ITVCFITB CHAPTER 95

 Chapter 95 — Find a Daoist

Shen Mingyun’s palms were slick with sweat.

Luo Shuyu was right there in the inner room. If he came out and the baby seemed “off,” he’d surely suspect Shen. But Shen had convinced himself this had to be done, Li Mingjin and Luo Shuyu had been far too high-profile in the capital; he couldn’t let their momentum grow unchecked.

His hands trembled. All he had to do was press the tool card to the red swaddling; it would sink straight into the infant’s body.

From inside, Luo Shuyu called, “Cousin, why aren’t you outside eating with the others? I’ve nothing here to entertain you with and I can’t go out.”

Staring at the red bundle, Shen forced his voice steady. “I just came to take a look at you.”

Shuyu would be out any second. What now? He’d psych-prepped himself, but doing this to a baby… it was still a life. One touch and the child would be ruined for good.

Huff… huff…

You can do this, Shen Mingyun. If the Third Prince’s family is later exiled to some frontier, if something happens to them, you’ll raise this poor, simple child well. Your son will even provide for him someday!

I’m sorry, little one. You’re just an NPC. You’re not real, you’re not real.

Muttering the lie until he half-believed it, Shen redeemed the item. He was a father himself; his fingers stalled at the last moment. Eyes squeezed shut, he slapped the talisman onto the swaddle.

Forgive me.

A thread of light, barely visible, vanished into the bundle. Shen flinched back, hurried to the outer room, and planted himself as far from the cradle as possible.

He knew he’d crack the second Shuyu emerged; his nerves were shot. “Cousin, I just remembered the Fourth Prince asked me to handle something. I’ll go first, my gift for the little one is on the table.”

Shuyu’s voice floated out, warm and bland. “Stay a while. I’m bored, no one to talk to.”

Shen’s fingers still shook. He’d always been the mouthpiece, not the executioner; even his “missions” were petty tricks, never blood on his hands. This… this was different. It terrified him.

“I really do have something urgent. I’ll visit again in a couple days!”

He bolted, a little entourage scurrying after him.

He tried to soothe himself, even begged the system for comfort. The system refused. “Host, this is your destiny.”

“Destiny? Don’t people make their own fate?”

“You’re the protagonist. Every protagonist has a role and a fate.”

“You mean helping the Fourth Prince to the throne is my responsibility?”

“Something like that.”

Strangely, that did calm him. Had he thought harder about the exchange, he might have heard something… off in the system’s words.

Back at the feast, Shen sat and pretended nothing had happened, chattering to a few friendly madams about his shop’s newest products. He’d hosted too many “launches”; most were bored by now, though his loyal flatterers dutifully listened.

---

Once Shen left, Luo Shuyu stepped out. He’d never been changing clothes at all, he’d been watching through the door crack. The hand motion was unmistakeable: Shen had used a tool on the “baby.”

How vicious. Even a newborn?

Fortunately, they’d planned for this. Shuyu opened the swaddle and revealed a drugged stray cat. A moment ago the sleeping animal had breathed evenly; now its breath was shallow, belly barely rising.

Thank heaven it wasn’t Chongchong.

Qingwang slipped in. “Master, what now?”

“Take the cat to Doctor Lin. Have him see what it did.”

“Doctor Lin… treats animals?”

“He’ll look first and then figure it out.”

Qingwang glanced at the limp creature. “It’s even weaker than before.”

Shuyu frowned. “See if it can be saved. It took a blow meant for Chongchong, we’ll keep it well if it lives.” Becoming a parent softens everything.

“Yes.”

“And change the cradle, bring Chongchong back.”

A moment later, Feng Momo carried in a bright-eyed, perfectly healthy baby. Shuyu accepted his warm, sturdy weight, looked him over again and again, and finally exhaled. “You’re all right.”

While they fetched a fresh cradle, he set Chongchong on his own bed and lay beside him, teasing softly until the little one’s eyelids drooped and he drifted off.

After this, Shuyu’s resolve hardened: he would carve out a safe world for his son. With people like Shen Mingyun circling, a single lapse could cost a life.

Thinking of the Fourth Prince’s frame-ups in the previous life, Shuyu felt no guilt at the conclusion forming in his heart: the Fourth Prince and Shen had to go. This wasn’t cruelty, they had trampled his bottom line again and again.

By the time only a few guests remained, Li Mingjin had slipped back to the inner court to be briefed.

The moment Shen left, Shadow Three had reported in full. If Shuyu and Chongchong had been harmed, Li Mingjin would have painted the Third Prince’s estate red with the Fourth and Shen’s blood.

He came straight in. “How is it?”

Shuyu blinked. “How is what?”

