The Cry of the Phoenix Which Reached the Ninth Heaven

Chapter 42: Bearing the Blame for Someone Else

Originally the fact that Ye Hongyi killed Feng Duo would only be beneficial to Feng Yihan, but the problem was that Feng Duo's corpse had been treated so disrespectfully. The imperial clans had to die in ways befitting of their status. No matter what, Feng Duo was a prince of Qi. The fact that his corpse was treated in such a way was a complete slap to Feng Yihan's face. This was the first thing.

The second thing was that everyone now knew about the incident involving Qi and Chu. Ye Hongyi possessed the list of Qi traitors, but he had told the king of Qi to hand over three cities in exchange for the list. This instantly made Ye Hongyi become someone that forgot grace.

"Who exactly was it that killed Feng Duo and pushed the blame onto us!? Who was it!?"

Shatter.

Ye Hongyi abruptly threw the jar of wine he was holding while bellowing in rage.

The flying pieces cut into the back of Qing Long's hand. Blood flowed down but Qing Long didn't dare to make a sound. He was well aware of His Majesty's current mood. After all, Feng Duo's death hadn't just made him lose the chance to control Qi but also completely ruined the nation's relationship with Qi. Most importantly, Feng Duo's death had nothing to do with His Majesty. His Majesty had actually been forced to take the blame for someone else's actions.

"Your Majesty, please quell your anger. This subordinate will definitely do all that this subordinate can to find the person that framed Your Majesty." Qing Long didn't dare to guarantee that he would be able to find this person since although Feng Duo's death was suspicious, there was no traces of the offender.

"You must find that person. We want him to be hacked into ten thousand pieces!" shouted Ye Hongyi, his eyes cold.

"Understood!" After obtaining this command, Qing Long left the pavilion.

From the shadows, Yao Mowan watched with a cold smile as Ye Hongyi exploded in anger.

Feng Duo had died in Changle Palace, so no matter how Ye Hongyi tried to explain things, it'd only serve to make him seem even more guilty. Anyone with a bit of brains would assume that Ye Hongyi had killed Feng Duo to silence him after Feng Duo refused to agree to his terms, that way he could try to make a deal with Feng Yihan instead by using that list of names. No matter what, this incident was like a nightmare to Ye Hongyi.

Yao Mowan was in a great mood when she got back to Guan Osprey Palace. She ordered Ting Yue to make dinner more luxurious than usual. She had to reward herself! At this time, Yin Xue handed Feng Yihan's return letter to Yao Mowan.

'Zhou Gui has already been allowed to return. He has been specially bestowed ten thousand taels of gold and a ten thousand acres of good land. Feng Yihan.'

Radiant light swirled in Yao Mowan's eyes as she looked at the letter in her hand, then she handed it to Yin Xue.

"Get rid of it. Do you know why Feng Yihan did this?" Yao Mowan walked slowly to the table with a happy expression.

"This subordinate doesn't know." Yin Xue truly didn't understand what Feng Yihan meant by doing this. Zhou Gui was one of the greatest traitors that had helped Feng Duo the most, so why did Feng Yihan reward him this much?

"Since Feng Duo died in Changle Palace, although Ye Hongyi hadn't said anything, the first person he suspected was definitely Ye Junqing. However, Feng Yihan had rewarded Zhou Gui generously. It looks like a dismissal from office, but in reality it was way more than he deserved. This news will probably reach Ye Hongyi's ears very quickly. Compared to Ye Junqing, Zhou Gui had much clearer of a motive. In addition, this consort had spilled some chicken blood in the secret passageway and there's no way that Ye Junqing would know of that secret passageway." Yao Mowan sat down leisurely. She felt very grateful to Feng Yihan for his deliberate arrangements.

"Did Feng Yihan do that to repay his favor to you, Master?" Yin Xue clenched the letter slightly and when she let go, the letter had already turned to dust.

