“I absolutely won’t let you win this competition!” I shouted, a hint of hysteria in my voice. “You’re my husband. How can you think of winning someone else’s favor?”
An Jin quickly understood, and his expression shifted to fury. “How long are you going to keep entangling me? This is simply absurd!”
Behind him, Su Xi and others stood at a distance, having heard everything. Su Hui’s puzzled voice came: “An Dage, madam? Why are you still here?”
“Zhuo Yi, are you two still arguing?” Su Xi asked suspiciously. “Time has passed; why haven’t you gone out? We thought something had happened to you.”
“It’s all because of her!” An Jin said angrily. “I was hunting when she stopped me and wouldn’t let me leave.”
I turned around, facing Su Hui’s shocked face. “It’s all your fault! All because of you!”
Su Hui and Su Xi looked at An Jin, then at me.
“Madam, what are you talking about?” Su Hui asked, confused.
I glared at her and turned to An Jin, who looked bewildered but complied by expressing anger and distress. “You want to win the competition to help Su Hui obtain the ‘Ancient Melody’ hidden in the palace?”
Everyone’s attention shifted to Su Hui, whose cheeks flushed slightly in apparent joy.
An Jin followed my lead, feigning embarrassment and anger: “Xiao Yao! What nonsense are you talking about? Trying to make everyone laugh at our family? This is unreasonable!”
I took a deep breath, lamenting: “Heartless men in the world, eight or nine out of ten. When we were childhood sweethearts, you called me Little Yao Yao, but now with a new love, you call me Xiao Yao?!”
An Jin’s expression darkened, silently urging me not to overact.
I lowered my head, pretending to sob, pleased with my quick thinking in creating such a plausible explanation. Indeed, I was suited to the shrew role!
However, guilt soon gave way to anger. The innocent Fifth Princess had become a victim in the conflict between the three kingdoms, her love a conspiracy with her suitor a wolf in disguise.
Why could this wolf, after using and killing an innocent girl infatuated with him, still act like a gentle husband?
We could do nothing about it. A forged household registration was insufficient to prove the Su family was a spy for Western Liang. If Southern Rui learned of the Fifth Princess’s situation, it could lead to a conflict with Great Qi and possibly a war, playing into Western Liang’s hands. We could not confront the Su family, nor could we expose the Fifth Princess’s remains.
After discussing with the Qi Emperor, An Jin secretly transported the princess’s coffin into the imperial palace, believing that such a massive secret would be safest in his hands.
The disappearance of the princess’s body threw the Su family into disarray. While they maintained a calm exterior, internal unrest became apparent. Following the competition, Su Xi and Su Hui grew closer to An Jin, occasionally probing for information about the Ministry of Personnel. Su Quan also took action, frequently contacting officials from the Ministry of Criminal Justice and the Ministry of War.
“They are about to lose control,” An Jin whispered in the darkness, his eyes glowing eerily, emanating a murderous aura. “They will soon reveal their flaws.”
The secret department’s covert agents were divided into six levels, with the sixth level comprising section leaders who reported directly to An Jin. After an incident, I was promoted from scout to scout guard and received a small gold-inlaid badge, which I proudly tied around my neck with a red string.
An Jin observed my attachment to the badge with a complex expression, contrasting it with how I had never cherished the jade pendant he gave me. After enduring my admiration for some time, he exploded during a “heart-to-heart” talk, snatching the badge and throwing it out the window, startling Yuan Xiang.
Heartbroken, I remained silent at An Jin’s threat to remove me from the secret department if I continued to care about the badge.
Having a superior husband was troublesome; one misstep could jeopardize both family and career. Fortunately, I had Yuan Xiang. The next day, as usual, he led me to the mulberry tree in the courtyard and unearthed my badge. With it restored, I suddenly had an inspiration on how to deal with the Su family: framing, planting evidence, and shifting blame.
Chapter Forty-Four: Plotting Against Yan Huo
The secret department’s agents had identity badges, and Southern Rui used fish symbols, indicating that Western Liang agents also had their own distinctive mark. With the Su family in disarray, if they were “coincidentally” discovered to be hiding Western Liang’s tokens and correspondence, they could easily be charged with treason.
Though the secret department had not previously found Western Liang’s items, forging them would be straightforward. We could place these tokens and letters in the Su residence for someone to “discover.” Once the Su family was convicted, we could also expose their crime of murdering the Southern Rui Fifth Princess and present them to Southern Rui, showcasing Great Qi’s sincerity.
I felt this was an excellent plan. However, when I shared it with the Secret Master, he smiled and said, “I’ve already thought of this method.”
I was discouraged. A superior was indeed a superior, with a quicker mind. He hadn’t implemented this plan, though, because Western Liang was different from Southern Rui and Qi Kingdom, with all agents centrally controlled by their monarch, and very few holding knowledge of the agents’ secrets.
The agents sent by the secret department to Western Liang had not yet discovered the tokens used by the country.
An Jin’s meticulous thinking, likely inherited from his ancestors, led him to carefully deliberate before making decisions. Forcing a Western Liang token would be recognized as fake by Su Quan, revealing Great Qi’s lack of evidence regarding treasonous communication. The Su family’s cunning and loyalty to Western Liang meant they would refuse to admit guilt and might provoke conflict between Southern Rui and Great Qi. Only when they believed their secrets were exposed would chaos ensue, allowing us to find the real tokens.
The primary condition for implementing this strategy was to determine exactly what Western Liang’s token was. However, the agents had not been able to approach the core figures of Western Liang, particularly the current Emperor, Yan Huo.
Yan Huo was as cunning as Su Quan and An Jin. Previously posing as a Western Liang merchant, he had not aroused suspicion. Now, he could evade An Jin’s hidden arrangements and find opportunities to meet me, subtly expressing doubts about An Jin and demonstrating his exceptional acting skills and scheming abilities.
Perhaps Su Xi and Su Hui’s initial approach to An Jin was directed by Yan Huo, aiming to probe An Jin’s true nature and see if he was as simple as he appeared. Unexpectedly, An Jin used this to locate the Southern Rui Fifth Princess’s whereabouts.
While An Jin deceived Su Xi and Su Hui, he had not necessarily dispelled Yan Huo’s suspicions. Although An Jin suspected that Yan Huo kept the token with him, approaching him to find Western Liang’s token was difficult.
An Jin couldn’t get close to Yan Huo, but I could. The Three Kingdoms Competition has not yet ended, making it an ideal time to approach. An Jin threatened me that if I tried to see Yan Huo again, I would be expelled from the secret department and meet the same fate as Yuan Xiao. Before Yuan Xiao picked up a small golden badge for me, An Jin had fed him carrots for three days, resulting in Yuan Xiao’s red eyes and perked ears like a giant white rabbit.