“Chongchong.”

“Asleep. Shen never touched him. He didn’t even see me.”

“I heard he pressed the swaddle. How’s the cat?”

Right on cue, Lin Yuan arrived.

He was a common sight in the inner quarters; people assumed he was there to check Shuyu’s pulse or the little heir’s condition.

Shuyu, hair still bound under a soft cap, looked up. “Perfect timing. His Highness was asking about the cat.”

Lin kept it brief. “I examined it, then found a veterinarian out west to confirm. Its five viscera are damaged. When it woke, it coughed blood, grave injury. I’ve brought it back and started decoctions; we’ll see if it can be pulled through.”

Li Mingjin’s face went dark. “Truly five-organ damage?”

Lin nodded. “Mm. Even if it lives, it won’t regain its old vitality. It’s a young cat, now it presents like one at life’s end.” He knew better than to ask why.

A chill crawled up Shuyu’s spine. “That’s… horrifying.” If that had hit Chongchong, would he even be alive?

Damn Shen Mingyun. He deserves death.

The lesson was clear: the terrifying part wasn’t Shen, it was the system. Removing it became top priority.

How?

First, starve Shen of quest points. Second, keep widening the rift between him and the Fourth.

The Fourth likely knew Shen had something even if he didn’t grasp the whole. Why else sacrifice his own child to keep Shen’s trust?

Use what can be used then what?

On the very first day out of confinement, Shuyu hurried to the study. “Your Highness, what’s the latest on Hachi? And the Zhou Empire’s Second Prince?”

“Sit,” Li Mingjin said, amused by Shuyu’s urgency. He spread a war map and tapped Ghost Yan’s territory. “Hachi and his elder brother are at each other’s throats. The country’s in chaos.”

“Does Hachi still remember Shen?”

“He does. He secretly sent a letter some time ago. I kept it quiet until you were out of confinement.”

“And Zhou’s Second Prince?”

A new map. “He holds this half of Zhou. Whether he can keep it is another matter; his brother controls the rest. His correspondence with Fourth Brother is… frequent. I can’t shake the feeling there’s something more than politics.”

Shuyu’s eyes lit. “More than politics?”

“Is it expedience or romance?” Mingjin mused. “Hard to tell. Let’s call it both. Mutual use that has turned into… sentiment.”

“Then we make sure Shen sees it with his own eyes,” Shuyu said. “Letters won’t work, he barely reads. He believes only what he sees.”

“Leave that to me,” Li Mingjin said dryly. “Fourth Brother betraying his spouse? Why, we should uphold justice for Heaven.”

That earned him a helpless laugh. Shuyu trusted him; Mingjin never disappointed. If he said Shen would see, then the Zhou prince would “have” to show up in Daxia.

While they waited, Shuyu devoted himself to Chongchong and watched in complex amusement as Mingjin added another scroll to the child-rearing plan.

Right after a feeding, a eunuch from Consort Mei’s quarters delivered a small gift: a protective charm.

His Majesty had recently invited eminent monks into the palace to pray for Daxia; Consort Mei had asked one for Chongchong.

Shuyu hung it around the baby’s neck, studied the simple amulet, and felt a spark. Shen Mingyun was a soul from “the future.” Would he fear Daoists and high monks?

---

While the Third household planned how to remove the Fourth, the Fourth and Shen were quarreling again. 

Because Chongchong was perfectly fine.

In the Fourth Prince’s manor, impatience sharpened the Fourth’s voice. “Didn’t you act that day? Why is the brat still fine?”

“I did,” Shen snapped. “But my cousin was inside, how could I check the baby? And those items don’t trigger right away. It takes time. I was scared, okay? I couldn’t wait there.”

“But the child is fine.”

“How would I know why? I did it. Maybe he has some protective talisman. And why make me do it? Why didn’t you go?”

The Fourth paused. As long as Shen kept silent about his “specialty,” he would keep pretending ignorance. He finally cobbled together a reason. “I can’t enter their inner court. You wouldn’t be suspect.”

Shen liked him better when he softened. “Fine, I won’t blame you. But it’s not always in my hands. Maybe the kid’s warded.”

Odd. Why hadn’t the item worked?

Blame the system.

If Plan A fails, there’s always Plan B.

Three days later, a runner brought word of Luo Shuyu’s movements.

He was planning to visit White Cloud Monastery to pray for the newborn.

“Why a Daoist temple?” Shen frowned.

“They say the abbot has yin-yang eyes,” the runner said. “Sees through three realms. Can read past lives and… catch ghosts.”

Shen’s cheek twitched.

There were really Daoists like that?

---

Author’s Note: Mini-theater takes a rest today.

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