Qi Yan was so busy these days that he never touched the ground, he went out day and night, and that day was no exception.
When he got home, it was already late at night, and before Qi Hui had time to open the door for him, a fluffy white dog rushed out from the yard, flapping and barking around Qi Yan.
Qi Yan saw its appearance clearly:
"Yuzhu? Why are you here? Where's your master?"
He looked around, thinking that Xia Xun was coming.
Yuzhu pawed at his body, took his hand, and let him touch its neck.
Qi Yan touched it lightly, and a rolled up note fell out of the collar.
He unfolded it.
There were two broken words written crookedly on the paper.
The first thing Qi Yan recognized was a "person", a character with only two strokes, but neither strokes nor strokes were next to each other.
After reading it for a long time, he barely recognized what the previous word was.
-It is the "save" of "help", and "攵" is also written as "wen".
These two characters are all from Shao Bo's handwriting.
She originally wanted to write "help", so she spread out the calligraphy book Xia Xun bought for her, and she could barely read "save", but she really didn't know how to write "life", so she had to write "save people".
She thought, Qi Yan is so smart, she should be able to understand.
Qi Yan frowned and read aloud:
"Save... people? Has something happened to Xia Xun?"
The butler of the Xia Mansion was Qi Yan's eyeliner by Xia Hongxi's side, and he immediately asked Qi Hui to bring him over for questioning.
Previously, in order not to arouse suspicion, every time the steward came out to deliver news, he needed to find the right time. After receiving Qi Yan's order, it often took several hours before he came out to meet him.
This time is different, in less than a stick of incense, he appeared at Qi Yan's house.
Qi Yan didn't have time to think about it, so he cut straight to the point and asked:
"What happened to Xia Xun?!"
The housekeeper will tell you all the ins and outs of the future.
He was not there when the incident happened, and he didn't know about it, and he only heard Xia Xing's attendant mention it afterwards.
The man spoke vividly, and the butler was terrified when he heard it.
Qi Yan once ordered him to protect Xia Xun as much as possible without revealing his identity.
Not only did he fail to do so, he also caused Xia Xun to suffer such serious injuries without knowing it. When Qi Yan finds out about this, he does not know how to punish him.
He was worried all afternoon, and at night, he finally waited for Qi Yan to call him.
After hearing what he said, Qi Yan suddenly changed color.
He didn't lose his mind, suppressed his anger and asked:
"...Xia Xing is obviously here for Xia Xun. Xia Hongxi is at the cusp of the crisis. At this juncture, why does he have to gossip?"
The butler echoed:
"Young Master is right. The little one once wanted to approach Young Master Xia secretly to check on his injury. He went outside his courtyard to try it out. Who knew that the front and rear courtyard gates were tightly closed and there were special guards. Young Master Xia couldn't fly even with wings. Xia Xing is obviously not looking for faults, he must have other plans."
Qi Yan asked in a deep voice:
"Is there something strange in the Xia Mansion recently?"
The housekeeper hurriedly said:
"My lord, didn't you notice? As soon as the little one received the letter, he came here immediately! The little one left the mansion so smoothly, there is no need to avoid people's eyes and ears, it's all because there is no one in the mansion!"
He told Qi Yan that Xia Xun's injury happened at noon.
After lunch, Xia Hongxi suddenly called all the Xia family members except him to the main hall, and announced that he would bring the whole family into the mountain to worship the Buddha.
He told his family that he took seven days off to show his piety.
They will live in the temple in the mountains for these seven days, so they should bring as many people as possible, so that when they arrive in the mountains, there will be someone to take care of their daily life.
Xia Xing and Mrs. Xia agreed repeatedly.
Xia Wen was puzzled and asked:
"These few days are not special days, there are no festivals, and it's not Buddha's birthday. Why do you want to go to worship Buddha with your family? One stay for seven days?"
Xia Hongxi is confident and confident:
"What are you talking about? How can worshiping the Buddha see the day? You have to keep the Buddha in your heart all the time, and worship every day! What's wrong with the seven days? I still think it's too little!"
Xia Wen was filial, he would not argue with his father, so he agreed immediately.
That's it for this journey.
In the evening of that day, they got into a carriage and set off for Beishan, the capital city.
They brought a lot of servants with them this trip, and the group passed through the main street in the city. They walked in a mighty way, wishing that everyone in the capital would know that Xia Hongxi had left the city.
Butler said:
"The master of the Xia family is not here, and there are not many servants left. Xia Hongxi originally wanted to take the younger one with him, but the younger one insisted on staying to look after the house, so he didn't go with him."
Qi Yan was thoughtful.
Qi Hui reminded him:
"My lord, will Xia Hongxi's actions have something to do with his recent situation? Your Majesty is becoming more and more suspicious of him. Is it possible for him to rely on this matter to eliminate his suspicion?"
Qi Yan said slowly:
"You mean, he wants Xia Xun to take the blame for him? So he intentionally injured Xia Xun seriously and refused to be healed, and then took his whole family to the city to let everyone know that he left the capital. During this time, Xia Xun was unknown Xia Hongxi pretended to be ignorant, waited for seven days, and returned to the city with his family, then faked Xia Xun's death as suicide, and finally put all the charges on him, and personally reported to His Majesty , making an appearance of righteously killing relatives..."
Qi Yan knew Xia Hongxi very well, and his speculation was almost the same as what Xia Hongxi thought.
Qi Yan stood up slowly, and said angrily:
"...It's really shameless to be so cruel to your own son, Qi Hui, come with me, I'm going to snatch Xia Xun out."
Qi Hui did not follow his orders as before, but stood in front of him instead:
"Young master! Absolutely not! Right now is the most critical moment! You must not be impulsive!"