"Is it that easy to repay a favor to this consort?" Yao Mowan lifted her brows. When Yin Xue saw her smile, she started feeling sympathy for Feng Yihan. From her understanding of Master, if someone owed her a favor, they couldn't repay it without using up half their family assets. Yan Nansheng was the best example.

When it came time for dinner, Ye Junqing walked in and sat down by the table as usual. As he looked at the table that was filled with dishes, he couldn't help but sigh.

"This prince been thinking for a very long time and has finally come to understand one thing." Ye Junqing's expression was serious and his tone was so heavy that it sounded like he was mourning for someone.

"What is it?" Yao Mowan responded cooperatively to Ye Junqing's serious attitude and put down her bowl to give him her full attention.

"This prince has always thought that everything you did, even if not all of it, the majority of it was for this prince's sake." Ye Junqing looked towards Yao Mowan, his eyes still as water.

"That's indeed the case!" Yao Mowan nodded vigorously.

"That's definitely not the case! The only reason you're protecting this prince is so that you can use this prince as a shield and conceal all your malicious doings! Regardless of whether it was the matter with Ye Liyu or Feng Duo, as long as this prince is here, no one would ever suspect you!" Ye Junqing's words were very clear. His tone contained indignance, but also a lot of disappointment.

When that happened to Feng Duo, the first person Ye Junqing thought of was Yao Mowan. Perhaps it was because he was starting to understand Yao Mowan because he hadn't even felt stunned. She had already done outrageous things like this countless times and it was reasonable for her to kill Feng Duo based on her relationship with Feng Yihan.

"In some ways, Prince's analysis isn't wrong but there's really nothing bad about this. We're both taking what we each need. Prince is living on Mowan's territory, so it's normal that you have to pay something in exchange." Yao Mowan never explained things to Ye Junqing unless it was something crucial since she didn't want Ye Junqing to find out about those harsh truths.

"This prince had hoped to be gravely mistaken… You killed Feng Duo for Feng Yihan, this I can understand, but I can't understand why you used Feng Duo's death to ruin the relationship between great Chu and Qi? Don't tell this prince that you want to start another war or that you had done this for me!" When Ye Junqing heard Yao Mowan confirm his guesses, his heart seemed to fall from the clouds into an abyss. That disappointment made him extremely uncomfortable.

"To be precise, Mowan is trying the ruin the relationship between Ye Hongyi and Feng Yihan. After this incident, there's no way they'll have a chance to work together," replied Yao Mowan simply.

"Why? Ever since you entered the palace, everything you've done either served to greatly destabilize Chu or ruin Chu's relationship with neighboring nations. It can be dropped if it was inadvertent, but how can you possibly pass this off as inadvertent?" In the past, Ye Junqing had kept one eye closed to all her actions and pretended that he didn't know anything, but he couldn't stay uninvolved this time. He couldn't bring himself to keep watching this.

"Everything's just a coincidence. Feng Yihan cares deeply for Mowan and perhaps one day, Qi will be Mowan's final home. That's why Mowan can't let Feng Yihan and Ye Hongyi have any friendly collaborations or contact. This is the only way to guarantee that this back road of Mowan's would remain secure." Yao Mowan cooked up an excuse that even she found outrageous.

"Since you're not dumb, you should know how much Moxin had put forth for Chu! And now, to secure a way out for yourself, you're willing to let the stability of Chu collapse!? How could you be so selfish?" Ye Junqing hadn't expected Yao Mowan to react so righteously without any trace of guilt or regret.

"Does Prince think that Eldest Sister is very selfless? From the start to the very end, Eldest Sister hadn't done anything for Chu, it was all for Ye Hongyi! If Ye Hongyi wasn't the man she loved, would she have cared whether the country was stable or not? Mowan's current actions are no different from Eldest Sister's. If Eldest Sister wasn't selfish, the person sitting on the dragon throne right now would be you!" Yao Mowan's voice trembled slightly as a trace of pain flashed through her eyes.

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Credits: Translated by Chiyomira