Ning Dao Covered with Snow

Chapter 407 The Secret in the Paper Ball
Si Buping drew his knife, and Pei Yan, his eyes wide open, slowly fell to the ground.

The emperor remained silent, and everyone else held their breath, not daring to make a sound.

The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

After a long silence, the emperor finally spoke: "What did he just say?"

Si Buping lowered his head: "This humble subject did not hear anything."

The emperor glanced at the rest of the crowd out of the corner of his eye: "Didn't you hear that?"

The guards were on edge, fearing the emperor might kill them to silence them, and hurriedly shook their heads to indicate that he hadn't.

The emperor lowered his eyes and looked at Yan Ciwan in his arms. She was still unconscious and her face was extremely pale due to excessive blood loss.

Upon closer inspection, her eyebrows and eyes are quite similar to Ning Qingyang's.

When the emperor looked at her, it was as if he saw the once vibrant and lively Ning Qingyang.

He asked softly, "Did you hear that? He said you're not my daughter."

Yan Ciwan remained motionless and showed no reaction.

Si Buping's heart was in his throat. Despite all his precautions, his worst fears had come true. Now that the emperor knew Yan Ciwan was not his daughter, he would certainly not let her go.

The emperor raised his eyes to look at Si Buping and said coldly, "Kill all the traitors on the spot. Burn this house down as well, and leave nothing inside."

"Yes!"

The emperor carried Yan Ciwan out of the house. Several men in black lay scattered in the courtyard. When the imperial guards saw the emperor come out, they hurriedly dragged the bodies of the men in black aside so as not to block the emperor's view.

Outside Qingping Residence, a carriage was already waiting by the roadside.

The emperor carried Yan Ciwan onto the carriage, and the coachman cracked the whip, urging the carriage to head towards the palace.

The guards captured all the traitors in Qingping Residence and killed them all. Nie Xiayun and all the servants in the mansion were rescued, but Qiushuang was still missing.

When Nie Xiayun learned that Yan Ciwan had been taken away by the emperor, she was extremely anxious: "Will Aci be alright? Will she be able to come back?"

Si Buping couldn't answer the last question, so he could only advise her, "The Sage has no ill intentions towards her, she will definitely be fine. Calm down first, I will find a way to let you see her later."

Dongli saw the copper basin on the table, walked over and touched it; the hot water in the basin had already cooled down.

She said, "Qiushuang just said she would come to help Lady Ning wash up and change her clothes. She brought the washing utensils, which means she has been in this room."

Si Buping said in a deep voice, "Search the entire house!"

The guards immediately scattered and searched inch by inch. Soon they found Qiu Shuang under the bed with her hands and feet bound and her mouth gagged.

They pulled Qiu Shuang out and helped her untie herself.

She showed no joy at being freed; her face was deathly pale, her body trembled uncontrollably, and her eyes were filled with terror and unease.

Seeing that her reaction was strange, Si Buping asked, "Did Pei Yan hide you under the bed?"

Qiu Shuang crossed her arms over her shoulders and slowly nodded.

Si Buping asked again, "Did you see or hear anything just now?"

Upon hearing this, Qiu Shuang's pupils contracted sharply, and she shook her head frantically as if she had been stimulated: "No, I didn't hear anything, I don't know anything!"

After saying that, she squatted down and hugged her head, repeating the same few words over and over again.

"I don't know, I really don't know."

Fu Bai stepped forward and whispered, "Grand Master, we found this on the ground when we pulled Qiu Shuang out just now." He opened his palm, revealing a small crumpled piece of paper.

Qiu Shuang suddenly stopped rambling. She looked up at the crumpled paper as if she had seen something extremely terrifying. She lunged forward to snatch the paper away.

But Si Buping was faster; he took the paper ball first.

Qiu Shuang missed her target and immediately said to Si Buping, "Don't open it, or you'll die!"

Si Buping glanced at the crumpled paper in his palm and said thoughtfully, "It seems you just overheard a very important secret. Is that secret written on this piece of paper?"

Qiu Shuang stretched out her hand to him: "If you don't want to die, don't ask any questions, just give me that thing, and I'll destroy it right now!"

Everyone in the room was intrigued by Qiu Shuang's words, and they all looked at Si Buping.

At this point, Si Buping understood why the emperor had ordered him to burn down the house.

What the emperor really wanted to burn was the crumpled piece of paper he was holding.

This crumpled paper must have been very important to the emperor. He didn't want anyone to know about its existence, not even Si Buping, whom he had personally trained. So he didn't even let anyone look for it, and instead burned the paper and the house together, turning them all to ashes.

In the past, Si Buping would have followed the emperor's orders and burned everything without hesitation.

But now, he slowly unfolded the paper, and the contents of the paper came into view.

Qiu Shuang was so frightened that she took a step back: "You're finished."

After reading the contents of the paper, Si Buping was shocked. So this was the truth.

He looked up and met Qiu Shuang's gaze, then asked in a deep voice, "You know everything?"

Qiu Shuang covered her ears and said, as if deceiving herself, "No, I don't know anything."

Si Buping folded the paper and stuffed it into his sleeve, saying slowly and deliberately, "Since you already know, you should know that you can't get away from this."

These words shattered Qiu Shuang's last line of defense.

She burst into tears.

Shortly after the emperor entered, Qiu Shuang woke up. She overheard most of the conversation between the emperor and Pei Yan, including Pei Yan's accusations that the emperor had murdered Crown Prince Renxian and persecuted loyal officials.

If the emperor knew she had overheard these words, he would surely silence her.

She doesn't want to die!
Si Buping ordered: "Take Qiu Shuang away and keep her under secret. Do not divulge a single word of what happened here today."

The guards inside the room responded in unison, "Yes!"

……

Inside the carriage, Yan Ciwan felt cold all over, and her mind gradually became confused.

Actually, when Pei Yan slashed her back, Yan Ciwan did not immediately fall into a coma. She deliberately pretended to be unconscious so that she could eavesdrop on the conversation between the emperor and Pei Yan.

As it turned out, the blow she took was worthwhile. Pei Yan provided many useful clues, revealing that the real culprit who plotted to murder Crown Prince Renxian was Li Baizhou, and Pei Yan was an accomplice.

Now that Pei Yan is dead, there are no important witnesses left, which is very detrimental to exposing Li Baizhou's crimes.

Now Yan Ciwan can only pin her hopes on that piece of paper, hoping that its contents are related to the case of the murder of Crown Prince Renxian.

The wound on her back was still bleeding profusely, and Yan Ciwan felt dizzy and everything around her seemed to be drifting away from her.

Before she knew it, she had fallen into a deep sleep.