Ning could answer, he cut in sharply.
“This isn’t exactly the capital, but the area near the Luo River, still about a hundred or two miles from the Eastern Capital.”
Wu Ning slowly lifted his head, first giving Meng Cang a meaningful look, then turning to Taiping.
“Why does Your Highness suddenly care about these things?”
“Nothing.” Taiping said calmly, “Just remembered when your uncle spoke just now.”
Not thinking much, she was about to leave, then stopped and turned back to Wu Ning.
“In the guest room where I stayed, there was originally a poem written on the wall, right? Who wrote it? Why was it erased?”
“…”
Wu Ning frowned deeper. The guest room Taiping stayed in had only one poem wiped off the wall.
After a moment’s thought, before Meng Cang could speak, he said, “My uncle!”
Hearing this, Meng Cang felt a chill rise from his feet to his head.
Princess Taiping and Qin Miaoniang had already left. He still stood stiffly at the door, dazed.
He glared coldly at Wu Ning, “You!”
“What are you trying to do!?”
“Heh.” Wu Ning smiled.
“Playing with fire!”
……
————————
Meng Cang was clearly hiding something, but how could that escape Wu Ning’s eyes?
Why was he hiding? Why didn’t he want Princess Taiping to know Wu Ning and Ugly Uncle came from the capital?
At that moment, Wu Ning felt a sudden clarity, understanding many things.
Perhaps…
Taiping staying at his house was not a coincidence.
Perhaps…
That Chen Zi’ang, who rarely exchanged glances with Ugly Uncle, had long known him.
Perhaps…
This Princess Taiping was the key to unraveling the mystery of his own origins.
……
---
Would Taiping do as Wu Ning wished?
She would!
……
At this moment, Princess Taiping quietly stood in the guest room, her eyes fixed on the white wall in front of her and nothing else.
The wall was white, but because there had originally been writing, the painter perhaps carelessly hadn’t completely covered it.
A thin layer of whitewash clung to the surface, faintly revealing the shapes of characters.
“Someone!”
“Yes.” A palace attendant entered, bowed deeply, “Your Highness, what are your orders?”
Taiping continued staring at the white wall, stunned for a moment.
“Scrape off the wall for me.”
……
——————
Night had fallen deeply.
Before dark, Wu Ning instructed Wu Li to escort Qin Miaoniang back to the city. If they couldn’t return in time, she could stay at Fourth Uncle’s house and be picked up again in the morning.
It had to be said, the Qin family had hired a “lordly accountant” so well that even the master had to come to him for work.
Wu Ning lay on the kang (heated bed), while Tiger Zi next to him stuffed food into his mouth with great effort.
Qiao’er placed another bowl of food on the edge of the kang and, with her little hand holding bamboo chopsticks, picked up a mouthful of rice and fed it to Wu Ning.
“Ninth Brother, I’m feeding you.”
“Pfft!” Tiger Zi was jealous.
Even his own little sister had never been so attentive to her big brother.
While chewing furiously, he teased, “His butt’s hurt, not his mouth. Why does he need you to feed him?”
Wu Ning: “…”
Why did that sound so awkward?
“Fatso, get out and eat!”
Fat Tiger was unmoved, sniffing, “No way. Come down and hit me if you can.”
“…”
……
In the courtyard, lanterns were lit, casting a dim yellow glow over the snowy winter night.
Here, the Wu brothers joked and laughed, while in another room, Ugly Uncle pushed open the door and slowly paced to Wu Ning’s room.
After being beaten, he still hadn’t gone to see him.
Several times he wanted to enter but listened to the joyous sounds inside and didn’t dare disturb them.
……
Princess Taiping stood by the window, watching the peaceful scene before her with a hint of envy.
Turning around, she recited:
“Drunkenly drowning autumn’s threefold sorrow,
Sharing eternal grief in sleep.
Affectionate yet unaware of remembrance,
Soul shattered within the snare of fate.”
Chen Zi’ang, inside the room, smiled faintly.
“What a fierce quatrain! But these characters…”
“Do you recognize them, Chancellor Chen?”
……
.