Crowned by the Treacherous Big Shot
Chapter 535 - 460: Take it Back, Shang Xiao 9_2

Chapter 535: Chapter 460: Take it Back, Shang Xiao 9_2

Mr. Zi Wu yawned, "Calling me here so late, this had better be an urgent matter of great importance."

Meng Qianqian replied politely, "Forgive me for disturbing you, sir. As you said, the matter is indeed quite pressing."

Mr. Zi Wu said, "I like how you speak."

Lu Yuan scoffed, "Still not tired of coming down the mountain?"

Mr. Zi Wu shot him a glare.

Meng Qianqian gently squeezed Lu Yuan’s hand under her wide sleeve. Without reacting, Lu Yuan glanced at the sky, then clasped her hand in return as he sat down in the chair.

Mr. Zi Wu took a sip of tea, "Toothache!"

Meng Qianqian explained Gongsun Yanming entering the palace to meet His Majesty, "Your Majesty hasn’t accepted it for now, but Gongsun Yanming doesn’t intend to give up easily. Tomorrow, he plans to have Gongsun Liuying enter the palace to take your pulse. Once Gongsun Liuying diagnoses the cold poison within you, your identity will no longer be hidden."

As Prime Minister Xun’s crimes were revealed to the world, it was no secret that Lu Yuan contracted cold poison while at the Xun Family.

Mr. Zi Wu stroked his beard and said, "Well, it’s not like he’s the only one under heaven afflicted with cold poison."

Meng Qianqian shook her head, "But it just so happens he’s the same age, just so happens to have no father, and ’Linyuan’ happens to resemble his name ’Yuan’... it’s truly hard to disprove."

Mr. Zi Wu turned to Lu Yuan, "Who told you to pick such a name?"

Meng Qianqian quickly interjected, "It’s not really his fault. According to the plan, there was someone supposed to attend the Crown Prince Mansion’s wedding under the name ’Lu Yuan,’ but unfortunately, they haven’t arrived in the Imperial City to this day. Even Yu Zichuan couldn’t fetch them."

Her grandfather and Luo Shan must have been delayed by something.

This is what they mean when they say, ’plans can’t keep pace with changes.’

Meng Qianqian paused before saying, "Why don’t you stay at the Crown Prince Mansion for the next few days and avoid the palace?"

Lu Yuan curled his lips and smiled, "How boring would that be? They’ve dug a pit waiting for me to jump in. If I don’t show up to entertain them, wouldn’t they have worked for nothing?"

Mr. Zi Wu, eager for drama, chimed in, "Exactly, exactly! Hurry up and enter the palace to court death!"

Meng Qianqian protested, "Sir!"

Mr. Zi Wu waved dismissively, "I know, I know, I was just joking. The brat’s life is tough; he won’t die! Compared to this boy, it’s you, little girl—"

"What’s wrong with her?"

Lu Yuan immediately asked.

Mr. Zi Wu teased, "Oh, caring now?"

"Yes."

For once, Lu Yuan didn’t play coy and openly admitted.

Meng Qianqian twirled her fingers.

Why did her heart suddenly feel sweet?

Mr. Zi Wu stared intensely at Meng Qianqian, "You have a calamity."

Meng Qianqian froze, "Me?"

Mr. Zi Wu asked, "Little girl, tell me your eight characters of birth."

Meng Qianqian gave the eight characters of her current lifetime.

Mr. Zi Wu stroked his beard, "Little girl, your eight characters belong to someone destined to die young; you shouldn’t have lived to now. But judging by your facial features, you have an extraordinarily noble fate."

Meng Qianqian’s heart skipped a beat.

Could Mr. Zi Wu have figured out she’s a wandering spirit reborn in a borrowed body?

"Ah, impossible to figure out, impossible to figure out!"

Mr. Zi Wu scratched his head in frustration.

Meng Qianqian quietly let out a breath of relief.

She wasn’t truly Meng Qianqian; she was Shang Xiaojiu, whose soul had reincarnated in Meng Qianqian’s body. This fate was likely something no one could decipher.

Lu Yuan glanced at Meng Qianqian and asked Mr. Zi Wu, "But you’re saying she’s facing a great calamity?"

Mr. Zi Wu muttered, "Calamities often come alongside great fortunes. Perhaps it’s not a calamity but a fortune instead. If one can overcome the crisis, it turns into fortune; if not, then it remains a calamity."

Lu Yuan replied coldly, "That’s as good as saying nothing."

Mr. Zi Wu looked back and forth between Meng Qianqian and Lu Yuan, "Strange, so strange! Her fate... she should be—ah, I can’t see it clearly, I can’t see it clearly..."

He stood up, pacing around the room in agitation.

Meng Qianqian looked toward Lu Yuan, her eyes questioning: Has the old man always been like this?

Lu Yuan: He was normal before; tonight’s the first time he’s acting crazy.

"No, no... it doesn’t add up... something’s off..."

Mr. Zi Wu muttered to himself while alternating glances between Meng Qianqian and Lu Yuan.

"Sir."

Meng Qianqian softly interrupted, "May I ask you a question?"

"Speak."

Mr. Zi Wu returned to his seat.

Meng Qianqian took out a piece of talisman paper she had picked up from a cellar, "Sir, I found this talisman paper in the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion’s cellar. Do you recognize it?"

Since the old Pavilion Master of the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion shared the same master with Mr. Zi Wu, he should be familiar with these techniques.

Mr. Zi Wu took the talisman paper and examined it carefully, his brows furrowing, "Where did you find this?"

"I discovered it in a cellar of the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion. That cellar was quite strange—the walls were covered with talisman paper, and the floor was marked with a bizarre symbol. Roughly like this."

Meng Qianqian dipped her fingertip in tea and used it to draw out the symbol on the table.