Qi Yan's eyes were cold:
"What do you mean? Do you want me to sit here and wait for Xia Xun to die right next to me?"
Qi Hui knelt down with a "plop":
"Subordinates dare not! But today is different, once you step into the Xia Mansion, there is no guarantee that your identity will not be exposed!!"
——The deputy appointed by the emperor to Xia Hongxi was none other than Qi Yan.
When Emperor Chao firmly controlled the situation in his hands, he had seen through Qi Yan's identity and purpose as early as when Qi Yan had just returned to Beijing.
Qi Yan is the youngest son of the Qi family who disappeared back then. He had a grudge against the Xia family. He changed his name and changed his surname and returned to the capital to take revenge.
Half a year ago, he ordered someone to secretly bring Qi Yan into the palace and reached an agreement with him.
The emperor wanted to get rid of Xia Hongxi a long time ago, but he never found a proper reason.
However, Qi Yan had a clue in his hand. He reported Xia Hongxi's use of the water transportation to make profit, and reported it to the emperor.
This matter was only known to Qi Yan through years of investigation.
After hearing this, the emperor promised Qi Yan one thing:
He will give Qi Yan an official position and let him serve as Xia Hongxi's deputy, and take the opportunity to find evidence of his malfeasance.
After the matter is completed, the emperor will kill Xia Hongxi, restore the Qi family's innocence, and avenge Qi Yan.
In order to get closer to Xia Hongxi, Qi Yan lived in an abandoned house next to Xia's mansion, and only then did he meet Xia Xun.
Qi Yan is selfish.
The kindness he showed towards Xia Xun was mostly a disguise.
He tried to gain Xia Xun's trust in order to obtain information related to Xia Hongxi.
But he soon discovered that Xia Xun was not favored at all, and he hadn't seen Xia Hongxi for several months, let alone grasped the details of his crime.
Not only that, but his character is even more innocent, without any complicated schemes, it is impossible to inquire about news for Qi Yan.
For Qi Yan, Xia Xun has no use value.
Qi Yan planned to give up on him, as long as he just found an excuse to snub Xia Xun, Xia Xun would not come to him anymore.
But he couldn't bear it.
Qi Hui once advised him:
"No matter how innocent Xia Xun is, he is also Xia Hongxi's son. You have a feud with us, so you must not soften your heart."
Qi Yan refused to admit that he had softened his heart towards Xia Xun, so he told Qi Hui:
"I didn't. I just looked at him pitifully and barely dealt with him."
Qi Hui didn't say much, but he didn't believe it.
In fact, even Qi Yan himself didn't believe it, he even deceived himself and added:
"Don't worry, I won't show mercy to him."
But what is he doing now
A few months ago, he had successfully become Xia Hongxi's deputy, and he had collected many clues in such a small place so close to his enemy.
It's just not enough, he needs conclusive evidence.
Xia Hongxi has been an official for many years, and he is very vigilant and vigilant.
Aware of the emperor's suspicion, he became stricter in his actions and words, without revealing any flaws, while secretly trying to get rid of the suspicion.
It's a pity that he made too much profit, and the net spread was too large, and it would not be able to gather it up for a while.
There was nothing he could do, so he came up with the idea of using Xia Xun.
He didn't like a child born of a prostitute, but now he just traded Xia Xun's life for the rest of his life's glory and wealth.
Xia Hongxi thought it was worth it.
Unfortunately, he didn't remember Qi Yan's face, let alone know Qi Yan's real identity.
After all, it was more than ten years ago that he killed Qi Yan's parents. He would never have thought that the youngest son of the Qi family who disappeared back then was Qi Yan.
Qi Hui tightly hugged Qi Yan's leg:
"My lord! Xia Hongxi has met you now and has been working with you for several months. If you rashly break into the Xia residence to take Xia Xun away and are discovered by the servants of the Xia family, when Xia Hongxi comes back, based on their description, there is no guarantee that you will not think that you are The person who took Xia Xun away! How will you explain it then? How can you continue to be his deputy?!"
He kowtowed to Qi Yan.
"Forgive my subordinates, if Xia Xun's matter can be carried out according to Xia Hongxi's plan, when the storm passes, Xia Hongxi will definitely think that he has cleared his doubts and let down his vigilance! By then, will we worry about finding no evidence to punish him? ?!"
Qi Yan smiled instead of anger:
"Okay, okay! Qi Hui, you are a loyal servant! Then tell me, if everything goes according to Xia Hongxi's plan, what will happen next?"
Without waiting for Qi Hui to answer, he continued:
"Xia Xun will die in all kinds of pain, and after his death, he will be slandered, saying that he used his father's position for profit, that he committed suicide in fear of crime, and that he is a bad person who deserves to die, right?"
Thinking of the ending that might happen to Xia Xun, Qi Yan clenched his fists, feeling a dull pain in his heart.
This is a taste he has never tasted.
The heartache became more and more severe, and he had to hold on to the clothes on his chest:
"My father and mother were killed by Xia Hongxi in this way, and they were ruined after death! Now he repeats his old tricks and wants to use the same method to kill Xia Xun! My parents are innocent, so isn't Xia Xun innocent? In order to avenge my parents , Are you going to take the lives of innocent people? I will never do this kind of thing! If I do this, what is the difference between me and Xia Hongxi?!"
Qi Yan spoke righteously and strictly, acting like a gentleman.
But only he knew in his heart that these words were only used to gag Qi Hui.
He knew very well that what Qi Hui said was quite reasonable. If he wanted to succeed in revenge, Qi Hui's proposal was the most feasible and safest.
But Qi Yan just couldn't do it.
Until this moment, he was forced to face his own heart.
He didn't sympathize with Xia Xun, nor did he want to use him.
... He really likes him.