Before Eunuch Li could speak, Chu Ya intentionally or unintentionally glanced at him. In a place where Bai Lu couldn’t notice, the two exchanged a secret look. Then Eunuch Li continued, “…it’s a eunuch from the Imperial Kitchen named Zhao Ping, twenty-seven years old.”
Bai Lu was somewhat surprised. “Isn’t he from the harem?”
Eunuch Li shook his head. “Young Master, I’ve checked the list. There are a total of two hundred and thirty palace maids and eunuchs from the harem, none missing.”
“…I see.”
Chu Ya deliberately asked, “Why do you think the person who died is from the harem?”
Unaware of Chu Ya’s probing, Bai Lu truthfully answered, “I thought so because his death date was so close to Consort Mei’s. I thought the two cases might be related.”
“Oh?” Chu Ya looked meaningfully at him and asked pointedly, “Do you think I killed this eunuch too?”
His straightforward question made Bai Lu feel flustered. He quickly explained in a panic, “No, I’m not suspecting you. It’s just… I was a bit…”
“Don’t you trust me?”
Bai Lu couldn’t compete with Chu Ya’s psychological tactics. After a few words, Bai Lu, who was originally confident, suddenly felt like a suspicious person. He even felt ashamed for ever doubting Chu Ya.
With his gaze shifting, Bai Lu lowered his head and awkwardly said, “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to doubt you.”
Chu Ya smiled tolerantly, reaching out to embrace Bai Lu, his arm around his waist while the other hand tidied the strands of hair on Bai Lu’s temples. He spoke kindly, “It’s alright, you don’t need to feel guilty. Considering what happened with Consort Mei not long ago, it’s natural for you to have doubts. But as you heard, this eunuch’s death has nothing to do with the harem. It’s just an accident.”
Bai Lu hesitantly nodded.
He was completely confused now. Originally not the brightest, he could still think a bit, but after being ‘morally kidnapped’ by Chu Ya’s words, he felt even more useless. Now, he basically believed whatever Chu Ya said.
After sending Bai Lu away, Si Zhu came out from behind the twelve-fold screen in the inner room and bowed to Chu Ya.
Lately, it seemed that Chu Ya was quite dissatisfied with him. He even thought about changing the personnel of his shadow guards. Frowning, he said, “A-Bai is suspecting again.”
Si Zhu felt helpless, complaining, “Your Majesty, I assure you that I’ve been extremely careful this time. I even used an anesthetic to knock the person unconscious before throwing them into the water. There shouldn’t be any traces left. But the death occurred so close to Consort Mei’s, Bai Lu will definitely suspect. I really don’t know what to do.”
Actually, Chu Ya had already considered this. Even in ancient times, deaths shouldn’t occur so frequently. They might be able to cover it up this time, but it might not be the case next time.
Their plan was to thoroughly eliminate those eleven people by the end of the month. But if Bai Lu became suspicious after just one death, what would happen if ten more died consecutively? It would be difficult to cover up if the victims were just servants, but it would be even harder with three concubines involved.
As Si Zhu said, killing someone without leaving any traces was easy for concealing clues from investigators, but making sure no one had any suspicions was the real challenge.
Si Zhu looked at Chu Ya expectantly, “Your Majesty, please give me some advice. I’m not very clever, and I can’t think of a solution.”
In other words, if Your Majesty couldn’t come up with anything, don’t push him, a pure and innocent shadow guard, to think.
However, Chu Ya just thought for a moment and calmly said, “There’s a way to kill many people at once without arousing suspicion.”
Si Zhu was a bit stunned and somewhat incredulous. “May I ask, Your Majesty, what method?”
Chu Ya said calmly, “An epidemic.”
“An epidemic?” Si Zhu repeated subconsciously, then suddenly had a flash of insight. His face immediately showed admiration. “So that’s it. Your Majesty means…”
“Yes, I want you to create a fake epidemic using poison. Over the next few days, you’ll prepare a poison that causes dizziness and swelling of the head within three days, coughing up blood and fever within five days, and appearing to have died from illness within seven days. Make sure even the imperial physicians can’t detect anything unusual. This should be easy for you, right?”
Si Zhu nodded. “Although the preparation is a bit complicated, I can do it.”
“Very well. After you make the poison, gradually poison the remaining ten people. Remember to start with the servants.”
Si Zhu bowed obediently. “Yes.”
Thus, one night, a man-made epidemic quietly spread through the harem. The first victim was a eunuch who had previously worked in Consort Mei’s palace but was later transferred elsewhere. This man had been involved in the trading of Hanshi Powder and made a considerable profit. Therefore, Si Zhu decided to start with him.
The night Si Zhu carried out his mission, Chu Ya deliberately found an excuse to keep Bai Lu in the palace, accompanying him to set off fireworks.
“Fireworks already existed in this era?” Bai Lu stood in the spacious courtyard, looking at the dazzling small fireworks in his hand in the dark night, very surprised. “Did you bring these?”
