Chapter 508 - 508 505 Shared Joy_1

Chapter 508: Chapter 505: Shared Joy_1 Chapter 508: Chapter 505: Shared Joy_1 Bai Qingyan raised her eyes and met Xiao Rongyan’s deep gaze, gently tightening the white-glazed, gold-trimmed teacup in her hand.

His eyes carried a faint smile, calm as still water, as if he had not just said something shocking.

Bai Qingyan lowered her eyes, her smile deepening, her ears reddening. She steadied her mind and put on a serious demeanor, nodding: “Mr. Xiao, you’re very thoughtful.”

“I heard that the Emperor plans to send the newly recruited soldiers to the southern border. I congratulate you on achieving your wish.”

Bai Qingyan set down the teacup and said to Xiao Rongyan: “Congratulations to you too, Mr. Xiao, on achieving your wish.”

The new soldiers sent by the Emperor of the Jin Kingdom would be trained by the Bai family army and might be used by them in the future.

As long as the Jin Kingdom stationed troops on the western border, the danger to Yan would be resolved.

Thus, both Bai Qingyan and Xiao Rongyan would benefit from this, a matter worthy of celebration.

Xiao Rongyan sat just below Bai Qingyan, looking at her delicate, fair features, feeling hot inside. A day without seeing her felt like three years.

Recently, matters in Yan kept him busy. It wasn’t appropriate for him to visit Bai Mansion daily. And sneaking into Bai Qingyan’s chamber at night might have made it hard for her to explain to her mother. He endured these days and used the pretext of bringing a birthday gift for Bai Qingyan’s mother to come see her.

He felt that even just sitting together for tea brought him comfort and peace.

As Xiao Rongyan took a sip of tea, Chun Tao walked in gracefully from outside the main hall, circling the black lacquered, gold-painted pillar to Bai Qingyan’s side. She covered her mouth and whispered into Bai Qingyan’s ear: “Second Miss has sent a letter back, and she has just arrived.”

Bai Qingyan nodded and looked in Xiao Rongyan’s direction: “Mr. Xiao, please wait for a moment.”

“No rush…” Xiao Rongyan said softly.

Bai Qingyan held Chun Tao’s hand as she stepped out of the main hall. At the entrance of the corridor, a black-clad guard knelt on one knee, presenting a letter with both hands: “First Miss!”

Bai Qingyan took the letter: “Thank you for your effort. Go and rest!”

After the guard retreated, Bai Qingyan opened the letter.

In the letter, Bai Jinxiu told Bai Qingyan about the progress of King Liang’s alchemy.

That day, the Crown Prince and Crown Princess Consort visited King Liang’s residence and found that King Liang was indeed concocting elixirs, using the blood of children. The Crown Prince was so enraged that he fainted on the spot and had to be carried out by the Crown Prince’s Guard.

The Guards also rescued the nearly dead children from King Liang’s residence and took them to the medical hall in front of all the people in Dadu City, causing a huge uproar. Even the Emperor could no longer protect King Liang.

King Liang was imprisoned and confessed to using children’s blood for alchemy, claiming he had been deceived by the Immortal Master. King Liang, being clever, said the children were bought from traffickers. Lu Jin found the children’s indentures in King Liang’s residence.

Later, a trafficker testified that he sold the children to King Liang and had bought them from others.

The case concluded swiftly and decisively. Fortunately, the children were still alive, though severely blood-depleted.

King Liang was reprimanded by the Emperor for private alchemy and ordered to reflect in isolation at home.

Minister Lu, at the request of the Imperial Censor, thoroughly searched King Liang’s residence but found no child corpses. However, many corpses were found at the Wang family’s house on Jiuqu Alley. A woman went mad seeing her son’s mutilated body.

Wang Xiangshen left a confession and committed suicide with his family to avoid punishment, leaving no witnesses. The case concluded with King Liang largely unscathed, while the Wang family took the blame and met their demise.

The living children from the Wang family on Jiuqu Alley were returned to their families, and the Wang family’s property was confiscated.

The “toys” rescued from Wang Kun at the Wang family on Jiuqu Alley were sent to a charitable hall.

The Emperor initially wanted to investigate who set fire to the Wang family’s house on Jiuqu Alley, but the blaze left no evidence. The rescued older children said they were almost killed by those people before the fire broke out.

People speculated privately that the arsonist acted as an agent of heaven. Otherwise, none of the children would have survived.

Bai Jinxiu expressed her unease in the letter. She had withdrawn her surveillance on the Wang family, thinking it was safe after the fire and imprisonment, only for someone to use the opening to move the children’s corpses there.

She mentioned Bai Qingxuan, who was also rescued from Jiuqu Alley, although a side of his face was burned beyond recognition and his fever persisted. His survival was uncertain, contingent on fate, said the doctor from the charitable hall.

After reading the letter, Bai Qingyan stood under the corridor deeply pondering. She felt this must have been orchestrated by the Emperor to protect King Liang.

With the Emperor’s Hidden Guard around King Liang’s residence, it was hard for others to approach without arousing suspicion. Under the Emperor’s surveillance, King Liang would appear powerless, incompetent, and useless.

Only the Emperor could have the capability and motive to move the children’s corpses to Wang’s family on Jiuqu Alley right under the noses of Bai Jinxiu’s and the Crown Prince’s sentries.

Or, perhaps, did King Liang seek help from Xiao Rongyan’s men at Shangmo Study?

After all, the more chaotic the Imperial Court of the Jin Kingdom, the more advantageous it was for Yan. For Xiao Rongyan, King Liang alive was more useful than dead.

Bai Qingyan quickly dismissed this idea. Xiao Rongyan’s men, no matter how skilled, could not have transported the children’s corpses out of King Liang’s residence, surrounded by the Emperor’s Hidden Guard.

The increasingly bothersome cicada chirps made Bai Qingyan more disappointed with the Jin Kingdom’s government.

It seemed the Emperor knew about King Liang’s child-sacrificing alchemy. To the Imperial Family, children’s lives were as worthless as weeds. Just like the Bai family, when they were no longer useful to the Emperor, they were worthless, even… better off removed.

A breeze passed by, making the gilded copper hooks and bells emit faint clinking sounds. The drapes in the corridor swayed, and the lush ancient trees rustled.

Bai Qingyan felt her eyes swell.

The people were the foundation of the nation, something the Emperor seemed to forget after rising to power.

Children were the future of the nation!

Many in the Capital could see the peculiarity of this case, especially the titled noble families who always followed the Imperial Family’s lead.

Now that the Emperor protected the alchemist King Liang, it was unknown how many noble families might follow the trend and start their own alchemy and elixir consumption. By then, the alchemy trend among the capital’s nobility would give the Emperor the rightful reason to have King Liang continue making elixirs for him.