Chu Ya explained gently, “Fireworks have always existed here. The saltpeter you saw before, used for making ice, is one of the raw materials for making fireworks.”
“How amazing.” Bai Lu watched the small fireworks slowly extinguishing in his hand, then reached out for another one from the side. Chu Ya handed it over and lit it for him with a lit incense stick.
“Now that we have fireworks, do we have guns?”
As a naturally martial man, Bai Lu had an innate interest in firearms. Although most of his knowledge about guns came from police films, a small part came from the shooting range that Chu Ya took him to play at occasionally. Well, the closest encounter should be the gun on the ship.
Bai Lu had already completely let go of that gun by now and didn’t mind at all. He could even recall the model of the gun Chu Ya used at that time.
But it was pitch black at that time, and it was raining heavily, so I couldn’t see it clearly.
Chu Ya didn’t know that Bai Lu’s thoughts had wandered off to Java. He answered Bai Lu’s question, “There are no guns, but if you want, I can try to get the craftsmen to make one.”
Bai Lu was shocked. “Are the palace craftsmen so skilled that they can make guns?!”
Chu Ya took the small fireworks from Bai Lu’s hand to prevent him from burning himself, then said, “Yes, the craftsmen in ancient times were very powerful in a certain spirit of craftsmanship.”
Of course, modern craftsmen couldn’t make things at most just withholding
wages. Ancient craftsmen couldn’t meet the demands of the emperor, but they had to work their hearts out and risk their lives to do it, didn’t they?
“But guns that are too sophisticated can’t be made. Making a flintlock gun is still possible. I’ll draw up a blueprint for the craftsmen and let them try.”
Bai Lu’s eyes lit up. “Really? Can I upgrade from a sword-bearing guard to a gun-bearing guard?”
Chu Ya was helpless. “I’m making this gun for you to play with occasionally. You’re not allowed to carry it around normally; it’s too dangerous.”
Bai Lu’s eyes dimmed, pouting unhappily. “Stingy, conservative, excessively worried, and stuck in old ways!”
Chu Ya couldn’t help but laugh. “When did you learn to swear using idioms?”
Chu Ya was naturally highly intelligent, and his memory was also very good. He had only seen a matchlock gun blueprint once in middle school at the museum, but he remembered it completely.
He spent an hour in the study drawing out the matchlock gun’s structure from memory, then made some improvements based on his own ideas to make it capable of firing two bullets in succession.
As Chu Ya expected, when he handed the blueprint to the Royal Workshop, Bai Lu’s interest was immediately piqued. After finishing his duty and patrols each day, he ran to the craftsmen to see them refining the parts. When he was in the mood, he even directed them personally, but to skilled craftsmen, it was like teaching a fish to swim.
However, he indeed didn’t pay attention to the affairs of the harem for several days. Bai Lu’s brain was single-core; he could only focus on one thing at a time. After diverting his energy to the Royal Workshop, he completely forgot about other matters.
Chu Ya’s plan was truly killing two birds with one stone.
As mentioned earlier, Chu Ya knew Bai Lu’s personality very well. With just a slight trick, he could manipulate him at will. Bai Lu was no match for him. Although his intelligence excelled in this ancient era, he still couldn’t outsmart Chu Ya.
After seven or eight days passed, one day, Bai Lin suddenly sent a palace maid to find him, inviting him to Lotus Pavilion for a gathering.
Specifically what they were going to do, the palace maid couldn’t explain clearly. She only said that Consort Wen and Miss Bai had been playing a sophisticated and complicated game lately, with rules that were difficult to understand and seemed inscrutable. Even after brainstorming with several palace maids, they couldn’t learn it, so they came to invite Young Master Bai.
Bai Lu found it strange. What kind of game could be so difficult? Moreover, what use would it be for him to go if it was really that hard?
When he arrived at Lotus Pavilion and entered the main hall, he saw a square table set up in the center of the hall. Bai Lin, Consort Wen, and Consort Wen’s personal maid, Ming Si, were sitting at the table playing mahjong.
Bai Lu: “?”
Oh… is this the legendary sophisticated and inscrutable game? It’s really profound!
Bai Lin turned her head and saw Bai Lu come in. She waved her hand and said, “We’ve been waiting for you, darling. Come over, we need one more player.”
Bai Lu walked in helplessly and sat in the empty seat, complaining, “I don’t want to play mahjong. I have other things to do.”
Bai Lin said, “The loser will be your responsibility, and if you lose money, it will be on me.”
“I’ll shuffle the cards!”
The mahjong tiles were exquisitely made, with smooth jade on the back and white jade on the front, with the patterns carved and coated with gold paint.
While shuffling the tiles, Bai Lu roughly glanced at them. There were no missing tiles, after all, his biological mother loved playing mahjong in his previous life, so he was familiar with every kind of tile.
Dewy on BLPSG Chapter 86: The Emperor’s old illness: “I want QingCi to give this little wolf a big slap after healing him -__-” Oct 23, 13:18
